Harry Potter: World at War
Chapter 3: The Ministry Gambit Pt. 3
"Wotcher Harry. Arthur got your message. They should be here soon."
"Tonks!" Harry exclaimed, grinning brightly. "That was brilliant!"
She laughed lightly, running a hand through her spiky pink hair. "Thanks Harry."
Her face hardened into an Auror's mask. "Now let's put the rest of these bastards six feet under."
Harry nodded grimly. "That's what we've been aiming for all night. They just keep coming."
Tonks flinched at the implication. "Did you? That's brutal. They don't teach that until the last week of the Auror training program. For my batch of recruits, they let us think that Stunners were our go to spell, not Bone-Breakers. Until one day, right before the final exam, Mad-Eye Moody pulled us aside one by one, and had us fight a handful of simulacrum enemies. "
"Yeah well, you figure it out real quickly when the Death Eaters pick each other up only seconds after being Stunned." Harry said crossly.
"That's exactly what Auror training was like." Tonks told him. "You'd stun them, they'd Rennervate each other, and either you'd figure it out, or you'd fail the exam."
"There was no exam to fail here." Harry laughed bitterly. "It was kill or be killed out here for a while."
"It still is." Tonks warned. "We need to get moving, I can only Apparate one of you at a time, so—"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Neville interrupted, gesturing with his left hand. "Look."
Harry followed his pointing finger. Malfoy was already scrambling to return to his feet, the twenty-odd Death Eaters remaining following suit in short order.
"Fuck." Tonks hissed through clenched teeth. "We can't leave until somebody else gets here. I can't leave any of you here to fight by yourselves, and I can't Apparate all of you at once."
"Fine." Harry said coolly. "We'll fight. We've been fighting these bastards all night, what's thirty more minutes?"
"Fuck." Tonks said again. "You guys are going to cost me my job. . . "
"Damn it. Fine," She agreed a moment later. "I'll be in the middle, hopefully drawing their fire away from you guys. Harry, you and Hermione stay on my left, and try to flank them, Neville, you and Luna do the same from the other side. Death Eaters generally have a hard time focusing on multiple targets at a time, so you're going to need to hit them hard, and hit them fast."
"We are going to have to kill them, or at the very least, put them down for the night." Tonks continued. "If Hogwarts curriculum is the same as when I went there, you don't know much that can help in the lethal department."
"Not really." Harry admitted.
Tonks shot a panicked look at the Death Eaters. "I'm going to have you guys try something quickly. The incantation for a Bone-Breaker is Ossum Fracturum. The wand movement is a counterclockwise half-circle, followed by a quick jab at your target. You won't have time to practice, so give yourself plenty of room to follow up with something you can cast if it fails."
The quartet of students nodded before breaking off into their respective groups. Harry and Hermione ducked behind a pile of upturned shelves, drawing their wands.
Harry chanced a peek above the shelf, catching a glimpse of Tonks dueling twenty Death Eaters simultaneously. She was flinging hexes faster than Harry had thought was possible, Bone-Breakers, Piercers, Cutters, Reductors, and even the occasional Stunner mixed in.
Despite her speed and power, a silvery transparent shield shimmered into existence before each one, easily stopping them. Harry scanned the crowd of Death Eaters, but couldn't locate the one responsible for the Death Eater's line of defense.
"Follow me." He whispered to Hermione. "I think there's only one or two Death Eaters in charge of the defensive magic, the shields are all way too similar to be cast by more than one person."
"So?" Hermione asked in a whisper.
"If we take the one Death Eater out. . . " Harry prompted.
"Then the rest should fall quickly." Hermione concluded.
"Exactly." Harry said. He peered around the corner, and as he'd hoped, all of the Death Eater's focus was on Tonks. Carefully, he gestured with his wand, the simple swish and flick he'd mastered years ago. "Wingardium Leviosa."
One of the fallen shelves from row thirty-four across the hall slowly rose off of the floor with the light groan of stressed metal. Hermione hastily cast a silencing charm at it, before motioning for Harry to continue.
Noiselessly, it glided above the marble floor, and Harry set it down right next to the one they were currently crouched behind. Using it as cover, the pair made their way around the left flank of the Death Eaters.
Then he saw it. Four Death Eaters stood in a square, facing outwards surrounding a fifth. The one in the center was kneeling over a small ceramic tablet that had a handful of golden runes carved on it. The Death Eater was chanting rhythmically at a constant pace, and was tapping the runes in a sequence that Harry couldn't follow. He only knew that whatever the tablet was, it was how the slim Death Eater threw shields up so quickly.
"Do you see that plate?" He asked Hermione in a whisper. She peeked over top of the shelves they were hiding behind, before hurriedly dropping back down. A yellow streak of light flashing above their heads indicated she'd been seen.
"Shit." Harry swore softly. "Disillusion quickly. Meet me over behind row forty-eight's shelves."
Not waiting for her reply, he applied a Silencing spell to his trainers, and then rapped himself on the head, feeling the icy burn of magic run down his neck. As soon as it took effect, he dove out from behind the broken shelves, sprinting across the polished marble floor.
And it was none too soon. The shelves detonated only a few seconds after he'd cleared them, flinging hot shards of metal and glass high into the air, peppering him with the hot debris. He could only hope that Hermione had escaped the blast, he had no time to look behind him.
A handful of Death Eaters started randomly throwing hexes around the confined space; Harry dropped to his back, skidding beneath a sickly orange curse that he didn't recognize, feeling the wave of magical backlash scorch the left side of his face as it passed overhead.
He turned the momentum from his slide into a sideways roll, returning to his feet only a moment later. Luckily, his maneuver seemed to have thrown off the Death Eaters, as they kept flinging a barrage of hexes at the gap where he'd been moments before.
Harry dropped to one knee behind an upturned shelf, stopping to catch his breath. He poked his head up above the shelf, scanning the room briefly. He saw Neville and Luna engaging the Death Eaters from the right flank, pulling some of the attention away from Tonks. One of the Death Eaters flung a pair of Explosive hexes at row forty eight's shelves, which glowed briefly, before blowing apart with a BANG!
He ducked back beneath the shelf. "Damn it." He muttered aloud. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."
He hadn't seen any sign of Hermione before the shelves detonated, but she was Disillusioned, if she'd gotten caught in the explosion. . . It was his fault.
He shook his head forcefully, trying to clear his mind of the thoughts. It didn't help anybody to be thinking like that, he needed to focus on the positives. He hadn't seen any sign of Hermione; therefore she had to have survived at the very least. If she was killed, the charm would have faded with her death. . .
Harry pressed himself tighter against the shelf; he knew he would only have a few seconds at the most before he got caught. "Homenum Revelio." He whispered. The spell rushed outward from his wand, swooping over everyone in the room, and at the same time, the Disillusionment washed away, unable to be maintained.
The Revelio spell gave him a brief glimpse of everyone in the Hall of Prophecy along with their locations, and currently there were eighteen Death Eaters along with Tonks, Neville, and Luna in the room.
Numbly, Harry fell back against the heavy shelving, his wand falling from his hand with a light clatter against the marble floor.
The shelving was then torn away from behind him with a spell, leaving him to fall flat on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling.
An unfamiliar burly Death Eater stepped into view, his wand in hand. "I've got you now Potter! There will be no escape this time!"
His wand tip never wavering, the Death Eater turned, shouting over his shoulder. "IT WAS NOTHING! CARRY ON!"
"There. Now they won't interfere." He said, pulling several of the destroyed shelves towards him with a flick of his wand. Another gesture and they rose up as barricades, high enough to hide a tall man standing up.
Harry didn't even blink. Whatever the Death Eater did to him, it was no less than he deserved. He'd gotten Hermione killed, and now probably Tonks and the others too. He simply didn't deserve to survive this battle.
Follow me Potter." The Death Eater snarled. "And none of your funny business. The Dark Lord wants you alive, but he won't care if you're banged up a bit first."
Numbly, Harry followed the man's orders, slowly rising to his feet.
CRACK!
A massive bear-like dog tackled the Death Eater, its huge fangs closing around his neck. With a disgusting sound, it tore the man's throat out, blood cascading from the exposed muscles. Simultaneously, its heavy paw knocked the wand out of the Death Eater's hand, where it spun underneath a shelf.
The dog spat the bleeding flesh out onto the dark floor, before launching itself at the Dark Wizard again. This time his terrible fangs sliced two gouges in the heavy bronze mask, shards of the metal lodging themselves in the Death Eater's eye and brain.
The Dark Wizard sank to the floor, unable to withstand the blood loss. He struggled to rise, managing to return to one knee, where with a gasp, he fell back to the floor lifeless.
The black dog reared up on its hind legs, before blurring into the familiar features of Sirius Black.
"That'll teach you to put your hands on my Godson again." He growled, kicking the Death Eater in the ribs with his booted foot.
"Sirius!" Harry cried, snapping out of his funk.
"Let's get going Harry". Sirius said hurriedly. "We've still got a shit-ton of Death Eaters to take out before the night is over."
"NO!"
The vehemence in Harry's tone surprised even him. "No." He repeated more softly this time.
"We can't stay. We're dead if we stay. Dead like. . . like Hermione." He admitted.
"What are you talking about?"
Harry glanced up, meeting Sirius' eyes. "Hermione's dead. We were hiding behind one of the shelves, when the Death Eaters blew it up. I escaped, but when I used Homenum Revelio, she wasn't there."
Sirius barked out a laugh, before catching sight of Harry's expression.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "When I Apparated in the first time, Hermione had gotten caught in the backlash of an Explosive hex, her Disillusionment had faded, and she was unconscious: I scooped her up and Apparated out, nobody had even noticed my entrance. She is alive, she's laying on a couch in Grimmauld Place right now."
Harry sighed, scrambling to his feet. "Let's get out of here then."
Sirius shook his head. "We can't!" He insisted.
"Why not?" Harry demanded. "There are twenty Death Eaters over there! Why would we want to stay?"
"Why?" Sirius cried. "Where's your sense of adventure Harry? We've haven't had a chance like this in decades! Voldemort only had a hundred or so Death Eaters last time, and he didn't commit this many to a battle very often! At least a third of his Inner Circle is here tonight!"
"And so are four Hogwarts students!" Harry snapped back. "I don't need a sense of adventure to tell me that we shouldn't risk trying to stay here any longer. As it is, Voldemort himself is probably on his way here right now! Trust me I've dueled him; we don't have what it takes to stop him Sirius!"
His Godfather laughed. "What do you mean we don't have a chance? He's one man; he can't match us. Moody's the best we've got, he's been fighting for years. Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, unless you've fought one, you can't hope to beat them, because they can move their bodies in ways not even possible. Shacklebolt, Remus, Arthur and I fought in the last war. Four of us have Auror training, one is a fucking werewolf with all the extra strength that provides, and the last is a goddamned Weasley! Voldemort won't know what hit him!"
"You do make a good case of the six of you being a match for him." Harry acknowledged. "But Voldemort isn't like any other wizard, he's faster, stronger, and knows more magic than the rest of us can even imagine."
Sirius scoffed. "Don't you start worrying about me pup. Trust me when I say we can do this."
"If you're that confident that you can stop him. . . " Harry said dubiously.
"Of course we can." Sirius proclaimed, jabbing himself in the chest. "I've out-dueled the Black sisters; I could probably stop him by myself if I had to."
Harry shook his head. "Fine… Do what you want, I certainly can't stop you. But if we are going to stay and fight, we need to start fighting. Tonks has been fighting the Death Eaters alone, and while she's nimble, she can't dodge their curses forever, and she can't get anything past that damned tablet."
Sirius looked at him quizzically.
Harry ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "There's this guy in the center. He's got some plate of stone: it's got some Ancient Runes carved on it, and every time he activates one, this shiny silver shield blocks everything Tonks or the others can muster."
Sirius stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "I don't really remember what they're called, but I think remember reading about them in Ancient Runes back in school. If I can recall correctly, the easiest way to overload it will be to hit it from multiple locations at once. Of course, that would reveal our position to the Death Eaters. . . "
"What about a Summoning Charm?" Harry asked. "Would that count as a second spell hitting the shield?"
"Probably," Sirius agreed. "In fact. . . That's probably our safest bet too. I'll go join Tonks on offense, and you summon the tablet as soon as you hear me cast a spell. If we're lucky, the Death Eater can't do a damn thing about it."
"And if we're not?"
"Then we go to Plan B."
"What's Plan B?"
"B as in Blow this fucking place sky high!" Sirius laughed. "Let's go."
He disappeared with a thunderous CRACK!
"Hey fuckwads!" Harry heard Sirius shout out. "I'll give ten thousand Galleons to the first person to hit me with a curse!"
There was a loud clamor, and Harry heard a new barrage of curses begin.
"Now, now girls," Sirius continued. "I never said I'd stand still."
"Ossum Fracturum!" He shouted.
Harry raised his wand. "Accio Tablet!"
He felt the familiar rush of the Summoning charm, but the spell failed to actually latch onto to anything, instead simply withering away as soon as he lowered his wand.
"Damn it." He hissed.
"There he is!" A voice shouted from the other side of the shelves. "It's Potter!"
Harry quickly reapplied his Disillusionment Charm, before sprinting out from the cover of the shelves. Neville and Luna were trading curses with a small contingent of Death Eaters, Tonks and Sirius were battling a few others, and the few remaining Death Eaters were still protecting the tablet in the center of the room.
A pair of Death Eaters broke off from where they'd been fighting Neville and Luna, sprinting over to where Harry had just been.
Taking careful aim, Harry flung a wide Slashing hex at them, bisecting both neatly at chest level.
His Disillusionment gone, Harry joined Sirius and Tonks in battle.
"Did you get the tablet?" The former asked as he spun past, dodging a spell.
"No," Harry called back, as he hurled a Bombardment charm at the crowd of Death Eaters. "It resisted the summoning. Do you have another idea?"
Harry jumped over a slicing hex, letting it fly behind him harmlessly.
Tonks interrupted him. "What are you talking about, 'tablets'?"
"That thin guy in the middle." Harry said pointing. "He's got some runic tablet that is summoning the shield."
"Is it a Tablet of Algiz?" Tonks asked, blocking a Bone-Breaker with a golden dome shield.
"Maybe? I've got no clue what that thing is." Harry admitted, sidestepping a blue curse.
"Is it ceramic with golden runes?"
"Yeah, I think so anyway." Harry said, trying to remember as he put a Piercer through another Death Eater's eye.
Tonks cursed loudly, ducking below another curse.
"Is it as bad as I fear?" Harry asked.
"Worse. A Tablet of Algiz will block all incoming spells, as long as its controller keeps up the spell." Tonks explained. "I don't know of anything strong enough to destroy it."
"Has anyone tried an Unforgivable on it?" Sirius asked, as he joined the conversation.
"I doubt it." Tonks snorted. "Most Aurors enjoy their freedom too much to attempt to use such a spell, and only the really old families still have a Tablet of Algiz anyway. The Blacks probably have one in their vault, same with the Potters. To be honest a lot of the Death Eater's Inner Circle would have access to one."
"It's not like Fudge can put any higher of a price on my head." Sirius joked. "Avada Kedavra!"
The ominous jet of green light sped across the room, and detonated against the silver shield as it shimmered into view.
It wasn't even a contest. The power of the Killing Curse was too great, and the shield gave way after only a few seconds.
Sirius' aim had been true, and his spell hit the Death Eater who had been operating him the tablet, causing him to topple forward limply.
"Deprimo!" Harry cried. The tablet exploded with in a flash of white light, sharp shards of ceramic clattering to the floor.
"Now we're talking." Tonks grinned.
"About time," Harry said. "We've only got a few of the key players left to take out."
"Only a few of us left?" Malfoy asked, drawing attention back to him. "They are still ten Death Eaters here Potter. Not to mention that bitch Bellatrix running around somewhere."
CRACK!
"You called?" Bellatrix asked, appearing by Malfoy's side. Meeting Harry's gaze, she winked, so quickly it might not have even occurred.
"We are the Dark Lord's best and brightest." He continued, as if she wasn't there. "You may have taken some of us out, but there are even more still on the way. You will die tonight."
An orange jet of light flew from the upper dais of the room. Standing on the balcony were several familiar members of the Order of the Phoenix, all launching volleys of curses down on the Death Eaters.
Arthur Weasley stood in the forefront, Lupin, Shacklebolt, and Mad-Eye Moody flanking him.
The appearance of the Order distracted the remnants of the Death Eaters, and they were forced to contend with the double sided assault. Arthur Weasley hopped off of the dais onto one of the few standing shelves. He took a running start along the length of the shelf, before diving off onto Malfoy below him.
Harry gaped in shock. One of the Death Eaters moved to interfere, but was blocked by a gesture from Bellatrix.
Similarly, the Order members knew that this was Arthur's fight.
The two rolled back and forth, before Arthur managed to get the blond man pinned beneath him. His wand forgotten, Arthur simply drove his fist into the aristocrat's pale face again and again, not stopping even as blood flowed freely from Malfoy's nose.
The Death Eater rolled to the side, reversing the hold. He grabbed Arthur's head, and slammed it into the marble floor with a loud thud. He pulled it back and slammed it a second time.
CRACK!
Harry couldn't believe it, Arthur had Disapparated! Even with his head being pounded into the flour, he had summoned the energy for an Apparition!
He reappeared above the Death Eater, one foot pushing Malfoy's face into the stone floor. "For all you had done Lucius. . . " He said slowly. "For all you had said, I still would have let you live. But then you had to take it too far. You tried to get my baby girl killed."
He ground the heel of his shoe into Malfoy's skull. "How does it feel to be licking the floor Lucius? Familiar? Of course, you don't have Voldemort's hems in your mouth, that's probably a disappointment."
Harry couldn't believe it. He'd never seen Mr. Weasley this. . . cold before.
"You are still beneath me Weasley." Malfoy spat. "Fighting like a common Muggle? Pathetic."
"Pathetic?" Arthur asked. "Perhaps, but it is rather effective. Here you are, the great Lord Malfoy, on the ground beneath my feet."
He drew his foot back, lashing out with a series of vicious stomps to Malfoy's kidneys.
The Death Eater coughed weakly. "Is that your best shot? I should have expected as much from the common rabble."
Arthur bent down, and in a show of surprising strength, lifted Malfoy up by the nape of his neck. "You may consider me to be a Blood-Traitor Lucius, but at least I can say I still have my dignity."
He dropped Lucius, who fell back to the floor, before grabbing the Death Eater's fallen wand. "This piece of wood is your entire life Lucius. And yet. . . " With a twist of his fingers, the eighteen inches of elm snapped, the wood falling to the floor. "Like that, it's over."
"Stand up and die on your feet like a man Death Eater." Arthur ordered. "I'm done fighting you. One way or another you will die now."
"I'll never bow to you Blood-Traitor." Lucius whispered. "I do have some dignity left."
Harry couldn't tear himself away. He had never seen Arthur fight like this.
"Be my guest." Arthur snarled. He bounced the heavy silver snake headed hilt of Lucius' wand on the palm of his hand. With a move so fast his hands blurred, he flung the ornate chunk of metal at his rival's head, and turned away, never seeing the impact, or the spray of blood that spattered the floor.
"Bravo, a wonderful show Arthur." Bellatrix said with a light round of applause. "I've wanted that bastard dead for years now."
"Don't get too excited Bellatrix." Arthur said calmly. "We aren't going anywhere."
He gestured around the atrium with his hand. "You may outnumber us, but your men are weary, mine are fresh."
He pointed at Malfoy's limp form lying in a pool of his own blood. "We can out-fight you."
He leveled his wand at the Dark Witch. "And we certainly don't fear you. Surrender now, and go to Azkaban. Fight us, and you will not survive the encounter. Every member of the Order here today is more than willing to kill scum like you."
"What makes you think you can compete with me Weasley?" She hissed. "You may have knocked off a Malfoy, but he wasn't even a match for my sister. I suggest that you leave, and I may yet let you live."
"I am more than—" Arthur began.
No longer willing to wait for the man's reply, Sirius sprang into action. He flung a pair of Bone-Breakers at his cousin, who casually deflected them.
And with that strike, the temporary truce was over. It soon descended into all out chaos. Sirius squared off against Bellatrix, the two of them trading spells so fast their wands were a blur. Shacklebolt took on the two Lestrange brothers, holding his own against the powerful duo. Lupin caught Wormtail with a Stunner right off the bat, taking the rat out of the fight. Another spell wrapped him in ropes and suspended him from the ceiling.
Harry tried to get to Sirius, but got swept up in a duel of his own against a Death Eater he didn't recognize. He dodged two curses, before trying out the Bone-Breaker: "Ossum Fracturum!"
A grey jet of light crackling with black lightning hit the Death Eater in the chest, snapping his sternum. He fell to his knees, and a Slashing hex ended the fight.
Not even pausing, Harry jumped over his fallen foe, tossing a Piercing hex at another masked Death Eater who was dueling Lupin.
The werewolf used the distraction well, and a well-placed Reductor took the Death Eater out. "Get out of here Harry!" He shouted. "We'll handle this; you worry about getting your friends out!"
Harry ignored him, sprinting past. He needed to warn Sirius. He needed to tell him that Bellatrix was on their side!
The only duel that was still in between him and Sirius was Shacklebolt and the Lestranges.
Shacklebolt had been forced on the defensive, unable to do anything except backpedal and try to block the brothers' hexes. As Harry watched, the Order member deflected a Piercing hex, back-stepping to avoid a Killing Curse.
Shacklebolt threw himself to the side, two more Killing Curses impacting harmlessly against the dark marble.
"Try to dodge this Shacklebolt!" One of the brothers snarled. "Fulguri Fortus!"
A huge blinding bolt of white lightning left his wand tip, with a thunderous CRACK!
Harry blinked rapidly, trying to clear the white spots from his eyes.
Shacklebolt conjured an ornate silver shield before him, right before the bolt crashed into it with a resounding GONG! Shacklebolt tightened his grip around his ash wand, pouring as much energy as he could into sustaining the conjuration.
The metal took on a soft cherry hue as the heat from the lightning seeped into the silver shield. After only a few moments, Shacklebolt's shield fell, and the bolt of lightning struck him in the chest, tossing him high into the air.
"Expulso!" Shouted the other Lestrange, tracking the falling Order member with his wand: the jet of blue light blew Shacklebolt apart, showering the room with a spray of blood and gore.
"Vercundus!" Harry roared, as a spatter of hot blood splashed across his face. His Bludgeoner knocked one of the brothers off of his feet, throwing him back into a pile of shelves.
A Bone-Breaker to the skull silenced the fallen Lestrange, in a shower of bone and brain matter leaving Harry alone to fight his brother.
"You killed Shacklebolt." Harry said darkly. "You've killed so many. There isn't anything I can do for Kingsley, except to avenge him. Depulso!"
Lestrange flew off of his feet, but in a surprisingly display of athleticism, managed to flip around in mid-air, landing casually on his feet.
"I have killed many," Lestrange admitted, as he and Harry started to circle one another. "But you shall be my favorite victim."
"Avada Kedavra!" He roared suddenly.
The sickly green jet flew towards Harry.
The teen slid beneath the curse, feeling its energy rustle his hair. Flipping up, he flung a Piercer at Lestrange, drilling a neat hole in the man's shoulder.
Lestrange laughed, even as he wrapped the wound with a spell. "Nice going Potter, you've killed again. But this time. . . it was one of your own."
Harry spun around as fast as he could.
"Sirius!" He shouted desperately.
His Godfather turned, only to take the full force of Lestranges Killing Curse; his gaunt face barely had time to register his shock, as the light left his eyes.
No." Harry whispered weakly. "Not Sirius. Not him too. He's all I had left."
Lestrange laughed again. "I can't believe it! The great Sirius Black and he didn't even see it coming. But I can't leave his body there, somebody could trip: Deprimo!"
Harry gaped as Sirius' body rose in the air in slow motion. A pulse of magic rocked the room, forcing Harry to shield his eyes.
A huge BOOM echoed loudly in the Hall of Prophecy. Slowly, Harry opened his eyes; where Sirius' body had hung. . . was empty.
Harry cast his gaze around desperately, searching for Sirius' laughing face. Hoping to see him pop up and grin like nothing had happened. But all he could see was Bellatrix; now dueling her husband.
Lestrange ducked below the green curse flung at him, drawing Harry's attention back to Sirius' killer.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Bellatrix shouted, her eyes blazing. "DON'T STEAL FROM ME!"
Lestrange tossed his wand down, raising his hands. "Bella dear… Calm down. It was an accident."
He backpedaled frantically, pointing at his wand. "Bella. . . See? I put the wand down Bella. I didn't mean to steal your kill!"
"YOU STOLE FROM ME!" Bellatrix snarled.
"Bella please!" Lestrange pleaded, dropping to his knees. "Don't!"
"Don't worry Rodolphus." She said menacingly. "You'll never steal from me again."
"Don't do this Bella! Please! You're my wife!" Lestrange begged sobbing. "Please."
"Good-bye Rodolphus." Bellatrix said cruelly, raising her wand. "It's been a fucking horrible marriage. Avada Kedavra!"
There was a flash of green, and Lestrange fell over lifelessly.
Bellatrix marched over to where Harry stood, resting her wand against his heart.
In a voice low enough that only he could hear, she whispered. "Sorry about Sirius, I was trying to keep him alive. I'm going to return to the Dark Lord, but by the Equinox, I should have escaped his control. Meet me in Grimmauld Place as soon after then as you can, we will have a lot to discuss."
Harry nodded slightly, but for the benefit of those watching raised his voice. "Get out of here Lestrange. Crawl back to your master and lick your wounds: and if we meet in battle again. . . I won't be so lenient."
Bellatrix Disapparated with a crack, leaving Harry alone in the middle of the room; panting, Harry pocketed his wand and rested his hands on his knees.
Lupin rushed over. "Harry! What did Bellatrix say to you? She's not known for fleeing during a battle."
"She told me that I was a powerful wizard." Harry lied easily. "And that if I choose to switch sides in this war, she'll happily vouch for me to Voldemort."
Lupin raised an eyebrow. "She had to have known you would refuse outright."
"She was probably crazy." Harry said. The werewolf gave him an odd look, but Harry moved past him over to where Luna and Neville stood.
"Hi Harry!" Luna said eagerly.
"Hey Luna," Harry said tiredly. "Glad to see you two made it out alright."
"We're both fine," Neville told him. "But, do you know what happened to Hermione? I haven't seen her since we split up earlier."
"She's okay." Harry said, his voice shrinking to a whisper as he fought back tears. "Sirius. . . Sirius got her out after she got injured."
"I saw what happened to Black." Neville said quietly. "I'm sorry brother."
The teen stepped forward, and in a surprising move, pulled his Godbrother into a hug.
For the first time since the lethal curse had struck Sirius, Harry allowed himself to grieve.
Harry shuddered; eyes squeezed shut as he fought to keep the tears at bay. Thick dry sobs wracked his body as he buried his face in Neville's shoulder. Only once he was sure that nobody could see, did he finally allow the tears to flow, the hot liquid running down his face, staining Neville's robes.
Luna joined in, wrapping her slim arms around the brothers. "Oh Harry." She said softly, tears glistening in her blue eyes. "I'm so sorry; you two barely had time to get to know one another."
"Now isn't this sweet?" A high cold voice interrupted after a few moments.
Harry pulled away from Neville, and whirled around, drawing his wand from his robes, the burn in his scar telling him who it was immediately.
Voldemort.
Harry's heart sank. How would they ever get out of the Ministry now? In his peripheral vision, he saw Luna and Neville raise their wands beside him.
"You three sharing a moment of such remorse," Voldemort continued from where he stood on a shelf: "How pitifully human of you."
"Ossum Fracturum!" Harry roared suddenly, hoping to catch the Dark Lord by surprise.
Yet, without even flinching, Voldemort casually caught the spell, balancing the volatile magic on his palm; he molded the jet of light into an orb, before shifting it through various shapes in his hand.
Luna gasped.
Harry caught a glimpse of a dragon, a snake, and lion, before Voldemort spoke again.
"A Bone-Breaker?" He remarked, his eyes never leaving the entrancing dance of the magic. "Dumbledore certainly didn't teach you a move like that. He preaches love and tolerance. Who taught the little lion how to use his claws?"
"An Auror did." Harry growled. "And that's not all she taught me!"
"Depulso!" He cried, wand aimed at the floor.
The Banishing hex flung him high in the antechamber, higher than even Voldemort standing on the shelf.
"Bombarda Maxima!" Harry cried, wand pointed at Voldemort.
Only to gasp helplessly as he was seized by an unseen force, rendering him immobile in the air; without a complete wand movement, his spell fizzled into nothing. His wand was torn out of his grasp, falling dozens of feet to the stone floor with a clatter.
Voldemort laughed, his right hand still holding the Bone-Breaker. "Nice try Potter, but you don't have the magical power to fight me. I can control the world around me with a mere thought, and you can't do anything about it."
"Reducto!" Neville shouted out from below. The blue curse flew towards Voldemort, but without shifting his gaze from Harry, the Dark Lord knocked it aside, the spell disintegrating a small pile of rubble against a wall.
"Don't bother Longbottom." Voldemort said casually. "You'll be my next target; after all, you were also born in July were you not?"
Neville just stared at the Dark Lord blankly.
Voldemort ignored the boy and flung Harry's own curse at him; the Bone-Breaker balanced for a moment on the flesh of Harry's shoulder, before sinking beneath the skin.
Harry threw his head back as he felt the shoulder snap under the force of the spell. He dug his fingernails into his palm as he fought to keep from screaming. He refused to give Voldemort the pleasure.
"Didn't hurt." Harry spat through clenched teeth.
"Oh really?" Voldemort said. "Then I apologize for disappointing you. Try this one with my sincerest thanks: Crucio!"
The scarlet curse struck Harry in the thigh, the pain radiating out from impact. It felt like a thousand white hot knives digging into every pore of his body. His skull throbbed in time with the burn of his scar, amplifying the sound of the blood rushing through his ears.
He swore he could feel his flesh being torn off in strips, as he was flayed alive. And then a moment's relief as the pain eased, only for it to start all over again.
The pain was so all-consuming, so overwhelmingly encompassing that he was unaware of where he was or what was going on. He was vaguely aware of somebody screaming horrifically in the background, and only later would he realize it was his own.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.
Harry slumped over, still caught in the grasp of Voldemort's spell. He was panting, short quick breaths taken in shallow gasps; he couldn't get enough oxygen through the pressure of the spell.
"Why?" He gasped out. "Why haven't they helped yet?"
Voldemort laughed the sound echoing high and cold throughout the room.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" He laughed again. "I cast an altered Notice-Me-Not charm. They can't even tell that I'm here yet."
"Dumbledore—" Harry started, before a coughing fit overtook him, and his chest seized up.
"Dumbledore will recognize your magic." He continued when he'd recovered.
"He'll stop you." Harry insisted weakly.
"Perhaps. . . " Voldemort acknowledged, "But he has not crossed wands with me for fifteen years. Even for a great wizard like Dumbledore, age will take its toll. He has only slowed over the years, whereas this body is as agile as I've been."
"There is nothing you can do to escape Potter." The Dark Lord declared triumphantly. "The Notice-Me-Not won't fall until I'm far away from the Ministry. And by then. . . it'll be too late for your Order to save you."
Harry strained against his invisible bonds. "Dumbledore knows I'm here! He'll be here soon enough."
"Didn't we just cover this?" Voldemort laughed. "He can't match me, nobody can. I personally altered the spell so that even the most esoteric of the magical arts won't be able to bring it down."
"Are you sure of that Voldemort?" A calm voice asked quietly.
The Dark Lord spun around.
Arthur stood on an upper dais; he was flanked by Tonks, Moody, and Lupin.
"How did you get past my barrier?" Voldemort demanded. "What magic did I miss?"
"The same kind Dumbledore has been trying to teach you for many years." Arthur told him. "The simplest spells are the ones you always overlook. A Finite easily brought it down, after Remus realized your scent was in the room."
"Of course," The Dark Lord laughed. "The mongrel has an enhanced sense of smell; I should have remembered as much."
"Don't worry." Lupin said from where he stood at Arthur's shoulder. "I'll be sure to kill you now. Then you'll never have to worry about it again."
Voldemort undid the clasp of his cloak, letting it fall to the floor far below. Underneath he wore a set of tight fitting robes that left his movements unhindered. "You can try; but like all the others you will fail."
Lupin hurled a silent Bone-Breaker at the Dark Lord. Close behind it were a trio of curses that Harry didn't recognize.
Almost casually, Voldemort batted them aside with his wand, the spells detonating against the wall and ceiling.
Harry struggled again, but even while still dueling four accomplished wizards, the grip of Voldemort's spell never lessened. Below, similar strained grunts told him that Luna and Neville were trapped as well; clearly this was a battle of pride for the Dark Wizard.
Moody flung a Severing hex, but Voldemort simply stepped aside. "You're getting a tad sloppy with your wand work there Alastor!" He called mockingly. "Maybe if I had one wooden leg that would have caught me, but apparently I'm still too fast for you."
Moody roared out an unintelligible reply, before leaping off of the dais. A barrage of curses left his wand, as he chained spell after spell together.
Voldemort was forced onto the defensive as he fought to stop the flurry of spells; he deflected a handful, a Summoned shelf took the brunt of another dozen, and he managed to shield against the rest, but Moody's last curse made it past the Dark Lord's guard, punching through the magical barrier, and continuing on unhindered. Voldemort jerked away just in time, however the grizzled Auror still scored a hit, opening up a slim wound against his cheek.
Harry cheered inwardly, despite the pressure of Voldemort's curse holding him in place.
"Impressive speed with that last one Alastor." Voldemort admitted, as he healed the wound on his cheek. "But you still can't defeat me alone. And your three friends appear to have abandoned you to their own devices."
Moody's magical eye spun wildly in its socket, confirming the Dark Lord's assessment. Lupin, Tonks, and Arthur were gone.
"I don't need them to defeat you." Moody growled. "I've taken down more Dark Wizards than even you're likely to ever meet."
"Perhaps… But would you care to test that against me in a duel by yourself?" Voldemort asked lightly.
"Of course you wouldn't." Voldemort continued. "Even the great Auror Alastor Moody knows he can't defeat a wizard of my caliber on his own. I have defeated the best there has ever been. I've beaten Albus Dumbledore. I've demolished and killed the immortal Nicholas Flamel. I've even battled a Greater Daemon once upon a time. I've never lost a duel; and you certainly won't be the one to break my streak."
"That's a lie!" Harry shouted from where he hung suspended in the air. "Dumbledore's beaten you! He's the only one you've ever feared!"
"Dumbledore has never out-dueled me!" Voldemort shouted; a wave of Dark Magic washing over the room as his black aura surged.
Moody was thrown backwards by the force of the surge, his wooden leg splintering on impact. He lay on the ground panting, unable to return to his one leg. He pressed and hand to his fight and let out a groan. Clearly he wouldn't be rejoining the fight.
"He has driven me back exactly twice. But never once has he even landed a curse on me, let alone successfully defeated me. Meanwhile, I've hit him with several curses, and if it wasn't for that damned Phoenix of his, he'd have fallen to my Avada many years ago." Voldemort insisted.
"In fact, I would go as far as to say he can't beat me. I am far more powerful than Grindelwald ever was, and it took every ounce of strength Dumbledore had to take him down. The old fool could never—"
Voldemort's rant was interrupted when a huge metal fist knocked him to the floor.
He righted himself, landing in a battle crouch, and cast his gaze upward. Arthur Weasley stood at the head of a massive magical golem animated from the many destroyed shelves that littered the floor. On either side of him stood Tonks and Lupin, wands raised.
Arthur threw a few practice punches, and the golem shadowed his movements exactly. A grin crossed his face.
Voldemort leapt up, his ritual-enhanced body easily jumping forty feet into the air.
Verbally casting for the first time since he'd appeared in the ministry, Voldemort violently jabbed his yew wand forward. "Confringo Maxima!"
The fiery hue of the Blasting curse burned brightly in the dim chamber, leaving flaming streaks in Harry's vision.
As he blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes, he briefly saw Tonks and Lupin standing wands raised: their wand tips glowed briefly, and in a flash of purple, a transparent magical shield appeared between the golem and Voldemort.
The dual efforts of Tonks and Lupin held against the Blasting curse, and Voldemort quickly abandoned the spell, rather than enter a contest of willpower against the two.
He flung a Shield-Breaker at the golem, shattering the magical barrier in a shower of purple sparks.
Pressing his advantage, Voldemort wandlessly loosed a powerful bolt of black lightning from his left hand. It staggered the golem back, the metal twisting under the force of the spell.
He conjured a spray of acid from the end of his wand, the viscous green liquid eating away at the golem's chest where it hit.
Arthur lashed out with his left foot, the golem's leg following suit. Voldemort was thrown high in the air from the force of the blow, wincing as his ribs audibly cracked.
He hit the area with a numbing charm, and sprang up from the floor, just in time to avoid a brutal stomp.
Voldemort Apparated without a sound, reappearing behind Arthur.
"You fought well Weasley." He acknowledged.
Arthur whirled around to face him, abandoning his connection to the golem. Beside him, Tonks and Lupin also spun, only to be hit with a pair of Immobilizing hexes, locking them in place.
"Almost like a true Pureblood." Voldemort continued casually. "But in the end, like all Blood-Traitors, you shall die."
"If I fall with my wand raised against you, then I've died a hero." Arthur said bravely. "I've done my best to keep my children safe from a monster like you. What more can a father do? You may call me a Blood-Traitor, but I'd rather turn my back on Pureblood customs than turn away from the side of light."
"It is exactly that attitude that prevents you from reaching the top ranks of my Death Eaters." Voldemort said sadly. "With your magical power, and the ingenuity you've displayed, you could have replaced even Bellatrix."
"But sadly, you've aligned yourself with the relic." Voldemort shook his head. "Such wasted potential: what a shame. I'll give you one chance to throw your wand down and join me. All will be forgiven, even the death of dear Lucius. Just toss your wand aside, and accept my Mark."
Arthur raised his wand in a familiar dueling pose. "You already know my answer. Why should I bother wasting my breath?"
"A pity," Voldemort hissed. "I'd rather liked to have added a Weasley to my collection."
"It shall be a duel then." He continued. "And as the challenger, I'll even allow you first strike."
Arthur licked his lips nervously. "How generous of you." He muttered darkly.
When it came, his spell was quick and brutal. "Ossis Praemium!"
Voldemort was faster.
He caught the spell on the tip of his wand, and in a single wide gesture, returned it to its caster.
The black jet of light struck Arthur in the chest. Shards of gore-encrusted bone exploded forth, as Arthur's body fell back off of the golem and out of sight.
Harry's scream of rage and pain was silenced as the pressure of Voldemort's spell tightened across his chest.
Tears fogged up his glasses as Arthur's mangled body landed far below him. The Weasley patriarch hadn't deserved such a brutal death. He was only there to clean up Harry's mess.
Voldemort would pay.
"Impressive spell work Weasley." Voldemort said from the head of the golem. "I wouldn't have expected one of Dumbledore's lackeys to be so. . . ruthless. A Bone-Exploder?"
He waved his wand, freeing Lupin and Tonks. "You two are next. Who would like to be first?"
Neither answered, but both moved on the offensive, circling around Voldemort in opposite directions.
He just shook his head, a grin playing on his lipless mouth.
The Dark Lord crouched and leapt straight up: he flipped around in the air, leveling his yew wand at the space he'd just been.
"Ignis Malum!"
The deadly Fiendfyre left his wand, the all-encompassing blaze taking the shape of a fiery Basilisk. Its long coils tightened around the golem's form, the metal groaning and blistering under the wave of heat.
Twin screams erupted from the blaze as the maw of the basilisk swooped down and engulfed the head of the golem.
Harry saw a shape within the oily flames bend and contort as it started to grow. As the last of the golem disintegrated into a pile of ashes, a huge furred shape leapt from the burning remnants, its shaggy coat ablaze.
Moony carefully set Tonks down on the cool marble floor as he roared a challenge to the falling Voldemort. It was for naught, as the sentient fire engulfed him once again, drawing the werewolf deeper into the heart of the Fiendfyre.
Tonks coughed violently, as thick black ash spewed from her lungs. She groaned, as she fought to return to her feet.
Voldemort dispelled the Fiendfyre with a flick of his wand as he fell to the floor, landing in a battle crouch.
"Impressive Auror: you've survived Fiendfyre. It's a pity your friend didn't though. I do suppose it was my fault: I knew he was a werewolf, but I didn't realize he'd embraced it enough to change without the full moon."
"Remus was a good man." Tonks said weakly. "He died a hero."
"Yes, that's what all of your Order members say isn't it?" Voldemort hissed as he stepped in front of Tonks. "First Weasley insisted on dying a noble death, and then the mutt uses the last of his strength to rescue the damsel in distress."
"But there are none of your friends left to save you this time Auror." He laughed. "Mad-Eye is all but dead. I've beaten two of you, and the entire time, I've kept your precious Boy-Who-Lived trapped. Your Order lost all of their best fighters tonight. Even if you should survive, this will be no victory."
Voldemort paced back and forth in front of Tonks, speaking softly. "The wolf gave himself a hero's death, Weasley died with his wand in his hand, and Alastor was the first to feel the full wrath of my raw magical power. It is only fitting, that I give you the death of a gladiator Auror." Voldemort conjured a passable imitation of a Roman Gladius with a wave of his wand.
"I can behead you. Or you can be fed to wild animals. Both were used in Roman times. I'll leave it for you to choose from."
Tonks managed to straighten up; standing proud despite the pain she had endured. Her shock of pink hair was gone, consumed by Fiendfyre, and her skin was seared with livid burns, her wand hadn't escaped the hellish blaze, so instead she balled her hands into fists.
"Bite me." She spat.
"Then I guess I can choose for you." Voldemort mused. He hefted the Gladius, testing its weight. "I really shouldn't waste the energy I spent on conjuring this. Beheading it shall be."
He stepped forward, raising the sword. "Hold still and I promise you, it will hurt much less than you would expect."
With a movement faster than Harry could track, Tonks struck: she tackled Voldemort, knocking him to the ground, pummeling him with short powerful blows. With one last powerful strike to the wrist, the Dark Lord's wand flew from his hand, Tonks dove for it, stretching her arm out past Voldemort's desperate reach; triumphantly, she raised the yew in the air as she slowly returned to her feet.
She leveled the wand at Voldemort confidently. "You may have killed the others, but now you will die Voldemort."
"Even wandless, I still far outclass you Auror."
"Perhaps magically you do." Tonks acknowledged. "With all the Dark Rituals you've gone through, it's not that hard of an assumption to say that even physically you could beat me; but I am an Auror. Plan A has always been don't get captured. Plan B. . . If you do get captured blow the place sky high!"
She pressed the yew wand to her own throat. "This spell will turn my magical power into atomic energy Voldemort! Even you can't survive this one!"
The incantation she roared was drowned out by the sudden explosion rocking the room. Tonks was at the epicenter, and she disappeared in a blaze of white light, pulsing through the room.
Harry felt the spell holding him give way, as Voldemort diverted all of his power to containing the explosion. He fell the thirty feet, landing in a heap on the hard marble floor, only a few inches away from his wand.
His energy suddenly surging back to him, Harry scooped up the wand and sprinted away, a second pulse of heat and light right behind him.
And as suddenly as it had begun it was over. Harry risked a glance over his shoulder. Luna and Neville were lying on the ground a few hundred feet away, knocked unconscious by the force of the explosion. Voldemort was still standing, the plinth of marble stretching out below him the sole survivor of the Hall of Prophecy. A crater dominated the center of the room, hundreds of feet deep, a pale yew wand at the bottom.
High above them, Harry could see the Fountain of Magical Brethren: Tonks' spell had reached the surface.
A magical eye spinning helplessly at the outskirts of the crater was the last sign of the great Alastor Moody.
Voldemort slowly lowered his hands, the skin red and irritated from the blast. For the first time, the Dark Lord appeared. . . fallible.
"Bravo." He said quietly, as he Summoned his wand back to him. "For the first time in years, somebody very nearly killed me."
"But at what cost to you?" Voldemort said aloud. "Why would you have sacrificed your own life to destroy me? Didn't the fear of Death hang above your head? I don't understand."
"No Tom, you never did." A quiet voice said. "And that is and always has been your greatest weakness."
Voldemort didn't even bother to turn around.
"Dumbledore; why are you here tonight?"
"You know perfectly well why Tom. The same reason you are: we both must risk everything to see this through to the end."
Voldemort laughed gleefully. "There is no end any longer old man. The boy destroyed the prophecy. . . And your pet Auror destroyed him. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches?I suppose I am immortal now."
"Your senses must be slipping." Dumbledore said sagely. "Harry is standing right over there. A tad injured perhaps, and certainly incredibly exhausted, but very much alive."
His face hardened into a mask of calm. "But you will not touch him Tom, not today and not ever."
"Try what you will Dumbledore. The boy will be mine."
"It was unwise of you to come here tonight. The Aurors are on their way, and Minister Fudge is certain to be close behind them, his standard entourage of press with him as well."
"Perhaps. . . " Voldemort acknowledged, finally turning to face Dumbledore. "But by that time, I will be long gone, and your Order will be blamed for ransacking the Ministry."
"You assume of course, that you can get past me." Dumbledore pointed out. "You've killed several of my very close friends tonight. Do you truly expect to escape my wrath?"
"Even if my return is forced out into the open it will have been worth it." Voldemort declared, conjuring a magical floor to cover the crater below him. "Your Order is without its finest fighters, and the next generation has already been exposed to the hell of war. You will be without recruits."
"And you have lost a large percentage of your Inner Circle tonight."
Voldemort dismissed the remark. "They can be replaced. Fenrir has been looking for a promotion anyway. One whisper of an opening, and he will be begging for the chance to prove his worth."
"I will not allow you to flee like I've done before." Dumbledore said coldly. "I cannot allow this war to continue on."
"Then it appears we are at an impasse." Voldemort hissed.
"Indeed it does."
"It is time Dumbledore." Voldemort laughed: "Time to dance our final dance."
"Avada Kedavra!"
A/N: Updated and edited 4/22/2017