Chapter 16: The Dark Lord's Return
It happened in just a moment. Alastor Moody roughly grabbed the black haired boy as he walked by the teacher's doorway and drug him into his office, the student crying out loudly for help. With a gesture from the staff Moody carried, a barrier of pulsing blue energy sprung into being around the doorway. Those students who happened to be in the corridor at that exact moment backed away in a panic.
"Stand aside, you fools!" snapped an irate Severus Snape, who just happened to have been entering the corridor when it happened, the teacher roughly pushing past those students two slow to get out of his way. With a flourish of his wand, the dark robed wizard sent several bursts of magic towards the barrier. Despite the Potions Master's apparent best attempts, however, the barrier of magic held.
Cursing audibly, Severus Snape watched through the magical wall separating them as inside the professor's office, the figure of Professor Moody grabbed a large crystalline cup, the trophy for the winner of the Tri-wizard Tournament. The crippled former auror and his victim disappeared together in a flash characteristic of port-key travel. That should have been impossible from within Hogwarts without the permission of the Headmaster of the school.
Severus quickly waved his wand, incanting the phrase, "Expecto patronum." A silver-white doe formed out of the mist and waited silently. "Go to the Headmaster and inform him that Alastor Moody has abducted Harry Potter and has escaped the school grounds via portkey." With a nod of its head in acknowledgment, the majestic creature turned and bounded away, disappearing through the walls of the castle, bearing Snape's message.
Severus stood a moment longer, looking at the doorway where the boy and the one who had taken him had just been, before muttering to himself. "I told the old fool to kick Moody out. But as usual, he didn't listen to me, and now…"
With his fists clenched, Snape stalked away from the scene.
.
In a graveyard far from Hogwarts castle, a ritual was about to begin.
"Bind him," commanded a raspy voice.
Peter Pettigrew, holding the grotesquely deformed infant body inhabited by the Dark Lord moved to obey, but before he could take more than a couple steps, the newly arrived Alastor Moody quickly tossed the boy with the lightning scar against a large, gnarled tree, where skeletal ribs quickly extended to trap the boy.
"There, master, I have delivered the boy to you," Moody said, bowing low.
"Very good, Barty, very good," Voldemort praised, while Pettigrew seethed at being upstaged in performing the task. "But first, return to your own form, my faithful servant. I wish you to see my triumph with your own eyes."
"Yes master," Alastor said, before pulling a silver flask from his jacket and gulping down a mouthful of its contents. Within moments, the visage of the grizzled auror was replaced by that of a youthful face whose eyes shone with fanatical zealotry. With the transformation complete, Barty Crouch Jr. bowed low before the infant form of the Dark Lord. "Thank you master."
"Now, Wormtail, begin the ritual."
The young man tied up to the tree struggled as the wizard who had betrayed James Potter brought the knife to the boy's flesh and cut into his arm. Pettigrew's expression was a mixture of sadism and insanity as he drained the blood from the child of his best friend. Harry, for his part, whimpered and cried out as he was cut and was forced to watch as the rest of the resurrection ritual was performed. The boy cringed and closed his eyes when Pettigrew sliced off his own hand to complete the formula.
And then Lord Voldemort rose up out of the cauldron, the infant sacrificed for his return no more, and the fully adult dark wizard walked the world in the flesh once again. It was a nightmare come true.
"Robe me," the dark wizard demanded, and Pettigrew complied, placing the dark robe over the pale body of his master and handing Tom Riddle's old wand back to him.
"He's back!" the boy trapped by the bones sobbed. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back!"
With a crow of triumph, Voldemort looked to the sky and fired a bolt of dark magic into the air, creating the deathly skull mark over the graveyard where he had been reborn. "Yes, Harry Potter, I am back, and just as powerful as ever! Wormtail, give me your arm…"
Instead of healing his follower's pained arm, as his willing servant first supposed, the dark wizard instead used Pettigrew's Dark Mark on his other arm to summon his followers back to him, painfully digging his wand into the pitiful man's flesh. After several minutes, there were several pops of apparition as one by one, the loyal Death Eaters returned to their master's service. Only then did Voldemort give Wormtail a magical silver hand to replace the one he had sacrificed. Each of the Death Eaters wore the black robes and magical mask of their dark order. Slowly, they formed a circle around the resurrected Dark Lord, whose pale, serpentine face and red eyes compelled their subservience.
Voldemort named his Inner Circle in turn, taking their masks from their faces and then harshly chided them for not being active in bringing about his return. Only Barty Crouch Jr. was spared Voldemort's displeasure. His anger caused his followers to fall to their knees, fearing what the Dark Lord would do them for their perceived failures. It was then that Tom Marvolo Riddle changed tact, instead of punishing them, he waved his arms as if erasing the past.
"But all will be forgiven. For I am a gracious lord. And today you will all bear witness to the world of my return, and of my ultimate strength." Voldemort turned away from his followers to address the captive Harry Potter, drawing the attention of his audience to the cowering boy. "I had wanted to wait until the Tri-Wizard Tournament's conclusion to whisk you away, right under Dumbledore's very nose, but since you were too cowardly to compete, I have been forced to move up my timetable." Turning once more to his Death Eaters, Voldemort raised his hands in a grand, triumphant gesture. "Nevertheless, I have bound my enemy, and will crush him before you!"
This announcement was met with cheers from the assembled Death Eaters.
Harry Potter wailed. "W-wait, please…" the boy struggled futilely against his bonds, tears running down his face.
"You see!" Voldemort jeered. "Is this the great Savior so many thought could equal me? This pathetic, sniveling boy? How could something so weak defeat me, the greatest wizard of all time?" Voldemort paused, letting his words sink in. "Oh, I readily admit that I did err, when I attempted to take his life as an infant. There was Old Magic at play, something I should have seen, but neglected in my haste. And I couldn't touch the boy, and so, it was I who was destroyed. But…no matter," Voldemort said as he approached Harry and reached his hand out to squeeze the boy's face. "I can touch him now!"
"N-no, please, d-don't" the boy stammered out a weak protest.
The Death Eaters all laughed, some mocking the boy's fear, imitating his voice.
"Now, now, we must be fair. Harry Potter is bound and wandless. It is understandable that he, a mere boy would be unmanned, as it were, in my presence and especially in such hopeless circumstances. So, let me make this fair. Crouch. Release Potter and give him back his wand." Barty Crouch Junior bowed, then walked over to where Harry was, made a gesture with his hands, and the bone prison released its captive.
"It will all be over soon," Barty said with a leer and stepped a few paces away from the boy.
"Now then you, my most loyal servant, come to join me at my side in a place of honor!" Voldemort said, as Harry crawled pitifully on the ground away from the Dark Lord, not even making an attempt to retrieve the wand that had been thrown a few feet in front of him.
"Well, I think I'm going to have to say 'no' to that one," Barty Crouch Jr. answered. "I have to say, the idea of joining your little group is more than I can actually stomach."
Shocked silence reigned over the cemetery.
Everything went still for a moment. "What did you say?" Voldemort asked, unable to believe his ears.
"I said, that you're a bleeding maggot, and I'd rather cut off my other leg than get your filthy mark tattooed on my arm. Oh, and by the way, that ain't Harry Potter who was crawling away from you a minute ago." Barty tossed a small flask towards the cringing boy on the ground. "Drink up ya dog, your job is secure for another decade at least, I'd wager."
The boy with the lightning scar on his forehead gratefully grabbed the potion and quaffed it down in a gulp. Seconds later, the form of the boy was replaced with that of a man. An old man, familiar to everyone in the graveyard.
Gasps and hisses rang out from the assembled Death Eaters.
Argus Filch gagged. "Albus never said anything about—" before he could finish, the portkey on the bottle he was holding was triggered, and the school caretaker was whisked away.
"That's what the Confundus charm we put on you was for, so you couldn't blab, you cantakerous fool," Barty muttered to himself, before pulling out a bottle of Unpolyjuice Potion for himself. Seconds later, the form of Barty Crouch Jr. was replaced once again with Alastor Moody's original form. "Any trick a dark wizard can pull, I can do twice as well, you dunderheads! Constant Vigilance!"
And with that code phrase, an eruption of white light appeared behind Alastor Moody. Behind him stood the fully assembled Order of the Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore himself apparating in right beside the man.
"No! No! Where is Potter?!" Voldemort screamed out.
"Right here!" Harry responded, stepping out from behind Moody.
"You alright, there Harry?" Albus asked. "Your first time with side-along Apparition can be disorienting."
"I'm fine, sir." He said, his wand already trained on his foes, who had also all drawn their wands. Turning his head slightly to the side, Harry gave an appreciative nod to Alastor. "That was bloody brilliant, Professor! But I kind of feel sorry for Filch."
"Nah, don't worry about it. That man deserved at least that much for the hell he puts students through each year. At least he was good for something. Now let's see if you can put to good use all that I've been teaching you since I was rescued."
"So, Tom," Dumbledore said, stepping forward with boldness. "You have returned, as expected. You should have stayed Vanquished."
"YOU! This is all your fault!" Voldemort screamed at Dumbledore.
"Oh, hardly so. I must admit, much of this charade was my idea, but originally I had planned for Miss Tonks to be the one to impersonate the Boy-Who-Lived." Albus inclined his head at Nymphadora Tonks who curtsied towards the evil Death Eaters. "It was Harry's rather brilliant idea to give you the blood of a squib instead."
"You're welcome," Harry said with a grin.
With a shrill squeal of frustration, Voldemort unleashed a destructive curse towards his enemies, only for the attack to be repelled by a golden dome erected by Dumbledore. And then the battle began in earnest, both sides launching spells at each other.
Dumbledore stood confidently against Voldemort, trading spell for spell, countering everything the Dark Lord threw at him. "You cannot stand against me, Headmaster, even newly reborn I have become more than a match for you. While I have gained in power, you are growing old, and feeble."
"I may be growing old, Tom, but you still have much to learn before you have any chance to best me. Between myself and Harry Potter, you are outmatched. You put up a decent fight, but you cannot hope to last in strength," Dumbledore paused briefly, a sly smile playing about his lips as he brandished his wand, "against an elder and a child of prophesy."
At those words, Voldemort visibly snarled. He redoubled his efforts, bringing forth a flaming serpent, only for the attack to be countered by a river of water in the shape of a dragon.
On the rest of the battlefield, the Order of the Phoenix fought valiantly, holding nearly even with Inner Circle of the Death Eaters. It was Lucius Malfoy who changed the course of the battle. The white-blond haired patriarch hissed an order that redirected the Death Eater attack. "Take out the boy! Ignore the others!"
Nott, Goyle, and Crabbe formed up as an offensive unit and hurled vicious curses towards Harry in tandem. The Order Members, who had been careful to spread their shielding duties around evenly, were unprepared for the shift in attack. It would prove to be the pivotal moment of the battle.
It was in that moment that Harry showed he didn't need the Order to protect him. "Protego Maximus!" Harry shouted as he stepped forward, leaving the protection of his allies' group shield, marching head-on for the spear-head of wizards targeting him. The golden shield that sprung up around him deflected their combined attacks, surprising nearly everyone present. And then Harry counter-attacked with triple combination of spells one after another. "BOMBARDA! CONFRINGO!" The first two spells smashed aside their defenses. "REDUCTO!" On the third spell, Harry brought his hand and wand forward together in a motion as if sweeping aside all before him. The spell blasted all four of his opponents completely out of the field of battle, the force of the spell ripping up the area of the graveyard, sending gravestones, dirt, and even dead bodies flying backwards away from him.
All the fighting other than Voldemort and Dumbledore came to standstill as the combatants took stock of what had just happened. A young boy had just overpowered four adult wizards and devastated the battleground.
"Holy Merlin!" Tonks spoke for everyone.
Seeing his force suddenly weakened, Voldemort fled, disappearing with a crack of apparition. The remaining Death Eaters bugged out as well.
Dumbledore was by Harry's side in an instant, clapping him on the back before putting his arm around Harry and standing beside him. "Well done, Harry! Well done!" Then the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Headmaster of Hogwarts turned to the rest of the Order as the group looked at the pair of powerful wizards standing side bye side. "Well done everyone! We have won this first battle."
Then to Harry alone he added, "Now let's go back, and win this war."
Author's Note: Yes, this story is now officially off hiatus. There is no specific schedule, but it shouldn't be too long before the next chapter is out. Please read and review!