Chapter 11
"Avada Kedavra….." he hissed, barely recognizable in English. Remus watched his eyes widening. He had been boasting. He had not meant it when he said he wanted to die. He had truly, clearly believed that Harry wasn't going to use the deadly spell against him.
The spell came slowly and steadily, its green light heading straight towards Remus. The man watched the spell before turning to look at Harry's emotionless face, and then back at the spell. He sighed in defeat, closing his eyes as he waited for the spell to hit.
"Prongs, Padfoot, Lily, sorry, forgive me…."
The curse never hit him. Lupin felt a whish of quick wind scrape his side, go directly through his sleeve. It had missed by a fraction of an inch. Remus' eyes flung open immediately surprised that Harry had deliberately missed him.
The werewolf turned to see the spell hit the wall.
"There are many ways to destroy a man. Death is the simplest, pain free way. As harsh as it is, you don't deserve it."
Remus looked on, confused, before understanding seeped through. He didn't get a chance to reply for Harry had screamed the word that he had been dreading, that he had hoped to be able to delay.
"Attack!!" Harry screamed. Wave after wave of Death Eaters poured into the Hall, ready for battle. The hall immediately turned into a battling field with the Dark fighting for victory and the Light fighting for mere survival.
"Why did you spare me?" Remus asked, still shaking.
"I told you. The person I despise most aside from Dumbledore is you Remus Lupin." The Prince repeated irritated. "Death would have been easy, too easy." He paused. "No, I did not spare you. "Harry replied coldly, eyes never leaving Remus. "You're naive to believe so."
The Prince walked slowly toward the man, swinging spells at him, though deadly were not meant to kill.
From the corner of his eye, Lupin saw that Dumbledore was engaged in a one against twenty battle. He wondered briefly why he had become the sole target of Harry, when the Dark Forces could have destroyed him easily. He didn't dare think about it as the battle became fierce.
"You do not seek to kill me Harry?" Remus' eyes narrowed dangerously, as he put up a barrier, so that the spells were reflected. Most of the curses he had never even heard of were thrown at him. He didn't want to take the chance of being hit with something he didn't know. He sort of knew where this conversation was going.
"Above such brutality are you?" He watched as Harry made his way closer toward him.
A thin light escaped from Lupin's wand. Like a whip, it lashed out at Harry, binding the shield that was set up by the Prince. It burned like fire, and for a split second looked as though it was destroying the shield.
If Harry had not seen this spell earlier in life, he would have not known what to do. Brandishing his wand, he transformed it into a snake, which turned its head and hissed dangerously at Lupin.
Lupin looked on, unafraid. He merely caused it to disappear into a whisk of smoke.
"We both know that there are other ways to destroy a man, Remus" Harry spoke, remembering the conversation that he had heard between Dumbledore and Tom, though at that time, he had not understood it. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit."
"Colloportus!" The Prince yelled, hopping to smash the man unconscious.
Lupin merely let the spell bounce off his shield.
"Petrifucus Totalus!" came Lupin's response, trying the body bind spell.
"There is nothing worst then Death." Lupin spoke carefully.
"You are quite wrong." Harry replied. "Indeed your failure to see that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness."
For a moment, Lupin paused as the words sunk in. It was a mistake, as his shield was lowered.
"Stupefy!" The stunning spell successful hit the older man. It didn't stun him however, merely causing him to falter and lower his defenses more.
The Master continued his attack, with a series of consecutive spells.
"Crucio! Stupefy! Crucio!! Densuageo!!"
"Impedimenta" Lupin blocked as much as he could, slowing it down. He dodged the other curses, noting that the killing curse never really was issued out of the wand.
Lupin stood still, as he noticed Harry was emitting a Black aurora that caused 5 feet close to him to be consumed in Darkness. It was a sign of no good, for it meant that Harry was preparing a devastating blow, gathering his forces to do so.
"I'll let you live Remus. I'll let you live and suffer the way no man has before. Mark my words, death will not come easily, at least not for you."
Lupin tried his hardest to ignore the words that were escaping from the younger man's lips. He knew it was only a distraction, to make him unfocused. His defenses were beginning to weaken. Copying the example earlier, he strung together a string of curses, ending with the disarming spell.
"Expelliarmus!" The least he could do was disarm the man. However it was to no avail. Both of them, it seemed was evenly matched.
"It doesn't have to be this way Harry!" Lupin yelled, becoming desperate as his strength was being drained from him. There weren't any scratches on Harry at all. "We don't have to do this Harry! Please! Forgive me for all of my wrong doings! We can start again!! Please don't force me to hurt you!"
"I've bonded with Darkness and Evil to the point of no return. Thus its holy powers run deeply through my veins. I now bear the duty of Satan on my shoulders." The Half-blooded Prince snapped. "The decision of Life and Death is mine. With one word, the world will collapse. With one word Life can sprout where there once was Death."
The statement pierced Lupin worst then any physical or emotional pain had ever done before. Suddenly he felt as though the whole world came collapsing down on him. His breath quickened and his hand was shaking.
The Prince watched the man struggle to fight against him, watch him fight a losing battle. This was it; it was going to be over soon.
"James, Lily, Sirius…." The words somehow managed to get out of Lupin's mouth. He didn't see them, but somehow they felt close by. Harry looked amused.
"Seeing the dead so soon? Are we? No, that's not good, that's not good." The Prince noted the distant in the man's eyes, and knew he had to stop. He couldn't let the man die, he had suffered to much from him to grant him and easy Death.
Harry having made up his mind, gathered the Dark Aurora in his wand. Faintly, dimly he could see Light being emitted from the other. It flickered on and off. The Prince assumed it natural as from the attacks, it was clear that the man had no will in fighting, and if he did, certainly not against him. Deciding to finish it off, he sent one final attack.
The light that issued from Harry's wand was jet Black. It grew larger and larger, until it was a full Orb. Everything that was in its path was obliterated.
Lupin watched, horrified at the speed and energy that was emitted at him. Holding himself together, he tried to hold his wand steady. He could feel three pairs of hands on his shoulders. Thinking of nothing but a way to survive, he muttered all the defensive spells that he had ever encountered in his life.
The blast came at full force, and he was trust backwards, feeling himself fly into the air. He fought for consciousness as his head banged against something hard. The last thing he saw was a bright light coming from the side, smashing into the enormous Orb.
Harry watched smugly as it was a direct target hit. It wasn't meant to kill, though leave the man in a condition enough for him to be begging for death. By now, Harry had mastered his magic to the exact magnitude of harm which he wanted to create. He could leave him hanging on a thin strand of life, though thick enough to keep the man in a stable, lively condition.
He was still marveling at his success when another Orb of Light hit his own. It took him by surprise as it hurled his own magic off course, thus lessening its affect on Lupin. The Prince watched as the light, silvery Orb consumed his own whole, before the two changed courses and headed directly towards himself.
Knowing that it was fruitless to doge it, he too set up strong defensives. He held his wand steady ready for a counterattack. Though the Master could be considered the second or even most powerful man alive, he could not lessen the attack. Earlier, he had used a lot of energy just to gather his forces together to attack Lupin with the final blow, and now his own attack, plus someone else's had combined and therefore become the result of the two most powerful wizard attack into one package.
The Prince was thrust backwards with full force. Pain erupted throughout his body as he felt himself being torn apart. With a great bang, he slammed into a wall. The Orb formed by both Good and Evil hurled into him.
Dust, rumble and debris flew out from the fallen wall that had crumbled long before anything had hit it.
The Hall was suddenly silent, and all movement stopped. Everyone was watching the smoke and debris clear. After what seemed like an eternity, the first thing they saw was a grave Dumbledore squatted, wand still pointed at the whisk of smoke. Slowly, the area cleared and a shape could be faintly seen.
Harry James Potter, the Master, the Half-Blooded Prince lay rigged, limbs at an awkward angle on top of the crumbled wall. His body was scarred, torn and bloodied from the hit, and his eyes were shut tight. The only thing particular was a faint dark light that faded away.
Whispers spread quickly as some people inched closer to see.
"Stay still. Don't get close to him." Dumbledore shouted at the few who dared approached. All eyes were on Harry, searching for a sign of life. "Keep the Death Eaters at bay."
The ex-headmaster slowly took a step closer towards the Prince, keeping a steady pace. Dumbledore muttered incoherent words, and a jet of red light shot out and hit Harry. There was no effect. The Prince showed no signs of life whatsoever. Dumbledore tried again and still no response.
By now, he was close enough to see the boy's scarred body. His eyes moved up and down studding him, from head to arms, to legs, then back to his arm, specifically right hand which held the wand. Even at this distance, he could see it clearly.
Thirteen-and-a-half inches Yew. All this time, the Prince had not used his own wand, but that of his use-to-be-enemy. This caused a shudder to pass through Dumbledore.
If Harry had been using Voldmort's wand all this time, then I cannot imagine how much more chaos and destruction there would have been if he had used his own wand.
A wand chooses the Person; the person does not choose it. Therefore each wand is different, and no two are alike, the way people are. Therefore, few would be able to use someone else's wand to their liking, if able to use it at all.
Therefore for Harry to be able to use the wand of the Dark Lord of the century to perfection, as though it was his own, was itself an amazing, fascinating accomplishment. A feat that I am sure no one else in history had ever been able to succeed in.
Then again…both of their wands were connected, brothers in fact, connected by that single phoenix feather provided by Fawkes.
Dumbledore snapped out of his thoughts, reaching out for the wand that was clutched tightly in the boy's fist. He had nearly touched it, when there was an enormous roar that came from deep within the Earth. Startled, the old man withdrew.
The four walls shook violently, under its unstable foundation. The three remaining walls on opposite sides had finally given way and began to crumble. Pillars were being knocked down, and gigantic rumble came toppling over.
Dumbledore quickly jumped back from the Prince. Two figures rushed forward and took a hold of the Half-Blood.
"RETREAT!!!!" came the bellow of one of the two Death Eaters. "RETREAT!!" The voice shouted again. The Death Eaters didn't need telling twice. To contrary belief, the ranks of the Dark did not fall apart, and it was not an everybody-for-themselves act. To say the least they acted more as a whole unit then individuals. These Death Eaters had been through too many failures in the past to rule out the practice of having back-up plans and retreating techniques.
In fact, if there was chaos and panic it was caused by the staff and the students. Most had not encountered such a possibility in their entire life. Some stood stunned, rooted to the floor as enormous pieces fell on top of them. Others were using their wands to shield themselves. Yet there were those swinging their wands widely levitating and throwing the rumble aimless at places, which ended up hitting others. To add to that, there were those who had completely lost control that they started throwing curses at everything that proved to be a threat.
"EVACUATE!!! EVACUATE!! LEAVE THE DEAD! TAKE THE WOUNDED. APPERATE!!" Dumbledore screamed after magnifying his voice. He had lifted the anit-disapparation ward, in fear that more would be lost if it had not been done so. He didn't even care if the Death Eaters escaped.
"Those who can apparate take as many students as possible and then come back for more…."
Nothing matter to him now, at this moment in time. All he knew was that Hogwarts had been toppled at last and was now crumbling down from within.