Loki Laufeyson and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 23; Money and Regret

(Told from Loki's point of view)

Voldemort talked for a very, very long time. I would have reenacted what I did two years ago in the Chamber of Secrets, but I didn't, out of the little respect for Harry I had left. And also of course, because Voldemort could actually kill me this time. I wanted to fall asleep because he talked so long, but luckily quite a few of his followers returned and some more interesting things happened. Sure, he still talked about them and to them for way too long, but at least it was slightly more interesting.

I yawned. Luckily no one paid me any attention. Voldemort was greeting every one of his death eaters one by one. Only a few of the names I recognized, including Draco's father Lucius, and Crabbe and Goyle's fathers. Then, when he was finished with them, he started talking about Harry. He explained what happened with Bertha Jorkins, and how there was a very faithful death eater still at Hogwarts that allowed him to return. Very slowly, I moved my leg into a more comfortable position. Nobody noticed that I had moved.

From my point of view, it was almost funny. I could watch what was happening from afar like I was watching a movie. Voldemort explained how he had come back to life, or, had been returned to a body, because according to him he had already been alive, just barely.

"Hi voldy! I'm right here!" I muttered under my breath. "You can kill me!" I was so utterly bored.

And then finally he faced Harry and, even though I couldn't see what was going on, Voldemort shouted, "crucio!" And I heard Harry scream. I winced. Once again, nobody noticed me.

A gap opened in the crowd, and I could see a tiny bit of what was going on. Wormtail was untying Harry from the headstone. He removed the gag from Harry's mouth and Harry steadied himself, taking care not to put much weight on his injured leg. The death eaters closed in again, and I couldn't see anything anymore.

And then I made myself go rigid. Voldemort had walked out of the circle, and stood right in between me and Cedric's body for a moment, before picking up Harry's wand and returning to the circle. I let myself breathe once the Death Eaters closed the gap again.

I couldn't really hear what Voldemort was saying, although I could tell he was speaking. The Death Eaters had begun to laugh. I strained my ear to hear what he was saying, but I couldn't. I heard Harry scream. Again. Louder than before.

Before I could stop myself, I crawled quietly over to the circle, and, resting on my left arm, slowly moved one of the Death Eater's cloaks so that I could see what was happening.

At that moment, Harry stopped screaming. Voldemort said something along the lines of "that hurt, didn't it? You don't want me to do it again, do you?"

I was holding up my right hand with my left arm while my right kept the Death Eater's cloak out of the way. The position was starting to hurt my arm.

"I asked if you want me to do it again." Voldemort said. "Answer me! Imperio!"

I literally didn't know what to think. The only stupid thing that was coming to my mind was, "man, Voldy is a real asshole."

Why can't I take anything seriously? But I couldn't admit it was kind of funny. Not what Voldemort was doing to Harry, but my reaction to it.

"I WON'T!" Harry shrieked. It was the first thing that he said in a while, and it made me jump slightly.

I crept back and put myself back in the position I was in. As soon as I was comfortable, there was something that sounded like an explosion in the circle, and the Death Eaters jumped back. I could actually see Voldemort and Harry's heads rising above the crowd.

"What. The hell. Is that." I whispered. I could see a jet of green light coming from Voldemort's wand, and a jet of Red light coming from Harry's. Where they met, there was a strange fountain of gold light. I could just barely hear Phoenix song.