Chapter Text
The darkness was surrounding him, enveloping him like never before in his life. He didn’t know what was happening or where he was but what he did know was that he was dead.
Harry’s eyes opened to the view of a dark sky, his eyes curiously taking in where he was. He turned his head, only realizing then that Cedric Diggory was looking down at him.
“Hey, Potter? Are you alright, mate?”
“Yeah,” Harry managed to get out from his parched throat, “Yeah, of course.” Harry had only a couple seconds to take in what was happening before Cedric was shouting out,
“What are we going to do?”
Harry looked around, taking in the maze with dark eyes… ‘It looks like I came back in time…’ Harry hadn’t the slightest clue how he had accomplished something so profound but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He would milk this chance for all it was worth. Harry’s dark eyes turned to Cedric, “Let’s go together…”
Cedric nodded, “Okay, at the count of three… one, two three!” They both touched the cup before disappearing into thin air.
Harry landed gracefully onto the grass of the graveyard, watching as Cedric landed on his arse next to him. Harry studied the statue of Tom Riddle. Sr. before his hungry gaze went to Wormtail. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on that rat and tear him into pieces.
“You okay?” Harry asked absentmindedly. He knew what was coming and he wasn’t going to stop it. Cedric had to die.
Cedric nodded and stood up, “Where are we?”
“Looks like some graveyard…” Harry trailed off, his eyes watching Wormtail as he approached.
“Kill the spare!” A voice whispered but it could be heard none the less. It was high and cold which made Harry shiver slightly.
Harry watched Cedric look around in confusion before the green light of the killing curse lit up the graveyard and hit the boy square in the chest. Cedric’s body twisted around before dropping lifelessly to the ground.
Harry said a quiet, “Sorry,” before watching as Wormtail paused on him. Harry felt a tingle in his forehead and a light smile lit up his face as he realized that the horcrux must be still with him. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he had missed the small little piece.
He felt a tug on his arm and realized that the rat was trying to manhandle him to the statue. Harry ripped his arm from Wormtail quickly and the rat’s eyes widened, “You must… you must help…”
“Why must I help? Will I get anything in return?” Harry asked lightly. He was planning on resurrecting the Dark Lord anyway but he wanted to rile the rat up a bit first. Harry knew that the rat would face death if the ritual was’t carried out.
“You must…” The rat burst into tears, “My Lord will be very displeased…”
Harry shrugged his shoulders and place a hand out for Wormtail to take and before he knew it, he was trapped in between a statue.
“Do it now!” Voldemort demanded and Wormtail ran over, gripping the Dark Lord’s temporary vessel before dropping it into the boiling cauldron.
“Bone of the father, unknowingly given…” Wormtail hovered a bone over the cauldron and dropped it in, “You will renew your son!” The rat took out a long sharp knife, slicing his right arm over the cauldron as it bubbled, “Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master!”
Harry knew he was the next ingredient, so before the rat could go any further, he reached out his arm and bit down, “Blood of an ally, willingly given, you will resurrect your equal,” his fangs were gleaming in the light.
Wormtail’s eyes practically fell out of its sockets when he saw it, “No!”
“Yes, finish this…” Harry gave his arm to Wormtail and he approached with pain on his face, bleeding heavily from his wound. The rat took the blood from him, hastily making his way back over to the cauldron to drop it in.
“The Dark Lord shall rise again!” The rat declared as the cauldron burst into flames and a reformed Voldemort appeared. Harry’s eyes could only widen when he came face-to-face with the Tom Riddle from the Diary but only a little bit older. Harry took in the man’s features… soft black hair, aristocratic cheek bones that could cut glass and the most distinguishing feature were the eyes. Crimson red that told the world that he wasn’t just Tom Marvolo Riddle… he was Lord Voldemort.
“My wand, Wormtail…” The rat bowed deeply and handed the wand to his master, blood still running out of his wounded arm, “Hold out your arm,” the Dark Lord whispered.
Wormtail started crying in gratitude, “Master, thank you, master…” He held out his injured arm with a smile on his face.
“The other arm, Wormtail!” Voldemort snarled and the smile that was on Wormtail’s face turned to a despairing frown, “Now!” The rat complied and held out his other hand just as Harry contemplated intervening. He didn’t want anyone showing up like before because he had too much to tell the man.
“You could thank me, you know…” Voldemort’s head snapped up from the rat’s arm in the direction of the voice and green met crimson. The man had a curious expression on his face as he raked Harry up and down.
“And for what, you insolent child?” The Dark Lord slowly walked over to where Harry was pinned to the statue.
“For giving you an actual body… if I hadn’t helped, you would have looked like a snake… not pretty…”
The Dark Lord chuckled, his hand reaching up to Harry’s lips to wipe off some blood, “You’re a vampire? The Light’s saviour… a dark creature?” Voldemort cackled and walked back and forth in front of Harry and then he stopped, his gaze piercing Harry.
Harry allowed the Dark Lord to enter his mind and view the memory of the ritual and watched as Voldemort stared at him in confusion, “Why would you willingly give your blood?” Voldemort asked, his eyes narrowed.
“There is a lot I have to tell you which is why I didn’t want you to call your death eaters…” Harry told him and watched as Voldemort slashed at the statue, releasing Harry from its hold.
“Leave us, Wormtail…” Voldemort snarled at the rat.
“B–But, master!” Wormtail whimpered, “Y–You promised…” He held out his wounded arm and fell to the ground.
Harry sneered in disgust, “Can I have him?” Harry grinned with a fang poking out from his upper lip. Voldemort chuckled as he shot Harry a look.
“I returned, master… you promised…”
Harry watched Voldemort fix his gaze on Wormtail, “Out of fear, not loyalty… still, you have proven yourself useful these past few months,” then he conjured a new hand for the rat.
“Thank you, master… thank you!” Wormtail whimpered as he inspected his new hand.
Harry let out a disappointed sigh, “Do you have to?” Harry whined, “I’m hungry.”
Voldemort smirked, “Leave us now, Wormtail!” The rat ran away, crying his thanks, “Now, what happened to you?” The Dark Lord asked Harry, amused.
“Honestly? I don’t really know… all I do know is that I came back in time to my fourth year,” said Harry, trying to think about why he was there in the first place.
Voldemort raised an eyebrow, “You’re from the future?”
“It’s hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. I was nineteen when they killed me,” Harry’s eyes darkened, “After I killed you, no offence… everyone immediately betrayed me and started calling me the next Dark Lord… some hunted me down to put me in Azkaban and others wanted me dead.” Harry eyes flashed, “Do you want to know who killed me?”
“Of course.”
“The one and only, Albus Dumbledore,” said Harry, sneering out the foul name, “He supposedly died in my sixth year on top of the Astronomy tower. Snape shot him with a killing curse.”
“That old coot!”
“Yeah, they planned to stage his death and wait till I killed you before ending my life. I was on the run for two years but eventually they found me…that when they killed me and they didn’t give me the luxury of the killing curse. No, they tortured me until I perished. I couldn’t do a damn thing,” Harry swallowed, remembering the memories of Dumbledore hovering over him with a dark grin, “They are going to pay, every last one of them.”
The Dark Lord was quiet and Harry assumed he was thinking about everything he had said, “What about the prophecy?” He finally asked and Harry smiled grimly.
“Fake… it was a way to get rid of you,” Harry said, walking closer to the Dark Lord, “You know what… you look good when you don’t look like a snake,” Harry complemented.
“I remember you saying something like that… I honestly didn’t care originally because I just wanted a body but now that I have some rationality back, I realize that I may have cursed myself if I had taken your blood unwillingly. The snake venom would have become the main substance for my body,” The Dark Lord grimaced at what he could have looked like.
“Well, at least you aren’t insane…”
“Why?”
“You were completely mad when you looked like a snake and you would torture someone for breathing. Some of your loyal death eaters were even planning to defect because of your insanity.”
“I see, I think the ritual gave my sanity back because your blood was a main component. I was stuck as a bodiless form for so long, I think I may have lost sense of my goals.”
Harry nodded, “Also, I think you should start gathering your horcruxes because Dumbledore is searching for them,” Harry told him, “You may have also created an unintentional one,” he slowly added.
Voldemort scrunched up his forehead in confusion, “What do you mean? I couldn’t have made a horcrux I don’t know about… it isn’t possible,” Voldemort didn’t seem surprised that Harry knew but he did seem angry that Dumbledore was collecting them.
“It is… were you planning to create another horcrux that night when you came to Godric’s Hollow to kill me?”
The Dark Lord nodded faintly, “I did, I had an artifact I was going to use after I killed you but, obviously, that didn’t happen.”
“Where do you think that piece of soul went after you vanished?”
“The nearest thing it could find,” Voldemort whispered, looking Harry in the eyes, “You’re my horcrux. I didn’t think a soul could enter a living being but you’re proof.”
“That is correct.”
Harry watched as Voldemort paused to put his thoughts together. Harry sighed and thought about what his life would be like now that he had a second chance.
“Horcrux…” Voldemort muttered, “It was so obvious, I must be still insane not to feel my horcruxes when they are right next to me,” The Dark Lord looked at Harry, “My horcrux…”
A shiver ran down Harry’s spine, “I understand that you may be thinking of locking me up but I can assure you, that won’t be happening.”
The Dark Lord quirked a smile, “I had a feeling you would be like that, you brat.”
“What can I say? I have so much to do and so much to plan… I don’t have time to be your captive.”
“What do you have to plan?”
“I have to find a way to take Dumbledore down while at Hogwarts and I have bones to pick with the blood traitor and mudblood.”
“I have to get my horcruxes quickly before Dumbledore finds them.”
“Well, your locket horcrux is in the Black House and not where you put it in the caves. When Dumbledore and I went to look for it in my last life, there was only a fake locket left and a letter inside that said,
‘To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.’
“It was signed with the initials R.A.B.”
“Regulus Arcturus Black,” Voldemort whispered, “So, he didn’t destroy it?”
“No, he is one of the inferi now. The locket is with the barmy house elf, Kreacher.” Harry paused, “Did you have any company when you went to plant the horcrux in the cave?” Harry asked, his eyebrows raised.
“That blasted house-elf brought the traitor to the caves,” Voldemort snarled, “You have a way of getting the locket safe?”
“I do,” Harry said, “Some people forget that house-elves are capable of a lot more than they realize. They can enter any ward undetected… that’s why it is good to treat house-elves with respect because then you have their loyalty.”
Nagini hissed and Harry turned around at the noise, Master leaving me to fend for myself, promised me juicy human! And then Nagini came out of the bush right next to Harry, Master gave Nagini juicy human! She hissed happily, spotting Harry. She lunged at him but Harry’s reflexes kicked in.
Nagini! Voldemort hissed as he watched the snake continue to lunge at her prey. Nagini paused though for a second, her diamond head turned in confusion,
You’re not human, she hissed, sounding sad.
Harry was hiding behind The Dark Lord now, laughing at the snake, You’re not allowed to touch me, Nagini! Harry taunted, But if you are good, I’ll conjure you a big juicy rat!
You’re a speaker?
“You’re a speaker?” Voldemort asked along with Nagini.
“Yeah… I am related to Salazar Slytherin as well but from a different line,” Harry began, “I researched my family line and I am related to Ignotus Peverell and the Peverell’s are descended from Slytherin. When you cast the killing curse at me and gave me the horcrux, it helped to bring out my Slytherin qualities.”
“That means we are related…” Voldemort grimaced, “Very distantly though.”
Harry shrugged, “Can Nagini and I share the rat?”
“No, I mean it! He is still of use to me.”
Master is being mean to speaker, speaker is hungry like Nagini… Nagini hissed, I will get food for speaker. She twisted around and slithered into the forest next to the graveyard.
Harry grinned, showing one pointed fang, “I love her already.”
“Of course you would.”
“Merlin!” Harry exclaimed, “How long have I been here?”
“A while.”
“I think it’s about time I get back…” Harry ran to the cup on the grass, stepping on a lump on his way.
“Maybe you shouldn’t forget that boy?”
Harry looked back in confusion but his eyes widened, “Oh… forgot about him.”
Voldemort looked at him in amusement.
“Don’t forget to tell Nagini that I’ll see her later! Accio Cedric Diggory.” When the body was close enough, Harry touched Cedric’s cold hand and the cup at the same time… then they were whisked away to Hogwarts.