– y/n's pov –
Squinting tensely through the darkness, we watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily towards us between the graves.
From the way it was walking and holding its arms, I could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face, and... I saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby. What is that? Who is he?
I lowered my wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric and Harry. Cedric shot us a quizzical look and we turned back to watch the approaching figure. It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them.
And then, without warning, Harry began screaming.
"Aaaah!" With his hands over his face, he fell on the ground.
"Harry!" Dragging my injured leg, I limped towards Harry. Then I heard a high, cold voice that shuddered me: "Kill the spare."
Then a second voice yelled... "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through my eyelids, and I heard something heavy fall to the ground beside me. Terrified of what I was about to see, I slowly turned my head towards...
Cedric..? He was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside us.
"Cedric..? Cedric? No... No!" I gasped. My body stiffened. I couldn't breathe. He was... dead.
For a second that felt like an eternity, I stared into Cedric's face, at his open grey eyes, blank and expressionless.
"Please... Please wake up, Cedric. Please!" And then, before my mind had accepted what I was seeing, I saw Harry being pulled to his feet.
"Harry!" I gasped. The short man in the cloak had put down his bundle, lit his wand, and was dragging Harry towards the marble headstone. I saw the name upon it flickering in the wandlight. It read...
Tom Riddle? Then Harry was forced around and slammed against the marble headstone. The cloaked man was now conjuring tight cords around Harry, tying him from neck to ankles to the headstone.
"No! Let him go!" I cried out, pointing my wand aggressively at the cloaked man. Once sure that Harry was bound so tightly to the headstone that he couldn't move an inch, the man stuffed something roughly into Harry's mouth and hurried away to a cauldron.
"Harry!" I limped towards the marble headstone but I tripped over and fell hard on the ground. Suddenly, through the mist, I saw, with a surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron.
A thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at me. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils...
It must be the Lord Voldemort. He had risen again.
Voldemort bent down and pulled out the cloaked man's left arm. Then I saw something upon the skin there, something like a tattoo of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth. I've seen it somewhere... It's the Dark Mark!
He began to walk towards me. After a minute or so, I was facing him. I was facing Lord Voldemort, the presence I had been fearing all this time, the only wizard I wished to avoid.
I couldn't believe it. The Dark Lord was now standing in front of me, looking down at me. His cruel smile was twisting his snakelike face.
"Y/N Lascelles... My daughter..." He hissed and his voice sent shivers down my body. Then suddenly, the air was full of the swishing of cloaks. Hooded wizards were apparating. All of them moved towards me and Voldemort slowly and cautiously, as if they couldn't believe their eyes.
"Welcome, Death Eaters," spoke Voldemort quietly.
"Thirteen years... thirteen years since last we met. 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. There is a stench of guilt upon the air... I see you all, whole and healthy, and I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?" Voldemort spoke and one of the men suddenly flung himself forward. Trembling from head to foot, he collapsed at Voldemort's feet.
"Master! forgive me! Forgive us all!" The man shrieked and Voldemort began to laugh. He raised his wand and shouted: "Crucio!" The Death Eater on the ground writhed. I was sure the sound must carry to the houses around... Let the police come, I thought desperately... Anyone... Anything...
"Get up, Avery," Voldemort spoke softly to the tortured Death Eater on the ground. Wait, Avery..? Shane Avery's... father?
Voldemort now approached the man on Mr. Avery's right.
"Lucius, my slippery friend," He whispered, halting before the man. The name struck me. Lucius... Lucius... I've heard the name before... Lucius... Then my heart sank.
...Lucius Malfoy? Draco..! I gasped. He had the same platinum hair as Draco. I missed him. I missed him so much.
"Lucius... I expect more faithful service in the future." said Voldemort.
"Of course, my Lord, of course... You are merciful, thank you..." Hearing Mr. Malfoy's voice reminded me so much of Draco and... my friends. I looked up at Harry who was struggling to free himself and at... Cedric who was lying helplessly. Tears strolled down my cheeks and I tried my best to get back on my feet to help Harry. Then I heard Mr. Malfoy.
"My Lord, do you want me to get rid of that girl?" He pulled out his wand and my heart plummeted.
"No!" But Voldemort yelled at him.
"Lucius.. Do you not see?" He then approached me swiftly.
"She's Lascelles... Y/N Lascelles..." Voldemort stopped me from going to Harry by wrapping his arm around my shoulder. As my name left his mouth, I heard the group of death eaters gasp and they soon bent down on their knees. I winced as Voldemort's rigid arm made contact.
"Yes, yes... Greet her like that... You will be serving her the same way as you'd to me." Voldemort shouted at the death eaters. I need to find a way out.
"Y/N... Meet your new family..." Voldemort hissed.
Think hard, Y/N. Think!
"You belong with us... You, are mine..."
Then my eyes caught the gleaming Triwizard Cup next to Cedric. If that's what led us here, maybe it could bring us back out. If I fight against Voldemort, he will- no, the death eaters will kill me... Forcefully pulling myself away from his cold grip didn't seem like a good idea. I only had one other option. I had to pretend. I had to reassure him.
"I... I've been... desperate to meet you... my Lord." My voice trembled.
"Ah- don't call me 'Lord', Lascelles... You may call me father... But how come... desperate? Aren't you scared, my child?" Voldemort hissed suspiciously.
"I... I saw you and heard you in my dreams... father and I heard about... my past... my connection to you..." I gulped.
"I crave power. Allow me... father."