HP: The Magical Gamer [Chapter 89: Goodbye! ] (Patreon)

Lily's heart lightened at his ridiculous try at conversation. A small smile tugged on her lips as the all consuming panic slowly started receding away, as the rationality and the defiance kicked in.

She just gave him a deadpan look as a response.

"Hmm. I know you are mum. But don't be mum now. Talk to me. Amuse me. That's the least you can do after keeping me prisoner here." Harry quipped, looking smugly at her.

"What was that? A joke?" She couldn't help but groan lightly.

"Everyone's a critic nowadays. I am no Sirius Black, sorry for disappointing you with my unfunny jokes, mum mum. I hope you won't put me in an orphanage for such a big blunder, mum mum." Harry grumbled good naturedly, his eyes shining proudly as her smile kept on growing at his ridiculousness.

"If you keep calling me mum mum then I may be tempted to consider kicking you out of the house." She chuckled briefly, ruffling his hair fondly.

Had she ever confessed to herself how perfect her children were? Only a million times, but it still felt inadequate.

They remained silent for a few seconds after that, just bathing in the comfort of their shared embrace.

"Are you okay now?" He asked, breaking the silence.

She smiled, nodding and kissing the top of his head.

"I am. Thank you, Harry. I will put my trust in your secret for now. I hope it can save us or we might have to go full muggle and leave the Wizarding World behind. I am not going to take any risks. And if to save you we need to abandon magic then we will." Lily answered tiredly. At least now she had a backup plan if nothing worked.

"It won't come to that. Believe in me. Now let me go so I could be off to Hogwarts and hope that no Professors noticed my absence. It was fortunate that I wasn't in any class when I was forced to come here." Harry promised, squirming in her arms before she let him go.

"Okay. Take care, Harry. And take care of Iris too."

"You don't have to ask. Taking care of Iris is my unfortunate full-time job."

"I like to think that you enjoy that job." She said with a smile and stood up, adjusting his rumpled clothes.

"I actually do. Don't tell her though, it's a secret, but I love her very very much." Harry whispered dramatically as he put the body of Peter Pettigrew in his inventory and vanished all the blood. No need to waste a perfect dead body. Who knows when he might need it for Necromancy rituals or something.

"Sure. I will keep mum." She grinned, making the motion of zipping her lips. Harry gave her a proud look for continuing the joke.

"There is still hope for you yet. Goodbye, mum."

"Goodbye, love."

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As soon as Harry teleported back to Hogwarts, he sought out the privacy of the Room of Requirement. He changed his Class back to Necromancer since he couldn't use the required skills associated with it while being a Mage.

Then he activated [Soul Searcher] and brought back the soul of Peter Pettigrew.

A golden globe of light lifted through the floor and hung in the midair before taking a humanoid shape.

"What— why am I like this? What happened to me?" Peter shrieked in panic. His three piece suit was in tatters, his sleeve torn off, showing the hideous dark mark. He looked as if he hadn't slept in forever with dark bags under his eyes and pale sallow skin.

"Where is Voldemort?" Harry asked stonily, standing in front of him, getting right to the point.

A black snakelike tendril of smoke wrapped around the ethereal form of Peter Pettigrew at his command.

"He is in his fortress in the Albanian forest." Peter gulped down nervously and answered truthfully, not that he had any other choice.

"Why did he send you to the Potter Manor?"

Peter stammered fearfully. "To kill Lily Potter."

"I see. Would you have done that? Would you have really killed your best friend's wife?" Harry enquired with a blank emotionless face.

"Yes. I would have killed her after having some fun with her." Peter couldn't stop being honest even when he wanted to.

Harry's blank expression somehow still remained even when all he wanted to do was bring him back to life and kill him with his very own hands.

"How is Voldemort alive?" He asked instead, suppressing his rage.

"I don't know."

"How many people are working under him? What are their names? What are Voldemort's goals?"

"Currently, no one. Master works alone now. Only I was aware where he was and only I was allowed to be with him. And I haven't been told what my master's goals are." Peter responded candidly.

Harry stared at him contemptuously.

"Fine. Go back to whatever hell is waiting for you on the other side." Harry said, flicking his hand disdainfully.

If Lily was present here, she would have questioned Peter why he betrayed them, she would have asked him how he survived and hid his identity, but Harry wasn't interested. He didn't know the man and had only heard of him in passing.

"Don't! Please keep me here some more. I don't want to go. Please!" Peter pleaded desperately before his ethereal figure imploded into numerous particles of golden dust which then promptly disappeared.

Harry sat down in an armchair conjured by the Room of Requirement. This abrupt meeting didn't give him much new information, but just confirmed his earlier suspicions.

Voldemort was alive in some form and had his own fortress in a foreign land. And he was tremendously more powerful than him.

Which really sucked. If it wasn't the case then he might have gone on offensive and nipped the bud before it grew to become a thorny flower.