Myrtle11a

The sky that was as black as pitch appeared to be relenting to the morning light in the eyes of lingerers. Of course there was at least half an hour until sunrise, but as Hermione, Sirius and Lupin watched on, they were engulfed by anxiety. Harry, in his Animagus form, curled apprehensively around a large green lantern, waiting for whomever to return.

In the silence of the early morning, all sounds were reverberating off eardrums ten fold their usual impact. Through the silence, the sound of the Muggle zookeeper whistling as he checked the locks on the cages scared Hermione to the bone. It was all Sirius and Lupin could do to stifle her scream. The zookeeper vigilantly approached the snake’s enclosure, as if it was something he would much rather not be doing. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realised that the glass was actually gone and his eyes weren’t just playing tricks on him, he reached for his radio positioned on his belt just above his backside.

“Lou, we’ve got a problem with the snakes!” he called, shattering what quiet there was.

“Jim, waddayafinkurdoin? I was yawn sleeping you sodding idiot. Lay off the hip flask you tosser.” With that Lou threw down his radio and his snores came loudly over Jim’s radio.

“I’ll give him a hip fla..” Jim began but something stopped him from proceeding with his angry threats. A hooded figure approached him and extended a long, knobbley finger to Jim. In an instant, he fell to the ground, and started to shake uncontrollably. The hooded figure, without looking up, glided towards the lantern upon which Harry was entangled. It held out its finger again and waited, as if expecting Harry to dart straight onto his personage. When Harry did not he appeared to become annoyed and reached down to pick the snake up. After knotting himself around the hooded figure’s arm, Harry carefully kept his head from view as they proceeded up the path towards a cave situated on the outskirts of the zoo. Hermione, Sirius and Lupin carefully followed behind the hooded figure, wands at the ready.

Dark pine trees grew densely around the cave creating an avenue leading up to its entrance. The moon had started to lower in the sky above, awaiting daybreak which was only about 10 minutes off. No stars glistened in the sky and the clouds were black and threatening.

The hooded figure unknotted Harry from his arm and beckoned for him to enter the cave. Harry’s head hurt as he crossed the threshold for the reason that the cave had been filled with snakes all wanting to return to the safe enclosures and they couldn’t stop talking about it. His eyes darted round and he saw baby Sirius lying on a large stone wrapped only in a torn white sheet. He appeared unharmed as the hooded figure bustled round him, obviously preparing for the resurrection spell.

In the instant that the large snake, Nagini entered the cave, all the other snakes began to circle around baby Sirius. The hooded figure bent down to anoint the baby’s head and as he did gashed Sirius’s right arm with his finger. Blood dripped steadily out of the elfin baby and fire and smoke swallowed up the cave. Harry transformed himself back into his human form and fired his wand at the hooded figure who fell back, startled. A gust of wind surged through the cave as Lupin positioned himself at the entrance, Sirius and Hermione at his side.

As the fire surrounding baby Sirius died down, Hermione raced into retrieve him. With a wave of her wand she had dried up the gash, but a significant amount of blood was still left in a puddle that the snakes were circling. Taking a quick glance at Harry, Hermione raced out of the cave, Sirius in her arms. Her destination, St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Before the hooded figure could return to his upright position, the pool of blood began to spit and sizzle. The thirty or so snakes all turned their heads towards the pool and sank their fangs into the blood, permeating it with their venom. The hooded figure crawled towards it on his knees as through the deep red well, a skeleton emerged. It lingered for a while, spinning mid air as it became cloaked with organs, muscle and skin. The skin became whiter than the skull that can before it, the eyes turned scarlet and a flat nose appeared, with slits for nostrils. Lord Voldemort looked into Harry’s eyes and his scar burned liked an inferno. The hooded figure, still on his knees, crawled towards Voldemort, his head bent over. Voldemort placed his cold hand upon his servant’s head.

“My faithful servant, I thank you.”

“Master..” the figure replied. Except he was cut off as a wave of green light erupted from the pool of remaining blood and Voldemort’s mortal body flickered momentarily and was gone in another flash of light. The hooded figure was shot backwards with the blast and then vanished from sight.

From the Potter’s house, Myrtle woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat, her arm seizing up with pain. Back at the zoo however, Harry had recovered from the pain his scar had caused and was now scanning the cave for the hooded figure.

Far, far away in another location, four voices echoed loudly through the countryside in laughter, as did Elli, who still remained tucked safe in her bed at home with Oliver guarding the door.