Harry Potter's Pen Pal

Epilogue

On June 25th, a barn owl carrying a shrunken trunk landed in the middle of Albania forest. It had just dropped the trunk when a large snake lunged out of the bushes, barely missing the owl, which hooted loudly and shot away.

As soon as he did so, the trunk returned to its normal size. A split second later, there was a crack, and a tall man with greasy hair appeared, clutching a boy.

"That was the most horrible thing I have ever experienced," the raven-haired boy said in disgust. "Hello, Marvolo."

"Brat," said a human voice, which seemed to be coming from the snake. "Severus."

The man blanched at the faintly cold tone. "My lord," he said nervously.

"You're here to do the ritual?"

"Yes," the boy agreed, pulling a small diary from his robes. "We have all your Horcruxes. You should probably know that we found your locket in Grimmauld Place ⎯ the Black Manor ⎯ instead of the cave. There's a fake there, we left it in case Dumbledore escapes and tries to find your Horcruxes."

"What?!" The snake hissed angrily, rearing.

"Your Horcruxes are save, Marvolo, stop panicking." The boy opened the trunk. "You have to be a shade for this part."

"I know, brat, I suggested this ritual!" A being that seemed to be made of smoke floated out of the snake and hovered in midair.

The boy and man pulled an assortment of things from the trunk: a sort of tiara, a silver locket with an S inscribed on it, a cup with two handles, and a ring. They placed these, as well as the diary and the snake, around the shade in a circle on the ground. The boy also joined the circle.

"The spell, Severus," the shade said coldly.

The man flinched and pulled out his wand. Then he began chanting.

"Redeo ad animum, praeter unum... Redeo ad animum, praeter unum... Redeo ad animum, praeter unum..." (Return all to the soul, except for one)

A sudden light erupted in the clearing: a eerie green light, which emerged from each item on the forest floor except for the diary. The boy winced when a small sliver of green light flowed from his chest, but otherwise didn't move.

The light hovered around the shade for a moment, then began spinning around the human-shaped smoke so quickly that Marvolo disappeared from view. The green light burned so brightly that the man and boy had to cover their faces.

When the light disappeared, a tall man stood in the place of the shade. His hair was long and dark, his skin pale. For all accounts, he looked like a normal, very handsome man. The only thing that showed that he wasn't quite normal was his glowing, scarlet eyes.

He also wasn't wearing anything.

"Severus, my wand," Marvolo said irritably, smirking as the boy yelped and covered his eyes.

Severus, eyes still squeezed shut, reached into his pocket and pulled out a second wand, handing it to the scarlet-eyed man. Marvolo transfigured a rock into a pair of jeans and quickly put them on.

"You can look, brat," Marvolo snorted as he turned another rock into a long-sleeved black shirt.

The boy blinked. "I am never getting that out of my brain," he said dramatically, earning nearly-identical snorts from the two older men.

"Dramatic much, Potter?" Marvolo sneered, turning a clump of grass into a pair of black tennis-shoes.

"What's dramatic?" the boy asked sarcastically. In a more serious tone, he added, "I blame Uncle Padfoot."

Severus sniffed in agreement.

"And Professor Snape," the boy smirked.

"I am not dramatic!"