A Deeper Connection: A New Beginning

Prologue: The Hand

Pain and darkness were imprisoning him, as the Dark Lord was slowly regaining consciousness. Thankfully, he had been out for most of the Resurrection Ritual, wandering the narrow path between consciousness and unconsciousness, as his soul had been reconnected with the bodily vessel which had been painstakingly rebuilt at an agonisingly slow pace within the large cauldron, as the Dark Phoenix tears, the Basilisk venom, and the Elixir of Life united and modified the three human components of the Resurrection Potion: the bone of Tom Riddle Senior, the flesh of Severus Snape, and the blood of his equal.

Now that the Resurrection Ritual had been completed, at least Tom hoped that it was indeed completed, the predominant feeling was pain, nothing but pain. Every nerve, every fibre, and every cell of his new body appeared to be on fire, much like he was being held under several highly potent Cruciatus Curses at the same time. Luckily, the pain was receding, although not as fast as he hoped. While most of his body was feeling slightly better with each passing second, the agonising fire in his lungs was steadily increasing. With his mind still being in a state of pain and haze, it took Tom almost to the point of passing out to realise the reason for the declining state of his lungs. He needed air.

Despite focussing every cell on the task, his new body did not obey. Sensing an agonising and rather degrading death for this new bodily vessel advancing on the horizon, the Dark Lord focussed all his energy, all his magic, and all his determination on the sole task of breathing. Finally, he felt his body obeying as his lips parted and the sweetest breath of air in his entire life filled his burning lungs. Focussing solely on the task of breathing, the pain in his lungs decreased with every passing breath, while his mind became clearer and clearer.

The first thing he realised was a terrible and truly terrifying void in his mind of something that had clearly been there before but was missing now. In the state that he was currently in, the Dark Lord could not identify whatever had been lost, although there were still faint traces of whatever it had been.

Before he could contemplate more on the missing part of his mind, a noise caught his attention. Since his mind was in a considerably better state now that there was oxygen in his body, it did not take him long to process the urgent nature of the noise that suspiciously sounded similar to Severus' familiar drawl. Tom just had to see what it really was.

Once again focussing his limited energy resources on one thing only, his eyes slowly opened.

At first, he was blinded, his eyes not being used to any sort of light, despite the Ritual chamber still being illuminated by only a handful of sparsely distributed candles. Thankfully, his eyes soon adapted to the lighting conditions, and his vision became clearer. Finally, the noise made sense.

A few feet ahead, an unusually pale Severus Snape was kneeling in front of the lifeless form of Harry, the handless stump which was still bleeding, although not as profoundly as before, tightly pressed to his torso, while his other hand was shaking Harry, urging him, begging him to wake up to heal his wound.

Deep within, Tom knew that Harry was alive. How, he did not know. He just did, although he could not rationally explain it. What he could rationally explain, was that Harry was in no state to replace Severus' severed hand. The slightly miscalculated Resurrection Ritual obviously had drained his magical reserves more than they had originally anticipated. A fact, which was underlined by Harry's state of unconsciousness. There was only one way to rectify that.

"Sev... Severus," the Dark Lord's raspy, yet quiet words echoed through the Ritual Chamber trying to catch the desperate Potions Master's attention, "Severus... Sev... Severus..."

Sadly, it did not work. Still, Tom had never been one to give up, trying his best to raise his voice, "Severus... Sev... Severus... Please, listen... Severus..."

Thankfully, somebody else had heard his words, or at least sensed that he was conscious.

"Severus," Corvus Lestrange's voice boomed through the Ritual chamber, sounding rather strained and tired, "our Lord..."

The Potions Master's head turned, his onyx eyes filled with pain that he could no longer hide as he looked at Tom, before he started to plead, "My... my Lord, please, make him wake up. My injuries must be healed. You... you... He... Harry promised that there would be no lasting effects... I... I just need both of my hands... I cannot live without them..."

"Severus," Tom managed to get out, reaching out his right hand to signal the desperate Potions Master to come closer, "Harry is in no state..."

"But he promised," Severus exclaimed, pain and agony underlining his every word, "Harry promised to heal..."

"We promised," Tom said, his voice having grown slightly firmer and steadier, "and I will keep my words. Your arm!"

"But" the Potions Master protested, "you are in no state yourself to heal me. Harry specifically told me..."

In an enormous display of strength, despite his very limited and weakened position on the floor, the Dark Lord managed to push himself forwards, leaving behind a trail of smudgy chalk, before he was close enough to Severus to grab the slippery, still bleeding stump. It might have been only a few feet, but Tom felt like he had just completed one of the most strenuous tasks of his life as his fingers were closing around the bloodied stump. Still, there was no time for resting. Ignoring the protest of the Potions Master, Tom focussed what little magic he had at his disposal on the task that was laying ahead of him. Since there was no way that his meagre reserves of magic would be enough to complete the healing, the Dark Lord tried to channel the magic of his surroundings. It appeared to be a futile endeavour since most of the naturally occurring magic of his surroundings had already been harvested throughout the Resurrection Ritual. Still, every bit of extra magic could be crucial.

At first, nothing happened. Just as Severus almost managed to break free from his hold, Tom felt something deep inside him, almost like a warm tingle. His magic finally responded, although it was a stark contrast to the endless amount of deliciously Dark Magic he used to have at his disposal. Suddenly, his fingers started to tingle as the first sparks of magic were channelled out of his weakened body.

Concentrating very hard on the vital information Harry had obtained over the last few months, the Dark Lord pushed forth his magic into the bleeding stump. Ignoring the strain on his weakened core and body, Tom stubbornly kept his eyes firmly glued on the stump. Much to his relief, new bone tissue, nerve fibres, and muscles started to grow, although slowly. Feeling the magic working on his wound, the Potions Master finally stopped his struggle, watching in wonder as his limb was being restored, cell by cell.

Once the internal components of the Potions Master's left hand had been completed, Tom focussed his magic on recreating the skin, which was a highly complicated endeavour in itself given the high concentration of neural cells, especially inside the fingers. Ignoring the quickly advancing fatigue, Tom kept going on, every cell in his body concentrated on completing this single task no matter the cost. Fighting tooth and nail against his protesting body, his gaze continued to be firmly glued on the growing skin that slowly started to encompass the exposed bones, nerves, and muscles.

By the time the skin had reached the fingers, Tom was close to passing out, his body drained of most of its energy, his core close to being void of its magic, which very likely could prove to be fatal. But if the Dark Lord was one thing, then it was being stubborn. Gathering his strength one last time, he unleashed whatever he had left, forcing the skin to continue to grow. Relief briefly rushed through his hazy mind as the skin closed around the tips of the Potions Master's fingers before darkness took him as his magic and energy had been depleted completely.