Harry Potter and the Berserker

Chapter 60

Disclaimer- Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Berserk is owned by Kentaro Miura. I own nothing.

"I was told that Potter would come to me. You gave me that express assurance that he would come to me and our destiny would be decided." Voldemort found it hard to reign in the intense anger he felt pulsating throughout his body at the moment. He knew that he was dead if he actually decided to act on it. "He had returned to Hogwarts, he was there."

"And you, in turn, sought him out?" the voice of the God Hand in disguise was as smooth as ever. He left no trace that he was at all surprised by this.

Of course, I did. Potter was within my grasp! Is what he wanted to say - wanted to yell in fact, but he didn't. He maintained his composure with a mask of dissatisfaction still in place. "Yes, I did. I was under the impression that Potter had returned to our world, the one he has been away from for far too long. Was that not what you were referring to when you told me to be patient?" he would love to see how the God Hand would try and spin this. But he deserved an answer - he needed an answer. It was his destiny to have done battle with Potter, not that Swordsman.

Voldemort could still picture the man's face, a thing he had never done for any other muggle he had encountered as his time as Dark Lord. He never had any need before to ever consider someone without magical talent a potential threat to him. Yet he bore the scar above his right eye all the same from where that massive blade had made contact with his flesh. It was not so different than the one that Zodd creature had above his left eye; the thought of them being similar already left a sour spot in Voldemort's mind, but the real kicker was the fact that he had in fact been bested in front of a public crowd.

If it had been Potter he had faced, he might have actually taken the loss with a hint of dignity. Potter had bested him when he was but an infant and they were fated to do battle. But to a man like that... Guts had been his name. Whoever his mother was must have been a dumb whore to name him that. He could at least hope that those who witnessed it believed the man to have a magic sword; it would make the situation more bearable if those sheep believed that.

But even so, he now carried a scar of his own from that fight. A scar that refused to heal even with his new powers gifted to him as an apostle. Bellatrix was much the same from the wound she had sustained on her side from the battle. Her husband and brother had both been cleaved in half from that blade and she was just barely clinging to life. Voldemort had left her back at Malfoy Manor and instructed the house elf under a death threat to seal her wound as best he could. Bellatrix had failed him, sure, but she was still his most loyal follower. She would ensure that any who doubted his power would stay loyal.

The God Hand spoke again. "Causality works its power constantly. You were told that Potter would come to you, and he shall. Your mistake has cost you, but you still have your life. There is still time for the one you seek to fall into your clutches. Wouldn't you agree?"

He acts as if he knows everything. And maybe he did. It was another checkmark on the things Voldemort couldn't stand about this being. He too desired to know the full prophecy concerning him and Potter, but that was knowledge for himself. He had the right to know it, no one else. And here he sat across from a God Hand member who seemed to hold an answer for everything, even if it pertained to him as well.

"My life?" Voldemort repeated. "My life and my destiny both lie back in my world." For now, at least. "I have suffered an utter humiliation and most of my forces are in tatters. The giants whose allegiance I won are all but extinct now and I now carry a scar from a muggle of all people." His voice grew low and cold with every word spoken but he never yelled. "Everything I worked for, all the years of perfecting and studying forbidden magic to make a name for myself, that is on the brink of collapse."