AN: Hi folks, new year, new chap! I have to confess that I didn't write a single word since I'm back from my summer vacation. Partly I blame the low income of reviews and the realization of my faultiness concerning the English language, but mostly it's my laziness and the increasing interest in my German stories. Now I'm out of complete chapters and therefore the next post could take some time, sorry
I hope a few reviews will boost my readiness to speed up the writing. ;-)
See ya, Daly
Chapter 13: A Glorious Day
Something tingled his nose and Harry opened his eyes. He couldn't remember how he get there, but he was in a well lit, open, friendly and comfortable furnished room.
Something moved besides him and he found the source of the tingle. A huge amount of bushy brown hair. "Good morning, Hermione", Harry said as if it was the most normal thing to say when you awake in an unknown surrounding with your secret love besides you in one bed.
Hermione yawned and faced him. "Good morning, darling", she said sleepily. "What time is it?", she asked after a while. "I don't know", Harry replied truthfully. Hermione yawned again before she turned and fetched a clock from her nightstand. "Oh, you have to get ready", Hermione sighed.
"Ready for what?" "Harry, the meeting!" "Ah, right. The meeting." Harry stood up and walked in boxer-shorts to a cupboard that could contain clothes although he had no clue what was going on. Hermione cloaked herself in the sheet and vanished through a door, apparently the bathroom.
Harry opened the locker and grabbed the robe on the top. He put it on and walked to one of the many windows. He was in Hogwarts, he noticed immediately, somewhere high above the ground. Hermione reappeared in a dressing gown and with a hair brush in her right hand.
As she saw him she frowned. "Harry! Do you want to face the minister in your shabbiest robe? Your fine robe is over there", she pointed towards a chair where a robe was placed. Harry had no idea what minister but he could see that the prepared robe was made of the finest material and found no sense in arguing.
He dismissed his 'shabby' robe and put on the other. When he turned around he found a table with breakfast on it. Hermione was already seated and deepened in the Daily Prophet. Harry took the seat opposite of her and noticed a second Daily Prophet.
On the cover he saw himself in shredded robe and with many cuts in the face. Behind him was a city where some pillars of smoke rose into the sky. The article was titled 'Head-Auror Potter won another battle' and the subtitle read 'Seven Deatheaters killed or caught at London. Head-Auror Potter promised quick end of war'.
Harry's mouth went dry. That was a surprise, to express it mild. "Harry? Are you okay? You look so pale", Hermione asked concerned. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit confused. Maybe a curse hit me yesterday", Harry shot in the dark. Hermione gave him a doubtful look but said nothing. Harry decided to ignore the Daily Prophet and started to eat.
After a half hour someone knocked at the door. "Oh, Ron is punctual. It was a good decision to make him to your deputy. He has matured so much. Good luck, darling", Hermione said and gave him a air-kiss. Harry tried to hide his confusion, jumped up and left without a word.
In front of the door Ron waited for him and Harry had to admit that Hermione was right. Ron had matured, somehow. "Good morning, lad", Ron welcomed him and after Harry had closed the door Ron rested his right hand on his right shoulder and dragged him forward.
Harry was happy that Ron seemed to know where they had to go, but got problems when Ron started to talk about yesterday, "Did you see how I blasted away the one that appeared in your back?" "Hm, no, he was in my back, remember?", Harry tried to buy some time. Ron grinned, "Right you are, man. Will you show me the trick which you used to stun the Deatheater who had apparated already?" "Sure", Harry assured and evaded Ron's gaze.
They passed a mirror and Harry could see fine pink lines where his face had been cut. He also detected that he had matured too, somehow. It was disturbing, there was this feeling that he had missed something. The time didn't fit. Before he could see more Ron had dragged him past the mirror and they entered the corridor leading to the staff-room and Dumbledore's office.
Ron ignored the Gargoyle and headed to the staff-room. When he opened the door Harry heard the loud hum of whispered conversations, which died away as he entered. The huge room was dominated by a large round table. Around this table sat around fifty persons who looked expectantly at him.
Because of their clothing Harry considered most of them as wizards, but some looked like muggle politicians. Ron dragged him to the table and forced him gently but vigorously into a seat. Harry noticed small signs in front of the persons which read 'Muggle minister of USA' or 'Minister of South-Africa' or 'Expert of Muggle-Warfare'.
While he studied the different positions someone took the seat on his right side and Harry sensed a sudden feeling of alertness. As he turned right he saw Albus Dumbledore. He saw the man he knew with slight changes. The eyes were brighter, the posture straighter and he appealed younger, fresher.
"My friends of the Alliance!", Harry flinched unintentionally as Dumbledore said the last word, feeling as if he was the wirepuller. "We paid a high prize but the sacrifices had to be made to stop the evil that we faced. We saw great heroic deeds and brilliant manoeuvres", again Harry felt addressed by Dumbledore's words.
"And now the time has come to end this war. We'll show Voldemort and everyone else who is of his kind that the world won't stand alone such a threat, but united and strong." Murmurs of approval answered Dumbledore's little speech.
When the murmur stopped Dumbledore conjured a three-dimensional scheme of some landscape. "We will operate like Mister Potter suggested." At this point Harry knew automatically that the sign in front of Dumbledore read 'Minister of Great Britain'.
"At first a strike team will construct an anti-apparation ward around Voldemort's head quarter guarded by a squad of aurors. This is most important part of the operation, therefore Mister Potter will lead the auror-squad." A red shield appeared on the plan.
"As soon as the ward is stable a wing of F-18's and Euro-Fighters will set off a firework. We can't hope to deal much damage, but it will cause confusion." A couple of jets emerged in the system and dropped bombs that turned into illusionary fires as they hit the ground.
"When this is done our elite squads enter the lair while the rest of our troops secure the area." The described manoeuvre appeared on the map. "Of course Voldemort will have anticipated an attack, but we can succeed if we are quick enough", Dumbledore finished his presentation.
"When will we start?", someone asked and a wry smile appeared in Dumbledore's face. "Good that you ask, Mister Weasley", Dumbledore addressed the speaker. Harry found Percy Weasley behind the sign 'Muggle-Wizard Ambassador' on his right side. Before he could make closer observations some shrieks interrupted the pensive silence that had determined the atmosphere in the room.
His hand flew to his wand automatically as he registered six persons who weren't there a second before. Two threatened Percy and two other pairs held two further men in check. Ron held him back by resting his hand on Harry's wand and gave him a look that asked 'What's up with you today?'.
Meanwhile Dumbledore continued, "Order! Mister Weasley, Mister Cheng, Misses Felgenhauer, you're accused in the matter of espionage and sabotage. Take them out!" It took two minutes till the silence had returned and the spies were took away. This break Ron used to ask Harry out.
"Something wrong? It was your plan. Why are you that surprised?", he inquired, looking Harry straight in the eyes. Harry had no explanation, but he saw the suspicion in Ron's eyes and noticed that Ron's wand aimed at him under the table. "I'm nervous. Hermione, you know", Harry knew that Hermione excused nearly everything, also this time.
Ron nodded and looked away and still Harry heard him cast a spell under his breath. The result appeared to be satisfying, because the wand vanished. "What was this all about and when do we strike now?", one of the minister asked. "To attack now will be suicide! The Dark Lord knows what we want to do for sure by now", an expert replied and the talk threatened to go haywire.
"Gentlemen!", Dumbledore made himself heard, "We just eliminated the last spies among our ranks and I hope that Voldemort listened to our plans." Before someone could break the restored peace, Dumbledore banished the scheme and a face appeared instead.
"Unit Lemon Drops reports, Anti-Apparation-Ward installed. No attacks, everything quite", the man said in a way that showed his military education. "Good, Modin! Hold your ground, reinforcement is underway", Dumbledore commanded the auror.
"Gentlemen, meet Mister Janus Modin, the leader of our elite auror-squad", the minister of UK introduced the hologram who nodded briefly. "As I elucidated our plan, Mister Modin's troop executed the first stage and –", Dumbledore was interrupted by Modin.
"Sir, I'm sorry to disturb your lecture, but the scouts report enemy contact." Harry didn't know what happened next in the former staff-room for Ron grabbed him and they next thing Harry saw was Modin's real face. "Good to see you, sir", the leader welcomed him and the next thing Harry noticed was the swishing of the robes from a second auror commando that apparated in.
"I thought –", Harry started, but Ron cut him short, "One-way wards. All ways in and no out. Come one." The auror spread out to a loose formation with Harry as centre. The sky was clear, the wind cold and the nature lifeless. That were the observations Harry did before the group reached the top of a hill.
On the other side a skirmish was at hand. Three persons covered behind obstacles whereas twenty men in white masks and black robes pressed forward while hurling curses and jinxes at the scouts. As soon as they were in reach the arriving auror launched their spells and the first wave blasted away three Deatheaters .
The Deatheaters started to retreat and took their toll at the same time. Harry saw how two auror fell, but that didn't slow down their advance. They outnumbered the Deatheaters at least four times and soon the scouts left their hiding places and joined the attack.
As a killing curse hit an auror in front of him Harry changed his tactic. Until this point he had launched some stunning-hexes and had mainly concentrated on defensive magic. Now he took up the wand of the fallen wizard and started to threw blasting-curses into the enemy ranks in a rapid fashion. He didn't know where he had learned this spells but that didn't matter in this moment.
When the Deatheaters arrived at their destination, an old house in the dale, their number tended to zero. Harry cursed as he saw how the last Deatheater jumped into the house, nevertheless his wrath was soothed soon. "Stop", Ron called and Harry waited reluctantly. He was in fighting mood.
A second later he was glad that he didn't follow his pray. Ten things whistled over his head with incredible speed, leaving ten white vapor trails. The house was blasted apart from the explosion of the rockets. Some auror twitched as they were hit by flying pieces.
Harry wanted to go on when Ron called, "Environment-shields now!" Harry had no idea what an environment-shield could be, but a few moments later he could guess what its function was. At first he heard a trilling sound and looked up. He noticed ten little points and remembered the three-dimensional scheme he had seen earlier. Then he found the source of the trilling. Five tiny dots grew constantly as he watched them fall. The bombs vanished into the ground and a moment later the earth was hurled into the sky.
A deafening sound boomed through the area but no auror blinked with an eye. Harry heard neither the sound nor he noticed the missing reaction of his comrades. Only a barely audible 'Bumm' reached his mind and his subconscious registered an odd thing, but his concentration was focused on the spectacle in front of him.
Following the first bombs another pack vanished into the now existing crater. No explosion was visible, but dull splashes of earth came out of the hole together with a mighty gust of air mingled with smoke. Ron appeared on Harry's side. "Nice thinks, this rockets, bunker-busters and vacuum bombs", Ron announced as he studied the hole in the ground.
Harry watched as the auror took position along the edge and addressed Ron, "How much did we lose?" "Some. Six, maybe ten. We'll count after this is done", Ron replied with sad but determined voice. Harry felt that he was right and became aware that the attention was fixed on him.
After a bare minute Ron took over, "You all got the plans of this lair. Snape gave his life to achieve it and now we'll put it to good use. Our primary target is to eliminate all Deatheaters and get Harry to Voldemort, but above all to stay alive. No heroic deeds! Stay in your formation! Be aware of traps! And remember there is no way out except by foot. Good luck!"
Harry was impressed by Ron's behaviour and manner and his heart burned when he thought that the final confrontation was at hand. Impulsively he lifted his hand and shouted, "let's go". Every auror jumped and floated to the ground. Harry fell to the ground, unstopped.
To is own amazement the impact didn't hurt. In fact he didn't even have the feeling that he had fall eight metres rather it felt like a normal step. The thought of the approaching battle filled his mind and something else filled his whole being. A part of him that was hidden; a mighty part.
Harry surrendered to the new sensation for it felt good and not even good; it was goodness itself. He sensed the change in his appearance and out of sudden his brain was overflowed with knowledge. Harry had to close his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again his vision was different, better.
His eyes seemed keener and he was aware of more details than before. In addition he needed no more light to see or so he thought. And his angle of view was different (due to his height of 9 feet). By the way he noticed that he was naked for his clothes weren't made to fit a nine feet tall, 500 pounds heavy person.
Before he could examine all of his new qualities, Ron and the rest of the auror arrived in a loose circle around him. Silence came with them. "Eh, Harry?", Ron said obviously awed by Harry's appearance. "Yes", Harry answered in a bombastic voice that let all auror twitch. Ron stood in front of Harry now and had to crane his neck to look Harry in the face, "Why do you have wings? And a sword? And a bow? And eyes like green fires? And how did you grew so much in the last thirty seconds?"
Harry considered his answer a few seconds and replied finally. "Why not?" Ron was dumfounded and looked down, inevitably observing Harry's nudity. His gaze stopped at the crotch and his head glowed red. Harry could see how the sweat escaped the pores. "Harry, where did you leave your little friend?", Ron whispered with toneless voice.
Harry looked down and saw that something was missing. There had to be a hook, he sighed mentally. Harry left Ron's remark uncommented, so Ron continued, "Hermione will not be amused when you return." Ron tore his eyes away from the blank spot and locked eyes with Harry.
As he met Harry's gaze he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders as if Harry would press him down with his eyes. Ron got the impression that he would shrink (or did Harry grow some additional feet?) and when Harry turned around Ron thought that he had barely escaped to be crushed into the floor.
Harry left Ron alone and looked around. Three tunnels led into the system and at two he detected traps. He didn't see them, he just knew that their were there. "You stay here and save this position!", Harry commanded and no one objected. Then Harry conjured some diamante powder and placed one symbol in front of each trap.
Without an other word he left through the third entrance and left astonished auror behind. After two corners he detected two person in the long corridor that unfolded before him. Again he didn't see them, but barely twenty meters away two beings (Harry knew it were Deatheater) concealed themselves in natural cracks, one on each side.
Their robes blend perfectly with the mossy and damp stone around them and only the soft violet shimmer of a shoulder and a foot betrayed their position. Harry doubted that he had seen them five minutes ago. He considered his options for a second and decided in favor of the bow. He drew the wood and saw that it had no bowstring; and he had no arrows.
He aimed at the left Deatheater and touched the air there where a arrow would be. The bowstring was still missing or was invisible, but a black arrow with black feathers appeared out of nowhere. His knowledge told him that this was no standard arrow and that the mere contact would kill the target.
His victim was concealed to 98 percent and that were two percent too less. Harry stretched the invisible bowstring under a soft but audible creak of the wood and loosed the arrow. Before it hit he fired a second one at the Deatheater on the right side. He needed one second to nock in a new arrow and pull back the bowstring and that was the interval in which the men died.
Harry hadn't slowed down his pace to shot and didn't stop to check if they were the dead. He only was aware of the arrow that pinned the foot of the one Deatheater to the floor, to the stone floor. On his way he passed an open door. A few beds and a table, a restroom for the guards, Harry guessed.
When the corridor turned to the right Harry found the second arrow. It stuck in the wall of massive stone. Harry stopped and looked back. The corpuses of the Deatheaters laid thirty meters away and Harry noticed that the shimmer was gone. For one moment he questioned his actions but the thought of killing evil beings didn't unsettle him, anymore.
He was justice and their were chaos. He was the Caretaker who altered the chaos to order by eliminating the origin of it. His consciousness was soothed and so he went on. He followed the way for endless moments. Time went by slower in the stale air and narrow tunnels. But he had all time of the world and a inexhaustible amount of patience.
When he encountered a second door it was closed. Still he detect a living being behind it by the means of a violet shimmer. The shimmer was in contact with the door, Harry knew it. Slowly and inaudible he unsheathed his sword. It was almost as long as he was tall and the tip was barely visible, even to him. The blade was engraved with words of strength, runes of protection and symbols of power. The handle had the shape of an angel like him, wings spread as if it want to fly away. Harry didn't know how much a sword of this size weighed, but this one was definitely lighter than it should be.
In the time Harry had admired his weapon the violet shimmer hadn't moved. Harry rose his sword without considering the ceiling two feet above him, but the blade cut through stone as simply as through wood and bone afterwards.
Harry continued his walk, leaving two half Deatheaters behind, the steel sheathed again. Soon after this encounter the natural walls were replaced by hewed stones with torches in regular distances. Doors separated from the corridor and Harry checked some rooms.
He found laboratories, smithies and training-rooms, one deserted like the other. In the corridor he detected a lots of traps and avoided them with ease. One moment he thought of what would have happened when the auror had stormed this area or he hadn't been gifted with his new abilities. No, he didn't want to think about that possibilities.
Suddenly he stood in a natural cavern and face to face with Voldemort. Bow or sword? Sword or bow? Sword, just as he made his choice he realized his mistake. He didn't face Voldemort but a life-sized statue with rubies as eyes. He took a closer look. No, this weren't just rubies, a small magic aura radiated from them.
"Hello Tom, wash you a last time, you don't want to die dirty, do you?", Harry spoke to the magical spies before dispelling the magic. The rubies split into thousands pieces and were carried away as Harry turned with his big wings. Laughter came out of an tunnel, a humourless laughter which could only belong to one person.
Harry looked around and found one other entrance to the vault. He deliberated for a few second if he should seal this entrance or not. He decided not to do it for nothing could come along to endanger him. In this place only one thing could be a danger to him.
He followed the laughter and soon he heard a sharp click. A few steps ahead he found the source of the sound. A door very similar to the door in Hogwarts that had sealed the Chamber of Secrets. The snake glared at him with their emerald eyes and Harry considered his options.
Sword, magic, sword, magic? In the end he tried a more diplomatic method. "Open", he commanded in his deep voice and the snakes uncoiled. Behind the door he found hewed stones again and something that looked like an antechamber. Even a welcome-committee awaited him.
Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange and a dozen other Deatheater pointed their wands at him. Voldemort's last contingent. No white mask concealed their faces and Harry saw the fanaticism, the fear and the awe in their eyes. Unexpectedly Lestrange addressed him, "Whatever you are, your way ends here!"
Harry deliberated if he should snuff out her now or speak with her and blast her away afterwards. He decided for the later. He consulted his new database and found an interesting ability. He focused his mind on the form that was known as Harry Potter and felt how his body reorganized his structure.
Out of sudden he was on eyelevel with his opponents and heard the Deatheater take a sharp breath. "Potter", hissed Bellatrix, "What the hell should your get-up accomplish?" "Maybe Potter found his human-self too ordinary and whined so long until Dumbledore gave him a new shape", Malfoy sneered and elicited some fits of laughter, that only stressed the tension in the room.
Lucius' face formed a grimace and his eyes sparkled with malice, when he said, "Maybe he hoped to attract the attention of better women than the mudblood Granger." The sound of the last words weren't died away as Malfoy fell backwards with an arrow-sized hole in his chest and before the other Deatheater registered the drew bow, Harry thought of an spell and activated it at the same time.
Bellatrix Lestrange's lips formed a 'No' when a second arrow left Harry's bow and drilled a hole into the wall, passing her head on the way. Harry, once again in his celestial form, watched her body fall to the ground with the others and shook his head in regret. Impulsively, he wished a Balor or a Pit Fiend would appear or any other enemy that was not dead after six seconds like this group.
In anticipation of an enemy who lived longer than a few seconds he approached the door opposite the entrance, carefully avoiding contact with the corpuses. He noticed that Voldemort had a good taste for decoration, a bit too dark but stylish. His mood lit up for he hadn't used firestorms or lightning blasts to dispatch the Deatheater. A simple nullification of their life-energy wasn't that spectacular but it was a clean business.
Before he could open the door, it swung inwards and revealed the throne room. Harry saw Voldemort at the far end of the room. On what the dark Lord rested even he could not determine. He was disappointed as all kinds of attack stayed out. He knew Voldemort prepared a trap for him but he lost the moment of surprise.
With the certainty that the trap would come soon enough he started his approach, at first slowly than getting faster and faster. He ran over a footbridge, four meters broad with dark water on the left and right. Huge snake-shaped pillars vanished in the darkness of water and ceiling, a darkness even Harry's eyes couldn't penetrate.
His strides reverberate on the moist stones as Harry advanced Voldemort. It was a long way and Harry estimated his arrows would only bridge a third of it. When he had crossed the half of the way Harry shouted, "Tom, your death is coming!" Laughter echoed from the walls and small waves appeared on the glassy water. "Tom died a long time ago, fool! Lord Voldemort will never die", the dark Lord responded.
"Never can be a damned short time, Tom", Harry replied, still running. "Never use this name again!", Voldemort raged, raising from his place. Harry noticed that it was a three-parted podium. Curiously was the first stage two meter high, the second maybe the half of it and the last stood a half meter over the prior. In addition the pedestal was bare all decoration, only a scale-like pattern and an oily gloss covered it.
Maybe it's just the illumination, Harry thought. On the edges of the walkway torches were mounted and covered the floor and water with flickering light and deceptive reflections. Voldemort's words just died away as Harry drew his bow, nock in an arrow and loosed it without slowing down.
Shortly before it reached the human-shape evil it was deflected to the ceiling by a protection ward. Harry had assumed that something like this would happen. Now he will let the trap snap shut. Voldemort laughed as the projectile hit his shield and rose into the air. "Potter, even when you learned some new tricks I'm still superior to you", he declared followed by more insane laughter.
"Get him", Voldemort told someone with an strange undertone. A moment later Harry could place the undertone. Voldemort had used Prassltongue. Suddenly everything fitted. The trap, the throne with the odd pattern and the someone Voldemort had addressed in Prassl was all the same. A hiss sound out of the unlighted part behind Voldemort and the huge Basilisk uncoiled. Harry could see two yellow spots in the dark and raise his bow to eliminate the threat. Harry stopped.
Abruptly the water right and left from him parted and two more Basilisk appeared on the scene. Among the splashes and hisses Harry could hear Voldemort laugh. Harry looked right and loosed the arrow at the same time. His gaze met the Basilisk's and Harry's muscle cramped for a second then it was over and Harry pierced the Basilisk's eyes with his own.
He looked the creature in its mind and charmed it with ease, crushing its will with a thought. "Attack", he commanded and pointed at the beast on his left and the oversized snake lunged over him to deepen its teeth into the other being. The laughter died away and Harry found Voldemort hovering in the air over the corpus of the first Basilisk.
Harry walked towards Voldemort to avoid the struggling bodies of the monsters. A tail-tip swished over the water surface and a wave of glistening water blocked Harry's view. A green light flashed and hit Harry. Something dragged at his soul and nearly ripped it from his body.
His vision blurred and when it cleared he saw Voldemort's snake-like face ten meter away over him with a rapidly vanishing grin. Harry launched a white sphere, which left white sparks in its wake, out of his left hand in order to cancel Voldemort's protection magic.
Harry's bane hit and Voldemort fell like a rock, but it didn't prevent him from finishing his spell. A fireball speeded towards Harry and the time barely lasted to jump out of the way. Although he evaded a direct hit, the ball exploded on the ground behind him and a gust of fire caught his side.
The pain was durable and when Harry stood up the burns were healed. His eyes found Voldemort and luckily he had his bow in his right hand, still. He fired an arrow, but Voldemort vanished with a whoosh of his cloak. A violet glow in the upper periphery of his vision told Harry the position of his enemy.
Harry jumped backwards and used his wings for the first time to get high. A green light hit the spot were he had stood a moment ago while he threw a lightning at the origin of the killing-curse with his left hand. This time Voldemort's protections failed and he didn't disapparated in time. The flash burned a hole in the left shoulder and arched in the direction of the fighting reptiles, where it burned another hole into the body of the Basilisk under the control of the dark Lord.
The smell of burned ozone and flesh hung in the air. Harry could see the pain etched in Tom's face and how he aimed the wand at him. "Crucio", yelled the wounded foe and Harry's muscle cramped again, this time much longer. As the pain died away he heard a "Crucio" again. This time nothing happened.
Harry straightened his body and shot three arrows in quick succession at Voldemort. The first and second Voldemort dodged but the third perforated his leg. Voldemort wailed in agony whereas all other persons had died instantly, but Harry counted it as success. Unexpectedly Voldemort produced a flagon and poured down the contents.
Harry watched how the wholes in shoulder and leg mended and Voldemort dropped the empty bottle without doing something. He wouldn't admit it, but he hadn't foreseen that. He was pulled out if his immobility as a foot tooth pierced his calf. His Basilisk had killed the other, but shook of Harry's domination.
He didn't fell pain but was distracted from Voldemort and the creature dragged him to the ground. In the instant he realized his situation he dropped his bow and unsheathed his greatsword. He bent forward and plunged the iron into the head of the snake, nearly cutting off his own foot.
The blade killed the beast almost directly but that didn't free Harry. He crushed to the ground with the whole body at once but his bones remained undamaged and he felt no pain. He was able to pull his leg out of the creature's mouth for the tooth had broke off. He removed the fang and threw it away.
With his mere will he healed the leg and rose to take up the fight again. He whirled around as he heard Voldemort say, "Perfectus totalis", in his back. The curse hit him full but it had no effect. Harry smiled as his celestial mind told him about his immunity against petrification.
"Nice try, Tom, but in vain", Harry provoked his opponent, who stood a few meters away. Voldemort grimaced, "Your attempt to beat me in my own lair is in vain, Potter. Your whole body will be filled with poison soon and I just have to watch you croak. You feel it, don't you?", Voldemort taunted in anticipation of his victory.
"No, but watch this", Harry retorted and his hands ran through a series of complex gestures. In the end his ten fingers pointed at Voldemort and just as many fireballs erupted his tips. Voldemort was to surprised to act but a ward he had set up earlier blocked most of the damage.
He healed his burns with another potion, but this time Harry was ready. As the empty flask touched the floor, hundreds of tiny bolts pierced Voldemort's defence and wounded him badly. A third healing mixture undid most of the damage, still it cost time.
Harry recovered his sword and charged at his archenemy. The first blows Tom could evade then he tripped over a Basilisk's tail tip. Immediately Harry was over him and aimed for his head. In the last moment his wand turned into a black rapier and Voldemort diverted Harry's blade beneath his skull.
In Voldemort's left hand appeared a dagger and Harry released his sword while he stepped back to get out of range. When Voldemort tried to stand up, Harry brought down his hand in a commanding gesture and a torrent of silver light pressed him down again.
Harry hit his opponent with a magic annulling orb and called for his bow. The bow whirred towards him and Harry caught it with the right hand and pulled back the string with his left in a fluent motion. When he was about to loose his arrow, the dark Lord vanished with a bang.
"Avada –", Harry whirled around, finding Tom right behind him and fired in the instant he saw his target, "Kedavra", Tom finished before the arrow reached him. Spell and arrow collided in midair but neither the one nor the other was deflected. when the arrow left the green flash he glowed green itself and looked like a small killing curse as it penetrated Voldemort's lung.
Harry made no attempt to avoid the curse, instead he fired a further arrow. In contrast to the former contact the curse had no effect on him. In the time he fired another projectile he consulted his knowledge and learned that he had a natural protection against magic. Harry swore as the last arrow missed his aim by a few inches and Voldemort fell into the water.
Harry saw no sense in following his enemy and so he gathered his sword and cast some additional protection spells on himself. Thereafter he checked the spot where Voldemort had vanished. The surface was plain and impenetrable.
Harry's gaze fell on the corpus of the first Basilisk and a plan manifested spontaneously. Voldemort may knew what happened in the room but couldn't see into his mind, hopefully. He positioned himself in front of the dead creature with his side to the spot where Tom had gone.
He struck up a slow chanting and began to fuel the body with energy. After a minute a reddish light appeared in the eye sockets and another minute later the tail twitched back and forth. The animation was almost complete when Voldemort appeared in a fountain of sparkling water.
Harry saw a dark blade of energy speeding towards him and cancelled his spell. Shortly before the spell-blade reached him he jumped and felt how the curse missed him by inches. Instead of Harry, the Basilisk got the full load and was cut into halves from head to tail-tip.
Harry smiled inwardly. To animate a body was easy and took barely a minute, but to be aware of his surrounding and preparing another spell was another thing. Suddenly Voldemort was surrounded by a multi-colored sphere.
"What's this, Potter? Do you think I need more color in my life?", Voldemort asked sarcastically, but Harry had no problem to hear the haunted undertone. Harry couldn't hold back a grin while he aimed with his bow. "Come on, Tom! You wasted enough of my time and now, don't move", Harry stressed the last two words, pulling the string of his recovered bow back.
Voldemort apparated away but Harry had no problem to find him again for the sphere had moved with him. He adjusted his aim and spoke to his enemy, "Too sad that the ward only allows short-range-teleportation, isn't it? " Voldemort gnashed his teeth and dodged Harry's arrow only to come in contact with the sphere.
In the moment he touched a red and a yellow stripe, fire and electricity engulfed Voldemort's body. The Dark Lord laid on the ground, smoking and shaking, and the sphere moved over him again. Harry shot again and this time he hit the heart. Tom relaxed and a translucent shadow poured out of him.
As the shadow met the sphere a loud screech filled the hall and the ghost bounced back. Harry took his chance and banned the essence, which radiated a blinding violet light. The ghost of Voldemort fizzled out and Harry wished Voldemort should never return.
Then he lost consciousness and everything went dark.
How did you like it? Please comment, please!
Thanks for yor your attention. With kind regards, your Daly
