The Necromancer

Chapter 22

Harry wasn’t sure whether to laugh or punch Voldemort in the face, but he did find himself momentarily speechless. Of all the things he’d expected to happen once he teamed up with Voldemort, receiving an invitation to go to a formal ball at Hogwarts with the Dark Lord hadn’t been one of them.

“No,” Harry said when he finally regained the ability to speak. “Hell no.”

Voldemort leaned a bit closer and gave Harry a look as though he was about to argue with him, but then he straightened again and offered Harry a crooked smile that made him look like an irresistible rogue. “I’ve got a month to convince you,” Voldemort said, eyes narrowed but shining with ambition. “And I will.”

“I already said no,” Harry called after Voldemort.

“Come along, Harry,” Voldemort said without a care in the world as he walked towards the staircase with quick steps. “I’d like to see how you reanimate that dragon.”

“I’m not going to reanimate it, I’m going to resurrect it. There’s a difference,” Harry said, feeling a little insulted that Voldemort would think him only capable of animating dead things.

“What the fuck just happened,” Sirius asked, his eyes wide and his face pale.

“Was that Voldemort?” Regulus whispered. “Asking Harry to a ball?”

“I find it’s best not to ask too many questions,” Remus said with a decisive nod. “It greatly reduces one’s stress-levels while living on Magica.”

Harry carefully held onto the carafe of Elixir of Life in his hands as he descended the stairs, having trouble keeping up with Voldemort’s long strides. Keket met them inside the entrance hall and Harry showed her the carafe. “If you still want to be a dragon, that’s okay, too. But if you want to remain a barok you just have to drink this.”

In reply, Keket slunk closer to Harry and opened her wide mouth. Well, that was an obvious answer, so Harry smiled and carefully poured the elixir in while Keket gulped it all down. Once the carafe was empty, Harry stepped back and waited for something to happen.

Nothing did for a few, long moments while Keket simply stood still, but then she jumped eight foot in the air from standstill and let out a loud, victorious roar. At once she ran up the wall and across the whole entrance hall, scaring the crap out of Sirius, Regulus and Remus who were just walking down the stairs.

“So I guess it worked,” Harry said with a chuckle while Keket bounced around the large room before all but flying out of the door, almost bowling Voldemort over, who stood waiting for Harry.

“Your friend will be able to enjoy her body for many years to come,” Voldemort said as he fell into step with Harry on their way to the dragon. “How will you control the dragon now?”

“I’m going to put my second-cousin Rigel in it, if he wants to,” Harry replied, quite amused by Voldemort’s dubious expression.

“How are you going to summon his soul?” Voldemort asked with a contemplative frown as he glanced at Harry. “Summoning a specific soul is notoriously hard.”

“Is it?” Harry asked, unobtrusively rubbing his thumb across his amulet. “I had no idea.” Just then, Rigel appeared before them. “Oh, hey, Rigel.”