Everything I Do, I Do It For You

Chapter 57: Voldemort’s Return

Cornelius sat in his study, waiting. The clock on the mantle read 10:59; it was precisely forty five minutes before the ‘harnessing’ potion would be ready and an hour before its consumption and his subsequent rise to immortality.

Oh sure, Cornelius didn’t know how to become immortal yet; however, he thought that he could cross that hurdle when the opportunity arose.

He watched the clock as the seconds ticked by. It was a Muggle clock, one he had to keep up his pretence as the all loving Minister of Magic. He snorted as he thought how things would change tonight.

When he became the most powerful wizard ever to roam the earth, he would destroy everyone and anything that got in his way, but unlike Voldemort, his goal wasn’t exactly one-sided.

‘No,’ he thought to himself, ‘not exactly.’

Oh, of course he hungered for the power that Voldemort craved and to an extent had, but he also saw the use of Muggles and Mudbloods and he wouldn’t destroy them outright. He would make them his slaves in the new world, building his new empire until no one would even question his motives anymore.

Cornelius would keep his enemies close, something Voldemort had narrow-mindedly neglected. Voldemort had thought himself to be invincible and let a seventeen-year-old scrap of a boy defeat him. The Dark Lord hadn’t been totally lacking in brilliant ideas, and Cornelius reflected that he did have his bouts of almost dazzling lucidness.

‘When he wasn’t a total paranoid prat,’ Cornelius thought, smiling to himself.

He heard a clap of thunder, but was too entranced by his own thoughts to realise that something wasn’t right. It was only when he heard the first of his house’s defences go off that he recognized that he was under attack.

Cornelius knew better than to get the Aurors involved as they wouldn’t understand his master plan and would probably take the girl away from him. He knew his wards were virtually impossible to breach, and with this knowledge, he reclined even more into the armchair. Placing his hands behind his head, feet stretched out in front of him, he grinned to himself and was at that point a very contented man.

It wasn't until a moment later, when the alarm stating his wards had indeed been breached started to sound, that he jumped up from the armchair and went to look out of the window.

At first, Cornelius thought it must be some sort of spelled illusion, so he pointed his wand and smugly stated, "Finite Incantatem." When nothing happened, he could only stare at the advancing creatures in shock.

He swore to himself that when he was the new world leader, he would hunt down every last creature and put an end to its miserable life for this treachery.

He turned away from the window and placed a Silencing Spell on the wards. Cornelius then stomped his way out of his study and made a beeline to his personal potions lab. Nothing would halt his dream becoming a reality as he had put too much hard work into his plan for some magical creatures to stop him now; especially when he was this close to seeing it through.

Entering his lab, he checked on the potion, which had about forty minutes left in its simmering state. He was not foolish enough to start messing with the potion’s directions, and he cursed silently his misfortune at not having started it sooner.

He heard every window in his mansion shatter, and he was fortunate enough to still be in his lab when this had occurred as there were no windows this far down.

This time he cursed out loud as he warded the cauldron with a personal warding spell that would only recognise him and made his way outside the door, not even bothering to ward the room.

That’s when he felt their presence and knew at once who was responsible for this misguided rescue. Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew were on his property, he would bet his life on it.

Walking up the stairs and to the foyer, where he would greet his guests, he detected the slight movement of his mansion and looked over to the front door. Cornelius noted the constant banging on it; however, he knew whatever was on the other side of the entryway wouldn’t make it through. He was cautious though, and he lifted his wand and grumbled another spell to reinforce the heavy oak door, just in case.

He then yanked at the left sleeve of his tailored shirt, popping the buttons in his haste. Looking down upon the Dark Mark that marred his flesh, he placed his wand to the magical tattoo. Cornelius concentrated on the task at hand, closing his eyes as he called his imprudent children home.

***

Tolmie stood on the hillside, trying to grasp what he had just witnessed. It took him a few seconds to realise that Severus and Peter were indeed gone, but to where, he had no idea.

“Stand down and fall back.” He focused his command through the link, using his ‘mind speak’ to speak with the creatures who were currently battling it out with the house itself.

The creatures immediately responded to Tolmie’s voice and complied willingly. The Unicorns stood in pairs, facing each other with their horns interlocked. They were providing a protective spell, a bubble, for the others on the ground as they made their hasty retreat.

The creatures paused in their retreat only to pick up their fallen comrades and take all evidence that they had been on the grounds with them. They quickly vanished into the night, silently.

An eerie stillness filled the very air around Tolmie, and it was as if the moment in time was frozen. There was no breeze, it was as if the wind had stopped, and not a creature was stirring in the surrounding trees and countryside.

Tolmie took a deep breath in; he knew what had to be done although he had no idea how to do this without Severus and Peter’s help.

Tolmie brought his wand up to see whether the Disillusionment Charm that he had placed upon himself and his comrades still held and was pleasantly surprised to see that it did. Wand still clutched in his outstretched hand, he made his way almost silently to the ominous house before him. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

***

As Severus and Peter appeared before the Minister in the large and lavishly decorated foyer, they found that the Disillusionment Charm had worn off and that neither of them could move.

Both were standing there, frozen to the spot, as if by some unseen magic.
Severus tried to move his head to get a look around; he could feel someone else’s presence in the foyer, though try as he might, he couldn’t even blink.

A hollow laugh caused a shiver to travel down Severus’ spine and, although he couldn’t budge, he immediately felt ill at ease.

“Ah, I see that my guests of honour have arrived,” the owner of the voice said from behind Severus. “How fortunate that you came in time to witness my rise as the new overlord of the world,” the voice continued in its mocking way.

“Now if you would just follow me,” the voice spoke once more, and Severus and Peter immediately felt their feet move as if under the Imperius Curse.

Although their minds were their own, their bodies were not, and as they started to ascend the staircase they saw who their capture was. It was none other than the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge.

‘He’s gone totally insane,’ Severus’ mind screamed out, and although he kept telling himself to curse the mad wizard who was now leading them up the stairway, his body would not act in accordance with his thoughts. So he just continued climbing each step like a mechanical string-puppet.

Making a right at the top of the landing and stopping in front of the third door on the left, Severus rejoiced slightly in his mind. He knew this was the room that the Minister held Hermione in, and he felt his heartbeat increase inside his chest.

The young woman who he would give anything and everything to protect was on the other side of the door.

Hermione was still on the floor next to the bed when she heard the door bang open and three sets of distinctively different sets of footsteps. She hurriedly stood and glanced towards the door.

She saw the Minister enter, closely followed by Severus and Mr Pettigrew. She tried to catch her breath as she whispered out, “Severus,” and ran to the edge of the wards that were surrounding her space within the room.

Cornelius stopped when he heard her breathy confession.

‘Severus, indeed,’ he thought and looked from the Mudblood to the traitor. A wide, toothy grin crossed his face and he continued onwards into the room, the two wizards following closely in tow.

Hermione was panicking; she knew that Severus and Pettigrew were under some sort of enchantment and she tried to use her link with Severus to ease her own worries.

“Severus, what is the matter?” she screamed out to him.

“Sweet Merlin, woman, there is no need to yell,” Severus replied, wincing slightly, even though it was not visible upon his person.

“Ah, how touching,” Cornelius spat out in a condescending voice filled with loathing.
He looked from Hermione to Severus before speaking again.

“The traitor has a Mudblood girlfriend; oh, this is just too much,” he continued with the stupid looking grin still plastered to his face.

“This shall be very interesting indeed. First I think I shall drain away the Mudblood’s powers and, when she is helpless, I shall do away with her whilst you,” he turned suddenly to look at Severus, his eyes narrowing, “watch.”

Tapping his wand on the side of his thigh, he continued, a look of deep concentration marring his features, whilst pacing the floor, his left hand stroking his chin slowly. He suddenly stopped pacing and turned to face the dark-hired wizard once more.

“Then I think I shall give you a proper death, one fit for a traitor,” he finished, looking smugly from Severus to Hermione.

When there was no hint of a reply, Cornelius’ face darkened once more.

“Sit down,” he demanded, waving his left hand at the pair of wizards standing to his left, and both men crumpled to the floor instantly.

Hermione gasped out again as she saw Severus hit his head against the hard wall. Cornelius rounded on her, but stopped just before he came in contact with the wards.

“Or perhaps you would like to see what I have planned for the traitor before joining him.” He spoke in a low voice, but his threats were clearly unmistakeable in their meaning, and Hermione’s eyes widened in horror as she backed away from the Minister and sat quite forcefully on her bed.

“I thought not,” Cornelius growled out more loudly this time.

“Now,” he began whilst turning his back to Hermione, “I don’t want you two to go anywhere.” Looking at the two wizards on the floor and then giving a bark of manic laughter, he continued. “No, I suppose you couldn’t go anywhere, even if you wanted to, could you?” he asked, although he didn’t expect a reply.

With that, Cornelius left the room humming to himself. He didn’t even bother to re-erect the wards, and this was his first mistake.

***

Tolmie made his way onto the roof of the mansion. He was huffing and puffing as he did so and made himself a promise that he would indeed get into better shape, if he got out of this mess alive.

Easing himself down into the house through the hole in the roof, courtesy of the dragon, he grunted as he felt his cloak catch upon one of the roof tiles.

Landing on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings. Tolmie wasn’t daft and, therefore, didn’t light his wand. He was in a hurry to get Miss Hermione Granger and get out, but he waited a while until his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He felt the tear in his cloak and patted himself down. Finding no lasting damage, he allowed time for his eyes to become adjusted to the blackness.

Tolmie saw that he was in some kind of attic, and by the looks of it, no one had been up here in a long time. He made his way through the various objects that littered the attic, being especially careful not to knock into anything or to tread too heavily.

Finding a trapdoor in the floor (which Tolmie assumed led to the lower part of the mansion), he carefully lowered it. Once again, he did not use his wand, reasoning that any wizard as paranoid and power-mad as Fudge was would no doubt have some system that would alert him to the use of unauthorised magic. Tolmie slowly made his descent into the bowels of the ominously silent house.

***

”Severus.” Hermione’s voice was shaky as she looked wearily over to the two wizards who were currently sprawled out on the floor.

She stood and took a couple of hesitant steps towards them, stopping just before she reached the wards.

“Severus,” she ventured. This time her voice was filled with panic. She took another step forward, not even noticing that she had in fact stepped out of the wards as she approached the two downed wizards.

Placing a gentle hand on Severus’ head, she felt him move beneath it. Crouching down so she was at eye level with him, she lifted his head up slowly, and the dark-haired wizard groaned quietly.

Hermione’s heart was hammering in her chest as she saw Severus open his eyes slowly and focus on her face. She looked deeply into his eyes; she was floating within the inky water of them.

Severus’ eyes looked up into Hermione’s face, then caught sight of her chocolate coloured eyes. Eyes so kind and compassionate. Eyes filled with worry for him. He had never seen anyone look at him the way Hermione was now, and he could have sworn that his heart stilled within his chest.

They stayed that way for awhile, both lost in each other’s eyes. Severus’ hands came up by their own violation and gripped onto the back of Hermione’s head, intertwining themselves in her unruly mop of hair, pulling her closer to him. He stilled his hands just before their lips met, and Hermione closed the distance and kissed him in a feverish manner.

This kiss was full of angst and desperation. It was the meeting of two long lost lovers, their tongues battling it out for supremacy. The thoughts being exchanged between the two would have been mind blowing to an outsider listening into the conversation, but to Severus and Hermione, it was perfect.

They both broke the kiss and struggled for air, chests heaving. As they looked at each other, they could almost close the rest of the world off; nothing mattered except for this very moment consisting of the pair.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, the magic ended as they heard some footsteps above. Both looked up almost simultaneously at the interruption as they realised once more where they were.

“We have to go,” Severus whispered, and as Hermione looked down at him, he noticed the blush that was creeping its way down her neck and was already highly visible on her cheeks.

Nodding her head in assent, she quickly rose and, as if noticing for the first time they were not alone, she took in Pettigrew, who was sitting a few feet away from Severus on the floor, back against the wall.

Placing a shaking hand on his head, she felt the magic transfer from her fingertips and into Pettigrew's body. He trembled all over as he gained control over his body once more.

Peter looked up to see Miss Granger standing over him; her outstretched right hand was placed precariously on his head and he shook all over. Raising his head, she dropped her hand back to her side; however, she was still looking at Peter. When their eyes locked, he noticed the fire that was burning within them and the steely determination that she had upon her face. He shivered once more.

Severus came up behind Hermione and placed her own wand into her hand that was at her side. She lifted it up and examined it as a farrier would examine a horseshoe, and nodded her head once, more to herself then to anyone around her.

She made her way to the door, not stopping to see if the two wizards were following her or not, and she blasted it off its hinges without even lifting her wand. It exploded outwards with the splinters showering the door across the hall.

Peter ducked his head at the raw and untamed magic that was emanating off the witch before him[,] and he thanked the gods that she was on their side as she strode purposely through the doorway.

Severus pushed his way past Peter, following in Hermione’s wake as she marched down the hallway and made a left at the landing.

Hermione descended the stairs with her chin held high, and Severus could see the magic dancing around her. She didn’t even break her pace as she strode down the stairs. She was magnificent.

Hermione walked with purpose to the front access way; Severus was a couple of steps behind her, closely followed by the scurrying of Peter’s feet. She froze with her left hand outstretched, reaching for the door, a niggling little voice in the back of her mind.

Hermione slowly spun around, looking through Severus and Peter, who had noticed her lapse and had stopped in their tracks, staring at her. Severus turned to see what Hermione was looking at, and that’s when he saw the Minister walking up the stairs, a vial in one hand and his wand in the other.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked as he kept on approaching the trio with his wand pointed once more at Severus. Cornelius knew that the traitor was the largest threat to him at the moment and disregarded the rat and Hermione.

Hermione acted as if she was in some kind of trance as he motioned for her to join him at his side. Severus growled low in his throat as he watched the Minister take Hermione almost tenderly in his arms and spin her around so she was now facing the two wizards, his arm around her waist.

“I knew you couldn’t resist me,” Cornelius whispered into her ear loud enough for the other men to hear him. He never took his eyes off Severus.

Severus lip rose up into a feral snarl.

“If you harm her, I avow to…” Severus began only to be cut off by the Minister.

“To do what?” he asked, a smile poised on his lips. “To kill me?” he continued as the smile broke out on his face and he went on with his taunts. “I think not. You see, this Mudblood and I are connected,” he said, pulling Hermione closer to his body.

“You thought that our Lord was an arrogant fool,” Cornelius said, scowling at the dark-haired man before him. “Well, he had plans in the unlikely event that he should die, except this Mudblood,” he spat as his lip curled up and he squeezed Hermione tighter, “screwed up everything.”

Cornelius waved his wand in the air, getting more agitated as his explanation wore on.

“That and the unfortunate love of this Mudblood that Harry Potter had.” He spat the boy's name from his mouth as if he were talking about something foul.

“But no matter: as soon as I take this,” here he motioned towards the vial in his hand, “I will be the most powerful wizard ever to walk this earth, more powerful than Merlin and more powerful then any other being alive.”

It was then that Severus noticed the slightly red tinge to the Minister’s eyes as he looked on in horror.

Cornelius, noticing this, added, “That’s right, my wayward servant, I placed a piece of myself in the Minister’s body before the battle, in the hopes that no one would go after him. The cowardly Minister,” here he motioned to Cornelius’ body, “even helped me and my minions gain access onto Hogwarts grounds.”

Cornelius’ face gave a leer that Severus saw did not look quite right on the Minister's face and he reflected that, had he truly been looking, he would have realised that Voldemort inhabited Mr Fudge’s body much sooner. Severus remained quiet though as he chastised himself for not knowing sooner, and paid careful attention to what the mad man before him was spewing forth.

“Oh, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem to remove myself if we won, but then as I watched myself fall, I tried to redirect the rest of my powers into him.” Here he motioned to the body he currently inhabited with a look of distain on his face.

“But imagine my surprise when instead of my abundant influential powers being transferred to someone that was in the authority to hold them, but was too gutless to make use of the power, they went to someone I despised, a common Mudblood,” he sneered

“I have been bidding my time inside her disorganised Mudblood brain, until I was reunited with the other half of myself, to come together as one to rule this world.” He gave a vacant laugh as he watched the two wizards before him look on in disbelief.

“That’s right,” he continued, “Cornelius knew nothing of this, I had to prod him in the right direction; he is really an idiot, and if I didn’t need his body I would kill him as I am going to do with you.”

“But first things first,” he said, untwining himself from Hermione as he raised the vial in his left hand up to meet his lips.

With a smug look on his face, he consumed the entire potion before anyone could react.


A/N: If I have disappointed anyone thus far, I am sorry. As this is my first fan fic, and I want to keep you all happy whilst trying to keep myself happy at the same time. If you want to see more of anyone in particular, just let me know and I will see what I can do.

This chapter is dedicated to Cindy Lou, who died on the 19th of September 2006. And of course to our little Severus, who died on the 21st of September 2006. Yes we lost two of our best pugs in the one week. They will remain in our hearts, although they shall be sorely missed.

Thanking all of you who have reviewed thus far, you make my otherwise dismal day.

Huge hugs go out to my beta’s, LariLee and Jackie. Thank you for sticking with me and for adding the millions of commas that I left out.

Disclaimer: Just having a bit of a play with J.K’s characters and will place them back unharmed when I am done.