Chapter Fifty: Collapse

Voldemort sat in the Minister, awaiting word from Severus that Potter would be in position for the final blow. He looked at the wall, a smile creeping onto his face. Anyone who had been in his presence would have been rather terrified by the expression on Voldemort's face. Gringotts would have fallen by now and hisf followers would be inside the bank, ready to eliminate whatever pitiful existence that Potter managed to trick into following him. He could sense the blood and the corpses that would await him, it would be glorious and then he would beat Potter, with his last dying breath, the boy would realize that he was a failure to the world and his friends. Then the world will submit to Lord Voldemort when they realized their last hope would be defeated. It was a great moment each and every second it play out in mind of his victory.

The time for planning was done as Voldemort sensed Severus summoning him. He rose from the chair he sat in, a twisted expression on his face as he stood towards the door before he disapparated right to Gringotts.

Soon, the thorn that was Harry Potter would be removed from his side for good.

-

Harry sat in the lobby of Gringotts, Voldemort had just been summoned, he would arrive at any moment but he was read. A number of thoughts were going through the head of the Boy-Who-Lived. Everything he had prepared for recently had just come down to this. It would be do or die. There was no turning back now, he had to defeat Voldemort or else, regardless of the cost. He had a strategy but plans tended to go wrong at the worst possible time. As he looked down at the body of Snape, one of the many who had to pay the price for joining up with Voldemort, Harry expressed a few doubts mentally, but vowed not to show them. He knew Voldemort's Achilles heel and it was that his ego always insisted that he be better than anyone else. He thrived on fear and hopelessness. Take that away and all one had was an above average wizard, not the demonic dark god that the world thought Voldemort to believe. Harry saw Voldemort for what he was and that was a wizard. A powerful wizard that had slaughtered countless in the name of blood purity yes, but just a wizard and Harry felt he was just as good as Voldemort, providing there were no distractions like worrying about followers taking a shot at him or people around him getting hurt.

Now with all the distractions removed, it was gut check time. Harry knew the score, he had to dig down deeper than he ever managed before in his life. The other battles against Voldemort were never meant to come to a conclusion due to a variety of factors. Now with the Horcruxes out of the picture, they were on equal mortality and nearly equal skill. Harry had advantages that Voldemort did not and the same most certainly held true the other way around.

Harry had to win. There was no if about it. He had to defeat Voldemort, no matter what it took. And it would take a lot, more than Harry could muster. The others had been moved down to a lower level, under the most protective enchantments possible. The end was here, Harry Potter against Lord Voldemort.

And it was time for Harry to fight as Voldemort appeared outside of the bank. The Boy-Who-Lived stood in the lobby, his regular wand in one hand and the Elder Wand up his sleeve. He would not use the Elder Wand unless it was absolutely necessary; to prove a point and that he could defeat Voldemort even without the unbeatable wand at his disposal.

-

Voldemort dropped down outside of the Gringotts bank and stepped forward, without bothering to even look. The doors were opened so he walked inside where he found himself face to face with a Harry Potter who was not beaten at all. Rather he looked fresh and ready to fight. Voldemort stood, facing off against Harry.

"I see you got my message, Riddle," commented Harry in a light hearted tone as Voldemort stood, not saying anything, but the deadly glare in his eyes was evident. "Nice of you to come by but now that you're here, I'm afraid you're not going to be allowed to leave."

"Potter, you defeated my Death Eaters and then you summon me here, by pressing the mark of one of my followers, when you had a perfect opportunity to leave the country with your traitorous friends and even I would not have been the wiser," commented Voldemort in a cold voice as he looked at Harry. "The question I want answered is what kind of fool are you do to something like that?"

"The kind that will defeat you one more time," said Harry as he looked at Voldemort, not blinking, he looked right in the eye of his enemy, almost begging him to make the first move, to give him any excuse. "So once again, I extend the challenge that you cowardly declined yesterday. I, Harry James Potter, challenge you, Tom Marvolo Riddle to a duel to the death, a duel where there is only one person left standing. Will you remove the yellow streak from your back long enough to accept that challenge?

Voldemort looked at Harry, seconds slowly ticked by as Voldemort stared at Harry. Harry stared back, not backing down, he refused to show even one bit of weakness in the face of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort calmly took a breath, before he addressed Harry's challenge, he would refuse to let this brat show him up.

"Potter, you forced the issue, with your games and your defiance, you might have slaughtered many of my followers today," said Voldemort as his eyes scanned the bodies on the ground in an indifferent manner before he faced Harry. "But one thing is for certain, each and every one of your duels, as you rightfully pointed out, ended before they could come to a decisive conclusion due to circumstances. This one will only end by death and it won't be mine, Potter, you can be certain of that fact. So to make matters short, yes I accept your challenge but remember as you draw in your last breath you forced the issue. Your demise will be slow and painful as the realization of your failure fully sets in."

"We'll see Riddle," replied Harry as he got ready, neither wizard wanting to make a mistake too soon and making the first move would be something that could lead to mistakes. "I would say bow but it would be an insult to both of us so let's waste no more time with small talk and duel."

"Yes, Potter, we shall," said Voldemort as he aimed his wand and quickly threw an attack at Harry. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The green light sped at Harry as Voldemort was not wasting any time with games, his promise of a slow death had been a ploy to lead Harry into a false sense of security but he refused to fully take the bait. Harry dodged around the attack, causing it to hit the desk behind him. Voldemort stood as he jabbed his wand. A thick grey light spiraled through the air right towards Harry, but once again another move. The spell struck against the desk blowing it to dust. Harry stood on his feet and slashed his wand towards the air. The spell was fixed to rip right through Voldemort's skin and puncture his lungs but it was blocked.

"Come on Potter, you wanted this duel," taunted Voldemort. "You thought you were a powerful wizard but yet you have yet to get one spell in on me."

"Just wait Riddle, you'll be eating those words," responded Harry as he blocked a spiral of black light. The backlash caused a loud explosion to echo throughout the lobby and perhaps all of Diagon Alley. Harry slashed his wrists, sending three more spells, all rather dark in nature at Voldemort. His body felt a warm feeling, at the power that the spells gave him. Voldemort calmly deflected those spells, looking rather bored and un-amused by what Harry had to offer.

"Please Potter, first year I could do those spells, perhaps you're nothing but a little Gryffindor golden boy and couldn't handle a true wizard," stated Voldemort as he threw another attack. Razor sharp daggers wrapped in black flames but Harry calmly flicked his wrist to each side. Each and every dagger was deflected, some back at Voldemort. Voldemort blasted the daggers back to the ground and calmly turned to Harry, venom in his eyes, but a twist of the arm. The Dark Lord was staggered back, as several serpents made of black and green fire were sent right at him. They breathed fire right at him as they charged. Voldemort flicked his wand, attempting to put out the fires of these demonic creations of Potter, but they appeared to be immune to water. Harry threw himself behind Voldemort and a spell struck him in the back. Crashing to the ground, a loud scream was heard as the fangs burned right into the Dark Lord's arm. He was in pain, as he had two fanged shape burn marks but managed to shove the snakes back. The snakes were rounded into one area and trapped in a green bubble. A modified variety of the bubble headed charm, except without any oxygen.

The lack of oxygen to feed the fires had caused the snakes to disappear, the flames extinguished and Harry did not let up on his assault. One of his spells caught Voldemort right in the chest, his heart rate speeding up. It was a spell that he was able to counter and send one right back at his enemy. Who was not right there, in fact there was a slight illusion spell to project Potter's image in a shadow. Just barely, Voldemort was able to turn around, to deflect a spell. Another attack needed to deflected by a solid stone shield.

"Getting tired, Tommy?" asked Harry, as he dodged to the side, using the reflexes from years of dueling and Quidditch. It was obvious this was far from over.

"Not at the slightest Potter, I will bring you to your knees and kill you," stated Voldemort as another spell, a large silver ribbon that looked like it could slice anything was aimed towards Harry. He did the only thing that made sense, summoned a nearby chair, blocking it at the last minute, before he positioned his attack. Both wizards sent spells off at each other and both sets of spells collided with each other. A loud crash echoed for quite a distance as both wizards turned, shaken from the backlash of both of their spells but neither was willing to get their opponent any quarter. One attack from Harry was dodged and another attack sent back in turn. Voldemort avoided the impact from that one and both wizards continued to stare each other down, at a stalemate as their duel within Gringotts continued with both wizards going back and forth with their attacks.

Voldemort looked at Potter, despite everything he sent at Potter, there was some kind of counter that Potter had up his sleeve. It was almost like if he knew what the Dark Lord's next attack is. A skull shattering hex was blocked. Voldemort aimed his wand and sent a corkscrew of black light right at Potter. Had it connected, it would have ripped a hole into Potter's chest and caused his heart to explode. Fortunately for one wizard and unfortunately for another, it was blocked. Voldemort shot a conjured spiked noose right at Potter but a slicing curse countered by ripping it into pieces. After a block of his own on an attempted organ puncture curse, Voldemort aimed a yellow light right at Potter's eyes. Potter dodged the attack and returned fire with several blasts of green fire. Once again, the attack was deflected or just straight countered. Voldemort and Harry stepped face to face with each other, both wizards not taking their eyes off of each other. It was just a matter of who made a crucial mistake that their enemy could take advantage of.

"The sands of time are running out of the reign of the Dark Lord Voldemort, is it not Tom?" asked Harry. "Reflexes are not as pristine as they used to be, time has passed you over, made a mockery out of your abilities. I recall similar statements being made about Dumbledore and they were not far off. The thing is Voldemort, all of your little tricks to gain immortality, they worked well. Perhaps too well as your body depends on those tricks and thus you are a few steps slower…right there, you could have blown my head clean off of my shoulders right when I was talking shortly before, but now it's easily blocked. And again I block it."

"I have all the time in the world to defeat you Potter, for reasons that your simple mind could not fully comprehend," said Voldemort and this point suggested either supreme arrogance or the fact that Voldemort had not realized all of his Horcruxes were gone. A whip of black magical light was sent but once again Harry appeared to have an answer to Voldemort's attack. The attacks continued, each growing more and more deadly. "Perhaps a dose of pain before I send you to your death Potter. CRUCIO."

The curse was avoided, as Harry had a smile on his face. It was almost instinctive, no thought at all to block that one.

"If I had a Sickle for every time you pulled out that curse out when we fought, I would be even richer than I am by now, by the way, eighteen pureblood fortunes before you accepted the challenge," said Harry. "Granted, I think at least fifteen of those families I completely wiped out when you sent them on their suicide run, but it's the thought that counts. Congratulations Riddle, I should give you a medal for the most incompetent minions…ever!"

"I'll silence you for good Potter," said Voldemort in a frustrated tone. Harry smiled, Voldemort was starting to lose his focus at whatever plan he had and that meant he had stumbled into a trap. At least that's what Harry hoped. One would think that Voldemort would be easy to defeat when one hand all of his memories but that would be a false statement. A sickly yellow spell was blocked before a bright orange wall of jagged light ripped through the air right towards Voldemort. Voldemort sent that one right back with fury and precision. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry sighed before he made measures to avoid that attack. Two more green lights were sent off and Voldemort staggered for a second, before he readjusted his footing, in time to see Harry block it in a bored, yet somehow amused manner. Voldemort was starting to fatigue as the duel went on but like a wounded animal, this made him even more dangerous. Voldemort spun his hand. The ground vibrated slightly but Harry managed to not be on top of the section that collapsed. Another spell struck Harry right in the chest. His shield blocked most of it but it still served to knock the wind out of him. Readjusting his footing, he turned just in time to react to a dangerous looking spell. It was shaped like a large black sickle that aimed right at his head, preparing to carve him into pieces but Harry conjured a stone shield in more time than was recommended. The attempt slightly exhausted him and his shield was busted into fragments, but at least the spell did not tear him to shreds.

"Okay, Riddle, if that's the game you want to play, then I can play," said Harry, as he threw a rapid fire succession of spells. Some of them were only slightly dangerous, only to divert Riddle's attention away from the more dangerous attacks that Harry was planning. To his credit, each and every attack had been countered in some way and Voldemort remained on the offensive.

"Really Potter, your attempt is rather pathetic, I'm actually ashamed now that some of my followers met their end by your actions," said Voldemort as he avoided another assault. "Once I rebuild I will choose my followers more wisely and avoid…"

Voldemort was cut off by a stabbing pain in the side of his head. He gave a loud ear piercing shriek before quickly putting a silencing spell on himself to deprive Potter the pleasure of hearing his pain. Still staggered from the agony, Voldemort felt blood dripping down the side of his head, from a sickening three inch deep gash that Potter had opened with a rather dark curse. One that Voldemort could have sworn that he personally invented.

"You were saying, Riddle," answered Harry and Voldemort launched into a rage fueled attack. Tasting his own blood had made him even more dangerous but so far, the duel was going mostly like Harry had intended it to go.

-

Ginny sat, watching the duel, looking both anxious and excited at the same time. The other members of the D.A. along with their allies sat on pins and needles.

"I don't think I've ever seen Harry do some of these spells or anyone for that matter," said Sirius as his eyes widened at one attack from his godson.

"Well that might be the idea, but this is the first time I've actually taken time to watch him duel, it's rather impressive and quite…alarming how intense he can get," said Remus as he watched more attacks. "I don't think there are many professional duelers could even match up with what Harry is doing…"

"I think Voldemort is at the end of his patience," said Ginny as she watched Harry keep up the fight. "Especially after blood was drawn, I can only imagine what will happen when Harry reveals to Voldemort that his Horcruxes are good."

"That will be entertaining, but Voldemort's not going to give this up without a fight," said Luna.

"That much is obvious, we'll see how this turns out," responded Daphne.

"Yes, I'm curious myself, to see what happens," said Susan.

"I think Harry will succeed," commented Astoria in a confident voice. "I don't think any of us have really seen exactly how good Harry really is, some might have a better idea than others, but truthfully I think we have not seen the full extent of his powers."

"I happen to agree with Astoria," said Ginny with a smile as she watched Harry's battle with Voldemort continue. "Harry's only has shown what he's need to show and nothing more. With each passing battle with Voldemort, he has to dig deeper and deeper, but he's never struck his limits."

"Harry has no limits," said Lily calmly and everyone wondered whether she was stating a fact or if was just her biases as a mother showing through but everyone had no time to find out as the battle still raged on.

-

Harry took a pained step forward. One of Voldemort's curses had just managed to breach his defenses long enough to crack some ribs. Now, with his movement restricted, he needed to rely on his blocking and shield charms. Harry looked at Voldemort, who was bleeding and another dangerous looking spell was sent right towards Voldemort. A shield spell had narrowly blocked the charm and another spell fired back in return. The blue light flew right towards the air towards Voldemort. The spell was intended as a healing charm to jump start the heart of someone who had suffered a heart attack but when used on a healthy person it could be very fatal. Voldemort countered the attack and both wizards stood, at a stalemate.

"I have to win," muttered Harry to himself, an intense look in his eyes as his wand held up. A loud crack signaled some smoke and from the smoke, several deadly looking birds dove right towards Voldemort. Their feathers were a coarse grey, with demonic red eyes, sharp claws and teeth, and forked tongues as they dove at Voldemort. He found himself discomforted by this new attack, as the birds dove at him. Several spells blasted towards the birds, many of them exploding into a shower of blood and internal organs, but others flying around, to resume the attack, dive bombing Voldemort's face with their beaks. Harry maneuvered around a desk, to heal his rib injuries, along with a few other broken bones that were hindering his ability to properly defeat Voldemort.

A burst of black fire was aimed towards those demonic creations of Potter, causing Voldemort much irritation. He was sick of the games the brat was planning. One of the birds dove, ripping its claws down into the pale hand of Voldemort. Voldemort staggered, blood dripping from his hand. One of the birds dove right at his face and his beak bit down, ripping off a chunk of his forehead. The bird rose up, before it hacked the bit of Voldemort's skin that it ripped out in disgust. A orange bolt struck the bird down and it spontaneously combusted. The birds fought but Voldemort had managed to strike most of them down, he readied himself for Potter's next move. One more bird had its skull split by a curse.

Voldemort spun, just in time to block a skull splitting curse of Potter's aimed towards him. The spell was blocked and a cloud of acid returned fire. At the last second, Harry threw himself out of the way and the acid ate right through the wall behind him. A conjured steel spike aimed right towards Voldemort's heart in turn was blasted to dust as both wizards continued the fight, with neither backing up, not for a second. They refused to give up any ground as the battle raged on..

"Something has to give sooner or later, Riddle," said Harry through gritted teeth as a simulated sonic vibration spell went through the air but Voldemort had long since known to be prepared to shield his ears. It was just a front with a blast of fire. Voldemort avoided being barbequed to a crisp by simply freezing the flames and continued the fight. Signs of fatigue were starting to become evident with both wizards.

"It will Potter, but it won't be with me," said Voldemort as the next curse, with a bit more power thrown into it than normally due to the frustration setting in, was a curse that would rip Potter's lungs to ribbons. Potter saw it coming and was half of a step away. A spell aimed towards Voldemort's eyes to over stimulate his option nerves was countered and once again, both competitors stood off.

"Then we come at a disagreement, because it will be you, Riddle," responded Harry, as he aimed a cutting curse, with the simple intention of slitting Voldemort's throat. Another block, but this one came closer to connecting. Of course, the curse that returned fire came rather closer than Harry would have liked as well. Two more spells collided with each other in mid air and the resulting explosion caused the opponents to stagger back, nearly knocked to the ground. It was only due to luck that they managed to remain on their feet. "Is that your best shot, Riddle? I'm almost saddened…"

Several razor sharp blades were blasted from Voldemort's wand at Harry, all spinning at an insane rate. They would have hacked off limbs had Harry not conjured a wall of red mist around him. It was a very advanced dark arts spell but when the blades past right through them, they rusted and fell harmlessly to the ground. A whip of his wand sent a spike right towards Voldemort's chest but once again it was blocked as both wizards continued to the fight.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" shouted Voldemort suddenly, hoping to catch Potter off guard and it appeared to work. The boy was struck with the Killing Curse but instead of dropping to the ground, Potter appeared to burst into green mist that formed the message "HA HA HA" before the letters splashed magically created acid towards Voldemort. The acid splashed his right arm, rendering his wand arm unusable, forcing him to switch to his left hand.

A crack and Voldemort was knocked backwards right into the wall of Gringotts. He bounced back to his feet, angrily, before he threw two spells, as Potter had vanished from his line of sight. Something told him the boy was rather near and he managed to throw off a couple more spells as the laughter of that brat echoed through his ears. It was slightly more difficult to aim spells with his wand arm taken out but Voldemort managed to adapt well enough.

"Show yourself, Potter, fight me like a wizard," said Voldemort.

"I prefer to fight like a winner, but since you asked so nicely, I guess I'll have to honor that request," said Harry as he appeared right in front of Voldemort, before he flicked his wand right at his enemy, sending a series of orange sphere shaped lights right at Voldemort's eyes. It caused his eyes to be bombarded by an overabundance of light until he was able to shield his eyes with the sleeve of his robes. Several of the spheres exploded, sending miniature spikes right towards Voldemort.

Harry watched, taking a breath, sweat dripping down his face. He had never used this much dark magic, ever in one sitting and he was in danger of being exhausted. The only consolation prize was that Voldemort looked equally battered but he held his wand. Harry took a deep breath, hoping to wrap this up in the same assault. Both wizards stood, before they threw their next attack simultaneously.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" shouted Harry and Voldemort at the same time. Two green lights blasted through the air and struck each other in mid air. There was a vibration for a few brief seconds before a loud magical explosion. The explosion blasted both Voldemort and Harry to the ground and they crashed hard from the impact, both smashing onto the ground, lacking any movement as all of the windows in Gringotts blew up.

-

Ginny sprung up to her feet immediately but she took a deep breath when she realized that the door would still not budge.

"He's still alive," said Ginny.

"Yes, by the skin of his teeth," offered Lily but she watched the battle intently.

"He's moving too, that explosion caused a fair amount of damage," said Neville in an awed voice.

"You know Harry, he won't stay down," stated Luna calmly.

"Of course," said Ginny proudly as she watched Harry struggle to his feet despite the impact of the explosion.

-

Harry took a deep breath, but it was a wonder that he could in fact breath. Voldemort's body remained motionless before the Dark Lord's fingers twitched and Harry dropped down to his knees, looking at his hands, which were slightly blackened due to the explosion.

"What will it take to put you down Riddle?" muttered Harry in his hands before he nodded, the question answered, as he switched wands as Voldemort got to his feet, equally surprised that his opponent had survived the attack.

"Impressive Potter, you survived that, perhaps you have earned just a bit of my respect," stated Voldemort grudgingly. "It is a pity that…"

"You will have to die soon because Lord Voldemort can't be defeated," sad Harry in a dull, bored voice. "The fact that you can't be killed coming from your mouth is getting old…"

"Not a mere boast, just stating a magical fact," said Voldemort as he had just gotten his bearings back to him after the magical backlash from the colliding killing curses.

"The cup, the locket, the diary, the Diadem, the ring, and the snake…not any more," stated Harry casually and there were seconds before Voldemort realized what Potter had implied. The look on Voldemort's face was first surprise that it quickly turned into a look of pure rage. "That's right Riddle, I destroyed all your Horcruxes, one by one and the thing was, other than the snake and of course the diary, I doubted you had one hint of what was going on."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" shouted Voldemort as Harry sighed as he held up the Elder Wand, before it repelled the curse back at Voldemort. A stone shield absorbed the impact of the curse as Harry saw the look in the eyes of Voldemort, when he realized what Harry held in his hand. "The Elder wand…how?"

"Simple, Snape and Dumbledore played you for a fool with one scheme and I played them for fools with an ever bigger scheme," stated Harry, a smile on his face as he looked at Voldemort. "Another thing you might have been after for years, even you would be intrigued by the legend."

Voldemort did not respond with words. Rather a barrage of deadly curses, his single minded focus was to defeat Harry and claim possess to the Elder Wand. It was quite unfortunate for him that Harry was equally intent on keeping it. Harry pushed against Voldemort's attack. Lord Voldemort's head whiplashed back. The loud crack of bones snapping could be heard as Harry raised the wand. Voldemort still was able to fight, so unfortunately, his neck was not broken as Harry intended. Two spells collided together but the third one cut through Voldemort's like a hot knife through butter. A fourth spell and Voldemort felt his chest rip open, blood splashing to the ground. Despite the fact that he may be breathing his last dying breath, Voldemort was too stubborn to not go down without taking Potter with him.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" hacked Voldemort, as a shower of blood splattered out of his mouth, but Harry blocked the curse, the gaping hole right in Voldemort's chest visible and his breathing become very forced. Harry drew his wrist back and hoisted his rival off the ground. A crash and Voldemort landed on the ground but he still showed signs of movement. He refused to accept his life was at an end. His body made it to his knees but he was hunched over. The rituals, in addition to the Horcruxes, had prolonged his life but a small piece of Voldemort wondered if that was a good thing. That piece was shut up by the rest of him who wanted Potter's head.

Harry dropped to his knees, face drenched in sweat, eyes widened, black rings under his eyes, looking at his hands without blinking once before he looked up as Voldemort made his way, somehow, defying all logic and reason ever, to a standing position despite the gaping hole. Harry stood, still not blinking, his eyes moving from his hands to the ceiling for a brief second before they moved back towards Voldemort. Voldemort shakily raised his arm; with what might have been his last bit of strength, as Harry looked at his hands one more time, the Elder Wand clutched in his fist, before he nodded. It had to be done.

A green light was cut off in mid stream by a large blast of magic where it looked like no color could penetrate. Voldemort recognized the curse and wondered if Potter had gone off the deep end to try such a piece of dark magic. The curse enveloped Voldemort's body, completing eating through the Killing Curse he sent and the inhumane screams of agony could be heard. There was pain throughout Voldemort's mind, body, and soul. The agony was rather short lived in reality but it seemed like an eternity of torment before Voldemort's body abruptly shut down. Harry's eyes diverted up to the ceiling and back to his hands, feeling grimly satisfied at what had just occurred.

"Is that dark enough for you?" muttered Harry into his hands before he collapsed against the wall, his breathing rather shallow, a haunted, nearly disturbing look in his bloodshot eyes, looking half dead but Voldemort was all dead.

And that's Chapter Fifty.