Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness. He held up his hands and flexed the fingers, his expression rapt and exultant. He took not the slightest notice of MacNair, who lay twitching and bleeding on the ground, nor of the great snake, which had slithered back into sight and was circling Harry again, hissing.
Harry remembered what Dumbledore had told him about Lord Voldemort three years ago after the Philosopher's stone fiasco. 'Lord Voldemort shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies.'
He put a hand in the pocket of his robes and took out a wand before giving it a flick as if trying it out. He scowled before glaring at Harry. Harry would've smirked in response if not for the gag on his mouth. He had broken Voldemort's wand when Pettigrew had been found and threw it in the fire. It was likely that Voldemort was using a wand that didn't suit him. But, to be frank, a semi-compatible wand would hardly matter to someone of Voldemort's caliber, but it would definitely give Harry some edge.
The second man kneeled at Voldemort's feet and kissed the hem of his robes.
"Master," He said reverently.
"Augustus, your arm please," Voldemort said and Harry blinked in shock. Augustus? Augustus Rookwood? The man had died in Azkaban a few months ago!
Rookwood held his left arm out and rolled his left sleeve up to his elbow. Even in the little light, Harry could clearly see the dark mark on the man's pale skin: a vivid greenish-black tattoo - a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.
"It is back," Voldemort said softly, mirroring Harry's thoughts. "they will all have noticed it... and now, we shall see... now we shall know..." He pressed his long white forefinger to the brand on Rookwood's arm. The man screamed in pain and... pleasure as the mark was touched.
With a look of cruel satisfaction on his face, Voldemort straightened up, threw back his head, and stared around at the dark graveyard. "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" he whispered, his gleaming red eyes fixed upon the stars. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"
He looked down at Harry again, a cruel smile twisting his snakelike face before coming closer. Harry saw him discreetly waving his wand and erecting a privacy dome.
"You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father," he hissed softly. "A Muggle and a fool... very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death..." Voldemort laughed again. Up and down he paced, careful to remain in the confines of his privacy dome, looking all around him as he walked, and the snake continued to circle in the grass.
"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was... He didn't like magic, my father... He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter. And she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage... but I vowed to find him... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name... Tom Riddle..."
Still, he paced, his red eyes darting from grave to grave. "Listen to me, reliving family history..." he said quietly, "why, I am growing quite sentimental... But look, Harry! My true family returns..."
The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were Apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. And one by one they moved forward... slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robes. "Master... Master..." he murmured.
The Death Eaters behind him did the same; each of them approached Voldemort on their knees and kissed his robes, before backing away and standing up, forming a silent circle, which enclosed Tom Riddle's grave, Harry, Voldemort, and the sobbing and twitching heap that was MacNair. Yet they left gaps in the circle, as though waiting for more people.
Voldemort, however, did not seem to expect more. He looked around at the hooded faces, and though there was no wind rustling seemed to run around the circle, as though it had shivered.
"Welcome, Death Eaters," said Voldemort quietly. "Thirteen years... thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"
He put back his terrible face and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening. "I smell guilt," he said. "There is a stench of guilt upon the air." A second shiver ran around the circle, as though each member of it longed, but did not dare to step back from him. "I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact - such prompt appearances! And I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"
No one spoke. No one moved except MacNair, who was upon the ground, still sobbing over his bleeding arm. "And I answer myself," whispered Voldemort, "they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, ignorance, and bewitchment..."
Harry was getting seriously bored by the monologue but had nothing better to do. He was tied to a fucking headstone by magic-restraining ropes and gagged. Tom Riddle continued his monologue, expressing his disappointment in his followers. He even placed Avery Senior under the cruciatus for a whole minute when he had suddenly flung himself in Voldemort's feet, begging for forgiveness.
Harry ideally noted how much control Voldemort truly had over his Death Eaters. No one dared move a muscle when he walked near or spoke. No one moved a bit when he Crucioed Avery and the man screamed in pain neither did someone move to help MacNair who was bleeding out on the ground
"—repayment before I forgive you. MacNair here has already paid some of it, haven't you, MacNair?" Voldemort asked rhetorically. "And Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers..."
Voldemort raised his wand again and whirled it through the air. A streak of what looked like molten silver hung shining in the wand's wake. Momentarily shapeless, it writhed and then formed itself into a gleaming replica of a human hand, bright as moonlight, which soared downward and fixed itself upon the man's wrist.
Harry recognized the spell immediately. It was a Parselmagic spell invented by Salazar for giving Godric Gryffindor two fingers that he had lost. It was present in the outer library of the chamber as well. The problem with the spell was that the one who made it could control it to a certain degree if needed or fix certain functions.
MacNair's sobbing stopped abruptly. His breathing harsh and ragged, he raised his head and stared in disbelief at the silver hand, now attached seamlessly to his arm, as though he were wearing a dazzling glove. He flexed the shining fingers, then, trembling, picked up a small twig on the ground and crushed it into powder. "My Lord," he whispered. "Master... it is beautiful... thank you... thank you..." He scrambled forward on his knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.
"May your loyalty never waver again, Walden," Voldemort ordered.
"Never, my lord!" He stood up and took his place in the circle, staring at his powerful new hand, his face still shining with tears. Voldemort now approached the man on his right.
"Lucius, my slippery friend," he whispered, halting before him. "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius... Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... even if they were unsuccessful... but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"
"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," came Lucius Malfoy's voice swiftly from beneath the hood. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me -"
"And yet you ran from my Mark when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?" said Voldemort lazily, and Malfoy stopped talking abruptly. "Yes, I know all about that, Lucius... You have disappointed me... I expect more faithful service in the future."
"Of course, my Lord, of course... You are merciful, thank you..." Voldemort moved on, and stopped, staring at the space - large enough for two people - that separated Malfoy and the next man.
"The Lestranges should stand here," said Voldemort quietly. "But they are entombed in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me... The Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams when Azkaban is broken open. The dementors will join us... they are our natural allies... we will recall the banished giants... I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear..."
Harry would've rubbed his hands in glee had they not been tied. Voldemort was giving away his plans like candy on Halloween!
Voldemort addressed the Death Eaters one by one and Harry noted all of their names in his mind. It was vital information. He had to know his enemies especially in a war
He finally stopped before addressing Rookwood and looked behind the man. For the first time, Harry, and the Death Eaters it seemed, noticed six figures lying on the ground with a white blanket covering them.
"My loyal servants, who answered my call when I needed it the most... all of whom were martyred trying to secure my return... It is due to their sacrifice that I stand here today... along with Augustus's impressive enchantments, MacNair's sacrifice, and the aid of one of my most loyal servants who made it all possible. He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight..."
Heads snapped in Harry's direction.
"Yes," said Voldemort, a grin curling his lipless mouth as the eyes of the circle flashed in Harry's direction. "Harry Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call him my guest of honor."
With a flick of his wand, he removed Harry's gag who breathed in deeply.
"Master, we crave to know... we beg you to tell us... how you have achieved this... this miracle... how you managed to return to us..." Lucius Malfoy said, giving Harry time to adjust his bearings.
"Ah, what a story it is, Lucius," said Voldemort. "And it begins - and ends - with my young friend here." He walked lazily over to stand next to Harry so that the eyes of the whole circle were upon the two of them. The snake continued to circle. "You know, of course, that they have called this boy my downfall?" Voldemort said softly, his red eyes upon Harry, "You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill him. His mother died in the attempt to save him - and unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen... I could not touch the boy." Voldemort raised one of his long white fingers and put it very close to Harry's cheek. "His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice... This is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it... but no matter. I can touch him now."
Harry felt the cold tip of the long white finger touch him, "Pervert." He muttered before saying out loud, "But, the fact remains, you got outwitted by a mere muggleborn. How does it feel to be outwitted by someone whom you considered a low-life?"
"I admit, I made a mistake in not recognizing the sacrificial magic that your mother performed that night and I paid for it... but you, Harry Potter, have been a thorn in my side for the past four years."
"My pleasure," Harry mocked and Voldemort seemed amused rather than angry at his jabs.
"For a person who is tied, restrained, and surrounded by enemies, you seem overly confident, Harry Potter... Though, then again, I will give it to you that you are a capable wizard. Much better than I anticipated when I saw you in your first year! Indeed, a fully corporeal Patronus at thirteen, Under-18 world dueling champion, the one who single-handedly caught eleven of my Death Eaters without a scratch, Chimera slayer, the youngest winner of Order of Merlin: First class, killer of assassins, and as of moments ago, the winner of the fabled Triwizard Tournament." Voldemort said, glancing at the Triwizard cup that was lying a few meters away.
"For an ex-wraith, you seem to be pretty up to date with the news," Harry noted.
"So, I am going to give you an offer that I, Lord Voldemort, have never given to anyone. Join my ranks as my second-in-command!" He declared grandly.
Harry blinked in shock. Okay, this was an unexpected turn of events. Something he had never anticipated in the wildest of his dreams.
"Think carefully, Harry Potter. You are the first and probably the last person to receive such an offer, that too twice that too, at such a young age!"
"A most wonderful offer," Harry said with sarcasm dripping from his tone. "But, I'll have to decline it."
"A pity and waste of such potential when I would kill you then," Voldemort told Harry before turning to his Death Eaters. "You see my friends? The defiance of this fool who dares stand in front of Lord Voldemort?"
The Death Eaters laughed in unison, but Harry could hear the hesitation in it. He smirked. "We've met thrice till date and I remember you losing every time, Voldemort."
Voldemort turned to him, his red eyes narrowing as his slit-like nostrils flared. "You dare intone my name?" He hissed.
"What, Voldemort? French for the word Flight from Death and a stupid anagram for To—" Harry moved his mouth to speak further but no sound came from it. Voldemort had used a silencing charm on him.
"I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon me. Aaah... pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it..." The dark Lord started to monologue again, telling about his pitiful condition once he was ripped from his body thirteen years ago on Halloween night. He told them how he survived by possessing snakes. Finally, he came to the events in Harry's first year.
"Then... four years ago... the means for my return seemed assured. A wizard - young, foolish, and gullible wandered across my path in the forest I had made my home. Oh, he seemed the very chance I had been dreaming of... for he was a teacher at Dumbledore's school... he was easy to bend to my will... he brought me back to this country, and after a while, I took possession of his body, to supervise him closely as he carried out my orders. But my plan failed. I did not manage to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I was not to be assured immortal life. I was thwarted... thwarted, once again, by Harry Potter..."
Silence once more; nothing was stirring, not even the leaves on the yew tree. The Death Eaters were quite motionless, the glittering eyes in their masks fixed upon Voldemort and Harry.
"The servant died when I left his body, and I was left as weak as ever I had been," Voldemort continued. "I returned to my hiding place far away, and I will not pretend to you that I didn't then fear that I might never regain my powers... Yes, that was perhaps my darkest hour... I could not hope that I would be sent another wizard to possess... and I had given up hope, now, that any of my Death Eaters cared what had become of me."
One or two of the Death Eaters in the circle moved uncomfortably, but Voldemort took no notice.
"And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last... a servant returned to me. MacNair here. My faithful servant. He came to search for me on the leads given by Peter Pettigrew, or Wormtail as we called him... my spy in Dumbledore's Order. MacNair met him in the ministry holding cell, where Pettigrew gave him all the information he had gathered over thirteen years in hiding. Wormtail is yet another of my loyal servants who is in Azkaban by the actions of Harry Potter." He said, glancing at Harry.
Harry, on the other hand, was feeling enraged. He should've killed the rat.
"MacNair acted on the information and immediately came to find me in the forests where Wormtail told him that I could be. After a month and a half of continuously searching, he finally found me! And, I started scheming. We decided to travel back to England first. But the journey back to me was not smooth, was it, MacNair? For, hungry one night, on the edge of the very forest where he had found me, he foolishly stopped at an inn for some food... and who should he meet there, but one Bertha Jorkins, a witch from the Ministry of Magic. " Voldemort narrated.
"Now see the way that fate favors Lord Voldemort. MacNair here convinced Bertha Jorkins to accompany him on a nighttime stroll. He overpowered her and brought her to me. And Bertha Jorkins proved to be a gift beyond my wildest dreams... with a little persuasion she became a veritable mine of information. She told me that the Triwizard Tournament would be played at Hogwarts this year. She told me that she knew of a faithful Death Eater who would be only too willing to help me if I could only contact him. She told me many things... but the means I used to break the Memory Charm upon her were powerful, and when I had extracted all useful information from her, her mind and body were both damaged beyond repair. She had now served her purpose. I could not possess her. I disposed of her."
Voldemort smiled his terrible smile, his red eyes blank and pitiless.
"MacNair, with my instructions, was able to provide me a rudimentary body of my own, a body I would be able to inhabit while awaiting the essential ingredients for true rebirth... a spell or two of my own invention... a little help from my dear Nagini," Voldemort's red eyes fell upon the continually circling snake,
"A potion concocted from unicorn blood, and the snake venom Nagini provided... I was soon returned to an almost human form, and strong enough to travel. There was no hope of stealing the Philosopher's Stone anymore, for I knew that Dumbledore would have seen to it that it was destroyed. But I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing immortality. I set my sights lower... I would settle for my old body back again, and my old strength."
"I knew that to achieve this - it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the potion that revived me tonight - I would need three powerful ingredients. Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not, MacNair? Flesh given by a servant... My father's bone, which naturally meant that we would have to come here, where he was buried. But the blood of a foe... the hardest part to obtain was that." He said, before fixing his eyes upon Harry.
"MacNair would have had me use any wizard, would you not, MacNair? Any wizard who had hated me... as so many of them still do. But I knew the one I must use if I was to rise again, more powerful than I had been when I had fallen. I wanted Harry Potter's blood. I wanted the blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago... for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too..."
Harry showed no reaction. His mother's protection was something that no one knew the potential of. But, Harry did know one thing. It laid equally in his magic, his blood, and his soul. That was what Harry and the Founders had theorized at least. The best, Harry estimated, was that Voldemort would not burn as he did in Harry's first year by a simple touch... which was a touch disappointing as Harry wanted to do it to Voldemort.
"But, how to get him? Potter was better protected than the greatest of treasures in the highest-security vaults of Gringotts. Dumbledore always ensured that. I was not yet strong enough to attempt to kidnap amid a horde of Ministry wizards when he went to the world cup or fight him myself in that form. And then, the boy would return to Hogwarts, where he is under the crooked nose of that Muggle-loving fool from morning until night. So how could I take him?"
"Why... by using Bertha Jorkins's information, of course! I went and rescued one of my faithful servants who had been locked away in his own mind and placed him at Hogwarts. He entered Potter's name in the goblet of fire. Potter, though used it as a perfect opportunity to showcase that by killing a Chimera. Then there was the whole assassination attempt carried out by someone on Potter at the ministry of magic as his award ceremony started. He killed several of the attackers single-handedly and was seen subduing Fiendfyre. That was when I decided, a normal trap for Potter won't do... I needed a specialist. Who better than Augustus, whose knowledge of magics is only second to me here..."
"So, I concocted yet another plan. MacNair went to the ministry and arranged matters which led him to go to Azkaban for a prison check to check on the werewolves inmates there. He confounded and obliviated the warden there and released Rookwood while replacing him with a golem... a replica of Augustus's body made by me which would give a result similar to that of a dead wizard when checked by magic. And so, Augustus Rookwood died for the world, but in reality, he came back to serve me and aid me to reach my previous power and herald the wizarding world into a new age!"
Harry had to admit that Voldemort knew how to make a speech. If he had been a teacher, he could've held even the most mischievous class in control better than Snape and McGonagall combined.
"Of course," Voldemort continued. "Even after Augustus was freed, he took a month to recover, and then, our work began. We laid wards... wards that would make Gringotts jealous. We even invented a special portkey ward... the ward which played a vital role in the capture of Harry Potter. The ward was meant to knock him out immediately. At least created with the intention that anyone portkeying in would be knocked out and petrified immediately. Unfortunately, when the rigged portkey, which was rigged by my spy at Hogwarts, brought Potter here, he fought the effect of the ward... likely the protection his mudblood mother put on him." Voldemort continued, shooting a look at Harry at the fighting part.
Harry immediately understood that Voldemort knew of his advanced occlumency. No person could've fought it without level seven occlumency for as long as Harry did. But, he doubted his theory, not believing it to be a possibility. He was still underestimating Harry.
'Good for me.' Harry thought to himself.
"Now, he would've been successful and I dare say, escaped successfully as soon as he came here. But, of course, I had backups. First, I had made the ward in such a way that it would continue knocking how many ever people came with the portkey till they were properly unconscious. It continued affecting the boy, fighting the protection bit by bit. I also had the foresight to have a backup in numbers to subdue Potter. Unfortunately, while they were successful, we lost five another of our comrades to Potter's wand. For that, I applaud you, Harry Potter." Here, Voldemort gave mocking applause while looking at Harry.
Harry understood what he was doing. He was proving to his Death Eaters that, despite all of Harry's accomplishments, Voldemort was still better. He was the top dog. He was asserting that he was the best.
Harry decided, that he would have to change that.
"So, Harry Potter. For the last time, I ask, will you join my forces. Your other options are of course... I torture you till you say yes and in case you still refuse... death. What do you say?"
Harry felt the silencing ward being removed.
"Fuck off." He replied.
"Crucio."
Harry immediately felt that his bones were on fire and knives were stabbing all over his body. It was pain beyond what he had ever experienced. But, through sheer will and mental strength, he overpowered through it and resisted the urge to scream. He just grunted.
The next moment, Voldemort lifted the curse. It was thankfully brief and won't affect him. Now, Harry needed to goad Voldemort into a fight and think of an escape plan.
Voldemort smirked coldly "What do you—"
He was cut short by a bark of laughter from Harry. Harry gave Voldemort a predatory look while grinning maniacally.
"Have you already lost your sanity from a single cruciatus, Potter?" Voldemort asked with amusement.
"No... I just love your fear Voldemort... you reek of fear and cowardice... And I love this fear."
"YOU DARE POTTER?"
"You are so afraid of facing me that you have me here, tied, unarmed, helpless, and surrounded by your men... and yet, and yet you are torturing me, trying to weaken me so when you kill me, I can't fight back and defeat you again," Harry said, making sure that everyone in the graveyard heard him. "And, I love this fear from you."
"You are afraid that I will make your curse rebound again like I did, thirteen years ago... you are afraid of facing me... and I love your fear. The great dark lord, trembling against the might of a fourteen-year-old." Harry laughed again mockingly. "See Death Eaters! Look at your mighty master! Afraid of me! Afraid to face a fourteen-year-old like a true wizard... Your master is nothing but a coward."
"Release him, MacNair," Voldemort hissed, his red eyes burning with fury. Harry could smell the magic from Voldemort.
"W-What M-master?"
"You heard me! Release Potter! I want to put this insolent boy in his place." Voldemort ordered, glaring at the man. A moment later, he turned to Harry as MacNair scrambled to untie him.
"After today, the world shall only talk about how you challenged me... and lost so badly, that you begged for death, and I, being a merciful Lord... gave it. You shall regret challenging me, Potter." He hissed.
Harry withheld his smirk. Now, he would be untied and have a chance to escape from here, hopefully after beating Voldemort up a bit and causing damage to his forces. Killing him would do no good at the moment because of the Horcruxes. At least, human Voldemort would be more manageable than spirit Voldemort. Harry decided to just intimidate Voldemort, scare the shit out of his followers, kill a few of them before escaping with his life intact somehow.
Skepticism among the ranks of death eaters and diminishing their trust in Voldemort's abilities could be a vital point for the war. After all, who would follow a leader who got beaten up by a fourteen-year-old willingly? Also, a blow to Voldemort's inner circle would cause a shift in his favor.
Also, Harry knew he couldn't face all the inner-circle Death Eaters and Voldemort at the same time. Voldemort was a Titan of Magic and a ruthless killer and his Death Eaters, especially most of the inner circle were no slouches in combat. And he had no idea of the limits of Voldemort's ritualistic body.
MacNair untied the ropes binding Harry to the gravestone and he immediately felt the sensation of his magic tingling through his body. He took a second to stabilize his magic throughout his body and shook off all remaining traces of the ward's magic from his mind. Next, he wandlessly applied a healing charm and numbing charm on his body. The cut that had been made to take his blood, started to heal and the sleeve repaired itself.
Out of the corner of his eyes, He saw the Death Eaters had closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around him and Voldemort so that the gaps where the missing Death Eaters should have stood were filled.
He mentally grinned. Deflecting Voldemort's curses on them would be fun.
"Give the boy his wand, MacNair," Voldemort ordered, now standing a respectable distance away for a duel. Harry mentally noted that it was a little more than the official distance before official duels began in International Dueling Championships.
"No need, Voldemort. I'll do it myself." Harry said before wandlessly summoning his wand to his hand. Voldemort raised his non-existent eyebrows at the display of wandless magic. Harry, on the other hand, relished in the feeling of being reunited with his wand as it thrummed with magic, ready for the fight to come. He opened his eyes, which were the glowing emerald green of the killing curse, and swished his wand through the air discreetly conjuring invisible butterflies.
He walked a little towards his right so that he was facing Voldemort properly.
"Let us match, the powers of the great Harry Potter, versus the power of Lord Voldemort. I presume you've been taught how to duel, Harry?"
"I am the under-18 international dueling champion, you idiot. I know how to duel." Harry replied dryly as Voldemort's slit-like nostrils flared.
"We bow to each other. Harry," said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. "Come, the niceties must be observed... Dumbledore would like you to show manners... Bow to death, Harry..."
The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort's lipless mouth was smiling.
"I don't bow to a low life like you, Voldemort," Harry simply replied.
"IMPERIO! Bow to me!"
Harry felt the imperious curse wash over him, more powerful than he had ever experienced. A lesser wizard would have succumbed to it but not Harry. He just flipped Voldemort the bird in response.
The laughing from the Death Eaters stopped abruptly. No one had expected Harry to shrug off the imperious curse from the dark lord in less than a second.
Voldemort became even more enraged at that and intoned, "I SAID BOW!" An invisible force leaped out of Voldemort's wand towards Harry. Harry felt the power behind it and instantly nullified it wordlessly. He was not going to bow to Voldemort, come what may. He won't give Voldemort the satisfaction.
"Now, if your pathetic attempts to make me bow are over, shall we duel?" Harry asked in a calm and inquisitive tone.
"CRUCIO!" Voldemort roared. Harry intercepted the Cruciatus in the nick of time with an invisible butterfly near to his chest and stood still, looking at Voldemort. To all, it looked like he had been hit with the cruciatus and yet was standing as if nothing had happened. Even Voldemort's eyes widened.
"Ouch," Harry said just to be nice.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" This time, Voldemort shot a killing curse. Harry knew he had intimidated Voldemort by now. As the killing curse sped towards him, he brought yet another invisible butterfly to intercept the spell, similar to how he had intercepted the cruciatus. The poor butterfly died instantly. But the job had been done.
Harry could see the fear in Voldemort's red eyes. He was afraid of Harry.
Harry grinned.
"Zero out of three. My turn now." Harry said and slashed his wand, shooting three curses in a single. A gouging curse followed by a heart-exploding curse and finally a blood-acid curse. Voldemort flicked his wand and erected a shield to stop the curses. Three gongs resonated throughout the graveyard as Harry's spells impacted the shield.
"Impressive, Potter. I see you have learned some tricks. Now, let me show you true power." Saying so, Voldemort flicked his wand shooting a torrent of hot flames towards Harry who met it with a huge ball of water, extinguishing the flames. He flicked his wand again, turning the water into ice spikes which shot at Voldemort who vaporized the ice spikes into steam with a single movement of his wand before shooting two spells in Harry's direction.
Harry deflected the spells, though none hit the Death Eaters behind him. Pity.
He started shooting spells at Voldemort in rapid succession. "Piercio, Conlido, Expelliarmus, Fio Extrailis, Frascia, Confringo, Os Fragmentum, Brazo Sanguis, Defodio."
Voldemort gracefully deflected the first three spells before erecting a shield to stop the Entrail-Extracting curse. The next moment, the shield was shattered as Harry's shield-breaker and the Blasting curse impacted it. Voldemort barely dodged the bone-breaker aimed at his neck before deflecting the blood-boiling curse and the gouging spell. The Gouging spell hit the ground leaving a small crater while the blood-boiling curse rushed towards where Augustus Rookwood was standing who unfortunately was quick enough to shield against it.
Voldemort jabbed his wand in Harry's direction, shooting a black colored spell at Harry who recognized it as a spell that would burn him inside out. He immediately deflected the spell out of the way and shot a wordless killing curse at Voldemort. From behind him, he heard a small boom followed by a blood-curling scream. He didn't bother to look behind as he knew that one of the Death Eaters was killed by the deflected spell.
Voldemort meanwhile intercepted Harry's killing curse by raising a wall of dirt in front of him.
"My, my Harry. Such Dark spells... what would Dumbledore say?"
"He would say, 'Pity it didn't hit Voldemort.'" Harry replied before brandishing his wand in Voldemort's direction. The ground at Voldemort's feet rumbled and the Dark Lord flew up in the air in the nick of time as a huge Serpent head made of soil emerged from where he was the next moment, its jaws snapping at him. Voldemort looked down and shot two blasting curses at the mud-creation, destroying it before shooting an orange-colored spell in Harry's direction... or where Harry was a moment ago.
Voldemort blinked in confusion for a moment as his curse hit the ground, and melted a small crater in the ground. A second later, he instinctively raised a powerful silvery shield as spells rained down upon him from above. Voldemort looked up and saw that Harry too was floating in the air, shooting spells at him.
He roared and launched a flurry of spells at Harry who dodged and deflected it before launching a shockwave in Voldemort's direction. Voldemort immediately shielded against the shockwave before returning fire.
Harry's magic thrummed as he battled Voldemort in mid-air. It was the deadliest and toughest fight he had ever been in. He was being pushed to his limits as he kept up with Voldemort who was incredibly fast. Voldemort's ritualistic body was much faster than humanly possible as he dodged and shot powerful spells. Harry also noticed the Death Eaters below had erected bunker shields to protect themselves and their companions from the spell-fire.
Voldemort shot four powerful blasting curses in Harry's direction. Harry just flew out of the way and allowed the spells to sail harmlessly past him. He brandished his wand like a whip and a whip of lightning flew at Voldemort and wrapped around his torso. The man was unaffected by it and in a blink of an eye, he converted the whip wrapped around him into two Black mambas which flew towards Harry, slithering in mid-air.
Harry responded by cutting each snake into three pieces with a single spell and transfiguring each into a metal spike before banishing the spikes at Voldemort. Voldemort moved his wand in a circle and the six spikes melted to form a metal shield and intercepted Harry's Confringo which had followed.
Voldemort whipped his wand and a dozen arrows flew towards Harry who burnt them all to ashes with a gust of flames before shooting a severing curse, a bone breaker, and a skin melting curse while wandlessly sending a banishing charm at Voldemort. Voldemort deflected the three curses but the wandless banishing charm from Harry caught Voldemort in the shoulder and he was sent sprawling onto the ground.
Voldemort hissed in pain before rolling out of the way as a killing curse hit the ground where he was a few milliseconds ago. He immediately jumped to his feet and ducked under a peach-colored curse unknown to him before erecting a shield, stopping the next set of spells shot at him.
Harry too landed on the ground and dodged as Voldemort shot some nasty spells in his direction. Harry started to gather the magic from the air and slashed his wand downwards shooting a powerful bolt of lightning at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort immediately raised an elemental shield to stop the bolt of lightning but, the sheer power behind it sent him skidding a couple of feet back. But, the shield held. He dropped it and shot a Coma curse followed by an organ-melting curse.
Harry deflected them with ease before shooting a Reducto at Voldemort. The spell clashed with a lung-shredding curse from Voldemort and both were deflected towards the circle of Death Eaters around the two. The spells hit the bunker shields that had been put up by the Death Eaters, protecting them from death.
Voldemort roared and shot tendrils of lightning at Harry. The spell was made to hit multiple opponents at once but he had directed all of it towards Harry.
Harry swung his wand like a lasso, redirecting the lethal lightning thrown at him towards some of the surrounding Death Eaters while amplifying it with the magical energy in the air. The lightning tore through a shield and impacted two of the Death Eaters, one of whom was Walden MacNair, killing them instantly. Two more shield charms cracked but there wasn't enough juice in the spell left to kill the Death Eaters behind it.
Harry didn't have time to celebrate victory as he had to dive to the side to avoid a cruciatus curse. he rolled to his feet and barely avoided a bone-breaker that would have broken his wand arm. He immediately shot a fireball at Voldemort who deflected it to a side where it went off with a small boom.
Voldemort shot a cutting curse, a bone breaker, a coma curse, a conjunctivitis curse, and a Sledgehammer curse in his direction. Harry deflected them all except the Sledgehammer curse which hit Harry in the chest and sent him flying backward.
Harry rolled out of the way of a severing curse and got to his feet again, wincing in pain. Had it not been for his armor, he would've been out of commission now. He erected a shield to protect himself from the next curses Voldemort was firing. He waved his wand and chanted in Greek under his breath before jabbing his wand in the Dark Lord in front of him. The smell of ozone filled the graveyard.
Voldemort's eyes widened and he jumped out of the way, flying several feet just as a huge bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, creating a huge crater in the ground where Voldemort had stood not a second ago. He rolled to his feet.
"Enough of your games Potter!" Voldemort roared before swinging his wand around in an elaborate fashion. Harry could feel the magic saturating in the air. "MORTUI RESURGANT VOCO INFERI" Voldemort intoned jabbing his wand towards the ground.
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Voldemort was doing. The ground rumbled and several graves were blasted open.
"OUR LORD HAS RAISED INFERI! SHIELD YOURSELF!" Rookwood ordered the Death Eaters and most of them immediately covered themselves with a Dome Shield.
Almost eerily, like shown in horror films, skeletal hands raised from the graves and zombie-like bodies crawled out of their graves. They had pale white skin and white orbs for eyes. Their bones were visible clearly. The Inferi, dozens of them, started crawling towards Harry.
"PROTEGO DIABOLICA!" Harry roared, swinging his wand in a circular motion above his head. A circle of Eldritch blue flames sprang out at the feet of the Death Eaters forming the circle. They had widened the gap to let the Inferi pass. Just as the first Inferi were about to enter the circle, the flames sprang up, burning them to ashes as soon as it touched them. Most of the Death Eaters had enough time to protect themselves from the fire due to the shield and jumped back. Except one who had failed to erect the shield and was burnt by the flames as soon as they touched him. The woman shouted shrilly as she was turned to ashes.
"NO!" A man's shout was heard as the woman turned to ashes. Harry couldn't see who the man was under the mask but he assumed that he was likely the husband or something of the woman who had died. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The man roared and the sickly green light of the killing curse sped towards Harry. He raised an eyebrow and intercepted the spell with another invisible butterfly before shooting a killing curse of his own at the man.
The killing curse tore through the dome shield and hit the man square in the chest, killing him instantly.
A moment later, Harry heard clapping. He turned to see Voldemort applauding him.
"Bravo Harry. I am impressed, I must say... Such power... and knowledge at such a young age. I offer you again, for the last time. Join me. The things we would achieve together..."
"I am sorry, but the destruction of the world is not something I would count as an achievement," Harry replied dryly. The eldritch blue ring of fire that Harry had conjured was casting an eerie glow around the graveyard. The flames were over four feet in height. Outside it, the Death Eaters were fighting the Inferi. Some were trying to unsuccessfully fight the fire that Harry had started.
The spell was one of a kind. It was invented by Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald and was known as the boundary of allies. Only those, meaning the caster no harm could pass through the flames unscathed. If an enemy tried to pass them, they would be burnt to ashes as soon as the flames touched them. Also, it was a failproof way to protect one against Inferi.
"So be it. FIENDFYRE."
A Fiery ball started forming in front of Voldemort which swirled around gathering power. A second later he blew it towards Harry and it started turning into a huge serpent. It roared at Harry before lunging, only to be repelled by a wall of water. Harry jabbed his wand and immediately the water started engulfing the fiery serpent. The two wizards started trying their level best to overpower the other's elemental spell. It was now a battle of pure power, nothing more.
But, Harry had other tricks up his sleeve.
As the fire and water battled for dominance, Harry wandlessly shot a bone-breaker at Voldemort. The man's eyes widened and he tried to move out of the way but the spell caught him in the left shoulder. Voldemort hissed in pain.
The best part? The injury had cost him some concentration, allowing Harry to overpower the Fiendfyre which was reducing rapidly. A second later, it was completely extinguished. Harry jabbed his wand and the water shot at high speed towards the Dark Lord, with enough force to penetrate a brick wall.
Voldemort slashed his wand and the water just stopped in its tracks before evaporating into the air. Voldemort then proceeded to shoot spells at Harry at rapid speeds, faster than Harry had ever seen before. Each spell seemed to start where the previous one finished.
With a single wave of his wand, a wall of dirt rose to intercept the spells. It took a mere second for the wall to be destroyed under the onslaught from Voldemort. But, by then, the gravestones around the graveyard had been ripped from the ground and were in the path of the spells, intercepting the spells and reducing the stones to debris. Harry waved his wand and the pieces of the gravestones were flung at Voldemort, who instantly created a force field of sorts, reducing the debris to dust.
Harry jabbed his wand at the sky and a red beam shot from it, curving in the mid-air before splitting into thirteen different beams and rained down towards Voldemort. All the beams would have hit him from all his sides had he not erected a mage dome around himself. The beams of red light, curved towards Voldemort, coming at him from all directions before slamming into the golden dome with a mighty gong. The mage dome cracked severely before shattering.
Harry immediately started shooting spells at Voldemort trying to injure him as much he could so that he could cause some more damage to the Death Eaters before escaping to safety. He reckoned that the Trophy might work or he would have to break through the wards with raw power. There had been enough show of power for the night. Now he needed to injure Voldemort and escape. Killing him would just be counter-productive especially now since the Death Eaters had seen their Lord. He needed a distraction. Something big and powerful.
He shot yet another blasting curse at Voldemort before jabbing his wand towards the ground. "TERRORO TERRANUS!" He intoned.
The ground rumbled again, far worse than it had when Voldemort created Inferi. Harry wondered for a moment what the muggles were thinking of the seismic shocks they were likely experiencing.
Figures rose from the ground and started to take shape. A rhino, a wolf, a stag, and a Dinosaur... albeit a small one. He clamped down his will on the spell, preventing it from going haywire, and willed them to attack Voldemort. The creatures charged at the Dark Lord who immediately started shooting blasting curses towards them, barely damaging them.
Harry, on the other hand, willed the flames surrounding them to reduce in height so that he could look around. He could clearly see the Triwizard cup gleaming in the distance. There were no Inferi or death eaters between Harry and the cup. He just needed to run to it and grab it as the cup was enchanted against summoning. If the portkey was allowed to pass through the wards to come in, it could be used to go out as well. Dumbledore's spell should have been layered by Voldemort's... so Dumbledore's would be still active!
He looked back at Voldemort who had destroyed Harry's Dinosaur and Rhino and was fighting the wolf while evading the stag. Harry shot an Expelliarmus followed by an arrow burning with black flames arrow at Voldemort. It was a spell from the Black family Grimoire. If it pierced the body, the fire would spread and start burning the internal organs of the body. Of course, if the arrow was removed, the fire would go out... but even the shortest period of it being in the body could cause damage that would put most on the back foot for quite some time.
Voldemort dodged the Expelliarmus by twisting out of the way, but the arrow still pierced the Dark Lord's abdomen... where the liver was supposed to be. A moment later Voldemort screamed in agony.
Harry immediately receded a part of the flames and rushed towards the Triwizard cup while shooting killing curses where the Death Eaters were fighting the last of the Inferi behind shields.
"KILL POTTER!" Voldemort yelled in a pained voice. Before the Death Eaters could react, Harry moved his wand in an Eight number motion and jabbed it. A blackish smoke poured out of it, filling the graveyard rapidly, obscuring the vision of the Death Eaters. Harry simultaneously was conjuring more and more butterflies to intercept the spells the Death Eaters were shooting at him. A second later, he lunged for the trophy and simultaneously shot a greenish spark at the smoke.
As the world spun around, Harry saw the smoke being lit up in green fire and engulfing the graveyard.