Lord Voldemort, newly born and exultant in his stolen flesh, stood once more. He smiled, and walked towards Harry slowly, the Death Eaters jeering at Harry, but really just trying to prove their newfound loyalty to their master.
"Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, indeed. It was foolish to believe anyone, let alone a child, could defeat me, who has gone further than anyone else to the realms of immortality and godhood!" Voldemort turned to his old servants as he spoke, smiling, threatening, trying to prove to them that their fear should breed loyalty only to him.
Harry stumbled back against the grave of Lord Voldemort's father, the emptiness on the other side calling to him. He needed to get out of here, he needed to escape, but Cedric... no, he needed to defeat this man once and for all.
Voldemort came closer, and closer, "And now, finally, my dear rival, Harry Potter, it is time to die. Avada Kedavra!" yelled Voldemort, a green bolt of light shooting from his deathly white wand.
"Stupefy!" shouted Harry, and the bolts connected.
A great white beam of light formed between the two brother wands, holly and yew, crackling and unsteady. Harry could see Voldemort's surprise, this wasn't how he'd planned this to go. Around them, a cage of white light formed, protecting and isolating the brothers. The beam warped and surged. Harry didn't know how long he could this, he needed to take drastic action.
"IfyouagreetoanUnbreakableVowtoneverwhereinyounoryourfollowersmayeverpracticemagicagainsaywhat," said Harry.
"What?" said Voldemort.
Harry smiled. "IfyouagreetobearwitnesstothisUnbreakableVowsaywhat," Harry turned towards the Death Eaters outside of the cage with a horrific, bloodstained smirk.
"No!" shouted Lord Voldemort, fury, shock, and recognition finally coming as he remembered his playyard days at the orphanage where he grew up. He'd come so far, he'd tried so hard! This would not be the end of Lord Voldemort!
"What?" said Lucius Malfoy, clueless indignation under his mask, to be asked a question while dueling his master.
Lord Voldemort felt his wand tremble as a thin stream fire came through the beam of light that connected the two wands. He didn't even consider stopping his spell, as the trembling spread throughout his unholy form. Then bit by bit his body began to simply fall apart, as if the energy holding it together simply disappeared. He didn't have time to scream before it took his throat, and the cage collapsed, ash spilling onto the ground. No wraith escaped, Lord Voldemort simply ceased to be.
Harry stumbled onto the ground, his injured leg unable to fully deal with the fall.
The Death Eaters seemed to stumble as well. They had no clue what had just happened, not being as quick-witted as their too slow to be alive Dark Lord.
Then they began casting, sure their Lord was simply playing with the Potter boy. Then they began casting, but nothing came out of their wands. Sure of themselves, they kept on trying until the screaming started.
The first to cast died first, enough time for the slower to draw to see what was in store for them. A long daisy chain of Death Eaters bursting into nothingness. More ash joined the graveyard.
And Harry was alone in the graveyard. He hobbled slowly over to Cedric's body, his hand still clutching the Triwizard Cup. Harry grabbed the other side, and he disappeared with the Portkey.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I must have heard you incorrectly. What, my dear boy, did you have him to do?" asked Dumbledore, his sapphire-blue eyes twinkling and his smile wide, but stretched thin, as if concerned for Harry's sanity. He had quickly ushered Harry away from the crowds, in uproar still, to the infirmary room and to Madam Pomfrey, who was watching dissaprovingly. In the corner were Ron and Hermione, being held back by Professor McGonagall. This was entirely too much activity, and too soon. The boy needed his rest.
"I asked him to swear an Unbreakable Vow that he and all of his followers wouldn't practice magic anymore, and then they broke the vow." Harry was indeed weary, but glad he was away from the crowd. Dealing with Cedric's death was beyond him right now, and at least now he only had to tell the story once. "Honest, Professor, I didn't think he'd do it, seems like kind of a stupid move on his part."
"... Indeed. Why do you think he did so? Perhaps, after all, he had grown weary and simply wished for a worthy adversary to bring him to his grave, so close to his old home..."
"Nah, I don't think that was quite it. See, I, well... I sort of tricked him."
"Tricked him? Harry I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
"Well it was really easy, you know, I just told him, well, not this exactly you know, but I just did that old schoolyard trick, like um..."
"Yes?"
"IfyouswearanUnbreakableVowtogivemeyourbowlofLemonDropssaywhat"
"What?" Dumbledore still didn't quite understand.
Harry turned towards Madam Pomfrey, "IfyouagreetobearwitnesstothisUnbreakableVowsaywhat."
"What?" said Madam Pomfrey.
Harry touched his wand to Dumbledore's, and a thin stream of flame came out, sealing the deal.
Dumbledore's face quickly slackened, then narrowed in irritation, then brightened in joy, then erupted into a mixture of shock, happiness, and sorrow. "But... they're my favorite candy, Harry."
"Are you refusing your vow, Dumbledore?" The air seemed to crackle, eager to claim another victim.
"No Harry," Dumbledore sighed. "We have another Dark Lord on our hands," he grumbled under his breath, resolving to buy another bowl of lemon drops during his next visit to Hogsmeade, seeing as he was now out.
"Harry, you can't do that! It'd be so disrespectful to the Headmaster!" Hermione exclaimed from the corner.
"Them's the rules, Hermione," said Ron, shaking his head in a mixture of awe, shock, and fear. Truly, a fearsome new Dark Lord.
"Indeed, Miss Granger, I'm afraid that those are, in fact, the rules," said Professor McGonagall, dissapointed more in Dumbledore than in Harry.
"I am sorry to say Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley is correct. Them's the rules," Dumbledore sighed again and found his feet more curious by the minute. Damn. Defeated by the same trick he used to take down Grindlewald. Do wizards never learn?
Harry just smiled.
Fawkes burst into existence, dropping a bowl of lemon drops onto Harry's lap.
Harry smiled harder, and plopped one into his mouth, the smile quickly etched into disgust, as he promptly spit the candy out onto Dumbledore's beard.
"Bleh, too lemony," he said. Dumbledore looked even more dissapointed. The candy was stuck into his beard, and he didn't know if taking it now would break the vow.
"Can I have one then, Harry? Since I guess it's not against the rules, so," Hermione offered, more accepting of the situation now that there was candy. Besides, she liked lemon a fair bit.
"Yeah, I suppose."
Hermione smiled, and tried a lemon drop, then promptly spat it onto Dumbledore's beard, where it landed next to the first one.
"Ugh, Harry was right, too lemony."
"Surely, Miss Granger, it's not that bad." Professor McGonagall took a lemon drop. She lasted 8 seconds with it in her mouth before it joined its brethren.
"God Albus, that's disgusting, how can ye do that to yer poor tastebuds. That just ain't kind, Albus, that just ain't kind."
Dumbledore resolved to try going clean shaven, lest more people try his lemon drops.
Elsewhere in the castle, two new piles of ash had appeared, and were promptly swept out a nearby opened window, as Professor Snape attempted to confront the newly revealed Bartimaeus Crouch Jr. And while Alastor Moody was found relatively quickly, it would be a years until someone realized either Snape, or Crouch, were missing. -