Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 20 In The Darkness
It was a moment that would never be remembered but should have been. A moment that made the entire world seemed still.
On one side was a red eyed devil incarnate, bone white skin stretched over a skeletal frame, clad only in jet black robes. The burning embers of his eyes glared foreword with utter malevolence, the very picture of a demon. Long, spidery fingers gripped a thirteen inch yew wand, magic almost visible, straining to strike. Black robes whipped about as Lord Voldemort stared down his unlikely foe.
Against him stood another avatar of evil, wearing the visage of his lifelong nemesis, Harry James Potter. But this visage was warped, eyes blacker than night and an aura of vampiric cold sapped the strength of all but the darkest souls and the strongest stomachs. Visible tendrils of darkness whipped about him, seemingly tasting the air, ready to strike at any moment. Thanatos stood almost relaxed, standing in a semi-relaxed position, black shirt and pants ruffling with the rising power of the room. The abyss of his eyes was utterly cold and empty, but lurking just beneath the midnight was a great rage that outstripped that of the Dark Lord.
And watching the fight was the silvery form of Harry Potter, the only observer for a fight between the Dark Lord and Darkness incarnate. To help either would mean certain death at the hands of the other.
For this moment, nothing dared move or even breath.
And then Thanatos spoke, in that same cocky, swaggering manner that belied the sadistic genius within.
"You know, if I didn't both need and want you dead, I'd wonder why we were fighting."
Voldemort raised an almost incredulous look, but seemed bemused as he relaxed into a dueling stance. "You're a demon, evil incarnate." He replied simply, smirking.
"And you're not?" The eidolon challenged with amusement.
"Point taken." The Dark Lord acquiesced.
"I'm much better to look at, of course." Thanatos remarked arrogantly.
"He's got a point." Harry offered, obviously having lost his mind.
Lord Voldemort glared at him. "Let's get to the fight."
The eidolon bowed mockingly. "Of course."
Before Thanatos had even finished bowing, the Dark Lord lashed out, wand whipping forward and the words of a Killing Curse leaving his lips.
The Darkness incarnate threw himself to the floor, letting the eerie green light flash over and obliterate the wall behind him, a shower of shale falling around him. A Cruciatus Curse struck the ground next to him, sending debris flying above him as he rolled aside, and then sprang up.
Rage buried beneath the black eyes flared up, and the tendrils of Darkness whipped about, coalescing into a ball of pure, inky darkness at the demon's chest that launched itself forward with unnatural speed.
Lord Voldemort raised up a Protection Spell, the bright blue bubble popping into existence around him just in time as the attack struck. Angry bolts of power lashed out as the attack broke over the barrier, causing bright white cracks splintering through the spell. Just as the ball of darkness broke through the bubble, it ran out of power, sputtering and causing only small, insignificant burns on the Dark Lord.
When the furious fire in the Heir of Slytherin's eyes looked up again, the reality of the battlefield had changed, literally.
Inky, impenetrable Darkness had enveloped the room, covering the entirety of the room and leaving small tendrils that often stretched for the Dark Lord, before retreating slightly, just out of reach. Everything was so very cold, so very dark. The darkness was stagnant, endless, and most of all, empty, a sort of emptiness that was hungry, that wanted to be sated.
At the other end of the room, arms crossed and a dark grin stretching from ear to ear, Thanatos stood. "Pretty good." He assessed, smiling. "If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't possibly trust you, we'd be good pals."
"True." Lord Voldemort remarked, a small smirk crossing his face.
"I didn't know that you had such a unique sense of humor." Thanatos noted, amused.
"I didn't think I'd be fighting an incarnate of pure Darkness in the visage of my greatest foe." The Dark Lord shot back.
"Touche," The eidolon replied, grinning.
"Are you two going to talk or fight?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes at the absurdity of the situation.
"Well, well, well. Crowds gettin' antsy." Thanatos murmured, uncrossing his arms. "Back to the old grind then." He placed his right arm in an arc in front of his face, as if shielding himself, and his index and middle fingers stayed out as his other fingers clenched into a half-formed fist. Quickly, he lashed out, and a rush of displaced air was heard with a thunderous crack.
At the opposite end of the dining hall, Lord Voldemort felt the effects of the gesture, as several sledgehammers of air brutally smashed themselves into his ribs, causing several audible, wet snaps and a tide of blood forcing itself from his lips.
Staggering, the Dark Lord clutched his stomach in agony but kept his wand in hand. As if to chain the damage, the Darkness surrounding the combatants suddenly lashed out in tendrils, striking at the Heir of Slytherin. But as they struck, they passed through the skin, and went directly for a deeper prize that the Dark Lord valued most of all.
His magic.
Screaming in a new, unexpected agony as a burning sensation ripped its way through his already pain wracked body, Lord Voldemort could feel his very essence, his magic being torn out of him.
If it was not for his modified body, the Dark Lord would have fallen already to the onslaught. As it was, the Heir of Slytherin managed a gasped Healing Charm, washing his body with the cool green light that repaired much of the damage, save for the damage to his magic.
"What... did you... do?" Voldemort demanded weakly, spitting out a mix of blood and spittle that had collected in his mouth onto the stone floor. Something in him, that deep well of magic that he had prided himself on for so long had diminished.
And it frightened him.
Thanatos seemed quite pleased, like the cat that had caught the canary. "Just a little added danger to the game... for you, anyway. Every time I hurt you, the Darkness around us is going to tear our a bit more of your magic." He paused and glanced over at the wheezing Dark Lord. "Quite painfully, as you've just found out."
The feeling of utter terror, repugnant and unfamiliar to the Heir of Slytherin, grew.
Harry decided enough was enough. Readying his newly acquired wandless magic, he prepared to do battle with the eidolon of Darkness.
But just as he raised his palms to let loose a barrage of spells, long, pure black tendrils of Darkness grabbed his arms and suddenly his spirit was thrown into the wall, held in place by chains of pure evil.
Surprised, the Boy-Who-Lived thrashed, but the chains held strong and his struggles were to no avail.
The demon clucked his tongue in disapproval. "No help from the fans, sport." He chided, grinning but not turning his back to the Dark Lord.
Which turned out to be a wise idea.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" The furious Lord Voldemort roared, and once more, the green light of the Killing Curse tore out of his yew wand and cut the air apart. But Thanatos was prepared and merely sidestepped the attack.
However, the Heir of Slytherin seemed prepared for this, and had yelled out a second spell to the place where the demon was now standing. "Tenebrosus Deflagare!"
A low rumble echoed throughout the dining hall of Riddle Manor as the Dark Flare Spell launched itself from Voldemort's wand. A twisted, evil looking, writhing mass of jet black fire hurtled towards the surprised eidolon, who was completely engulfed in the dark blast a second before it detonated, tongues of midnight dark flames lashing out and causing deep burns in the stone of the hall and consuming the table in the explosion.
For a moment, everything was silent as heavy gray smoke drifted about the devastated chamber, and the only sound heard could be the small panting of the Dark Lord.
But then a new sound, a terrible, awful sound broke through the smoke.
Laughter.
The laughter was amused and cold, a sort of hateful joy and delighted cruelty, and it should have been warm but was instead an empty, frozen laughter that stole the warmth of the soul.
Amid the black fires that sputtered around him and dusty rubble that created a miasma of smoke and shadow, Thanatos grinned.
"Is that all you got?"
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Ginny Weasley nearly screamed, still keeping up her furious pace in the Headmaster's office.
"Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall admonished sternly, though it was a bit weak due to her own anxiety.
"Please, Ginny, calm down!" Ron urged, "I'm sure Harry's fine."
The redhead whirled on McGonagall and her brother. "Harry shouldn't have taken this long! You know it, I know it, hell, I'll bet the damned portraits know it!" She ranted furiously, glaring at the elderly man.
"Curb your tongue girl and mind your place!" Severus Snape snapped.
Before an argument could break out, a calm, yet worried voice cut in smoothly. "She is right, Severus. Something has gone wrong." Albus Dumbledore said softly, only a bare hint of his anxiety showing in his voice.
"Perhaps we should send a small team of Order members to scout?" McGonagall suggested.
The dour Potions Master shook his head and answered before the Headmaster could. "If we show up too soon, the Dark Lord may think it is a trap."
Dumbledore sighed. "He's right Minerva. We must be patient."
"Patient? What if Voldemort ambushed Harry? Or what if Thanatos ambushed them!" Ginny demanded, eyes blazing with fury.
The Headmaster paused. "We will wait one hour. And then I will personally lead a team to bring Harry back."
"One hour Dumbledore." The redhead agreed, and stormed off. Without looking back, she declared, "I hope for all our sakes it isn't too much."
To that, the Headmaster could say nothing.
Thanatos dusted himself off nonchalantly, grinning all the while. Glancing at the shocked Voldemort, he shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Um, avatar of pure Darkness here! Dark Spells can't exactly touch me!"
Lord Voldemort seemed to be in the midst of a rare self-recrimination for a moment, then finally straightened. It was then that Harry and Thanatos noticed that the Heir of Slytherin was seemingly unhurt, the dark magic that created his body already having worked its magicks on the Dark Lord. Already, just moments after a brutal assault, his body had healed itself, the ribs slowly fusing themselves back together, the bits of bone that had jutted out moving back into repaired skin.
To this, even the eidolon was a bit taken aback.
Noticing the reaction, the Heir of Slytherin smirked. "I may not be an eidolon of Darkness, but I am no ordinary wizard."
"I guess so." Thanatos conceded, an amused smirk back on his lips. "I suppose I'll have to get more serious." Without another word, he raised his hand and let it go forward, where it clenched around the air as if holding the hilt of a sword. The darkness gathered itself around the air where the eidolon held his hand, coalescing into a misty, ethereal shape of shadows. Within moments, a black long sword had taken shape, its long, thin blade utterly devoid of light, a reflection of the abyss around it. The hilt was exactly suited for the demon's hand, and at the end was a small, jet black stone for the pommel.
Grinning wolfishly, Thanatos sprang for the Dark Lord, black sword flashing and darting around the air like a shadowy thunderbolt.
However, moving at an equally unnatural speed was Lord Voldemort, who ducked and dodged with prenatural senses, before lashing out, swinging his wand in a wide arc and casting a powerful Concussion Wave Spell.
The compressed atmosphere slammed into Thanatos who was hurled backwards and off his feet, but twisted at the last moment and landed gracefully, blade placed in front of him.
Unimpressed, the Heir of Slytherin loosed one of the most potent non-Dark spells in his arsenal. "Glacies Orbis!" Lord Voldemort roared, and immediately, an azure crystal globe of ice, that glistened with some faint hint of light, coalesced around the tip of his wand, surrounded by ethereal ivory mists, created by the sheer drop in temperature around the Ice Orb.
For a faint moment, the glimmering, deep sapphire stood still. And then, slowly, it began to torque, faster, and faster, and fast until it was a whirring blur of navy crystal. It was at this moment that the Ice Orb loosed itself from Voldemort's wand, tearing through the air at its unnatural speed.
Thanatos was barely able to throw himself to the floor before the azure sphere imploded against the shadow covered wall. Acute shards of ice slashed into the body of the eidolon, stabbing him with incredible force.
A smirk crossed the Dark Lord's face.
A smirk that faded quickly as the avatar of Darkness got up, unharmed, black blade left lying on the floor. Around him, the pieces of the Ice Orb fell, with not a drop of Thanatos' flesh or blood touched. "Nice shot." Charcoal lightning leapt from his outstretched palm and tore through the air with a loud hiss of displaced atmosphere. "Mine's better."
Lord Voldemort did not answer, spinning around quickly and letting the bolt strike almost an inch away from him, blasting a massive hole in the wall and sending chunks of shale smashing into the floor.
To counter, the Heir of Slytherin unleashed an Arc Lightning Spell, which sent a blood red bolt cleaving through the air, forcing Thanatos to throw himself to one side. To the eidolon's shock, the bolt suddenly split off into two crimson lightning bolts, one of which curved and struck the avatar of Darkness in the chest.
There was a blinding flash of red light that enveloped him for a moment, and Harry prayed it had been the knockout shot.
But it was not to be, as once more, that spiteful, mocking laughter of Thanatos echoed about the chamber. Patting himself down and glancing at the singe marks on his clothing, Darkness incarnate grinned. "This is getting fun."
Raising his hands into the air, a turbulent, rampant, writhing mass of umbra manifested itself overhead. At first just a foot long, and then half a meter, and then a full meter of flexuous darkness that seemed a terrible horror vivified. Thanatos smiled a feral, dangerous smile as he let his hands down and the shadowy mass hurled itself towards the Dark Lord.
Barely able to hold down the fear that had begun to run rampant throughout his heart, Lord Voldemort cried out, "UMBRA AEGIS!"
The Shadow Shield formed itself murkily, a miasma of darkness that enshrouded the Heir of Slytherin just in time as Thanatos' Darkness struck Voldemort's darkness. Shadow battled shadow as they writhed and struck against each other, dark on dark. After tense minutes, it was obvious that the demon's strength was greater as the shadows devoured shadow.
Voldemort screamed in torment as the shadow ate through his miasmic shield and began to eat into his skin, as if burning it raw and yet slowly eating it with small, sharp bites. His shrieks continued as he staggered backwards, the remains of Thanatos' umbrage mass clinging to him and continuing their invisible torture.
Then, the black tendrils waiting around the dining hall struck out, lashing into the Dark Lord's solar plexus, rending even more of the Heir of Slytherin's magic from his body.
Skin blistering and bleeding, mixing ivory with messy crimson, Lord Voldemort staggered about as his own dark magic began to work its nefarious powers. Slowly, shadowy sparks danced across his fish belly skin and began its repair. However, much to his abhorrence, the shadows of Thanatos' magic began to intercept his body's unnatural healing powers and disrupt them.
Darkness incarnate laughed once more, that hateful sound echoing and mocking.
Against his shadowy chains, the Boy-Who-Lived watched in horror.
Raising his wand in desperation, Lord Voldemort shouted the words of the Killing Curse. To the terror of the Dark Lord, not even a glimmer of the unholy green light that he had wielded for so long, that he had used to take life after life without mercy or regret, appeared.
"Its all over now, Tommy boy. You can't even cast a Killing Curse anymore." Thanatos taunted, amused and with all the arrogance of the victor.
Desperate, Voldemort shouted out another curse, the Cruciatus Curse. Nothing. More curses launch from his lips but to no avail. Nothing. "Useless... useless... useless..." He muttered quietly, despairingly, letting the thirteen inch yew wand that had been the instrument of death for so long, and was now useless, fall from nerveless fingers.
It is at this point that he has realized what has transpired. The Heir of Slytherin has been reduced to little more than a Squib, a muggle.
All the while, the incarnation of pure evil had retrieved his sword. Panicked, the neutralized Dark Lord screams as he backs away.Without any magic, reduced to little more than a muggle heshrieks."STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
Thanatos grins, the very picture of Death's avatar that is his name. Slowly, taking sadistic pleasure from it, the shadowy blade is raised.
Screaming in terror, Lord Voldemort raised his wand and arm in a vain attempt to block.
His screams only stop as the black sword passes through his brain and split his skull open. But the eidolon doesn't even pause for a second, letting the blade continue its descent until at last its momentum ceases and he removes his bloody sword from the solar plexus of the deceased Dark Lord.
Thanatos stood over the riven body of the greatest terror of the Wizarding World and smiled as he gave the epitaph.
"There goes the most evil son of a bitch that ever lived." He paused. "Well, except for me."
From his position on the far wall, Harry Potter slumped in defeat against the chains of umbra that held him in place. It seemed hopeless now. Not even Voldemort, for all his formidable magic and knowledge of the arcane could defeat Thanatos.
Despair engulfed the Boy-Who-Lived, and somewhere in his mind, he was amused.
Who would have thought that the death of Voldemort would make him lose hope?
Thanks to Oomahey, Khadon, Jolly Rancher, Rose of Many Thorns, yorkvillebird, Julie Long, Zeromaru Chaos Mode, Ginerva Potter, Harrie, Vegita43, Lady of Masbolle, Ginny M, FroBoy, GreyGranian, japanese-jew, Emma Barrows, Night-Owl123, Vampyra Storm, harrysmom, Maxennce, PinkyTheSnowman, Narishma, YamiClara, Akugin Ashura, moonlightpixie89, and Hpfan4 for reviewing!
Q&A
Oomahey- Being in Harry's body won't let Thanatos kill Voldemort. But Thanatos is the dark side of Harry's soul, and that lets him do it.
Zeromaru Chaos Mode- Thanatos draws his power from consuming souls. Harry can't give them back, and his way of gaining power is vastly different.
Lady of Masbolle- I've looked for that community, but I can't seem to find it, which is a pity, because it seems very interesting. Its not really a thread, but more of me and Nimbirosa conversing about the idea. The idea of Thanatos as a diamond (while I've never thought about it), works very well, as this chapter proves. But what can scratch him?
Ginny M- Eidolon is a word, an actual one.
harrysmom- Emotions play a role in Harry's power. I'm glad you liked the idea of Evil vs Evil, and although Harry is not intended as a prize, I guess he is.
PinkyTheSnowman- I was aware he was a bit OOC, but then again, we only ever see Voldemort at a climactic final scene with incredible tension. Who knows how he is when he isn't pressed for time? Oh, and Shattered Reality is definitely comatose.
Hpfan4- The non spaced words are due to uploading system, not me.
AN: About Voldemort's body, I took the idea from Magic: The Gathering's Phage, where black magic stitches her together. After all, having glowing red eyes and all those other changes had to have done something to his body, not to mention the fact he's made up of dark magic. Any guesses on where the Ice Orb and the other non-canon spells are from? Thanks for reading, and as always, please review!