Harry Escapes

"Now, let's duel..."

"[Bone-Crushing Cruciatus Curse] "

Intense pain overwhelmed all his senses. Harry's eyes darted wildly in his head, and he had no energy left to think about how to escape. He collapsed to the ground, his throat letting out a scream he had never heard before in his life.

It was as if a dagger heated red-hot in a furnace had pierced every inch of his skin, gouging out chunks of unshaped flesh, and then scraping the bone bit by bit with its sharp edge.

The pain lasted for an unknown amount of time, and just as Harry's consciousness began to fade, it all stopped. Harry rolled over and got up, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

"Pause..."

Voldemort was like a hunting python, his thick body already coiled around his prey, sometimes tensing and sometimes relaxing to let him breathe, both to tease him and to better torture him.

"Take a break... It hurts, doesn't it, Harry? Do you want me to do it a few more times, or should we just end it here?"

Harry didn't answer, but sighed inwardly. He still hadn't figured out how to divert Voldemort and the Death Eater ' attention from him and buy himself enough time to summon the trophy and activate the Portkey.

His fingers lightly brushed against the Holly Wood wand. Never mind, let's give it a try. So what if I die...

He glanced at something Winky not far away, and seemed to stumble a few steps as if his legs were too weak to stand, almost bumping into the wall of Death Eater.

A thin mist had risen over the Graveyard in the dead of night. Voldemort's sinister eyes pierced through the mist, gleaming with a crimson light. The laughter of most of the Death Eater echoed across the wilderness. It seemed that no matter how much time had passed, no matter when, they derived pleasure from seeing someone suffer.

Loren had no intention of interfering.

He silently hid in his hiding place, a patch of stone wreckage and weeds, peering out through the narrow gaps, searching for Dumbledore while recalling Voldemort's earlier words.

Voldemort claimed that on that night thirteen years ago, Lily Potter sacrificed her life using Ancient Magic, leaving a lasting protective power within Harry Harry. As the target of the Ancient Magic, Voldemort was never able to touch or harm Harry.

Therefore, Voldemort used Harry's blood as material to reshape his physical body. The Ancient Magic protective power left by Lily Potter also existed in his newborn body. The blood of the same origin allowed him to touch Harry again and hurt Harry.

But in fact, the protective amulet that Lily Potter forged with her life still exists, and even exists in two separate states...

A vague guess brought a playful smile to Loren's lips. It seemed that Voldemort's schemes had not only failed to make him stronger, but had instead dug him a deep pit.

Loren's eyes gleamed. Based on images he had unearthed from his distant memories, the two Twin Wands were the key to this duel.

One is Holly Wood, and the other of Yew Wood; their cores come from the tail feathers of the same Phoenix.

"Perhaps you're already tired and desperate about our duel. Do you wish to end it now, Harry? I'll give you a painless release, very soon..."

Seeing that his limbs had stopped trembling and he gripped his wand tightly again, Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was already prepared and instinctively used his most familiar spell.

"[Avada Kedavra] "

"[Expelliarmus] "

A powerful crimson light burst forth from Harry's wand, instantly colliding with the oncoming green light. The two spells met in mid-air and almost immediately merged into a dazzling golden radiance, with explosive Magic Power surging and churning at the point of contact.

In another dimension, imperceptible to both the naked eye and Magic Sense, two wondrous connections bind the souls and bodies of the two individuals together, intertwining them as if they were inseparable parts of each other.

Harry gripped his wand tightly, which vibrated violently as if electrified, threatening to slip from his grasp at any moment. Meanwhile, Voldemort's pale, slender fingers also gripped a trembling wand.

At this moment, the instinct of the wand core overwhelmed the will of the two, and the vast Magic Power within them poured out uncontrollably, as if they wanted to give their all to decide the winner in this battle of spells, making it impossible for them to withdraw.

The two wands were connected by shimmering golden threads, and then hundreds of arcs of light burst forth from the center, their dazzling, lightning-like brilliance intertwining and converging to form a dome-shaped Golden Net. This net trapped Harry and Voldemort within, while keeping the Death Eater at bay.

Harry gripped his wand tightly with both hands. The effects of the Cruciatus Curse had not completely faded. Every muscle, every blood vessel, and every bone in his body trembled from the lingering pain. His sluggish mind had only one thought: to desperately squeeze out every last bit of power hidden within his body to fight against Voldemort's magic.

The pressure and pain slowed his mind down, and in this stalemate, Harry had a strange feeling that his wand was absorbing something and becoming stronger.

Suddenly, the surrounding Light Net trembled slightly, and the tremor spread to every filament in an instant. A faint and beautiful melody rose in the air, the sound clear and delicate, the lingering sound echoing in the ears—it was the song of the Phoenix.

Accompanied by the Phoenix Song, a symbol of hope, Voldemort's wand suddenly trembled with a shrill cry. Thick wisps of gray smoke billowed from his wand, detaching from it and coalescing within a protective aura of Light Net. The first wisps of smoke dissolved into a severed hand, while the remaining smoke solidified into solid shadows, first heads, then chests and limbs...

Upon seeing this person appear, Voldemort inside the Light Net and Barty Jr. outside simultaneously showed expressions of horror!

Barty Crouch was still wearing the neat suit he hadn't taken off on the night of the Quidditch World Cup final, his meticulously combed gray hair slightly disheveled from fatigue.

"Hold on, Harry." His voice came from afar, echoing heavily. He glanced outside the circle of light, tears welling in his eyes, but his tone remained calm. "Hold on, don't let go!"

A limping old man with a weathered face, whom Harry had only seen in his dreams, appeared. If the residents of Little Hangleton were here, they would surely exclaim in surprise. It was Frank, the doorman who died tragically at Riddle House for unknown reasons!

His eyes were fixed on Voldemort, his voice trembling slightly with worry. "So, he really is a wizard? This guy killed me. You fight him, child..."

It looks like Harry has some help.

Loren was thinking. He noticed that the Souls squeezed out of Voldemort's wand was completely different from the ghost. Its emotions were more stable than the ghost's, and it even retained the memories of death. Judging from the two people's behavior after leaving the wand, they could also perceive the things around them while residing in the wand.

Based on his understanding of the magical world, intelligent beings go to two places after death: those who are attached to the human world can be transformed into ghosts through the Magic Power in their bodies, while those who bravely face death will go to the world of the dead through Pensieve. At least he had never heard of the souls of the dead being trapped in magic wands.

The Souls that are now appearing are like marks left by the deceased on Voldemort, reflections of souls.

Loren carefully observed the process of the gray smoke transforming into Souls. He guessed that this process of making the mark of the deceased materialize into Souls might be the product of a combination of coincidences, such as the unique connection between the two people's bodies and souls, the fact that the cores of their wands were both Fawkes ' tail feathers, and that the Phoenix had the ability to be reborn from the ashes...

More gray smoke billowed from Voldemort's wand, transforming into figures amidst the Phoenix's ethereal song and the trembling of the Golden Net. Some were unshaven and emaciated, while others were covered in coarse wolf fur, their sharp teeth and claws still gleaming coldly...

The Souls of those killed by Voldemort circled around the two of them, and the encouraging voices of Harry blended together, like the distant and serene singing of a church choir, making Harry feel an infinite power flowing into his body.

The sound of cursing Voldemort also made him grit his teeth and turn ashen-faced.

A figure emerged from the branches of the Yew Wood. The young woman had emerald green eyes and long, deep red hair that cascaded over her shoulders. Seeing her swaying figure, Harry's shoulders trembled, and tears welled up in his equally emerald green eyes.

"Your father is here too..." Lily Potter said softly, "He wants to see you. Everything will be alright, Harry ..."

James Potter's Souls was a tall, disheveled man with a calm, smiling expression, "Once the connection is lost, we can only buy you a little time. You must get the Portkey, understand, Harry?"

"Clear."

The Light Net trembled violently, and as the light stream dissipated, the Phoenix's song vanished instantly. The Wild Graveyard returned to silence, and the densely packed Souls of the dead obscured the view. Voldemort and the Death Eater ' spells had no effect on them, because they were already dead and could not die again.

"[The Trophy Accio]"

Harry grabbed the trophy as Accio the air, felt a tug on his navel, and was instantly swept away by an invisible spatial vortex, disappearing into the graveyard of Little Hangleton.

Taking advantage of the Death Eater being surrounded by Souls, Barty Crouch landed in front of his son, looking relaxed—a relaxed he hadn't felt since graduating from Hogwarts and entering the Ministry of Magic: "I saw your mother. She doesn't blame you. She asked me to tell you that she loves you..."

Barty Jr..'s expression was cold and hard, and his gaze even revealed a hint of mockery.

"I don't blame you, I love you too."

Barty Jr. Crouch. Crouch for a moment, and before he could answer, Barty already translucent body dissipated into mist again. A cool evening breeze swept through, and apart from the mangled remains of his body still lying in the ground, there was no trace of Barty Crouch left in the world.

Snape seemed to see those eyes again in a daze, a slight smile on his face, before vanishing into the summer night dew. He stood there stiffly, like an uncarved tombstone in a cemetery, with Two-Winged Angel holding a long-handled scythe behind him.

Without the Phoenix's magic to sustain them, the Souls ' figures grew fainter and fainter, gradually becoming transparent from their lower bodies. However, their mission was complete, and they wore carefree smiles on their faces.

"Master, what should we do now?"

Lucius Malfoy stood slightly bowed beside Voldemort and asked cautiously.

Voldemort's expression was unpredictable and gloomy. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, it would be hard to imagine that such a twisted snake face could simultaneously display a variety of emotions such as anger, fear, and resentment, expressing them clearly and even without affecting each other.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and quickly went through the events of the duel in his mind, but couldn't find any answers.

Why does he feel connected to Potter?

Why did their wands undergo an unexpected change?

Was all of this a protective measure Dumbledore had placed on Harry Potter, or...?

Voldemort suddenly opened his eyes, then slowly narrowed them into slits. A crimson light seeped out from the slits and focused on Snape on his right. He said softly and calmly, "Harry Potter will definitely report everything to Dumbledore when he gets back. He'll be here soon. Get out of here as soon as possible."

"I have a manor nearby," Lucius said casually.

"Separate!"

"What?"

"I want you to split up and not reveal my whereabouts or the news of my return for the time being."

"This..."

Lucius wanted to say something more, but Voldemort's cold gaze made him shudder, and he withdrew his extra question.

"Don't rush, my friends, we have plenty of time..." Voldemort said softly. "In the thirteen years I've been without power, many interesting things have happened, and some of those who once defied us have regained some of their power. Now that the sharp-eared Augustus is trapped in Azkaban, acting rashly will only cause us to lose more friends."

"You're right, Master."

"McNair".

"I'm here, Master..."

Death Eater Walden McNair stepped forward. He had a large frame but little flesh on his face, making him look fierce and ruthless.

Indeed, that was his job. He was a bloodthirsty executioner, responsible for executing guilty Fantastic Beasts at the Ministry of Magic, and he loved to chop off the heads of ferocious animals with an axe amidst terrified gazes.

"Contact Greyback and bring him back. It's time to recall our loyal servants... the Dementor imprisoned in Azkaban, the banished giants, and those horrifying dark creatures..."

"I'll take care of it right away." McNair's figure flashed and disappeared from the spot.

"Bellatrix, Barty ... investigate the situation in Azkaban, our friends are still waiting..."

"Lucius, try to win over the current high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Magic..."

"..."

One by one, the Death Eater left after receiving their orders, until finally only Snape remained, standing quietly in the same spot. After wandering around all night, it was as if he had returned to the very beginning, leaving him all alone to face Voldemort.

"Severus ..." Voldemort took two steps, stopped in front of him, his sinister snake eyes scanning him up and down, and said softly, "You should know that I don't completely trust you..."