On a street at the dead of night, a man was sprinting to his destination. The stone walkway echoing his hurried footsteps as his chest heaved, his legs burning in fatigue, but no magical transportation were to be done five kilometres out from the base, and he was still a newbie and had his car impounded because of a stupid mistake, damn Britain and it's strict parking laws. Taking a turn, he made a shortcut down alleyways and finally saw the entrance of the building where his boss was at. He stopped at the door and gave himself a few seconds to steady his rapidly beating heart and make himself presentable. Taking a big breath in, he knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it.
A tall and bulky man swung the door open and looked down at him, "What's your business here?"
He quelled a squeak from coming out his mouth and gulped nervously, "A message for the boss. Something's going down at the ministry and a summon has been issued to all ministry workers, including the minister himself."
The mass of muscle gave him a few moments of silence in response and the anxious man became even more jittery as he started to regret his decision to come there. Finally, the tall man spoke to him.
"Follow me. Any funny movements from you and your head will roll on the floor."
The man quickly nodded his head, any faster and his head would have been popped off his body regardless, and followed the bodyguard dutifully, keeping his arms stuck to his sides and not even daring to look anywhere but straight at where the bodyguard was leading him. A few minutes later he was led to a mahogany door.
"You enter after me, and you don't speak till' the boss says you can, understood?" The deep voice entered his ears and made him shiver.
"U-understood…" The man said quietly in response.
The bodyguard opened the door and after he entered, the lackey followed after. The first thing he noticed was how dark the room was, only a fireplace and a few spots of light from the light posts outside gave any semblance of lighting in the room. Next was the chair that was placed oddly, and the person in said oddly placed chair; the person's face was obstructed in darkness and the only thing visible was his slacks - white with thin black stripes - and his hand, a lone ring on his finger.
"Boss, a visitor." The bodyguard succinctly said.
The boss airily waved his hand, which apparently meant something as right after he did so the bodyguard moved to close the door and leave the two of them alone.
"Good evening. I hear you have a message for me?" The silky voice questioned him and the lackey quickly replied to him.
"Y-yes sir. A summon has been issued to all ministry workers to come to the ministry, the boys had investigated the alert and we found out that even the ministry was unaware of who would issue such an order."
The following silence was deafening to the poor lad, as his boss mulled over his news.
With a confident air around him, the boss spoke to him, "Get as many of our men as you can, the minister as well if possible, and go down to the Department of Mysteries; get to the Death Chamber, there you'll see Voldemort and Harry Potter."
"S-sir?" The lackey said, utterly in shock of the unexpected discovery of the Dark Lord's return.
"Yes, the Dark Lord has come back to life, but that doesn't matter. Just get as many people to witness his return. With this, the Ministry of Magic will have to acknowledge his return, whether they like it or not."
The lackey went silent as he processed that the most fearsome wizard had risen from the dead and that apparently the ministry has been putting their heads in the sand this whole time. The lackey jumped out of surprise as the door behind him opened up.
"Thank you for your message. Now do as I ordered and with pace."
If there ever was a quick dismissal, it would have to be that one. The lackey went out of the room and followed the bulky man towards the entrance. As he stepped out he turned back and turned around, "Er… Mind if I ask you to drive me ba-"
The door shut before he even had the chance to finish his sentence.
Sighing to himself, he quickly ran to get past the five kilometer barrier and apparate to the ministry.
Voldemort stood stock still, looking down on the inhabitants of the chamber from his spot. As he surveyed the room, his eyes stopped at Harry, and along with him, the prophecy still held in his grasp.
His eyes then met the fearful stare of Lucius, "Once again, I was thwarted by a bunch of school children. And not even my inner circle could best them."
He took a step down towards Harry, "Potter, time and time again you fight for these imbeciles; those who do not heed your warning, but condemn you. They do not know your worth, your power. Join me, and together we shall rule the masses and bring forth the new wizarding world."
"You know, you make a compelling argument. Unfortunately, the past four years of you trying to take my life really hampers your chances of me actually accepting your offer." Harry deadpanned at him. Voldemort sneered at his tone and his slit eyes squinted at him.
"I'd suggest you don't make a mockery of me, Potter. Lest you find the corpses of your friends at your feet." Voldemort glared at him as he palmed his wand menacingly.
"You may find that that possibility will not come to fruition on my watch."
All eyes swerved as Dumbledore strided in, his quirky robes unfitting in the tense chamber.
"Dumbledore." Voldemort quietly growled out, the air around him becoming frigid.
"Tom." Dumbledore returned in favour of calling him by his other alias.
The name only further increased his anger and Voldemort's composure weakened, "Of course you would be here. Wouldn't want your saviour to duel me fairly; not even you would stoop so low as to let him die by my hands, hm?"
Dumbledore grew silent as the light in his eyes extinguished, what was left was not the twinkly eyed look most people would associate with the Headmaster of Hogwarts, instead who stood there was the Leader of the Light, Vanquisher of Grindelwald, and arguably the magical equal of Voldemort.
"Kingsley, the ward."
Without another word, Shacklebolt and the other order members dropped what looked to be like small pebbles around the death eaters and directed their wand at them. Visible strands of magic poured out of their wands and the death eaters were encased with the same pink barrier the chamber was in.
"All those years ago, I had time to think of my mistakes; what I could have done for everything to change what happened on that day. And though I do not like to toot my own horn, as they say, I am adept in many facets of magic, and I have had the Fidelius charm on my mind ever since then. Obsessing over one thing can make you realize what flaws there are in it, and few are lucky enough to come up with a better alternative."
Voldemort silently eyed the ward, handling his wand calmly, "Impressive, but I fail to see why it matters."
"Then let me explain it succinctly: You and your compatriots are now trapped. There is no way for you or your associates to escape by any means, magical or not. Aid will not be able to even come inside beyond this point. Surrender now and put an end to your destruction." Dumbledore said, a harsh edge in his voice.
A cruel smile found its way to Voldemort's face, "Fascinating, when did you change, Dumbledore?"
Humoring his inquiry, Dumbledore let a small bit of his grandfatherly self out, "I've lived too long my boy. Sometimes, a look at your current surroundings can tell you that the future does not need any coddling."
Despite not looking his way, Harry felt that those words were for him. Smiling, he looked at Lilith, and the small smile she had told him she was thinking the same thing.
"How touching." Voldemort let out with a sinister droll, "But you are delusional if you think you can beat me with a small handicap."
"I don't doubt your abilities, Tom." Voldemort's nose flared yet again in anger at the name, "That is why I have a proposal for you."
Without warning, Dumbledore lifted his wand at the direction of the order members and another barrier popped out of the ground.
"What the?!" Tonks let out as the ward encased them all.
"I challenge you to a duel; a fair duel. No disturbances or interferences, only you and I shall partake in combat."
Voldemort held a nonplussed expression at Dumbledore, before letting out a small chuckle, which turned into sniggering, before breaking out into full blown laughter at Dumbledore's preposterous offer.
"How hilarious! But I am itching to finally put you down for good. I accept your offer, Dumbledore!"
With a flourish of his robes he held his wand out and pointed it at Dumbledore, who hadn't reacted at all. Walking over to fully be in front of Voldemort, Dumbledore held out his wand in the same manner, and pointed it at Voldemort as well.
They both posed. A tableau of the two sides of the wizarding war; of light and darkness.
Faster than anyone could process, the two shot off a spell silently. The spells merged and let out a shockwave that brought everyone to their knees, the two powerful wizards did not budge an inch as they continued the onslaught of spells, each cancelling each other out.
Voldemort let out a frustrated growl and changed tactics, swirling his wand over his head, gathering up the ambient magic in the chamber and letting it shoot off towards Dumbledore. Quick on his feet, Dumbledore levitated several chunks of rock and combined it together to shield him from the spells. As the stone wall was destroyed by the impact of the spell, Voldemort saw his chance and shot off his signature green spell towards Dumbledore.
A small pop, and Dumbledore came back on the offensive as he shot a combination of spells, some were batted away by Voldemort while the last one he had to conjure up a shield.
"Wow, glad we got Dumbledore. The aura around them is potent, I think I can taste it." Lilith said in awe as she watched the duel.
"Yeah, that's Dumbledore for you. They say he's the only one Voldemort ever feared, and it shows." Sirius commented as he too was amazed by the spectacle.
Harry had to agree, with each spell Voldemort visibly looked more frustrated. Clearly he hadn't had such an intense battle in a while.
"Stay vigilant, we can't let any stray spells hit Ginny, Luna, And Emmaline in there." Sirius reminded the both of them, gesturing towards the stone fort they had built.
Harry and Lilith nodded and prepared themselves for anything.
Aiming down to his feet, a burst of magic exploded out of Dumbledore's wand and a small earthquake moved towards Voldemort's position. He apparated out and quickly put up a shield to block the spell the Dumbledore preemptively shot where he popped to. Snarling in rage, Voldemort angrily let out a scream of rage as he shot a spell near the feet of Dumbledore, a blast following soon after.
Dumbledore reappeared in the smoke, looking none worse for wear.
Voldemort, meanwhile, was growing impatient. The audacity of Dumbledore to stand against him was unexpected, and although he had the stamina and energy, and both of them had approximately the same amount of knowledge spell wise and power, he wasn't naïve enough to think that would best Dumbledore's experience. With every move he could tell he wasn't budging and neither was Dumbledore. Best case scenario, this would end in a draw, and the worst case…
He couldn't let that happen, he needed to do something to get the upper hand…
Voldemort aimed at Dumbledore and the area between them, "Fiendfyre!"
A stream of fire flowed out. The slight tinge of dark magic amongst the flames, whilst he tried to put out the fire, Voldemort raised his wand towards the sky and screamed out loud. To others, it was just an unnaturally loud hissing sound, but Harry was the only one privy to what Voldemort said.
"Gather thy power!"
The sounds of guttural screams of pain and suffering filled the chamber as his death eaters keeled down in pain, Bellatrix being the only exception as she was the only one laughing amongst her peers. The aura around Voldemort noticeably changed as he seemed to grow more in power. Streams of magic floated out of the pink bubble and entered Voldemort's wand.
After putting out the Fiendfyre, Dumbledore attempted to shoot a spell to stop whatever he had done, but it was only blown away by the excess magic around Voldemort.
As the stream and screams stopped, Voldemort seemed to have been glowing. He slowly raised his wand and aimed at Dumbledore. A visible ball of magic grew out of the tip of his wand and it emitted out a crackle as it grew in size, as it grew into the size of a ball, it shot off his wand like a cannon. Dumbledore, not expecting the speed of the spell, could only dodge as it flew right past his ear and hit the barrier.
And left a hole in the pink barrier.
"Holy-" Lilith began in utter horror.
"-Shit." Sirius finished for her.
Voldemort's smile was all teeth as he stared down Dumbledore, "Today, you shall have the honour of dying by the new god of the wizarding world."
Dumbledore didn't have time to protest as Voldemort began his attack. Spell after spell was hurled at him without any signs of stopping, and powerful wizard or not, age had not been too kind to him and his body. He grew sluggish bit by bit. He stopped dodging physically and started apparating to compensate, which meant he couldn't fight back without putting a stop to Voldemort's barrage of spells.
At last, one spell had grazed him and his body fell down in anguish.
"Gah!" Dumbledore let out as his body hit the floor, he slowly went to his knees and tried to stand up but his body had had enough. He coughed and spurts of blood covered the ground.
"A shame, if only you had realized your place. Maybe you would have lived longer to see them all fall one by one." Voldemort ambled slowly, closing the distance a bit, but still leaving a distance between the two of them, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. But do not despair, Dumbledore. Your name will still go down in history, as the greatest opponent Voldemort has ever duelled."
Forming a cruel, gleeful smirk, he raised his wand to send the final blow to finish Voldemort off once and for all.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Dumbledore closed his eyes, ashamed that he had failed them all.
But what followed next was not the sound of his dead body hitting the floor, but a set of quick footsteps crunching the rocks on the ground.
"Harry!"
Lilith's outburst was not enough to deter Harry as he stood in front of Dumbledore.
Absorbing the full blast.
The impact had him being blasted away, right into Dumbledore. They both flew a few meters before skidding to a stop.
"H-Harry…" Dumbledore quietly called out to his student, in denial of the situation. Hoping that somehow, something had come between him and the killing curse. That his green eyes full of life would open up, that he would get up with a bashful smile on his face. But it was for naught.
Dumbledore cradled the lifeless body of Harry Potter in his arms.
A/N: Still alive! I am in need of a new set of reviews. Lost my pair during the kerfuffle.