Chapter 914: A Narrow Escape
Chapter 914: A Narrow Escape
As Wormtail left, Voldemort, who had been contemplating his next move, suddenly felt a sense of unease. The possessed rat abruptly raised its head, its beady eyes glowing red as it scanned the surroundings.
This place should have been safe. What had he overlooked?
Just then, faint sounds reached his ears from outside.
"Is Wormtail back?"
Voldemort's uneasiness grew stronger. He knew that the person approaching was unlikely to be Wormtail.
"Good evening, Tom," a familiar and despised voice echoed in the corridor outside. "I know you're hiding in here."
Albus Dumbledore pushed open the wooden door of the hall and entered, his wand illuminating the way.
Voldemort's heart sank. He had never expected Dumbledore to show up here.
He felt a surge of frustration.
Not long ago, Dumbledore had intercepted him, ruining his original plans. Nagini had been beheaded, and he had been forced to flee.
And now, here he was, cornered by Dumbledore once again.
"I've found you," Dumbledore said, giving his wand a slight flick.
Voldemort felt his body float upwards, and he—no, the rat—seemed to be lifted by an invisible force, struggling helplessly in the air in a rather comical manner.
Voldemort, who had intended to use the advantage of possessing a rat to hide, never imagined that Dumbledore would find him so easily.
"I'm surprised to see you in this state. How pathetic," Dumbledore said, staring at the rat in front of him. He was certain that this rat was possessed by Voldemort. As for possession itself, he had witnessed it years ago through Quirinus Quirrell.
Dumbledore waved his wand, sending spell after spell towards the rat, trapping it completely. Voldemort, realizing resistance was futile, finally stopped struggling.
He stopped pretending.
"Dumbledore!"
Voldemort's fragmented soul suddenly peeled away from the rat, bursting through the cage Dumbledore had constructed around it.
He floated in the air like a ghost, gritting his teeth as he glared at the old man before him.
"Good evening, Tom," Dumbledore greeted pleasantly, as if he had casually run into an acquaintance on the street.
"How did you find me?" Voldemort asked through clenched teeth, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore.
"I've been keeping an eye on the Muggle newspapers," Dumbledore said nonchalantly. "You killed a Muggle by the name of Frank Bryce back in August, didn't you? And this is old Tom's house. I'm not surprised you'd hide here."
As he spoke, Dumbledore waved his wand, sending a golden curse toward Voldemort's fragmented soul in an attempt to destroy it.
He hadn't been idle during this time. He had perused numerous ancient tomes, searching for magic that could deal with ghosts, spirits, and souls.
Dumbledore was well aware that it was difficult to kill Voldemort without destroying his Horcruxes. But anything was possible, and it was worth trying.
So, he had racked his brains to probe for Voldemort's soul fragment's weaknesses. Even if he failed, he could at least mislead Voldemort.
As expected, the soul fragment ignored the magic, the curse passing through Voldemort and blowing a large hole in the wall.
Voldemort floated towards the hole blasted by the curse and sneered, "You won't be able to finish me off, Dumbledore."
Two more curses flew towards him, but they were equally ineffective, as if Voldemort were merely a shadow.
"Perhaps you need something more powerful," Voldemort said coldly, looking down at Dumbledore. "But I recall you don't like using Dark Magic. Why don't you give it a try? After all, you've always wanted to get rid of me, haven't you? Don't tell me you don't know any Dark Magic?"
As soon as he finished speaking, more curses flew at Voldemort, but they all passed harmlessly through him.
"It's useless, Dumbledore, useless!" Voldemort cackled wildly, as if venting the frustration that had built up over the past few days.
Voldemort had indeed been feeling extremely frustrated lately, and he needed to let it out to prevent his anger from consuming him.
"I'm curious," Dumbledore said, not angered by Voldemort's taunts. Instead, he regarded Voldemort with interest. "What exactly are you now? A ghost? A spirit? Or perhaps neither?"
"What am I?" Voldemort fell silent for a moment, then his face twisted into an odd expression. "To be honest, I don't know either. But I know I'm still alive, and that's all that matters."
"Alive?" Dumbledore looked at Voldemort with pity in his eyes. "Few desire such an existence, Tom. Very few. Death would be a welcome release."
"There's nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" Voldemort roared.
"Death is but the next great adventure," Dumbledore said, waving his wand to cast a large barrier that enveloped the hall.
"That's easy for you to say," Voldemort scoffed. "Why don't you go die right now? If you do, I'll believe your words."
"Someone once told me that you should never try to convince anyone of anything, for it's impossible. You'll never convince them," Dumbledore said calmly. "So, I never expected to convince you. I'm merely stating the facts."
"Hahaha, you hypocrite," Voldemort said contemptuously, glancing at Dumbledore before passing through the magical barrier and leaving the house. When he emerged through the roof, he saw that the entire house was surrounded by a magical barrier.
At that moment, Voldemort understood.
Dumbledore hadn't come for him; he had come for Wormtail. They had obviously realized the dire situation they were in.
Without a physical body, Voldemort couldn't save himself. Every spell that could help him required the use of a wand.
That was why loyal servants were so important. As long as he had them, he could have them use the magic he had discovered to create a new body for himself.
If he lost his loyal servants, he would lose his chance at a comeback.
Fortunately, Wormtail had escaped by chance when he went out to deliver a message to Barty. Otherwise, with Arthur, Sirius, and Kingsley casting the barrier outside, even Peter would have been trapped.
"Hahaha, you're going to be disappointed," Voldemort said, glancing at Dumbledore before rushing into the dark sky and vanishing in the blink of an eye. "Wormtail isn't here."
"Was that Voldemort?"
Sirius looked at the direction of Voldemort's disappearance, his face grim.
"He feels like a ghost to me." Arthur's face paled; this was his closest encounter with Voldemort, and the man was truly hideous.
"Not a ghost, ghosts can't pass through here so easily." Kingsley lowered his voice. "It feels more like a lost soul. Perhaps we should consider a Dementor."
"A Dementor?"
Both Sirius and Arthur were stunned.
"Dementors can suck out human souls. Maybe they can do the same to Voldemort's soul." Kingsley explained to the duo. "In that form, he should be very weak. If we're lucky, we might succeed."
"It's a good idea, but I doubt it will work." Dumbledore wasn't optimistic about Kingsley's suggestion. "Aside from the fact that we haven't found any magic effective against Voldemort yet, even if we wanted a Dementor to suck out his soul, we'd probably have to wait until he regains a physical body."
"Maybe we can start with Peter," Sirius' eyes glinted dangerously. "I'm sure Peter will return to Voldemort. If we control Peter with the Imperius Curse, perhaps we can... subdue Voldemort. After all, he's in that infant state and needs care." His eyes shone with a dangerous light. "We can easily confuse Voldemort with potions and then have a Dementor suck out his soul, destroying him completely."
"Voldemort is a master of Legilimency. Few can deceive him, and it won't be easy to find Pettigrew now." Dumbledore still wasn't convinced by the seemingly promising plan.
"Should I inform the Ministry of Magic about this place and have the Aurors keep an eye on it?" Kingsley asked Dumbledore for his opinion.
"I don't think they'll come back." Arthur didn't think it was a good idea, and if Voldemort did return, those watching the place would likely be in danger.
When faced with a Dark Wizard, or even more dangerous Death Eaters, the Ministry's wizards were no match for them, not even the Aurors.
"He just said Pettigrew isn't here." Kingsley pointed out the key issue again. "I suspect Pettigrew left not long ago."
"Maybe Voldemort has a way to notify his followers?" Sirius also didn't think it was a good idea to have someone wait here to ambush Peter.
However, Sirius was quite willing to pass the task to the Ministry.
"As for the final resting place, where do you think it will be?" Sirius was more concerned about the prophecy. "Will it be the public cemetery of this village?"
"But why a cemetery?" Arthur asked in return. "What could be in a cemetery?"
"Coffins, bones, tombstones, ashes?" Kingsley was equally puzzled. He decided to report this matter to the Ministry and have them send someone to watch the place.
"It seems our luck isn't so good."
Dumbledore was also helpless. If they could have caught Peter, they wouldn't have to guess blindly like this. With a little Veritaserum, they could easily get the information they needed from Pettigrew.
At the same time, Peter Pettigrew, who had just procured food from a Muggle supermarket, suddenly hugged himself and shivered. An inexplicable sense of restlessness welled up within him, and he anxiously looked around before quietly transforming into a rat and hiding.
After an unknown amount of time, when he was sure it was safe, Peter finally breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly picked up the food he had discarded and Disapparated from the supermarket.
Before returning to the Riddle House, Peter deliberately detoured through several places. He shook off any possible tails and appeared outside Little Hangleton, only to find signs of wizarding activity around the Riddle House, which scared him half to death.
Moreover, as soon as Peter Apparated, he triggered the wizards' alarm mechanism and was almost petrified. He quickly Disapparated again to escape.
It was a good thing that Peter was decisive in his escape, or he would have been blocked by the Aurors.
"Pettigrew was really hiding here."
The two Aurors looked at each other, both seeing the annoyance in the other's eyes. They had missed this great opportunity and let Pettigrew slip away.
This was definitely not good news.
To prevent being tracked by the Aurors, Peter Pettigrew Apparated several times in quick succession, finally escaping to a remote coastal area and letting out a long breath.
Peter's mind was still blank, and he couldn't understand how the Aurors could have been there.
What about the Dark Lord?
He regretted leaving the Dark Lord in the Riddle House instead of carrying him in his pocket.
What should he do now?
Peter's mind was in chaos, and he had no idea what to do.
Finally, after much hesitation, Peter transformed into a rat again and quietly sneaked back into the Riddle House. He believed that after seeing him escape, the Aurors would probably stop watching the place, or at least loosen their surveillance.
As for the Dark Lord, he needed his father's bones to regain his body, and Peter was certain he wouldn't give up. Perhaps the Dark Lord was hiding somewhere in that house.
Indeed, after being driven away by Dumbledore, Voldemort had sneaked back and possessed a rat, hiding in the house and waiting for Peter's return. He couldn't afford to lose contact with his most loyal servant, and he needed his help to regain his body. That suffocating feeling had returned.
Barty Crouch Jr., who was also implicated in this incident, felt equally frustrated.
Due to Dumbledore's interference, the Crouch family's stash of potion ingredients had been confiscated by the Ministry. Without the supply of raw materials, Barty Jr. was facing a shortage.
Although he still had enough of the Polyjuice Potion to last him two months, what would he do after that?
It took a long time to brew the Polyjuice Potion, and he couldn't just run away before then.
That would be too ridiculous.
Moreover, with Dumbledore watching him, he didn't have the time to procure the necessary ingredients. Peter had promised to provide him with the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion, but then this incident happened, making him even more frustrated.
The only good news was that Peter was still alive, but Barty Jr. didn't know where he was hiding.
Barty Jr. was now considering whether to leave Hogwarts. If the Dark Lord couldn't complete his preparations before the Triwizard Tournament, it would be useless even if he brought Harry Potter to him. He would only be putting himself in danger.
Moreover, Dumbledore had already started suspecting him.
Barty Jr. was well aware that if he ever showed a hint of a flaw, the first person to notice would be Dumbledore, and he wouldn't even have a chance to escape.
"We must make preparations in advance." Moody put down the copy of the Daily Prophet and murmured.
(End of Chapter)
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