Death is but the Next Great Adventure

Rain Has a Way of Washing Away Doubt

In the last chapter: Harry goes into the third task and makes it to the cup first. Harry shows up in the cemetery where Voldemort and Philias are waiting for him and he successfully completes the ritual, telling Tom to contact him when he wanted answers before leaving the cemetery. Harry returns and is announced as the winner of the tournament. Barty confronts Harry about Voldemort's resurrection and Harry reveals that he actually helped Voldemort. Barty scoots it.

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The antique grandfather clock's hands ticked on in circles with the rhythmic assurance of a metronome. Contrasting the measured clicks were the chaotic and sporadic taps against the tall window panes as gales blew large rain drops into the glass and battered the manor in an early summer storm. Thunder echoed hollowly in the distance and the faint flickers of lightning shot light through the dark clouds and almost green atmosphere.

Tom watched the building storm from his window, his tangled strings of thought reflected quite 'poetically' in the turnout of the morning's weather. The wooden frame of the window raddled and groaned against the wind. A soft knock had Tom turning as Philias Green slowly stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with his gaze lowered but spine straight.

It had been several days since the perplexing events of Tom's resurrection. The first two days saw him all but confined to his bed as he recovered both inside and out. After that, Tom spent the next few days trying to sort through what had happened on his own, but eventually he reached the end of what he could conclude on his own with this limited information and summoned Green to him. It was time he got some answers.

"Sit." Tom spoke as he made his way to one of the firm leather armchairs in his office, his tone was authoritative, but . . . not exactly unkind. Philias hesitated before taking the seat opposite him, nervous about what was to come but knowing he couldn't avoid it. "I'm sure you know why I called you here, Green. You may work for Harry Potter, but you are still my-- . . . subordinate, and you will tell me everything you know about him."

Phil felt like his stomach was turning inside out, he hadn't had any contact with Voldemort after escorting the nearly unconscious man back up to the manor and putting him in his room and under the care of the house elves. Harry had seemed convinced that whatever he'd done to Voldemort would change him more than just physically and certainly implied a change of temperament, but Phil knew that Harry had never done something like this before—how could he—and so he couldn't exactly put all his faith in that.

He had to admit that Voldemort had definitely changed physically. The once wrinkled little homunculus form he'd held before was now an utterly normal-looking man—well, actually Phil didn't know if he could really be called a 'man' anymore, since whatever Harry had done had made Voldemort look more like a lad barely out of Hogwarts! He was tall and well built, but there wasn't a single line to his face and if he traded out the expensive pureblood robes for a Hogwarts uniform, he could have easily fit in amongst the sixth or seventh years.

More than the sheer astonishment from this feat, Phil felt . . . disconcerted by this development. If he'd learned anything from his time working with Harry, it was that he had a bit of a soft spot for children—as embarrassing as it was to admit—and seeing the man who could very easily kill him in one fell swoop looking like a bright-eyed lad practically still wet behind the ears, could get him into some serious trouble if he started to develop yet another guardian-complex for someone so dangerous.

Actively pulling himself from his troubling thoughts, Phil nodded and tried to quickly gather his words before he spoke. It felt entirely wrong to talk about Harry to the one who'd just recently been trying to kill the young Ravenclaw, but Harry had given him clear instructions to tell Voldemort—or 'Tom' as Harry so brazenly refers to him as—everything he wanted to know. Harry had even followed up a day later with a letter to Phil telling him once again that Phil wasn't meant to hold anything back and that Harry would be just fine. So even though he didn't want to, he really didn't have a choice in the matter.