Well Cedric is an actual 6th year, a 17 yr old as was expected to compete, plus he's a Puff, so he's hardworking. I can legitimately see him being that good at general spellwork, we know Holly's better in a duel, but maybe he knows just knows how to handle the obstacles better than Holly. Plus Holly didn't seem that rushed to me once she hit the first obstacle, she took the time to not walk into a trap.
A Skirt's Not So Bad [Harry Potter]
- Thread starter Tekomandor
- Start date
The third task allows you to give up and leave the tournament without breaking the rules.
Dumbledore's Final Lesson
This time, after enduring by now familiar sensation of side-along apparition, Holly found herself in a dusty unused classroon.
"Huh," she said eloquently. "I was expecting something more..."
"Grandiose? Exotic?" Dumbledore asked with a smile. "Hogwarts is a school that served well its students and teachers over the centuries. There are locations more suitable for lessons on more esoteric subjects, but for today's affair, I think, this old classroom shall suffice."
Holly frowned.
"Did we have to apparite here, though?" she asked.
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Yes we did." Before Holly could muster up a response to this, he continued, "Today we're going to brush up the fundamentals of defensive magic and review how to summon bright sparks to call for help."
"Oh," Holly said. "I mean, it's not useless, I suppose, but shouldn't I be learning something more advanced by now?"
Dumbledore smiled at her gently. "You're a very talented witch, Holly, capable of outspelling many fine wizards far above your age. Yet still you are a child, and there is no shame in asking for help if you're feeling overwhelming or unsure. Like, for example, if you find yourself in a purely hypothetical yet deadly labyrinth, and even though you could, in principle, overcome its dangers, there is a possibility of a darker plot at work there... In such a situation, it is only sensible to fold 'em, so to speak."
Holly was silent for a long moment.
"I don't get it, professor," she said eventually.
It was actually never established what would happen if you attempt to break the contract. It's described as magically binding, but that's probably because it magically binds you rather than because it binds your magic. For all we know, breaking the contract turns you into a chicken. Because you're a chicken for breaking it.
- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
If it's actually magically binding rather than snapping if you break it, is it possible that it just quietly compel you to give the tournament your all rather than giving you a chance to break it and see what happens?
TBF, being a Hufflepuff means he values hard work, not necessary that he does any. Maybe he just really likes watching other people working hard.
"It's a magically binding contract" is all that was said on the matter, IIRC. It's a pure plot device with minimal in-universe explanation of what and how it does (for all we know, it selects champions via simple lottery but with more fire). So, yeah, sure. Maybe it controls luck, so if you try to go against the tournament, progressively improbable coincidences would conspire to put you back on track. So if you put Voldemort's name in, he would inevitably find his way to the tasks (still as a weird baby), and nobody would be able to prevent him from participating.
Satisfaction
brought it back.
My headcanon is that it's actually a binding contract on the schools, rather than the students, and that if you refuse to participate they have to expel you. That neatly gets rid of the 'but how can you bind someone else into it?' thing. The champions aren't bound, they'll just be expelled if they don't participate.
There is the issue that in canon, the source of the statement about it being a magically binding contract was Crouch Sr after he's put under Imperious
Kakaroff, Maxime and Dumbledore were too preoccupied with the Tournament (and this was an area Voldemort guessed at Dumbledore's flaws) to look too closely at whether it was true*
*it's also not beyond reason that after 3 years of the trio's shenanigans, 3 years of Snape whining and Harry now having Sirius 'tried to use my friend as a murder weapon and got away with it" Black as an influence, plus projecting his blunders with Tom; that Albus did think Harry put his name in the goblet
Kakaroff, Maxime and Dumbledore were too preoccupied with the Tournament (and this was an area Voldemort guessed at Dumbledore's flaws) to look too closely at whether it was true*
*it's also not beyond reason that after 3 years of the trio's shenanigans, 3 years of Snape whining and Harry now having Sirius 'tried to use my friend as a murder weapon and got away with it" Black as an influence, plus projecting his blunders with Tom; that Albus did think Harry put his name in the goblet
Albus put the Trio up to a good amount of their shenanigans, he knows Snape is biased and prejudiced against Harry, and is in active contact with Black. There's no reason for him to believe that Harry put his name in, hell given how Harry's acted the previous three years I'm almost surprised that anyone believed he put his name in. But the student body of Hogwarts is often made of idiot sheeple, so.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/They
It makes some sense to make the goblet a portkey if that's literally the only thing in Hogwarts that could be disguised as one and function because of the magic on it/being resistant to the Hogwarts wards/whatever narrative bullshit. Of course if you do that then it would be a hail mary you're doing alongside a much more likely to succeed plan that just never gets showed because the hail mary worked. Like 'Moody' using the portkey goblet as an excuse to give Harry (working on book canon here not fic canon, so not deadnaming) private lessons that turn into an abduction. Or offering to protect him on the way off the train and immediately kidnapping him once outside the wards. In the fic idk how they'd be planning to do it if the goblet doesn't work.
Or, in the words of GLaDOS: "I had a much more elaborate trap prepared for when you got past this easy one. If I knew it would be this easy I'd have just dangled a turkey leg on a string "
Or, in the words of GLaDOS: "I had a much more elaborate trap prepared for when you got past this easy one. If I knew it would be this easy I'd have just dangled a turkey leg on a string "
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Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
The Goblet was always a port key as it always took the winner to outside the maze to be recognized for their victory hence why when canon the goblet was touched again it brought them to the reward tent. The trick pulled was adding an intermediate destination that triggered upon Holly touching it, and no one else. Checking the goblet for being a portkey would of course show it as being one, but who is going to double check that someone didn't add an additional destination to it? Du Pont and the others are clearly supposed to have been helping keep this thing under lock and key.
I assume that the goblet was supposed to take each of the contestants out of the maze in order of their success thus allowing an order to be determined from officially first to officially last place, so each person would get a chance to touch it. Which means that so long as Holly made it to the final challenge and didn't give up, this plan doesn't have an actual fail state outside of Holly herself failing, which DuPont may have been ready to ensure that she died due to a "malfunction" in the maze preventing Holly from calling for help.
It's not a bad plan, it is setup over the course of a year because it clearly also took a while for Voldemort to gather his followers, the supplies for his resurrection, and probably no small amount of his precious war chest. Why rush a plan when all that will happen is you'll need to wait for things to be ready?
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Epsilon Rose
The King of Unrest
It's worth keeping in mind that Voldemort is a massive ham and isn't above taking risks if it means putting on a show or stroking his ego. Holly vanishing after wining the cup is dramatic and she's his marked rival, so of course she'll get to the cup first!
Also, sometimes people have goals other than maximum efficiency and the fail-state for this plan (at least the one you're focusing on) isn't a particularly bad one. If Holly doesn't make it to the cup, then nothing happens, not much is lost, and Voldemort can have someone snag her later.
One thing I note is that, despite being the person who recruited her and the band to Voldemort's service; Crouch is being treated as a henchman
Year Four, Chapter Thirty Five
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Year Four, Chapter Thirty Five
Holly's scar burst into even fiercer pain, and it was all she could do to remain standing. Her wand felt heavy in her hand like it was made from lead. Her vision clouded, and she thought of the oddest thing. In the haze of pain that clouded her thoughts, her mind wandered back to Ron's prophecy.
Before Barty could finish his spell, Holly dragged Cedric down and to the left. The bolt of screaming green light passed overhead and blew apart a gravestone. Holly couldn't get back up, but Cedric stood up and fought. Bolts of light and explosions whizzed around her, but all she could see was that Cedric was still fighting. Only a few moments passed, but they felt like an eternity to Holly.
Then the pain faded, becoming the familiar ache she had grown so used to. Holly stood, slowly, as Cedric and Barty duelled. The other figures, as well as Dupont, all seemed transfixed with the duel. Perhaps, Holly thought, they believed that she'd fallen unconscious. Her wand felt warm in her hand, a burning heat that seemed as though it would char her skin - yet felt almost comforting. Holly heard faint strains of phoenix song.
She turned and struck at Barty, whipping crackling lightning at him with enough force to shatter his shield charm like a car through a window. Multicoloured shards of magic flew everywhere, and Holly did not give Crouch a moment to recover.
"Get the hell away from him, Crouch!" Holly shouted, the crack of another lightning curse echoing her words.
"Now you're really done for, asshole!" Cedric shouted as Holly pelted Barty with blasting curses.
"Some half-blood freak who's read a few dark books could never compare to me. The Dark Lord himself taught me the darkest arts, boy!" Barty replied, his smile manic and his eyes cold. He conjured cursed black flames, but as he shaped them into snakes he was forced to destroy them - for Holly turned each of them against their conjurer, and wove dark curses also in the tongue of serpents.
Cedric seemed surprised at the spells Holly was using, but he was holding his own. He might not know the sorts of deadly dark magic Holly and Crouch did, but blasting curses and cutting hexes were dangerous enough on their own.
"Back to the cup, Holly - we should be able to-" Cedric said, and then it happened. Holly saw the bright green light in the corner of her eye, and she turned too late. Cedric slumped bonelessly to the ground, his eyes dead and glassy. Faint wisps of acrid green smoke rose from his back, and Dupont lowered her wand - still glowing slightly from the power of the Unforgiveable Curse.
"Dear me, Barty. It seems that one overachieving badger and a fourteen-year-old girl were too much for you," Dupont said, her sing-song voice almost a cackle. She walked forward, and Holly stared in shock at Cedric's body. She sank to her knees and touched his face, feeling the unnatural coldness the killing curse left behind.
"Cedric..." Holly said, her voice barely more than a horse whisper. She felt tears well in her eyes, and the whispers grew louder.
"I had it under control, Jean," Barty growled, and the whispers grew louder.
We can make them hurt.
"Oh? You were taking your sweet time dealing with that waste of pure blood, let alone the Potter brat. Not that that's a surprise - didn't she derail your little stunt at the World Cup?" Dupont said, and the whispers grew louder. Holly heard phoenix song, too, but it could not drown out the whispers.
We can make them pay.
"He was chosen to oppose the Dark Lord... it is little surprise that the degenerate should be possessed of some power," Barty replied, and the whispers grew louder.
We can make them die.
Holly closed Cedric's eyes, knowing that she wanted no one good or decent to see what was about to happen. She wiped away her own tears and felt the magic all around her. Crouch and Dupont had taken her somewhere where leylines met, a place of power.
She stood, and both Crouch and Dupont turned towards her. Holly raised her wand, slowly and deliberately. Her heartbeat had slowed, and her hand was as still as ice. She knew the words, the motion. She knew the hate. She had always known because the whispers had told her. They had told her in her cupboard, they had told her when she had faced Quirrel, and when she'd had her wand to the Heir's back...
"What are you going to do, freak? Cast some more curses you learnt out of a library book at me? I don't think you have it in you to do real dark magic, no matter how much you hate me," Crouch sneered.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Holly snarled, and she felt the stain creep into her. She put all of her hate into one spell, one screaming cry of rage and anguish. She saw the green light roar from her wand, head the whistling, screaming noise. She saw Barty Crouch Junior die by her hand, saw the look of utter shock on his face, and only then could she hear anything over the whispers.
Dupont was staring at her, just as wide-eyed as Holly was. She could only look at her wand in horror, feeling sick as little motes of green light were carried away from the still-glowing tip on the cold wind.
"I - I didn't..." Holly said weakly, but she could say nothing. She had meant to kill Barty, she had known exactly what would happen when she'd cast the Killing Curse. She could hear the phoenix song now, like a roaring chorus or waves crashing on a rocky shore.
Then something hit her hard in the back, the world went dark.
She woke sometime later, though from what her bleary eyes could see she couldn't have been unconscious too long. It was still night, and Holly could see that the dark clouds had just arrived - perhaps half an hour, she thought. As her vision cleared, she realised something was holding her upright - something cold and immoveable.
The statue of the reaper - of what wizards might call a Deathly Power - had been enchanted to hold Holly tight with one of its stone arms. The other held a skeletal hand over her mouth - she could breathe, but not talk. She could see the pattern on the inside of the statue's cloak, now, and she thought there was something familiar about it. The other figures Holly had seen were now fully visible. Some of them wore the robes and skull masks of the Death Eaters, some were dressed in dragonhide and goblin chain like Dupont, and some were dressed in yet more styles - furs, formal robes...
Holly saw Barty's body lying where it'd fallen, and she felt sick. She could still feel the cold killing magic, like an echo on her soul. Cedric was lying not all that far away, and then the Triwizard cup. She saw for the first time the name on the headstone the statue was guarding - TOM RIDDLE - and Holly felt dread.
A huge, bubbling cauldron had been set up not far from her, full of what looked to be blood, and Holly could see one of the Death Eaters standing next to it. His hood and mask were down, though, and Holly saw Lucius Malfoy stir the potion with a look of utter terror on his face. Dupont was standing nearby, holding some sort of bundle, and another figure was chanting in what Holly thought might have been Old Norse.
He was a tall, slender man with long, matted blonde hair. He wore only a pair of dark leather pants, turned a rusty red with old bloodstains, and every inch of his bare chest was covered in runes. They seemed to have been burnt into his skin, and they glowed with a fell red light as he chanted, growing brighter and brighter.
There was a flash of red light, and the crackling fire beneath the cauldron become a bight crimson inferno. It took the form of a coil of snakes, whirling and writhing beneath the cauldron. Holly could feel the magic rushing towards it, as whatever spell the man had used tapped deeply into the natural magic of the world.
"It is done?" asked a high, cold voice - one that was very familiar to Holly, It seemed to have come from the bundle Dupont was holding like a baby.
"It is, my lord. The fires of rebirth have been lit, and the dragon's blood is ready," Dupont said, her voice breathy and excited.
"Then begin!" the voice said again, and Dupont strode forwards. Holly got only a glimpse of whatever was in the bundle of dark cloth - but she didn't need to see to know who the deformed bay-like creature was. To know who that high voice was. Her scar burned, and Holly was thankful for the hand covering her mouth. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of screaming in pain.
Dupont lowered the bundle into the boiling dragon's blood almost reverently, and the crimson fire beneath roared higher. She looked to Malfoy, whose face seemed to have turned to a stony impassiveness. He raised his long, dark wand and spoke.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" Lucius Malfoy chanted and was echoed by a dozen more voices. The stone beneath Holly's feet cracked open with a tremendous snapping noise. Holly's eyes went wide with horror as she saw dust rise up out of the grave and flow into the bubbling cauldron. As the bone touched the liquid inside, the fire beneath the cauldron turned a familiar bright green.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!" Malfoy chanted, his voice without emotion or inflection. He slashed at his left hand with his wand, and Holly stared in horror as it fell into the boiling liquid. The wound had an unnatural sheen and no blood spurted from it. The liquid now turned dark green, glowing faintly.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" Malfoy chanted one final time, and he advanced on Holly. She stared up at him, definatly, and he touched his wand to her arm. He moved it carefully across her arm, his cutting charm drawing blood and sending it into the cauldron. Holly felt the pain, but it was barely noticeable next to her scar.
The liquid turned the same bright green colour as the fire, only for the fire to entirely engulf the cauldron. It became a towering beam of writhing snakes, each formed from fire, and then after only a moment, it went out. The liquid inside the cauldron seemed to have all evaporated in that instant, noxious green steam rising from the cauldron as Holly felt the pain in her scar grow more and more.
Something rose out of the cauldron. It was a man, tall and skeletally thin. His skin was unhealthily palid, and as he walked forward the cauldron seemed to melt away before him. He wove shadows into a simple, unadorned set of black robes, and for the first time that night, Holly saw Voldemort's face.
It was inhuman, with a snakelike nose and utterly hairless. His eyes were a scarlet red, and they glowed softly in the moonlight. He smiled as he saw her, and Holly felt sick. Everyone, Death Eater and foreign dark wizards alike, knelt as Voldemort stood. The wind grew louder and faster, the bitterly cold air carrying away the steam and stench of blood and brimstone.
Lightning flashed in the distance, and Holly could only stare in wide-eyed horror. Lord Voldemort had returned.
Holly's scar burst into even fiercer pain, and it was all she could do to remain standing. Her wand felt heavy in her hand like it was made from lead. Her vision clouded, and she thought of the oddest thing. In the haze of pain that clouded her thoughts, her mind wandered back to Ron's prophecy.
Before Barty could finish his spell, Holly dragged Cedric down and to the left. The bolt of screaming green light passed overhead and blew apart a gravestone. Holly couldn't get back up, but Cedric stood up and fought. Bolts of light and explosions whizzed around her, but all she could see was that Cedric was still fighting. Only a few moments passed, but they felt like an eternity to Holly.
Then the pain faded, becoming the familiar ache she had grown so used to. Holly stood, slowly, as Cedric and Barty duelled. The other figures, as well as Dupont, all seemed transfixed with the duel. Perhaps, Holly thought, they believed that she'd fallen unconscious. Her wand felt warm in her hand, a burning heat that seemed as though it would char her skin - yet felt almost comforting. Holly heard faint strains of phoenix song.
She turned and struck at Barty, whipping crackling lightning at him with enough force to shatter his shield charm like a car through a window. Multicoloured shards of magic flew everywhere, and Holly did not give Crouch a moment to recover.
"Get the hell away from him, Crouch!" Holly shouted, the crack of another lightning curse echoing her words.
"Now you're really done for, asshole!" Cedric shouted as Holly pelted Barty with blasting curses.
"Some half-blood freak who's read a few dark books could never compare to me. The Dark Lord himself taught me the darkest arts, boy!" Barty replied, his smile manic and his eyes cold. He conjured cursed black flames, but as he shaped them into snakes he was forced to destroy them - for Holly turned each of them against their conjurer, and wove dark curses also in the tongue of serpents.
Cedric seemed surprised at the spells Holly was using, but he was holding his own. He might not know the sorts of deadly dark magic Holly and Crouch did, but blasting curses and cutting hexes were dangerous enough on their own.
"Back to the cup, Holly - we should be able to-" Cedric said, and then it happened. Holly saw the bright green light in the corner of her eye, and she turned too late. Cedric slumped bonelessly to the ground, his eyes dead and glassy. Faint wisps of acrid green smoke rose from his back, and Dupont lowered her wand - still glowing slightly from the power of the Unforgiveable Curse.
"Dear me, Barty. It seems that one overachieving badger and a fourteen-year-old girl were too much for you," Dupont said, her sing-song voice almost a cackle. She walked forward, and Holly stared in shock at Cedric's body. She sank to her knees and touched his face, feeling the unnatural coldness the killing curse left behind.
"Cedric..." Holly said, her voice barely more than a horse whisper. She felt tears well in her eyes, and the whispers grew louder.
"I had it under control, Jean," Barty growled, and the whispers grew louder.
We can make them hurt.
"Oh? You were taking your sweet time dealing with that waste of pure blood, let alone the Potter brat. Not that that's a surprise - didn't she derail your little stunt at the World Cup?" Dupont said, and the whispers grew louder. Holly heard phoenix song, too, but it could not drown out the whispers.
We can make them pay.
"He was chosen to oppose the Dark Lord... it is little surprise that the degenerate should be possessed of some power," Barty replied, and the whispers grew louder.
We can make them die.
Holly closed Cedric's eyes, knowing that she wanted no one good or decent to see what was about to happen. She wiped away her own tears and felt the magic all around her. Crouch and Dupont had taken her somewhere where leylines met, a place of power.
She stood, and both Crouch and Dupont turned towards her. Holly raised her wand, slowly and deliberately. Her heartbeat had slowed, and her hand was as still as ice. She knew the words, the motion. She knew the hate. She had always known because the whispers had told her. They had told her in her cupboard, they had told her when she had faced Quirrel, and when she'd had her wand to the Heir's back...
"What are you going to do, freak? Cast some more curses you learnt out of a library book at me? I don't think you have it in you to do real dark magic, no matter how much you hate me," Crouch sneered.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Holly snarled, and she felt the stain creep into her. She put all of her hate into one spell, one screaming cry of rage and anguish. She saw the green light roar from her wand, head the whistling, screaming noise. She saw Barty Crouch Junior die by her hand, saw the look of utter shock on his face, and only then could she hear anything over the whispers.
Dupont was staring at her, just as wide-eyed as Holly was. She could only look at her wand in horror, feeling sick as little motes of green light were carried away from the still-glowing tip on the cold wind.
"I - I didn't..." Holly said weakly, but she could say nothing. She had meant to kill Barty, she had known exactly what would happen when she'd cast the Killing Curse. She could hear the phoenix song now, like a roaring chorus or waves crashing on a rocky shore.
Then something hit her hard in the back, the world went dark.
She woke sometime later, though from what her bleary eyes could see she couldn't have been unconscious too long. It was still night, and Holly could see that the dark clouds had just arrived - perhaps half an hour, she thought. As her vision cleared, she realised something was holding her upright - something cold and immoveable.
The statue of the reaper - of what wizards might call a Deathly Power - had been enchanted to hold Holly tight with one of its stone arms. The other held a skeletal hand over her mouth - she could breathe, but not talk. She could see the pattern on the inside of the statue's cloak, now, and she thought there was something familiar about it. The other figures Holly had seen were now fully visible. Some of them wore the robes and skull masks of the Death Eaters, some were dressed in dragonhide and goblin chain like Dupont, and some were dressed in yet more styles - furs, formal robes...
Holly saw Barty's body lying where it'd fallen, and she felt sick. She could still feel the cold killing magic, like an echo on her soul. Cedric was lying not all that far away, and then the Triwizard cup. She saw for the first time the name on the headstone the statue was guarding - TOM RIDDLE - and Holly felt dread.
A huge, bubbling cauldron had been set up not far from her, full of what looked to be blood, and Holly could see one of the Death Eaters standing next to it. His hood and mask were down, though, and Holly saw Lucius Malfoy stir the potion with a look of utter terror on his face. Dupont was standing nearby, holding some sort of bundle, and another figure was chanting in what Holly thought might have been Old Norse.
He was a tall, slender man with long, matted blonde hair. He wore only a pair of dark leather pants, turned a rusty red with old bloodstains, and every inch of his bare chest was covered in runes. They seemed to have been burnt into his skin, and they glowed with a fell red light as he chanted, growing brighter and brighter.
There was a flash of red light, and the crackling fire beneath the cauldron become a bight crimson inferno. It took the form of a coil of snakes, whirling and writhing beneath the cauldron. Holly could feel the magic rushing towards it, as whatever spell the man had used tapped deeply into the natural magic of the world.
"It is done?" asked a high, cold voice - one that was very familiar to Holly, It seemed to have come from the bundle Dupont was holding like a baby.
"It is, my lord. The fires of rebirth have been lit, and the dragon's blood is ready," Dupont said, her voice breathy and excited.
"Then begin!" the voice said again, and Dupont strode forwards. Holly got only a glimpse of whatever was in the bundle of dark cloth - but she didn't need to see to know who the deformed bay-like creature was. To know who that high voice was. Her scar burned, and Holly was thankful for the hand covering her mouth. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of screaming in pain.
Dupont lowered the bundle into the boiling dragon's blood almost reverently, and the crimson fire beneath roared higher. She looked to Malfoy, whose face seemed to have turned to a stony impassiveness. He raised his long, dark wand and spoke.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" Lucius Malfoy chanted and was echoed by a dozen more voices. The stone beneath Holly's feet cracked open with a tremendous snapping noise. Holly's eyes went wide with horror as she saw dust rise up out of the grave and flow into the bubbling cauldron. As the bone touched the liquid inside, the fire beneath the cauldron turned a familiar bright green.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!" Malfoy chanted, his voice without emotion or inflection. He slashed at his left hand with his wand, and Holly stared in horror as it fell into the boiling liquid. The wound had an unnatural sheen and no blood spurted from it. The liquid now turned dark green, glowing faintly.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" Malfoy chanted one final time, and he advanced on Holly. She stared up at him, definatly, and he touched his wand to her arm. He moved it carefully across her arm, his cutting charm drawing blood and sending it into the cauldron. Holly felt the pain, but it was barely noticeable next to her scar.
The liquid turned the same bright green colour as the fire, only for the fire to entirely engulf the cauldron. It became a towering beam of writhing snakes, each formed from fire, and then after only a moment, it went out. The liquid inside the cauldron seemed to have all evaporated in that instant, noxious green steam rising from the cauldron as Holly felt the pain in her scar grow more and more.
Something rose out of the cauldron. It was a man, tall and skeletally thin. His skin was unhealthily palid, and as he walked forward the cauldron seemed to melt away before him. He wove shadows into a simple, unadorned set of black robes, and for the first time that night, Holly saw Voldemort's face.
It was inhuman, with a snakelike nose and utterly hairless. His eyes were a scarlet red, and they glowed softly in the moonlight. He smiled as he saw her, and Holly felt sick. Everyone, Death Eater and foreign dark wizards alike, knelt as Voldemort stood. The wind grew louder and faster, the bitterly cold air carrying away the steam and stench of blood and brimstone.
Lightning flashed in the distance, and Holly could only stare in wide-eyed horror. Lord Voldemort had returned.
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- Location
- Earth, probably.
- Pronouns
- None/Any
Oh, oh, oh dear. Don't they have the ability to tell what spell was cast by a wand recently? Because Cedric was kill with the killing curse, and Holly cast the killing curse, and there are more than a few people who I can imagine would want to place the blame on her for the deed.
Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
Personal guess is the gain is a less twisted body, this isn't a ritual done with the assistance of four barely functioning psychopaths and Nagini but a full cadre of wizards and the wealth of the Crouch estate.
Voldie's coming back in full Riddle form if he wanted, or if he does return still sans-nose then it's because he wants to appear like something that isn't "merely mortal".
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Stronger? Looks about exactly the same to my memory...
Anna Lynn
The Key, and the Gate, and that which is Beyond.
- Location
- ?
- Pronouns
- Depends/On/The/Day
Wait. Cedric died via killing curse. Holly just casted the killing curse. We know that it's possible to check wands for what spells they did in the past.
Will Holly be blamed for Cedric's murder?
Will Holly be blamed for Cedric's murder?
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
That, at least, probably isn't a concern; if the spell works the same way as the 'natural' version caused by sibling wands meeting, it'll show who was killed by the curse too.
- Pronouns
- He/They
That can't be right; the shades conjured in the graveyard scene could talk, and I feel like it would be a bigger deal if you could resurrect the recently-dead in that way. It goes against how normal magic is depicted.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
It has the same chant, but the canonical version was quite a bit more understated and lacked things like the pillar of flaming snakes. The colour changes to the potion are different too, though whether that has any meaning is anyone's guess.
We only have one canon example of the spell version being used, but it created an exact smoke duplicate of the spell that was cast in the same way Voldemort's wand created smoke duplicates of Pettigrew's fake hand and the people he killed, so they can't be too different. My guess would be that the spell version only shows images of who died rather than bringing them back with full-on personalities, but there should at least be something.
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- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm honestly a bit disappointed by how similar things are to the canon graveyard scene, what with Cedric still dying and Holly taken captive as Voldemort comes back. A couple faces got swapped around (Pettigrew got replaced by Lucius, Dupont and Barty being present, etc.), but the only major change was Holly's killing curse, which didn't actually impact the end result any.
I suppose it's not the first scene that's hewed closely to canon, but after how the last book's finally went and all the little weird things leading up to this point (Holly's name being in the goblet twice, Ron giving a prophecy, the "emissaries three," etc.) I kinda thought things would be different. Still a great fic, don't get me wrong, just not my favorite chapter.
I suppose it's not the first scene that's hewed closely to canon, but after how the last book's finally went and all the little weird things leading up to this point (Holly's name being in the goblet twice, Ron giving a prophecy, the "emissaries three," etc.) I kinda thought things would be different. Still a great fic, don't get me wrong, just not my favorite chapter.
Zedman7054
Eternally 3rd
- Location
- United States
And this is what this story has been building up to since the end of the 2nd year. The price of dark knowledge and power is the temptation and ability to use it it in your darkest, lowest moment.
Hopefully Holly will still get the chance to duel Voldy, that way even if her wand is checked people will be forced to ask themselves why Holly would cast a bunch of dueling charms after the Avada Kedava.
- Location
- Toronto
I don't think it's going to matter - no one checked Harry's wand in canon, and they had just as much motivation to do so as here with Holly. Remember that the reason Fudge puts his administration to the task of discrediting Albus and Holly isn't that he disbelieves them. Deep down he does think they're telling the truth and that terrifies him, and so he'll do anything he can to hide from that fact. Letting Holly present something like concrete evidence of her claims by holding a proper investigation and checking wands is the opposite of what Fudge wants.