"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 "Bombarda!"
the
wand
and
shouted
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.
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