Fairborn Adventures
AN: Hey guys!
Welcome to Chapter 89.
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The recognizable sections belong to JKR
Chapter 89
July 2nd, 1978
A soft snap echoed over the green flora of the Scottish highlands. A colossal mountain ridge, tall and mighty, stretched over the horizon, illuminated by the earliest beams of sunrise. Thick woodland spread from the valley they had apparated into, from the valley floor to about midway up the ridge, leaving the gray, sharp rock formations on the upper half exposed.
'Looks pretty far up north to me.'
Fresh, salty air filled Harry's nostrils. A strong breeze played with his hair. He turned around and glimpsed at a few distant, barren islands, rising defiantly from within the wild nordic sea.
Next to him, Marlene staggered slightly through the highland grass. Her breath caught in her chest, shaking her with quick gasps for air.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked in concern, gently stroking her back and holding her steady by the waist.
"I'm- I'm fine," she wheezed, shaking off the discomfort and standing upright to rub her chest: "Those long-distance apparitions are just rather unpleasant..."
"You did well." Harry squinted his eyes at the islands. He was barely able to make out the outlines of a few houses in what seemed to be a small village or harbor: "That must have been almost 500 miles from Potter Manor to up here. Most witches and wizards would've collapsed after just half of that."
"I'm not most witches and wizards." Marlene tossed her hair over her shoulder in pride, letting blonde curls bob in the wind.
'Of course you're not.'
"Last time I was here was five years ago. We took a portkey to visit some distant relatives on the Orkney Islands." She nodded at the distant flecks of land and opened the first few buttons of her long traveling coat: "At least we have better weather this time."
"Our true destination lies to the west, somewhere behind these mountains." Harry eyed the sharp ridges warily: "Even the guides for professional muggle climbers advise not to hike there because of unpredictable weather conditions. Apparently each year some of them don't listen and perish without a body to find."
"Well, it's not the weather that kills them, nor their lack of skill," Marlene snorted, binding golden curls in a tight bun so they no longer blew in her face: "I'm surprised the Ministry doesn't just ward the entire area to prevent muggles from entering and the giants from leaving."
"Perhaps it's too much land," Harry mused as he tightened the straps of the backpack they shared: "I'm not sure how well wards even work on giants either. If they're resistant to most spells and curses, then I doubt a simple compulsion ward will make them remember something the moment they step too close to the ward line."
"I suppose we'll see just how resistant they are soon..." Marlene shrugged and slipped her fingers through his: "You should take it from here, love. I mustn't exhaust myself too much."
"I've got you covered," Harry chuckled and tightened his hold on her whilst eyeing the highest edge of the mountain ridge. Then he forced the world past them.
Small rocks and pebbles chafed underneath their boots as they staggered over uneven, sharp ground. The air was considerably thinner up here just as the weather was much colder.
Harry let his eyes roam over the valley beneath them, trying to spot any movements among the large boulders and spare green fauna.
"I can't see anything," he sighed.
"I'd be surprised if you did." Marlene walked behind him and tugged on the zipper of the backpack, pulling out a folded map and a simple pen: "This is the first of almost a dozen sealed-off valleys." She drew a small cross on the rough position they had apparated to before circling the valley: "On to the next one then, love..."
'On to the next one.' He wrenched the world past them again, staggering on top of the next outpost and peaking down into the second valley, yet with the same result.
"This might take a while," Harry sighed, holding out his hand again after Marlene had marked their position on the map.
The scenery changed for a seventh time with a faint snap. The sun had risen up to noon by now, burning down on them mercilessly. Harry wiped his forehead with his sleeve and carefully climbed to the edge of the boulder they had landed on to stare into the depths to his feet.
A wild river mingled through the untouched green-and-bluish highlands. Large mountain ridges caged in the valley from all sides.
'Come on, this looks like a fine spot for a giant.'
Suddenly, some movement caught his eye all the way across the ravine.
"I think you can put the map away, love," Harry murmured when Marlene's finger moved for the backpack's zipper.
"We've finally found them?!" The blonde spun on the spot, her eyes snapping into the direction his finger was pointing.
A sluggish, gigantic grayish mass moved along the heathland down at the foot of the opposite mountain ridge. With one hand, it carried a massive log like a club over his shoulder, bright crimson covered the wood's spiked tip. With the other hand, it dragged a bloodied pulp that might have been a highland cow mere hours ago.
"He looks pretty large and we're still very far away." Marlene shivered slightly: "I think he's heading for that gap within the cliff." She pointed at an opening between the large rock formation.
"Let's get closer and have a look." Harry eyed a small overhang above the giant's path, which promised to make for a good reconnaissance spot, and slipped his fingers through Marlene's.
He wrenched the world past, this time very mindful to mitigate all traitorous sounds. They immediately crouched down upon landing and carefully crawled over the edge to have a peek.
It was as Marlene assumed. The opening in the rock led into a canyon of sorts, roughly thirty meters wide and stretching all the way to the base of the next mountain.
Faint smoke and a multitude of loud noises rang up to them. Foreign-sounding words were grunted in deep voices and a rhythmic mixture of chopping and hammering echoed from the canyon's tall walls.
'That definitely sounds like more than one.'
They slowly peaked a bit further, extending their field of view to the entire canyon.
Massive, gray-skinned figures, most of them above 20 feet in size, wearing torn, ragged patches of clothing stomped through muddy grounds underneath them. Some of them were sprawled out on all fours, snoring by a nearby fire. A few were hammering spiked tree trunks into the ground with their bare fists, seemingly fortifying the area. Others, like the one Harry had spotted first, carried food to a nearby shelter, a large cave in the canyon's tall walls.
"They're surprisingly well organized," Marlene whispered, her eyes flickering from each member of the tribe to the next: "I'm counting 30 in total, but some might still be in the cave..."
"Giants are much smarter than trolls." Harry mused: "I suppose if they can be taught to speak English and other languages, they will manage to coordinate different tasks among one another." He ran a hand through his hair: "What surprises me more is that they chose to remain cramped in this tiny encounter." He gestured down at the canyon: "Surely it increases the likelihood of incidents over something petty, like sleeping arrangements and food."
"Britain has far more than one tribe of 30 giants. There must be others, presumably nearby if I interpret those fortifications correctly," Marlene said: "It shouldn't be surprising that they're fighting their own little war amongst each other. Wizards and witches killed far fewer giants over the centuries than they have killed themselves. Killing is just part of their nature."
Harry hummed and caught the bright sunlight reflected in something metallic. He grimaced: "Looks like we're not the first to discover this tribe though."
A massive figure sat by the fire and lovingly stroked a thick thumb over the blade of an abnormally large axe. It was something that seemed to bring him much joy, judging by the manner in which he grunted in laughter and boasted around with his tool.
"Looks goblin-made. A gift from wizarding-kind, no doubt." Marlene's eyes narrowed: "It's safe to assume that this fat one is the Gurg then if it was brought to him."
Harry nodded and heaved the backpack off his shoulders: "Dumbledore and Voldemort both knew that the best way to appease them was to bring daily gifts. If I remember correctly, Hagrid said that the Death Eaters came each day before sunset."
"We'll wait for them and as soon as they arrive in the canyon, that is when we strike," Marlene decided and crouched back to the backpack: "Until then, I'll prepare our camp."
The hours passed antagonistically slowly as they waited at the entrance of their tiny tent for something to happen down in the canyon. Occasionally they thought the Death Eaters might have arrived. However, the rise in the noise level was usually due to two giants voicing their disagreement with their fists and clubs.
After sharing an early dinner prepared by Marlene, they sat on the edge of the platform with the blonde nestled in Harry's lap.
Marlene sighed. "Once we're done here we can finally get married and have a proper honeymoon. Ideally somewhere I won't get molested by insects every few seconds." She wrinkled her nose and flicked a small bug from her skirt.
"Are you saying camping up high in the Scottish mountains isn't romantic enough?" Harry chuckled: "We even have the luxury of using a tent with an undetectable extension charm."
"I saw Scottish mountains almost every day for the last seven years, Harry," Marlene pouted and nestled her head in the crook of his neck: "I want you to take me somewhere nice, somewhere sunny."
"I will," Harry promised and cradled her closer in his arms: "The entire world is open to us. Well-" he grimaced, "-at least once-"
"-once Voldemort is defeated, I know," Marlene sighed and gently kissed him. "I can tell how much it troubles you, love."
'Voldemort, Dumbledore, Death Eaters, the Ministry... There are just too many enemies.'
"Something tells me the next time we meet it won't be for a chat," Harry deflated, fingers absently stroking through her long golden hair, whilst he watched the sun set behind the distant mountains: "I've irked him too often for that now, I've crossed too many of his plans."
"I believe in you, Harry." Marlene brushed her lips over his cheek: "I've witnessed how hard you trained, I've seen what you can do, I've felt the magic you use. You will defeat him eventually, I have no doubt about that."
'I have no choice.' A tight twist of anxiety tanged right above his heart: 'If I die no one will stop him from going after you and anyone else I love.'
Sudden, loud noises from below in the canyon saved him from having to come up with a reply. Marlene instantly leaped off his lap and peered over the edge of the platform.
"Time to get to work, love," she whispered, pointing to a small group of black-robed figures that strolled past the fortifications towards the giant settlement: "There's fifteen, perhaps even more in whatever camp they came from."
"I'll do some recon," Harry murmured and stood up straight, shrugging off his jacket: "Perhaps we can learn how many other tribes they've contacted yet."
"Be careful." Marlene kissed him hard: "Don't let them pluck you like a chicken."
"I'll do my best." Harry fixed an ebony feather in front of his inner eye and lingered on the spot.
The world warped past him while he shrunk in height. When the first black feathers spread through his skin he leaped forward and dove off the platform.
'Raven time.'
Sharp wind rushed in his face and was parted by his beak as he fell down the rough walls of rock in a nosedive. Then he flapped his wings and allowed a gentle breeze to carry him over to the sets of wooden spikes the Death Eaters were currently passing.
A tall and muscular man with a thin, black mustache led the group into the canyon. "Stay together and just do as last time!"
Harry recognized Walden Macnair carrying a thick knife the size of a sword in his open arms. 'That must be the new gift. Of course it's another weapon…'
"I'm bloody tired of this." One of the men kicked a few rocks in the muddy path out of the way: "Can I just stay in the camp next time?"
"Same here." Another eyed the closed giants warily while clutching his wand with both hands: "How many more gifts do we need to bring these beasts?!"
Harry hopped off the spikes and leaped over the mud-covered grounds to follow them, avoiding falling into the huge footprints of the giants.
"Shut your traps, some of them speak better English than you inbred bastards," Macnair hissed with a sharp glare: "We need every man available if things go wrong! You will all do as the Dark Lord ordered, and once we're done with this tribe we find the next one and continue the mission."
None seem motivated by that, each of them avoiding the teeth-flaring glares of the massive beasts. The giants watched the caravan with cruel dark eyes, yet still allowed them to pass uninterrupted.
"I didn't sign up to risk getting tossed around by giants every night for a month," the former muttered under his breath and kicked another pebble.
"You took an oath to serve in any way commanded!" Macnair glared: "And if you don't shut up now, you'll make for a tasty second present for the Gurg tonight!"
Harry watched as the conversation fell silent once they approached the leader of the giants.
'I think I've seen enough.'
He flapped his wings and took to the sky, gaining height in growing spirals until he spotted the golden head of Marlene and landed beside her. Feather slipped back into his skin and he felt himself grow.
"What did you learn?" Marlene brushed a few black feathers off his head and eyed him curiously.
"They've set up a camp somewhere close, but each time they bring gifts all the men are taken with them," Harry reported: "There're more tribes around here, though this is the first one they encountered."
Marlene nodded her understanding grimly: "Shall we get to work then?"
"I've waited all day for this," Harry grinned and thrust the Elder Wand up high into the air: "Time to play."
Hot, bubbling magic rushed up his arm, heating up his veins and exploding outward in a potent ripple of air. He wrenched his wrist around and entangled his magic into a large dome. It settled over the entire ravine like a thick, unforgiving coating, cutting off any possible path of escape.
'Just a bit more.'
The first pearl of sweat from exhaustion soon stung his eye. When the ache in his lungs grew almost unbearable, he broke his connection and gasped for air.
"Good job, love." Marlene patted his jaw before she spun around and mirrored Harry's motion, shooting him a small smirk. "I'll add the portkey ones and... refine your work a bit."
"Sure, you have a more gentle touch anyway," Harry grinned when the first pulsing wave of magic burst from her wand, making the hairs on his arms prickle.
Her fingers curled into a tight fist around the wood. Then she slashed it down, pointing straight at the ground while her jaw clenched in concentration.
"That'll do," she breathed heavily before smiling in pride: "No one's getting in or out of that besides us two."
'I can think of two more but hopefully neither will show up today,' Harry grimaced and held out his hand: "Let's go."
He apparated them down behind one of the larger boulders and peeked out sideways to watch the negotiations between Macnair and the Gurg. One Death Eater standing anxiously in the very back of the group caught his eye. It was the one who had kicked away small rocks and was still doing so, alas more carefully.
'Didn't he say something about not wanting to be tossed around by giants?'
"Wouldn't it be a shame if a small accident happened to you, buddy?" Harry grinned and took careful aim.
"Confundo!"
The Death Eater's shoulders slumped momentarily when the spell struck him. Then he kicked one of the larger rocks with significantly more force right against the chin of a nearby giant.
The conversations at the front immediately paused while the rock bounced off and scattered over the ground. All eyes turned to the back and everyone held their breath, especially the perpetrator who shook his head in confusion: "Wha- What's going on?"
"Oh fuck!" he whispered before everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The 20 feet tall, gigantic beast growled in annoyance and stomped toward the tiny human nuance. He bent over low to flick his thick finger right against the Death Eater's chest with a bone-breaking crunch.
The man was launched back through the air against one of the many sharp spikes. It impaled him upon impact, the crimson tip pointing out of his shattered rib cage.
"Nice one, love," Marlene snorted when all hell broke loose. The Death Eaters edged together and flicked their wands to start firing spells: "And it was so creative..."
"I came up with it on the spot actually," Harry grinned, letting the cool, slim wood of the Elder Wand glide into his palm: "Though it looks like the giants might need our help."
Having recovered from the initial shock, the Death Eaters formed a tight ring and started firing entire volleys of bright green curses, focusing on one raging giant after the other.
Together the killing curses succeeded where a single might have failed. The impending giants tumbled to the muddy ground with heavy thuds, their limbs sprawled out to either side, and their enraged black eyes became dull and empty.
"Let's even the playing field then." Marlene stepped around the corner.
Her wand snapped forward in a blur, firing a bright pink spell that tore a fist size hole right in between one of the Death Eater's shoulder blades. Splinters of bones and flesh spattered the mud and all over the black robes of his closest comrade. The man retched a last gush of crimson before dropping dead.
"Behind us!" someone noticed them.
The Death Eaters in the rear immediately hurled bright orange curses that scored deep scorch marks and exploded in colorful sparks on the rock they ducked behind.
Harry followed the blonde in a quick sprint further up into the canyon, tearing out a few of the nearby wooden spikes with quick flicks of his wrists.
'These might come in handy later.'
"It's Peverell!" the shouts of recognition echoed from the high walls of the ravine.
"No, not yet." Marlene danced in between the incoming volley of spells, her elegant blonde bun bobbing up and down: "But in a few days it will be..."
She redirected multiple curses, blasting one of her attacker's skull clean off the pale neck in a spurt of crimson pulp. Then she hurled the headless body back into the ones at the front, where it collided with those most proficient in killing one giant after another.
"Leave the giants!" Walden Macnair staggered through the mud and turned around, his face a mask of rage. "Block their path, then turn and attack Peverell!"
Several loud explosions boomed through the ravine as the Death Eaters fired volleys of combustion curses at the nearby wooden fortifications. They levitated the burning piles of rubble into a tall, blazing barricade. The hissing flames clawed high into the evening sky and stopped the giants, who seemed rather wary of fire in such magnitude, from crossing over.
"Enough! With me now!" Macnair dragged one companion by the collar: "Kill the boy and his bitch or take them back to the Dark Lord!"
'Not so fast.'
Harry stepped right into their path and levitated a pair of wooden spikes to either side of him. He flicked his wand, tossing the projectiles into the group of incoming wizards.
"Shields!" Macnair cried whilst hurling himself to the side.
The first spike brutally smashed against a bright, silvery ripple of magic, tearing right through it and launching the caster behind from his feet up several feet into the air.
"Retreat!" Macnair ordered, his face now a mask of pure panic as he watched the deformed bodies of his companions littering the surrounding mud. "Back to the camp, everyone!"
One Death Eater broke formation and stepped forward in an attempt to apparate, only to collapse to the ground with a scream.
"They warded the valley!" He clutched his temples in pain while blood rushed from his nostrils: "We can't apparate out!"
"Then kill the girl, quickly!" Macnair hurled bright purple curses over to their position: "She is the weaker one of the two!"
The surviving Death Eaters followed his orders and hurried along the wall of rock towards Marlene's position.
'No, you won't.'
Harry slashed the Elder Wand horizontally with a roar. A rumble of thunder echoed through the ravine as he tore a set of pointy stone spikes from the rough surface of the cliff and propelled them at the Death Eaters.
Terrible screams of despair and the horrid breaking of bones rang through the ravine as the majority of them were torn apart or got impaled on various body parts.
Walden Macnair crawled out from underneath the bloody mass of sprawled limbs, his left arm held limb.
"If I go down today, I'll take you with me, bitch!" he cried, his wand leveled at Marlene, firing yet another sickly purple curse.
Crimson flames clawed from Marlene's wand in angry hisses and whispers, swallowing the curse in the depths of the inferno. She wrenched her arm around, hurling an enormous fiery serpent at her opponent, whose eyes widened in panic while he raised a shimmering shield.
The serpent struck repeatedly. With its fangs ablaze, it clawed its way through the fading shield like boiling water through the snow.
Macnair's desperate, terrifying screams died the moment he was fully engulfed by fiendfyre. His skin blackened and withered away. His raw flesh melted like warm wax and peeled off pale bones.
Marlene clenched the hissing flames with a wrench of her wrist, leaving her panting heavily and staring at the skeleton in disgust.
"You okay?" Harry approached slowly.
"Fine." Marlene wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her red blouse. A pout wrinkled her brows: "But I'm growing tired of people shouting 'Peverell' anytime they see us. It's like they don't even take me seriously."
"A mistake they only make once." Harry kissed the tip of her upturned nose and seized her hand: "Come, we should burn all the bodies."
Marlene's eyes roamed through the canyon. The barricade created by the Death Eaters was still ablaze, casting long flickering shadows. However, no rumbling from any giants could be heard from the other side. "What should we do about them?"
"They will soon be found by the next tribe of giants and share their story, hopefully before getting butchered." Harry said while piling the bodies of Death Eaters with his wand: "With a bit of luck, every tribe in Britain will grow very wary of humans and won't be easily persuaded by presents to join our wars anytime soon."
"Such a shame..." Marlene twirled her wand between slender fingers: "I was looking forward to finding out how resistant they actu- "
A sudden ripple of cold magic crawled over his skin like a thousand tiny spiders. The air vibrated right above him with a deep gong, almost like something bounced off the first time just before his ward splintered like glass and crumbled into shards. The sudden, piercing, shattering sound had his ears ringing and forced him to cover them tightly with his palms.
Harry wrestled with a trashing tangle of unease and staggered over to Marlene. "My wards have been taken down."
"Yeah, I felt that," she winced.
He heaved her up by the waist, each of them holding their wands in their outstretched hand, ready to strike.
"His Horcruxes are gone," Marlene whispered, her breath coming in short quick gasps: "If it's only him, we can fight together."
'But I don't know if I can match him yet.' Harry held his breath. His heart hammered in his ears. 'And I can't fight with you here.'
Hairs prickling on his neck made him spin around, taking a protective step in front of Marlene.
The tall, pale form of a wizard curled together like wisps of black smoke on the far side of the ravine, close to the burning barricade.
'It's him.' Harry's stomach swirled.
"Harry." Voldemort's crimson eyes roamed over the signs of battle including the stacked-up pile of his dark-robed followers. "You've been busy, Harry, very busy..."
No small, cruel smile graced the Dark Lord's pale lips. Instead, Harry was met by a burning fury.
"The Dementors joined my cause, but then you slaughtered them with magic they still whisper about. Magic, even I haven't seen before..."
"I'm afraid it's a trade secret." Harry's fingers curled more tightly around the Elder Wand, ready to strike.
Voldemort stepped through steaming, hissing mud towards them, pushing aside the wooden flog that blocked his path with a graceful wave of his hand.
"I sent my followers to persuade the giants, but here you are, crossing my path yet again."
"It became something like a habit of mine." Harry blocked out Marlene's trembling breath. "And next you'll probably say that I've surpassed your expectations yet again..."
"No, Harry, you've made your first mistake..."
'He knows something,' Harry frowned. 'What does he know?'
"I searched for other powerful magical creatures that might follow me." Voldemort's eyes flared crimson while he stepped closer. "So I went to Hogwarts, deep into the Forbidden Forest, and guess who I encountered there, Harry... an old friend of yours..."
'Aragog.' Behind him, Marlene sucked in a short breath.
"I have no idea who you mean." A cold stab of fear tore through the knot in his heart. "I don't have any friends in the forest."
"Imagine my surprise, Harry, when the old Acromantula told me about two people from the castle, who slaughtered its entire colony, including his mate."
Faint shivers of heat washed across the few feet that separated Voldemort from them. Harry could almost feel the rage rolling off of him in rippling waves.
"And for what? For a sac of venom?" A pale jew wand slipped from the Dark Lord's sleeve: "No! I knew there had to be more to it... and luckily the one they call Aragog gave me a little hint. You've presented a gift to them, Harry... a gift you shouldn't have had access to-"
A violent, white flash of lightning raced towards them. Harry threw up a shield, feeling a second ripple of magic being raised right behind him, yet the impact still hurled them back, bouncing them over the pebble-sprinkled mud until they smashed into the wall of the ravine.
Harry quickly rolled onto his knees and leaped to his feet, summoning the Elder Wand back into his hand, while Marlene scrambled for her own wand. He ignored the throb of pain as his scrapes crept closed, spitting out small shards of stone while the bruises faded.
"Rituals, Harry? Dumbledore would be so disappointed..." Voldemort watched them intently, curiosity gleaming in his red eyes while he witnessed Marlene's wounds creep back together as well. "The Acromantula venom must have been for the girl then... But what did you use?"
The second beam of crackling white light razed towards them.
Harry seized Marlene and apparated them back up to their camp with a soft snap, watching the wall of rock they had stood in front of crackle and melt to liquid lava that pooled to the ground.
'I have to stay long enough to find out how much he knows.'
Harry shot Marlene a pleading look: "Please..." he begged her.
"I know. And I love you," she squeezed his hand, snatching their backpack from the ground with the other. "Just come back to me." Her words echoed in his ear before she faded from view.
He apparated back down into Voldemort's path and readied himself.
"I used the venom of a Basilisk-" Harry called out and allowed the ghost of a smile to grace his lips, knowing it would agitate Voldemort even further, "-taken from Slytherin's monster after I slaughtered it in the Chamber of Secrets. The gift in my blood lets me enter..."
"You dare!" Voldemort roared in anger, slipping into Parseltongue. He slashed his wand: "You dare steal the gift of my noble ancestor and corrupt it!"
White lightning arced between them in a blinding flash, forcing him to shield his eyes. Harry drew a rush of sparks to the tip of his wand, pouring every last drop of magic into his shield. It withheld and deflected the incoming spell to the side, yet the knockback still pushed him to one knee into the mud.
He apparated back across to the other side of the ravine firing a bright green killing curse at Voldemort's exposed back.
His opponent's form faded in a swirl of black mist and emerged a few meters to the left, face turned to Harry.
Voldemort's wand showered the dried, steaming mud to his bare feet with silver sparks: "It was you stealing the ring from my ancestors' home!"
"A crumbling shack near a muggle village-" Harry snorted, dodging the beam of green light that was sent his way, "-Salazar Slytherin would be rolling in his grave seeing the demise of his lineage."
"My Diary, given to Thomas Avery. It was you who killed him and took it!" Voldemort poured a sizzling steam of crimson flames from his wand: "Hufflepuff's Cup, entrusted to the Lestranges. Taken by you as well!"
The fiendfyre grew in size and wrenched itself over the mud in terribly screams, snapping wildly at him.
Harry hurled Marlene's soft, warm smile into the cursed flames, clenching them underneath a bright sunset.
'He doesn't know about all of them yet.' Harry stifled a triumphant grin while wrenching his wrist around: 'Three Horcruxes, the most powerful magical number-'
Hissing, black steam burst from the Elder Wand. It zipped in quick spasms of rippling magic at his opponent, tearing through his shield, setting fire to Voldemort's sleeves and the edge of his robes.
"But your flight from Death is over, Tom. I destroyed all three! You're mortal again!"
"I will yank the secrets from your mind, one by one, Harry!" Voldemort hissed, a small triumphant glimmer in his red eyes while he ripped the blazing patches of dark cloth off of himself.
New pink tissue started stretching over the raw, burned skin within seconds: "Your knowledge of my ancestry and my anchors, of the Chamber of Secrets and the gift of Parseltongue. None of it is safe from me! I shall take it all back!"
"Not if I kill you now, Tom," Harry said calmly.
"You cannot tear my immortality away from me, Harry!" Raw fury blazed in Voldemort's scarlet irises: "The moment in which I kill you, my powers shall be total and my journey to beat death final."
Triumphant euphoria curled Harry's lips into a small smile. 'Well, that's all I wanted to hear already.'
He tore his eyes away from his foe and stepped forward, wrenching the world past him.