The room was bare.

Almost.

A stone arch stood alone in the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by steps. A veil drifted below the arch, stirring without wind. It seemed wholly ancient to their modern eyes. Two cloaked figures gazed upon it from the foot of its dais.

One figure pulled back her hood, revealing a mass of black curls surrounding a delicate, pale face. Rosy lips frowned in discontent as she paced in front of her companion. She would stop and stare at the stone archway for a moment, before tossing her head and continuing to pace.

A bell chimed, and she quickly wheeled in front of her companion. “Is it happening?” Her eyes were wild with anticipation.

Her master sighed and retrieved a pocket watch from the depths of his robes. He seemed to glean some meaning from the golden planets whirling around its ebony face. “Soon enough, Cassie,” he said placatingly.

“It’s just, it’s been seventy-five years.” She threw her head back. “Seventy-five years of the Dark Lord. I can’t believe you’re able to wait even a second longer.”

“Hard to believe, eh?” The taller figure offered a weak smile. “I was a fair bit younger than you when he came to power. Only seventeen.”

“The old Ministry was still around back then.” Cassie's eyes darted around the cavernous chamber. She knew this had been its seat of power for generations. Everything else was gone, but the arch remained.

He nodded. “That was before the Commonwealth.” His eyes seemed to stare. “I remember the day it all began.”

Cassie could almost see the Dark Lord execute the Minister before Gringotts. Her fingers turned white around her wand. "You're about to see it all end."

"Don't be flippant." Thin lips twisted into a grimace. “The Dark Lord is mad. His unimaginable power has twisted him.” He drew closer until she could see haunted grey eyes above sunken cheeks. "But you, of course, know the risks."

“The chosen one—” she asked. “You knew him once?”

“You could say that.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure if anyone really, knew, him.” He rubbed his jaw for a moment. “He wasn’t a good man, not by any means, but he’s the only chance we have.”

“Anyone is better than the Dark Lord,” his companion said firmly. An image fixed in her mind, fingers wrapped around a long, pale wand.

It rang again, loud as a church bell. Excitement broke onto her master’s face, even more wrinkles somehow carving themselves into his leathery skin. He sliced his hawthorn wand through the air, motes of brilliant scarlet light streaming from its tip and sinking into runes surrounding the archway, lingering like liquid deep in the stone. He glanced back down at his pocket watch.

“It’s soon to begin,” he murmured. Cassie glanced to her master nervously.

“And he’ll help you?” she asked. “To overthrow the Lord?”

“He’d better,” he responded grimly. “An old prophecy said that he’s the only one who could.”

A gong sounded throughout the chamber. Pluto was almost in alignment. The time was nigh, and she felt anticipation bubble deep inside her. She could see a bead of sweat wind down her master's face.

“And all the arithmancy is correct?” Cassie asked, looking nervously at the arcane charms surrounding the archway.

“Do you have so little faith, Cassiopeia?”

She cringed at the name and shook her head quickly. “No, of course not!” She responded. “I just hope the Dark Lord doesn’t know.”

He laughed. “He doesn’t. He couldn’t. He has not dared to explore the depths of magic that I have. Not travelled the deep paths.”

“Divination.”

“The most powerful of magic,” responded her master approvingly. “To twist the very threads of fate…” he trailed off. “It is a magic I teach only to you.” He winked and Cassie couldn’t help but grin.

“I just don’t know why he wouldn’t have just killed him,” she said. “You know, face to face. Honorably.”

“He couldn’t!” cried her master. He waved a finger at his apprentice. “He tried. Several times he cast him down. But the Dark Lord couldn’t kill the chosen one…” He pointed at her again, almost poking her on the chest. “You don’t kill someone when you cast them through the Veil of Death. You do not sunder their soul from their mortal body. You cast them wholesale from the mortal plane. Straight to Hades. It might seem the same… but it isn’t!

“When the planets are in perfect alignment, we can bring them back!” A final gong sounded and a wild grin slashed its way across his face. “And now that time has come… Cassie, the chant!”

“Right!” Behind him, Cassie began to chant. “Gabo Aliwet… Gabo Aliwet… Gabo Aliwet…!” She felt something almost bursting from her lungs, as if scalding water had been tossed down her throat; but she kept chanting. The runes surrounding the archway began to glow brighter and brighter as the air of the chamber stirred, beginning to swirl around the chamber.

Finally, her master cried out, the wind tearing his hood from his head. “Gabu-dal Onku…!”—The runes shined so bright that Cassie was forced to shade her eyes. Even through the brilliance and the pain she kept chanting. The wind in the chamber picked up, so quickly that it was as if they were standing at the center of a tornado. In the arch, the veil began to bend and twist, whipping forward and back; the whispers within its depths turning to screams of fury.

A man began to emerge from the archway, grasped by a skeletal hand. They continued chanting. Slowly they wrested the figure from the grip of death. Tore each bone finger from its perch until the pale man was left lying on the floor.

He stood and looked down upon Cassie and her Master, inhumanly tall and thin. Almost petrified by the reptilian glint of his red eyes, she only managed one word.

“Voldemort.”

 

~999 words - well done, hah!

 

Spoiler

Veil of Death looks like. And looks like canon was 70ish years ago.

Lots of foreshadowing implications in this line with how the tense changes: “He wasn’t a good man, not by any means, but he’s the only chance we have.”

Good characterizations. I really liked the “He’d better” line. Description is good though perhaps a bit heavy at the very start.

The dialogue sounds good, but some of it seems like things they already know and would have no reason to say. Presumably both of these characters already know what when the planets are in perfect alignment they can bring someone back. That’s why they’re here.

Fantastic concept here. Lead us to think that they’re bringing back Harry to deal with Voldemort when in reality it’s the opposite. Not sure why you went with 75 years instead of 70 but still works out well enough. I expect this story to do well.

 

Spoiler

I really enjoyed this entry. Nice little twist at the end, baiting us with bringing back HP and then turning around and using Voldemort as the resurrected character. Dialogue, prose, pacing, all that was quite serviceable. You had an idea, you executed it well, and you stuck to your landing. What more is there to say? 4/5.

 

I applaud you for looking up the words in a proto-Celtic dictionary to make it work for your story.

There's something to be said for it not really needed in this instance, but there's something more to be said for the fact that you did your homework to get it right.