Voldemort moved in slow motion, admiring and acknowledging the fluidity of his movements, and his new, strong strides. He flexed his fingers and shifted from foot to foot, testing the basics of his new body. He ran his hands over his face, inhaling deeply, cocking his head towards the clouded sky. His red eyes gleamed, and his expression rapt; near bordering a faint definition of happiness. He took no notice to Wormtail who laid on the ground whimpering and bleeding.

Chelsea watched the poor man lay shivering and shaking. Harry hadn't moved, staring in shock at the situation before him. His green eyes wide and his skin pale as the moon. She watched his eyes go back and forth between Cedric, Charles, his wand, and the portkey; behind the shock, he was trying to find a way out of this mess.

Voldemort slipped his hand into the depths of his robe and withdrew his wand. He held the dark caramel yew wand gingerly, caressing close to him, almost adoringly. Chelsea could sense the power swirling around him and feared the wand in his hand; it gave off a rare aura, absolutely drenched in death and sorrow. Shivers traveled down her spine.

Voldemort raised his wand slowly, staring directly at Wormtail and with a mirthful chuckle, threw the injured man against the headstone where Harry was tied up; Wormtail fell at the foot of the grave with a damp whimpering thump and laid there crumpled and defeated, he made no motion to move. Voldemort turned to Harry, his red eyes taking in the boy before him.

"Oh Harry, my dear boy. It has been so long. Three years it seems." Voldemort said nonchalantly as he bent down and pulled out Wormtail's left arm and forced his sleeve past his elbow. Even from a distance, Chelsea saw the puckered red tattoo- the same one her mom had. The Dark Mark. Voldemort pressed a long finger on Wormtail's brand.

The whimpering man let out a fresh howl, and beside her, Rookwood grimaced, releasing her to grab his arm and Lucius Malfoy let a hiss pass through his tightly drawn lips. Chelsea watched Harry's face contort in pain. All the while her fingers tingled, sensation slowly coming back. It seemed to be ebbing its way up from her fingers and toes as the sensation began to travel up her arms and legs. Pins and needles prickled uncomfortably over her body. 

"They will have all noticed it and soon we shall see.. shall know who will come back to me," Voldemort whispered softly to the night. With a look of cruel satisfaction, Voldemort straightened and laughed. The mark on Wormtail's arm was black as the sky around them.

"Master, please... please... you promised... you did... I did as I was told..." Wormtail sniveled through his tears. 

Voldemort ignored Wormtail's inconsolable weeping.

Chelsea watched Voldemort pace between Harry and Wormtail, his eye sweeping the graveyard; watching and waiting. He smiled cruelly at Harry. All Chelsea wanted to do was free Harry and run from here but all she could do was watch- she had never felt this hopeless.

Chelsea's eyes landed on the lifeless bodies of Cedric and Charles and it took everything in her to keep the welling tears in her eyes to keep from cascading down her cheeks.

"Harry, look! My true family returns..." Voldemort's eyes darted between graves. He spun in a slow circle, watching the night around him. His spindly fingers still gripping his wand.

The air in the cemetery was filled with the sounds of swishing and fluttering on black caps. Between tumbling headstones, beyond the yew tree, from the shadows of mausoleums and from behind Harry's own headstone were apparating wizards. Each one moved cautiously, and slowly. Their body language all expressed their disbelief.

Rookwood conjured his mask from his robes, covering all his face except his eyes and slithers of hair. Rookwood grabbed Chelsea by her arm, dragging her forward. She stumbled, her legs unprepared to move. 

"Master..." one of the Death Eaters murmured, kneeling before Voldemort, kissing his hand before backing away. Others followed; each approaching Voldemort, speaking a few words then backing away to form the semblance of a circle.

Rookwood was the last Death Eater to approach, kneeling before his master.

"Master, I brought someone who you've longed to meet. The lost child has returned to our cause." He dragged Chelsea forward, forcing her to her knees.

Voldemort's long fingers gripped her jaw tightly, forcing her face towards his. His skin cool to the touch, his slit eyes delving deep into her. Chelsea glared at him, trying to mask the fear coursing through her veins.

"Ah, this must be Aurelia Rookwood; the long lost daughter. Nice of you to join us and Mr. Potter for my rebirth! New blood is important." He released her jaw, and Rookwood pulled her into the circle with the others. Many Death Eaters stared at her intently through their masks, the skeletal faces causing Chelsea to tremble slightly.  Each Death Eater had formed a silent circle enclosing Harry, Voldemort, and sobbing Wormtail. Yet there were gaps in the circle, waiting to be filled.

"Chelsea!" Harry yelled, wiggling in his bindings. His green eyes were wide with shock. "Run! He will kill-"

"Silence, Mr. Potter." Voldemort cut in, aiming his wand at the young boy. "Ms. Rookwood is welcome here." Voldemort threw his back and sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring. "I smell guilt," he said, "The stench is... repulsive."

"I have waited many years to meet you again. Thirteen years... thirteen years since we were last together. Many of you answer my call as if I had never left. Yet, I cannot help but wonder.... are we still united under the Dark Mark?" Voldemort questioned aloud, his voice dropping as he went on.

A shiver ran through the crowd, but none of the masked figures backed down nor did they speak a word.

Voldemort turned on his heels, staring at each individual for several seconds before continuing.

"I see you all here today, all whole and healthy..." He spoke with a sorrowful tone, "with your magic and steady minds- and I ask myself... why did you never come to aid me, your master, to whom you have all sworn eternal loyalty? I was abandoned by those closest to me."

No one spoke; even Wormtail had ceased to cry for that moment. 

"Then I have realized something about you forgetful lot. You all must have believed me broken, thought I was truly gone. You all slipped back amongst my enemies and feigned ignorance, bewitchment...

"And I ask myself again, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? Many of you knew the steps I took years ago, to guard myself against mortal death. You, who had seen proof of my strength in times when I mightier than any living wizard.

"And I answer myself again, perhaps you doubted my ability... that there still was a greater power that could exist, one that could vanquish even I, Lord Voldemort... perhaps you now pay allegiance to another... perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, or worst of all Albus Dumbledore?" 

At the mention of Dumbledore's name, the members of the circle stirred, and some muttered and shook their heads. Voldemort ignored them, clearly enjoying the discomfort he was sowing.

 "It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed... And you all know how I am when I am disappointed..." 

One of the men suddenly flung himself forward, breaking the circle. Trembling from head to foot, he collapsed at Voldemort's feet. 

"Master!" he shrieked, "Master, forgive me! Forgive us all We have not forsaken you!" 

Voldemort began to laugh maniacally. He raised his wand. 

"Crucio!" 

The Death Eater on the ground writhed and shrieked; Chelsea hoped that the sound would carry to the houses nearby...Let the police come, she thought desperately... anyone... anything... Even if she knew no one would hear, she prayed for some miracle. 

Voldemort kept his wand raised. The tortured Death Eater lay flat upon the ground, gasping.

 "Get up, Avery," said Voldemort softly. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years... I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"

Chelsea heard Wormtail sob again. He still lay crumbled at the base of the gravestone. Voldemort looked down at the broken man and continued his speech.

"You returned to me, not out of loyalty but out of fear of your old school friends. You deserve this pain, Wormtail. You are nothing but a rat looking for its burrow. You know that, don't you?" Voldemort chuckled cruelly, stepping closer to the man. His red eyes eating the sight of the broken man.

"Yes, Master..." Wormtail moaned from his spot, lifting his eyes to look at Voldemort's bare feet. 

"Yet... you helped me return to my body. Worthless and traitorous as you are... you helped me and I, Lord Voldemort, reward my helpers..."

Chelsea watched Voldemort raise his wand again, and swish it through the air. Molten silver poured from the tip of the hand, withering through the air, forming the replica of a human hand. It glimmered in the moonlight before soaring down and fixing itself upon Wormtail's wrist.

The broken man stopped crying suddenly. His breathing harsh from his tears. He raised his head higher and stared at the hand before him, flexing the fingers in front of him.

He scrambled to his knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes, thanks profusing from his mouth.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," said Voldemort. 

"No, my Lord...never, my Lord..."Wormtail stood up and took his place in the circle, staring at his powerful new hand, his face still shining with tears. 

Voldemort now approached the man on Wormtail's right. Chelsea watched Voldemort come closer to her and the bile rose in the back of her throat. Chelsea stared at Harry, his anxiety clear as day before her but she watched him attempt to comfort her with an empty smile. It's the thought.

"Lucius, my slippery friend," he whispered, halting in front of Mr. Malfoy, whose platinum hair peeked through his mask. "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius...Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay...but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?" 

Chelsea tried not to stare at the men beside her but she had no idea what the Dark Lord spoke of; only that Lucius' back grew straighter with every second. 

"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," came Lucius Malfoy'svoice swiftly from beneath the hood. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me —"

 "And yet you ran from my Mark when a faithful Death Eatersent it into the sky last summer?" said Voldemort lazily, and Mr. Malfoy stopped talking abruptly. 

"Yes, I know all about that, Lucius... You have disappointed me... I expect more faithful service in the future. I expect your family to follow you." 

"Of course, my Lord, of course... You are merciful, thank you..." Lucius Malfoy had gotten to his knees and brought Voldemort's hand to his mask. His snake-head walking stick face down in the dirt.

Voldemort has moved on, and stopped staring at the space between Rookwood and Malfoy- large enough for two people.

"The Lestranges should stand here," mused the Dark Lord quietly. "When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. They were faithful... The dementors will join us, as will the banished giants... and an army of creatures whom all fear..." He stared thoughtfully at the prospect for a few minutes.

He then walked on. Some Death eaters he passed in silence, but he paused for others.

"Rookwood... you brought new blood to the table, as we all see. You better make sure she does not escape like her mother..."

Voldemort stared at Chelsea again, drinking her in his red eyes, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Yes, Master. I have a plan in place to ensure our safety..."

"Young Rookwood, you have must prove before you are worthy." Chelsea mentally spits at the man, but he moved on before she could make a rebuttal. 

"And here" — Voldemort moved on to the two largest hooded figures — "we have Crabbe...you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?" 

They bowed clumsily, muttering dully. Besides their size, there was nothing notable about these two men. Chelsea saw where their kids came from.  

"Yes, Master..." 

"We will, Master..." 

"The same goes for you, Nott," said Voldemort quietly as he walked past a stooped figure in Mr. Goyle's shadow. 

"My Lord, I am your most faithful —" 

"That will do, if you were, I wouldn't have waited thirteen years," said Voldemort.

He had reached the largest gap of all, and he stood surveying it with his blank, red eyes, as though he could see people standing there. 

"And here we have seven missing Death Eaters... three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return...he will pay.  Two, who I believe have left me forever... she will be killed, of course, and so will he... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."

Chelsea shivered, her mom appeared in her head. She prayed she would be able to warn her family. She watched Harry as the Death Eaters stirred around them.

"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight...

 "Yes," said Voldemort, a grin curling his lipless mouth as the eyes of the circle flashed in Harry's direction. "Harry Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call him my guest of honor."

Voldemort walked lazily over to Harry, all eyes of the circle were upon the two of them. The large snake circled by Harry's ankles.

"Many have called this boy my downfall," Voldemort spoke softly," You all know that on the night I lost my mortal body and powers, I tried to kill this very kid. His mother died because of him, as did his father, but his mother had unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen... I was unable to touch the boy. But now, I can touch him."

Chelsea watched as Voldemort raised one long finger and pressed it into Harry's check. The boy grimaced in what appeared to be severe pain. Voldemort only laughed in his ear.

Voldemort continued to touch Harry's face before continuing to regale the Death Eaters with the story of his survival; of possessing people and animals and everything that led up to this very moment.

He moved away from Harry but still faced the boy. He raised his wand.

"Crucio!"

Harry's eyes rolled madly into his head and his screams filled the air. Every bit of his body shook in pain. Chelsea held back every impulse to save her friend... any move against Voldemort would result in her death and she could not save anyone if she was dead. 

Harry hung limply in the ropes binding him to the headstone. The night rung with the laughter of Death Eaters. 

"You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me," said Voldemort. "But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him. I will give him his chance. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini," he whispered, and the snake glided away through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching. 

"Now untie him, Wormtail, and give him back his wand." 

Chelsea smiled softly, this is my chance to save him. No matter what, Harry is leaving here alive. She thought.