A Sirius Matter [Harmione]

27. Voldemort's Return

Harry and Hermione landed roughly after that unexpected trip by portkey. Harry was still under the blanket when he heard the voice that filled his nightmares hiss, "Kill the spare."

Knowing instinctively who the 'spare' must be, he blindly pushed Hermione away just as Wormtail shouted, "Avada Kadavra!"

Harry threw off the blanket and got up, quickly glancing to see that Hermione was still alive. He got his wand, pointed it at Pettigrew, who was carrying something hideous that was about the size of a baby, and shouted, "Stupefy!"

Peter managed to move out of the way and dropped the 'infant' into a large cauldron while Harry quickly looked around to see he was in a graveyard.

"Expelliarmus!" came the sound of Hermione's voice from behind Harry.

Pettigrew smiled as he said, "Protego! Crucio!"

Soon Harry was listening in horror as his girlfriend was screaming in agony. In rage he shouted, "Expelliarmus," causing Pettigrew to not only drop his wand, but throwing him against a headstone that had 'Tom Riddle' engraved on it.

As Harry rushed toward Pettigrew in anger, the pathetic man grabbed a bone that was lying nearby and threw it at the cauldron. He smiled as it landed inside it, just before Harry punched him in the face.

Wormtail quickly said, "Bone of the father, unknowingly taken," before turning into a rat and running toward the cauldron.

Harry shot a few spells at the terrified rat, but just hit the tail, separating it from the still running rat. Harry then shot a 'Reducto' curse at the cauldron, only for the blast to bounce off an invisible shield that was apparently protecting it. Harry had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit.

This gave Pettigrew the time to transform back. He appeared to be in pain, and had some trouble standing, but grabbed the tail off the ground and placed it in the cauldron saying, "Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed," before he transformed back into a rat and ran toward Hermione.

Harry then followed the rat to see that Hermione was just sitting up. The right side of her face was bleeding as though she'd hit her head at some point, and she seemed groggy. Before Harry got to her, Wormtail transformed and picked her up, holding the dazed girl in front of him like a shield. His right hand was around her throat. Harry glared at his parents' betrayer with more contempt than ever before.

"Drop your wand, Harry," said Wormtail as he slowly moved closer to the cauldron, obviously in pain.

"Don...don't do it, Harry," she managed to say.

Harry slowly began to lower his wand as the rat got next to the cauldron. "You should do nicely, my pretty mudblood," Pettigrew hissed in Hermione's ear as he collected some of the blood that had flowed onto her face with his left hand and then flicked it into the cauldron saying, "Blood of the enemy, unwilling given. You will resurrect your foe."

"What?" said Hermione as she came to herself enough to elbow him in the stomach.

When he momentarily lost his grip on her she dove down, having faith in Harry to point his wand at the rat, shouting, "Stupefy!" Peter flew backward ten feet unconscious. Harry ran toward Hermione, helping her up, and then they both went back to Peter's unconscious form.

Harry picked him up quickly, as Hermione said, "We need to get back to the portkey, NOW!"

As they ran to the blanket, Voldemort's new body, which included a tail and a rat-like muzzle (with no hair anywhere on the body) appeared next to the cauldron. They grabbed the blanket as Voldemort turned toward them. Hermione shouted, "Activate!" and the blanket, along with Harry, Hermione, and Peter, disappeared.