Chapter 164
Barty Crouch Jr. pressed deeper into the cave, each step carrying him farther into the choking darkness. The strange voice that had spoken earlier fell silent for a time, swallowed by the stone and the gloom.
Peter followed slowly behind, tentative and watchful.
Suddenly, without warning, a massive serpent ten meters long slithered up and began to coil tightly around the feet of both men. The sound that rose from the depths this time was different: softer, almost coaxing, threaded with an odd, sickly gentleness.
"…Come forward… Junior… Come inside…."
Barty moved as if compelled, unconsciously stepping toward the cave's maw. What he saw next stole the breath from him.
The hollow opened into a pit strewn with unicorn corpses, their silvered flanks pierced and blackened, thorny brambles clutching at the edges of the space like grasping fingers. In the center of that macabre clearing lay something even stranger: a doughy, paste-like mass amber and brown, gelatinous in texture shaped around a single, tiny eye.
The blob stirred and oozed toward him, making small, intermittent noises as it advanced.
"Junior… where have you been all this time?" the thing croaked.
At the sound of the voice faint, warped but unmistakable Barty's face crumpled with relief. "My lord," he blurted, rushing forward. "I'm sorry, my lord. I could not help you I was taken and imprisoned in Azkaban!"
A heavy stillness fell over the cavern. The gelatinous form pulsed and answered, its tone flat and hungry. "…Is that so… Then you must help me, Junior… I need… a temporary body… I must resume our plan…!"
Nagini, coiled nearby, hissed and rasped toward the thing, her tongue flicking through the air.
"Ss-s-s…sssss," the serpent breathed.
Voldemort this jelly-like incarnation turned its speech toward Barty. "Junior… did you bring anyone with you? Nagini… you could not tell because he disguised himself… he is an Animagus…"
Barty replied quickly, "No he is Wormtail. He came with me to search for you, my lord."
Despite its degraded form, Voldemort still controlled Nagini; with a word it could command her, and now it ordered Wormtail to come forward.
Barty sank lower, trying to kneel before his master; he dared not be presumptuous, but Voldemort's mood soured at the movement.
"Stand," the voice rasped. "What do you command us to do?"
The gelatinous thing spat toward a fissure on its right. "I feel… a human spirit… female… in the forest. She carries… something. We must… kill her… and place my soul… inside her unborn child… so I may live. This gelatinous form… will not endure until tomorrow."
Barty had not expected there to be any living person in that forest. Though he knew his master was weak, he also knew Voldemort was not easily found or predictable.
"Shall we strike now, my lord?" Barty asked, voice tight.
"Yes," Voldemort hissed, voice suddenly thin and urgent. "If possible… today… before tomorrow. The ritua
l… leave that to me…"
To be continued...