Wormtail untied Harry, who landed on shaky feet. I struggled in my bonds again.
"Wormtail, show Harry what you'll do if he decides to run away," Voldemort said lazily.
Wormtail pulled off my gag, then casted the curse "Crucio!"
It didn't hurt as bad as losing my finger, but it definitely didn't feel good. I stiffened in my bonds. I yelled out curses and shut my eyes tightly. After a few moments, the pain ended.
"Fuck," I muttered, then looked up at Voldemort. I narrowed my eyes. "Dude, really? Pettigrew's eaten chunks of cheese with more cunning plans than this."
Voldemort wasn't amused, "I'll cut your tongue out once we're done here."
"Nice try, Tommy-boy, but we both know you'd miss my quips," I said. "You know, Tom is a fine name, and Riddle isn't a bad last name, but is your middle name really Marvolo? Like, what is that, a washing detergent?"
Wormtail walked over towards Cedric's body, picked up Harry's wand, and brought it back to my friend. He made his way back over to stand beside me.
"Hey, hey Wormie," I whispered loudly. "Did you know that Tommy likes you? Yeah, he told me not to tell you."
"You're stupider than I thought," Voldemort's eye twitched, "if you're willing to taunt me in such ways. I think you can recall what I did to you four years ago... the scars shouldn't have faded yet."
"What you did to me?" I rolled my eyes, though in reality, I was terrified. "It was Quirrell's work. Why'd you pick Quirrell as a host, anyway? Like, I know you just explained it, but he's... Quirrell. He's only likable in the musical, you know. Oh! Oh! I get it. You chose Quirrell because of the turban! You did look much better when you were hidden under it."
"I will be chopping more than your tongue off if you don't quiet," Voldemort said airily.
"Do you — d'you mean my dick?" He just stared at me. "Oh wow, that's weird. Okay. I'll stop talking now."
I don't think he'd meant my penis (he'd probably meant my head), but the threat still stood. I did not feel like loosing my manhood.
"You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?" Voldemort turned to look at Harry.
"Don't worry, Harry," I whispered loudly, and my friend turned to look at me, terror and masked amusement darting across his face. "It'll be like taking candy from a baby. Of course, some of us would find that to be difficult." I shot Voldemort a look. He shot one back. "Okay, shutting up, please don't chop anything off."
"We bow to each other, Harry," Voldemort said, bending a little, though he still kept his face up. "Come, the niceties must be observed.... Dumbledore would like you to show manners.... Bow to death, Harry...." The Death Eaters had started laughing. Pettigrew had tangled his silver hand in my hair, and had his wand pressed harshly into my cheek. Harry glanced at me, his face hardened, and he turned back to Voldemort. He had clearly chosen not to bow. "I said, bow." Voldemort raised his wand, and Harry suddenly bent forward, as if a giant, invisible hand had pushed him down. "Very good." Voldemort raised his wand and Harry bent back to normal, his eyes wide with fear and defiance. "And now you face me, like a man... straight-backed and proud, the way your father died....
"And now — we duel."
Voldemort didn't give Harry a chance to react — he raised his wand, and Harry collapsed, the pain from the Cruciatus Curse overwhelming him. Once Voldemort pulled back, Harry shot to his feet, and promptly stumbled into the Death Eaters, who all pushed him back.
"A little break," Voldemort sounded excited — I was nearly frozen to the spot. Then I felt a weight in my pocket — Riptide. It had taken a long time to reappear in my pocket, a byproduct of all the dark magic from the potion. I needed to wait for an opportunity to uncap it, and then we needed to get to the Portkey — I didn't think we were going to win the fight against all of the Death Eaters and Voldemort. "A little pause.... That hurt, didn't it, Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?" Harry didn't answer. He was shaking, yet defiance shone brighter in his eyes than before.
I wanted to quip back and say that, no, of course he doesn't want you to do it again, it hurts, but I thought it'd be in our best interests to not piss him off too much. Anger was a powerful tool — it could help you or hurt you, and at the moment, we weren't strong enough for it to help us.
"I asked you whether you want me to do that again," Voldemort spoke softly. "Answer me! Imperio!"
Harry's face went blank, then scrunched up in confusion. It was moments later that he frowned and shouted, "I WON'T!" His words echoed across the graveyard, and then the silence was heavier than before. The Death Eaters had stopped laughing. Harry and I made eye contact. I sent him a reassuring smile, then tapped my pocket with my hand. He seemed to understand.
"You won't?" Voldemort spoke lowly, his voice just above that of a whisper. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die.... Perhaps another little does of pain?"
Harry dove out of the way, and rolled behind the headstone of Voldemort's father.
"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry," Voldemort said coldly, the Death Eaters laughing again. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry... come out and play, then... it will be quick... it might even be painless... I would not know... I have never died...."
"Neither has Harry," I said stiffly, and Voldemort paused. "You're not special, Voldy-poo."
"You speak as if you've died before," Voldemort said icily, his eyes shining with knowledge I knew he already had.
"We both know I have," I said coolly, buying Harry time to make up what he wanted to do.
"And how did it feel?"
"Probably felt about the same as your mother when she took a look at you," I said dryly. "I mean... she did die from the hole childbirth shebang, yeah? Maybe she died cause she saw that ugly mug of yours."
Voldemort grinned crookedly, "My mother died because she fell in love with a Muggle." He turned to look at the headstone, his wand raised.
Hardly a second later, Harry jumped up from behind the headstone, "Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort was ready for it, "Avada Kedavra!"
Hehushehgeh. It's hard writing a character that Voldemort doesn't hate. I need more conflict on Voldemort's end. Cause so far they only interactions they've had is Percy being incarcerated. I've got plans for it in the next book, very vague plans, but I can't have it happen now, because Voldemort wouldn't let Percy free to fight. Eugh. In history we're making origami cranes. It's neat. We've spent two days doing this. We're going to make 1000 and donate it to the 9/11 museum. That's awesome sauce. Uhhh. I made a really tiny crane. Like smaller than my thumb nail. And I have really small thumb nails. Might be a little bit bigger, actually. Around the same size. Eugh. I showed Kadee how to make them, and she had a rough time. They were always chunky. Love me some chunky cranes. I finished my art project today. I got to sit around and eat my orange and drink my apple juice. It was great. We also got math homework today, and I don't know how to do it, so I'm not going to until tomorrow. I finished my English work that isn't due for a while. I'm Chem yesterday we played a game, and my group lost. We were betrayed by another group, who had pinky swore to work with us. It was fun. Then in Journalism I finished my article but I honestly don't like it. Problem is I didn't have much time to get it done because the lady only answered my interview questions yesterday. Eugh. My sister is a senior, and for their dance this year the theme is Disney. A cute theme, I like it, but my sister doesn't. To be fair, you've got to pick out the right songs or it is not going to seem like a fun dance. Especially considering they are not kindergartners.
Anyway, I hope you guys have had a whimsical Wednesday, and I'll see you on Friday CT. Love ya!