Not-A-Catastrophic Aftermath (II) [Chapter 214]

~~December 24th, 1994~~

The Dark Mark was first noticed by a couple of Aurors on patrol when the sun was halfway up. The sight of the Dark Mark terrified them, so they immediately reported back to the Headquarters, and by the time the backup arrived, there was already a fearful crowd gathered under the Dark Mark. It was the Christmas season, so nobody was expecting an incident like this. At least not under the terror-inducing Dark Mark.

The sight of the Minister’s severed head along with his Undersecretary’s severed head simply terrified the people and the Aurors even more. There were already some rumors about You-Know-Who returning and the sight in front of them simply cemented the idea even more. During the last war, You-Know-Who was considered something like a boogeyman, and to most people, it wasn’t surprising that the boogeyman could return from the dead.

After a lot of arguments and considerations, it was decided that heads and pikes were going to be removed from the middle of Diagon Alley. The Aurors were barely functioning as they didn’t have a proper chain of command. With Amelia Bones’ dismissal last night, the DMLE was without a Director, which left the decision-making to Senior Aurors and all of them were suggesting a different course of action.

The Minister was going to appoint a new Director today, but thanks to the severe case of lacking a head, it was no longer possible, which meant that right now, the Ministry didn’t have a Director of DMLE, and a Minister… With everything going on, Umbride was left for an afterthought. In fact, most of the Ministry Employees were glad that the unpleasant woman was finally dead.

It didn’t take long for rumors to spread within the population of Wizarding Britain, especially with such a barbaric display and the Dark Mark floating in the sky, but the rumors didn’t get to fester for long as a special edition of the Daily Prophet finally came out with the grim interview of the Dark Lord Voldemort, sending the whole population of Wizarding Britain into a panic.

It was obvious that nobody wanted to believe he was back, but especially with the interview and the Dark Mark floating above the severed head of the Minister, people were forced to believe that You-Know-Who was finally back…

Overall, it was a really bad day to be born in Wizarding Britain…

~~Nott Manor~~

Voldemort’s eyebrows would have twitched in irritation if he did have any eyebrows in the first place, but he didn’t, so he simply settled on his throne with an annoyed look on his face as he could hear a couple of people mumble behind the door. Sleep didn’t come to him last night as he was busy wondering how Harry Potter was so strong… To be honest, a part of him felt scared when he witnessed the power the boy possessed.

Though the rest of him was still certain that it would be him who would come out on top at the end… After all, he was immortal and even if the boy managed to kill him, he would return to try again. Alas, he refused to be bested by anyone. It would be very bad for his reputation. That was why, he was scouring through tomes to find anything he could use to gain such overwhelming power.

He did manage to find something which would let him take the boy’s Magic for his own, but for that to work, he would need to defeat the boy and conduct a ritual. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t seem to please him as he didn’t want to steal anyone’s power. He wanted to come out on top with his own power, otherwise, how was he supposed to prove himself better than Harry Potter?

His reputation had already taken a hit when he lost his body to the boy back in 1981, and a lot of his followers didn’t believe he could win even if they were never going to admit that upfront, but still, he needed to prove them wrong… If for nothing else, then he needed to win just to soothe his own ego. The boy was the only black mark on his reputation and he wanted it gone, especially with the Prophecy still hanging on top of his head.

It looked like he needed to have a chat with Rockwood as soon as possible as once again, everything was coming back to the Prophecy, their fated battle…

‘Finally!’ Voldemort hissed furiously inside his mind when someone finally dared to enter the room with a newspaper in their hand. It was Gregory Goyle Sr. and Voldemort was certain that the man didn’t enter the room willingly. From the look on the man’s face, he wanted to be anywhere else rather than here… Voldemort couldn’t help but feel himself becoming curious.

The man came and kneeled in front of him before holding out the newspaper to him… He could see that the man was already trembling in fear and the sight made him ecstatic. Though he couldn’t help but wonder what was in the newspaper for the man to be scared like this. So, without wasting any more time, he simply took the paper from Goyle Sr.’s hand with a casual look on his face, but that didn’t last long.

As soon as he read the heading on the front page, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He could feel his temper rising, but he didn’t lash out immediately… His return was no longer a secret and apparently, someone had made a mockery of him while doing that… He had rarely felt this angry in his life… With Dumbledore kidnapped and Grindelwald working for Potter, only Potter would dare to do something like this.

‘Harry Potter! You will pay for making a mockery of me in such a manner!!’ Voldemort vowed cruelly inside his mind before he decided to go for easy targets like Rita Skeeter and Barnabas Cuffe. He would bring such a horrific death to the two of them, that it would give the rest of Wizarding Britain a nightmare and the fate of Harry Potter was going to be even more horrific than that.

Though there was something else he needed to do before that… He slowly lowered the paper and glared at the trembling man at his feet… “CRUCIO!!” Voldemort snarled in rage and the screams finally started…