Harry Potter and the Magnificent Seven

Chapter 31: The Final Confrontation

Harry glanced to the others, each one of them answering him with look of determination. Harry squared his shoulders back and walked through the massive door. Behind him followed Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Fred and George. As they past through the door the entered a large chamber, whose decor immediately made Harry and Ginny shiver. It looked eerily similar to the Chamber of Secrets from which Harry had rescued Ginny in his second year. At the far end of the room stood a figure wearing pitch-black cloak, his face covered by the shadow of its hood. Only the eyes could be seen and they were blood red.

"Voldemort." Harry stated, as he drew to within twenty feet of his nemesis. The others took position on either side of Harry, with Ginny being on his immediate right.

"Harry Potter." Voldemort sneered, his eyes flicking to Harry's companions. "And I see you've brought the rest of your troublesome friends. Excellent. Now I can eliminate all of Dumbledore's supposed saviors in one fell swoop."

"Getting a little cocky, aren't you?" Ron said.

"Yeah, after all, the last time we met, Harry knocked you on your ass, Tom." Ginny added. Voldemort's eyes flared at the mention of his former name.

"Do not call me that child." he sneered. "And as for the rest, I think you'll find that Lord Voldemort is more than a match for you." For a moment they stood, glaring at each other. Then in a flash, all hell broke loose.

"Avada Kadavera!" Voldemort shouted, the green killing curse speeding towards Harry and his friends. At the same time the Marauders launched a barrage of their own spells, and a moment later diving out of the way of the killing curse.

"Flarus!" Harry shouted as he stood up.

"Protego!" Voldemort shouted. Harry's spell (as well as the other's) impacted against the shield and disappated.

Damn he's tougher than I thought he'd be. Fred said through link as he fired a stunner at the Dark Lord, which was easily deflected.

Tell me about it. Harry said over the link as he fired a spell of his own, and then had to duck a slashing spell. Its almost like he's increased his magic again.

Yeah, well let's see how he handles bullets. Neville replied, swinging his MP-5 up and depressing the trigger. Voldemort cursed as he tried to avoid the bullets, but three impacted his leg and he let out a strangled cry. Immediately he fired a exploding hex at Neville, which impact close to him and Neville was thrown back.

Cover me. I'm going to Neville. Ginny called through the link. The others let loose with a barrage of curses and bullets. Most of them missed but a few grazed the Dark Lord.

When Ginny reached Neville he had managed to pull himself behind a pillar and was holding his side. Ginny knelt down and examined the wound. A piece of granite from where the exploding curse had struck the floor was imbedded in his side.

"I can fix this, but its going to hurt." She said. Neville grinned.

"Well, you know what they say; no pain, no gain." He replied. Ginny reached over and extracted the granite, Neville wincing as she did so. A moment later she waved her had, muttering a spell that immediately sealed the wound and stopped the bleeding.

"I've stopped the bleeding and closed it up, but it's going to be a while before it's fully healed." She replied, placing a bandage on it. Neville nodded and stood up.

"Let's get back into the fight." He said.

Harry cursed as he dove behind a pillar, panting heavily. The Marauders had been fighting Voldemort for what seemed like hours. Neither side had yet gotten an advantage. They had managed to do some damage to him but he had also inflicted wounds on them. Harry's left arm ached, the result of a slashing curse that had grazed him there. In addition to the wound on his side Neville had also twisted his ankle dodging a curse. Hermione's left leg was injured, Ron had taken a blow to the head from exploding shrapnel, and stunners had injured both Fred and George.

"While this has been a nice exercise," Voldemort suddenly announced, "It is time for it to come to an end." He made a strange motion with his wand and muttered a strange incantation. The lights dimmed slightly and there were dozens of loud bangs, followed by an equal amount of clouds of thick, red smoke. The Marauders began coughing.

What the hell is going on? Neville asked. A moment later, the smoke cleared providing them with their answer. Harry's eyes widened. Standing in front of the Dark Lord were two-dozen creatures the likes of which he had never seen. Each one was bipedal, standing at about seven feet. Their bodies were red, covered with what looked like dragon scales. Ram's horns patruded from their heads, and each bore large sharpened teeth. Their hands and feet alike were equipped with six-inch razor sharp claws.

Hermione, what are those things? He asked through the link.

They're demons, Harry. They're incredible resistant to attack and very deadly. She answered as the Marauders fired on the creatures. None of their fire seemed to have much effect on them. Behind the demons, Voldemort laughed. This is bad Harry. I think we're going to need to use the spell.

Harry's eyes widened slightly. He knew the spell that she was referring to. Given the potential side effects they must be in a really bad situation for he to suggest using it.

BEGIN FLASHBACK

"I think I may have found something." Hermione said as she walked up to the rest of the Marauders. They were currently sitting in the cafeteria at Rainbow headquarters.

After the near disaster at the Burrow, Harry had decided that they would need to start looking for more powerful spells that could be used against Voldemort and his forces. Hermione, as usual, had taken to the task with excitement.

They had been at it for several weeks but so far had found nothing.

"What do you have?" Harry asked. Hermione set a rather ancient tome on the table and sat down. Opening the book she pointed to a page.

"It's called the Eternal Justice spell." She said. "It calls on some incredible ancient magic. Basically is designed to envelope anything and within two hundred yards and completely destroy them." The others showed looks of interest. "There are some catches however."

"Such as?" Ginny asked, slightly worried by the look that had just made its way to Hermione's face.

"Well, the stronger the enemy, the more raw magical strength is needed to cast the spell. In the case of Voldemort, I don't think any one of use could do it. We'd have to cast it together, like we've done with some of the others." She said.

"That doesn't sound so bad." Ron said. Next to him Neville, Fred and George nodded in agreement.

"Unfortunately, even with seven of us combining our energies, it is still going to be quite a drain." Hermione said solemnly. "In fact, I'm not sure we'd have enough magical strength left to defend ourselves."

"You mean-" Neville started. Hermione nodded.

"Yes. I can't guarantee that we would survive the effects of the spell."

END FLASHBACK

The Marauders had agreed that they would learn to do the spell, but that they wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary. Staring at the battle in front of him, Harry knew that the time had come. Despite their best efforts, they were not doing much damage to the demons.

Everyone form on me. He said through the link. Quickly the other Marauders were at his side, looks of determination on their faces. He looked at them and they nodded. They clasped their hands together and stood up from behind the fallen pillar where they had taken cover.

Voldemort watch as his foes stood up with glee.

Fools. He thought. He had no doubt they were going to try one of their combined spells, much like they had at the Burrow. But he was not worried. His demons would be more than a match for them.

He watched in amusement as the seven children raised their hands. Amusement turned to horror a moment later, however, when he heard the curse they uttered.

"Eternus Iustitia!" they shouted.

Voldemort watched in horror as a blinding gold light, signifying the ancient spell that he had always feared erupted from their hands and sped towards his demons. It impacted the demons, which screamed in agony, before they exploded.

Time seemed to stand still as the wave of light came towards him. Panicking, he threw up his most powerful shield, feeding all of his energy into it. A moment later the light collided with his shield, enveloping the entire chamber in a horrendous explosion.