Chapter - 53 : The Depths of Courage

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Harry only had seconds to react. As the violently green spell sped toward them, he reached out and shoved Cedric with all of his might. The wide eyed Hufflepuff fell backwards, directly on top of the Triwizard cup, and disappeared with nothing more than a soft whoosh of air to signal his departure. The force Harry put behind the push sent him toppling to the ground, the Killing Curse sped only inches past his face and hit a tombstone only a few feet behind him, throwing shrapnel everywhere. For the second time in however many minutes, Harry found himself on the ground with a mouthful of dirt.

"Restrain him," the cold voice hissed.

Harry attempted to get on his feet, but his bad leg refused to cooperate, the short hooded man grabbed the back of his robes and dragged him to the marble tombstone. Harry only just caught sight of the name on the stone, Tom Riddle, before his wand was wrenched from his hand and he was bound neck to ankle to it. He strained against the ties, but the cloaked figure hit him with a hand that was missing its index finger.

"Pettigrew," Harry whispered dangerously. "Oh, I should have known it was you, you cowardly little rat. You better pray to whatever deity will listen to your pathetic pleas that these ropes hold, because if I get free of them I'll kill you, and I'll do it nice and slow."

Pettigrew gulped and stumbled away from him, but he made no other indication that he had heard the boy's words. He scurried into the shadows, only to return several seconds later breathing heavily as he dragged a large cauldron full of what looked to be water to the foot of the grave.

"Heavy?" Harry asked mock sympathetically. Pettigrew paid no attention to him but that was fine by him, he didn't want the man to notice how he was slowly attempting to maneuver his hand into a more ideal position. He didn't need a wand to do magic, he just needed to get a good grip on the ropes in order to cut through them, an endeavor that was proving to be much more difficult than he'd anticipated. The ropes were bloody tight.

Pettigrew summoned flames beneath the cauldron and, almost immediately, the liquid in the cauldron began to bubble and send off fiery sparks.

The bundle of robes Harry had assumed was a baby stirred persistently at his feet, it was only when it spoke in the high, cold voice Harry had been hearing did he realize that it was not a baby. "Hurry."

"It's ready, Master."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Pettigrew pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them.

Harry paused in working to free himself to stare at the creature in revulsion. "Oh, that's disgusting," he said. It was as though Pettigrew had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind that had been growing beneath it. The thing had the shape of a human child, except that Harry had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black skin. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face was flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes.

The thing raised its thin arms, put them around Pettigrew's neck, and allowed itself to be carried to the cauldron and lowered into the liquid, Harry heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud.

"I guess it's too much to hope that thing will drown," he muttered, renewing his efforts to free himself.

Wormtail, still ignoring Harry, raised his wand and spoke clearly. "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"

The grave at Harry's feet cracked, a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Wormtail's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The surface of the liquid sent sparks in all directions and turned a vivid, poisonous blue.

Pettigrew pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak, his voice broke into petrified sobs and his hand shook violently. "Flesh…of the servant…w-willingly given…you will revive…your master."

He stretched his right hand out in front of him, the hand with the missing finger, he gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and in one clean motion, cut his hand off.

The man's scream pierced the night as his severed hand fell into the potion with a sickening plop, but instead of feeling sympathetic, Harry fiercely wished he had a tub of salt.

Pettigrew was still gasping and moaning with agony when he stumbled over to Harry and put the bloodied knife to the crook of his elbow. "B-blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will… resurrect your foe."

Harry could do nothing to prevent it, he was tied too tightly and if he tried to use magic he'd only end up hurting himself, he could only give Pettigrew his most vicious glare as he cut through his skin, collected a drop of blood, and poured it into the cauldron. The liquid turned a blinding white as Pettigrew collapsed to his knees, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing.

And then, suddenly, the sparks jumping from the cauldron like Yuletide firecrackers were extinguished and a surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron. For a second all was still but then a man, tall and skeletally thin, rose slowly from inside the cauldron.

"Robe me." said the high, cold voice.

Immediately, Pettigrew, still sobbing and moaning, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground and pulled them one-handed over his master's head.

The thin man stepped out of the cauldron staring at Harry, and Harry stared back at the face that was whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils.

"Voldemort," Harry said steadily, not a trace of fear in his voice, "I must say, tales of your greatness were greatly exaggerated, reduced to relying on vermin such as him." He nodded toward Pettigrew. "Oh how the mighty have fallen, and all because of a mere babe and his 'mudblood' mother."

"You speak such bold words, Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed. "We will see how long your bravado remains after a bout or two under the Cruciatus."

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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