Chapter 912: He Will Return
Chapter 912: He Will Return
Late at night, a mysterious figure clad in a black cloak appeared out of thin air just outside the small village of Hangleton.
By the faint moonlight, one could barely make out the familiar face hidden beneath the hood—Wormtail, once a recipient of the Merlin First Class award, and currently a fugitive wanted by the entire Ministry of Magic. Peter Pettigrew cautiously surveyed his surroundings and, assured that he was not being followed, stealthily made his way into "Riddle House."
About half a year ago, Frank, the gardener of "Riddle House," had mysteriously disappeared from this place, leaving no trace—as bizarre as the natural deaths of the Riddle family half a century ago.
After the disappearance of Frank the gardener, no one dared to set foot in this "cursed" Riddle House.
"Master?"
Wormtail used his wand to open the door of Riddle House and sneaked into the pitch-black room, quietly calling out to the Dark Lord.
This was the only place Peter could think of where Voldemort might appear, as he believed it unlikely that he would return to the Albanian Forest. After all, the Dark Lord's most loyal servant was still there, and he could easily make a comeback.
Wormtail searched the house but still could not find any trace of the Dark Lord. Just as he was contemplating whether to continue waiting or flee the country, a cold, hoarse, and emotionless voice suddenly sounded behind him, "Wormtail, I thought you had run away."
"I have always been loyal to you, Master," Wormtail said, bowing his head obediently.
"What loyalty? You're just a coward," the Dark Lord replied.
In fact, Voldemort was quite excited to see Wormtail. He had thought that Dumbledore had ruined all his careful preparations.
Without any helpers, it would likely take a long time before he could regain his physical body.
However, Wormtail's immediate response was a lie, and this irritated Voldemort. No one liked being lied to, and Voldemort was no exception.
"If you had anywhere else to go, you wouldn't have come here," Voldemort said, and he was right. Wormtail indeed had nowhere else to turn.
The Ministry of Magic was like a mad hound, frantically searching for his whereabouts, as if they would pull him out even if he hid in a mouse hole.
If Wormtail continued to hide as a rat, the Ministry would never find him, but that was not the life he wanted. He had lived as a rat for twelve years, and he did not want to continue that existence.
So, he had returned.
In Wormtail's opinion, Voldemort had only encountered a minor setback, and with his help, there was a good chance for a comeback.
After all, he had killed old Crouch, and the chances of young Crouch being exposed were slim. Even if he were exposed, Wormtail was confident he could still help Voldemort regain his body, as long as Voldemort did not insist on using Harry Potter's blood for his resurrection.
"Master, what are your plans now? Will you create a new body?" Wormtail cautiously changed the subject and tried to demonstrate his value. "If you can regain your original power, you won't have to worry about Dumbledore."
"What's the situation outside?" Voldemort asked expressionlessly.
Although he was furious that Nagini had been killed by Dumbledore, now was obviously not the time to lose his temper.
"The Ministry of Magic has blocked all news about you. They seem to not want others to know that you have returned. The Ministry is now heavily reporting that I killed old Barty, and the Aurors are still searching for me," Wormtail whispered, subtly boasting about his achievements and contributions.
"You killed old Barty?" Voldemort was a little surprised.
"Yes, Master. While you led Dumbledore away, I ambushed Bagman, who was taking Barty away. It took a lot of effort to kill Barty. I know that you wouldn't want young Barty Crouch's situation to be exposed, affecting our subsequent plans," Wormtail said, his tone respectful, but his words were all about boasting his accomplishments.
Voldemort stared at Wormtail for a while and then said slowly, "You've done well."
For the time being, he gave up on the idea of punishing the servant before him.
In fact, Voldemort couldn't do it even if he wanted to, at least not until he regained his strength.
"Help me regain my body first, and then we'll continue with our previous plan. I must get back the power that belongs to me as soon as possible," Voldemort said expressionlessly. "Then we'll settle the score with Dumbledore."
"Yes, Master, but we'll have to gather those ingredients again," Wormtail said, feeling a headache coming on as he thought about the ingredients. Due to Dumbledore's raid on their hideout, everything had been taken away. Although they weren't back to square one, the situation was not ideal.
More importantly, there was the matter of young Barty. Without their supply of magical herb ingredients for the polyjuice potion, Wormtail doubted that young Barty could maintain his current state for long.
"Send a message to Barty, telling him to hide himself well. If things get too dangerous, he should retreat," Voldemort instructed.
He was quite satisfied with that loyal servant; at least, he was more reliable than Wormtail. He did not want to lose such a devoted follower.
Moreover, they were short on manpower at the moment.
"Before that, we must leave Britain. I think that even if the Ministry of Magic is full of idiots, they will definitely monitor the flow of those ingredients after finding that pile of herbs at the Crouch family's home. It will be difficult for us to obtain them in Britain," Voldemort continued to arrange their next steps. As Wormtail went out to deliver the message to young Barty, Voldemort began to ponder silently about Dumbledore's killing of Nagini.
Voldemort soon realized that this incident was likely related to him. If he hadn't shown how important Nagini was to him and if he hadn't let Nagini leave first, perhaps Dumbledore wouldn't have noticed its existence, or at least he wouldn't have targeted Nagini so quickly.
Voldemort wasn't sure if Dumbledore had discovered the secret of his Horcruxes, but his intuition told him that Dumbledore was still in the dark.
However, Voldemort was well aware that even if Dumbledore didn't know, he should have started investigating by now. Even if he knew about the Horcruxes, he probably wouldn't know what objects Voldemort had used or where they were hidden.
Yes, how could Dumbledore possibly know where he had hidden his Horcruxes?
Voldemort decided that once he regained his body, he would check to ensure the safety of his Horcruxes.
Before that, he must regain his power, reassemble his Death Eaters, and become strong again. He would never allow the humiliation of being killed by a group of enemies to happen again.
However, Voldemort did not know that in this world, there were two types of creatures—spoilers and cheaters. And when spoilers and cheaters combined with the rare prophet, some shocking and wonderful changes would occur.
(End of Chapter)
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