BACK TO THE BEGINNING (Patreon)

Chapter 25- Death’s Helping Hand

Tom Riddle grimaced as his body continued to ache with each of his movements. He was finding it difficult to lift his wand, let alone use his magic. Whatever Charlus Potter did, was not something ordinary. No way. He screamed in frustration. These bloody Potters have been a problem for sometime now, but they have crossed a line.

Sure, the family was powerful, but just what were they even made of? The younger ones had been troublesome in Hogsmeade, but that day, he had just underestimated the young Potter. Or had he? There was something unsettling about the boy. It felt like he was a volcano about to erupt. He shook his head. No. The boy had been lucky. Nothing more as was his father. They had been lucky. That luck will end. Very soon.

And it did. He had not been expecting to use that dagger against the boy. That was meant for Dumbledore. He had decided to take out the old fool, but with Harry Potter in the vicinity, he had to act. The boy had been a thorn to secure the Black alliance. He was responsible for spoiling his plans in the ministry. He couldn’t let the boy go without consequences. He took his chance.

He limped up to the center of the room. He had a plan. A master plan. He went ahead and sat down in the exact center of the markings that he had ordered one of his Death Eaters to mark.

He had been planning to perform the ritual for a number of days now. He cursed his lack of vision. He had simply put it forward and had let it pass his mind. He was now facing the effects of his ignorance. Never again. Never again will he be slack.

“Gibbon!” A burly brown haired man rushed into the room as soon as he was summoned. “Is everything ready?” The man nodded quickly. “Good. Have them delivered here this instant.” He ordered.

He looked deep in thought and all of a sudden, he called out the man who was leaving.

“At the stroke of midnight, we attack the Potters.” He ordered. Gibbon froze in his place.

“My Lord?” He questioned. Tom glared at the man.

“We attack the Potters tonight. Get the men ready. By tomorrow, I will wipe out the name Potter from the pages of Magical Britain’s history.” The man nodded and left the room.

Tom was left to his contemplation and a few minutes later, Gibbon returned and in tow, brought a cauldron . He placed it right in front of Tom and stepped back. “It is ready, my Lord.” He said.

“I have the mudbloods being brought in now.” Two other men brought in bound and silenced muggles levitating behind them.

“Excellent. Leave.” He ordered and the three men rushed out as quickly as their legs could carry.

Tom closed the doors and sealed the doors. Once he was ready for the ritual, he took up his wand and closed his eyes. He began to chant in Gaelic and soon, a green glow surrounded his body. He slashed his left palm with his wand and he let his blood drop into the cauldron.  When he had the necessary amount and healed his wound. He opened his eyes and after a few minutes, he summoned the muggles and had them placed in the thirteen rings drawn on the ground.

He watched the fear in their eyes. He pushed away the urge to laugh. ‘Pathetic.’ He whispered. He raised his wand high up in the air and chanted once more. He pointed his wand at each of the muggles and thirteen yellow beams connected the cauldron to each of the muggles.

He tapped the cauldron and suddenly, a green smoke covered the entire area and engulfed him. The muggles went limp suddenly, their eyes bulged and skin pale.

The smoke began to clear and Tom’s laughter rang around the room. He flicked his wand and the dead muggles were burnt to crisp in a second. His magic flared in acceptance and Tom felt powerful. He felt ready to up the game.

—-&&&----

Dorea poured the phoenix tears into the cauldron that contained the phoenix ashes. Hedwig sat next to the cauldron and was seemingly keeping an eye on her actions. She had ushered all the others of her work area.

Dorea had given up the practice of healing almost two decades ago. She was the most reputed healer that Britain had seen in recent times and she was proud of that title. She had with great difficulty pursued this profession, her family members not accepting the fact that the daughter of the Black family should do something below their level.

Her brother had been supportive of her and that was more than enough. After she had married Charlus, she had his full support to pursue her dreams and she understood the reason she fell in love with him. He was like that, her husband. A wonderful man. But after James was born, she had given up healing and had decided to spend her time with her son and husband.

They were not poor by any means. The Potters could not work a day and still live lavishly for the next few dozen generations. James was conceived after a long time and Dorea couldn’t bear that thought of spending a day away from her son.

She had a room just for her studies and for her experiments regarding healing and spells. It had been a long time since she had ever needed this space and now, she needed it. She let the cauldron set for a few minutes and then poured a vial of flushing potion into the mix. She stirred the potion and after fifteen minutes, she poured the contents into another container and set down the end product. She sighed softly.

“Please…please let this work.” She whispered as she stood up and walked out of her room.

The flushing potion was a no brainer. She did try it on Harry, but that was of no use. The flushing potion was necessary. She had to get the effect of the ritual out from his blood stream.

She walked back to his room, her worries yet to abate as she reached her destination. The entire family was in the room. She expected it and her heart warmed at the sight. Sure, her families had always gotten along well, but ever since this boy arrived in their lives, their happiness just went up a notch. Such was the effect he had.

She noticed her nieces sitting next to him. They had not left his side for a moment. Her son was lucky to have these two young women in his life. They make a perfect balance to him. Bellatrix, the hot headed one, one who would be at his back to every unthinking adventure they would have and Narcissa, the level headed, quick witted one who would keep the two in control.

“Is it ready?” Andromeda questioned as she bounced the baby on her lap. Little Nymphadora missed Harry a lot. She didn’t understand why her favorite person wouldn't wake up even though she prodded and poked him.

It was a good thing that Amelia wasn’t here, but was undergoing training in Bulgaria, something regarding her Auror job. She knew how close Harry and Amelia were and the girl would have been absolutely devastated if she learnt of this. They had decided to not inform her of this development, but they knew that it wouldn't be long before she would be back.

Dorea placed the potion on the bedside table and sat down next to Harry. He had become thin and weak. His face had shrunk and he looked clammy. She brushed his hair from his face.

“Leave. Everyone of you.” She ordered. She heard protests from everyone in the room. She would not be having it. Not today. This would be incredibly difficult to experience and she would like some peace.

“I won’t have it.” She snapped. “Leave. Just give me some time to do this. But I want to do it alone. I want this room to be empty.” She whispered.

“I hope you understand.” The rest of them didn’t have the guts to refuse her. Not today. None spoke a word as they left the room one by one.

She closed the door without turning back. She once again stared at the boy who lay limp on the bed, tears running down her face.

She placed a kiss on his forehead. “Please come back to me, Harry. Everybody in this house misses you. You have no idea how much you mean to this family. You have two girls who have been waiting for you to get up. They are devastated beyond what you could expect.” She whispered.

“Please come back.” She whispered once more and took a deep breath and gently pried his mouth open and poured the potion that she had prepared.

She waited with bated breath, her wand checking his vitals. Harry coughed violently as the potion was administered. His breathing became labored and his body shuddered. Dorea kept the diagnosis spells administered to keep track. She was getting a lot of insignificant readings. She was unable to identify if something was happening in his body.

The shaking subsided and his breathing slowly came down. He was breathing normally. She could see that his color was returning slowly. The diagnostics displayed positive results and Dorea smiled truly for the first time in many days. She was about to start healing the wound from the knife when his ring began glowing brightly. Dorea tried to remove the ring from his finger, but she failed. The ring burned brilliantly and the next second, she heard something burst into the room. She watched in shock as their invisibility cloak and a wand flew towards Harry.

Dorea had heard about the wand. The legendary Elder Wand. What she failed to understand was why the wand and cloak were here. She watched in fascination as the cloak spread itself on Harry’s midsection. However, he didn’t become invisible like Dorea expected. The cloak just was that. A normal cloak. The wand flew towards the boy and landed on top of the cloak and lay down vertically in the exact center of the cloak. The ring detached itself from Harry’s finger and sat on top of the wand in the exact center.

The room became silent, with Harry’s breathing the only thing audible. Suddenly, Harry was covered in a golden glow emitted from the Peverell trinkets. The strength of magic around him was too suffocating, preventing Dorea from getting close to him.

Dorea was quick to place what was happening. She remembered the story of the three brothers. She understood what would happen if the artifacts merged. The legend of the Master of Death would not be a myth anymore.

—-&&&-----

Harry woke up, his body completely protesting the idea of that, aching all around. He found it difficult to open his eyes. He slowly sat up and looked around, and his face contorted into a sad expression. He remembered what happened last time he faced Tom. He was dead. He was sitting in front of the Elder Tree that Death had shown him the last time. He ignored the pain in the body as he crouched forward. Tears began to escape his eyes as he realized that he had lost. Not just the fight against Tom Riddle. He lost everybody he loved once more. Bellatrix, Narcissa, his parents, James, Sirius…”Sorry.” He whispered as he began to accept the fact that he was truly dead. “Boy-who-lived..?” He chuckled weakly.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, but he knew it was not that long. He stood up shakily and looked around. He seemed to be in a forest this time, but the tree was the same. He knew that this was the tree that Death had shown him to. It was then that he noticed that he was on a bridge. He had an inkling that he knew this place. He confirmed that theory when he remembered the story of the Three Brothers.

“I knew you would be able to place it.” Harry recognised the voice as that of Lady Death.

“You are right, Harry. This bridge was the bridge where your forefathers received their artifacts.”

She motioned for him to follow her to the edge of the bridge.

“This is the water of life, Harry. It flows and passes on, just like the life of a human. It passes on and finally meets its destination.” She explained. “Everytime a person is in a situation like you have found yourself in, they arrive at this bridge. They pass this bridge, they move on. They go back, they live.” Harry wiped his eyes as he looked at Death questioningly. “You are not dead, Harry. You are in between.” She said.

“Any other time, you would have died. I would be blunt with you.” She replied. “Why?” He questioned. “Tom Riddle.” She answered. “Tom Riddle performed another ritual to become stronger and in that, he violated thirteen souls. Trapped those souls and fed their energy to his own soul. He cheated me of thirteen souls, but moreover, he interfered in the natural course of those souls.” Death explained. “This time, I demand compensation.” She snarled, taking Harry by surprise. “I want his soul, Harry. Bring me his soul.” She ordered. Her face softened.

“Lead a happy life after that, Harry. I won’t disturb your family till they have lived their life to fulfillment. I have asked too much from you and it is time that I give back as much as I had asked for.” She finished.

“I had asked you to find the Elder Wand for you to access the magic of the Peverells. The moment Tom cheated me again, I decided that I would help you.” She touched his forehead and Harry felt a pressure being applied to his mental shields. “Relax.” She whispered and Harry lowered those shields. He felt a new wave of magic flow into his body and Harry felt complete.

“It’s time to unleash the Master of Death on this world.” She whispered, as Harry fainted.

“I feel sorry for you, Tom. Very sorry. I might need your life on a necessity, but the one who will send you to me, will not be so easy on you. Oh well!” She smiled as Harry disappeared with a flash.

—&&&---

“What is taking so long?” Bellatrix snapped, pausing from her brisk walk from one side to the other. She had not sat down from the moment she had left the room. Right now, nobody would ask her to stop. She was worried about the result. She was still apprehensive about using the ashes for treatment. She knew that Hedwig would never harm Harry, but she was worried.

“Sit down, Bellatrix.” Arcturus ordered, knowing that she would not listen if he spoke casually. The girl could be very stubborn when she wanted to and she didn’t judge easily to threats.

Charlus was anticipating news regarding Harry when he felt the wards around the house alert him. Charlus stood up. “They are attacking the Manor.” He pointed out.
Charlus began moving towards the door. “The fucking bastards have a death wish, do they? I will grant them that wish.”

“I will go with you.” He stopped when he heard Bellatrix speak up. “Please don’t stop me, Uncle Charlus. I have to do this. I have a score to settle.” She whispered as she exited the room.

Charlus looked around. “So, none of you would stop him?’ He asked more to Druella and Narcissa. Narcissa let out a very unlady-like snort. “Stop her?” She shook her head.

“That is a waste of time, Uncle Charlus.”

“It is better to go along with her plan, Dad. It is better if we don’t let her temper turn to us.” James offered from the side. Charlus nodded. He knew it would be futile to stop the girl. He followed her and made his way out of the Manor.

Bellatrix was waiting by the front door. “There aren’t many over there.” She pointed out. “He is not foolish enough to try and take on old wards. He might be here personally.” She explained.

Charlus and Arcturus watched through the window on the side of the room. This would not be as easy as the girl was speaking. Until they get out of the Manor, they would have no idea regarding the danger of the situation unless they are outside. Charlus and Arcturus looked at each other and nodded.

The two stepped out the door. “Remain back until we say so.” Charlus instructed firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument. “Don’t take unnecessary risks. And aim to kill. I don’t care what happens to those bastards anymore.” He said and sprang into action the moment he had stepped out. He chanced a glance around and sure enough, the entire Manor was surrounded.

He upped the intensity along with Arcturus, the two moving with practiced grace as they began to cut down the attackers.

Bellatrix had been given free reign to do what she wanted. Her anger was yet to abate and as Harry’s face appeared before her one more time subconsciously and she had some revenge to take. She didn’t hesitate to use the lesser friendly spells. Bone shredders and blood boilers left her wand in blistering speed, that none could shield. She didn’t care. Organ shredders, blasting curse, bludgeoners and fire whips left her wand.

She didn’t stop at that. She stalked forward, implementing every and all spells she knew that would absolutely reduce them into blood and mist. “Bellatrix, stand down.” She heard her grandfather speak. She ignored him and with a twirl of her wand, she created a huge fireball that crackled with flames and with a swift wave of her wand, she sent it at high speed towards a group of attackers that caught the ball head on and burst into flames.

“Bloody hell.” Sirius whispered as he dodged a few curses. “She is quite vicious.” James muttered as he batted away a bone shredder. “It’s a good thing that she is at least listening to what we say. You should have seen her when I tried to console her that day.”Sirius shuddered as he took a small break.

“James!” Lily called out in between her fight. “A little help…you can talk later.” She growled as she ducked a blood boiling that raced past her. James and Sirius were quick to respond.

“Have you called the Aurors?” Lily questioned James. He nodded. “Here they are.” And sure enough, red robed men apparated right into the fight, led by Alastor Moody. The men jumped into the fight. “Potter.” Alastor Moody growled as he fired a spell. “Nice of you to join us, Moody.” James grinned.

As the fight continued, it was clear that with the addition of the Aurors pushed the advantage to the Potters and Blacks. The battle shifted the momentum with the entry of the Aurors. Bellatrix didn’t care though. Nothing could quench her thirst for blood right now. She had not stopped her attack and she was cutting through the ranks of the Death Eaters without a pause. She was exhilarated. She missed Harry with her. Fighting alongside Harry was her favorite pastime. He taught her so much and he would certainly be proud if he had witnessed her.

She ducked under a killing curse and she watched as it struck an auror behind her. Bellatrix watched as life left the woman’s eyes. The blank look on her face stirred something in her and she saw red. With a cry, she launched her spells on the Death Eaters and this time, she was showing no mercy. She didn’t try to kill them instantly. She killed them painfully. Her curses were now vicious and she didn’t care about the end result anymore, as she cut down the Dark Lord’s army.

Just as she was about to finish off this wave, she felt a powerful presence near her. She fired an overpowered wind blast and she was sure that it struck true and she stood face to face with the Dark Lord.

At first, she was taken aback by the appearance of the Dark Lord. His face had gone pale and his eyes had shrunk burning red and ugly. He had lost his hair and his appearance was almost snake-like. She fought the urge to vomit as she took in his appearance. The man stared at her interestingly.

“Ms Black.” He whispered and smiled at the girl. With the loss of what should have been his nose, it was, to put it in a better sense, disgusting. She didn’t speak a word.

“You are a powerful witch, Ms Black.” He whispered, circling the girl. “And of superior blood. A perfect pureblood witch.” He stared at the girl. “You would make a valuable addition to my ranks. None of these fools are even close to you in prowess and I had underestimated your ability till today, Ms Black.” He explained. “Join me. Join my side and we will rule this world Ms Black. I tried talking sense into your Grandfather, but that didn’t workout.  You are more intelligent than that, I can tell. Think about it, Ms Black. Filth doesn't have a place in this world, alongside nobles like us. With a strong and powerful witch by my side, I will have the world at my feet. Just want you to make a choice.” His voice was soft and almost snake-like.

“It is true.” Bellatrix whispered as she stared at the man. She was looking like she was in a trance. “What is true?” Tom asked softly. Bellatrix’s face took on a grin.

“You are ridiculous. Just like Harry tells me.” She chuckled and she knew she had struck a nerve and she knew that he was angry. “Let me tell you something, Tom.” She took satisfaction in his anger. She was enjoying this banter. “You will never have my support. Never have the power of the Potters or The Blacks or the Peverells behind your name. Nor will you have the support of many of those pureblood families that you wish for. You are just a bug. A bug that will be squashed. If not by us, then by somebody for sure. But as long as I am alive, Harry’s wish that you be put down will be fulfilled.” She slipped her wand into her hand and she swirled her wand towards Tom.

Tom had to jump away as a number of flaming knives rushed towards him. He growled as a purple bolt left from his wand. He was more than surprised when the spell was redirected towards him and with more power than he expected. He watched as the tree behind him hissed and fizzled out with a laceration on the trunk.

“Avada Kedavra!” Bellatrix shook her head. “Nope. Not happening.” She conjured a swarm of butterflies that took the curse. She slashed her wand. A yellowish glow left her wand and Tom had to lose his footing as he evaded the unknown spell. It was better to evade from an unknown spell rather than shield it. For some reason, he would never trust his shields against the Blacks. Just no. But the moment he lost his stance, Bellatrix capitalized. She needed an opening and he gave one.

Her spells and steps zoomed forward as the Dark Lord was pushed on the defensive. She continued to assault the Dark Lord and had that been a lesser man, he would have been non existent by the spells that were sent his way.

The Dark Lord cursed under his breath. He was right. He had severely underestimated this girl and he was realizing that now. He had expected the girl to be a very good duelist and had thought as much from the fight before his arrival. That seemed to be just the warm up.

Darn Potter. He was proving to be a thorn in his side.

“So…Potter’s whore till the end. That is what you will choose above greatness?” Tom questioned in between shielding and dodging. “Poor boy. Ended up dead as young and early in his life.” He taunted. Bellatrix’s spells stopped as she heard his words.

“Yes.” Tom continued. “He ended up dying because he tried to protect these fools.” He whispered, but his voice was heard. “Your poor boyfriend died trying to protect these people. Those sheeps.” He continued.

He raised his wand and was about to attack when Bellatrix retaliated, surprisingly with a cruciatus. Tom Marvolo Riddle, the dreaded Dark Lord, the Heir of Slytherin for the first time in his life, felt the effects of the torture curse.

“You bastard!”  She screamed as she fueled the spell with her anger. She let it all out. “You fucking bastard!” She screamed. She was hysterical. “He is not dead. He is just injured.” She screamed.

“Bellatrix..don’t listen to him.” James pleaded knowing that the girl was losing control.

“He is lying. Harry is fine. He will be alright. Don’t listen to him.” James tried to reason with the girl. Bellatrix was shaking with anger and her eyes glowed brightly, tears streaming down as the curse lifted. The lapse in her concentration was enough for Tom to banish the girl back. He was back on his feet.

“Avada Kedavra!” He roared. The green flash left his wand and raced towards the girl.

Bellatrix could stare without raising her wand as the killing curse raced towards her.

“Sorry.” She whispered onl for him to hear. She knew he was not there, but she knew that it would reach him.

She closed her eyes and waited, but nothing. There was no difference and she didn’t feel anything. “Is this death?” She questioned softly. “Just nothing?”

“No.” A voice whispered. “But you don’t have to know that right now, Bell.”

“Not for a long time.”

Bellatrix recognised that voice and her eyes snapped open to look into the burning emeralds she had come to love.

“H…harry?” She questioned in disbelief.

“Hey.” Harry whispered smiling down at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Sorry it took time.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“It feels great to see you for real, Bell.”

TBC—-----