A/N – cliffy warning!!! Enjoy!

Chapter 52 – Darkshines

Harry was surprised to see himself at the wrong end of his wand.  He'd barely been able to keep up with all the new information.

Sir Hevaryl's intentions were clear.  Destroy Harry's soul and keep Harry's body.

"A duel Harry, not your normal wizards duel of course, but you already knew that didn't you?  Dumbledore told you that much."

Harry simply held the piercing gaze with one of his own.

"Yes, I do know.  The duel of souls… The phoenix against the snake, the dragon against the night, Fornax opposing Ophiuchus.  There have been many predictions about this moment."

Sir Hevaryl smiled nastily at him.

"Well then, I see no reason to delay further."

Harry watched then as the spirit of lord Slytherin seemed to flow out of his body, which simply slumped to the floor.

"We begin."  Said Sir Hevaryl, now in spirit form, but still holding Harry's wand.

The two bowed to each other then Harry raised Gryffindor's sword and Sir Hevaryl raised the wand.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The troop of Gryffindors went straight back to Professor Figg's office to search for clues about her disappearance.  They sifted through her papers and Hermione was quickly distracted by something.

"Look at this you guys."  She said lifting a folder from the desk and leafing through its contents.

Inside there were several reports written by someone called Dawn Nightshade.

"Who do you reckon this Dawn is?"  Said Neville, curious.

"Dawn… Didn't Harry say that Professor Inigma's name was Dawn?"  Said Ron suddenly.

"You know, that may not be as irrelavant as it seems Ron.  Did you know that the word Enigma is roughly translated to 'riddle'?  Perhaps it's actually an alias."  Said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Is this helping Harry at all?"  Asked Ginny impatiently.

"You're right Gin, let's keep looking."  Said Neville going over to the window.

"It's no good.  You're not going to find anything."

Dumbledore's voice made all of them jump and they turned around guiltily to face him.

"Don't worry, you will not be punished, but I'm afraid Professor Figg has been summoned elsewhere and it will do no good trying to bring her back.  There is ancient and strong magic going on here."

There was a short silence before Neville stepped forward slightly nervously and said.

"This has got something to do with Harry, hasn't it Headmaster."

Dumbledore smiled slightly at Neville.

"You are far more perceptive than many give you credit for Mr Longbottom.  Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about it, and I cannot permit any of you to go trying to be heroic, this is something that has been waiting to happen for many years now and it is something that Harry has already had all the help he can have if he is to succeed."

Seeing that it would be folly to try and outwit Dumbledore the Gryffindors allowed themselves to be escorted to the great Hall and sat subdued at their table for dinner.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Harry and Sir Hevaryl locked eyes and circled each other like wild animals preparing to battle to the death.

The glittering sword in front of Harry seemed to lend its strength to the young wizard and there was a faint golden glow spreading up his arm towards his chest fortifying his heart and granting him the courage he needed to face his mighty foe.

Opposite him was the shadowy spirit of Salazar Slytherin was feeding from the power of Harry's own Holly wand trying to drain the phoenix feather of all that he could.  His countenance seemed to shine with darkness and his eyes, which were green and very akin to Harry's were full of malice.

They were watched by a very nervous Arabella Figg.

She stood awe struck and she was so engrossed in the duel of souls that she didn't even register that she was stood next to the frozen body of Lord Voldemort.

Instead, she whispered words of encouragement for the boy she'd been so deeply bound into protecting.

"Come on Harry.  You can do it son.  Don't give into him, you can win this."

Had she known that Harry could hear her almost silent whispers she might have tried to be more articulate, but she didn't know that her very thoughts were calling to Harry in his mind helping to strengthen his will.

"You won't win.  I wont let you take my body away from me!  You have had your time.  Return to the wilderness where you belong you snake!"  Cried Harry pushing against Slytherin's shadow with all of his strength.

A flicker of panic danced in Slytherin's cold face and Harry felt the dark lord's strength begin to fail.

"No!  You Gryffindor scum!  I've waited too long for this!  I will not be forced out now!"  Cried Sir Hevaryl

"Go out!"  Yelled Harry putting everything he had into his efforts as thoughts of his friends, of Sirius and most strongly of all the thought of Ginny's delicate face brought out his deepest reserves of strength.

Finally the dark shade was broken.

Slytherin's anguished cries of pain filled the chamber as his shadow lost all of its strength and Harry's wand fell to the ground with a clatter.

Harry had only enough strength left to reclaim his body and fall into deep unconsciousness.

Slytherin however had one last trick to play… The faded and broken shadow found its way to the only other suitable host there was…

So it was that Lord Voldemort awoke from his trance and his red eyes were curdled with a streak of black.

Starting forward the Dark Lord moved to strike at Harry as he lay helpless on the ground.

Coming suddenly from her shock Arabella felt courage stir within her and leapt after Voldemort.

"No!"  She cried, diving forward and pulling him away from Harry.

Grabbing her wand from her pocket she yelled out the first spell that came to mind.

"Stupefy!"

At the same time the dark lord shot his hand forth and with an evil jeer cried

"Avada Kedavra!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N

Okay I know… I'm the evilest evil person even more evil that Voldie and undeserving of happiness or reviews!  But come on!  You should be expecting a cliffy by now!

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jona

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