Chapter 27: Third Task
"Why are you so upset? It's just a bloody Quidditch pitch," Harry asked and commented in exasperation upon seeing the expressions on Krum and Cedric Diggory's face. They both looked like they had eaten dog shit, Cedric more than Viktor.
"Don't you like Quidditch too?" Cedric asked with a frown. "This is like getting our balls kicked!"
Harry rolled his eyes, "It's a fun game, but that's all. It can easily be fixed with magic."
Ludo Bagman just sighed a little at being ignored before going back to talking about some things about the third task. The four participants listened, but left immediately when Ludo finished, without giving the man a last look. However, when it was already late at night and everyone was asleep, Harry snuck into the maze with his invisibility cloak, hidden under the noses of some creatures they had already placed. In the end, he arrived where the cup would be placed and observed the place carefully. He infiltrated it because he wanted to test the apparition when it was time for the task.
He had already made plans with Dumbledore, so they had already caught Bartemius Crouch. Jr; Harry had commented that he noticed Mad-Eye talking to someone one night and that it could be someone using Polyjuice Potion. Dumbledore became worried and they caught the culprit before taking the real Alastor Moody out of where he was before secretly notifying Madame Bones.
The bastard Death Eater was choked with Veritaserum to make him tell the truth about what he was doing. And now, trusted Aurors and only those that Madame Bones trusted were waiting for the third task. At first, the woman didn't agree to send Harry on the task and let the cup drag him away to revive Voldemort, but it was necessary if they wanted to get rid of the Dark Lord forever, so she had no choice but to accept the plan made by Dumbledore and Harry Potter.
The next day, Harry looked at the place where people were watching. In fact, Fleur's family and Cedric's were also watching, but it's not like they could see much. Most likely they could only see how their children entered the maze and that's it, they lost sight of them inside.
Harry walked towards the entrance of the maze, ignoring anything other than the voice of Ludo, who would give the start and start the third task. Cedric, Fleur and Viktor were ready and waiting for their turn. But, since Harry had obtained the first place by points, they could only see how Ludo gave the go-ahead and Harry ran into the maze. Then, concentrating a little, he used Apparition to get in front of the cup.
"This is too easy..." Harry sighed, but he couldn't blame the judges and the task creators. After all, the other three should have still been learning to be able to use apparition. Plus, by talking to Dumbledore, it helped that they didn't put up any wards against apparition. Simply put, this was no longer the fault of the task creators and judges, but Harry's planning with Headmaster Dumbledore.
When Harry looked at the cup and touched it, he was transported to another place. He could see some tombstones around the place and it was dark, but not enough to hinder his movements. The most surprising thing was that Harry couldn't see Pettigrew or baby Voldemort.
"You've got to be kidding me," Harru was speechless and his face slowly transformed into an expression of disbelief.
They weren't there... Voldemort and Peter hadn't arrived yet.
"I can understand Voldemort... he can't walk and shouldn't be able to use too much magic. However, Pettigrew is...", Harry exhaled loudly and covered his face with one of his hands. Even if he hated the two men, he couldn't help but feel a hint of compassion for Tom Riddle, who had such an infuriatingly horrible subordinate.
Shaking his head, Harry moved his hands, forming a cross with his fingers. A cloud of smoke appeared beside him. He had used the shadow clone technique and the real one took the goblet before walking away. The clone, meanwhile, walked around looking for anything that could be of importance. Harry couldn't shake the thought that there might be traps in the place. Even with his current level of power, he would never underestimate an enemy.
When the clone returned to his side, the two hid behind a crypt-like tomb. Meanwhile, Harry was thinking hard. While giving a small bag of his blood to the clone might work, it could also prove disastrous. And, if he let them take his blood, then his life would be tied to Voldemort; this way, he could even take a killing curse and still be able to live. This would prove useful and a form of protection, all thanks to his mother's protection that was in his blood. And most importantly, just because his life was tied to Voldemort's, didn't mean that the latter's life was tied to Harry. Voldemort could get around some protections thanks to having Harry's blood, but that was just it.
Nodding to himself, Harry made up his mind and waited.
It only took two minutes for Peter Pettigrew to arrive with a large cauldron and a nearly dying Voldemort. His small body barely seemed to hold itself up and he looked really fragile. Harry watched as Peter got everything ready before he began to wait with a wand in his hand.
At that moment, Harry used Apparition and fell to the ground, letting the goblet roll a few feet beside him. He couldn't just Apparate as if he expected all this, he had to act as best as possible.
"Uungh!", Harry let out a groan as his body went still and Peter levitated him until he was being held by a statue of death. Harry acted as if he was struggling. Peter smiled at the sight of the struggle that he thought was futile.
"Put me down...", Voldemort's voice sounded, and Harry noticed the dark lord being held by one of Peter's arms. The rat obeyed and left Voldemort inside the cauldron of liquid.
"Begin...", Voldemort said, just before falling into the liquid.
"Father's bone... unintentionally given," Peter raised Voldemort's wand and levitated a bone from the grave just below Harry. The bone moved slowly before lighting up with a flame and falling into the cauldron.
Peter now grabbed a sharp knife and raised his hand, shaking slightly.
"Flesh of the vassal… willingly sacrificed," Peter growled loudly before swinging the knife and slicing his hand off, dropping his missing limb into the cauldron, causing the boiling liquid to churn even more forcefully.
Peter looked at Harry, squeezing his stump with his other hand. He reached out with the knife, slicing Harry's right sleeve and making a small cut, where he drew a bit of blood.
"…And blood of the enemy… forcibly taken," Peter walked over to the cauldron and dropped a drop of blood before continuing with the ritual.
"To the Dark Lord, grant resurrection!"
As Peter said these last words, the cauldron caught fire before disappearing. Voldemort's small body levitated and began to grow at a rapid speed. A black mist began to surround him as his body grew larger, forming an adult person with no hair and a nose that seemed nonexistent. The black mist seemed to become more tangible, creating a dark robe around the Dark Lord's body; meanwhile, he slowly raised his hands and placed them on his head as he inhaled audibly and opened his eyes wide.
"My lord..." Peter muttered fanatically. "Oh... my lord!"
Voldemort looked at Peter and slowly extended his slender hands with long nails: "My wand... Wormtail."
"Yes... Yes... Of course, my lord," Peter lowered his head as he presented the wand to its true owner. Voldemort smiled, almost imperceptibly, but still noticeable to Harry. He took his wand before looking at it for a few seconds before shifting his gaze to Pettigrew once more.
"Your arm... Wormtail."
"My lord..." Peter's eyes sparkled with gratitude and he extended his stump. "Thank you very much my lord! I am immensely grat–"
"Your other arm, Wormtail," Voldemort interrupted him as he looked at him indifferently. Voldemort took the short extended arm and squeezed it tightly. Voldemort's right hand moved and pressed the tip of his wand into Peter's forearm, causing the dark mark to slowly show.
At that moment, thunder rumbled in the sky!
The dark clouds that covered the night sky swirled as thunder continued to roar in the distance. Those dark clouds began to form a face as it spat out dark clouds from its mouth, and moved towards Voldemort's direction.
Harry was watching calmly from the ground, he had already freed himself and looked at everything with enormous curiosity. Especially when people with dark robes and hoods arrived. Seven figures appeared surrounding Voldemort.
"Welcome!" Voldemort exclaimed as he turned and looked at the seven mortals who had arrived.
"Welcome friends! Thirteen years have passed, and here you are still, before me! Just as if it were yesterday!" Voldemort's small smile immediately fell and he looked at his followers coldly.
"I confess that... I am disappointed!"
"None of them even tried to find me!" Voldemort took several steps forward and extended his hand, causing the mask of one of the mortals to disappear in a dark mist.
"Crabbe..."
"Macnair..."
"Goyle..."
They all fell to their knees as their masks were removed, frightened by the dark lord.
Voldemort looked at the last one standing and slowly approached, removing the mask from the subject in the same way as the previous times.
"Not even you... Lucius."
Voldemort smiled slightly as Lucius fell to the ground, shaking slightly as he breathed with some difficulty.
"My lord... if I had seen the slightest hint... a mere whisper."
"Oh, but there were whispers, my elusive friend! No, more than whispers, there were several hints!"
"My lord, I assure you that–"
"Mmm~... this scene is most amusing. The proud Lucius Malfoy... on his knees shaking in fear."
Voldemort turned sharply and his Death Eaters looked ahead. It was Harry Potter, watching with two fingers on his chin, his eyes shining with amusement as he looked at Lucius Malfoy.
"Harry... Potter... How did you get free?", Voldemort asked with narrowed eyes.
"Hahaha... ", Harry let out a small laugh before shaking his head softly. "Do you really think that rat's spells are that good? I might have fallen for this trap, but it doesn't mean I can't just defend myself.
Voldemort walked slowly back and forth, never taking his gaze off of Harry Potter. Voldemort seemed to examine him with obvious curiosity, almost like a child seeing a new toy.
"Let me kill him, my lord! A little brat like him doesn't need me to move his hands!", Lucius exclaimed and the rest followed immediately, agreeing with their companion's words.
"Silence! He's mine! Harry Potter will die by my hand!" Voldemort exclaimed.
"This is going to end up being a bit of a problem," Harry commented, with a look that seemed to have remembered something important.
Voldemort chuckled lightly: "You're in more than a bit of trouble, Harry."
"Oh... I'm sorry, I wasn't talking about you. Currently, it was nothing more than a small insect that I can squash without problems."
Voldemort changed his expression from one of amusement to one of anger and raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted and a green beam shot out from his wand.
Harry only moved two steps, letting the killing curse pass by him without hitting him and waved his wand himself.
"Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort dodged that without too much difficulty. But he hadn't trained for anything and it was the perfect opportunity; he moved once more, using Shunshin no jutsu and taking Voldemort's arm before using Apparition, just like the clone that took Lucius Malfoy.
. . .
Outside the maze, Dumbledore was waiting impatiently and worried. Beside him, Madame Bones had a hard look as she was surrounded by several Aurors. The public was waiting for the task to end and thought that the Aurors were just waiting to safety and protection of the champions.
However, when Harry Potter appeared in front of everyone with Lord Voldemort, they immediately fell silent, staring in disbelief. A few meters away, while everyone focused on those two, Harry's clone appeared with Lucius who fell to the ground without a wand and tied with ropes in a painful and uncomfortable position.
Dumbledore was the only one who saw that and immediately told Madame Bones, who sent an auror to completely imprison Lucius Malfoy. However, her gaze was on Voldemort, who looked at his wand in his hand, surprised.
"Avada Kedavra!!", Voldemort roared with fury and all his strength. He would not waste the opportunity to kill Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Harry responded almost immediately, sending an expelliarmus that collided with the killing curse.
The collision of the two spells illuminated the surroundings while golden sparks flew everywhere. And just as Madame Bones was about to interfere, a brighter light moved from Voldemort's wand and approached Harry, forming a ghostly silhouette.
It was James Potter!
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