Return of Lord Voldemort

"Don't you turn your back at me, Harry Potter! I want you to look at me when I kill you! I want to see the light leave your eyes!"

- Lord Voldemort to Harry Potter before their duel

The Return of the Dark Lord took place on June 24, 1995 in the graveyard of Little Hangleton, when Lord Voldemort was restored to physical form and full magical power after being incorporeal for fourteen years. It was the result of months of meticulous planning by Voldemort and his servants Peter Pettigrew and Bartemius Crouch Jr., who manipulated the Triwizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that year in order to deliver Harry Potter to Voldemort. Pettigrew used some of Harry's blood in the ritual to restore Voldemort and killed Cedric Diggory, who was transported along with Harry. Voldemort then called his Death Eaters to him and dueled Harry, who managed to escape and warn Albus Dumbledore. This marked the beginning of the Second Wizarding War, although the Ministry of Magic did not admit this until a year later.

First Wizarding War
"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"

- Bellatrix Lestrange at her trial

During Lord Voldemort's first rise to power, a prophecy was made about an infant with the power to defeat him who would be born to a couple who had thrice defied him. Voldemort believed this infant to be Harry Potter, son of Order of the Phoenix members James and Lily Potter. The Potters went into hiding with Peter Pettigrew as their Secret-Keeper, but Pettigrew betrayed them to Voldemort, who arrived at their home in Godric's Hollow on the night of October 31, 1981. He killed James immediately, but offered Lily a chance to save herself because one of his Death Eaters, Severus Snape, had requested it out of love for Lily. She refused, and Voldemort used the Killing Curse on her and then on her infant son. Because Lily had willingly sacrificed herself for Harry, the curse backfired, leaving the boy with a scar on his forehead and destroying Voldemort's body. Voldemort had constructed Horcruxes, and thus survived, and also inadvertantly and unknowingly made Harry into a Horcrux as well.

This marked the end of the First Wizarding War, after which many of Voldemort's followers were imprisoned in Azkaban or managed to convince the Ministry of Magic of their innocence. Sirius Black was imprisoned for Pettigrew's crimes, as everyone believed him to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Pettigrew went into hiding for years in his Animagus form of a rat, acting as a pet to Percy Weasley, and later to his younger brother Ron. Some Death Eaters, such as the Lestranges, declared that the Dark Lord would return.

Plot surrounding the Triwizard Tournament
"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt you to prevent you from winning the tournament? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did."

- Barty Crouch Jr. to Harry Potter

Voldemort made attempts to regain physical form and power in the following years, such as by taking Quirinus Quirrell as his servant in Albania and trying to obtain the Philosopher's Stone and to kill Harry Potter through him. However, none were successful until Peter Pettigrew returned to his service. Pettigrew's true identity and crimes were exposed in 1994, after Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban and, with the assistance of his old friend Remus Lupin, confronted Pettigrew and informed Harry of the truth behind his parents' deaths. Pettigrew managed to escape, and to get in contact with his former master. They also managed to free Barty Crouch Jr., one of Voldemort's fanatical Death Eaters, from his father's control. Voldemort ordered Crouch to infiltrate Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and to bring him Harry Potter.

Crouch managed this by abducting Alastor Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, and using Polyjuice Potion to take his place. In this position, he was able to manipulate the Triwizard Tournament so that the Goblet of Fire selected Harry as a fourth Champion. Harry was bewildered by this - and by how his scar was increasingly beginning to burn. By the Third Task of the Tournament, Crouch had succeeded in turning the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey that would transport whomever touched it to Little Hangleton, where Voldemort and Pettigrew were waiting. Harry and Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts champion, agreed that they were equally winners, and thus touched the Cup at the same time.

Cedric's Murder and the Ritual
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son. Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master. Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."

- Peter Pettigrew conducting the ritual to restore Lord Voldemort

Harry and Cedric were both transported to the graveyard of Little Hangleton. Voldemort ordered Pettigrew to "kill the spare", and Cedric was struck with the Killing Curse, to Harry's horror. He was then trapped so that Pettigrew could take some of his blood to use in a Dark magic potion to restore Voldemort's corporeal form. Pettigrew also took a bone from the grave of Tom Riddle Sr. and his own hand as part of the potion. Voldemort regained a body, and constructed a silver hand to replace the one Pettigrew lost. He then pressed on his Dark Mark, calling his Death Eaters to him.

Duel
"You know of course, that they have called this boy my downfall? You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill him. His mother died in the attempt to save him -- and unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen... I could not touch the boy. His mother left upon him 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 him now."

- Lord Voldemort to his Death Eaters before dueling Harry Potter

Voldemort confronted several of the Death Eaters for not trying to find him during his abscence, such as Lucius Malfoy. They all claimed to still be loyal to him. Voldemort also swore vengeance on those who did not respond to his summons, such as Igor Karkaroff.

The Dark Lord then turned to Harry, remarking upon how the boy had survived his Killing Curse fourteen years ago and how, with his blood in his body, he could now touch him. He used the Cruciatus Curse on Harry briefly, and then demanded that he duel him. He used the Imperius Curse on him briefly to force him to bow before they began. Voldemort then cast the Killing Curse, while Harry cast Expelliarmus. Because the cores of their wands shared the same source, Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand are brothers, and thus the rare effect of Priori Incantatem was created when they conflicted. Harry's wand forced Voldemort's to regurgitate its spells, and Voldemort's murder victims emerged in spirit form. Cedric's spirit asked Harry to return his body to his parents, and the spirits of Harry's parents told him that they would provide a distraction so that he could escape. Harry quickled seized Cedric's body and the Triwizard Cup, transporting back to Hogwarts.

Exposure of Barty Crouch Jr.
"Mad, am I? We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him -- and now -- I conquer you!"

- Barty Crouch Jr. before trying to kill Harry Potter

Chaos erupted when Harry returned to Hogwarts with Cedric's corpse in tow. Crouch, disguised as Moody, managed to usher Harry away from the panicking crowd to interrogate him about Voldemort's return. He wanted to kill Harry, but Albus Dumbledore and several other members of the Hogwarts staff arrived to stop him. Under the influence of Severus Snape's Veritaserum, Crouch confessed everything. Before he could testify before the Wizengamot, however, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge arrived with a Dementor, which performed the Dementor's Kiss on him.

Aftermath
"He's going to get us all killed just because he can't face the truth."

- Hermione Granger on Cornelius Fudge's refusal to admit Lord Voldemort's return

The Ministry of Magic refused to believe Harry Potter's account of Lord Voldemort's return, even when he was supported by Albus Dumbledore. The Ministry publicly denied the Dark Lord's return and branded Harry and Dumbledore either liars or nutters in the press. Voldemort and his Death Eaters took advantage of this to operate in secret, while Dumbledore called for a reconstitution of the Order of the Phoenix.

The issue of Voldemort's return would be highly divisive amongst the public. In Harry's next year of school, many of his fellow students were skepetical of his claims, even some he considered friends, such as Seamus Finnigan. Percy Weasley also had a severe falling out with the rest of his family over their loyalty to Dumbledore over the Ministry. The Ministry was so suspicious of Dumbledore that Dolores Umbridge was installed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as High Inquisitor during the 1995-1996 school year, a position she used to monitor and undermine Dumbledore and to spread Ministry propaganda.

This prompted Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley to found Dumbledore's Army, a group in which students could learn practical Defence Against the Dark Arts and oppose Ministry control at Hogwarts. Harry's side of the story eventually got to the public after Hermione arranged for Rita Skeeter to interview him, and Luna Lovegood helped get it published in The Quibbler. In the meantime, Voldemort was able to gain more followers and to stage a break-out of many of his Death Eaters from Azkaban.

The Ministry did not admit that Voldemort had returned until June of 1996, after the Dark Lord was seen by the Minister for Magic himself in the Ministry following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)