AN: You guys were right, I don't need to explain myself for those who are too slow to keep up with the plot. I guess I'll just have to ignore those monkeys from now on.

Anyway. Here is the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 37 - Clash

The office of the head of the DMLE had been magically enlarged and various new features had been added. For example, a large map of Birmingham city was spread on the wall opposite the entrance door and new desks had been added where wizards and witches were keeping their eyes pinned on their various monitoring instruments.

Rufus Scrimgeour, the head of the DMLE stared unblinkingly at the large map of Birmingham city and the dozen red dots littering the map. Every half an hour, the map would glow and the red dots would either disappear, change positions or new dots would appear in their stead.

"The bounty you put on Greyback was too big, Minister," he said. "Now everyone and their grandma are trying their hand at capturing him. We have too many suspects."

The Auror forces were stretched thin due to the high number of suspects that they were bringing up for interrogation.

"We had to make it believable. A criminal as notorious and dangerous as Greyback deserves to have such a bounty on his head. It shows to the public that we're taking this situation as seriously as we can. Besides, after You-Know-Who's attack on the Ministry and the murder of Saul Croaker, we have to show everyone that we are still strong. And it works. The support of the general population for the Ministry is higher than ever. Our mail is flooded with letters of encouragement and even donations for the Ministry and especially for the Department of Law Enforcement. You should be happy," Amelia Bones said.

Mr Scrimgeour allowed a smile to light his perpetually gloomy face. It was, indeed, as the Minister said. The support shown by people for the Ministry of Magic was at an all-time high and the DMLE reaped the most benefits from this scheme of theirs.

"If only they knew that Greyback has never escaped..." he said with a chuckle. Fenrir Greyback was still being held captive in the holding cells of the DMLE, awaiting his trial. He had never escaped. It was all a ploy of the Ministry to lure out the serial killer that had murdered the previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and many other influential members of pureblood families.

The map on the wall suddenly glowed with a blue light and, for a moment, all red dots were wiped off clean. But after a few seconds, a new series of red dots appeared. The dots that appeared in the same places as before remained red. But the new dots started to pulsate with a blue light.

"Five new suspects popped up. Two new suspects are in the centre of the city. One in the Northfield district and two in Erdington," Scrimgeour announced.

Pressing a button on his desk, Scrimgeour spoke in a microphone:

"Kingsley, you and Swanson take the ones in the centre. Mad-Eye, you and Aaron take the two from Erdington. Dawlish and Emily, go after the one in Northfield," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" came a chorus of voices from the loudspeaker.

⁂

It was only roughly five minutes later that a silvery silhouette materialized in the middle of the DMLE head's office. The corporeal Patronus, a lynx, opened its mouth and Kingsley Shacklebot's deep voice rang out:

"A skilled wizard incapacitated Swanson and banished me before I could even react and then escaped with a Portkey. Requesting immediate back-up!"

Rufus Scrimgeour jumped up to his feet, his heavy directorial chair making a loud scraping noise against the floor.

"This might be it!" he said, filled with energy.

For the past two days, the Aurors had apprehended nearly 100 wizards and witches. Everyone had been pulling extra hours, working in shifts of 12 hours a day. However, seeing as it was a special operation, nobody complained about it openly. Nevertheless, the prospect of this situation coming to an end soon filled everyone with excitement.

"Sir! I got his location! An unauthorized Portkey was detected in Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean!" a witch from the group watching the monitoring instrument shouted.

"Very good! 20% bonus this month for you, Amanda!"

"Thank you, sir!" the young witch said ecstatically.

But then, Scrimgeour drew out his wand and chanted:

"Expecto Patronum!"

He was a careful and calculated man. Someone who had overpowered two of his best Aurors in an instant was not to be taken lightly. He would make use of his cards properly.

⁂

Considering that it was the end of the week, there were no classes at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was in his personal quarters, listening to chamber music. Lying in his newly purchased plush and comfortable leather chair with his eyes closed, the old wizard appeared to be in a peaceful sleep. It was only his long and gnarly fingers drumming quickly on the desk that betrayed the fact that he was very much awake. He was tapping his fingers in accord with the fast pace of a joyous classical song. It was a piece written by the Muggle composer Niccolo Paganini, 3 Ritornelli for Strings. He was humming softly together with the song. He had listened to it so many times that he could remember every single violin note. (1)

His peace was shattered, however, when a silvery silhouette all of a sudden appeared in his room and the raspy voice of the Head of the DMLE was heard over the soft music coming from his magical device.

"We have found a promising suspect. He made quick work of Kingsley and Swanson before escaping. We may require your assistance. As per the agreement, please come to the Ministry."

Dumbledore let out a drawn-out sigh but he did not dally. He quite enjoyed the close relationship that he had forged between the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic. It was time for him to keep his end of the bargain and do his part.

⁂ Back to Harry's POV ⁂

When he turned to look at his attackers, he became mute with surprise.

In front of him, it was the one wizard that Harry really did not want to cross wands with while he was feeling too ill to even walk properly. The ones next to that particular wizard were no slouches either. Kingsley Shacklebot, Alastor Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour and none other than Albus Dumbledore had spread around him in a loose circle, surrounding him from all sides. Furthermore, with a flash of red and gold, a flaming bird launched itself in the air, hot on the snowy owl's trail. Dumbledore's phoenix familiar, Fawkes, flew into Fleur's pursuit!

"You are surrounded. For your own good, do not-" Rufus Scrimgeour began to say before a powerful shout cut him off.

"Shields!" Dumbledore suddenly thundered.

As experienced wizards and competent duellists, Kingsley and Scrimgeour instantly cast the most powerful Shielding Charm they knew. It was extremely rare to hear Dumbledore raise his voice. The old wizard's shout had set them on edge and they unconsciously cast the strongest protective spell they were capable of.

No sooner than Dumbledore yelled, Harry drew his wand from his waist as if he was drawing a sword.

Three blue and gold-tinted translucent shields appeared on Dumbledore and two Aurors.

But, at the last moment, instead of aiming his spell at them, Harry swung his wand to his right side and shouted:

"DAO!" (2)

On an area over 50 feet wide, a diagonal slash chopped through several dozen trees, mowing them down like cutting grass. Barely a second later, a mournful cry rang out in the distance and Dumbledore's facial expression changed.

"Fawkes!"

High up in the air, an invisible blade had caught the fiery bird dead-on, cleaving it in half. The Phoenix did not even know what hit it before getting killed. The two halves of the Phoenix's corpse burst into flames and its ashes fell on the leaves of the trees below. The immortal bird would be reborn from its ashes as it was immortal. However, it was counted out for this encounter. Specifically, it would be impossible for it to catch the Owl Animagus anymore.

Nevertheless, Harry did not have time to act pleased with himself. Not a second after he had cast that overpowered Severing Charm, a bolt of red light exploded into his torso. He was hurled back through the air as if he had been rammed into by a hippogriff.

While Dumbledore, Kingsley and Scrimgeour had cast the most powerful Shielding Charms they knew, Alastor Moody seized the chance to shoot the quickest offensive spell he knew - the Reductor Curse. Mad-Eye Moody was the type of fighter to give an arm to take a leg. He was willing to sacrifice himself if he could take down his enemy with him. It was that reckless fighting style that had made Alastor Moody feared and even respected by his enemies in the previous war. But it was also this crazy attitude that made him look like the patched-up coat of a homeless man, with scars littering his entire body, and missing an eye and a leg too.

Nevertheless, his gambles usually paid off and it was the case in the present as well. The Reductor Curse blasted the brown-haired young man in front of them like a canon.

Harry's sight almost went out as air left his lungs felt a bunch of his ribs shatter. But that was far from being the first time he had been severely injured in a fight. Tapping his left ribs with his right hand, a nonverbal spell momentarily numbed the feeling in his torso.

From the moment that Harry cast the Severing Charm that obliterated a portion of the forest and killed the Phoenix to the moment where he was blasted away by Moody's Reductor Curse, only two seconds passed. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

He scrambled up to his feet and a flock of canary birds were conjured from his wand, just in time to stop a volley of spells coming from his attackers. Then, he launched himself towards the side blocked by Rufus Scrimgeour like an angry bull. Seeing as he was surrounded from all sides, he chose to break the encirclement by taking out the one he thought of as the weakest link.

With the corner of his eyes, he noticed a blue beam of light coming at him from 7 o'clock and he instinctually whipped his wand at it, sending it back. Mad-Eye's single eye widened when he saw his Exploding Charm being sent right back at him. It was only his reflexes that allowed him to cast a Shielding Charm in time. That hasty spell however broke under the assault of the redirected spell and Mad-Eye was blasted backwards. Fortunately, he was physically unhurt but his pride was wounded. He was never going to live it down, getting beaten by his own spell.

Moody sat up from the ground with a groan, just in time to see Kingsley and Dumbledore fire a Full-Body Binding Curse and an Incarcerous Spell at the young man.

"Are you kidding me?! Take the kiddy gloves off and shoot the damn bastard down!" the veteran Auror hollered and fired a lethal curse of his own at the escapee.

But, as if to mock their efforts, a Shielding Charm blocked the two spells from Kingsley and Dumbledore and, with his free, unarmed hand, he slapped the incoming Bone Breaking Curse from Alastor right towards Rufus Scrimgeour.

A howl of agony resounded in the forest as the Head of the DMLE collapsed on the floor with his kneecaps shattered.

"Rufus!" Kingsley shouted and then threw an angry glare at Mad-Eye instead.

"The hell you looking at, huh?" Moody shouted belligerently while firing a Cutting Curse at Harry who started running after Scrimgeour got downed.

"That's exactly why nobody likes to partner up with you!" Kingsley yelled back angrily, his emotions unknowingly affecting the power of his spells and forcing Harry to stop running and cast a Shielding Charm to block his spells instead of deflecting them to the side.

"How was I supposed he'd bloody deflect my spell with his bare hands?!" Mad-Eye shouted back, equally incensed.

"ENOUGH!" thundered Dumbledore for the second time that day and the two Aurors couldn't shut up any quicker. "Stand back. Both of you."

This time, he was speaking calmly, but his blue eyes were glowing with power. As angry as they were with each other, Kingsley and Alastor Moody did not dare say a word at that moment.

Even Harry was momentarily silent and forgot to start running again. He had rarely ever seen Dumbledore lose his cool in his past life, he could count it on the fingers on one hand. As old as he was, the former Headmaster's anger was a sight to behold.

But then, a feeling of excitement started bubbling in Harry's veins. He was nauseous from the defective Portkey ride and half of the ribs on his left were broken from Mad-Eye's Reductor Curse. Realistically, he knew he should have tried to escape as fast as he could. However, he didn't.

'I've never had the chance to fight against Dumbledore in my past life.'

For decades, he had roamed the magical world, amassing knowledge, fighting in wars and killing Dark Wizards and Witches. The overpowered Severing Charm that he had used to destroy a large chunk of the forest and kill Fawkes was something that he had picked up on his travels too, during his stay in China, while he was pursuing a local Chinese Dark Lord. It was the most powerful Cutting Curse he had ever seen, one that had very high requirements for one's magical power. (3)

Deep down, Harry was a warrior. He loved peace as much as the next guy but decades spent on the battlefield, fighting Voldemort's forces had changed him. He had become more violent. More decisive. Stronger. Sharper. As much as he refused to admit it, he craved to be in a battle. He missed the feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins like it was happening now, when was about to have a real battle against Dumbledore.

After two years of living peaceful in this new world, it was the first time he got into a fight with a worthy opponent (he had never considered those 10 Death Eater that tried to kill him and Bella in Diagon Alley a challenge). The slumbering beast inside of him that yearned for battle was awoken.

Dumbledore sensed the changes in the young man's aura and a serious expression appeared on his face.

"Kingsley, take Rufus directly to St. Mungo and make sure he receives treatment right away. Alastor, you stay with me. But do not interfere. Keep an eye on the Anti-Disapparation Jinx and make sure he doesn't escape."

The two Aurors nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

Harry did not make any moves to stop Kingsley from retrieving the still moaning in pain head of the DMLE from the ground. He did not attack them. Instead, he kept his eyes pinned on the old wizard in front of him.

"Albus Dumbledore, the one who defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald. I've always wanted to cross wands with you!" Harry said respectfully but the tone of his voice spoke volumes of his burning fighting will.

"I'm afraid you have me at a loss. You know who I am but I do not know anything about you. I don't remember you attending Hogwarts either and I will say that my memory is still excellent despite my age," Dumbledore said conversationally as he took a better look at his opponent.

A young man in his early twenties with brown hair, brown eyes, a rather normal-looking face, square glasses and of an average height and weight. It was the kind of person that could easily be lost in a crowd, nothing about him stood out.

"My name is not important. I'm a nobody."

"Oh, I very much doubt that 'a nobody' could hold his own against four wizards at the same time and not come out losing."

Harry did not reply to that.

As if it was an unspoken agreement, the two of them raised their wands at the same time.

Two beams of bright red light slammed against each other and exploded, sending a burst of air that momentarily obscured everyone's sight as it lifted all the leaves on the ground in the air.

The two wizards started firing a flurry of spells that left Mad-Eye on the sidelines speechless. But, strangely enough, neither was firing spells that would permanently debilitate the other. Nevertheless, none of the spells they were casting could find their marks.

Much to his surprise, Dumbledore realized that the young man was more than keeping up with him. Deflecting, blocking and casting spells with a speed and practised ease and grace that rivalled that of his.

'No, he's faster!'

A Gouging Charm so powerful was shot from the young man's wand that it broke through Dumbledore's shield as if it was not even there. The Gouging Charm had become Harry's speciality, it was how he had defeated Voldemort during the Second War in his past life. (4)

It was only luck on the old wizard's part that the spell missed his neck by a few inches, only cutting a few strands of his long white hair in the process. His back broke into cold sweat. Due to his old age, he was not as quick and agile as he had been in his youth. It appeared as if the young man got the better of their exchanges. Nonetheless, old age had its perks too, such as his experience and his knowledge of less known and obscure spells that most people have never even heard of.

A fire whip came out from the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's hand and incinerated everything in its path.

Waving his wand around himself, Harry conjured a sphere of water to protect himself. The whip of fire that Dumbledore had cast was not a mere Incendio spell shaped like a whip...it was a spell that could burn through Shielding Charms. If Harry had cast a Shielding Charm to stop it, he would have met his maker. But the conjured sphere of water snuffed out the fire whip when it came in contact with it.

While Harry thought he was safe after thwarting his attack, Dumbledore raised both his wand and his left hand. Harry felt his control over the sphere of water around him drop - the old wizard had somehow managed to get a grip on his spell! He was going to make him drown by his own spell.

A grunt of exertion came from young wizard as he also raised both his wand and his right hand in the air and engaged in what could be dubbed as a tug of war between his and Dumbledore's magic.

'Powerful!' was Harry's honest thought after coming in contact with Dumbledore's magic for the first time and sensing his strength. The fact that the old wizard was wielding the Elder Wand worked in his favour as well. Harry was slowly, but surely, losing control of the conjured water around him.

It looked like while Harry had better reflexes and speed, Dumbledore was more magically powerful than him.

'I'm still a child physically. It makes sense he's more powerful magically.'

But he was far from giving up. He let his right hand down and used only his wand to wrestle against Dumbledore's magic - which led to the old wizard gaining ground at a much faster pace than before.

When he felt himself gaining the absolute upper hand, Dumbledore thought that the young man had finally reached the end of his strength. It was understandable. Aside from Grindelwald and Voldemort, he had never met any other wizards that could match him magically. The fact that the young man was holding his own for that long was already surprising.

It was while he was thinking about the superiority of his magical power that a bolt of red light shot through the curtain of water and Dumbledore only had the time to widen his eyes before the spell slammed right into his chest.

A Disarming Charm.

The old man was launched backwards by the spell and the Elder Wand was ripped out from his grasp and flew into the air, right into Harry's outstretched hand.

Harry could not help it. He burst into laughter. To think that both Voldemort and Dumbledore, the strongest wizards that he had ever met, would be defeated by a Disarming Charm!

'This has to be the hand of fate at work. That bitch.'

But he did not have time to celebrate because the old wizard stood up from the ground in a fury, magic power rolling off of him in waves. Dumbledore was not as mad at Harry as he was at himself. Angry at himself for not giving his 100% against the young man despite seeing how well he had fared against the assault of three Aurors. And now, the worst part was that an artefact as powerful and dangerous as the Elder Wand came into the possession of someone that was suspected of being a serial killer.

He raised his arms in the air and a strange incantation in an unknown language came out of his mouth.

"Bollocks!" Harry cussed.

It was a Druidic spell. It looked like the old wizard was far from being helpless without his wand. Every single tree around them seemed to have come to life and Harry suddenly found himself on the attacking end of several hundred branches. It was like a horde of Whomping Willows had suddenly ganged-up on him.

A particularly thick branch of a tree slammed into his Shielding Charm and Harry quaked under its weight. Then, a root burst from the ground and coiled itself around his ankle. Before he could react, the root yanked him in the air and slammed him violently into the trunk of a nearby tree.

Harry saw life momentarily flash in front of his eyes, he had almost died. With the last of his willpower, he let out a scream.

A vortex of fire burst from both of the wands in his hands. Despite being at the centre of it, not even his hair was singed. But, outside the tornado of fire, all the animated trees were incinerated, reduced to ash. It was the very same Firestorm spell that Dumbledore had once cast to kill the horde of Inferi in Harry's past life when the two of them had gone to Tom Riddle's cave for his locket Horcrux.

The old wizard managed to cast a wandless Shielding Charm in time but the Firestorm Spell cast by two wands at once blasted through it as if it was made of paper. The old wizard's clothes and long beard were set ablaze and it was only Alastor Moody timely intervention that saved his life.

⁂

"Bloody Hell..." Alastor Moody uttered weakly, not quite able to find his voice.

It was more than a decade since he had last witnessed a duel of such magnitude. And even back then, such duels took place only during the rare encounters between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. A young twerp, barely in his 20s, putting up such a fight against someone like Dumbledore was unthinkable. If Dumbledore's Druidic Spell that brought the forest to life has left him dumbstruck, the Firestorm cast by the young man terrified him.

Luckily, the young man had fallen unconscious at some point and the Firestorm died down or the grizzled Auror reckoned his Shielding Charm would have not resisted the flaming tornado for much longer.

With his wand tightly gripped in his hand, he wobbled his way towards the unconscious young man, intent on disarming and capturing him. The lad might have been a tough bastard that he could have gone out for a beer with in other circumstances but a criminal was a criminal nonetheless.

A very soft flutter of wings, so silent that he almost did not hear it, suddenly reached his ears. (5)

'Constant Vigilance' being his motto, the Auror turned to look back...only to be met with a pair of knees in the face as a flying snowy owl unexpectedly transformed into a girl and slammed into him. There was nothing that could have prepared him for that. Mad-Eye Moody was knocked out cold, only his magical eye continuing to spin around restlessly.

The girl took her wand out and she shot two Stunning Charms at both Dumbledore and Alastor Moody to make sure they were out. Then, she broke into a run towards the place where Harry lay unconscious.

"'Arry!" she cried out, her voice choked by panic at the state of him.

He was unconscious in the middle of a devastated by destruction landscape - she had seen the Firestorm from afar too, it's what had prompted her to ignore Harry's plea for her to run away and made her return. Furthermore, blood was flowing from the back of his head and pooling around him from where the root had slammed him into a tree and one of his elbows was bent at an unnatural angle too.

"Please be okay! Please be okay, 'Arry! Please, don't die on me! Please!" she cried as she cradled his head in her arms.

In her panic and desperation, she stopped thinking straight. Her face morphed into something that looked like a bird's beak and two long and scally wings burst from her shoulder blades, ripping apart the back of her jacket and shirt. Her wings stirred powerful winds, rising clouds of ash in the air as they flapped. Empowered by her transformation, she did not feel any strain from carrying a full-grown man.

Taking him in her arms with a gentleness unexpected from a creature that looked as vicious as she did at that moment - a cruel human-bird hybrid - she took great care in not harming him with her sharp talons. Once she made sure her hold on his body was secured, her wings flapped powerfully and launched her into the air. The Veela girl broke into a flight that surpassed the speed of her Animagus form.

AN:

(1) It is canon that Dumbledore loves chamber music.

(2) This is not a canon spell. The incantation "Dao" comes from the name of the Chinese single-edged sword - the Dao Sword. Harry learned this spell during his stay in China.

(3) Briefly mentioned in chapter 15. It was a Dark Lord in China that was very good at running away due to the Flood Dragon familiar he had.

(4) Shown in Chapter 8, in the flashback where Harry, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Kinglsey fought together against Voldemort. Everyone except for Harry died but he managed to kill Voldemort in the end with a Gouging Charm. Harry also lost his right arm in this battle.

(5) Owls are known for their silent flight (in real life).