Chapter Twenty Six: Faceoff.
Harry stood face to face with Voldemort, as with the battle with the graveyard, both wizards were waiting for their opponent to make the first move. Wands were drawn, neither took their eyes off of each other.
"Potter, I will give you one chance to surrender and hand me the prophecy," said Voldemort softly as he looked at Potter. "There is so much potential with you that can be properly nurtured under my watchful eye. There is no need for us to be on opposite sides, Harry, I see real power and you would be a valuable asset to my campaign."
Harry stood, amused that Voldemort would think that Harry would ever join him.
"It didn't work the first time Tom, it's not going to work this time," answered Harry coolly. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Tom, I don't follow anyone, especially not some deluded megalomaniac who is the bastard child of a squib and a Muggle, who is trying to pass himself off as a pureblood wizard. I'm not a fool Voldemort, I know how you think, it's you high above everyone else in power and no one can even come close enough to challenge your little status as the Dark Lord. You see Riddle, I can beat you. I've done it before and I can do it again."
"We'll see Potter," responded Voldemort calmly, as he looked at his opponent with cold disinterest. "Since you didn't hand over the prophecy, I believe it is time for us to duel, to prove that you managed to luck your way into the victory in the Graveyard. You will fall this time Potter, this time my blood is stabilized and there will be no distractions."
"We'll see, Riddle," said Harry as Voldemort had obviously not accounted for the fact that Harry had an extra year of magical experience under his belt now and had learned several new tricks that Voldemort might not expect. "Now we bow, Riddle."
Both wizards turned to each other, before they bowed to each other and the second that Harry lifted his head, he saw a coma curse spiraling towards him. Harry dodged the attack, before he sent a metal spike right towards Voldemort's heart. The spike came an inch away from connecting with Voldemort, but it was blocked. Several flaming daggers spiraled right towards Voldemort but Voldemort deflected the attacks as his enemy kept moving. A nerve numbing curse failed to stop Harry, before a shelf was levitated right into the air and flung right towards Voldemort. Voldemort blasted the shelf and sent several glass orbs down to the floor. They shattered one by one, as several ghostly figures recited words that could not be heard properly, with the floor littered with broken pieces of glass. Voldemort stood to see his enemy.
"Crucio!" hissed Voldemort but Harry casually flicked his wrist, before a stone shield rose out of the ground, to catch the spell, before he sent a spiral of fire towards Voldemort. The fire shot towards Voldemort, spiraling like a corkscrew towards the Dark Lord. Expertly, Voldemort froze the fire and caused it freeze, before it dropped to the ground, sending pieces of ice flying in every direction.
"Come on Riddle, surely you could get one spell on me," said Harry as a couple of dark spells barely missed connecting with Harry. "Twenty six Death Eaters failed, really shows how good you are at picking talented witches and wizards to do your bidding, doesn't it? Yet, I thought you would give me a better fire. I mean, you are Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard in a century, but you can't get one simple spell on me."
Voldemort refused to respond to Potter's taunts. He threw black snake like ropes towards his opponent, but they just barely connected with the shield as he saw his enemy had disappeared, before Potter was behind him. A skin shredding curse was thrown towards Voldemort. Voldemort effortlessly blocked the attack and a heart exploding curse was blocked once again before Voldemort whipped his wand towards Potter. The ground rumbled and Voldemort watched with glee as his opponent was knocked off balance. Voldemort walked over, robes billowing behind him, as he stood over Potter.
"Time to teach you some respect, Potter," said Voldemort as while he did need the boy's body for the ritual to transfer his consciousness into Potter, his sanity did not need to be intact. "Crucio."
Harry bit his tongue, he could be put under this curse a million times and it still would not be pleasant. Seconds appeared to turn into minutes, as the curse attacked every nerve ending in his body. Voldemort stepped back and Harry took advantage of the lapse of concentration from Voldemort, by throwing a blast of fire into his fire. Voldemort stepped back, with an inhumane scream, as his face was severely burned. Harry stood to his feet and the bone shattering curse struck Voldemort right in the right arm. Several loud snaps echoed throughout the Hall of Prophecies as Harry levitated the broken pieces of glass from the orbs and flung them at him. Voldemort managed to shatter some of the pieces of glass into dust, but a few of them had spiked him right in the right shoulder and chest. Blood dripped to the ground but Voldemort threw a blast of orange light right between the eyes. Harry crouched down and a hole was blasted in the wall, before he dodged around.
"Potter, I'm losing my patience with you," said Voldemort.
"That's not the only thing you're losing Riddle, you're losing this duel as well," answered Harry smugly as he felt more spells come close to him but he blocked what he knew he could block and he dodged them. "This is what, the fourth time you've failed to defeat me. I believe that would be a Troll level grade and I don't mean what you look like either, Riddle."
A bone breaking curse was blocked, it very nearly struck Harry in the leg which would have resisted his movement. He was pleased that Voldemort's movements were awkward due to the fact that his wand arm was broken and he had to rely on his left arm. Any advantage that Harry could take, he would.
"I mean, most people would have given up by now, but you keep coming, so I've got to give your credit, Voldemort," said Harry as he blocked a brain swelling curse aimed by Voldemort, before he aimed a head splitting hex right back at Voldemort. If his calculations were correct and they were rarely off, it would be only just a few more minutes before Dumbledore managed to crack the code and get though the barrier that he placed off. Until then, Harry would continue to fight Voldemort. "You're persistent sure, it proves that you're a hard worker and refuse to give up what you want. If you were a bit more loyal, you might have fit in well in Hufflepuff."
A cloud of acid shot right towards Harry. Harry avoided the attack, as the acid ate though the ground. Another corrosive curse came closest to hit Harry, but it struck the shelf, eating through it, causing several more prophecy orbs to fly in every directions. They shattered from the impact, with more ghostly images in every direction. Harry narrowly blocked a curse that was unfamiliar to him and circled around Voldemort, which prompted another brain swelling curse to be thrown towards him.
"Very nearly hit me with that one Riddle, come on, you can do it," said Harry, as if he was encouraging a young child to ride his first bicycle. Voldemort threw another spell that completely scorched the ground that Harry stood on. The entire Hall of Prophecies reeked of dark magic, from the misses spells. "Okay, maybe you actually can't, but I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. Exactly how many shots did you have at me so far?"
More attempts to shut Potter up were just avoided as the boy had succeeded in raising his ire even more. He still needed Potter and the prophecy was still on his person. Voldemort tried to take Potter down and silence him without damaging either of the two things he needed but Potter had continued to taunt him.
"Of course, your plan really wasn't exactly all that smart either, Riddle," said Harry as he moved around, ducking behind a shelf, before he banished the shelf towards Voldemort. The shelf was blasted into pieces as he saw Voldemort's eyes blaze with fury. "It was quite lucky I decided to humor you in the first place, wasn't it? I mean you tried to lure me here with a vision that Sirius was in trouble. Even if I received it, what makes you think I would have not done everything in my power to check if it was genuine or not."
Voldemort refused to dignify Potter with an answer as he another brain swelling curse at his enemy, but it was blocked. It appeared right now that Potter never received the vision that he had sent him, but yet Severus assured him that the connection that he shared with Potter would be easy to breach. The boy would not have been able to determine whether anything he saw was real and fake.
"Of course, another brilliant plan of yours was that plan last year, I was willing to let that one slide, but exactly how stupid your idea to use the Triwizard Tournament as a death trap?" taunted Harry, as he knew he was just barely able to hold off these attacks right now, despite how sloppy the attacks were but he took great pleasure in getting inside Voldemort's head. "If you were as cunning as everyone thought you were, you could have had your little minion stun me, take some of my blood, modify my memory, and take the blood from you. No one would be the wiser, not me, not Dumbledore, surely not the Ministry of Magic. But I can't expect anything less from a wizard who once its all said and done will be best known for being the dark lord who was defeated by a one year old child."
Harry was blasted backwards but he managed to rebound quickly and aimed another attack at Voldemort, but Voldemort stopped the attack. Two spells were sent at each other simultaneously by the two wizards as they bounced off of each other, before a loud explosion reverberated throughout the Department of Mysteries.
"I was wrong about one thing though Riddle, you do know more than three spells, so kudos to that," said Harry as he blocked a lung shredding hex. "Come on Tom, hit me with your best shot, not that it's that good. Surely the great a powerful Lord Voldemort can beat a fifteen year old wizard who has not even taken his Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. It'd be so sad if it wasn't so funny."
"Do you ever shut up?" hissed Voldemort angrily as a bright yellow light was aimed towards Harry's throat, but Harry blocked the attack, preventing his throat being sealed shut.
"No sorry, I just have to point out the stupidity of my enemy's overly convoluted plans," responded Harry, as he blocked another attack. Voldemort turned to face Harry and Harry found himself blasted into a shelf of prophecies. It was lucky he managed to put on a cushioning spell that absorbed the brunt of the attack. Harry was still leaned against the shelf as Voldemort advanced him.
"Crucio," said Voldemort as he punished Harry. Harry refused to give Voldemort the satisfaction of hearing him scream even though this Cruciatus Curse was a particularly vicious one. Harry's eyes were barely open, as Voldemort continued to punish Harry with the spell. Harry tried to fight the pain, after spending nearly a minute under the curse. Before Harry could fight back, Voldemort raised the wand. "Imperio."
Harry just felt a very vague light headed feeling as the curse, with all the power that Voldemort had just put over him, had just barely managed to take hold.
"Hand over the prophecy Potter," ordered Voldemort in his own soft deadly way, as he looked at his young enemy.
"Get bent," responded Harry simply as Voldemort had raised his wand.
"Perhaps another dose of pain to teach you obedience," said Voldemort calmly as he raised his wand, but a blast of fire from Harry's wand struck him in the eyes. Voldemort was backed off as Potter was back on his feet. He watched his young enemy through slightly blurry vision, it was only down to the magical properties of his new body that his retinas were completely not burnt out. He saw Potter make his way to the door so he whipped his wand and several snakes rose out of the ground. They faced Harry, hissing loudly as Voldemort turned to them, the burn marks looking more prominent ever on his pale face. "Attack Potter."
The snakes shot towards Potter, but much to his surprise, the boy did not seem scared."
"Stop," hissed the boy in Parseltongue and Voldemort looked surprised. He was not informed that the boy could speak Parseltongue as well. His followers had neglected to mention such a thing to him "I am your true master, destroy Lord Voldemort!"
The snakes rose up into the air and sprang towards Voldemort fangs bared but Voldemort would not be defeated this easily.
"Stop you foolish serpents, do not listen to that brat, I'm your master, I'm the Dark Lord, I'm your creator, subdue the boy," hissed Voldemort angrily and the snakes paused, before they turned towards Potter and sprang towards Potter.
"Halt," responded Harry and the magically created snakes obeyed, as they stared at Harry, as if waiting instructions. "Listen to no other words except for the following. Bite Voldemort, sink your fangs into him, and subdue him."
The snakes turned towards Voldemort and they sprung towards him.
"Halt, I am your master, obey me," hissed Voldemort as he watched his own creations turn on him but the snakes ignored his words, as Potter looked at him with a triumphant look on his face. Two of the snakes were ripped apart but the third snake had sunk its fangs right into the forearm of Voldemort. It was only in a few seconds but long enough to cause Voldemort severe discomfort. A yellow light ripped into the state. It was decapitated; the head still in Voldemort's arm, with the fangs still sunk into his forearm, before Voldemort slowly pulled the head up, removing the fangs painfully from his arm, just barely able to stop wincing. Two moderate size gashes appeared on his forearm, as the fangs dripped with Voldemort's blood. Voldemort hastily repaired the damage, but it would only be temporary, a potion would need to be taken later to completely stabilize himself. The moment he recovered, a blast of fire was aimed towards his face. This time, Voldemort had a counter ready as he froze the fire and it dropped to the ground, to shatter into pieces of pieces.
Harry continued to avoid the attacks, but Voldemort had gotten a bit more daring and threw several more attacks. It would be too much to hope for that Voldemort would drop with a case of magical fatigue, so until Dumbledore showed up, he would need to keep the pace. One spell was deflected but Harry gave a surprised scream in pain when he realized a conjured metal spike struck him right in the leg, impaling him right through the skin and shattering his bone. He dropped to the ground, had he been a Muggle, he would have been in a much worst situation, but still, having a spike rammed getting rammed in one's leg. Voldemort had managed to master using his left arm well enough and Harry tried to get up, but his leg failed him. He still had one last trump card that would allow him to at least remove the spike the leg and make a partial recovery.
"Tom, think fast!" shouted Harry as he threw the prophecy, for real this time. Voldemort's eyes widened, as he quickly conjured a pillow on the ground, exactly where the prophecy landed seconds later. Voldemort walked over, as Harry managed to remove the spike, with a bit of difficulty from his leg. He mentally tried to shut out the pain as he saw his opponent take the bait, as he placed the glass orb inside the pocket of his robes.
"At last it's finally mine," said Voldemort in a gleeful tone of voice as he turned to Harry, who had pulled himself to his feet, despite having a mangled right leg. Voldemort turned the wounded wizard, as he treaded lightly. Potter would become desperate with his injuries and there was no telling what he might do. "Now Potter, it's time that I silence that impudent tongue of yours once and for all."
"Silence this, Riddle," said Harry as he managed to pull himself up with the assistance of the wall, before a simulated round of sonic vibrations assaulted Voldemort's ears, but only for a few seconds. An alarm that was sounded made Harry realized that Dumbledore had managed to take down the barrier and thus he would be coming shortly. The loud sound based assaults were repelled back towards Harry, but he managed to muffle his ears to block out the attacks. Harry slumped against the walls as the attacks faded. He heard footsteps, Dumbledore was on his way, so he dropped down, against the wall, as if he had suffered a severe beating at the hands of Voldemort that he could not recover from.
"To your feet Potter, so I can defeat you properly," challenged Voldemort as he let his threat out in a dangerous hiss. Harry just saw the shadow of Dumbledore approaching in the distance, before he stopped.
"I believe you will not be winning today, Tom," said Dumbledore as he appeared right in front of Voldemort, calm, cool and collected but a bit tired. That barrier had taken much longer to disable than he had thought and afterwards, he had sounded the alarm, hopefully by now, the Aurors would realize the disturbance that they went to investigate early was a fake.
"Dumbledore," hissed Voldemort angrily as he turned, completely ignoring Harry, as he faced off against the one man that he was said to fear. "You made a grave mistake in coming here today, I will finish you off once and for all. You have ruined my plans for the last time."
"I'm afraid that you were the one who made the grave mistake Tom, as the Aurors have been called and it will be moments before they find their way down," said Dumbledore as Voldemort threw a skin shredding curse right towards him but Dumbledore effortlessly cancelled the spell with a mere motion.
"They will be greeted by your corpse, Dumbledore," responded Voldemort as another deadly curse was aimed right towards his adversary's heart but Dumbledore blocked it. Despite his personal feelings on the two men, these were the two most famous wizards in the world, so Harry was a bit intrigued in watching the battle. A third attack by Voldemort had been repelled back at him and thus there was a need to put up a shield to completely block the attack. Both wizards circled each other, before they threw attacks simultaneously at each other. They met in mid air and thus cancelled each other. "Tonight, you will die Dumbledore and the world will know that Lord Voldemort did it."
"If I have to take that journey, then I am not afraid to do so, unlike you Tom," said Dumbledore in a confident voice, as he blocked another attack. "There are things that you must realize will be even worse than death, the afterlife is something that is not to be feared, but rather a brand new adventure that should be cherished."
"Foolish rhetoric spouted by a foolish man," said Voldemort coldly as Dumbledore moved around and Harry's eyes widened slightly when he got a good look at Dumbledore's wand. He had never really saw it this close before but truly, the marks on the side, even though they were faint, could still easily be seen.
Albus Dumbledore was the man to possess the third Hallow, the Elder Wand. Voldemort's latest magical attack was deflected by Dumbledore and Harry waited with baited breath. A blast caught Dumbledore right in the hip and he was staggered.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" yelled Voldemort suddenly and Harry watched as the green light flew right towards Dumbledore. For a second, Harry was shocked that Dumbledore made no move to avoid the attack but suddenly, Fawkes appeared right in front of Dumbledore in a flash of flame, before he swallowed the Killing Curse. The phoenix burst into flames immediately and the ashes fluttered to the ground. Voldemort rebounded quickly, but Dumbledore showed amazing agility for a man his age. He spun his arm around, as he held the wand straight without it moving. Several bright sphere light objects shot from Dumbledore's wand and struck Voldemort directly in the chest. The dangerous dark wizard stepped back, screaming in absolutely agony.
Harry recognized the attack as a light spell that help calm down distressed children, but Dumbledore had managed to find a way to amplify the power, to bombard Voldemort with an attack that was nearly as painful as the Cruciatus Curse. Voldemort broken out and an organ explosion curse was sent directly towards Dumbledore who blocked it, but this attack had taken a fair bit out of him.
"I believe our encounter tonight is over, Tom," said Dumbledore quietly as he stood there but Voldemort saw Harry, before a smirk appeared on Voldemort's face that the Boy-Who-Lived did not like one bit.
"On the contrary Dumbledore, it has just begun," said Voldemort as he appeared to transform into a cloud of black smoke.
"Harry stay there!" shouted Dumbledore anxiously and Harry, even if he could because of his injured leg, had no intention of moving whatsoever. If Voldemort decided to possess him, there would be a few nasty surprises waiting in Harry's mind. Harry snuck a look up, with a mask of what he intended to be confusion before he felt what could only be described as sinister tentacles seep into his mind.
-
Voldemort could sense that he was inside the boy's mind but something was not right. He should have had a stronger hold than he did but it was slightly weaker from the hold he had on Quirrell when he possessed the young wizard years back.
"Hello, Tom, welcome to my mind, I hope you don't mind how unraveled it is, I didn't have a chance to tidy up before you decided to drop in," echoed the voice of Harry Potter. "In case you haven't figured it out, you aren't in the real world any more, you're in my mind and in here, I make the rules."
"It matters little, I will use you to see whether or not the old fool will sacrifice you as a pawn," said Voldemort calmly as he attempted to latch onto Harry's mind but something burned him, it prevented him from grabbing a tight hold.
"I don't think you've gotten it yet Riddle, perhaps if you put that brain of yours to use, you might figure out exactly why this hostile takeover of my mind is not working out as it planned," said Harry. "After all, you're not stupid, just insane."
-
Dumbledore paused as he watched Harry stand there, rather rigid and the next move he made, he had to calculate this perfectly.
"It's the perfect chance Dumbledore," said Harry's voice, but Dumbledore knew it was Voldemort's words coming out of Harry's mouth. "The boy is weak, underpowered, if you kill him now, you'll destroy me. Just do it Dumbledore, it's not like he's the first person you've sacrificed to achieve a goal. It will undo all of the failures of your life. You allowed me to rise to power Dumbledore, the blood of everyone I had to kill is on your hands, but you can erase all those mistakes right now. Just two words, you know what they are. Kill the boy Dumbledore, it's not like you care about his future anyway."
-
"Bravo Potter, I couldn't have said it any better myself," said Voldemort as the two stood in Harry's mind.
"Yes but the difference between you and me is that you'd be arrogant enough to believe that Dumbledore would actually be stupid enough think that killing me would get rid of you, when you have seconds to vacate my body before it completely shuts down," said Harry smugly. "Figured it out yet, by the way Riddle?"
"The connection, Snape lied to me," hissed Voldemort as he looked at Potter.
"Bravo Tom, ten points to Slytherin," responded Harry but one thing was for certain. It would sure suck to be Severus Snape when Voldemort got a hold of him.
"Connection or not, I will take control of your mind all the same," said Voldemort confidentially but Harry responded by laughing.
"You still think that you can win, when you're inside my mind," answered Harry as he moved over, as a mental representation of a door. "In fact, open that door and you can meet your deepest darkest fear. If I'm wrong I'll willingly give up control of my body."
"I fear nothing Potter," said Voldemort coldly.
"Then what are you waiting for, Tom?" asked Harry. "Open the door."
Voldemort took a few steps towards the door, not wanting to trigger any mental traps that Potter might have set up.
Harry sat and watched the show.
-
"If you don't take the proper action now Dumbledore, you're be looked upon as the wizard who let everyone down when he had a chance to the right thing," hissed Harry's voice, as Dumbledore looked worried, he sounded more and more like Voldemort by the second. "If death is so painless, just use it, it's just one spell, easy for someone like you."
"Harry! Listen to me!" shouted Dumbledore urgently. "You have to fight him. Think about the ones that you love and love you!"
Harry or rather Voldemort responded with a cold high laugh. Dumbledore raised his wand, assessing his options. A mere stunning spell might not subdue Voldemort and a killing curse was out of the question given his plans for Harry.
-
Voldemort opened up the door and he stepped back to see himself, laying on the ground, cold, dead, lifeless, and utterly defeated. He took a half of a step back, disgusted out how weak and pathetic he looked.
"A glimpse into the not so distance future, Tom," said Harry coolly as he hear footsteps from the distance. "There's nothing I hate more than a house guest that overstays his welcome and for the record Riddle, I let you in here to keep you busy until the Aurors arrived. Now it's time for your eviction notice."
Voldemort felt his hold on Potter's mind get broken as he was ejected back into darkness.
-
Harry dropped to the ground as he saw Dumbledore look relieved as Voldemort appeared in the flesh just as the Aurors, lead by Scrimgeour, with Fudge and Madam Bones in the distance.
"It's You-Know-Who!" shouted one of the Aurors in a shocked voice and Voldemort spun around, as he saw the Aurors along with a few high ranking officials.
"Today is not the glorious victory you've counted on Dumbledore, because I have the prophecy!" shouted Voldemort triumphantly before he disapparated with a pop as several stunning spells blasted towards him, not that they would have done much good had he remained around.
"Cornelius, I believe that you know that I have been correct all of this time," answered Dumbledore calmly and Fudge turned around, his eyes widened when he realized that Dumbledore had found a way into the Ministry as well and he looked sickened when he saw that Harry appeared to be seriously injured. It would be very bad publicity if the Boy-Who-Lived was injured on Ministry of Magic property, it would mean the end of his career. Fudge had to work on both covering this up and explaining the You-Know-Who thing. Rita Skeeter would be drooling if she found out the predicament Fudge was in right now.
"Aurors, get Mr. Potter out of here and to St. Mungos," said Fudge as he nodded to a group of Aurors, who helped Harry up before Fudge turned to Dumbledore. "Dumbledore, I should arrest you."
"You may have a point Cornelius, but it would cause your career to be ruined when the world learns that I have been telling the truth the entire time," responded Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye as he looked at the Minister of Magic. "As you've seen with your very own eyes, Voldemort has returned."
"Yes, yes, I know, Dumbledore," said Fudge tensely as he stepped forward and the door off to the side swung open, to reveal several bodies bound and secured in Death Eater robes. "Merlin's beard! Exactly how many of them are there?"
"Looks to be about twenty or twenty five, maybe more," said Scrimgeour off hand as he saw the Death Eaters. "I'm going to have to get more Aurors down here, to get this lot to the holding facilities until we can get them off to Azkaban."
"Interesting," said Dumbledore but he was completely confused as to how exactly that many Death Eaters were secured. It appeared that Harry had come down here alone as Dumbledore walked off.
"Hold it right there, Albus, you can't just walk out of here, you're a fugitive still," said Fudge as the remaining Aurors pointed their wands towards Dumbledore. "You still have to account for the murder of Arthur Weasley. Perhaps you did not directly kill the man, but we did uncover evidence that it was under your suggestion that he was down here on the night in question."
"That I do not deny, Cornelius, but I fear that we must overlook that, if we are to band together to defeat a true enemy," said Dumbledore.
"Yes, Minister, I'm afraid he's right," said Madam Bones. "I suggest that all of the charges are dropped but under one condition."
"What condition is that, Madam Bones?" inquired Dumbledore curiously.
"That Dumbledore completely disbands the vigilante group called the Order of the Phoenix and agrees to never reform that group or any other similar group for the remainder of his days," said Bones.
"I want it to be a magically binding agreement too, Dumbledore," said Fudge.
"Is my word not good enough, Cornelius?" asked Dumbledore.
"No," responded Fudge shortly.
"You better sign it Albus, or I'll have no choice but you have you arrested," added Scrimgeour in a regretful voice as Dumbledore sighed.
"Very well, you hold all of the cards," said Dumbledore.
"We will arrange a meeting, but this does not mean you get your old positions of power back, you must start back at the bottom," responded Fudge who looked to be enjoying himself.
"If it's what gets us working together," said Dumbledore who thought that this would give him more time to get Harry ready for where he needed to be more it was time for the next great adventure.
"Very well, Scrimgeour, get these Death Eaters to a secure area, so we can identify them," ordered Fudge who felt he needed some firewhiskey and a nice long lie down right about now. He could just imagine the press fiasco tomorrow. That was not going to be pleasant.
-
Harry laid in a room of St. Mungos. It was nice enough he supposed and he would get released in the morning. He had contacted Ginny, to tell her he was okay and the Healers said he would make a full recovery despite having a magically conjured steel spike impaled into his leg.
By now, the Death Eaters would be in the process of being moved to Azkaban and Harry bet his entire vault that they would be out of Azkaban by the time he completed his O.. Still, while he could have easily had each and every one of those Death Eaters killed if he wanted to, it would have proven nothing. By doing it Dumbledore's way and throwing them into Azkaban, it would prove that he was right about taking a heavy more heavy handed approach to dealing with the Death Eaters.
Still, he laid back. Since Ginny was not here, it would mean a restless night of sleep, but Harry had to try to rest so he would be let out first thing in the morning.
-
Dumbledore sank down into a chair in the backroom of the Hog's Head. He would discretely send word to Minerva to tell Harry to meet him down here once he was discharged from St. Mungos. It was time for him to know the prophecy, especially when by now, Voldemort would have found out what it contained.
It appeared that all of the Death Eaters that Severus indicated would take part of the mission, with the exception of Bellatrix Lestrange, had been captured and sent to Azkaban. Whether it would stick, Dumbledore hoped so. The mystery behind who captured that was a mind teaser for certain but Dumbledore would have to gain a closer look inside Harry's mind once he had told him about the Prophecy.
-
Voldemort sank down, just in the process of taking the potions to stabilize the injuries and eliminate the venom in his blood. His body would do the rest in hours. He was never more disgusted with his followers ever than he was today. Each and every one of them, including Bella, had gotten themselves captured by Aurors and now had been placed in Azkaban. If he had not needed the sheer numbers to induce fear, the Dark Lord would let them rot. As it was now, in a few weeks, he would break them back out and punish them all severely.
One great victory came out of today's efforts and that was the glass orb that contained the prophecy. He had obsessed about it for months and now it was his to hold. Voldemort savored the moment as he placed the glass orb. Soon he would hear every word and perhaps find a hint on how to deal with Potter. He gently opened the prophecy but instead of Trelawney, the ghostly form of Harry Potter appeared, staring at Voldemort with pure mirth in his eyes before he spoke.
Roses are red, violets are blue.
This prophecy is a fake, just like you.
Words had not been invented to describe the utter fury that Voldemort was feeling right now.
Alright, done a day early. That's just awesome, because it means I don't have to write anything until Monday(even though I might get some work done anyway over the weekend)! Next chapter or two will tie up some loose ends as the fifth year comes to a close, including Hermione makes her move and an event that I have personally titled "Dolores Umbridge's Last Stand". Then we head towards a very interesting and slightly odd summer holiday.
See you all again after a little while.