The Wall of Stone
This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
++***++ Introduction:
The Goblet of Fire isn't a simple artefact – it possesses vast amounts of magic, a rudimentary sentience, and multiple sets of rules for past Triwizard Tournaments. The goblet gets aggravated by interfering wizards, throws out the rules, and takes steps to protect the underage contestant who is drafted into the contest.
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Chapter 2 Halloween in Little HangletonThat same Halloween night, in the English village of Little Hangleton, a wizard with a strange features resembling a rat, worried about the crying baby-figure. In an abandoned manor house, Peter Pettigrew tried to care for Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who currently resided in the reanimated corpse of an infant.
At one point in the evening, without any explanation, the small figure rose in the air before being thrown across the room, hit by a dozen jinxes that turned his feet into duck's feet and his fingers into claws, grew long green hair, and released terrible flatulence in the atmosphere of the dingy room.
When the infant figure seemed to be resolving the jinxes, another spell hit it – a bombard threw the figure across the room again, where it impacted the marble mantle of the fireplace before falling into the fire. In less than ten seconds, the spirit of Tom Riddle was forced from the battered magical corpse as it was consumed instantly by the flames.
(The spell that struck the infant Tom Riddle had originated from the wand of Ron Weasley.)
Peter Pettigrew screamed and turned to run but froze when Voldemort's serpent rose up in front of him, threatening to bite and eat him. And then the spirit of Tom Riddle slammed into Pettigrew to possess him.
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Hogwarts Steps BackThe week following Halloween was tense at the castle with students from three different cultures forced together. The language barrier kept most students from communicating though many foreign students spoke some English. Hermione Granger spoke fluent French and she quickly became the conductor if information between the witches of Beauxbaton and the students of Hogwarts. At the prompting of the genius Gryffindor, the older Hogwarts students looked up translation charms and with some spell practice, successfully cast the charm and began to build friendships between British and French students.
For a few days, there were occasional jinxes thrown at Harry Potter, but no student (or professor) successfully hit the fourth champion with a hex. In every case, the caster was hit by their own spell without fail. In the hallways, everyone saw the wall of stone block the spell and reflect it. Potter ignored the hexes and the students who limped along the hallways to the infirmary for the matron's help to remove their jinxes.
In potions class, Professor Snape ignored the events of Halloween night that had left him in the infirmary for three days. It was the first day Severus was ambulatory since that evening, he sought out Potter to verbally and physically assault him. When Snape lifted his wand to cast at the boy, the students around Harry dived for the floor to avoid the spell.
Before the spell travelled more than a few centimetres from the end of Snape's magic wand, the wall of stone appeared and blocked the bombard spell. Like everyone else, Professor Snape was subjected to his own spell and the potions professor was thrown back against a nearby wall. Just before he hit the wall, Snape collided with several Slytherin students – Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. All four Slytherins were transported to the infirmary by helpful elves and Madam Pomphrey treated the injured for concussions, broken arms, and burst organs.
Headmaster Dumbledore closed the tower of postal owls, but he failed to stop Zabini and Nott sending letters of complaint to their guardians using house elves who popped just outside the wards that protected Hogwarts to receive letters from the house elves working in the castle.
During breakfast the next morning, Cantankerous Nott and Madam Zabini appeared in the Great Hall at Hogwarts just as the Daily Prophet arrived with the headline Fourth Champion Attacked by Professor but Protected by Hogwarts. Is Dumbledore Aware What Happens at Hogwarts?
The journalists (with Dumbledore's prompting) assumed it was the castle who was protecting the Boy-Who-Lived, rather than the Goblet of Fire. The castle didn't mind, and the goblet was amused by the misdirection by the headmaster.
Unfortunately, this morning the headmaster had to deal with angry grandfather and mother who ignored his platitudes that neither boy was seriously injured. The pair of visitors marched through the castle (with reporters and a camera man) to the infirmary, where they found Blaise, Theodore, and Draco aware but confined to their beds by potions healing broken bones and burst organs.
Also conscious, Severus Snape defied the visitors and attempted to blame the incident on Harry Potter. Cantankerous Nott scoffed and threw spells at the potions master despite the protests of Madam Pomphrey. Madam Zabini checked on her son first but then joined Cantankerous in multiplying Snape's pain and suffering.
Despite protests from Snape's bed in the infirmary later that night, Albus Dumbledore refused to call the DMLE to hear the professor's complaint against the elderly wizard Nott and the witch Zabini.
"Severus, you will just have to curb your enthusiasm for challenging Harry in the halls. I can't…we can't have the Aurors here investigating the dark magic that's protecting our youngest champion," Albus informed the man who was missing his eyebrows, teeth, and bones in his legs.
"Dragon feathers!" swore Madam Pomphrey.
"Poppy! Why are you swearing?" questioned Albus Dumbledore.
The matron glared at the two wizards, placed her hands on her hips and explained, "There's not a single trace of Dark Magic around Mr Potter except for that curse scar on his forehead! None of the students – or staff – who have fallen to their own reflected spells or actions have shown evidence of a single jewel of Dark Magic!"
Dumbledore frowned and persisted, "But Severus is dripping in Dark Magic residue this evening."
"Cantankerous Nott is an acknowledged Dark Wizard and Madam Zabini is a Dark Witch!" she replied. "They threw a dozen spells against Severus Snape that were all dark and legal!"
"But…" Albus tried to argue.
"And there wasn't a jewel of darkness on Severus before the pair arrived." The matron frowned and concluded, "Mr Potter is protected by a wall of stone. However, Professor Snape is not intelligent enough to learn that his contentious behaviour toward a student will send him back to the infirmary again and again."
She paused and looked concerned before adding, "Snape has been concussed twice in just ten days. Brain damage is inevitable."
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Moody's VisitThat same night, Professor Moody vanished from Hogwarts for a time. He'd received a letter that summoned him to the Dark Lord in the decrepit manor home of his father. Leaving the Hogwarts wards that protected Hogwarts, the shell that resembled Alastor Moody apparated to Little Hangleton, a village in the north of England. He had been to the muggle manor previously and knew its location, but he waited outside the wards for the Polyjuice potion to wear off before passing through the simple muggle avoidance ward that surrounded the house.
Barty had no desire to encounter the Dark Lord's large snake while in the shape of a known enemy of the Dark Lord. Once his own face returned, Barty found it difficult to walk for a moment – his knee was mangled by stumping around on the peg leg for three months. He managed to make it into the manor after casting three healing spells and two pain numbing spells on his leg.
Making his way into the dusty lounge filled with mouldy furniture and portraits with the cracked and faded paints, Barty was shocked to find the Dark Lord's face on the back of Peter Pettigrew's head. Fortunately for Barty, his story of what happened during the selection of champions for the Triwizard Tournament on Halloween provided a reasonable explanation – sympathetic magic had reached across the distance between Hogwarts and Little Hangleton to affect the homunculus of the infant.
Barty frowned when the Dark Lord explained that the homunculus burned to ashes in mere seconds once it encountered the flames. The visitor asked, "My lord, how do you wish to proceed?"
The Dark Lord paused and asked, "What do you recommend?"
Pleased that the powerful wizard valued his opinion, Barty stated, "There are two avenues open to you. First, allow me to bring Alastor Moody here and we proceed with the resurrection on the winter solstice. The other option is to summon a powerful follower who will allow you to possess him freely until we are prepared to proceed with the planned ceremony next June."
The Dark Lord nodded and reviewed the conditions, "We can use the blood an enemy from Alastor Moody, and the bone of the father from the man's grave. But what flesh of the servant?"
"I would be honoured to offer my flesh for your resurrection, my lord."
"And if I include one of my great treasures, then Wormtail will survive and continue his service," the Dark Lord said.
Barty knelt and asked, "A great treasure, my lord?"
"I made soul jars to protect my life during the great muggle war. I expected the bombs to destroy London…or German soldiers to invade and kill everyone."
"You defied death itself," Barty said with a worshipful tone in his voice. "How do we get the great treasure to bring back your form?"
"The most powerful one is a diary – the first one I made. It holds half of my soul and magic. I entrusted the book to the Malfoys to keep safe until I called for it."
For the first time, Barty heard Peter Pettigrew speak, slowly and painfully, but the wizard was clear when he asked, "My lord, what did the diary look like?"
"It was a black book with my initials T.M.R. on the cover," the face of the Dark Lord replied. Then the face asked, "Why do you ask?"
Pettigrew slowly explained, "I've seen that book. Lucius Malfoy slipped it into the cauldron of a girl who started at Hogwarts three years ago. There were several students petrified by something wandering the hallways at night, and the girl went mad from writing in the diary."
"What happened? Did I return? How did this happen?"
"My lord, it was the Potter boy. He and Ron Weasley rescued the girl – Weasley's younger sister – from the Chamber of Secrets. They claimed to have killed the monster and left it in the chamber."
"Killed Slytherin's monster? Impossible!" declared the face on the back of Pettigrew's head. "What happened to my diary?"
"Potter claimed that he killed it, sir. He stabbed it with a fang full of venom," the wizard explained.
"No! No!" the face protested. "When was this?"
"June 1993."
The Dark Lord was silent for a several minutes remembering a night of extreme pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced before in June 1993.
"Why would Malfoy have sent your treasure to Hogwarts?" asked the quiet Barty Crouch, Jr.
The Dark Lord hissed, "I shall ask him! I shall ask him tonight!"
Barty grinned – he remembered the previous times he'd heard the Dark Lord grow angry – his voice blended with the Parseltongue powers to promise pain and agony to someone – muggle, blood traitor, and even Death Eaters who failed in their duty to the Dark Lord.
"Barty, give me your arm!" ordered the Dark Lord.
The wizard pulled up his sleeves – Moody's robes were loose on his natural form – and he presented the Dark Lord's tattoo to the face on the back of Pettigrew's head. With a painful scream from Pettigrew, the man's arms reversed their joint sockets, allowing the hideous face to control them. The Dark Lord asked for his wand – it was summoned from a drawer in the room by Barty – and the Dark Lord used the wand to press the tip into the tattoo on Barty's arm.
"Luciussss Malfoy! Come to me! Come to me now!" the Dark Lord hissed, sending a pair of hexes to slap Malfoy's face. It was almost five minutes before the sounds of apparition were heard outside the manor house.
The dark lord turned to Barty and said, "Fetch Malfoy."
Barty hurried from the room and out of the house. Loud voices were heard for a moment, and then Barty returned with the nervous Lucius Malfoy following closely.
"How is it you are alive, Crouch? You were in Azkaban and reported dead?" asked Malfoy.
"I am not the only dead wizard come back to life," Barty said, motioning toward Peter Pettigrew.
Malfoy sneered, "Wormtail! How are you alive? Black killed you!"
"Apparently not," Peter replied and then strangely, turned around. Lucius Malfoy froze and for a moment his heart stopped beating as he stared at the hideous visage of the face on the back of Pettigrew's head.
"Lucius! I have need of your sssservice tonight!" hissed the Dark Lord.
"Who?" Lucius asked before realizing what he saw before him and dropped to his knees. "My Lord! Forgive me, I am shocked…pleased to see you are still alive."
"Yes, I am alive," the Dark Lord replied. "And I shall return to my powerful form, and we shall resume our work to make wizards the rulers of the world tonight!"
"I shall fill every command, my lord."
"Good. Return to your manor, tell your lady wife that she shall have visitors beginning tonight. Retrieve my great treasure I left in your care and return…"
Malfoy fainted. The Dark Lord laughed – a terrible sound that sent shivers down Barty's spine. The face commanded, "Barty, revive Malfoy."
The wizard cast a spell that revived Lucius who suddenly realized he was not dreaming. Barty Couch, Jr was alive. Peter Pettigrew was alive. And the Dark Lord possessed Pettigrew with his face covering the back of the wizard's head.
The nightmare before him was real!
"Lucius, where is my great treasure I entrusted to you to protect?"
Sputtering, Malfoy was unable to answer, and he stared at Crouch for a moment, then back at the face of the Dark Lord. His wand slipped into his hand as Lucius debated attacking or apparating away.
"Expelliarmus!" cast Barty, summoning the wand from Malfoy's hand.
"Naughty! Naughty, Lucius," Crouch said, holding the summoned wand in his left hand.
"What happened to my diary?" demanded the Dark Lord. "Tell me!"
"The ministry raided my home and seized a dozen dark artefacts! They planned to return with a warrant to tear apart the floors and walls looking for more," Lucius explained. "I remembered you explained the diary was cursed to capture a child's soul and release Slytherin's monster inside Hogwarts to kill the mudbloods and blood traitors."
In the pause, Tom Riddle remembered telling Lucius that very thing. He motioned for the man to continue. "I feared that Fudge would panic if the DMLE appeared with the diary – the Dark Magic was too strong to ignore. So, I slipped it into the books of first year student and she took it to Hogwarts."
The Dark Lord insisted that the wizard continue, "And?"
"Dumbledore found it and destroyed the magic before the monster could be released," Lucius concluded. "He showed me the diary after he destroyed it."
"It wasn't the old man who destroyed my great treasure," replied the Dark Lord. "It was Harry Potter."
"Potter? How could a boy have done that?"
"How could a baby defeat the greatest wizard who ever lived?" asked the Dark Lord rhetorically and was pleased to see Lucius look down in embarrassment.
"My son reports that Potter is hardly a wizard! The boy is nothing like Dumbledore lead us to believe before his return in 1991."
"Yes, your son," Barty interrupted. "Did anyone contact you and your wife that Draco was grievously wounded last night?"
"What? No!"
"Last evening, Snape attempted to fire a spell at the Boy-Who-Lived in the hallways and a new protection around the boy threw Snape into your son and two other boys from Slytherin. All four spent the night in the infirmary and I believe they are still there. Cantankerous Nott and Madam Zabini appeared this morning to register their complaints with Dumbledore an to extract a pound of flesh from Snape for injuring their heirs.
"Everyone in the Great Hall this morning noticed that no one came to support the injured Draco Malfoy," Crouch informed the wizard.
Dazed by the news of his son's injuries, Lucius was anxious to depart but the Dark Lord refused the man's exit. He said, "Go with Barty to retrieve a second of my treasures so I may be restored to a wizard's body. Then you can go check on your son."
"Yes, my lord," Lucius agreed. Very quickly, Barty and Lucius were dispatched to the ruins of the Gaunt family shack where the second treasure lay holding one quarter of the Dark Lord's soul and magic. The two wizards quickly dispatched the serpents and fought with the wards to by-pass them with the information provided by the Dark Lord.
When the floorboards were removed and the ring revealed, Lucius bent to pick up the ring, not noticing that Barty held back.
"I shall serve the Dark Lord with great powers!" Lucius declared as he slipped the ring onto a figure. He immediately screamed and bent over, trying to pull off the ring and end the curse that had grabbed hold of his hand and magical core. But Malfoy proved unable to remove the ring.
"Let me take you to the Dark Lord," Barty told Lucius. The wizard apparated back to the lounge in the manor with Malfoy withering in pain.
"What occurred, Barty?" asked the Dark Lord, as if he didn't understand what had happened to Lucius Malfoy in the shack.
"There is a curse on the ring," Lucius managed to explain. "It burns my flesh and my magic!"
"Show me," commanded Lord Voldemort.
Lucius lifted his arm from his chest and the face on the back of Pettigrew's head explained, "Yes. That is a terrible curse that will cause you great pain for the many months it takes for you to die.
Sagging and dropping to his knees, Lucius listened carefully as the Dark Lord continued, "But all is not lost, Lucius. Allow my spirits to possess you – freely and without reservation – and We shall relieve you of pain and restore the arm to health. And when the resurrection occurs next June, you will be restored to full health and power."
"You are the most powerful wizard to ever live, my lord," Malfoy stated, desperate to believe the promise. "I accept."
Pettigrew's body collapsed as the spirit of Lord Voldemort slipped away from the weak wizard and filtered through the skin of Lucius Malfoy to take possession of the stronger wizard. Simultaneously, the spirit of young Tom Riddle moved from the ring and into the magical core alongside the older, and more experienced but much less powerful Voldemort.
Barty watched with worshipful eyes as Lord Voldemort took possession of Lucius Malfoy. The wizard's face grimaced as the spirits invaded and attached themselves to his magical core. And amazingly, the powerful Dark Lord took full control of Malfoy's body, changing the wizard's facial features somewhat as he began to breath through Malfoy's nose and spoke through a normal voice box, "Of course my power is great enough to allow me to take full possession."
From the floor where he'd fallen, Peter Pettigrew struggled back to his feet, and then reached around to feel the back of his head. "It's back! My hair and skull are back!"
"Of course," replied Lord Voldemort in a normal voice from Lucius Malfoy's throat.
"Shall we plan on the resurrection at the winter solstice, my lord?" asked Barty.
"No. The resurrection will be much stronger next summer after Potter spends the intervening months dreading my return. Malfoy is strong enough to support me until then. And he will be restored to his normal form after I am resurrected," Lord Voldemort stated to assure Pettigrew and Barty, as well as the soul of Lucius Malfoy who listened from inside his mind, locked away from his voice, muscles, and magic.
Barty stepped forward to kneel at the feet of Lord Voldemort and kiss his hand. The Dark Lord smiled, remembering the gatherings where sixty or more Death Eaters approached him to kiss his hand. He reached out to touch the head of his young follower like a blessing, and commanded, "Return to Hogwarts and to the shape of Alastor Moody, my faithful servant. Do not return here unless there is a disaster."
"Yes, my lord," Barty replied before hurrying from the room to apparate back to Hogwarts. He would be under the effects of Polyjuice within fifteen minutes and it might be weeks before he was in his natural form again.
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