Review Comments:
ronin warriors fanatic: Thanks for the review! This was my thought process: Perenelle thrives in her secrecy. Similar to her fight with the Sphinx she doesn't want to reveal the power she has until the opportune moment. In this case, she didn't even have her pure aura until the end of the chapter (which weakens her magic slightly). Don't worry, she'll get him eventually ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own HP, SINF,
Chapter 52
"Aiden, stay back," Nicholas Flamel said as he shoved the boy behind him. He had confidence his wife would return. He needed to figure out how to stall long enough.
"This is new Flamel," Dee said. "You've always let your humani slaves fight before."
"Aiden is not a slave," Flamel said.
"All humani are slaves," Dee said. "Slaves to themselves and their pollution. Give me the Codex and I will free them of that burden."
"All you will do is enslave them to the Dark Elders," Flamel said, having to restrain Aiden again.
"A deal then," Dee said. "You can keep the Codex and give me the boy."
"You are vastly outnumbered," Flamel said. "You are in no position to negotiate."
"Then I'll simply have to take both," Dee said.
"Over my dead body," Flamel said.
"That's the general idea," Dee said, pulling his hand from inside his cloak. He was holding a short stone sword which was glowing blue.
Flamel pulled his wand. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled, and sprinted to his left so the students would be behind Dee. Meanwhile Dumbledore ran and yanked Aiden from the clearing.
Flamel's spell missed Dee, but it forced him to stagger to his left. "Why the wand?" Dee asked, cupping his hand. Flamel recognized a faint yellow mist inside.
"Albus get the students away now!" Flamel said as Dee sent the ball of energy toward Flamel. Flamel waved his wand and the ball exploded in mid-air, turning a nearby tree limb to rotting puss.
"Cresco," Flamel said. A light green spell launched and landed at Dee's feet. Immediately the grass began to grow, tangling a web around Dee's ankles and lower thighs. Dee swung his sword down into the grass, causing a large and beautiful ice formation to grow outward from where the sword had hit. Once all the grass had frozen, Dee swung his sword again and the ice fractured around him.
"I see Excalibur lives again," Flamel said.
"It never really dies," Dee said. "You once had another sword; you understand."
"There's already an evil sword, you don't need to make it two," Flamel said. He waved his wand and Dee's suit immediately caught fire. Flamel moved further to his left, hoping to get between Dee and the train. Maybe he could lead Dee out of the Hogwarts shaddowrealm.
Blue light erupted from Excalibur and the fire was out as soon as it began. Dee caught Flamel's movement and charged him, slashing with Excalibur. Flamel deftly dodged what he could, and parleyed with conjured air pockets what he couldn't. He could see Dumbledore trying to move the students away with no success.
The warm metal of the Hogwarts Express slammed hard into Flamel's side as he dodged another swing from Dee. Dee smiled wickedly as he pulled in front of Flamel. "Last chance," he said. "Give me the Codex, or die."
"I don't have the Codex," Flamel said.
Dee shook his head. "I know you better than that," he said. "You never let that book out of your sight."
"People change over 400 years," Flamel said, seeping his aura into the ground below his feet. "Perenelle wanted to keep it this month. I let her."
Dee's smile impossibly got wider. "Then there's no reason to spare you." He reached back and stabbed Excalibur right at Flamel's chest.
It was exactly what Flamel'd been waiting for. His aura had softened the ground beneath his feet and he easily lost his footing, sliding down the train in a second. Excalibur slammed into the side of the train through to the hilt. Ice began to form from the sword outward on the metal as Flamel kicked up and took out Dee's legs. The two men rolled away from the train as fast as Flamel could direct it. After about twenty feet, Dee finally rolled away from Flamel, with Flamel between him and the train.
Dee brushed off his ruined suit as Flamel got to his feet. He started to say something, but Flamel wasn't waiting. He pressed the attack, shooting three stunning spells at Dee in rapid succession. Dee's aura solidified into a large, yellow shield on his left arm. All three spells rung loudly as they bounced off the shield.
"Looks like he couldn't stay away," Dee said after lowering his shield. Flamel managed to shift his body to look behind him without losing vision of Dee. Aiden had slipped away from the crowd and walked toward the train. The stabbed car was now almost entirely encased in ice. He pressed a small badger tattoo on his left wrist and his left hand erupted in flames. Cupping the fire in his hands, he threw a large ball of fire at the train. Excalibur's ice melted back from the fire like it was running, creating a large cloud of steam and dust. Flamel had a feeling the car wouldn't be there when the dust settled.
"Look!" one of the student's shouted. Flamel looked up in time to see a figure flying through the steam. He smiled. Olivia and his wife were returning. The balance would be tipped in their favor. They might be able save Hogwarts yet.
A/N: I think Dumbledore would rather be fighting in this fight, but the safety of the students would be far more important for him. Therefore, he'd be using everything he could to keep the 300-400 students away from the fight. The safety of the students is also why Flamel was using wand magic rather than aura magic. He also would have been more comfortable with wand magic as he'd been using it almost exclusively for the past several months.
I'm not sure if the Magic of Fire would actually reverse Excalibur's effects, but I thought it was cool.
