Last time, Harry told Max and the Ramblers to do what they wish to Umbridge, who was captured in the act of defecting to the Death Eaters. After scaring Umbridge half to death, the toad was turned over to 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Meanwhile, Hermione begged Max to let her look at the Necronomicon. He agreed. Good thing because Hermione discovered that Voldemort had removed the last seven pages of the book, the pages needed to make whoever performs the described ritual a living god. Time is running out. And now, on with the show!

Chapter 44: A Final Gamble

Four days have passed since Harry discovered the final means of destroying Voldemort. Four days since learning the spell, Diamba. Four days since the recovery of the Necronomicon, and four days since the discovery that the last seven pages were still in the hands of the enemy. In those four days, Harry had worked harder than ever before to train both mind and body for the coming confrontation.

"If you keep this up," said Ginny to Harry on the fifth day, "You'll have nothing left to fight Voldemort with." "As much as I'd hate to admit it," said Ron, "I'm forced to agree with you." Harry was, in fact, already nearing exhaustion, and it was only 11:00 in the morning. "You maybe right," panted Harry, "But if I don't figure out how to use the spell soon, Voldemort…."

"It won't matter what Voldemort does if you're in no condition to fight him," said Max, "Or worse, dead from overexertion." "What would you have me do, then?" asked Harry. "For now," said Max, "Take a rest. We'll figure out how to train you on the spell later." "There might not be a later." said Harry. "Why's that?" asked Ron. "Because," said Harry, who once again had the feeling that something bad was about to happen, "Icy is back!"

Harry then bolted thought the grounds, looking for Bloom. She found him. "I know!" exclaimed Bloom, "I feel it as well." "Where is she?" asked Harry. "Right Here!" Harry looked up to see Icy hovering in the air as the Ice Warlock shot an ice beam at Bloom. Bloom dodged it, already transformed, looking ready to commit murder. "You'll have to do better than that to kill me, Icy!" She shot into the air, tossing fireballs at Icy. Both Warlock and Fairy began a massive dogfight in the air.

"Look at them go!" exclaimed Ginny. "Who do you thinks going to win?" asked Ron. "My money's on Bloom." Said Max. "Same here." Said Hermione. After several minutes, the fight still had no sign of letting up, neither woman showing sign if giving up. A large crowd of onlookers had gathered beneath them. "They really want to kill each other." Said Ron. Suddenly, an ice beam came dangerously close to hitting Ron. "Hey!' shouted Ron, "Watch it!" just as a fireball missed him by inches.

"This is getting out of hand." Said Will as she dodged an ice beam. There was a sudden exclamation of pain from Steve. "Sky! Your crazy girlfriend burned my ass!" Indeed Steve's rear-end was smoking.

"If they don't stop soon," said Hermione, "they'll be more people with smoking body parts." "You want to try and stop them?" asked Virgil, "Because I don't." "We'll just have to wait until they run out of energy." Said Laura. "Easy for you to say," said Ron as he dodged both an ice beam and a fireball, "You can just block it with your mind!"

"I just had an idea!" exclaimed Ginny. She turned to face Harry. "Why not use that new spell to stop Icy?" "Yeah!" exclaimed Ron, "Use that to end the fight." "I really don't know," said Harry, "I can't even get it to work half the time. Besides, I might hit Bloom." "Leave that part to me," said Fay as she stretched, "I'll get Bloom out of the way." Max then looked at Harry. "It's your call." Harry thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, let's do it!" He unsheathed the sword.

Harry then began to focus his thoughts on the one he loved (Ginny). At the same time, he began to channel his energy into a red energy ball between his wand and the sword. When the energy ball was about two feet long, Harry knew it was ready. "I'm ready here." Said Harry. Max then picked up Fay for a 'fast-ball special.' He then threw Fay into the air. She passed between Bloom and Icy, and landed on the other side. This caused Bloom to look down at Harry. She saw the spell being readied and moved.

"Now!" exclaimed Harry as he raised both wand and sword at Icy, the energy ball aimed at her. "Diamba!" Exclaimed Harry as the energy ball shot at Icy. It hurtled at the Ice Warlock, but missed. It continued into the path of Bloom. "Bloom look out!" exclaimed Sky as the spell neared her. Bloom turned around to see the oncoming spell, and caught it in her hands. "Holy sh$t! She caught it!" exclaimed Steve.

With the energy ball in her hands, Bloom turned to glare at Icy, who was looking more than a little scared. "Bloom! I, uh, well…" stammered Icy, "Let's not do anything hasty here. I was only kidding about cutting out your heart." "I said it before," said Bloom, a grim look on her face, "And I'll say it again; you're done!" Bloom then threw the spell at Icy, who was less than thirty feet away. It exploded on contact, producing a visible shock wave, engulfing Icy in fire and smoke.

When the blast cleared, Harry saw Bloom descending to the ground. "Are you alright?" asked Harry. "Couldn't be better," said Bloom, "But you might want to work on your aim. How are you?" "Tired," said Harry, for indeed the effort to use the spell, combined with the past few day's efforts had nearly exhausted him "Very tired. In fact, I think I'm going to take a nap now." He collapsed to the ground, but before he passed out, he saw several of the Ramblers, and other people rush over to a limp form on the ground. "My God!" Harry heard Sky exclaim, "She's still alive!"

Later…

When Harry woke up, he found himself back in his room. He retrieved his glasses, so see Ginny sitting beside the bed. "Welcome back," said Ginny, "You've been out for almost a day." "I feel it," said Harry as his stomach growled loudly. "We'll grab a quick bite to eat," said Ginny, "They're waiting for you outside.

Outside, Harry saw everyone gathered around a large tree. Tied to the tree was Icy, looking extremely angry, but completely helpless. As Harry neared the tree, he could hear a heated argument brewing amongst the assembled crowd, which was divided into two groups. The larger group was arguing amongst themselves, while the smaller group, consisting of Bloom, Will, Max and Sky, stood by and watched.

"I say kill her now and be done with it!" exclaimed Steve. His group loudly agreed with him. "You can't just kill her without a trial!" said Flora, "Icy maybe evil, but she's still entitled to due process." "This is a war," said Laura, "and in war due process is a bullet to the brain." "Bust a cap in her ass!" exclaimed D.P. "I seriously doubt that her crimes merit cold blooded murder." Said Taranee. "You haven't had to put up with all the bull sh$t she's done to us." Said Riven.

"Can I get my two cents in please?" asked Maria. At this, everyone began to calm down. "Thank you," said Maria as she lit up her daily cigar, "Now, here we have a young woman who is guilty of several crimes against humanity. She has all but sold her soul to darkness. On one hand, I believe she should be handed over to the authorities in her dimension. However, the part of me that has a firm hatred of all things evil, believes that we should deal with her in the old ways, and right now, that part of me is in command. I say we burn her!"

There was a roar of approval from those who wanted execution. "No! Don't burn me! Anything but that!" Icy was suddenly catapulted from anger to absolute terror. A look of realization dawned on Laura's face. "Well, it appears we've found the one thing you're truly afraid of. It makes sense, that one whose' power is over ice would be afraid of fire. May I borrow your lighter, Maria?" Maria then handed said lighter to Laura, who lit it up. She held the flame in front of Icy's face.

"You keep that away from me!" exclaimed Icy, "Put it away you sadistic bitch!" "Put it away Laura!" said Max firmly, "That's an order!" Laura reluctantly closed the lighter and handed it back to Maria. "Now," said Max, "We're not going to turn into a lynching mob here. We're going to settle this like civilized people."

"How are you going to do that?" asked Riven. "We'll let Bloom decide," said Jill, "after all, Icy is her enemy." "Well Bloom?" asked Stella. Bloom stared at Icy, who was still looking scared. Harry could tell that Bloom was highly tempted to have Icy killed. After several moments, Bloom said, "Do with her what you will, I wash my hands of her." "That's that then," said Steve, "Let's hang her!"

"Oh for crying out loud!" exclaimed Hermione as she rushed into the crowd. She neared Fay and pulled out one of her knifes. "Hey that's mine!" protested Fay. But Hermione wasn't listening as she knelt down beside Icy.

"I'm going to let you go…" said Hermione before she was interrupted by several yells of, "'What?'" "No!' and 'Are you crazy?'" "Just shut up!" exclaimed Hermione. "Now, as I was saying, I'm going to let you go. But on one condition; you must swear to leave this dimension and never return." "Don't do it!" exclaimed Riven, "Icy has never kept her word, and I don't think she'll start now." "Well it's either keep her word," said Hermione, "Or leave her to whatever way you want to kill her."

"Hermione," said Steve, his Zatt Blaster drawn and set for kill, "If you let that f#ck$ng bitch go, I'll shoot her in the head on general principal." "You're not shooting anyone Steve!" exclaimed Hermione, "So just shut the f#ck up!" Hermione then turned back to face Icy. "Do I have your word?"

Icy seemed to be getting her nerve up to say what she wanted to say, "I swear by the Goddess Hecate, I'll leave this dimension and never return." "You can believe that," said Tecna, "To swear in the name of Hecate is like your Unbreakable Vow. To break it is to die." Hermione hesitated for a moment, and then she cut the ropes.

Icy stood up, rubbing her wrists to get the circulation going. "Well," said Icy, "I was wrong. You really are a witch." She turned to face Max and Harry. "You won't be seeing me again, unless you come looking for me. If that's the case, I won't hold back." She then faced Bloom. "And Bloom; until next time." "I'll be waiting." Said Bloom. Icy smirked at Bloom before teleporting out.

"Well thank God that's over." Sighed Taranee. "You can say that again." Said Ron. "Oh damn it!" exclaimed Hermione. "What?" asked Harry. "I knew I forgot something. I should have made her surrender The Box. She still has it." "I'll make sure we get it the next time I see her." Said Bloom.

Later…

"Well today was a waste of time," said Steve, "A whole day spent fighting over weather or not to kill a villain." "One good thing happened today," said Harry, "One less thing to worry about." "Plus you got to test out that spell." Said Ginny. "If it was that powerful," said Hermione, "I wonder what it will do when you use it on Voldemort?" "We can only wait until then." Said Harry.

The end of chapter 44. Next chapter, the plan for the final battle against Voldemort is planned. See you next time!