Chapter 55
"If Voldemort wasn't the Dark Lord, then who is it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Simple. It's me," Harry said.
Everyone blinked in surprise and disbelief.
"How can it be you? You weren't even born the time the prophecy was spoken," James said.
"Neither was Eric," Harry said. "You don't have to believe me, but that is the truth. My name is right next to Eric's on that label."
"You're the same age as me. There's no way you can be a Dark Lord," Eric said, shaking his head in denial.
"Use your brain, Potter," Harry said. "In one of the prophecy, it says the Dark Lord would mark the Chosen One as his equal. Voldemort has never done that to you. I, however, have marked you."
Eric's eyes widened in realization and his hand shot up to the scar on his throat. Harry smirked.
"Exactly," he said. "I almost killed you, but you did survive. Granted, I made sure it was a shallow cut, but still, you could've easily bled out without proper medical attention."
Harry spread his arms out.
"Not to mention, I so very easily killed Voldemort, a Dark Lord," he smirked. "I destroyed every Horcrux, of course with Alex's help. It was rather easy too. Just had to stab them with a basilisk fang and they were destroyed, simple as that."
Harry pointed at Eric. Everyone tensed, knowing full well that Harry was very capable at casting spells without the use of the incantation or a wand.
"Face the truth, Potter. I am the one you are supposed to face," he said. "But know I will not go down so easily, like my father did. You should be prepared to fight me with the intention of killing me, or you won't stand a chance."
Harry leapt down from the boulder he had been perching on.
"This is a battle to the death. One of us must die here and now," he said.
Harry flexed his right hand, claws growing out.
"Try to dodge, Potter, because I won't miss this time," he said, grinning maliciously.
Eric was barely able to leap back before Harry's claws could cut his throat again. He stumbled, holding a hand up to his throat to check if it was bleeding again. There was a tiny bit of blood on his fingers. Harry had managed to nick him with those razor sharp claws.
"You're getting better at dodging," Harry said, giving a taunting smile.
Harry flicked the blood off his claws.
"You have an unfair advantage," Eric exclaimed. "You performed Transfiguration experiments on yourself. You're not even human anymore!"
"I've been doing this all my life," Harry said, waving a hand dismissively. "Although, with your dodging skills, it only shows off your training. You've been trained from a young age to fight Voldemort, right, oh mighty Chosen One? Any ordinary wizard wouldn't be able to dodge so quickly and would've had their throats torn out. If you want to defeat me, you'll have to kill me. Can you do that, Potter? Can you cast the killing curse and end this war once and for all? Or will you be a coward and run away?"
Eric clenched his fists. Harry's smile turned cruel.
"If you do choose to run away, I'll kill everyone here," he said.
"I will not let you do that," Dumbledore said, pointing his wand at him.
Harry eyed Dumbledore's wand and chuckled.
"Nice wand," he said. "That reminds me; who did you try to bring back?"
Dumbledore froze, his eyes widening in surprise. Harry chuckled darkly.
"You think I wouldn't know what that ring truly was? I am not my father. I knew exactly what that ring was and you only confirmed it when I saw your hand. My guess is you tried to bring back a family member who died long ago. You were tempted by the power of resurrection, but you were almost killed by the curse placed on the ring by my father." Harry said. "And then you destroyed the ring, destroying the Horcrux as well. I thank you for that; it saved me the trouble of going after it."
Harry pointed his finger at Dumbledore.
"Let's begin this fight then," he said, humming cheerfully.
Dumbledore leapt to the side, avoiding the green light of the killing curse. He fired a stunning spell at Harry, who easily batted it to the side.
"You'll have to do better than that," Harry said, stalking forward. "A mere stunning spell will do nothing to defeat me."
Harry lunged forward, claws aimed at Dumbledore's throat. Harry's eyes held a bloodthirsty look in them and his grin was malicious and sinister. Dumbledore quickly conjured a full-body shield, but to everyone's surprise, Harry's hand broke through the shield. Dumbledore jumped to the side to protect his throat. Instead, his shoulder got hit. Dumbledore jumped back, clutching his bleeding shoulder. He took a step forward and stumbled before crumbling to the ground.
"Poison?" Dumbledore asked, looking at his bleeding shoulder.
Harry cackled and held his hand up. Clear drops of venom dripped from his claws. It hissed as the clear drops hit the ground.
"Close," Harry said. "More like acid. I hardened my skin to prevent the acid from burning my skin, but you weren't so lucky. But if you want, I can switch to poison."
Harry flexed his claws.
"Remember who you're dealing with, Dumbledore; I am not Voldemort." he said. "You would do well to remember that little detail. My father was weak, a coward. He hid behind his followers, commanding them from the shadows. I am not a coward like him; I will not hide behind anyone. If you're going to fight me, fight to kill me. That's the only way you'll have a chance to defeat me."
Harry pointed his finger at Dumbledore.
"Get up, old man," he said. "Or I'll kill you right here on the spot."
Dumbledore got to his feet, wincing in pain.
"Albus!" Lily exclaimed, running forward.
She was forced to halt in her tracks as a red light hit the ground before her. She looked up to see Alex staring at her with his cold unreadable eyes.
"Don't interfere," Alex said. "This isn't your fight."
Harry was silent for a couple seconds, studying Dumbledore.
"You know, it is quite funny," he said suddenly.
"What is?" Dumbledore asked, trying to staunch the bleeding from his shoulder.
"All my life, I've faced death over and over again. If I made a single mistake, I would be killed. That's why I was determined to excel at everything, to learn everything, so I would never make a mistake. But nobody is perfect. Even I have made mistakes...but I do not regret anything," Harry said in an almost nostalgic tone. "Even now, I face death...but I do not fear death. In fact, I would almost welcome it. It would free me of this isolated life I was forced to live, a nobody in the world, a life lived completely shrouded in shadows."
Harry smiled slightly. It wasn't like any other smile they'd seen. It was almost...genuine.
"No matter," he said, lifting his finger again to point at Dumbledore. "It's been a fun fight, but it is time to end this, Dumbledore. Farewell."
A green light flew out of Harry's finger, flying at Dumbledore. Dumbledore's eyes widened; the curse was moving too fast for him to move, especially with his injury slowing him down. He could only wait for his death.
Suddenly, Dumbledore was shoved out of the way and the curse hit someone else. Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock when he saw who it was.