All was still in the 6th year Gryffindor boys dorm; soft snores came from four of the rooms occupants as they slept soundly, unaware that in just a few short hours their world would be changed forever. At exactly 4:00am a boy with raven hair rolled from his bed, his wand flashing an alert that it was finally time. Stalking from the room, he transfigured his nightwear into skin tight black battle robes, his face showed only grim determination and his emerald eyes flashed with barely concealed power. The castle was silent as he strode towards his destination; his previous planning ensured there would be no prefects or teachers patrolling the corridor. He mused at how easy it was to convince the house elves to slip slow acting sleeping droughts into the food that evening, they would do anything for their dear 'Golden Boy' after all, he did only what was for the greater good. How pitifully naïve.
Despite the stillness of the night, and his plan so far going off without a hitch, Harry Potter could not shake the feeling that something was entirely wrong. And as he moved quickly, yet silently, to the Astronomy Tower the feeling would only get stronger. He arrived at the closed door only to stop abruptly, his senses were on high alert and his magic pulsed off him in waves seeking the cause of his unease. Finding nothing in his immediate surroundings he relaxed slightly and began climbing the many stairs that would lead him to his freedom.
Upon arrival he set three wards on the stairwell; the first was a simple proximity alarm that would detect when someone was approaching, the second was an intent ward that would tell him if the one approaching meant him harm, and the third was similar to the thieves downfall in Gringotts, washing away any enchantment that would disguise their caster. His job finished, he settled in to wait.
It took only 10 minutes before his first ward was activated, sending a small current of magic down his spine, his second and third wards remained inactive, indicating the person approaching did not intend to maim or deceive him, and so he stowed away his wand and rose to greet his guest. Through the door came a tall 16 year old boy, his platinum blonde hair and pale skin shone in the moonlight, making him appear quiet ethereal and his ebony black cloak whipped around him as he stepped onto the exposed roof of the tower.
A smile of pure anticipation broke Harry's usual mask of calm indifference, his long legs carrying him quickly towards the other boy, however as the moonlight flashed across the face of Draco Malfoy he came to the sudden realisation that something was very wrong. Silver eyes that normally held such a mirage of emotions, usually glowed with a power that could almost rival Harry's own were empty. They were a dull grey, iris barely discernible from the milky white of the rest of the eye , Harry had seen enough death in his short life to know that the eyes of his boyfriend held no life at all. Quick as a flash he whipped his arm out, dropping into a fighting stance as his wand holster released his ebony wand into his expert grip. With a wave of his wand Harry cast a powerful bombarda at the door, blowing it to thousands of pieces that intercepted the bright green killing curse that had been fired from behind Draco's body.
"My my" a voice hissed "you have been practicing haven't you?"
"I have no time for your games, reveal yourself" Harry commanded, his magic rippling outwards tearing apart a disillusionment charm as it found his attacker. Before him stood an old man, frail in appearance yes, but powerful nonetheless "I would have been disappointed if you succumbed to the sleeping drought as easily as the others, Professor" he greeted.
"I'm glad I didn't disappoint my boy, you always did like a challenge. Not like poor Draco here, he wasn't quite up to par I'm afraid." With that said, the Headmaster swished his wand and the body of the aforementioned boy sailed towards Harry who, in his shock at the underhanded technique, was too slow to dodge and was blasted from the tower by the sheer force of the other body colliding with him.
He fell as though in slow motion, he saw as the Headmaster watched him fall for a moment, before shrugging and turning his back on the falling boy sure that his job was done. He saw as Draco spiralled towards the ground, gravity pulling him down faster and faster like claws tearing at him until he crashed into the ground, lying completely still as blood oozed from his body. He saw as a flash of red swooped from the sky and raced towards him showing no sign of stopping as it overtook him on the race to the ground, at the last minute the flash changed trajectory, turning upwards and catching Harry before disappearing in a flash of fire reappearing moments later safely on the ground.
The flash was of course Fawkes, Dumbledore's familiar and last member of its species. By saving Harry's life, Fawkes will have directly disobeyed his master's orders, ending with him bursting into flames once again, only this time he would not be reborn. A familiar betraying its master caused an instant death, no second chances.
Harry now had two choices; he could flee and attempt to fight another day, or he could attack now whilst Dumbledore was off guard and avenge the death of his boyfriend and Fawkes. The choice was an easy one. With a guttural scream he spread his arms wide and flung his magic at the base of the tower, warping the bricks and mortar until the very foundations could no longer support its great weight. Slowly the tower began to tilt towards the ground, before it too was caught in gravities cruel grip, it quickly gained momentum and fell with a deafening crash upon the ground, throwing a cloud of dust into the air that blinded the young Potter. Never one to underestimate his opponent, especially one as undeniably powerful as the Headmaster, Harry took no chances and banished the dust with a flick of his wand hoping to find the crushed remains of the old man sprawled before him. It was not to be, the Headmaster stood before him, a glowing shield of pure energy surrounded him ensuring no harm had befallen him when the tower crashed to the ground.
Wasting no time he launched a volley of curses at the old man, backing away quickly to create a wide berth between the two duellers. The curses he used were a variety of light and dark, testing his old mentor's reflexes and power levels, it wasn't looking good. Despite his age the older wizard was as nimble as Harry himself, dodging spells with impressive twirls and rolls and swatting aside those that came too close for comfort. Not to mention the speed in which he returned fire, spells flew from his wand in a constant stream, forcing Harry to erect his own shield spells in defence. Neither wizard spoke as they exchanged spells, they couldn't risk breaking their concentration for even a moment. 20 minutes into the fight Harry was forced to roll under a conjured fire whip, as he rolled he launched a volley of transfigured knives straight at his target whilst also summoning some of the remains of the fallen tower. Whilst Dumbledore could easily create a shield to protect against the knives, he did not expect to be stuck from behind by the summoned debris and stumbled forward. Harry, seeing this as his time to strike, summoned a multitude of snakes and commanded that they bind the Headmaster and bring his wand to him. With his opponent downed, Harry took a moment to observe his surroundings; the once beautiful grounds of Hogwarts were now unrecognisable having been burnt by the residual magic, craters of all sizes littered the ground where spellfire had crashed into the Earth. Hogwarts itself was almost unscathed, only the Astronomy tower was damaged as ancient magic protected the rest of the building from their duel, faces peered out of the windows having been awoken by the noise of the two combatants. Bringing his attention back to his downed opponent, he realised now that Dumbledore had not been able to defend against every spell as he first thought, burn marks littered the old wizards arms, a deep gash was still oozing from one of Harry's more powerful cutting curses and his nose seems to have been broken once again. Harry himself had not come away unscathed, a bite mark was evident on his wand arm courtesy of Dumbledore's transfigured wolf, he had a puncture wound in his left leg from a conjured steel spike and a few fingers seemed broken. But no matter, Dumbledore was finally his. With barely concealed glee he limped over to his fallen prey, watching as the other wizard struggled against his powerful binds "not so great now are we old man? Look how you've fallen, squirming at my feet"
"I knew I shouldn't have allowed you to be trained, I knew I should have left you weak and broken. Only then would I have been able to send you to your death, only then would you have weakened Voldemort enough for me to step in and become the hero. But no little Harry Potter had to…" Dumbledore was cut off abruptly by the biting voice of his defeater
"ah ah ah, your mad ramblings are best saved for someone who gives a damn. I just need access to your mind. I need answers." With that Harry stared directly into the old man's eyes, sending his mind crashing through Dumbledore's carefully constructed walls as though they were nothing, memories flashed by as he searched through the mind of his enemy. Eventually he came across the sequence of memories he was looking for; the first was of Dumbledore when he was much younger, he stood above a teenage boy that looked similar to Harry himself. Only this boy was called Tom Riddle, and his mind was currently being raped by Dumbledore's legilimency "soon boy, you will be broken, soon you will be insane enough to become the villain I need to make me a hero again". More memories came to his attention, Dumbledore standing before Peter Pettigrew torturing him until he agreed to sell James and Lily's position to Voldemort, Dumbledore as he paid Ron and Hermione to spy on him, Dumbledore as he put Bellatrix under the Imperious curse and made her send Sirius through the Vail. More and more memories flashed before his eyes, confirming everything he was told by Voldemort to be true, until eventually he caught a glimpse of platinum hair and he knew he'd found the memory that would be most painful for him to watch.
Memory:
Harry watched as Dumbledore stood facing the Slytherin common room, seemingly waiting for someone. After only 5 minutes of waiting, the wall slid open and Draco appeared in a swish of a long cloak, he glanced around, eyes slding right over Dumbledore's position, before setting off in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Harry was forced to watch as Dumbledore followed Draco, watching as the blonde teen stalked towards his destination, not once bothering to cast any detection spells 'oh Draco, your arrogance cost you your life this night' though Harry, waiting with bated breath until the inevitable fight broke out.
When he was a mere floor below the Astronomy Tower Draco suddenly span around, his wand flashed as he banished Dumbledore back down the corridor "you are a fool to believe I would not notice you old man, I can smell your foul stench from here" hissed Draco, wand already starting its next precise movement preparing to blast the Headmaster even further. However, Dumbledore was the Headmaster of the castle, and that did have its perks. Apparating behind Draco he cast an illusion spell that created 10 replicas that surrounded his prey, they all laughed manically "oh little one, you forget that I am your superior, prepare to die" as he said that, each replica launched the killing curse and not knowing which was real, Draco could not hope to defend, instead he stood tall. Facing death with an arrogance and pride that befitted the Malfoy junior, but all his training had been for naught.
Harry ripped his way from the memory, shaking with anger and sadness before looking once more into the eyes of his old mentor; this time he did not delve into his mind, instead he smiled slightly at what he was about to do and slashed his wand, separating Dumbledore's head from his body. "Well" he mumbled "that was anticlimactic" before sprinting for the forbidden forest.