Disclaimer-I do not in fact own Harry Potter.
Plaster cracked and fell from the gently sloping dome ceiling. It fell down three floors of open air to smash onto a gold veined marble floor. The room it fell into was very large and richly appointed. It was circular and lined with columns also of marble. There were only two ways out of this room. The grand archway leading to the entrance lobby beyond, and the circular lift set in the middle of the floor. There was a fine dust lingering in the air. Pieces of stone were now missing from the floor and the walls. Several columns lay broken across the floor. Bodies lay across it all.
Two black cloaked figures stood guard over the entrance to the lift room. A third knelt next to the circle lift tracing sigils on the floor with a wand.
"Hurry" one of the entrance guards said "he'll be here soon." The guard had turned to speak to the kneeling figure revealing a silver mask covering the whole of his face. The mask was molded in the shape of a bare grinning skull. The eye sockets were openings in the mask. Instead of the man's eyes appearing , only darkness stared out the eye holes.
"Silence, if I make a mess of this you know what he'll do" the kneeling figure said. A woman's voice had come from the cloaked form.
"Relax, its not like he kills people or anything" the other entrance guard spoke this time. He was relaxing against a wall beside the entrance. The kneeling death eater ignored the jibe and continued working on the lift. She traced one last glowing sigil and stepped back from the lift. "It's finished" she said. She walked toward the entrance to join the other death eaters. As she reached the archway they all felt the same sudden heaviness in the air.
"Just in time, He's here" the death eater that had joked earlier spoke this time. His tone was deathly serious now. The three moved through the archway into the lobby beyond. They walked by the front desk where a former clerk now lay across the counter-top. His glasses were cracked and lay crookedly on his face. The death eaters stopped in front of the shattered glass doors of the entrance and knelt down with their eyes to the floor.
The heaviness grew and the crushing weight was everywhere. It saturated everything around the death eaters. They reveled in it. Their master had arrived and the fun was about to begin.
A man stepped through the broken doors. He wore tailored dark robes. He was tall with black hair and fair skin. His face was lean and almost angular. Like all powerful individuals his eyes were the most noticeable feature. They looked as if they were always reflecting a flickering bonfire no matter what the lighting was like. Amusement and rage were kept tightly under control in those eyes. He was obviously the reason for the change in atmosphere. When he stepped into the lobby the weight of his presence was excruciating.
"Master" the joker said "everything is prepared, but there are still guards in the vaults."
"Very good, it all begins here" the man spoke. His voice was smooth and powerful. Like his eyes it contained hints of something else. He wore a small smile.
Twenty two robed men were spread out across an enormous cavern. Several illumination spells had been cast on the walls surrounding the men. They stood watching a platform in the middle of the room. The leader of the men stood in front of a corridor that led out of the cavern. He was tall and balding. He spoke to his men with clear and commanding voice.
"Stay focused, we're professionals and we can beat whatever comes down here"
Both he and his men knew that if Voldemort was here his statement was entirely false. Nothing could stand against that monster in combat except Dumbledore. Even if Voldemort showed up he would fight him. He couldn't do otherwise. He was no coward.
"Sir, the lift is activating" The man next to him said. His voice had an audible quiver in it.
"Good! Put the lights out" the leader told his men "when I give the command throw everything at them!" The leader was nervous but didn't let anything show in his voice but determination. The men canceled the light spells on the walls and dropped darkness onto the room.
A grinding noise came from the roof of the cavern. A circle of light bloomed out from the center of ceiling. A circular stone platform slid from the ceiling. After the shock of the light wore off the men in the cavern could finally see the occupants of the lift. Four robed figures stood on the lift as it lowered into the cavern.
The lift lowered enough for the men to see the faces of the figures. Three of them wore silver masks. The one in front of the others had no mask.
"Please God no" one of the guards whispered.
"What do we do captain, it's him!"
The lift was half way to the floor.
"Focus everything on him when they reach the bottom" the captain said "we'll deal with the others when he is down." One of the guards muttered. "If he goes down."
The lift finally ground its way into slot in the floor.
The floor around the lift glowed gold and red as runes activated. The runes shot into the air and hovered at chest height. Electricity crackled and flashed between the floating sigils.
The guard captain called out "Now!"
All of the guards began firing spell after spell into the ward net. In moments the floating wards exploded from the immense energy being thrown at them After a minute of constant spellfire the guards fury slowed and finally came to a halt. Dust saturated the air. Nothing was visible in the center of the room.
After nearly a minute of silence one guard took a tentative step forward. "We did it. He's dead and we killed him. We..." The guard stopped speaking when he felt a hard jab in his back.
"Don't be hasty in your judgment." The quiet voice behind the guard managed to echo through the chamber. The guard's eyes widened. The men on the other side of the room had to dodge his torso as it flew at them.
The room erupted into chaos. The guards could not locate the death eaters or their master. Spells were now being cast in every direction. Several of the guards had already fallen to friendly spellfire. With only the light from offensive spells to see by no one could tell friend from foe in the semi-darkness. Someone thought to throw a light spell in the air to light the battle. Several curses hit him from different directions. Most of them were from his allies.
The light spell brightened the room enough for the guards to see their enemies. But over half of the guards were already down .In the center of the chaos the guard captain saw Voldemort walk through the battle untouched. The captain grabbed the man next to him and pointed at Voldemort. "We can end this now!". Ignoring the panic in the man's eyes the captain ran toward the dark lord with the guard in tow.
They stopped several meters from Voldemort. The guard captain took aim and fired an intense golden blast at the dark lords back. Just before it reached him Voldemort turned and flicked the spell away with his wand. Voldemort smiled a gentleman's smile at them as he raised his wand. The captain readied himself to throw another spell. But an intense green light erupted behind him. He felt something spread through his body that left him cold. The green light danced across his robes and skin and finally flashed from his eyes. The captain fell to the ground lifeless.
Surprise flickered across Voldemort's face for an instant. He lowered his wand and glanced around the room. The battle was over and all of the guards except the one in front of him were dead. He walked toward the remaining guard. He was muttering to himself as he knelt over the guard captain's body.
"Be silent" Voldemort said as he stopped in front of the kneeling guard. The guard breathed in sharply but stopped muttering. "Follow us if want to know you made the right choice."
The joker death eater walked over to his master and the kneeling man. He vanished the gore off of his robes before he reached them. "A new servant master" the joker said in a cheerful voice.
"Yes, now we move" Voldemort said "I have waited long enough for this." The other death eaters quickly followed their master as he strode toward an archway leading out of the room. The last guard hesitated but ran after them.
They traveled down a straight corridor until they found the path blocked by an enormous stone door with runes carved deeply into it. The woman death eater stepped forward. "I will break the wards milor..." she was silenced when the door exploded sending debris down the far corridor. The remains of the wards fizzled and sparked. She stared at them for a moment with a slightly put out look.
Voldemort smiled "We've no use for subtlety now" he said. They walked past the ruins and proceeded down the hall. The corridor ended in another large circular chamber. Light streamed through a hole in the middle of the domed ceiling. The light shone on a pure white marble pedestal in the center of the chamber. Wards were carved into the stone floor of the chamber and spiraled out from the pedestal. On the pedestal sat a gleaming blood red stone as large as an egg.
Voldemort stared at the stone. The bonfires in his eyes raged now. He stepped onto the warded floor.
The woman stepped to the edge of wards. "Milord, the wards!" She said.
Voldemort ignored her and continued forward. The Warded stones cracked beneath his feet before they could activate. He left a trail of broken fizzling stones in his wake. Voldemort stopped in front of the pedestal. The stone protrusion came up to his waist. His hand reached for the stone and closed around the gleaming thing. He held it up where it could catch the light coming from the ceiling. The light filtered through the red jewel and brilliant beams of the light shot out from it. One of the beams hit the traitorous guard in his eyes causing him to flinch.
Voldemort lowered the jewel and held it at his side. The hand holding the stone was bone white from the force of his grip. A jarring cracking sound came from the stone. Voldemort clenched his fist and crushed the brilliant jewel. Red powder poured out from his fist and between his fingers. He drew his wand from his belt as he turned toward his death eaters. The guard gazed into his master's eyes. Where the raging inferno had been was a pool of cold black nothingness. Voldemort brought his wand arm around in a forceful slash. A fiery red bar blasted from his wand and raged toward the guard. The man stood staring dumbly as the bright red light approached him. The bar of force sheered his skull off above his lower jaw. The guard's body stayed upright for moment as though confused by this new sensation. It fell to it's knees and finally to the cold stones of the floor. His jaw clicked when it hit the stone.
The death eaters edged away from the guards corpse and glanced nervously at their lord.
"Another fake" Voldemort said softly. His rage was now under control. The death eaters remained silent and their lord stood still as the last of the red powder had poured from his fist.
The door of the Hog's Head pub flew inward as yet another hooded and dark robed wizard entered the drinking house. He was followed by howling wind and a few stray snowflakes. All of the pubs occupants turned to watch him for a moment before they returned to their very private conversations.
One man's gaze lingered on the newcomer for a short time. This watcher was one of the few pub goers that had come without hiding his face. He had a long white beard that hung just below the cloth belt of his dark purple robes. A matching dark purple conical hat with embroidered silver stars graced his head and half-moon spectacles sat near the end of his nose. He spared the newcomer one last glance before turning back to his drinking partner at the bar. The woman he turned to was thin with frizzy hair and enormous glasses that magnified her eyes terribly. She wore a maroon shawl and dozens of strings of beads covering her robes.
"Pardon me Sybill, my age must be getting the better of me," the bearded man said, "what were you saying?"
"No trouble Albus," The woman said, "I was just about to tell that my great-great-grandmother was-"
" The renowned seer Cassandra Trelawney," the bearded man interrupted, "I believe you've already mentioned this."
The woman blushed slightly "I just wanted to clarify some of my qualifications," She said.
"They are clear as morning dew Sybill, The board of governors will let you know before the end of this school ye-"the man cut off his last word when noticed the woman had gone stiff in her seat. Her eyes rolled up and only white could be seen. She began to shake.
The bearded man looked at the bald bartender. "Aber, we need a room a now!" He said.
The bartender gestured to one of the keys hanging behind the bar and it flew into Albus' hand. All of the patrons of the pub ignored this except for the newcomer who watched the two move to the stairs. Albus quickly made his way upstairs with Sybill barely shuffling along beside him. They came out into a hallway with doors lining both walls. They entered one of the rooms and Albus set Sybill into a chair by the bed. He moved another chair in front of hers and sat down.
Sybill Trelawney began to speak in a hollow and harsh voice that clawed its way into Albus' ears.
The door to the room cracked open a tiny bit but Albus was too absorbed in what Sybill was saying to notice. Sybill spoke for what seemed like an eternity in that horrible voice. The door opened a little further and Albus finally noticed. He pulled his wand from his robes and jabbed it in the direction of the door. Two small orbs, one red and one blue zipped through the opening. The door slammed shut and a muffled whimper could be heard from the outside hall. The event took only a half of a second. Albus turned back to his new divinations professor dreading what he would hear and listened as she spoke. She said many things and Albus very much wanted to silence her. But he listened anyway. Albus had a terrible cold feeling when she finally slumped down into her chair. His brow was heavily furrowed and he sat stock still. Sybill's eyes fluttered open.
Albus' mouth was forming a smile that highlighted the wrinkles around his eyes. "Oh, my head aches terribly," she said as she rubbed her temples, "What happened?"
"You've caught a chill my dear," Albus said, "I'm afraid that this weather may have proven too much for you just now." The cold feeling had that had run through him remained. His hands shook and he felt very old just then. He looked toward the closed window of the room and watched the windblown snow drift by.
Sybill looked at him curiously
"Albus?"