~Harry's POV~
(That's a first huh?)
We watched in shock as Voldemort looked himself over
I glanced at Tessa and saw that her eyes were wide with terror. I attempted to move a little and just barely linked my pinkie with hers, attempting to reassure her.
She glanced at me
"My wand Wormtail.." Voldemort's cold voice said
Wormtail nodded and handed him a wand.
"My Lord... My Lord you did promise.." Wormtail whimpered, clutching his stump of an arm
"Hold out your arm" Voldemort said lazily
"Thank you My Lord.." He held out his stump
Voldemort chuckled. "Your other arm"
"Master... Please.." Wormtail whimpered
Voldemort grabbed Wormtail's other arm and pushed up the sleeve. On Wormtail's forearm was a red tattoo of a snake coming out a of a skull's head. Beside me, Tessa gasped softly.
It was the Dark Mark
Voldemort pressed a long pale finger on the Dark Mark. The Mark turned black.
"After all these years.." Voldemort said softly, looking around, "how many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? How many with be foolish enough to stay away?"
He then turned to us.
"Ah. I almost forgot about our guests" he said, a smirk coming to his face, "You, Harry and Tessa Potter, are standing on the grave of my father. A muggle and a fool, just like your 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"
He laughed again.
He paced in front of us, looking us in the eyes as he went. The snake circled the grass. I felt Tessa unlink her pinky with mine. She was shaking slightly, I assumed it from fear. Or sadness. I glanced at her and saw her eyes looking toward Cedric's body, which laid within our vision. This confirmed my thoughts
"You see that house upon the hillside Potters?" Voldemort asked, bringing both of our attention back to him, "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 scowled slightly
"He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born. 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" he continued
He paced still, his red eyes looking from grave to grave.
"Listen to me, reliving my family history" he said softly, "why, I am growing quite sentimental... But look! My true family returns.."
Then the air was filled with streams of black smoke and swishing capes.
One by one, between the graves, people wearing hoods and masks were Apparating.
Voldemort smiled smugly
Each of the Death Eaters slowly walked forward and knelt down and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes
"Welcome Death Eaters!" He said happily, "Thirteen years... Thirteen years since we've last met. Yet you answer my call as though it was just yesterday. We are still united under the Dark Mark... Or are we?"
He glanced around at all the Death Eaters and sniffed
"I smell guilt" he said "there is a stench of guilt in the air"
Voldemort's red eyes narrowed
"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 Wormtail, who was upon the ground, sobbing over his bleeding arm.
"And I answer myself. They believed me to be broken. They thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies and they pleaded innocence"
He glared at the Death Eaters.
"It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed" he continued
Suddenly, one of the men flung themselves forward, breaking the circle. Trembling, he collapsed at Voldemort's feet.
"Master!" He shrieked, "Master, forgive me please! Forgive us all!"
Voldemort began to laugh, then he raised his wand.
Beside me, Tessa flinched back as he yelled "Crucio!"
The Death Eater on the ground shrieked in pain. Surely the sound would carry to the houses around. 'please let the police come, anyone, Anything' I pleaded mentally.
Finally, Voldemort raised his wand
"Get up Avery" he said to the man lying on the ground, "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive nor do I forget. Thirteen long years... I want thirteen years repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already. Have you not, Wormtail?"
He looked down at Wormtail, who continued to sob.
"You returned to me, not out if loyalty, but out of fear. You deserve this pain. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes Master... Please..." Wormtail whimpered
"Yet you helped me return to my body. Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me. And Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers.."
He raised his wand again and whirled it in the air. What looked like molten silver came from the wand. It shaped itself into a gleaming replica of a human hand. Then it fixed itself on Wormtail's bleeding arm.
Wormtail stopped sobbing immediately. He raised his head in disbelief and stared at the silver hand. He flexed the fingers and picked up a small twig on the ground.
Then he crushed it to dust.
"Thank you my Lord... It is beautiful... Thank you" he whispered
He kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes then scurried back to the circle.
~Tessa's POV~
We watched as Voldemort moved to a the man next to Wormtail.
"Lucius. My slippery friend" he whispered, halting before him, "I am told you have not renounced the old ways, though you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead on Muggle-torture? Yet you never tried to find me. Lucius, your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun I daresay... But might not your energies have been better directed toward finding your master?"
"My Lord, I was constantly on alert" I stifled a gasp as Lucius Malfoy's voice came swiftly from the hood. Draco's father. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts I would have been at your side immediately"
"Yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?" Voldemort said lazily.
"My Lord-"
"I expect a more faithful servant in the future Lucius"
"Yes my Lord" Lucius Malfoy bowed slightly
Voldemort moved on
"We are missing six Death Eaters" he said, "three dead in my service, one too cowardly to return, he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever, he will be killed of course (Snape no...), And one who remains my most faithful servant. And who has already reentered my service"
The Death Eaters stirred.
"He is at Hogwarts. That faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friends arrived here tonight."
Voldemort turned his sights on us.
"Yes. Harry and Tessa Potter have kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go as far as to call them my guests of honor"
There was silence. The Death Eater to the right of Wormtail stepped forward.
Lucius Malfoy's voice came again "Master we crave to know how you achieved this miracle of returning to us"
"Ah that story begins and ends with my young friends here"
He walked over to us lazily and stood beside Harry.
"You know of course that they have called these children the cause of my downfall?" He asked. Splitting pain erupted from my scar as Voldemort looked at us.
"Their mother died to protect them, and in doing so, she left upon them 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 them now"
Harry cried out in pain as Voldemort pressed the top of a long white finger into his cheek.
"Leave him alone!" I spoke up
Voldemort's eyes shifted to me.
"Tsk tsk Tessa. One must learn to hold her tongue. You're as beautiful as your mother when she died. I can touch you now too" he hissed before he pressed his finger into my cheek
More overwhelming pain came and it felt as though my head was going to explode.
He moved away and continued to speak to the Death Eaters.
I blocked him out and squeezed my eyes shut. (Blocked him out, aka I'm too lazy to keep writing Voldemort's speech. I mean come on dude. Shut up already)
Eventually, Voldemort's explaination came to a close and he raised his wand. First he pointed it at Harry.
"Crucio!"
Harry screamed in pain.
After a moment or two, Voldemort's wand turned on me.
"Crucio!!"
It was the worst pain I had ever felt. I wanted it to end. I wanted to die. And then... It was over.
"It was foolish to think that these children were stronger than me. But I want it to be no mistake. The Potter Twins escaped me by a lucky chance. And now I will prove my power by killing them. They'll be allowed to fight. Supposedly stronger together. But there will be no doubt of who is stronger. Just a little longer Nagini" he addressed the snake.
"Now untie them Wormtail. And give them back their wands."
Wormtail approached us with haste and began to untie us.
Then he handed me Harry's wand and handed Harry mine.
We quickly traded wands.
Harry and I looked at each other. There was a moment when we thought the same thing. We could run.
But Harry's injured leg would never allow it.
"You have been taught to duel have you not?" Voldemort asked, "True two on one is unfair but I shall prove my power greater than both of you combined."
I thought back to Lockhart's dueling lesson. Expelliarmus was strong but it could never protect us. Voldemort had been right. Our mother wasn't here to die for us this time. We were unprotected.
"We must bow to each other." Voldemort said, interrupting my thoughts, "c'mon now. The niceties must be observed. Dumbledore would like you to show manners. Bow to death, Potters"
The Death Eaters laughed.
We both looked at each other and then at Voldemort. We refused to bow.
"I said bow" Voldemort said, pointing his wand. Harry and I both were brought into a bowing position.
"And now we duel." He said with a smile.
Several times the Cruciatus Curse was used on us. Several times the Death Eaters laughed at our pain.
Harry and I kept defying Voldemort's wishes. Voldemort raised his wand again but we were ready. We nodded at each other then raced to hide behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father.
"We are not playing hide-and-seek" Voldemort said softly. The Death Eaters laughed
"What do we do? He's too strong" I whispered to Harry.
"We must fight. If we die. We die standing. We die fighting." Harry said back to me. I nodded and we both jumped from behind the head stone.
Voldemort raised his wand.
As Harry and I shouted "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort cried "Avada kedavra!"
A jet of green light shot from Voldemort's wand and met the two combining streams of red from mine and Harry's.
The intersection turned a brilliant gold color.
Our wands shook and vibrated.
The Death Eaters closed the circle a little, some drawing their wands.
"Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked, "do nothing unless I command it!"
The air was filled with the beautiful sound of a phoenix song. It was a sound of hope. It was almost like someone whispered in my ear
Don't break the connection
I nodded slightly in response to it.
The golden stream blossomed into a spider web of golden spirals.
And then, to my shock, there came shooting a grey or from Voldemort's wand. It became a head, then a chest and arms. The torso of Cedric Diggory
I gasped in surprise
"Hold on" it said.
The voice as distant and echoing. I looked at Voldemort, whose eyes were wide with shock.
Another orb of gray shot from the wand and it became the torso of an old man that I'd only seen in a dream.
"He was a real wizard then?" The old man asked, "killed me that one did.... You fight him."
Then, another came from Voldemort's wand. A woman's.
"Don't let go now" she cried. "Don't let him get to you, don't let go"
She and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web.
And now another was coming from the top of Voldemort's wand. I gasped softly as I realized who it would be.
The smokey shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell beside Harry. Harry looked just like him. I shook slightly in shock as we looked into the eyes of our father.
"Your mother's coming" he said quietly, "she wants to see you... It will be alright. Hold on"
And there she was. And she was beautiful. She appeared next to me. She then whispered to us in the same distant voice
"When the connection is broken, be ready to run. The portkey will take you back to Hogwarts. We'll distract him" she said, looking at us, "do you understand?"
"Yes" Harry and I replied together
"Tessa..." whispered the voice of the figure of Cedric. I looked at him. "Take my body back will you? Take my body back to my father"
"I will" I said with a small nod, a tear slipping down my face.
"My beautiful children. I'm so proud of you both" My mother said, pride gleaming in her eyes
"Do it now" whispered our father, "be ready to run... Do it now"
"Now!" Harry yelled (lmao I typed Barry)
We both pulled our wands up and the stream disappeared, the Phoenix song died
The shadowy victims of Voldemort did not disappear, they were closing in on Voldemort.
"Run" Harry hissed and we took off toward Cedric.
"Stun them!" Voldemort screamed
We dived behind a marble angel to avoid jets of red light.
We dashed from behind it, both is us shooting spells.
Harry tripped and stretched his arm out to grab Cedric. I got there first and grabbed hold of Cedric's hand.
"Stand aside! I will kill them! They are mine!" Voldemort shrieked.
Harry grabbed hold of Cedric's wrist. The Cup was feet away from us. Voldemort was closing in.
But the Cedric was too heavy to carry.
"Accio!!" Harry yelled and the Cup shot to us
Harry caught it and we were both pulled off the ground and with the portkey, hurtling toward Hogwarts
A/n: wow 2502 words