CHAPTER TWENTY
"Have you got the invisibility cloaks?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah." "As well as the one Dumbledore leant for Malfoy?"
"Yes, have you got your wand?"
"Yeah, but I won't need it."
"Just in case...." Lara said warningly.
"Where's Malfoy?"
"He's waiting outside."
"Has he said goodbye to Ginny already?"
"Last night, yeah, but she's still sleeping now. He didn't want to wake her."
"I wouldn't either." Harry said softly as the crept out of the common room, being careful not to wake the sleeping forms of Hermione and Ron.
"What took you guys so long?" Draco asked.
"We didn't want to forget anything?"
"What is there to bring?"
"Cloaks, wands...have you gots yours by the way?"
"Wand? Yeah, it's in my pocket."
"Good." Lara said softly as she closed the door, heading along the corridor.
"What time is it?" Harry asked.
"Almost six, the sun's just rising."
"And where did Dumbledore say the Portkey was this time?" Draco asked from the other side of Lara.
"Same place."
"Is it going to the same place as last time?" Harry asked again.
"No, we're actually going to appear in that abandoned classroom we stopped in last time."
"Why didn't we do that last time?"
"Because we didn't know what to expect did we?" Lara said impatiently as she led the boys along another corridor and into McGonagalls office. The hour glass was sitting on her desk, in the same position as last time.
"So are we ready?" Lara said, approaching the hour glass as she slipped the cloak over her shoulders, dissapearing. Harry and Draco followed her lead, slipping the cloaks over their shoulders. At the same time, they reached out and touched the portkey, feeling the familiar pull behind their navels followed by a whooshing sound as the world spun around them.
Suddenly, the twirling stopped, and they felt their feet once again slam into the ground. This time, however, it was not the black tar of road but the soft tiles of the courtroom they had stopped in last time, still (Lara noted with relief) as empty as they had left it.
"So do we have a plan this time?" Harry asked softly as Lara deposited the hour glass under the chair and out of sight.
"Voldemorts expecting us, but I'm not sure what he's going to do. Even if we could plan, what would we do? He can see through our cloaks..."
"He can?"
"Karadyrn had the power, I'm guessing that particular ability was transferred across as well."
"Cool." Draco said, voicing his agreement rather than nodding due to his invisibility.
"Okay, so we walk along the corridor in the cloaks, find the one Voldemort's in and confront him."
"Something like that." Lara said.
"Okay, let's go before I throw up." The blonde said, fighting the queaziness in his stomach. The trio quietly exited the room, entering the corridor to find it absolutely deserted.
"Somehow, I can't imagine this being a good thing." Harry said, eyeing the deserted pathway.
"Of course it is, easy access to Voldemort." Draco said breezily.
"But that's just it, if his minions aren't here, what makes you think he is?" A thoughtful silence descended on the trio as they made their way to the common room in which they had last seen Voldemort. Upon opening the door, they found it to be, as predicted, absolutely empty.
"What do we do no?" The blonde whined.
"Wait... there... on the table."
"What is it?"
"A letter. I had a feeling He'd leave behind something like this, he was expecting us. He wouldn't just leave without directing us to him." Lara said, making her way to one of the tables spread throughout the room and picking up an envelope.
"Why would he WANT us to come to him?" Draco said, making his way to Lara so he too could read the letter.
"Because He believes He can kill us." Lara said simply. Harry's face drained of colour, and Draco's went (if it's possible) even paler.
"But why does He want to kill us?" Harry said weakly as Lara began to rip at the envelopes seal.
"We're Voldemort's biggest threat, He won't rest easy until we're dead."
"That's encouraging." Draco said sarcastically as Lara unfolded the now emancipated letter. Clearing her throat, she began to read.
"Potter, Black and Malfoy
If you're reading this, you've done no less than what I expected. I knew you'd be back. And I know that Miss Black has undoubtedly trained you to fight me. Not that it's going to be enough to bring me down, but congratulations on the effort nonetheless.
So, I suppose you are wondering where to find me? Just follow the light....
I am greatly looking forward to our next meeting
Lord Voldemort."
"What doe she mean? Follow the light?" Harry whined. But no sooner had he said this when the letter dropped to the floor, bursting into flame and shrivelling up. In it's place was a small white light hanging a few centimetres from the ground.
"Well I suppose we'd better follow it then."
"What? Are you insane? This is just screaming trap!" Draco said hysterically.
"Well do you have a better idea?" Lara said impatiently, annoyed at the sudden turn of events.
"No...but...."
"But what?"
"Fine, we'll follow the bloody light." The Slytherin said huffily, crossing his arms in impatience.
"Good." Was the simple reply as Lara took a step forward. As soon as she did, the light began to move forward, leaving a bright white line in it's trail. The light continued to move forward, heading out the door and turning right down the corridor.
"Hurry up, we have to keep up with it!" Lara cried with urgency, running after the light to try and catch up with it.
"It's leaving the trail behind, why do we need to keep up with it?" Harry asked, panting, as he ran to join her.
"Look behind you." Lara replied. Harry obliged, and saw that the white trail was gradually dissappearing at it's tail. If they fell to far behind, they would lose their guide. Sighing, Harry continued to trot behind the light as Draco caught up with them.
The light continued it's path through the minstry, guiding them towards the lifts and getting off at the deserted Atrium. They hurried across the marble floor towards the lift, getting on it and rising to ground level.
The trail wove through the streets of London, the image of a floating white getting a few stares from watching Muggles.
"No sense of muggle security at all." Lara muttered, ignoring the onlookers and keeping her eyes fixed on the light.
It led them to a nearby station, directing them onto a train that was departing. The door closed just as Draco jumped on, narrowly missing the heel of his foot.
"We don't have tickets!" Harry said worriedly. "We'll get stuck at the barrier."
"A quick spell will get us through."
"But what if we get caught?"
"We're invisible Harry!" Lara said impatiently, the ticket barrier being the least of her worries. She stamped her foot in impatience as the light halted at the door, waiting for the train to stop at it's desired spot.
"What is it?" Draco asked, noticing the gesture.
"This is not how I was imagining this to go! He's playing us for the fool. He's made sure He has the upper hand, and I don't like it."
"Don't worry, we'll play along with His little game for now. Don't let it rattle you." Harry said, trying to soothe the impatient girl.
**************
They stayed on the train for several hours, eyeing the light at every station to see if it suddenly decided to jump of the train and leave them stranded. A guard had come round several times, but because of their invisibility he had not asked for their tickets.
It was not until they were deep into the English country side that the light finally decided to disembark at Moonsbury. The run-down station could've been called abandoned if it wasn't for the lone ticket master, sitting at his booth and looking bored out of his brains.
Hopping of the train, the trio followed the light as it left that station and headed along a lone dirt track, fenced in by by grazing lands filled with cattle. With the horizon now in view, they could see farms and ranches in the distance, connected to the track by branching paths.
"Where are we?" Harry whined as the dark sky began to rumble, indicating an oncoming storm. The trio groaned as a few minutes later heavy rain started to pour, soaking through their clothes and chilling their bones.
"I don't know." Lara said, squinting through the downpour at the vague ball of light still a few metres in front of them. As the rain got heavier, the light began to fade, forcing the trio to rely more on it's trail then on the light itself.
"I'm beginning to think that Voldemort just leading us nowhere. This seems very fishy if you ask me."
Suddenly, the light took a sharp turn left, heading along a smaller path. After a few minutes the path began to slope upwards, obviously climbing a hill of sorts. Once the ground began to level out again, a flash of lightening illuminated the hill and the lone ranch that crowned it.
"You're trying to tell me that the most powerful Dark Lord in history is hiding out in THAT hole of a house?"
"Apparently." Lara said drily as she continued her trek across the crown of the hill towards the house. The light, now barely visible, stopped at the door of the house.
Lara slowly ascended the front steps of the ranch which connected to the front porch. Reaching the door, she raised her hands and knocked determindly on the run down wooden door. However her knock, which had not been particularly forceful, only managed to punch a hole through the rotten wood.
"There's something not quite right about this..." Lara said warningly as, when no answer came from inside the house, she slowly turned the handle of the door and opened it. Inside was a one roomed house, obviously abandoned, with no furniture other than a few crates and broken tables scattered about the rotting floor.
The light entered the house behind Lara, stopping in the centre of the room. Harry and Draco followed it, standing near it.
"What is Voldemort up to... Why would he bother going all the way out here?" Harry whispered, although there was no need to.
"I don't know." Draco whispered back, disliking the tense and oppresive atmosphere of the room.
"He's... he's harnessing his army." Lara croaked from her position by the window. Harry and Draco, noticing the horrified tone in her voice, stepped towards the glassless window, looking out on the fields below. They saw that the hill began to slope down behind the house, and eventually levelled out into several acres of open grassland, stretching for as far as the eye could see.
But that's not what made the trio gasp in horror. That's not what sent Lara weak at the knees. The cause of that was the millions of dark creatures that inhabited the fields below them, the vampires and banshees and demons so great in number that they almost obscured the grass in which they stood on from view.
"At least now we know what He's doing out here." Draco said weakly, his breathing suddenly becoming very shallow as he thought of the horrors this army could wreck upon the world.
"But where is He?" Lara asked to no one in particular.
"I can answer that one." A voice said from behind them. The three students turned away from the window, locking their eyes upon Voldemort standing at the doorway, looking every inch the part of evil Overlord in long black robes.
"Voldemort." Lara spat.
"We meet again." He said, walking forward slightly. "I trust the journey was not too uncomfortable?"
"Why did you bring us out here?" Harry asked, stepping out of the shadows and into the light of the floating guide, taking off his cloak in the process. Lara and Draco followed suite, dumping the cloaks in a corner of the room.
"Well firstly, I wanted you to see what I'm going to unleash upon the world before you die. Secondly, I'm conducting my operations from here now, having extracted all I could from the Ministry. And I didn't feel much like returning there, so I brought you here instead." Voldemort said in a sickeningly cheery voice.
"Well now that you've succeeded in dragging us halfway across the country to see your little legion of moronic creatures from hell and beyond, can we please get this over and done with?" Lara said, her voice dripping with disdain.
"Now now, aren't we eager to die?"
"Not eager to die my satanic friend, just eager to fight." Draco said determindly.
"I see no difference." Voldemort replied. Lara had, by this point, reached the limits of her tolerance.
"ENOUGH!" She yelled. Holding out her hand, she walked forward, intent on throwing the first curse at Voldemort. No one was more shocked than she was when all of a sudden, the floor gave way below her and she dissappeared beneath the rotting wood.
"Lara!" Draco and Harry yelled in unison, running towards the edge of the hole Lara hd fallen into. Peering down, they saw she was in a hole about 6 metres deep, the floating ball of light only just illuminating her features. Suddenly, a metal grate slide out from beneath the floorboards, trapping Lara in the hole.
"What happened?" Harry asked, panicking.
"It's a trap, He planned this." She yelled from within the hole.
"Of course I did." Voldemort snapped, walking towards the other edge of the hole and peering down. "I'm not stupid enough to try and confront you, especially flanked by your little sidekicks."
"You are frightened of me because you know I can kill you."
"Not alone, but with your two little cronies you have a small hope, large enough for me not to consider risking it." Lara narrowed her eyes at the towering figure above her before throwing a curse at the metal grate. However the grate merely sizzled upon contact before absorbing the power of the curse.
"Damn." Lara muttered.
"Yes... you are in a sticky situation aren't you? You see this metal grate is charmed with a spell that absorbs any magic thrown at it. An obstacle which even the great Larrissa Black cannot overcome." Voldemort said gloatingly. Harry and Draco immediately stood up, holding their hands up in preparation for an attack.
"Boys, boys. This house is no place to conduct a duel. How about a place a little more... open?" Voldemort said, grinning as He clicked His fingers.
Suddenly, the boys found themselves in an open grass field, the rain having stopped temporarily and the clouds beginning to break in the pink sky overhead. In the distance behind them, they saw the hill that they had just climbed up, and crowning it, the run down house they had occupied seconds earlier.
"Better." Voldemort said simply before raising his hand and throwing a jet of green light from his fingers. Both boys, too shocked to bring up a shield, dodged the curse. Almost immediately, Harry threw his own curse at the Dark Lord. However a quick flick of his wrist redirected the jet away from him.
As he was doing this, Draco threw another curse at the figure, barely visible in the fading light. However the jet of purple light stopped in mid air centimetres from Voldemort, obviously having hit a shield of source.
"I see you've discovered my permanent shield. It does come in handy." Voldemort said, grinning like a maniac as he threw another curse at Harry. The dark haired boy threw up a shield easily, reflecting the curse.
"Malfoy!" The Gryffindor yelled as he threw another curse at Voldemort to keep him occupied.
"Yeah?" Draco said, stepping closer to Harry so they could confer without Voldemort listening.
"That shield. It's stealing from his energy. We have to put as much strain on it as possible." He whispered quickly as Draco dodged a curse and threw another back at Voldemort.
"But that would require us using our energy magic, we'd run out too." Draco whispered fervently, recooperating from the near miss.
"Why don't we try normal wand magic? I think it would weaken the shield in the same way." Harry said, spinning away as a curse sped by between them.
"Okay." Draco replied, walking a few steps away from Harry so they would be less of an easy target.
"Finished out chit chat have we?" Voldemort said, grinning.
"Catching up on Hogwarts gossip, you know." Harry said casually, refusing to let Voldemort's mind games rattle him as he reached inside his robes, taking out his wand. A small movement out of the corner of his eye suggested Draco was doing much of the same thing.
"NOW!" Harry yelled, and simulataneously the two boys pulled out their wands.
"Have you got the invisibility cloaks?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah." "As well as the one Dumbledore leant for Malfoy?"
"Yes, have you got your wand?"
"Yeah, but I won't need it."
"Just in case...." Lara said warningly.
"Where's Malfoy?"
"He's waiting outside."
"Has he said goodbye to Ginny already?"
"Last night, yeah, but she's still sleeping now. He didn't want to wake her."
"I wouldn't either." Harry said softly as the crept out of the common room, being careful not to wake the sleeping forms of Hermione and Ron.
"What took you guys so long?" Draco asked.
"We didn't want to forget anything?"
"What is there to bring?"
"Cloaks, wands...have you gots yours by the way?"
"Wand? Yeah, it's in my pocket."
"Good." Lara said softly as she closed the door, heading along the corridor.
"What time is it?" Harry asked.
"Almost six, the sun's just rising."
"And where did Dumbledore say the Portkey was this time?" Draco asked from the other side of Lara.
"Same place."
"Is it going to the same place as last time?" Harry asked again.
"No, we're actually going to appear in that abandoned classroom we stopped in last time."
"Why didn't we do that last time?"
"Because we didn't know what to expect did we?" Lara said impatiently as she led the boys along another corridor and into McGonagalls office. The hour glass was sitting on her desk, in the same position as last time.
"So are we ready?" Lara said, approaching the hour glass as she slipped the cloak over her shoulders, dissapearing. Harry and Draco followed her lead, slipping the cloaks over their shoulders. At the same time, they reached out and touched the portkey, feeling the familiar pull behind their navels followed by a whooshing sound as the world spun around them.
Suddenly, the twirling stopped, and they felt their feet once again slam into the ground. This time, however, it was not the black tar of road but the soft tiles of the courtroom they had stopped in last time, still (Lara noted with relief) as empty as they had left it.
"So do we have a plan this time?" Harry asked softly as Lara deposited the hour glass under the chair and out of sight.
"Voldemorts expecting us, but I'm not sure what he's going to do. Even if we could plan, what would we do? He can see through our cloaks..."
"He can?"
"Karadyrn had the power, I'm guessing that particular ability was transferred across as well."
"Cool." Draco said, voicing his agreement rather than nodding due to his invisibility.
"Okay, so we walk along the corridor in the cloaks, find the one Voldemort's in and confront him."
"Something like that." Lara said.
"Okay, let's go before I throw up." The blonde said, fighting the queaziness in his stomach. The trio quietly exited the room, entering the corridor to find it absolutely deserted.
"Somehow, I can't imagine this being a good thing." Harry said, eyeing the deserted pathway.
"Of course it is, easy access to Voldemort." Draco said breezily.
"But that's just it, if his minions aren't here, what makes you think he is?" A thoughtful silence descended on the trio as they made their way to the common room in which they had last seen Voldemort. Upon opening the door, they found it to be, as predicted, absolutely empty.
"What do we do no?" The blonde whined.
"Wait... there... on the table."
"What is it?"
"A letter. I had a feeling He'd leave behind something like this, he was expecting us. He wouldn't just leave without directing us to him." Lara said, making her way to one of the tables spread throughout the room and picking up an envelope.
"Why would he WANT us to come to him?" Draco said, making his way to Lara so he too could read the letter.
"Because He believes He can kill us." Lara said simply. Harry's face drained of colour, and Draco's went (if it's possible) even paler.
"But why does He want to kill us?" Harry said weakly as Lara began to rip at the envelopes seal.
"We're Voldemort's biggest threat, He won't rest easy until we're dead."
"That's encouraging." Draco said sarcastically as Lara unfolded the now emancipated letter. Clearing her throat, she began to read.
"Potter, Black and Malfoy
If you're reading this, you've done no less than what I expected. I knew you'd be back. And I know that Miss Black has undoubtedly trained you to fight me. Not that it's going to be enough to bring me down, but congratulations on the effort nonetheless.
So, I suppose you are wondering where to find me? Just follow the light....
I am greatly looking forward to our next meeting
Lord Voldemort."
"What doe she mean? Follow the light?" Harry whined. But no sooner had he said this when the letter dropped to the floor, bursting into flame and shrivelling up. In it's place was a small white light hanging a few centimetres from the ground.
"Well I suppose we'd better follow it then."
"What? Are you insane? This is just screaming trap!" Draco said hysterically.
"Well do you have a better idea?" Lara said impatiently, annoyed at the sudden turn of events.
"No...but...."
"But what?"
"Fine, we'll follow the bloody light." The Slytherin said huffily, crossing his arms in impatience.
"Good." Was the simple reply as Lara took a step forward. As soon as she did, the light began to move forward, leaving a bright white line in it's trail. The light continued to move forward, heading out the door and turning right down the corridor.
"Hurry up, we have to keep up with it!" Lara cried with urgency, running after the light to try and catch up with it.
"It's leaving the trail behind, why do we need to keep up with it?" Harry asked, panting, as he ran to join her.
"Look behind you." Lara replied. Harry obliged, and saw that the white trail was gradually dissappearing at it's tail. If they fell to far behind, they would lose their guide. Sighing, Harry continued to trot behind the light as Draco caught up with them.
The light continued it's path through the minstry, guiding them towards the lifts and getting off at the deserted Atrium. They hurried across the marble floor towards the lift, getting on it and rising to ground level.
The trail wove through the streets of London, the image of a floating white getting a few stares from watching Muggles.
"No sense of muggle security at all." Lara muttered, ignoring the onlookers and keeping her eyes fixed on the light.
It led them to a nearby station, directing them onto a train that was departing. The door closed just as Draco jumped on, narrowly missing the heel of his foot.
"We don't have tickets!" Harry said worriedly. "We'll get stuck at the barrier."
"A quick spell will get us through."
"But what if we get caught?"
"We're invisible Harry!" Lara said impatiently, the ticket barrier being the least of her worries. She stamped her foot in impatience as the light halted at the door, waiting for the train to stop at it's desired spot.
"What is it?" Draco asked, noticing the gesture.
"This is not how I was imagining this to go! He's playing us for the fool. He's made sure He has the upper hand, and I don't like it."
"Don't worry, we'll play along with His little game for now. Don't let it rattle you." Harry said, trying to soothe the impatient girl.
**************
They stayed on the train for several hours, eyeing the light at every station to see if it suddenly decided to jump of the train and leave them stranded. A guard had come round several times, but because of their invisibility he had not asked for their tickets.
It was not until they were deep into the English country side that the light finally decided to disembark at Moonsbury. The run-down station could've been called abandoned if it wasn't for the lone ticket master, sitting at his booth and looking bored out of his brains.
Hopping of the train, the trio followed the light as it left that station and headed along a lone dirt track, fenced in by by grazing lands filled with cattle. With the horizon now in view, they could see farms and ranches in the distance, connected to the track by branching paths.
"Where are we?" Harry whined as the dark sky began to rumble, indicating an oncoming storm. The trio groaned as a few minutes later heavy rain started to pour, soaking through their clothes and chilling their bones.
"I don't know." Lara said, squinting through the downpour at the vague ball of light still a few metres in front of them. As the rain got heavier, the light began to fade, forcing the trio to rely more on it's trail then on the light itself.
"I'm beginning to think that Voldemort just leading us nowhere. This seems very fishy if you ask me."
Suddenly, the light took a sharp turn left, heading along a smaller path. After a few minutes the path began to slope upwards, obviously climbing a hill of sorts. Once the ground began to level out again, a flash of lightening illuminated the hill and the lone ranch that crowned it.
"You're trying to tell me that the most powerful Dark Lord in history is hiding out in THAT hole of a house?"
"Apparently." Lara said drily as she continued her trek across the crown of the hill towards the house. The light, now barely visible, stopped at the door of the house.
Lara slowly ascended the front steps of the ranch which connected to the front porch. Reaching the door, she raised her hands and knocked determindly on the run down wooden door. However her knock, which had not been particularly forceful, only managed to punch a hole through the rotten wood.
"There's something not quite right about this..." Lara said warningly as, when no answer came from inside the house, she slowly turned the handle of the door and opened it. Inside was a one roomed house, obviously abandoned, with no furniture other than a few crates and broken tables scattered about the rotting floor.
The light entered the house behind Lara, stopping in the centre of the room. Harry and Draco followed it, standing near it.
"What is Voldemort up to... Why would he bother going all the way out here?" Harry whispered, although there was no need to.
"I don't know." Draco whispered back, disliking the tense and oppresive atmosphere of the room.
"He's... he's harnessing his army." Lara croaked from her position by the window. Harry and Draco, noticing the horrified tone in her voice, stepped towards the glassless window, looking out on the fields below. They saw that the hill began to slope down behind the house, and eventually levelled out into several acres of open grassland, stretching for as far as the eye could see.
But that's not what made the trio gasp in horror. That's not what sent Lara weak at the knees. The cause of that was the millions of dark creatures that inhabited the fields below them, the vampires and banshees and demons so great in number that they almost obscured the grass in which they stood on from view.
"At least now we know what He's doing out here." Draco said weakly, his breathing suddenly becoming very shallow as he thought of the horrors this army could wreck upon the world.
"But where is He?" Lara asked to no one in particular.
"I can answer that one." A voice said from behind them. The three students turned away from the window, locking their eyes upon Voldemort standing at the doorway, looking every inch the part of evil Overlord in long black robes.
"Voldemort." Lara spat.
"We meet again." He said, walking forward slightly. "I trust the journey was not too uncomfortable?"
"Why did you bring us out here?" Harry asked, stepping out of the shadows and into the light of the floating guide, taking off his cloak in the process. Lara and Draco followed suite, dumping the cloaks in a corner of the room.
"Well firstly, I wanted you to see what I'm going to unleash upon the world before you die. Secondly, I'm conducting my operations from here now, having extracted all I could from the Ministry. And I didn't feel much like returning there, so I brought you here instead." Voldemort said in a sickeningly cheery voice.
"Well now that you've succeeded in dragging us halfway across the country to see your little legion of moronic creatures from hell and beyond, can we please get this over and done with?" Lara said, her voice dripping with disdain.
"Now now, aren't we eager to die?"
"Not eager to die my satanic friend, just eager to fight." Draco said determindly.
"I see no difference." Voldemort replied. Lara had, by this point, reached the limits of her tolerance.
"ENOUGH!" She yelled. Holding out her hand, she walked forward, intent on throwing the first curse at Voldemort. No one was more shocked than she was when all of a sudden, the floor gave way below her and she dissappeared beneath the rotting wood.
"Lara!" Draco and Harry yelled in unison, running towards the edge of the hole Lara hd fallen into. Peering down, they saw she was in a hole about 6 metres deep, the floating ball of light only just illuminating her features. Suddenly, a metal grate slide out from beneath the floorboards, trapping Lara in the hole.
"What happened?" Harry asked, panicking.
"It's a trap, He planned this." She yelled from within the hole.
"Of course I did." Voldemort snapped, walking towards the other edge of the hole and peering down. "I'm not stupid enough to try and confront you, especially flanked by your little sidekicks."
"You are frightened of me because you know I can kill you."
"Not alone, but with your two little cronies you have a small hope, large enough for me not to consider risking it." Lara narrowed her eyes at the towering figure above her before throwing a curse at the metal grate. However the grate merely sizzled upon contact before absorbing the power of the curse.
"Damn." Lara muttered.
"Yes... you are in a sticky situation aren't you? You see this metal grate is charmed with a spell that absorbs any magic thrown at it. An obstacle which even the great Larrissa Black cannot overcome." Voldemort said gloatingly. Harry and Draco immediately stood up, holding their hands up in preparation for an attack.
"Boys, boys. This house is no place to conduct a duel. How about a place a little more... open?" Voldemort said, grinning as He clicked His fingers.
Suddenly, the boys found themselves in an open grass field, the rain having stopped temporarily and the clouds beginning to break in the pink sky overhead. In the distance behind them, they saw the hill that they had just climbed up, and crowning it, the run down house they had occupied seconds earlier.
"Better." Voldemort said simply before raising his hand and throwing a jet of green light from his fingers. Both boys, too shocked to bring up a shield, dodged the curse. Almost immediately, Harry threw his own curse at the Dark Lord. However a quick flick of his wrist redirected the jet away from him.
As he was doing this, Draco threw another curse at the figure, barely visible in the fading light. However the jet of purple light stopped in mid air centimetres from Voldemort, obviously having hit a shield of source.
"I see you've discovered my permanent shield. It does come in handy." Voldemort said, grinning like a maniac as he threw another curse at Harry. The dark haired boy threw up a shield easily, reflecting the curse.
"Malfoy!" The Gryffindor yelled as he threw another curse at Voldemort to keep him occupied.
"Yeah?" Draco said, stepping closer to Harry so they could confer without Voldemort listening.
"That shield. It's stealing from his energy. We have to put as much strain on it as possible." He whispered quickly as Draco dodged a curse and threw another back at Voldemort.
"But that would require us using our energy magic, we'd run out too." Draco whispered fervently, recooperating from the near miss.
"Why don't we try normal wand magic? I think it would weaken the shield in the same way." Harry said, spinning away as a curse sped by between them.
"Okay." Draco replied, walking a few steps away from Harry so they would be less of an easy target.
"Finished out chit chat have we?" Voldemort said, grinning.
"Catching up on Hogwarts gossip, you know." Harry said casually, refusing to let Voldemort's mind games rattle him as he reached inside his robes, taking out his wand. A small movement out of the corner of his eye suggested Draco was doing much of the same thing.
"NOW!" Harry yelled, and simulataneously the two boys pulled out their wands.