Harry ran. He had been running for hours now, and was stumbling with weariness. The Snatchers had discovered their tent that morning, and he had led them away from Hermione. He could only hope that his ploy had been successful and his friends had escaped.

As he hurtled over a fallen log, his toe caught on a branch, sending him sprawling. Before he could get back up, they were upon him. Violent fists pummeled him, and he felt a icy burning in his leg as a knife stabbed down to the bone. Then, suddenly as it started, the assault ceased. There was a scream of pain, and the body on top of him was thrown off.

A woman's voice screeched at his attackers, "The Dark Lord wants him alive!" And then he knew no more.

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ

Harry awoke suddenly, finding himself on hard pavement. It had clearly been several hours, as the sun was now nearly setting. What he could see of the town he found himself in was ruined, looking as if a tornado swept through, destroying all in its path. Several nearby houses were burning fiercely, with no attempts to quench the flames. Cars littered the street, overturned and smashed, while telephone poles lay fallen and broken like twigs.

He sat up, looking around frantically to see that he was in a clear space blocked off by burning cars and fallen trees like an arena. Death Eaters in their cloaks and masks stood guarding the only gaps in the line. And at the opposite end of the makeshift colosseum stood a figure out of nightmares.

Lord Voldemort stood fingering his wand, sadistic amusement in his eyes, as he gazed upon the broken figure before him. To his surprise, Harry began struggling to stand, despite the fresh blood soaking his leg again as the wound reopened. The Dark Lord's mouth hardened into a vicious smirk, it was time to end this.

He strode forward, waving his wand toward Harry. The boy jerked back in fear, but only a thin stick hurtled toward him, clattering to his feet. As Harry bent to pick up the wand, Voldemort said, "It is time to finish the duel that was so rudely interrupted two years ago."

Harry struggled upright, the wand clenched in his fist. "I'm not afraid of you. I managed to save Hermione, and that's all I care about!"

"Really now? And who might that be?" Voldemort raised a hand, signaling the Death Eaters behind him. "Her perhaps?"

Behind him, two Death Eaters dragged a badly beaten Hermione forward, throwing her onto the street. When Harry saw his friend, he collapsed to his knees, beginning to sob at seeing her so. With a scream, he leveled his wand at Voldemort.

"You bastard! REDUCTO!"

The Dark Lord swatted away the jet of red light with a negligent wave of his wand. "Is that all you have in you boy," he sneered viciously.

In response, Harry began shooting curse after curse at his tormentor. "REDUCTO! REDUCTO! REDUCTO! SECTUMSEMPRA! CONFRINGO!!"

With disdainful ease, Voldemort tossed up a shield, letting the spells splash like water against his defense. "This is simply pathetic. Did your beloved headmaster never teach you anything?"

At the mention of his mentor and teacher, the vestiges of Harry's control snapped. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" A sickly green light erupted from his wand, narrowly missing Voldemort's head as the dark wizard simply sidestepped it, laughing at his victim.

"Ah ah ah, what would dear Albus say about that?" Voldemort flicked his wand at Harry, a shock wave slamming into him and throwing him into a smashed telephone pole. The Dark Lord leisurely walked over to where his fallen opponent lay groaning.

"And now, I grow bored of this game. After the graveyard and Ministry, I thought you might prove to be a worthy opponent, if given time. Sadly, you have disappointed me more than I can say. Goodbye Harry Potter." With that, Voldemort leveled his wand at Harry's face.

"AVA--"

In desperation, Harry seized the first thing that came to hand. He shoved the snapped power line straight into Voldemort's groin before he could finish the incantation. Electricity surged through both of them, catching Harry's shirt on fire. He held the cable as long as he could, before dropping it and rolling to put out the flames on himself. Before him lay the twitching form of Lord Voldemort. The end of the power line lay on his leg, electricity sparking all over his convulsing body. Across the street, Harry could hear the screams of the Death Eaters as their pain echoed their master's. One by one they fell, thrashing and screaming in pain. Finally, Voldemort's spasms caused the cable to fall off of him, and his seizures ceased. Harry peered very closely at him, attempting to see if the most feared wizard in a century survived. After several seconds, he shrugged and began kicking the body in the head as hard as he could, until the skull was crushed into a pulpy mash.

After he made sure his enemy was dead, he made his painful way over to Hermione. She had managed to prop herself in a sitting position against a Death Eater whose brains were leaking out of his nostrils and ears. As Harry approached, she burst into tears of relief.

Harry slumped down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. After a few minutes, her tear stained face looked up at him in wonder. He barely heard her whispered question above the noise of the fires.

"How?"

Harry smiled fondly at her. "That's my Hermione, always needs to know how."

She sighed in impatience, "I'm serious Harry!"

"You can't be Sirius, he died, remember?" Harry grinned slightly, remembering his godfather's love of that pun.

"Oh you are impossible. Just tell me already!"

"Well, since you asked so nicely... I hit him with a broken electric line. It zapped him to death, then I smashed his head."

The news seemed to shock the young woman into silence for a long moment.

Finally, she spoke again. "So... you mean to tell me that 'The Power He Knows Not' was alternating current?"