Crossing the gate, Barty Crouch Jr. entered the hall of the house only to have his eyes widened in shock.
The disgusting… the hateful childlike appearance of his powerful dark lord was too much for him to bear.
He collapsed on his knees, "My lord…"
Voldemort very had expected this kind of reaction and was not very much shocked by it. Voldemort himself hated his pathetic… his powerless state. The state he had reduced since that fateful day… how could he not abhor it?
But even so, he could not appear weak in front of another loyal servant… especially a servant who was capable. He could not afford to lose the faith these death eaters had in him.
"Shocked, Barty?" Asked Voldemort with a small laugh.
"My lord…" was the only words which Barty could muster.
"Do not fret over these trivial things, Barty," said Voldemort.
"Trivial things?" Barty interrupted Voldemort.
Although Voldemort hated being interrupted like this, he kept his composure.
"Yes, Barty," he replied. "Trivial…"
"In way to achieve great things, it not very surprising to face few ups and downs."
He continued, "I may have been reduced to this state… but I have not lost. I still have my powers. And no one could still kill me."
"This time when I mark my rise no will be… no one will have the capabilities to stop me."
"Yes, my lord," Barty said as his eyes brightened. Having been already thoroughly brain washed by Voldemort, convincing Barty of his greatness, again, was not a difficult task for Voldemort.
"Only few more days… and one more task," continued Voldemort. "I will have my full powers."
"Yes, my lord," Barty nodded fervently, his confidence in dark lord restored.
"Tell me, Barty," Voldemort asked. "How did you find Peter?"
"And more importantly, how are you still alive?" He added.
Although Voldemort, using his dark mark, had already checked that nothing was not wrong with Barty Crouch Jr., no one was controlling his mind, his sudden appearance with Peter was still creating an unease in his mind. After all, Barty Crouch Jr. was supposed to be dead for the past 17 years.
(If you are still confused about 17 years, remember that Harry is already 18 and Hogwarts starts at 15. So, 17 years have passed since Voldemort had been vanquished by Harry Potter on the night of Halloween.)
"My lord," said Barty. "I was not dead. My father had kept me alive."
After this, Barty narrated to Voldemort how his father had rescued him from prison and kept his constantly under the imperious curse.
"My lord," said Barty.
"I would have come to find you as soon as I was out of Azkaban but my father," continued with venom in his voice. "He believed that you are not going to ever come back and forcefully kept me locked."
"But… during the Quidditch World cup final, I was jolted out of my imperious curse and escaped from there."
"I did not know where and how to find you," he said. "Hence, I decided to escape from magical Britain and hide somewhere till I could gather some information or connect with my former death eaters."
"But it seems the fate would have it," he sighed. "The first night after I escaped, I spotted Peter Pettigrew stealing food from an inn."
If only he knew that it was not fate, it was Harry Potter.
"And there I am, my lord," said Barty with a big smile on his face.
Voldemort though still feeling the same ease, none the less, nodded.
'Maybe I finally have fate on my side,' he thought to himself while trying to soothe his unease.
"About one last task, you mentioned, my lord," Barty asked hesitatingly. Even though, he was still believing the greatness of the dark lord, he did not want to the dark in such a pathetic state.
"Yes, Barty," said Voldemort. "To again wield my peak powers, I need to reconstruct my body. I need a new body."
Barty's eyes brightened at this, thinking that even creating a new body is not impossible for his dark lord.
"While there are quite a few methods for this," the dark lord continued. "But there is this one ritual, which will be make me even more powerful than I was in peak."
"What is that, my lord?" Barty asked eagerly.
"Well, the ritual is not very impossible or even very difficult, but there is one thing that I need for this ritual," he said.
"What?" Barty asked.
"Harry Potter," replied Voldemort.
Barty's eyes widened at this.
"Har…ry… Potter," he stammered. "But won't he be inside Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's protection?"
Even at the peak of their powers, they had not dared to invade Hogwarts.
"He would," replied Voldemort. "But we will have an opportunity few months later…"
"Hogwarts is going to hold the Triwizard cup," said Voldemort as he further went into the details of his plans.
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