As the light vanished, Harry looked around to see they were in the middle of a graveyard with a dark church not too far away. Taking another look, he found no trace of the castle or anything remotely similar to something on Hogwarts grounds. They had somehow traveled a long distance but how? Who would do such a thing? Who would use the Imperius Curse on Viktor? As much as Harry hated to admit the way things were turning he knew that Voldemort was somehow involved. This wasn’t an accident. Someone had wanted to bring him here.

“Don’t say that Harry!” Sirius cried distressed.

“Padfoot, I definitely wish he wasn’t right but denying the obvious is not going to help. Now he has to find a way out!” James said in a wavering voice.

Harry stood up and helped Cedric do the same. Cedric seemed to be completely confused and more than a little nervous. This only made Harry feel guilty. Cedric had been pulled along for the ride. Wherever they were, Harry knew they just couldn’t stand around out in the open like this. They needed to move and find someway to call for help.

“Er—what just happened?” Cedric asked nervously.

“Your guess is as good as mine but I have a feeling we’re not at Hogwarts anymore,” Harry said stating the obvious as he holstered his wand. “Come on, we need to get moving. We need to find cover. Standing in the open only makes us a target.”

“Yes, please do. Hurry,” Lily begged.

Cedric looked at Harry in alarm. “A target for what?” he asked quickly. “We’re in the middle of nowhere!”

Harry glanced at Cedric with an annoyed look on his face, causing the older teenager to close his mouth. “Look, I can tell you right now this is not part of the task,” he said. “Dumbledore would never have us leave Hogwarts grounds. After the attack last month I figure it’s better to be safe then sorry.” He turned to start walking and paused. “It would also be better if we were as quiet as possible,” he said over his shoulder to Cedric. “There’s no telling who may be watching.”

“I really don’t want to think about who may be watching,” Remus said hoarsely.

The moment the words let his lips Harry knew he shouldn’t have said them. Rustling could be heard behind them forcing both boys to turn around. Harry pulled out his wand from his holster and pointed it at the darkness with Cedric following suit. The fourteen-year-old could feel his mind working in overdrive. He was trapped between whether to run or try to stun whatever was watching them. Running would mean turning your back on the threat while stunning would mean attacking, possibly making the threat all the worse.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Cedric muttered.

“You’re not the only one,” Sirius grunted.

Harry was saved from answering as a noise from behind diverted their attentions. He partially turned so he could keep an eye on both threats only to see a short figure wearing a hooded cloak which blocked his face approaching. He seemed to be carrying a small bundle that could only be a baby or just some robes but Harry doubted it was either. Harry really wanted to run for it but his feet wouldn’t move. He watched as the figure stopped in front of a large marble headstone just six feet away from them.

Pain suddenly seared from his scar forcing Harry to stumble and be caught by Cedric. His scar had never hurt this badly before. Closing his eyes, Harry tried to focus on anything but the pain. It had worked in the past why couldn’t it work now? It felt like someone was trying to split his head open along his scar. There is no pain. There is no pain. There is no pain!

“FOCUS HARRY!” James yelled.

A cold, high-pitched voice silenced Harry’s agony. “Kill the spare,” he hissed.

“No! Don’t kill anyone,” Lily begged.

Harry didn’t have time to think as another voice shouted “Avada Kedavra!” Knowing who the spell was intended for, Harry used all of his weight to push Cedric to the ground, the blast of green light flying over them both. Adrenalin poured through his body, suddenly pushing away any pain. Not wanting to stay any longer, Harry quickly jumped to his feet and ran, pulling Cedric with him.

“Stop them! Stop them!” the high-pitched voice shouted.

“RUN!” they all yelled.

Harry felt a screaming in his head and fell to the ground, once again pulling Cedric with him as different colored curses flew over their heads. They quickly crawled to a large tombstone and hid behind it. Harry could feel his heart pounding and he tried to think of something, anything to help them escape. He could hear two people approaching. They needed to move but moving meant becoming a target. What do you do when your lessons contradict themselves?

“Follow your instinct!” Remus answered.

“Thanks Harry,” Cedric said quietly.

Harry looked over at the seventeen-year-old with a raised eyebrow. That was certainly the last thing he had expected to hear in the middle of an attack, especially considering it wasn’t Cedric they were after. “We’re not out of this yet so don’t thank me,” he whispered.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself, Potter,” a third voice that sounded somewhat familiar said loudly. “No one knows where you are. No one can rescue you this time. You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

“Well sorry about that but Harry will delay whatever you want as long as he can!” James said angry.

Looking over at Cedric, Harry knew he needed to create a diversion. These men had to be Death Eaters and only wanted him. He couldn’t put Cedric in danger. “Whatever you do don’t move until it is safe then run as fast as you can to find help,” Harry whispered. “They’re not after you…only me.” As quietly as possible, Harry turned his body and pointed his wand in the direction of the voice. “Stupefy,” he said then jumped to his feet and ran.

“WHAT? NO!” Lily yelled.

“Harry! What the bloody hell are you playing at?” James yelled.

“He’s right,” Remus said as if this was something he didn’t want to think, “If they chase Harry they may forget about Cedric and then he has a chance to flee and get help. They are after Harry, he is the main target.”

He hurdled over headstones as he avoided being hit but whatever cures or spell that was fired at him. His plan had worked. Both of them were following him leaving Cedric time to run for it and find help. Their feet hit the ground loudly alerting Harry that the distance between him and them was decreasing. They would catch up to him unless he did something soon.

“I’ll take the brat!” shouted the second Death Eater. “Find the other!”

“There goes your plan out the window Moony,” Sirius grunted.

NO! He would need to attack. There was no choice now. Harry slowed down his pace and let his pursuer catch up. As soon as he reached a headstone of the right height, Harry jumped up on the headstone then jumped up again, turning around and kicking the Death Eater across his hooded face. The Death Eater stumbled as Harry landed on his feet and pointed his wand at the attacker. “Stupefy!” Harry shouted.

The Death Eater blocked the spell and silent shot one at Harry forcing the teenager to duck for cover behind a headstone. The spell hit the headstone, causing it to shatter. Harry hurried to his feet and ran, casting another stunning spell over his shoulder as he went. He knew he needed to think of something to get out of this. The Death Eater had a point. No one knew where he was so no one would be coming for him. He was trapped.

“That’s not right! Moony and I are right now trying to find you! Right?”

Remus grimaced, “How?” Sirius looked lost.

Dodging another spell that narrowly missed his head, Harry flipped over a headstone and changed direction by turning to the right. He hurried behind a mausoleum and hid hoping against hope that the Death Eater would continue running past him. Breath was coming in short gasps. Sweat was rolling down his forehead as he slowly moved around the massive fixture. He reached the edge of the wall and peaked around the corner, his wand clutched so tightly his hand was shaking.

Seeing nothing, Harry slowly kept moving along the back of the mausoleum as he cautiously kept looking around in all directions so he wouldn’t be taken by surprise. He was nearly at the corner when Harry felt something grab him around his midsection and pull him hard to the right. He flew through the air only to have his back slam hard into a tree a moment later. Falling to the ground, Harry tried to breathe but found it impossible. His lungs didn’t want to work.

“BREATHE!” Lily cried.

Hands roughly grabbed him by the back of his jumper and dragged him for what felt like hours as Harry struggled to breathe. Air finally started to enter Harry’s lungs in short bursts, sending sparks of pain throughout his chest each time. He was barely aware of being thrown against a headstone and held in place as tight cords wrapped around him, binding him to the headstone.

“Did you find the other one?” the Death Eater called out as he backed away.

“Please tell me you didn’t,” James begged.

Harry slowly looked up through his askew glasses to see the shorter Death Eater come into his line of sight pushing Cedric in front of him.

“NO!” the four cried desperately. This was getting worse and worse.

Cedric had his hands bound and looked exhausted as he was forced to kneel down. The older teenager caught sight of Harry and tried to move but the shorter Death Eater held him in place. Harry noticed the missing finger on the Death Eater’s hand.

“I’ll kill him next time I see him,” James growled.

The shorter Death Eater was Pettigrew meaning the other was Barty Crouch, Jr.

Deep down Harry knew what was coming. He tried to break free but he was bound too tightly. The slightest movement caused the cords to cut into his body but that was the least of his worries. Harry watched as Crouch raised his wand, pointing it at Cedric. He tried to shout out but his voice was caught in his throat. This couldn’t be happening. He had to do something.

“Avada Kedavra!” Crouch hissed.

 “NO!” Harry shouted as a blast of green light shot out of Crouch’s wand hitting Cedric. Everything seemed to slow down as Cedric fell to the ground and remained still. A part of Harry was waiting for Cedric to start moving to prove he hadn’t seen the killing curse being used on his friend. A part of him didn’t want to accept that someone he knew was dead.

Sirius dropped the book shaking. Lily clung to James both crying and rocking. Remus kept shaking his head and mumbling “No.” It took them a long while to be able to get back to reading and it was in a shaking voice that Sirius continued.

 

Harry helplessly watched as Pettigrew grabbed Cedric by the back of his shirt, pulled him over to the Triwizard Cup and left him like he was nothing of importance. The dread that filled Harry was unimaginable. His eyes couldn’t seem to look anywhere but at Cedric’s body. He didn’t even realize when something was shoved in his mouth to prevent him from speaking. He only closed his eyes when a wave of pain hit him hard from his scar.

Regardless of the pain, Harry forced his eyes open and saw Pettigrew with the bundle in his arms once again. It was moving. There was something in those robes. Crouch entered Harry’s line of sight carefully levitating a large cauldron. Seeing Crouch with a wand made Harry realize he didn’t have his own wand. He looked around but the lack of light made trying to find a small piece of wood impossible.

Apart from Sirius’s shaking voice the only other sound was Lily’s strangled sobs as James held on to her.

The sound of the cauldron hitting the ground pulled Harry back to what was happening. Looking to his right, Harry saw a fire ignite underneath the cauldron as a snake appeared out of the darkness and stopped in front of the cauldron. Steam started to rise from the cauldron, alerting Harry that there was liquid inside that had already heated up. A few seconds later Harry could see the liquid boiling, sending out strange sparks that no liquid should ever shoot out.

The entire surface was sparkling as Pettigrew looked down at the bundle. “Master, it is ready,” he said then pulled back the robes to reveal what he had been holding. It was the shape of a human baby but it couldn’t look farther from it. It was dark red—almost black and was covered with what looked like scales if that was possible. There was no hair whatsoever on the thing and its eyes were red, shaped like a snake’s.

They all shuddered.

Harry felt like he was going to be sick as Pettigrew lowered the thing into the cauldron. Closing his eyes and turning his head away, Harry heard a thud and knew the creature had hit the bottom of the cauldron. He once again resumed in his attempts to break free from his bindings as he silently prayed that the unnatural being would just drown.

“Yes, please,” Lily begged.

Pettigrew’s voice broke into Harry’s thoughts. “Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!”

The ground underneath Harry moved. He quickly opened his eyes to see a small amount of dust rise through a crack in the ground and move to the cauldron. Sparks flew in every direction as the dust entered the cauldron, the surface changing to a deep blue a moment later. Whimpers coming from Pettigrew caught Harry’s attention. Looking at the man, Harry noticed Pettigrew pulling out a long shiny silver dagger.

“Flesh—of the servant—w-willingly given—you will—revive—your master,” Pettigrew said between frightened sobs then held out his right hand that was missing one finger.

As Pettigrew raised the dagger in his left hand Harry closed his eyes and turned his head away. He knew what was going to happen and didn’t want to see it. That didn’t stop the scream of pain that rang through the night. There was a thud as something fell to the ground followed by a splash. Harry heard someone approaching and opened his eyes to see Crouch kneeling down with the dagger now in his hand.

“You, you, you give up your friends for that?” James spluttered. “How can you have gone so low Peter? For a Master that makes you cut your own hand off?”

“B—blood of the enemy...forcibly taken…you will…resurrect your foe,” Pettigrew stuttered.

Harry’s eyes widened in alarm. Did that mean what he thought it meant? He tried to wrestle free when a forceful hand grabbed his right arm and held it still. Harry held back a whimper of pain as the grip tightened. Nothing he could do prevented the blade from cutting into his arm. Harry cried out but the cloth in his mouth prevented any sound from being heard. Blood quickly soaked through his sleeve and jumper. A glass phial was pressed to the cut allowing blood to fill it.

“Your best friend’s son Peter!” Remus cried indignantly, “How could you?”

As his head fell forward, Harry heard Crouch stand up and hurry over to the cauldron. The blood was poured into the mixture, turning it from red to a pure white. Harry forced his eyes open to see Pettigrew lying on the ground, holding his bleeding arm as he sobbed. Crouch was on his knees in front of the cauldron, waiting for something to happen.

“At least it wasn’t Peter,” Sirius grumbled. Lily stared at him. He sighed, “We have to take at least the small blessings Lily and hope Harry gets out of there. At least Peter wasn’t the one to cut Harry. It’s not much but it’s something.”

For a few minutes nothing happened. Harry could only hope and pray something had gone wrong but the sparks vanishing from the cauldron extinguished that thought. A rush of steam swelled over the cauldron and grew to cover the area around the large cauldron. Through the mist, an outline of a tall and extremely thin man appeared, standing out of the cauldron. The fear and dread flowing through Harry multiplied as he stared at the events unfolding.

“Robe me,” said the high-pitched voice coming from the…the thing behind the mist.

Crouch stood and grabbed a set of black robes and stepped into the mist. He dressed the man then stepped back, his head bowed. The thin…man stepped out of the cauldron and walked though the mist towards Harry. As he came into sight, Harry could only stare in fear at the sight in front of him. The man’s skin was too white for it to be human. His wide red eyes certainly weren’t human and his nose was flat with narrow slits for nostrils, almost like a snake. There was no doubt in Harry’s mind who was standing in front of him.

It was Voldemort. He had returned.

“I hate to state the obvious,” James said grimly, “But this is not good.”