The monster known as Voldemort had always been forced to be far too reliant on others than he would have liked, while in school relying upon charity to pay for his school tuition, relying upon his Death Eaters to be able to help take over magical Britain, while in hiding relying upon animal bodies to inhabit, or the back of Quirrell's head a few years back.
Never was he more reliant on others than now however, as he could only lay there in the graveyard with his pathetic temporary and weak body, hoping that Barty Crouch Jr. was correct and that MacNair had succeeded in his plan to bring both Harry Potter and the girl to him.
The boy at least was necessary for his rebirth. Otherwise, just one touch from him or one spell cast at him and he'd likely be right back where he started, living as a disembodied piece of dragon dung, though even that would be an improvement to what he had been reduced to.
Also if he was to regain the support of his now disbanded Death Eaters, he would need to start by killing Potter and proving that he was better than a mere child.
If MacNair had failed or decided to prove disloyal to him, than he would be forced to wait and try to devise another way to get to him, and in his present condition it would be impossible, forcing him to yet again rely upon others for help.
This would never do for an all powerful Dark Lord and eventual ruler of the world. He was eager to get back his body and prove just how strong he still could be.
At least the body he would be making for himself would be even better than he had before.
In addition to several improvements he would be adding to the rebirth potion, he would be using a Veela's blood as well. If done right, he would be able to absorb at least some of her ability. Not the insane attraction part, he could care less for such things. What got him off was torturing people of course.
He wanted more her ability to get at least men to do what they wanted them to do in order to gain their favor, a useful skill that he would certainly be able to use. He usually got his Death Eaters to operate through fear but this way he would be able to do so through greater devotion to him.
The fact that it would be coming from Potter's own wench, the most beautiful of all his little harem he had been putting together only made her more sweet of a prize.
Now all he had to do was hope and wait.
Finally as he watched a glimmer of light appeared as he watched as two individuals and the Triwizard cup appeared right in front of him.
"Knock the girl out!" He commanded Barty Jr immediately so that they could have no chance of getting away.
Immediately his minion did as requested and knocked the girl out with a spell.
He allowed the boy to retain consciousness however. He wanted him to witness his rebirth.
Instead Barty quickly put him under a full body bind, with him not putting up much of a struggle.
He was also tied up to a gravestone for good measure as well.
While he considered it rather disappointing that his young nemesis had failed to put up much of a fight as he had heard of his dueling prowess, he was also relieved that he had not managed to escape.
He used Legilimency on the boy to ascertain if it was really him. A quick perusal of his mind revealed that he had nothing but what you would expect to find in his head.
Deciding to ignore him for now, he had Barty Jr. go through the ritual.
To his credit, Barty did so flawlessly, not even hesitating when it required cutting off his own arm or getting blood from both the boy and the girl.
He at least had been proven to be a totally loyal follower, a quite rare and valuable person to find. With his skills he'd make sure he went far in the death eater organization. He'd make a good asset.
Finally, the moment he had been waiting for arrived as he was picked up and dumped into the huge cauldron.
It was certainly painful, but he could still feel himself growing as his body was restored, better than ever.
After a minute, he felt his legs were strong enough for him to rise out of the cauldron.
"Robe me." He commanded Barty Jr.
Immediately his servant did so as he placed robes upon him as he stepped out of the cauldron.
Testing out his new body to make sure that it had been a success, he was pleased to find that he now had full use of it.
Barty Jr. handed him his wand and he used it to cast a spell at a gravestone, turning it into a dog which he promptly killed with a killing curse.
So he had full use of his magic as well. Good.
Finally he turned his attention back to his servant.
He seemed to guess just what he wanted and held out his still remaining arm, the one with the dark mark on it.
Pressing his wand against it, the image of the skull and the snake appeared as he called upon whatever Death Eaters were still loyal to him to return.
He waited patiently at first, wondering just who would come and who would be foolish enough not to yet as time passed he grew more and more impatient.
Surely they had had enough time by now?
He still waited, even for a full 20 minutes, but the only living thing to appear was a ladybug which he squashed with his foot.
"NONE!" He finally roared, "Not a single Death Eater is still loyal to me. COWARDS AND FOOLS THE LOT OF THEM!"
He started destroying gravestones just to release some pent up anger.
"Perhaps the connection no longer works after all this time or in your new body." Barty Jr. suggested.
Struggling to regain his composure, he had to concede that that was a possibility. It was certainly better than the alternative. Without any support, he was already doomed to fail and who knew how long it would take to regain their loyalty or build up an army of new followers.
He would simply have to deal with that later.
Finally he turned his attention to the boy, who appeared totally helpless and weak, now tied up to the gravestone as he sat next to his little Veela plaything.
With his blood now coursing through his veins, he could now kill him.
"So my young nemesis, we finally meet face to face." Voldemort said, addressing him.
To his credit, the boy appeared calm and collected, either through bravery or sheer stupidity.
"It appears that we finally do." He replied back his eyes looking back at him as if he was merely bored.
He decided that he would certainly be taught a lesson before he killed him for his lack of fear.
"I wanted you to witness my rebirth, witness that in spite of yourself that you were unable to prevent my inevitable return. I still will become the most powerful Dark Lord ever and take from you everything you and all the world holds dear." Voldemort told him with mirth.
"It looks like you're still missing the army to do it." He pointed out, having the nerve to actually laugh afterwards.
My Potter was a mouthy one. Perhaps he should rip his teeth and tongue out just to see how mouthy he was then.
"That will only be a minor setback. If you were to survive past this night, you would soon see that." Voldemort answered, "Perhaps if you beg for mercy I might let you live that long."
"From where I'm sitting, I'd say that you need to be the one to beg for mercy." He responded.
Potter evidently somehow thought that he was still not in any danger.
"Ah, if you are referring to your little mother's protection, you'll find it is no longer something you can simply hide behind." Voldemort informed him, "it may have worked for you before, but I assure you I can touch you now."
He put his hand directly onto his forehead where his scar was located and touched him.
To his great delight, he felt nothing, no pain, not even a damaged finger.
"You see!" Voldemort exclaimed, drinking it in as Potter was sure to now be trembling in fear, "Not even you can stop me and I shall prove it right here and right now! I'll allow you one last chance to save yourself in a duel with me."
His young enemy seemed totally unfazed and glanced over at Barty Jr. and asked, "How would you really prove that you are stronger than me if you are just going to use him to help you out?"
"I do not need anyone else to defeat you, my pathetic nemesis." Voldemort replied.
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." He countered.
Finally deciding that this really wasn't that much of an issue, since he really didn't need Barty Jr. to help him win, he addressed his servant and said, "I'm going to tie you up to a gravestone and knock you out."
"Master what if you require further assistance?" He asked, even as he cradled his stump of an arm.
"Fool! You dare question if I can manage to beat a mere 14 year old in a duel?" He demanded.
While he had been intending to give him a replacement arm, he decided he could do with managing without it for now.
Hitting him with a spell that knocked him out, he levitated his body over to a gravestone and then tied him up.
"There, now it is just the two of us." Voldemort pointed out.
He slashed open the boy's bounds which he immediately then came out of and stood facing him.
Tossing his wand at the boy, which he caught, they now both stood there armed.
"We shall begin by bowing to each other." Voldemort began.
"I know how duels are conducted." Potter reminded him calmly.
He had already grown tired of the boy, which would only make it more enjoyable when he tortured him before killing him.
To his credit, he bowed at the same time he did, and when the duel began, he was already ready and moving.
While he had heard that the boy was a world class duelist, he wasn't entirely sure of his exact skills, only that they weren't near as good as his own. Perhaps back when he had been the boy's age it would have been a rather close matched duel, but decades worth of experience would prove to be the deciding factor.
The boy dodged spells as well as he threw them, using spells far above his year level, but nothing he couldn't defend against.
Yet as the duel wore on, he continued using more and more advanced spells.
"It appears I may have underestimated you." Voldemort shot at him, "Still you'll have to do better than that if you hope to defeat me."
He said nothing in return, merely concentrating on casting his next spell, which he couldn't blame him for, likely being forced to concentrate as hard as he could on a duel even he must know he couldn't possibly win.
Even now, the strain of the duel was obviously already getting to him. He already appeared much older than his 14 years and his face and even his hair looked somehow whiter.
He was likely to crumble any minute now, he reasoned.
Yet just as he thought this, his opponent decided to make a last desperate assault, using magic even he had never seen before.
The first few spells he managed to defend against with a shield, but one somehow found a way through and hit him square in the chest.
With a grunt, he fell, but was bound before he even could hit the ground.
He could hear his opponent coming forward even as he lay there, unable to move.
Impossible! How could a mere boy defeat him like that? He was the greatest, most powerful sorcerer in the world and yet this boy had used more advanced magic than even he knew.
Only one wizard even had a hope of defeating him, he had thought...
"Hello Tom." his opponent addressed him as he came up to stand above him.
It was not the voice of Harry Potter, nor as he looked up at him was it the body of him either, only thing the same was that he was still wearing a school uniform. It was Dumbledore, his own wand now visible as not belonging to Harry either. Even that had evidently been enchanted without him realizing it.
Voldemort let out an inhuman laugh, even as he realized that he had been tricked. This was not Harry Potter, it had never been him. He had just had the duel he had always tried to avoid, and now he knew that he had been right to avoid it. In spite of all his efforts, his old teacher was still the most powerful.
"I suppose you found out about MacNair's plan?" Voldemort asked with a cackle.
"MacNair never had such a plan in the first place." Dumbledore claimed, "Right now, he's currently locked up, being stashed somewhere in case I can make further use of him. It was all part of my plan. The real Harry Potter is still locked up too, but the Veela at least is real, I just made sure that she was Portkeyed to a locked room before Portkeying with her directly after polyjuicing Harry Potter. She didn't have enough time to figure out I wasn't actually him. Barty Jr. in case you were wondering has always been loyal to you, even if you didn't realize that I was actually using him to lead me straight to you."
"Why not immediately do so? You could have simply captured or killed me while I was still weak." Voldemort pointed out.
"It would not have worked in favor of my plans." Dumbledore admitted, "Besides I've been wanting this duel for far too long for me not to want to take advantage. You've always been too much of a coward, Tom, in trying to avoid me."
"You're the coward!" Voldemort yelled, "Sitting there hiding in your cozy little office in that castle! You could have been great, yet you totally squandered your potential!"
"I've merely been biding my time." Dumbledore confessed.
"So it appears even you could not resist the desire for true power." Voldemort surmised.
"I have never tried to resist it." Dumbledore answered, "Indeed it has always been a goal of mine, for the greater good of course, but I have had to wait until I could finally find a way to succeed. Unlike you I actually have a plan that will work."
"How long do you really think it would take for you to be defeated if the Muggles ever found out about us? You should know all too well the destruction and power they have. They could destroy you easily."
"I had an effective plan." Voldemort claimed lamely.
"Would you happen to be referring to the army of the dead you planned on creating? An army that could not die, but simply be brought back to life whenever?" Dumbledore guessed.
"How did you know about that?" Voldemort demanded.
"I know more than you might realize Tom." Dumbledore told him, "Grindelwald tried to do the same and failed, and even I tried to do it myself and failed. It wasn't until I finally admitted that it was impossible did I finally succeed."
"So let's hear this master plan of yours." Voldemort demanded.
"I've already decided to tell you Tom, not just because you'll never have the opportunity to tell anyone else, but because you would be the only one able to truly appreciate it." Dumbledore claimed, "When I realized even as I watched Grindelwald try for his bid for power that I could never achieve my goal through simple force, I tried doing it through diplomacy, but I knew even then that I could only have limited success."
"My greatest improvement in power only came about from you actually, whether you realized it or not. At first, when I realized just how powerful and intelligent you were, I attempted to make you my apprentice and take advantage of your own lust for power. I had not seen such potential since Grindelwald, yet unlike him, you rejected my offers for help. Still I knew that you would at least try and have at least some success, and so I decided to use that."
"While you were just organizing the Death Eater movement I could have easily stopped you at any time and made it known to the Ministry, yet I held back. I wanted a true threat to emerge, one that only I seemed capable of stopping. When that did in fact happen, everyone turned to me to save them as I knew they would. They granted me with all kinds of powers that they would never dream of giving one man before, all in an effort to help me stop you."
"I was elected Head of the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards, brought higher than I ever had gotten, yet I finally plateaued and could reach no higher on my own."
"You had then finally served your purpose and I had already decided to defeat or kill you except you were always too smart to try and face me. So I allowed you to think that a prophecy had been made about you, about a supposed enemy that had yet to be born. I knew that you would try to eliminate this threat as soon as possible and so cause you to fall into a trap."
"The wizard I used to overhear this supposed prophecy, even while I enchanted an unsuspecting self confessed seer Sybil Trelawney was none other than Severus Snape."
"At that point, any spells that I attempted to bring back the dead or create life had failed and so I had been forced to reject them all, turning instead to trying to create a potion."
"However I no longer had the time available to spend working constantly on a potion, nor could I be sure that with the time available to me that I wouldn't already die before it could be made even as old age began to creep up on me."
"That left finding a suitable candidate willing to make the potion for me. I chose Severus for a couple of reasons. First he was still young and still capable of being controlled but also one of the best potions' prodigies the school had ever seen. He was also corrupted and insane enough to actually be willing to spend the countless amount of time trying to create such a potion. The only downside was that he was a Death Eater, so I needed to ensure that his loyalties changed towards me."
"It did not take long for me to ascertain that the one person that Snape cared about was Lily Evans, despite her marrying his long time enemy James Potter. He was even totally irrational about his love for her, which I could use."
"Lily just so happened to be having a son and was due on July 31. I made sure that Sybil Trelawney's false prophecy that Snape heard would refer to her child, but be vague enough to ensure that Snape would not automatically guess this."
"With magic as good as it was, there was a very good chance that she would be able to carry the baby full term, but I had a contingency plan in mind for that as well."
"I needn't have worried however, she delivered baby Harry exactly on schedule. The only problem was that against all odds, another child who could have also fulfilled the prophecy was born premature: Neville Longbottom."
"Fortunately, I even had a contingency plan for this as well."
"Knowing that Peter Pettigrew was actually a spy for you, I eventually managed to persuade the Potters to change their Secret Keeper to him, knowing that he would then immediately turn and give them up to you. This ensured that you would go after Harry Potter instead of Neville Longbottom."
"What you didn't know however was that I arranged for Lily Evans to come across a spell on her own that would sacrifice her own life in order to give protection to her son Harry."
"Even if you had agreed with Snape to let her live, she would die anyway, you would be taken out by trying to kill her baby, and Snape would permanently shift his loyalty to me and spend all of his efforts working to bring Lily back."
"I even managed to gain magical guardianship of young Harry Potter afterwards, which for a time, granted me even greater power in the Wizengamot."
"My plan worked perfectly and nobody ever even knew I did it not even you. You see Tom, I've been using you this entire time."
Voldemort's mind was reeling, he had never even suspected any of this. Even he had been duped and it had now cost him everything.
"Is that why you're here now Dumbledore? Come to gloat over me?" Voldemort asked as tauntingly as he could.
"Not exactly," Dumbledore confessed, "I came because I wanted to witness your rebirth in the place of Harry. When I realized that you had not actually died I wondered just how you did it. The spell should have killed you yet it didn't. I went over the possibilities over and over again yet came up with nothing. I realized that if I could figure it out then I could do it myself. While age can be delayed through a sorcerer's stone or certain potions, it would not guarantee living forever. All it would take would be a very unlucky spell to get hit with and I would still die despite all of my protections and efforts. I needed a way to guarantee that I could always come back. I hoped that you would provide that for me."
Voldemort grinned and said, "That is my little secret Dumbledore and you know my occlumency skills are too strong for you nor will I break to torture. You'll never know."
"That would be where you are wrong yet again," Dumbledore admitted, "I realized that you would never tell me, so I knew I had to find out for myself by tricking you and impersonating you. Your pride would demand that you allow Harry Potter to watch your rebirth and also duel him to prove even to yourself that you were far better than him. This also provided me with the duel that I'd been trying to have against you for so long.
I gave you one last chance then to beg for mercy but you rejected it and now you'll receive none, no matter how much you beg. I know now just how you got your body back since you graciously let me watch, yet it was still unnecessary since I have my own way of creating bodies and people now, not dead but living, clones of anyone I want that remain totally and irreversibly loyal to me."
"Then you've learned nothing from me!" Voldemort laughed, "You still don't know the way to conquer death."
"That's why I made sure you would be forced to tell me." Dumbledore told him, "After my first failed attempt at making a totally obedient clone failed, I realized I would need to opt for plan B. That would be blood magic, something you should be quite familiar with since it has been what has stopped you from killing Harry Potter all these years. You hoped to get around it and finally kill him by taking his own blood into you yet instead you took my blood. My blood on the other hand is what ensures that my clones will always be loyal only to me."
"I first thought of the idea when observing house elves. They have always been forced to be totally obedient to their master and any possessing their master's blood. The most they can do is do something that they were not actually forbidden to do. They cannot divulge their master's secrets nor go against any commands. I would consider house elves to be as perfect of beings as you could possibly have. They are totally loyal and will even do things they do not like because they have an implicit trust in their master that they are doing what is best. They even enjoy working and pleasing their master. Hogwarts for example has many house elves, far more in fact than before I was Headmaster because I allowed them to breed freely and take on any house elves that found themselves unattached to a master. They require little maintenance and they have that innate desire to do whatever I might want, particularly those bound to me and not merely to the castle. I truly love house elves and I wished that wizards could be as loyal to me as they are. It took some work but I finally managed to create the same effect by changing my own blood. Anyone with that blood would be totally obedient to me."
"This not only ensured that I could not be cloned or polyjuiced by anyone other than me, but also as I included some of my blood in the creation of each additional clone, they also had this undying loyalty to me coursing through them. The fact that you also used this blood makes you forced to be totally loyal to me as well."
With a cry of rage, Voldemort struggled to leap at him as he lay there on the ground, only to discover that his bonds were no longer there. There was nothing physically preventing him from grabbing him right then and there, but a force beyond his control was preventing him.
"You won't get away with this!" He roared at him.
"I think you'll find that I already have." Dumbledore pointed out, "You already lack the strength to do anything to me. The duel we had you were only able to do because I allowed it. However if any of your spells had hit me they wouldn't have worked, your own magic not able to leave even a scratch on me. You now have to do everything I tell you. For example if I were to ask you to scratch your nose, pardon me, slit..."
Unbidden, he found his hand already reaching for his slit which served as a replacement for his nose. He seemed to have no power to stop it either.
"How about slap yourself?" Dumbledore suggested, now laughing at him.
He hit his own cheek with a stinging slap.
Still grinning, Dumbledore said, "You see, you're now my totally obedient servant. When you bring back the Death Eaters after I let you use the Dark Mark again, they'll have no idea that you are really my servant. Another war will be waged, causing everyone in Britain to once again turn only to me for aid. It will not only help give me greater power, but also serve as a distraction for my ultimate objection: replace all world leaders with clones loyal only to me. The world will finally be free of all tyranny and oppression as everyone comes to learn just how great things would be if they shared my ideals. Anyone who gets in my way, starting with the Blacks, I'll have you command your Death Eaters to assassinate."
Once again, Voldemort struggled hopelessly to be able to attack him, but he was still powerless.
"Now I think I'll find out just how you managed to cheat death," Dumbledore told him, "Legilimens!"
An assault on his mind immediately began but he found that all of his mental defenses were now useless as Dumbledore searched inside his mind.
He found it, making sure he had gotten everything then withdrew.
"Interesting," Dumbledore claimed, "very interesting. I would have never thought it was possible, but now that I have, I will be certain to use it. Now that that is taken care of, I'll be completely taking over your mind."
Another mental assault hit him as he found his ability to even think weakening, his greatest nightmare now realized as someone took control of him.
All his Occlumency training, all of his magical strength...It was useless.
Just as his last thought still totally free from Dumbledore's influence dimmed out, he heard a voice from far away, a voice he had not heard for years, back when he had only been a face on the back of Quirrell's head. He would have recognized it anywhere however. The voice of Harry Potter.
DUELDUELDUEL
A few hours from when Dumbledore was completely taking over Voldemort's mind, Harry Potter had been shocked to discover that Fleur was missing
Wary of just what had happened, he had been on his way to the judges' tent when he was met by Crouch, who after hearing him demand just what happened to Fleur, decided that he was threatening a tournament judge.
It was a ridiculous charge, one he was sure he would be able to get out of, once someone with an actual head on their shoulders heard what happened, but since he didn't want to actually commit the crime he was accused of by drawing his wand or outright attacking him, he allowed Crouch to lead him back inside the castle, where he was quickly locked in a room.
Hours then went by as he waited impatiently for someone to complain to or at least for Crouch to come back.
Crouch had confiscated his wand, so he couldn't see a way for him to magically break the door down either.
Finally after deciding that he could stand it no longer, he realized that he still had one being that he could call on for help.
"Dobby?" Harry called.
Immediately Dobby appeared right in front of him.
"Dobby I was wondering if you could find out what was going on or perhaps help me find Fleur?" Harry asked him.
A light came on in Dobby's head as he queried, "She is your slave right?"
"I don't consider her to be, but yes, I suppose she is, why do you ask?" Harry questioned.
"A wizard can always find his slaves since they are bound to him wherever they are." Dobby pointed out, "If Harry is wanting, Dobby could use that connection to help you find her!"
"That's perfect Dobby," Harry answered gratefully, "could you at least find out if she is anywhere in the school or school grounds?"
Dobby appeared to be concentrating hard but then finally said, "Dobby found Harry's Gabby, but Harry's Fleur is far away. Dobby can take you to her though."
Before he could really think about it, Dobby grabbed his hand and they both disappeared.
They reappeared in a graveyard of some sort, but as he looked down, he found Fleur lying there on the ground tied up to a gravestone.
"Fleur? Are you all right?" Harry whispered.
She did not move but bending down and touching her neck, he found a pulse.
At least she was alive.
Untying her quickly, he glanced back to spot a figure currently standing quite far away, only his back was turned.
Without a wand, he wasn't about to try and get his attention. Instead he was more focused on grabbing Fleur and getting out of there and then see if he could get help and come back to take out whoever had the audacity to try and kidnap her.
He whispered to Dobby, "Get us out of here Dobby."
Dobby grabbed both of their hands, but instead of them all disappearing, instead he just had a huge look of consternation on his face.
"Dobby cannot." Dobby admitted.
The figure that had been far away turned.
He doubted it was because of either his or Dobby's voice, they were both barely audible he had thought, yet he still turned and began casually walking towards them.
As he approached, he got out of the way of another figure, this one currently lying down.
The figure that was still currently walking towards them did not have to get very far for him to realize just who it was: Albus Dumbledore.
He would have run but that would have involved leaving both Fleur and Dobby behind, and that was something his heart would never let him do.
Instead he could only watch as Dumbledore got closer and closer.
"Ah Harry," Dumbledore said, "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that you managed to get here. It's a shame that it was a one way trip."
"I knew you were a monster but kidnapping Fleur?" Harry asked, "I always thought that you swung the other way?"
"I've managed to put aside any silly and distracting sexual appetites." Dumbledore claimed, "I could tell you that I was not the one to kidnap her, but then I doubt you would believe me."
"I have a hard time believing anything you say." Harry admitted.
"Yet I still can't help but wonder why Harry." Dumbledore confessed, "Why do you so easily think me evil? All I have ever done is for the greater good and for your benefit."
"Since I know that you aren't the one I should be trusting to know what is truly right and wrong." Harry told him, "Experience has taught me that."
Dumbledore sighed and said, "I suppose I could try to drag this out and try to convince you that I am not evil, but I really don't see the point. I've long since given up on you and I see no need to waste my time."
"So this is it then?" Harry asked, "You plan to kill me now?"
At these words, Dobby tried to jump at Dumbledore, but instead he didn't seem to go anywhere but up before crashing back down in far more pain than he should have sustained.
"I'm afraid that won't work Dobby." Dumbledore pointed out, "You may not be bound to me as a free elf, but you are still under my employ, which makes me at least partially your master. You can't hurt me, and you also can't Apparate away as long as I don't want you to if that is what you are still trying. Now be a good house elf and tie Ms. Delacour back up for me, please."
Dobby gave him a look of anger even as he tried to resist Dumbledore's command.
Dobby appeared to be in obvious pain, yet he still held on, refusing to obey his will.
"Interesting," Dumbledore claimed, "I never thought I would see a house elf resist their master like that, even a free one. It appears you at least might be better off dead."
"NO!" Harry yelled, "Your fight is with me."
"Very well then," Dumbledore answered, "however since you lack a wand, we'll let it be a duel of the mind then. I already know that you know Occlumency. If you can manage to beat me, then I'll agree to spare all 3 of you."
Harry didn't believe Dumbledore for a second that he would spare them, however he saw no other option. He couldn't leave Fleur or Dobby behind to die, nor could he hope to get very far without a wand anyway. While it was likely he would fail, at least he would try.
"Legilimens!" Dumbledore declared.
Immediately his mind was assaulted in a full on frontal assault.
He'd at least prepared for this, knowing that someday Dumbledore would probably try and get into his mind with such a strong mental attack, but he also had been hoping that he would have help then too. Here he had no one to help him, Dobby being useless in fighting Dumbledore and Fleur still unconscious.
Occlumency was easier than Legilimency, yet still he was already struggling as Dumbledore bore down upon his mind.
He knew that it was only a matter of time as Dumbledore took down his defenses one by one, even as he tried to keep them up.
It took a few minutes, but he could feel Dumbledore about to break down the last one.
Finally with one final burst, Dumbledore got inside as a look of triumph passed across his face.
He seemed to be not looking for something specific, but starting at merely his surface thoughts, his thoughts of panic and fear of what Dumbledore would do plainly obvious to him.
Yet if he didn't stop him, who would? If Dumbledore was still trying to achieve what he guessed he was trying, no one was safe. Not even the girls...
He thought of each of the girls, but when his mind came to Gabrielle, he couldn't help but think of last night and this morning, when they had made love for the first time. How incredible it had felt, how beautiful she was, how he had thought of the many times that they would do it again, some of which would lead to the conception of their own children...
As he thought such thoughts, to his surprise, he found Dumbledore's presence inside of his mind seem to weaken.
"What don't like thoughts of sex huh?" Harry guessed, laughing.
He pressed forward, still thinking of sex in a way that a teenage boy who had just had his first time can.
Dumbledore seemed to reel, trying to get around such thoughts, but he had made them cover up the rest of his thoughts in his mind, making a new shield from them.
Apparently sex really did solve all your problems, he thought, as he pressed forward, not only managing to halt Dumbledore's assault but to turn the tide the other way as he went on the offensive, pushing Dumbledore completely out and then proceeding into his mind.
He suspected that he would not get far, keeping someone out of your mind was different from getting into someone's but as surprised as Dumbledore was his defenses were left open just enough for him to get just a little bit from him, a surface thought.
What he got surprised him.
"I want to make you a clone."
There it was. While he had no idea how or why, Dumbledore intended to somehow clone him.
Even though he didn't have all the details, the irony still struck him.
"It appears that after all this effort towards cloning and creating artificial life, the one thing that stopped you from beating me was the way that humans have always used to create life, through sex. The most natural thing in the world and you don't know how to handle it." Harry claimed.
Dumbledore still appeared to be in shock at failing to break into his mind and Harry knew that he would still eventually manage to find a way in anyway or simply use his wand to take him out physically.
Yet just as he thought this, he felt a hand touch his shoulder and then the next moment he found himself go through the sensation of apparition, before reappearing inside the now familiar Malfoy Manor.
He turned to see Fleur and Dobby standing next to him.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I could ask you the same question." Fleur admitted, "One moment I'm touching the Triwizard cup, the next I'm finding myself in some room, then I have you burst into the room, only for us both to then portkey away for me to find myself in a graveyard, only to get knocked out and then finally wake up with an overwhelming feeling that I need to save you and get you out of there. Was I supposed to?"
"I think that as my slave my need to be saved awakened you." He suggested, "That also caused you to immediately apparate us out, for which I'm grateful. You saved all of our lives."
"What kind of danger were you in? I didn't even see anything else. I could only seem to concentrate on you." She confessed.
He let out a sigh and said, "I think we have a lot to talk about."