The Wall of Stone

by BeepKeeper

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.

11. Chapter 11

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.

CHANGE SCENE ###

Chapter 11 Resurrection Mistakes 22 June 1995

"Kill the spare!" commanded a squeaky voice in the dark and gloomy graveyard, thinking a second wizard had arrived with Potter. Harry wished he'd left Dobby behind. In the spare light, Harry watched the short wizard who struggled to levitate an adult body wrapped in rags with his wand while a hood kept dropping over his face. The short wizard propped the figure in rags in a seated position against a headstone. Then the wizard lifted his wand toward the two 'boys' who arrived via the portkey in the trophy, Harry wished he could block the sickly green spell that formed and flew toward the Hufflepuff champion.

Peter Pettigrew was not the least bit concerned about an innocent death when he cast the Unforgivable and the Death Eater blinked when a wall of stone appeared and absorbed the Avada Kedavra spell. For a moment, Pettigrew thought he heard a scream of pain from the wall but that was lost in the wails of pain and outrage from the figure in the man dressed in the rags.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

The Goblet of Fire's magic in the wall of stone directed the magic and energy of Pettigrew's Avada Kedavra spell across Britain again to impact the last horcrux of the Dark Lord Rat. This horcrux was Hufflepuff's Cup, hidden inside the Gringotts vault of Bellatrix Lestrange. Within the confined space of the magical vault, the powers of the AK, the horcrux, and the malicious magic Lestrange had cast on the wealth inside her vault combined to trigger a large explosion inside the bank. Central London experienced a small earthquake only two kilometres underneath the surface.

In the bank and vaults, multiple ceilings fell, floors and walls crumbled, and many vaults were sealed away by rubble closing hallways. More than a hundred goblins and fourteen wizards were killed. For the first time since the Blitz during World War II, Gringotts Bank closed and remained closed for 48 hours.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

"What was that? It hurt! What happened?" screamed the voice as Harry passed out.

Waking on the ground after only a moment Harry struggled back to his feet, noticed that Dobby was unconscious beside him. Then Peter was on him and knocked Harry back to the ground.

The bundle of rags propped against a headstone, shouted commands in a squeaky voice to tie up Potter and proceed with the ritual. Pettigrew quickly tied Harry to a headstone and the captive's head began to clear when the wizard turned his attention to the other items around large cauldron. Casting another spell, Pettigrew started a fire underneath the cauldron, and began assembling a potion in the giant container.

Harry watched silently as Pettigrew violated multiple brewing standards – the large wooden stick used to stir the potion lay on the ground when not in the cauldron, so it brought contaminating grass and dirt into the cauldron each time, and the pails holding the liquids were a combination of metals and wood. Snape had been adamant that containers had to be glass or silver to safely store potion ingredients before combining them together for a more potent mixture. The potion master warned the students that using other metals or wood changed the liquids as soon as they cooled.

There was a rustling behind one headstone – Dobby had revived and was looking around. The elf was scared but after a minute, he lifted his hands to cast silent spells at the potion ingredients and the cauldron. As a result of one spell, the fire on the far side of the cauldron sputtered out.

"Harry Potter!" shouted the voice in the rags. "You are honoured to be present at my resurrection!"

Pettigrew paused for a moment but ignored the voice to continue assembling the potion. The squeaky voice continued, "After a year where you feared my return, tonight is the time for the potion to unite my spirit with the bones of my father, the flesh of a servant, and your blood – my enemy's blood – to give me a new body."

"With this potion, I shall rise to full power and restore my rule over Magical Britain!" the voice declared when the Boy-Who-Lived remained silent.

Harry watched as Pettigrew used his wand to summon a bone from the grave of Tom Riddle and declared, "Bone of the father unknowingly given, you will give your son form once again."

From his hiding place behind a headstone, Dobby frowned, wondering about the name being shouted out – Riddle wasn't a name in magical Britain. While Pettigrew prepared to provide the next ingredient – flesh of willing servant – Dobby drew out a potion bottle that contained a pepper up potion. While Peter steeled himself to cut off his hand with a magical knife, the elf popped the stopper out of the potion bottle and levitated the entire bottle into the cauldron.

The hand falling into the bubbling potion plopped loudly in the silence of the graveyard. The spurt of blood from Pettigrew's wrist fell into the potion and combined with the Pepper up Potion to change the colour of the cauldron's liquid from red to blue.

Now, Pettigrew staggered to stand beside Harry Potter. As he drew out the same knife, he declared, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."

Grinning wildly, Peter stabbed Harry in the arm through his robes. With a localized shield by Dobby protecting the young wizard's arm, the blade never reached his skin. There was a trace of blood on the knife when Peter turned away and Harry thought that it was Pettigrew's blood on the blade. However, Dobby used elf magic to provide some of his blood for the knife.

Pettigrew dipped the knife into the potion bubbling in the cauldron and swirled it around to add the trace of blood into the mixture. Shuffling across the ground, Peter picked up the bundle of rags and peeled them away from the adult figure.

"Hurry Peter! Hurry!" commanded the wizard dressed in rags. The wizard with the bleeding wrist, moved closer to the cauldron and undressed the figure propped against a headstone.

Harry was horrified when he saw Lucius Malfoy who appeared almost dead. His head was bald, his skin wrinkled, and his body deformed by swollen joints, feet and hands. As Pettigrew undressed the wizard, Harry turned his glance to the side – no part of the wizard appeared healthy.

Noticing the boy looked away, Riddle cackled and addressed the captive, "Look upon me Harry Potter! Look at me, I order you!"

When the boy looked back, Riddle continued, "For months I have possessed Lucius, and he has served me well. But I must return to my own form now. Malfoy will be freed of me and continue his service to me when the resurrection is complete."

Harry noticed that Peter Pettigrew's arm was arm continued to bleed on the other man's arms and back, while he helped possessed Lucius Malfoy into the cauldron. The naked man dropped into the bubbling potion and slid underneath the surface, face first.

From his hiding place, Dobby cast a spell that turned the steady fire underneath the cauldron into a roaring inferno. The cauldron began boiling with steam rising and large bubbles popping.

Peter exclaimed, "Who is there? Who did that?"

When no one replied or appeared, Pettigrew turned his attention to the cauldron, raised his remaining hand and shouted, "Rise Lord Voldemort! Rise!"

A large serpent appeared out of the shadows, hunting for someone hidden among the headstones.

"I ssshall eat you!" the serpent hissed as she approached the elf in the shadows. Fearing for Dobby's life again, Harry smiled when the wall of stone that had protected Harry since Halloween night appeared again and smashed the large snake underneath the weight of the stones.

Even better, the wall of stone rose high to protect Harry and Dobby when the cauldron exploded. The blast was bright and loud, throwing the potion up and out of the metal container and making the wall shake.

When he could hear and think once again, Harry called out, "Dobby!" The Boy-Who-Lived remained tied to the headstone, but the wall of stone had protected him from the blast. "Dobby, are you okay?"

There wasn't any reply as the wall faded away. Harry looked around carefully – the cauldron was upside down and Peter Pettigrew lay in an unnatural position with his head busted open by another headstone.

The body of Lucius Malfoy lay with the lower half of his body covered by the cauldron. The wizard made a feeble attempt to lift the cauldron to free himself but then lay still, his chest no longer rising with breathing.

But there was another figure, trying to rise to its feet. The creature had the features of a rat-whiskered wizard with rat-like hands and huge elf-ears. Struggling, the thing managed to pull itself up on a headstone. In a voice that remained squeaky, the figure demanded, "Wormtail! What did you do to me?"

As the stones faded away, Harry noticed the tell-tale shade of a part of the Dark Lord's spirit rose from the corpse of the snake and faded away, making the strange homunculus scream in pain again. The homunculus was not anchored by a single horcrux to the world of the living. But something allowed the magical construct to continue the semblance of living.

CHANGE SCENE ###

A Botched Homunculus

Harry stared at the figure struggling to remain upright – the homunculus was an oversize rat rather than a human figure. The hands were rat paws with claws, the torso was slender and ended with a long tail of naked skin. The face looked like a rat with large incisors and whiskers, and the large elf-like ears flapped in agitation.

"Wormtail! What did you do to me!" screamed the figure in that high-pitched voice again. "No one will believe I am the Dark Lord!"

Pettigrew didn't respond and the figure looked around for a moment before spotting the corpse of Peter Pettigrew lying against a broken headstone. Harry watched as the resurrected Dark Lord attempted to walk toward the corpse, but the rat-shaped homunculus discovered that it could not walk like a man. It was forced to drop to all four paws and scurry across the ground to reach the dead wizard, the naked tail whipping back and forth with each step.

'Dark Lord Rat for certain,' Harry decided before he looked around and spotted Dobby unconscious again. 'He's been hit in the head too often tonight.'

The homunculus searched through the dead man's robes until he found a stark white wand and drew it close to his furry chest, muttering aloud while caressing the stick.

'I guess he really missed his wand,' Harry realised. The thing in rat fur gripped the wand and attempted to cast a spell. Very little magic dribbled out of the wand and in frustration, the homunculus kicked out at Pettigrew's corpse.

Once more, the slender form with rat paws and feet was unable to complete the move and this time it fell to the ground, landing on the corpse. Cursing and crying, Dark Lord Rat took his frustration out by biting and clawing at Pettigrew's body. Eventually, the homunculus pushed up the sleeves of the arm to reveal the tattoo on Pettigrew's arm. Taking the white wand in his paw, Voldie-rat pressed the tip against the brand and said, "Lord Voldemort has returned! Each sworn follower, be you true or false, hear my magical call! Feed me your power!"

The white wand glowed faintly, and the rat homunculus called out again, "Lord Voldemort demands it! Feed me your power!"

There were many silent moments as the rat homunculus bent over the corpse, holding the wand close to his breast again while muttering. The glow in the wand finally grew brighter and the rat thing turned around, looking over the graveyard again.

There was another startling moment when the homunculus tried to walk like a human but fell to the ground and cursed the air. Harry stared as Dark Lord Rat discovered that it could not scurry across the ground with the wand in one paw. The homunculus was forced to hold the wand in his mouth while moving around.

First, the creature made its way to Lucius Malfoy but didn't linger when it found the man dead. Then, the homunculus made its way to the carcass of the giant snake where it appeared to mourn for a moment before it tore at the snake's flesh to chew and swallow quickly. The rat homunculus ignored everything around it until there was a loud pop – the sound of apparition that captured Voldie-rat's attention.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

Repulsed Death Eaters

When the Dark Lord Rat called for the magic of his sworn followers to feed his need for magic in his core, every Death Eater felt the prick of magic to their core and the slow dribble of power begin slipping away. In Azkaban, Bellatrix rejoiced that after thirteen years, her beloved Dark Lord had returned. She sang his praises and pushed more of her magic into the stream not realizing it meant her doom. Magic tied each wizard or witch to the soul of Tom Riddle and so they were unable to deny him their power.

However, the summons by Dark Lord Rat for his followers was not felt by the general membership in the club of Death Eaters. There were only two wizards who felt the pinch of the summons of their persons – Severus Snape and Ministry Executioner Walden MacNair.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

In faraway Hogwarts, Severus paid attention to the summons that came with the pinch of the summons of his magic. He paid more attention to this small thing because Albus Dumbledore had repeatedly told him that the Dark Lord would return after the Third Task. Severus Snape ignored the stale platitudes and meaningless homilies of the headmaster while lost in his damaged and fractured mind. Snape's hated James Potter for only vaguely remembered reasons, and this hatred was the dominate feeling in the forefront of the potions master's mind. The memory of Dumbledore's voice registered, "Harry Potter will be there! You must rescue him! Keep him alive!"

In his damaged brain, Snape heard, "Harry Potter…alive."

In the darkness of his mind, Severus swore, "Not for long."

Loading his pockets with an excessive number of dangerous potions, Severus spent the entire evening sitting on the top row of seats in the stands where no one ventured close. Then the shrubberies fell, and the creatures were released to wreak havoc among the attendees. When he felt the 'summons', Snape apparated away with only Albus Dumbledore noticing the disappearance of the hated potions professor.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

Walden MacNair's residence was in the area just west of Greater Hangleton, only twenty kilometres from the graveyard in Little Hangleton where the resurrection ritual occurred. The ministry had no creatures – magical or mundane – that required execution tonight and MacNair had no desire to watch the half-blood killer of the Dark Lord chase his own tail through a maze constructed with shrubbery before grabbing some trophy and being awarded a thousand galleons.

The sadistic wizard failed to notice the pinch in his magical core that began draining magic from his core, but he was close enough to the graveyard to feel the call from his master. MacNair paused for a moment but remembered, 'Only Lord Voldemort can call me through the Dark Mark. No one else can use the magic of my lord's tattoo.'

"The Dark Lord returns!" MacNair declared aloud before magically summoning his Death Eater robes and bone white mask from a trunk in the attic of his house. His steps alive and his face brightened with a smile that would make most people turn away in horror, Walden hurried outside of the powerful wards around his house to apparate away to answer the summons.

SLIGHT SCENE CHANGE ###

Dark Lord Rat and captive Harry Potter turned toward the source of the sounds of apparition and saw two wizards. Harry knew both wizards from past experiences – Severus Snape, the much-hated potions professor, and Walden MacNair, the wizard who executed helpless magical creatures. Potter frowned but remained silent.

MacNair frowned angrily because he only saw some monster that needed to be chopped in half and the Boy-Who-Lived, who should be chopped in half. Snape stared at Potter and ignored the creature standing nearby. The potions master fingered the multiple bottles of potions in his pockets, mulling over which ones to throw at the boy to immolate or dissolve his bones and flesh as painfully as possible.

The creature could speak, and that fact made both Death Eaters hesitate to act. The giant rat squeaked, "Harry Potter, the first two faithful arrive. Others will appear shortly to witness my return to rule over Magical Britain."

The rat had to drop to all fours to move closer to the boy who was tied to a headstone. The abomination of magic was a creature crawling on the ground and this horror caused MacNair to growl and pull his giant axe from the sling on his back. Both Snape and MacNair noticed the signature white wand of the Dark Lord in the mouth of the giant rat with flopping ears of a house elf. Glancing around MacNair saw the body of Peter Pettigrew and Snape saw the tortured and emaciated body of Lucius Malfoy lying half underneath an overturned huge cauldron.

At Potter's feet, the rat creature stood on its hind feet once again and grabbed the white wand in its mouth with a rat paw. Dark Lord Rat tried to smile but his lips and strange teeth left Potter repulsed by the image burned into his brain.

"Now, with my faithful followers as witnesses, I shall begin taking vengeance for thirteen years of pain and loss!" Dark Lord Rat declared. "I took your blood for my resurrection and that removed the protection your mudblood mother cast on you."

The paw of the giant rat reached out to touch the boy as three things occurred simultaneously – MacNair leapt forward with his battle axe to chop this monster in half, Snape withdrew two potion bottles and threw them at the boy, and the wall of stone appeared between Harry and Dark Lord Rat. The wall threw the strange creature back with concussive force and into the path of MacNair's blade as well as Snape's potion bottles.

The wall of stone once again protected Harry Potter.

On the other side however, unconscious Dark Lord Rat was chopped in half by MacNair's blade, before two potion bottles exploded showering the two halves of the Dark Lord, MacNair, and Snape with an explosive potion and a second potion that would melt away any bones or flesh that survived.

The combined pieces of the tortured soul of Tom Riddle that resided in the rat-shaped homunculus were expelled into the hot and corrosive fire that quickly killed and consumed MacNair and Snape. Struggling to survive, the spirit of the Dark Lord Rat grabbed hold of the tendrils of power arriving from around Britain to suck them into the fire.

At Hogwarts, Headmaster Karkaroff screamed for moment before his left arm exploded. A few Death Eaters in the stands, began screaming and like sequential fireworks, the left arm of Greg Avery, Thomas Mulciber, and Paul Selwyn exploded, showering the people near them with blood, flesh and bone. Each Death Eater dropped dead in the stands. Robert Travers stood to apparate away but screamed in the middle of the spell and exploded while disappearing. A shower of blood and tissue appeared outside the wards of his home but no one every realized where he'd tried to hide.

When the Dark Lord Rat called for each of his followers to give him magic to help him, each Death Eater's magic went into a queue that fed their magic faster and faster in the magical fire that rolled and consumed the final piece of the soul of Tom Riddle.

The wall of stone remained in place until Dobby woke and popped his Mr Harry James Potter away from the inferno that still burned behind the wall of stone. Once Harry and Dobby were a safe distance away from the fire, the wall vanished.

Across Britain, every witch and wizard who bore the Dark Lord's mark on their arm suffered a painful drain on their magic and then the explosion of their arm, causing each of them to die. In Azkaban, Bellatrix died screaming when she felt the pain the Dark Lord suffered in the inferno.

CHANGE SCENE #####

Notes: The Demise of Each Horcrux

It is necessary to keep track of the Dark Lord's Horcruxes and the demise of each part of his soul.

The Diary was killed by Harry Potter in the boy's second year at Hogwarts. This destroyed half of Tom Riddle's soul and magic. The Dark Lord was trapped in wraith form when this soul jar was destroyed and he didn't feel the loss of magic until he temporarily possessed Peter Pettigrew after the homunculus was destroyed.

Gaunt Family Ring. This horcrux joins with the final remnant of Tom Riddle's soul to provide enough power to fully possess Lucius Malfoy in early November. When Tom Riddle dies with his Death Eaters, these pieces of his spirit dissipate as his soul finally passes over to his final reward.

Scar on Harry's Forehead. This accidental horcrux is killed by the Wall of Stone using the intent of Moody (Barty Crouch, Jr) casting the Imperious curse in the DADA class. The magic leaps across Britain to Little Hangleton to curse Lucius/Tom who dances around the lounge, and kicks Pettigrew.

Ravenclaw's Diadem. This horcrux remains hidden in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts and the Goblet of Fire's magic uses the power and intent of the Cruciatus Curse in the DADA class to kill it (through the wall of stone). Again, the magic leaps across Britain to Little Hangleton and causes Lucius/Tom to writhe in agony. Peter Pettigrew may have taken some vicarious enjoyment in watching the wizard wither in agony and when he was sent to Bristol for the pain and Cruciatus cure potions, he may have stopped in a muggle pub for pint and a bite to eat before completing his task for Lucius/Tom.

Slytherin's Locket. Hidden in the London townhouse of the Black family by a house elf, this horcrux was killed by the wall of stone absorbing Moody's (Barty Crouch, Jr) AK curse in the DADA class the day before the First Task in the Triwizard Tournament. Sirius Black, hiding in the house, began to receive proper care from the house elf now that the impossible task of destroying the horcrux was resolved.

Hufflepuff's Cup. This horcrux was killed by Pettigrew's AK fired at Dobby in the graveyard. The wall of stone appeared (to crush Nagili and absorb the spell) and directed the energy of the spell to destroy the cup inside the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange underneath London. The combined power of the spell, horcrux, and malicious magic that Lestrange had cast on the wealth inside her vault triggered a large explosion inside the bank. Several ceilings fell, floors and walls crumbled, and multiple vaults were sealed away by massive amounts of stone. More than a hundred goblins and fourteen wizards were killed. Gringotts Bank closed that evening for the first time since the Blitz during World War II. (And remained closed for 48 hours).

Nagili (Maledictus). The snake had been made into a horcrux in the fall of 1994 in an attempt by Lord Voldemort to maintain control over the creature. Nagili remembered being human and she resented the Dark Lord's imposed control. She'd been satisfied with her life in the Albanian forest and had been forced from her comfortable burrow after Tom Riddle's spirit invaded her. In the graveyard, Nagili was crushed by the wall of stone just before the cauldron explodes. The piece of Riddle's soul inside the Maledictus is freed by her death and dissipates.

Dark Mark. With the destruction of the last two horcruxes in the graveyard, the soul of the Dark Lord had a tenuous anchor to the mortal realm through the tattoos on the arm of every Death Eater. When the Dark Lord Rat called for each of his followers to give him magic to help him, that put each Death Eater's magic into a queue to continuously filter pieces of their magic to support the homunculus.

Emboldened by the feeling of magical power arriving from his followers, Dark Lord Rat approached captive Harry Potter and attempted to touch his face just after Snape and MacNair appeared in the graveyard. The threat of Dark Lord Rat to Harry triggered the protections provided by Lily Potter and the Goblet of fire. The wall of stone smashed the homunculus backwards where MacNair's axe blade chopped him in two and Snape's potions set them all on fire.

Without any anchors to hold him to the world of the living, the spirit of the Dark Lord raged and struggled by sucking magic from every Death Eater in Britain. Tom Riddle's demand for power from his followers overloaded the tattoo on the arm of every living Death Eater and caused the Dark Marks to explode.

CHANGE SCENE ###