Chapter 26: Chapter 26
Now then, Mr Potter," said Croaker "if you could please set yourself down in the middle of the pentagon on the floor…"
Harry walked over to the middle of the pentagon and sat down facing the group.
"Now lie back with your head pointed in the direction of the topmost point of the star," said Croaker "and then extend your arms and legs towards the other points."
Harry laid back and stretched himself out as asked "Like this?"
"Nearly," said Croaker, stepping forwards. He adjusted Harry's right leg a little, and then turned Harry's head ever so slightly before stepping back out of the pentagon.
"What exactly is going to happen?" asked Cyrus.
"The ritual is in two parts," replied Croaker "The first is to push Harry's conscious back into himself. In doing so we will allow the fragment of Voldemort to come forwards. Once that has happened we aim to extract that fragment from the body then, without an anchor, it will pass on into the afterlife. Then we will return Mr Potter to his normal state, if extracting Voldemort has not done so already by that point."
Everyone nodded in understanding
"Right," said Croaker "Mr Potter, all we need from you now is to lie there and relax. My colleagues will shortly begin chanting the necessary incantations whilst I will be using spells to monitor your situation. If we require you to act in any way, we will ask. Understand?"
"I understand," replied Harry, doing his level best to relax, something that was surprisingly difficult to do when you knew that seven other people were currently watching you with interest.
Harry tried to make his mind go blank, to ignore the chanting that began to fill the air from the three Unspeakables.
"Liberte haec anima ab atrum labe. Tenebris custodia liberare animum istum in pace. Auferat mala liberabit de corpore sinit…"
The voices continued to repeat those words, but soon they became nothing more than a dull drone to Harry.
Around him a golden glow began to emanate from each rune on each rune stone, glowing brighter until each rune stone began to shine like the sun. The light began to spread from each of the rune stones. Like a liquid it travelled along the lines carved into the floor, causing the shape of the pentagon and the star within it to shine brightly.
The light then spread inwards from the lines, filling the entire shape with colour.
The floor beneath Harry was now shining brightly, but he barely noticed. The chanting of the Unspeakables was barely audible to him now.
The world seemed to be getting further and further away from him. A darkness had started to come in at the edges of his vision. The darkness grew more and more, but the light never faded. It was more like it was retreating. Soon he was surrounded in darkness, and the light existed as two small dots standing side by side somewhere above him.
Harry thought that it was almost as if his conscious self had withdrawn and shrunken back, almost as if it had stepped away from the controls of his body, and those two small dots of light represented where his eyes were.
In actual fact, he was not too far wrong with that thought.
It was actually quite pleasant. He felt as though he was floating in nothingness, with no ache or pain to annoy him.
There was no sign at all of the orbs that represented his memories. But then, he was not in his mind. His mind was with him, having pulled back as well.
It was so relaxing here. And so peaceful as well. He felt as though nothing could harm him.
"Hhhhaaaaarrrrryyyyyy."
The voice came out of nowhere, and seemed to pierce through him like the bite of an icy wind.
It was there. Voldemort' soul fragment was there with him.
Harry turned around, just in time to see two evil red eyes coming right for him.
He felt himself get bowled over by the wicked thing. He seemed to tumble uncontrollably through the nothingness that surrounded him, and although he could not see them, his arms and legs flailed wildly. Or at least the parts of him that used to control his arms and legs did.
And somewhere above him he heard that wretched voice, almost joyous sounding as it hissed "At last! At last this body is MINE!"
Harry tried to regain control of himself. Voldemort was about to try and gain control of his body. He could not allow that to happen.
Back in the room, Croaker made a noise of frustration as he cast another spell.
"Something wrong?" asked Cyrus.
Croaker shook his head "I don't know. Mr Potter's consciousness has fallen back as we had hoped, but something's not right. I'm really not liking some of these readings."
"Should we stop the ritual then?" asked Madam Bones.
"Yes, I think-" began Croaker, but the words died in his throat.
In the middle of the star, Harry had sat up. Or at least, Harry's body had sat up. When he opened his eyes they were not the usual emerald green that was associated with the boy. Now they were the evilest shade of red. Something associated only with…
He threw his head back and laughed, and it was not Harry's laugh. This one was high and cold.
He spoke.
"Did you fools honestly believe that you could defeat me? I, Lord Voldemort who has explored more magics than even the likes of the Unspeakables could ever even dream of? I, who has ventured further along the path to true immortality that any other has ever dared?"
He laughed again before continuing "Your foolish ritual has failed. All you have managed to do is allow me to take full control of this body, control which I have coveted for nearly fourteen years!"
He raised a hand and suddenly the golden light created by the ritual seemed to shatter as if it were glass. It fragmented, breaking off into small shards that continued to break down into nothingness.
Everyone had their wands trained on him, but with a wave of his hand he emitted a pulse of magic that had everyone off of their feet and slammed them into the walls around the room before collapsing to the floor.
By the time any of them was able to regain their feet, he had gone from the room.
Harry had heard everything and been horrified. He had managed to regain control of himself and was now trying to locate Voldemort. He had to take full control of his body again before someone got seriously hurt, or worse. Whether piece of Voldemort's soul would be expelled from his body or just revert back to its previous state was another matter entirely, and not all that important as far as Harry was concerned. He was determined to regain control of his body, one way or another.
Croaker got to his feet and curse loudly "He broke through the barrier."
"The barrier?" asked Madam Bones.
"Yes, we included a barrier in the ritual that was meant to prevent this from happening. That was why the light shattered in the way it did when Voldemort attacked it. We must not have made it strong enough. Damnit!"
He got up and jabbed his wand into a small groove that was carved into the wall.
"Red Alert, Red Alert," he shouted, and his voice echoed throughout the Department of Mysteries "Exorcism subject has escaped. All Unspeakables on hand to capture. Subject is dangerous, use extreme caution. Capture only. Repeat, Capture only."
Throughout the department, every flame on every candle had turned from blue to red, and an intermittent siren started up.
"Now what?" asked Sarah.
"Now we capture him and restrain him," replied Croaker.
"And after that?" asked Madam Bones.
Croaker offered up no answer as he and the other three Unspeakables left the room.
Amelia, Cyrus and Sarah all drew their wands and followed on.
One Unspeakable was already down for the count. As his blood trickled slowly from the wound on his head, Voldemort, using Harry's body and now wielding the Unspeakable's wand was rapidly making his way along the corridor, back towards the door that would lead him to the circular room.
When the alarm sounded several doors began bursting open and the Unspeakables moved to gain control. A few killing curses saw them retreating with fear. Voldemort briefly wondered why none of those spells had made contact, but quickly put it down to a combination of his not having used magic for some time, a lack of familiarity as to controlling the body he was in, and a lack of compatibility with the wand he was holding.
It did not occur to him that Harry Potter's will still had some sway over the body.
A stunning spell whizzed by his ear. He spun around to see a crowd of people, consisting mostly of Unspeakables, but also the three fools who had attempted to help the Potter boy, charging towards him. There were too many to kill, but perhaps…
He raised the wand and shouted "Bombarda!"
A large chunk of the ceiling broke away and crashed to the corridor floor below, creating a blockade well in front of the group. Voldemort did not think on that, instead he turned and continued running. Had he stopped to think, he would have wondered by he brought the ceiling down well in front of the group, rather than directly on their heads. Again, the will of Harry Potter held the answer.
He pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and found himself in the circular room. It was empty.
He knew that he ought to make good his escape, but at the same time he knew that there was something here, within the Department of Mysteries that he desperately desired. Something which he was sure held the key, the explanation of exactly what went wrong on that fateful Halloween night nearly fourteen years previously…
His other self, his true self sought this thing as well. This was his chance to get it. He needed to know the truth. He needed the hall of prophecies.
One of the doors in the circular room burst open and the group entered, but there was no sign of Harry's body.
"Where's he gone?" asked Sarah.
"He could be anywhere by now," replied Croaker.
He turned to a few of the unspeakables that stood gathered behind him "Frobisher, Bagwell, take a team and scour the other levels of the Ministry. Amelia, perhaps you should go with them and alert the Aurors.
"Right," replied Madam Bones before turning and leaving, accompanied by a group of eight Unspeakables.
Two more doors had opened, and the Unspeakables that came through each confirmed that there was no trace of an escapee in any of their sub-departments.
Croaker quickly set about organising search teams. In that time another five groups had arrived, confirming that there was no sign of the escapee in any of their sub-departments.
Voldemort had not found the prophecy room right away, but the sound of running footsteps had forced him to duck through the door nearest to him. He loathed running instead of killing, but at the moment he was unsure how much he could stand to take in this new form, and now was not the time to try.
While the door had not led him directly to the hall of prophecies, it had been kind to him. Only three Unspeakables had been in the room when he had arrived. Not trusting himself to be able to aim the killing curse properly, he had instead opted for a wide area debilitation spell. The three Unspeakables were down and out before they could fire a curse at him.
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