Bonded chapter 86 -

Chapter 86 -

"Are you really reading the Qubbler again?" Harry looked up from the newspaper in front of him and saw Ron giving him a questioning look after finally having finished his third chicken leg. It was dinner time and Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating food with one hand whilst casually reading the Quibbler with the other.

"The Quibbler is a very respectable news organisation," Harry said with the utmost seriousness. "Plus, their crossword puzzles are really fun," He couldn't help but add.

"True," Seamus agreed whilst Dean nodded.

"Has anyone got six across yet?" Neville asked hopefully, looking up from his own copy.

"Bonded," Harry told him as he stood up. "Anyway. I'm done eating, going to go walk around for a bit. See ya," He said before walking off. He had barely made it out of the Great Hall when he spotted an interesting sight.

"I'm...I'm glad you're finally back," Pansy Parkinson was saying, though she didn't sound much like she meant it. She, along with Crabbe and Goyle, was staring at the fourth member of their group as if he had just come out of a gutter.

Standing along with them was none other than Draco Malfoy, but he looked far different from what Harry was used to. His hair (which had apparently been ripped out) had grown back but was far more stringy than before and two shades duller. Some of the skin on his neck and forehead had been removed and replaced with new skin that was a slightly different shade, giving him a sort of 'Frankenstein's monster' appearance. A long jagged scar went from his forehead to the bottom of his chin, going down over his nose and lips, which was quite an amusing thing to see on the boy who had called Harry 'scarhead' since first year. A web-like scar came out from the right side of his mouth and covered his entire cheek, while his left had a pale, thin and comparatively simple scar that stretched from his lip to his ear in a horrible imitation of a smile. A small rune stone had also been fitted into Draco's neck.

"I..." A dull voice, not remotely similar to Draco's own, came out from the runestone. "...Father insisted I come back soon." Despite the lack of tone in the voice, it was blatantly obvious that Draco wasn't the least bit happy to be there. The once cocky and arrogant boy who walked through the halls of this school as if he owned them was now replaced by a scared little boy whose eyes darted around constantly as if afraid that a monster would come out of hiding. For the smallest of moments, Harry wondered if he should feel sorry for him. That didn't last long; he knew full well that nothing short of what had just happened would change the boy for the better. If he were left unchecked, then Draco would have grown up to be just another copy of his father. It didn't take long for Draco's wild eyes to meet Harry's own.

Harry calmly walked to Draco, ignoring the tension from the other Slytherins. Draco's own posture seemed to shrink as Harry got near. Harry stopped in front of Draco. Draco was taller than Harry, but now their heights seemed to almost match, with how Draco seemed to have gotten smaller.

"What do you want? Potter?" Draco's runestone spoke up again. Harry took a step forward and was surprised when Draco quickly took a step back.

"It's funny," Harry spoke quietly, but his words echoed like a shotgun. "I know full well that if our positions were reversed, then you would be mercilessly going after me. Because that's who you are, who you've always been, a coward who preyed on those he mistook to be weaker than him. But now, now you've seen the light, you realise that you're the weakest of them all." He told Draco, who flinched. "Don't worry, Draco. I'm not going to bother you, I'm not going to chase after you like you would me. I'm more than happy to leave you alone as long as you remember to do the same. Because you realised what I've been trying to tell you since the first year of school, Malfoy. You're not worth it, you never were." Harry said before walking off.

'Should we have Carnage finish the job?' Venom asked Harry.

'No,' Harry replied. 'Like I said, it's not worth it. Besides, this is a much better fate for him. Let him live in pain, give him a taste of what he would have inflicted on other people. I-' Harry trailed off as he felt a shiver pass through his body. 'That was a ward trip,' He noted. 'You know what that means, Venom?' Venom was more than happy to reply.

'Party time,'

(.)

Voldemort let out a deep sigh as he entered the Department of Mysteries. It was troublesome, doing such things himself, but frankly, he no longer trusted his Death Eaters to be capable of doing such a thing. They had their uses, undoubtedly, but for things as important as this, he wasn't going to take any chances. He needed the prophecy; it was possibly the only thing that held the true method he needed to cement his victory in the latest wizarding war. Potter was obviously not a normal child, not even an above-average one; that much was clear.

Those Death Eaters who had been with him in the graveyard that night had been sworn to secrecy, as far as everyone in his ranks was concerned, a freak magical event had destroyed his body and allowed the Potter boy to escape. He had been tempted to tell Severus to find out just what exactly Dumbledore knew about it, but refrained from doing so. Right now, he was reevaluating everything he knew. Ideas that once seemed feasible were now as far away from him as the moon; previous interests no longer seemed interesting. He was left unsure, unguided. Was it because of the ritual or the loss of a horcrux? He didn't know. He needed the prophecy; it would be the first step in fixing this mess.

Sneaking in was unfairly easy for someone of his talent and skill; he had been tempted to kill the guard that Dumbledore had obviously left, but chose to favour stealth instead and simply sneaked past him. It wasn't too long before he found himself in the room that held all the prophecies. It was a dark room, the only source of light being the glow from the prophecy orbs. Shelves lined the room from front to back, stretching all the way up to the ceiling. Each shelf was littered with prophecy orbs, there appeared to be hundreds of them here. It took him a minute, but he eventually found the shelf he was looking for. He saw the label, one that stated there was a prophecy recited to Albus Dumbledore. But - and here was the vexing part - there wasn't an orb there.

"Looking for something?" A voice called from a short distance away from him. A voice he knew all too well, he looked forward and saw Harry Potter walk out of the shadows where he had been hiding. The boy was dressed in black shoes, jeans and a shirt. But what was most interesting to him was the orb that was in Potter's hand. "It's this, I presume," Harry said, examining the orb.

"Potter," Voldemort glared hatefully at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I imagine," He said with a casual shake of the orb. "I knew you'd go for this eventually; it was just a matter of when. So, I had some alarms set up to let me know when you'd be near the ministry, and now, here we are." He finished, gesturing around.

"Here we are," Agreed Voldemort as he drew his wand. "I'm rather surprised the old man told you of it."

"He didn't," Harry said simply.

"Hmm," Voldemort thought about that for a moment. "He does love his secrets. So, what now, Harry Potter? I take it that you're not going to do the smart thing and hand that orb over to me?" He asked knowingly.

"You talk a lot of smack for a guy who got killed in our last fight," Harry replied, rolling his eyes.

"You surprised me with that filthy creature of yours," Voldemort hissed. "You won't do so again."

"FILTHY?!" Venom's voice echoed from within Harry's body. "I'M CLEANER THAN YOU, ASSSSSSSSHHHHOOOLLLLEEE! CUT YOUR TOENAILS!"

"They do be quite filthy," Harry said agreeably as he gestured to Voldemort's bare feet. "Anyway," He looked down at the orb. "This is what all the fuss is about. This is why you targeted my family," He said quietly.

"Yes," A smirk appeared on Voldemort's face. "I couldn't take the risk, Potter, you will hand me that orb and I will let you go, for now."

"Really?" Harry snorted disbelievingly.

"I am a merciful lord," Voldemort replied.

"And I am Elvis Presley," Venom's voice echoed from Harry again.

"You see, we can bullshit too," Harry told Voldemort before squeezing his hand.

"NO!" Voldemort shouted as the orb shattered into pieces, releasing a silvery whisp which floated away, disappearing from view. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! Why would you do that?!" He demanded furiously.

"Because we don't need a prophecy, Tommy boy," Harry said, drawing his wand. "You killed our parents, you'll never leave us alone to live in peace. As long as you live, everything and everyone we care for is in danger. So the only solution is to kill you."

"Better wizards than you have tried, boy! Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort's wand shot a killing curse, which ripped through the air as it shot towards Harry at high speed. One of Venom's tentacles came out of Harry's side and grabbed one of the higher shelves, pulling Harry up and out of the way of the curse. In mid-air, Harry shot a bone breaker at Voldemort, who blocked it before firing a dark purple spell at Harry. Venom's tentacle retracted back into his body, allowing Harry to drop to the ground and avoid the spell. As Harry landed, the tip of his wand sank through the floor like it was made of water, a golden wave shot out from the impact site and headed directly towards Voldemort. "Your tricks won't beat me," Voldemort snarled, dispelling the attack with ease. "Can't beat me without your little pet, Potter?" He taunted.

"See, the thing is, we know you're playing us," Harry smirked. "But you're right, one of us is enough. Crucio!" The torture crust burst from his wand and shot towards Voldemort, who dodged and returned fire with a torture spell of his own. Harry dodged and sent a powerful cutting curse at Voldemort, who blocked it with ease before firing off a very powerful blasting spell. Harry ducked under the spell which flew past him and shot off a piercing curse, followed by another hex, when he heard a large explosive sound behind him.

''The motherfucker just destroyed the shelves! They're all collapsing!' Venom told him just as he swatted away an organ-liquifier.

'Let's get out of here then,' Harry replied as he blocked a metal spike that would have pierced through his eye. "Fiendfyre!" Harry roared. The cursed flames erupted from the tip of Harry's wand, quickly rising to heights of over twenty feet.

The burning hot fire shot towards Voldemort while taking the shape of a large dragon, a roaring sound came from it as it burnt anything and everything in its path. Voldemort's eyes widened momentarily before he snarled and slashed his wand upwards in a diagonal motion, dispelling the flames. Once the flames were gone, Voldemort had a torture curse on the tip of his tongue when he realised that Harry Potter was no longer standing there. Instead, the shelves of the entire room were one by one collapsing and creating a large mess that was threatening to land on top of him as more and more shelves collapsed. A snarl escaped from his lips before he turned himself into smoke and flew up and out of the room.

A short while later, he arrived in the currently empty atrium of the Ministry of Magic. He decided to resist the urge to burn down the pictures of Fudge (the politician, not the chocolate) hanging from flowing banners on the ceiling. He stopped immediately as he felt the air around him shift; instincts and years of practice had him casting a shield charm around himself before he could even think. It was good that he did, as a moment later, a white lightning bolt slammed into his shield from behind. He gritted his teeth and managed to spin around and see Potter grinning at him as more lightning poured out of his wand. Voldemort pushed his shield far enough away from him that he had enough room to release the shield and apparate before getting hit.

Executing his plan perfectly, he managed to appear behind Harry Potter and shot a crimson coloured curse at the boy's neck. Then, in a move that very much surprised Voldemort, Harry Potter bent backwards from his knees to avoid the spell. The end result was Harry's feet and knees standing up straight while the rest of his body was in a horizontal line, bent backwards from the knee and parallel to the ground. Potter's face continued grinning at him, even though he was now looking at him upside down.

"You didn't see that coming?" Harry asked before shooting several spells at Voldemort without getting out of the pose he was in. Voldemort managed to recover and block the spells before firing an explosive spell in return. Harry apparated out of danger and landed a short distance away from Voldemort. A blue spell with a red spiral shot from Harry's wand and barrelled towards Voldemort, who deflected the spell and (possibly accidentally) ended up destroying the banners of Fudge, reducing them to ashes.

Voldemort returned fire, shooting a yellow acidic spell at Harry, followed by a dozen sharp spikes. Harry easily dispelled the first spell before transfiguring the spikes into ravens, which spun around and charged towards Voldemort. Voldemort removed them from existence with barely a flick and then raised his wand into the air. Fiendfyre burst from his wand, taking the form of a serpent as it arched through the air and towards Harry. Much to Voldemort's surprise, Harry didn't even bother trying to defend against it. He simply allowed it to engulf him completely.

"Fool," Voldemort said softly as he ended the spell. "It was a pity that you fought against me, Harry Potter," He said, sounding almost saddened as he stared at the flames. "So much wasted potential, you could have been my best. But you let the dead form your decisions, the end result is you have now joined them." He said victoriously, turning around, about to leave, when a voice spoke, stopping him in his tracks.

"We'll all join death, sooner or later, Tom." Voldemort spun around and saw that the flames were gone, and now Harry Potter stood in front of him, unharmed. "Some, sooner than others," Harry said before jabbing his wand in Voldemort's direction, sending a trio of golden beams at him. Voldemort apparated a few feet to the left to avoid the spells and shot a killing curse, which Harry dodged.

"How?!" Voldemort demanded, blocking a simple disarming-stun-body bind combo and shooting back a trio of daggers, which Harry avoided by leaping back and twisting in midair so they all went past him. "How can you survive the cursed flames?!" He said, sending a strong fire blast at Harry once more if only to make sure he had seen right. Harry dispelled the fire with a simple backhanded slap.

"We're far more capable than you can ever hope to believe," Harry told him before shooting a white spell at Voldemort, who blocked it with a grunt. The two quickly returned to combat, firing spell after spell at each other.

"That beast of yours allows you to survive even that?" Voldemort asked with a tone that was halfway between fascinated and horrified. "What creature gives you such power? What is it?"

"We are Venom," Harry snarled, a beam as black as coal shot from his wand towards Voldemort. Voldemort's hastily conjured shield barely held as he felt himself pushed back several feet, his feet. Harry ended the spell and quickly fired off a shield breaker, followed by a bone-shattering curse and a cutting curse.

"I'll enjoy peeling that thing off of your body and studying it," Voldemort growled, dealing with Harry's spell before sending a giant fist straight towards him. The giant fist, ten feet tall and made up of golden light, was easily dealt with by Harry, who punched it with his own regular, Venom-amped fist, allowing it to disappear from view.

"You'll need a head to do that," Harry sent a spiralling blast of purple fire to Voldemort, who apparated a small distance away.

"You'll never defeat me!"

"That's literally all I've done!"

Voldemort and Harry both apparated at the same time, landing in front of each other. The pair both pulled an arm back before stepping forward and performing an identical stabbing motion. Their wands slammed into each other, and a large shockwave burst out. Both were taken off their feet and sent flying backwards as the floor below them ripped apart, the walls on their sides shattered, and chunks of the ceiling above them fell off. Voldemort gasped in pain as he felt his legs slam into the back of the receptionist's desk. He ended up flipping backwards and landing face-first on the floor in front of the 'Fountain of Breatherin', a golden statue of magical creatures looking up to wizards.

With an angry snarl, he pushed himself to his feet, ready to blast the troublesome boy to pieces when he saw that the boy had once more vanished.

"Sweet Merlin!" A horrified voice cried out. Voldemort's gaze snapped to his left, and he froze as he saw none other than the Minister of Magic and several reporters along with him. A deep rage welled up inside of him as he realised just what had happened. The Potter brat had played him; he had simply fought him long enough for the Wizarding World to see proof of his return. One of the floo entrances lit up with green flames, and then, as if he hadn't suffered enough already, Dumbledore came walking out, as if he had planned the entire thing from beginning to end.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom, foolish indeed," Dumbledore said, sounding almost disappointed in him.

"Another day, Dumbledore," Spat Voldemort angrily. "I have bigger fish to fry. But know this, you better stay out of my way. If I don't kill you, then they will."

"They?" Dumbledore asked but received no answer as Voldemort turned and vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving Dumbledore alone with a shell-shocked Fudge and very eager reporters. "They?" Dumbledore repeated softly.

(.)

A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. I'm hoping to have another update for Hydrus Black or Emerald Dragon out soon (don't ask me when soon is) so I hope you look forward to that. Thank you so much for reading, feel free to leave a review.