"Ignore it." Harry commanded. "One way another I will be gone in two weeks. In the meantime I'll agree to cook your meals and clean up after myself, but nothing more. Get Dudley to mow the lawn, it looks like he could use the exercise anyway." Harry looked over at his cousin who apparently didn't even realize he had just been insulted. The candy bar he had been eating when Harry got into the car was long gone and had been replaced by a bag of pretzels. Vernon and Petunia, however, had not missed Harry's verbal jab at his cousin and were both glaring at him.
"It's not his fault that my Duddy-kins hasn't lost his baby fat yet!" Petunia shrieked, making Harry want to cover his ears. "Besides, he's just big boned like his father."
"I won't let some freak like you talk ill of my family, boy." Vernon said in his most menacing tone, but after going face to face with Voldemort it would take much more than that to scare Harry.
"If you hadn't noticed, Uncle Vernon, we are family." Harry answered. He was slightly amused by the bright red color his uncle's face turned when he said that. "After the two weeks are up I am going to live with my godfather. You remember Sirius Black, don't you? He was sent to prison for murdering all of those muggles, people without magic like you, and then he escaped from a prison that was supposed to be impossible to escape from?"
"You mean they haven't caught him yet?" Petunia asked nervously.
"Sirius will never spend another day in prison." Harry answered, purposefully omitting the fact that Sirius was of course innocent of the crimes he had been imprisoned for and had later been cleared of all charges. His statement seemed to quiet the Dursley's down and he hoped it would signal that he would be left alone for the next fourteen days. The rest of the ride was completely quiet which made it one of the most enjoyable times he had ever spent with his relatives.
...
Far away an expansive mansion sat under powerful wards and multiple layers of defenses. Lord Voldemort had taken control of the building after brutally murdering its former owner and his family during his first rise to power. Over the years he had turned the former home into an impenetrable fortress that he felt would protect him almost as well as his rival Dumbledore was protected within Hogwarts. He knew that with enough power any fortress could fall, but neither the Ministry nor the Order of the Phoenix had ever felt brave enough to challenge him here.
But despite the advantages the mansion held Voldemort often despised the place and what it represented. His reputation as a rising dark lord in his younger days had been greatly enhanced by attacking and overwhelming inferior wizards where they felt the safest, like the fortress in which he now sat. He would much prefer to stay mobile and in doing so never let his enemies know where an attack would be coming from. It was only his weakened state that had eventually convinced him to take refuge in his old base, the existence of which was only known by his inner circle of Death Eaters.
Something had gone wrong in the ritual to restore his body, he was quite sure of that. Unfortunately he had spent the ritual in the cauldron writhing in agony while the bubbling potion tore his rudimentary body to shreds. The pain had been worth it though, even if the procedure was not completely successful. And, if he was lucky, his problems could still be corrected. He had ordered Severus Snape, easily one of his most intelligent followers, to look in to what had gone wrong.
He had often wondered about Snape's true loyalties. After all that had happened he still had no real reason to think that Snape was disloyal to him, despite what had happened in the years after his fall from power. During those days his Death Eaters had thought only of themselves, and while that was behavior that deserved punishment it was quite understandable. No, the problem that Voldemort had with his spy the man's clear talent for deception. Dumbledore, despite his many flaws, was no fool. And one way or the other Severus Snape had managed to completely fool one of the most powerful wizards ever. The only question was which one?
Despite his worries he knew Snape would not fail to report back everything he needed to know on how to correct the ritual. The only problem they faced was that only two people had witnessed the ritual and neither of them were available to him. Barty Crouch Junior had been knocked unconscious prior to the ritual and was only awoken the next day after long hours of healing and multiple potions. The fact that he was alive at all was some what of a miracle. Peter Pettigrew, or Wormtail as he was growing fond of calling him, had been captured and was being held in Azkaban. The man was a stupid and weak wizard and under normal circumstances Voldemort would not even consider trying to free him, but these were not normal times. The other witness was Harry Potter, the so called Boy-Who-Lived.
"Damn you, Potter." Voldemort said to the empty room. If anyone had been around to hear it they would have been quite disturbed by the way the Dark Lord cursed his enemy. How had Potter lived through a second killing curse, Voldemort wondered. It simply did not make any sense. Was it truly impossible for him to kill the boy? "It must have something to do with that prophecy…" the Dark Lord realized. He knew there was more to the prophecy than his spy had heard and it was now more important than ever for him to hear it. A prophecy like that, he knew, would be recorded and available in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry to those it concerned. Perhaps he could lure Harry Potter into the Hall of Prophecies and have him retrieve the prophecy for him before the Boy-Who-Lived finally died at the hands of Lord Voldemort… But then again, if the prophecy did say he could not kill the boy it would be better for him to not involve the child. Besides, the plan was overly elaborate and full of chances for it to fail. He was not hiding from the world so there was no reason for him not to just bash his way into the Ministry and take the prophecy himself.
But first there were other things to do… Planning must begin at once.
....
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