So sorry about the format. I hope this time it'll work right.

So, this is an idea from time-twilight. I hope that I can write this the way they wanted this story to turn out. I hope you'll like it and please Review.

Enjoy,

Nick

Angel at Age: 14

The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth about a hundred yards away. Suddenly a dark figure was hurtled out onto the path in front of me. Cedric. I didn't care for winning. I just wanted to survive to be honest. A fourteen year old, almost untrained witch competing against three seventeen year olds was ridiculous. It was a wonder that I got this far.

"Cedric," I shouted panicked, when something moving along a path that intersected the one I was jogging along. It was moving so fast that Cedric was about to run into it "On your left."

The older Hufflepuff looked up just in time to hurl himself past the thing and barely avoided collision. His wand flew out of his hand as the gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear down on the seventeen year old.

"Stupefy," I yelled. My spell hit the Acromantula's big, hairy black body, but I might as well have thrown a stone at it instead. It would have been equally effective. The only thing I achieved was that the spider was running at me instead. Great! As if I hadn't had enough of those things when they were about to eat me in Second Year… "Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

It was of no use though. The Acromantula was either so large or so magical that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. I barely knew what was happening until I was lifted into the air, struggling madly. I tried kicking it, but my leg only connected with the pincers and the next thing I knew was that my leg was on fire. I could hear Cedric yelling his own spells, which had no more of an effect than mine.

When the spider opened its mouth, I used the moment and murmured "Bombarda." The Acromantula exploded, making me drop twelve feet onto my already injured leg. I scrambled backwards as fast as I could. When I was just out of the way, the thing's body fell to the ground, dead.

"Angel," Cedric shouted "You alright? Did it fall on you?"

I pulled myself to my feet carefully. My leg was bleeding freely and some of the Acromantula venom was on my torn robes. The injured limb could barely support my weight, so I buried my hands in the hedge next to me, gasping for breath. Cedric was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming brightly.

"Take it," I panted "Go on, take it." But the Hufflepuff didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at me and then at the Cup with longing. Cedric looked around at me again "Now is not the time for you to be a Hufflepuff, Cedric. Go on. I wasn't supposed to be in this stupid tournament anyway."

The older boy shook his head "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

I groaned "That's not how it works and you know it." Bloody Badgers. Why couldn't he just do what everyone else would have done? I didn't want the money from the tournament nor the fame that would supposedly come from this. I had enough of that to last me fifty lifetimes "The one who reaches the Cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg." I winced as waves of pain shot through my leg again.

"No," Cedric said, stepping away from the Cup towards me.

I leaned against the hedge tiredly "Cedric, please. I want to get out of here. Just take the damn Cup."

The Hufflepuff came closer again "You told me about the dragons. I would have gone down in the First Task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too," I snapped, trying to stop the blood from gushing out of the cut "You helped me with the egg – we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place."

I was close to tears now. It was all too much. First the stupid dragons and then the Black Lake. I was afraid of water ever since Uncle Vernon almost drowned me when I was a toddler. They had never really cared about me. Maybe they would even be happy if I died "Please, Ced," I begged, my voice breaking.

The older boy stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join me "Go on," he urged. Merlin help me. He was actually serious? He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms folded.

"Both of us," I finally decided.

"What?" Cedric frowned in confusion.

I smiled – or rather grimaced "There's no way I can walk all the way to the Cup. If you're so determined then we'll take it together. Make Hogwarts proud. Standing united and all that rot."

The Hufflepuff stared at me "You – you sure?"

I nodded "Like I said, I didn't want a part in this in the first place. I don't want to win. Plus, we've helped each other, haven't we?"

For a moment he looked like he couldn't believe his ears, but then his face slip into a grin "You're on. Come here." He grabbed my arm and slung it over his shoulder. I hobbed towards the plinth, leaning almost my entire weight onto the seventeen year old. As soon as we had reached the glimmering Cup, we both held a hand out over one of the handles.

"On three?" I asked "One. Two. Three." My hand touched the handle and I instantly felt a jerk somewhere behind my navel. My feet left the ground as the Cup was pulling me and Cedric to a destination unknown. No one had told us that the Cup was supposed to be a portkey?

Minutes later, my feet slammed into the ground. My injured leg gave away and I fell forward "Where are we?" I whispered, looking around in fright. We landed in a graveyard. For some reason, I felt like I knew my surroundings, but I couldn't place where I had seen it before.

Cedric shook his head, looking as lost as me. He got to his feet and carefully pulled me up. The graves were all overground and to our right was the black outline of a small church which was visible beyond a large yew tree. To our left, a hill rose above. In the darkness, I could make out the outline of a big old house on top of the hillside "Did anyone tell you the Cup was a portkey?"

"No," I shivered "I have a bad feeling, Cedric."

The older boy shifted nervously "Wands out, do you reckon?"

I nodded and pulled out my wand. The feeling of being watched that I had ever since we landed, intensified "Someone's coming." Squinting, I observed a figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward us. I couldn't make out a face, but from the way they were walking, I could tell they were carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short and wearing a hooded cloak that obscured his face. The outline was strangely familiar. It couldn't be, could it? "Cedric. Go back to the Cup. Run!"

The boy frowned down at me and then, without warning, my scar exploded with pain. It was agony. At this point, I wasn't sure if I had ever felt pain like this. My wand slipped from my numb fingers as I slipped to the ground for the hundredth time today. From far away, above my head, I heard a high cold voice say "Kill the spare."

There was a swishing noise and a second voice that undoubtedly belonged to the traitor of a rat, screeched "Avada Kedavra."

My head snapped up when I heard something heavy fall to the ground beside me. Cedric was lying spread-eagle on the ground beside me, dead. For a second, I stared into the Hufflepuff's face, at his open grey eyes and his surprised expression. No. No! Please, Cedric. You can't be dead. Please… Wormtail had put down his bundle and lit his wand. I barely noticed it when he dragged me towards the marble headstone. I saw the name upon it, flickering in the wandlight before I was forced around and slammed against it.

Tom Riddle

The rat conjured tight cords around me, trying me from neck to ankles to the headstone. I coughed lightly, the rope around my neck choking me. I struggled against them and Wormtail landed several good hits in both my face and my stomach "What are you doing?" I gasped and grunted when his fist made contact with my face again, but this time so hard that my head was thrown back into the stone. As soon as he turned his back on me, I slumped into the ropes.

"Angel Potter," a high voice hissed, a hand coming up to caress my cheek. I moaned as my scar split open with pain. The voice laughed evilly and lifted my head up by my hair "We meet again, Potter."

"Go to hell," I grounded out weakly, wincing at the pain that was coming from… well, from everywhere really.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed and he stepped back, flicking his wand in my direction "Crucio." I screamed, writhing in the restraints that were now cutting into my flesh painfully. After a minute the curse cut off and I was left panting "You will not talk to me like that," the snake-like man hissed. With those words he stalked over to Wormtail, who was cowering on the floor, holding what appeared to be what was left of his arm. The Dark Lord bent down and pulled out the rat's left arm. He forced the sleeve of Pettigrew's robes up past his elbow and I could see something on the skin there. A skull with a snake protruding from its mouth… The Dark Mark. Voldemort examined it carefully, ignoring the rat's pathetically snivelling "It's back," he said softly "They will all have noticed it… and now, we shall see… now we shall know…" He pressed one long white finger to the brand on Wormtail's arm. The scar on my head that had been throbbing, seared with a sharp pain again. Voldemort removed his finger from the mark with a look of cruel satisfaction on his face "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" He began to pace up and down before me, eyes sweeping the graveyard all the while. After a few minutes, he looked down at me, a cruel smile twisting his snake-like face "You stand upon the remains of my late father, Angel Potter," he sneered "A muggle and a fool… very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child… and I killed my father and see how useful he has proved himself, in death…"

"That's nice," I snapped in annoyance. Probably not the best idea, but I was hurting and tired and I wanted it to just be over already "But I really don't care for your life story."

Not a second after the words left my mouth, I was writhing in the bonds again. A flick of his wand later, I was falling towards the ground "Had enough?"

"Fuck you," I mumbled under my breath. I swear, I was so done with everything and everyone. Couldn't they just leave me alone? I didn't even know why that bastard was after me. I'm fourteen with virtually no training…

Whether he heard it and ignored it or simply didn't hear, I wasn't sure "Look, Angel. My true family returns."

The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were apparating. All of them were hooded and masked and one by one they move forwards… slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes. Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled towards Voldemort and kissed the hem of his black robes.

"Master… Master…" he murmured.

The Death Eaters behind him did the same, each of them approaching Voldemort on his knees and kissing his robes, before backing away and standing up, forming a silent circle around Tom Riddle's grave. Yet, they left gaps in the circle, as though waiting for more people. I fought to sit up a bit and leaned against the cold marble of the gravestone. It soothed my hot and itchy skin a bit as tremors rocked my thin frame.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," Voldemort started quietly "Thirteen years… thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday… We are still united under the Dark Mark then! Or are we?" He pulled back and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening "I smell guilt. There is a stench of guilt upon the air. I see you all, whole and healthy with your powers intact – such prompt appearances! – and I ask myself… why did this band of wizards never come to the air of their master to whom they swore eternal loyalty?" No one spoke. No one moved except for Wormtail who by now was disgustingly close to me "And I answer myself. They must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies and they pleaded innocence and ignorance and bewitchment… And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again?"

I tuned out the monologue then. Seriously? It's not like anyone cares about what he has to say. They are all too terrified to do anything anyway… Huh, it seems as though my sass always came out at the wrong time. Every time! It used to happen whenever I got into trouble with Uncle Vernon as well. Only he never got the sarcasm I threw at him. I should probably be careful of what I said or did. After three Crucios – two of which were from Voldemort himself – I was already feeling like shit.

"He is at Hogwarts…" Wait, what? Who was at Hogwarts? "That faithful servant and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight… Yes." Voldemort's mouth curled into a grin as everyone's eyes snapped to me "Angel Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call her my guest of honour."

"Yes." I couldn't hold back "I feel so incredibly honoured to be tortured and watch my friend get killed."

A cutting curse had me crying out lowly, as the Dark Lord hissed an enraged "Silence!" at me.

There was a silence, then the Death Eater to the right of Wormtail stepped forward and Lucius Malfoy's voice spoke from under the mask "Master, we crave to know… we beg you to tell us… how you have achieved this… this miracle… how you managed to return to us…"

"Ah," Voldemort sighed "What a story it is, Lucius. And it begins – and ends – with my young friend here." He walked lazily over to stand next to my crumbled form, so that every eye was upon the both of us "You know, of course, that they have called this girl my downfall? You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill her. Her mother died in the attempt to save her – and unwittingly provided her with a protection I admit I had not foreseen… I could not touch the girl." Voldemort raised on of his long fingers and put it very close to my cheek. Since I already knew what would happen if he touched me, I braced myself for the searing pain that I knew would come "Her mother left upon her the traces of her sacrifice… This is old magic. I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it… but no matter. I can touch her now." My head was bursting with pain as he pressed his finger to my scar "I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice and it rebounded upon myself. Ah… pain beyond pain, my friends. Nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost… but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know… I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality."

I once again tuned out his incessant ramblings and pressed my aching forehead to the cool grass. My eyes were getting heavier and I wasn't sure how long I would be able to stay conscious. The way it was going, not very long at all. The Acromantula venom was still within my system, burning its way through my veins and the after effects of the Cruciatus were anything but pleasant.

"Crucio." The pain of another Unforgivable ripped me out of my daze, as I arched off the ground, my screams echoing through the dark night. Just when I was about to slip into the rescuing darkness, I felt it stop "You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this girl could ever have been stronger than me, but I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Angel Potter escaped me by a lucky chance and I am now going to prove my power by killing her, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help her and no mother to die for her. I will give her a chance. She will be allowed to fight and you will be left in no doubt which of us is stronger."

I glared up at the disgusting man "Because it shows strength to kill a fourteen year old with barely any experience."

This time I was ignored "Wormtail, give her back her wand." The rat walked out of the circle towards the place where Cedric's body was still laying and returned with my wand, while the other Death Eaters closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around me and Voldemort "You have been taught how to duel?" Voldemort asked softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.

I barely withheld a scoff. Of course, I wasn't taught how to duel. Second Year didn't count, because anything that Lockhart taught turned out to be a disaster. Not to mention the snake fiasco. The only thing we had learned there was the Disarming Spell, which would be of no use here. While I did study some more afterwards, it was still not enough to go against a wizard who was more than four times my age.

"We bow to each other, Angel," Voldemort instructed, bending a little, but keeping his face upturned "Come, the niceties must be observed… Dumbledore would like you to show manners… Bow to death, Angel."

The Death Eaters were laughing again. I didn't bow. All this talk about death and the reminders of the old coot were really getting on my nerves. I didn't like Dumbledore much. He always preached that everything he did was for my own good, but the more I thought about it, the less I knew it to be true. There were many factors that stopped me from believing anything he said. The Dursleys were the main one. Then Sirius, his secrets about why I was the Chosen One, all the encounters with Voldemort he steered me towards and most recently the tournament. There was no way that I had to compete. I was still a minor after all.

"I said bow," he snarled, raising his wand. My spine curved as though a huge, invisible hand were bending me forwards. The additional weight made my leg buckle again and I fell to the Death Eaters laughter "Hmh. It will have to do. And now you face me." Before I could move even an inch, I was hit with the Cruciatus again. The pain was so intense, all-consuming really and it got worse every time he used it on me. I panted on the ground, now almost unconscious. I didn't want to die, so I knew I had to do something… Anything before it was too later. But what? "It seems as if our fun is over, my friends," the Dark Lord told his followers, sounding almost sad about it "Now witness the end of Angel Potter, the Girl-who-Lived-No-More."

My hand tightened around my wand and I gathered all of my remaining strength. At the same time as Voldemort spoke the Killing Curse, I shouted "Expelliarmus." A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from mine. They met midair and suddenly my wand was vibrating so much that I almost let go of it. The connection between the two wands was a bright, deep gold.

Before I could do anything else, there was an explosion and I was flung back, over the top of the Death Eaters and into one of the gravestones near Cedric. My head collided with the hard stone. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was a bright white light that was enveloping me and then everything went black.