The Dark Lord's Pet Princess

42. The Coward Returns

Larissa really thought that she was going to spend the rest of her life in an Albanian forest.
But after just 2 years, an expected visitor stumbled upon her, just after Voldemort had vacated her body for the day.
"Larissa?".
Larissa looked up and saw Peter Pettigrew standing in front of her.
"Peter" mumbled Larissa, she was tired and weak so she thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Peter had supposedly been killed 12 years earlier by Sirius, so his sudden reappearance was very shocking.
"You're supposed to be dead" continued Larissa.
"So are you" admitted Peter.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Asked Larissa.
"Your bracelet, the one I gave you all those years ago, helped me to pinpoint your location" answered Peter.
Larissa looked at the band on her wrist, which was so dirty you couldn't even tell that it had once been gold.
She had been wearing it the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry, and she hadn't taken it off since, as she hadn't changed clothes.

"You can trace me with this?" She frowned, as she looked at the bracelet, which she was worried was no longer safe for her to wear.
"Only I can, because I am the one who gave it to you. And it only helps me to find you when I'm near to your location, it can't tell me where in the world you are. I already knew you were in Albania, which helped narrow down my search. And then I used the bracelet to help me find where you were in this forest" replied Peter.
"That was clever of you" praised Larissa, who hadn't thought that Peter was capable of such genius.
"Thank you" smiled Peter.
"If you knew I was in Albania, then you weren't looking for me, you were looking for him".

"I came here searching for the dark lord, after my cover was blown, I hoped he would be able to protect me" revealed Peter.
"I see. Well, he will be very pleased to see you. You're the first death eater to have sought us out" admitted Larissa.
"I'm glad that I was able to find you"
"Me too. I wasn't sure that I could survive another 10 years with only Voldemort for company".
Peter shuddered at the dark lord's name.
"Where is our master then?" He asked.
"He's around here somewhere, sharing the body of a snake we met called Nagini. He has no body of his own, so he often shares mine, but he's giving me some respite right now, as I can't hold his spirit inside me forever".

Larissa and Voldemort had come across Nagini several months earlier.
The snake had once been a woman, but since she was a Maledictus, over time she had become stuck as a snake and forgotten all of her humanity.
Larissa didn't particularly like Nagini, for even though she was a Parselmouth like Voldemort, she didn't trust the snake like he did.

Larissa led Peter through the forest towards Voldemort, reuniting the pair.
The dark lord was overjoyed to have a death eater find him, but a little disappointed that it was Peter who had tracked him down.
With Peter's help, Voldemort managed to make a temporary small body for himself.
Larissa found this body repulsive as it made him look like a deformed alien baby.
But she was happy that he had a body again, as it meant he didn't have to use hers anymore.
Voldemort decided to make himself another Horcrux, so he turned Nagini into one, to ensure his safety in this new body.

Peter put all of them in danger by entering a public restaurant one day, and bumping into an English witch named Bertha Jorkins, who was on holiday.
But Peter managed to convince Bertha to follow him into the woods, so that he could bring her to Voldemort.
"Who is this?" Questioned Larissa, when Peter returned with Bertha, who was under the Imperius Curse, so was looking rather dazed and confused.
"Bertha Jorkins. She works for the Ministry of Magic" answered Peter.
"What is she doing here?" Asked Larissa.
"I bumped into her while having something to eat, and she recognised me".

"You incompetent fool" hissed Voldemort from his armchair in the corner of the room.
"Why did you bring her back here, instead of disposing of her in the forest?" Quizzed Larissa.
"She's from the Ministry, so I thought she could be of use to us" trembled Peter.
"More like you were too scared to finish her off yourself Wormtail. But let me see if this witch really does have any useful information inside her mind" said Voldemort, as he raised his wand towards Bertha.
Voldemort had a nasty habit of calling Peter, Wormtail, as a reminder of the friends he betrayed when he joined the death eaters.
"Crucio!" Shouted Voldemort, as he began to torture Bertha.

After hours of causing Bertha pain, and probing her mind for information, Voldemort finished her off and fed her to Nagini.
It turned out that Bertha did have a few secrets that would help the group.
She knew that the Triwizard Tournament had been restarted, and would begin in September.
Bertha also knew of an escaped death eater, called Barty Crouch jr, who would join their cause once freed from his fathers clutches.
This information greatly pleased Voldemort.
"I have a plan" he announced.

"What's the plan?" Asked Larissa.
"We shall head back to Britain, and this time we shall be victorious" informed Voldemort.
"How exactly?"
"Once we have freed Barty Crouch jr, and he has rejoined me, I shall explain my plan, which ends with me getting a new permanent body"
"Are you sure that you are strong enough to travel in this form?"
"The potion Wormtail makes for me should be enough to keep me alive as we make our way back home".

"So, you're not going to tell us how ex you plan on getting your body back" frowned Larissa.
"Not yet. But I will tell you this, my plan involves getting our revenge on Harry Potter. I will need the boys blood if I am to regain a body. Once we have freed Barty, I will send him to Hogwarts, in disguise, and he will bring the boy to us. That is all I plan on telling you, for now. We will make preparations to leave, and head back home once Nagini has digested her meal" explained Voldemort.
"Is she coming with us then?"
"Of course she is, I'm not going to leave her behind".

"Where will we stay once we are back in Britain?" Questioned Larissa.
"We can live in my father's house. That should suit our needs for the time being" answered Voldemort.
"I guess we had better get ready then, as it's a long journey back home, and we will need to plan for the trip. It's not going to be easy taking a giant snake with us, or getting you there in this form, but I'm sure we'll manage it" sighed Larissa.