Out of The Shadows (Golden Trio Era) {1}

The Ritual

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" The surface of the grave at Harry's feet cracked. Horrified, they watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Wormtail's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed, sending sparks in all directions as it turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue. And now Wormtail was whimpering. He pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak. His voice broke into petrified sobs. "Flesh of the servant w-willingly given, you will revive your master." He stretched his right hand out in front of him, the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward. Mikayla realized what Wormtail was about to do a second before it happened, she snapped her eyes shut as tightly as she possibly could, but she couldn't block out the scream that pierced the night. It was sharp and loud and hurt her ears. Mikayla heard something fall to the ground, heard Wormtail's anguished panting, then a sickening splash as something was dropped into the cauldron. She opened my eyes, to see by a flash of light that the potion had turned a burning red. Wormtail was gasping and moaning with agony. Wormtail was now right in front of Harry, the dagger in his remaining hand was shaking as it neared Harry's arm. "B-Blood of the enemy... forcibly taken... you will... resurrect your foe." Mikayla couldn't do anything but cry as she watched Wormtail press the tip of the dagger to the crook of Harry's right arm. Blood seeped down the sleeve of Harry's torn robes as Wormtail, still panting with pain, fumbled in his pocket for a glass vial and held it to Harry's cut so that a dribbled of blood fell into it. Wormtail staggered back to the cauldron with Harry's blood. He poured it inside and the liquid instantly turned a blinding white. He approached Mikayla, "Blood of the closest servant of your foe, unwillingly given. You will earn respect for your new master." Wormtail sliced Mikayla's cheek, gathering her blood and splashing it into the cauldron. Wormtail, his job done, dropped to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways and lay on the ground, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing.

Meanwhile, the cauldron was simmering, sending its diamond sparks in all directions, so blindingly bright that it turned all else to velvety blackness. Nothing happened at first and Mikayla had thought that her wish of Voldemort drowning had come true, but suddenly the sparks coming from the cauldron were extinguished. A surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron instead, obliterating everything in front of Mikayla, so that she couldn't see Harry, Wormtail, Cedric, or anything but vapor hanging in the air. Please, let him be dead. But, to her terror, she saw the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, slowly rise from inside the cauldron in front of her. "Robe me." The high, cold voice said from behind the steam, and Wormtail, sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one-handed over his master's head. Voldemort stepped out of the cauldron and stared at Harry with a face that was whiter than a skull. Livid scarlet eyes stood out from the whiteness of his skin, and he had a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slit for nostrils. He was back.

Voldemort looked away from Harry and began to examine his own body. His hands were large and wiry, his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, and his face. His red eyes, the pupils like slits were like a cats and they gleamed brightly through the darkness. He held up his hands and flexed his fingers, his expression captivated and triumphant.  Voldemort took no notice of Wormtail, who lay twitching and bleeding on the ground, nor did he pay attention to the large snake, which had slithered back into sight and was circling Harry again with an ongoing hiss. He slipped one of his skeletal hands into a deep pocket of his robes and pulled out a wand. He caressed it gently and then he raised it and pointed it at Wormtail, who was lifted off the ground and thrown against the headstone where Harry was tied up. Wormtail fell to the foot of it and lay there, crumpled up and crying. Voldemort turned his scarlet eyes upon Mikayla and smirked menacingly before looking at Harry. He laughed loudly and the cold sound of it made Mikayla freeze her face, to hide weakness. Wormtail's robes were shining with blood now and, from what Mikayla could see, he had wrapped up his stump of an arm in his sleeve. "My Lord..." He choked through his sobs. "My Lord... you promised... you did promise..."  "Hold out your arm." Voldemort commanded in a lazy voice.  "Oh, Master... thank you, Master..." Wormtail cried, extending his bleeding stump. Voldemort laughed again. "The other arm, Wormtail."  "Master, please... please..." Voldemort bent down and pulled out Wormtail's left arm. He forced the sleeve of Wormtail's robes up past his elbow and, though it was faint, Mikayla could see a vivid black tattoo of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, the Dark Mark. Voldemort examined it carefully, ignoring Wormtail's uncontrollable weeping. "It is back." Voldemort said softly. "They will all have noticed it... and now, we shall see... now we shall know..." He pressed his long white forefinger to the brand on Wormtail's arm. 

Harry let out a muffled scream, his face contorted with pain, while Wormtail howled loudly. Voldemort removed his fingers from Wormtail's mark. A look of cruel satisfaction on his face, Voldemort straightened up, threw back his head, and stared around at the dark graveyard.  "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" He whispered, his gleaming red eyes fixed upon the starry sky. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" He began to pace up and down the stretch of ground in front of Harry, Wormtail, and Mikayla, his eyes sweeping the graveyard the whole time. Mikayla slowly got to her feet. She removed her own gag, before making her way towards Harry.