Of Power, Wisdom and Courage
AN:First of, sorry for being gone for such a long time. I never abandoned this story, nor am I going to, just had to take care of some personal stuff and while I did start writing this chapter multiple times, there was always something I didn't like, so I deleted it. From now on, I'll try to upload at least once a month. For now, enjoy this chapter and I will see you again at its end.
Dumbledore was sitting in his office and, like he did quite often these days, he was thinking about Ganondorf. The boy was certainly interesting. He was quite curious, as a Ravenclaw should be, and the questions he asked in class, were well thought out, as were his answers. Most of the teachers had only good things to tell about him. Of course, he wasn't the best in every class, and he was having some troubles with Herbology and Astronomy, but the effort he put into every single one of them earned him his teachers respect. Even Severus had begrudgingly admitted, that Ganondorf was one of the best students he had ever had.
Then there was his talent for wandless magic, but it was understandable. Like Reyna and Raven, he came from a different world and from the few things he had been able to get out of the two, before their demise, most wizards and witches of their world used wandless magic. Filius' training with the boy was going quite well, as his old colleague had told him. Ganondorf was having trouble controlling his power and using his wandless magic put quite the strain on him, but Filius was confident, that he would mange.
Dumbledore's thoughts wandered to a more pressing matter, the duelling tournament tomorrow. It had been no surprise to him, when Filius had decided to let Ganondorf compete and he was looking forward to watching the young boy test himself against the older students. The first years mostly weren't ready to compete, hence the required duelling lessons, if they wanted to try. But even after them, those who could actually put up a fight against a second or third year student were rare, though this year promised to be different. And yet, there was the concern of Ganondorf's temper. His confrontation with Ronald Weasley was evidence enough how far he could go, if truly pushed to his limit. A duel, however friendly and safe it my be, was sure to do exactly that. In battle, emotions were always flying high and so it was very possible, that Ganondorf could be pushed as far as he was in his confrontation with Ronald, but this time, there was no one to hold him back. It could give rise to his wandless magic again, as it did in his battle against the troll, Dumbledore thought and smiled wistfully as he remembered his own duelling career.
He leaned back in his chair and popped a lemon drop in his mouth, savouring the bitter muggle treat. Yes, tomorrow would be very interesting indeed. A idea suddenly came to him and he got up, leaving his office and descending into the school.
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
Ganon turned in his bed, before he sighed. For hours he had been tossing and turning, but sleep just wouldn't come. What is wrong, young one? Is it anxiety, because of tomorrow?, D asked him and Ganon sighed.
Yeah, I know, that I'll probably be fine, but it's just... different from the training I did, Ganon replied.
D chuckled. I can understand that, the first battle, always seems like the worst. In my time, young warriors were baptized in the fires of battle and almost all of them dreaded it. What you're going to do tomorrow is much safer, the teachers won't allow any of you to get seriously harmed.
Ganon didn't reply and D sighed. Maybe you just need some time to think about it. Get up and take a stroll through the castle, let your mind wander a bit. And don't worry about the sleep you're missing, I can reenergize you with the Triforce. I leave you to your thoughts now. If you want to talk, you know were I am. With that, D seemed to vanish from his mind, leaving Ganon to his thoughts.
The eleven-year old sighed, before slowly getting and putting on some warm clothes. He quietly left the room, trying not to disturb Draco, who was fast asleep. The blond boy had been in a good mood all week, after he had received a letter from his father, who had allowed him to spend Christmas with his friends. Ganon was looking forward to it as well, but the closer the tournament got, the less he could feel happy about it.
He left Ravenclaw Tower and made his way downstairs. He briefly stopped in front of the dragon slayer's portrait, considering if he should talk to Rowena, but the dragon slayer wasn't there, so he went on. Ganon wandered through the castle, no real direction in mind. He suddenly stopped in front of a door. Curious what lay beyond it, he tried to open it, but it was locked. Not going to let that stop him, Ganon drew his wand and pointed it at the door.
"Alohomora.", he whispered and he heard the lock click.
He opened the door and found himself inside a large room. It was empty, except for an equally large mirror. Letters were carved around its frame, that seemed like a jumbled mess, until Ganon took a closer look at them. They spelled words, but written backwards and one had to split and combine them correctly to understand what they said.
"I show not your face, but your hearts desire.", Ganon whispered, before he looked into the mirror.
At first, he saw only himself, but then two people appeared. One was a woman with long white hair and a slender body. She was taller then most women Ganon had seen and her clothes seemed strange to him, with a red mark shown on the front: an eye in the middle, three lines above it and one beneath. The other person was a young man, maybe 18 years old, with short black hair and a scar on his left cheek. Ganon could see the handle of a sword peeking over his right shoulder, while the tip of the scabbard was visible behind his right thigh.
"Mum? Raven?", Ganon asked and the woman smiled, while the man only nodded.
Other persons started appearing. There was Flitwick, right next to Raven, a smile on his face, and Draco, Meredith, Harry and Lyra were there as well. Ganon felt a tear running down his face and he smiled as well, as he sat down in front of the mirror.
As the boy watched on, Demise watched the the scene unfold, saw the people the boy loved so much. As he focused on the mirror, what he saw began to change. He saw himself in all his old glory sitting on a black throne in the great hall of Hogwarts, two man lying dead at his feet. One was Dumbledore, the old geezer, the other was Flitwick, his small body bent and broken. Ganon was standing beside him, older and reminding him more of the Ganondorf, who had been thwarted by the hero of time. This Ganon looked every bit as intimidating, and the look of contempt on his face as he looked down on Flitwick's old body, gave Demise shivers. I can turn him into that, I know I can. The only thing I have to do, is get rid of those he loves. 'Love', the mere thought of a Ganondorf loving someone is revolting. Suddenly, his musings where interrupted.
"Enjoying your walk?", a voice behind Ganon asked and the boy turned around to see Dumbledore standing at the door, a smile on the old wizard's face.
"I see you have discovered The Mirror of Erised. Have you figured out what it does?", Dumbledore asked, as he went over to Ganon and stood next to him.
"I think so. It shows us what we want, what we wish for. Those wishes we carry deep in our heart and sometimes don't even know about.", Ganon replied, as he looked back at the mirror.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, it shows us what we truly desire deep within our heart. The happiest person could look into the mirror and only he could use it as just that. Do you want to tell me what you see?", Dumbledore asked and Ganon hesitated for a moment.
"Only if you tell me, what you see.", Ganon replied. Dumbledore looked at him for a moment, before he nodded. Ganon sighed, before he began. "I see all the people, that are important to me, my mother, Raven, Professor Flitwick, my friends. They're all here, by side, even those, who are gone.", Ganon said.
Dumbledore couldn't help but smile at the boy. "Keep those feelings you have when looking at it, close to you. Love is the strongest magic there is.", the old wizard said, as he looked at his own desire. "It pains me to say this, but I see possibly my greatest mistake. There was once a young wizard, an orphan like you, but while you were always shown love in some way, he never had that." Dumbledore shook his head. "I could have stopped him from going down the darkest path, but it didn't. It led to you and many others suffering immensely because of him."
For a moment, Ganon didn't say anything. "You mean Voldemort.", he finally said, his voice quiet and Dumbledore nodded.
"If there is anything you can learn from tonight, then that you should not make the same mistake I did. When you can act, don't hesitate."
"But would it be right to kill someone, because of something they could be?", Ganon asked and the smile returned to Dumbledore's face.
"Questions like those, show me that you could never go down the same road he did, at least not for the same reasons." At Ganon's questioning look, he chuckled. "We are only humans, Ganondorf, and humans were never perfect. Those, who say they are, are often as far away from perfection as possible. Now, of to bed, you have an important day tomorrow."
"Right, good night, sir.", Ganon replied and left the room.
As he made his way back to Ravenclaw Tower, he saw an older boy from Ravenclaw on his way back to the tower as well. The boy noticed him and slowed down, so he was right beside Ganon. "Out at night, huh?", he asked with a grin and Ganon smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, couldn't sleep, to exited about tomorrow, I guess."
The older boy nodded. "You're competing right?" At Ganon's nod, he continued. "I'm exited too. I wanted to join last year, but couldn't, because I was sick. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do. You know the rumours about you, right?"
Ganon huffed at that. "Oh, I know the rumours alright, I've heard about the Atlantean dragon."
The older boy laughed. "Yeah, some of them are pretty stupid. Atlantean dragons have been extinct for almost a century. You must be pretty sick of all the praise you're getting for something your family did.", the boy said and Ganon looked at him.
"Sounds like you know what really happened.", Ganon replied and the boy smiled wryly.
"I lost everything that day."
"Just like me.", Ganon said quietly and they went the rest of the way in silence.
When they arrived at the common room and had to go their separate ways, the older boy turned to Ganon and held out his hand. "Well, good night, Ganondorf, I'll see you tomorrow in the finals. I'm Lucas by the way."
Ganon shook his hand with a smirk. "I'll wait for you there, and call me Ganon."
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
"Welcome to our annual duelling tournament. As always, we will begin with the second and third years. The first years, who have qualified for the tournament, will duel amongst themselves first. The winner will proceed to fight the second and third years.", Dumbledore said and the students cheered.
The headmaster gestured towards Professor Flitwick and the charms master cleared his throat. "Now then, let's go over the rules, shall we? Each duel is set to end after thirty minutes, if neither of the duellists yields or is in any way unable to continue. All spells deemed illegal by the ministry are not allowed, if any are used, the wizard or witch responsible, will be dispelled immediately and face charges by the DMLE."
"What's the DMLE?", Ganon whispered.
"It stands for Department of Magical Law Enforcement. My dad and uncle Padfoot work there as aurors, they catch evil wizards like Voldemort and his followers.", Harry replied, before Ganon turned his attention back to Flitwick.
When the small professor had finished explaining the rules, he called the first years to him. Ganon, Harry, Draco and Blaise Zabini went up to Flitwick and the small wizard look at everyone of them. Alan was standing next to him, smiling at the four first years, a bowler hat in his hand. "Well, let's start shall we? Mr Dragmire, please draw one of the letters from the hat and read the name of inside aloud.", Flitwick said and Ganon did as told.
He took one of the letters and opened it. "Draco Malfoy.", he said and Draco looked at Flitwick.
"Mr Malfoy, you'll be in the first match of the day. Please draw another letter, to see who your opponent will be.", Flitwick explained. Draco stepped up to Alan and looked at the letters.
They all looked the same, no indication of which letter held which name. He finally decided on one and slowly opened it. "Harry Potter.", he said, not sure how to feel about it.
He and Harry were pretty much equal when it came to skill and power, so it would be a tough battle. "Excellent, so Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter will begin and after them Mr Dragmire and Mr Zabini will face each other. Now, duellists, please leave the stage for a few minutes, while we prepare the charms that will protect the audience.", Flitwick said and Draco went back to the stands together with Ganon, until he saw his father beckoning him over.
His father had come to see him triumph over the other first years, but Draco was pretty sure that Ganon would win in the end. "Be careful when you face the Potter boy. As you know, his father is an auror, and I'm sure that he is giving his son advice as we speak. Don't underestimate him. Whatever you have seen during your duelling lessons, it is only a fraction of his true skill."
"I know that. I didn't give everything myself during the lessons.", Draco slyly lied and his father nodded approvingly.
"Good, do your best, and if your best is not enough, you now what to do.", his father said, patted him on the shoulder and went to the stands, just as Flitwick called for Draco and Harry.
They stood in front of Flitwick, facing each other. " Now, you know the rules and I don't want to have to disqualify either of you. Now, bow before each other.", he said.
"Scared, Potter?", Draco asked with a smirk as he bowed.
"You wish, Malfoy.", Harry replied, returning the smile.
"On your positions!", Flitwick shouted as he stepped of the stage. He raised his wand. ", Now on the count of three. One, two, ..." Instead of three, his wand gave of a loud bang and the duel began.
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
"Ventus!", Draco bellowed and a stream of air shot towards Harry. The boy barely dodged it, but it passed by close enough to make his already messy hair even worse.
"Tarantallegra!", Harry shouted back and the green spell hit Draco's legs. As Draco started dancing, he quickly flung two spells towards Harry, before pointing his wand at his legs.
"Finite." he said and his legs stopped, but this simple distraction almost cost him the duel, as he barely noticed a spell sent by Harry coming his way. Harry didn't even have to dodge the spells Draco had cast and used Draco's distraction to cast the knockback-jinx. Draco simply reacted and slashed his wand downward as he called out the spell.
"Protego!" His shield-charm reflected the jinx of to the side, making it dissipate against the barrier the teachers had put up. Draco was panting heavily now after having to cast the charm. Flitwick and Alan had shown the spell to them, but he warned them against using it, as it was far beyond the capabilities of a first year. Naturally, some had tried to cast it, but only Ganon could do so without problem. He had shown his friends how to do it, but Draco knew that he shouldn't have done it. He thought about what his father had said. No, whether I win or lose, I will do so fair and square!, he thought and, riding the adrenalin of his second wind, he raised his wand. "Ventus!", he bellowed and a gust of wind rushed towards Harry.
He raised his left arm to shield his eyes from the wind. He barely heard Draco cast his own knockback-jinx and fumbled to put up a shield-charm, not Protego, but the weaker one they had learned in their first lesson. Draco's jinx broke through the shield and made Harry stumble backwards. Before he could react, he felt his wand being jerked out of his hand and another knockback-jinx put him on his ass. He looked up to see Draco standing above him, both wands in one hand, the other held out for Harry to take. Harry took his friends hand and the blonde boy pulled him to his feet.
"Well, you got me. I thought I had you, when exhausted yourself with the Protego charm, but damn, did you make one hell of a comeback.", Harry said with a grin and patted Draco's shoulder.
"Yeah, but we both know, that I don't stand a chance against Ganon. He held back during training, you know that, right?", he asked and Harry nodded. Flitwick climbed back onto the stage and stood between the two boys.
"You both did exceptionally well, but the can only be one victor. Congratulations, Mr Malfoy, you'll be facing the winner of the next duel." With that, he sent the both of them of the stage and called Ganon and Blaise Zabini to him. While the two of them were getting the same speech Flitwick had given him and Harry, Draco went to his father. The older Malfoy smiled proudly at his son.
"You did very well, Draco, but don't celebrate just yet. Watch Dragmire's duel with Zabini carefully. I think we both know, who is going to win.", Lucius Malfoy said and Draco nodded, yes, they both knew
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
Ganon was staring down Zabini, waiting for Flitwick's sign. He could easily overpower the Slytherin boy, but Zabini was anything but stupid. Ganon was sure that the other boy had a plan in mind for this battle, but Ganon was not concerned, he had his own plan for this battle. Finally, Flitwick gave the signal, but neither of them cast a spell. Both of them waited for the other to strike. After some time, Ganon decided to begin. He cast an icy-blue spell, the same one Lyra had used against Blaise. The Slytherin recognized the spell as well and didn't bother dodging, after all Ganon was not aiming at him, or so he thought. The spell hit his feet and soon he was frozen to the ground. He tried freeing his feet, but to no avail. Ganon started throwing at him, already smiling inside. At first, Blaise was still able to block them, but droplets of sweat were starting to appear on his forehead. "Expelliarmus!", Ganon called out and, putting a bit more power then before behind the spell, disarmed Zabini.
The students of Hogwarts started to cheer for him and he sight, they hadn't cheered half as much for Draco. "And what were you worried about exactly?", D asked.
"Oh, shut up, you know that the real duels are yet to come", he replied. Without wasting any time, Flitwick called Draco up to the stage, before looking at Ganon.
"Don't be to hard on him. You're way beyond your classmates.", the charms master said and Ganon smiled down at him.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to embarrass Draco, and hey, it's not all about power, maybe he has a strategy that can defeat me. I certainly wouldn't be surprised, if he had thought of something.", Ganon replied. Draco had finally made onto the stage and went up to Ganon.
"So, you and me, huh?", he said with a grin.
"Wouldn't have it any other way.", Ganon replied, grinning back at him, and shook his best friend's hand.
They bowed before each other, as instructed by Flitwick, then waited. "So, any plans you want to share?", D asked.
"Nope, gonna do this one as it comes. Zabini was different, I don't really care about him, so I ended it quickly, but Draco, he deserves a chance."
Flitwick's wand gave of a bang and the duel began. Draco started casting some simple spells, but without any real power behind them. Ganon blocked the first few with a shield-charm, but noticed that they only were a fancy light show, made to look like actual jinxes. He smirked and played along. The spell was relatively simple and both of them could cast them without saying the incantation. They both advanced towards each other, until the gap between them was barely a foot wide. Ganon now shoot a real spell at Draco, whispering: "Rictusempra.", but the blond boy ducked under it and pointed his wand at Ganon's face.
"Lumos!", he bellowed, closing his eyes as to not get blinded himself.
Ganon wasn't prepared though and the bright light burned in his eyes. He felt a spell hit his chest and he was flung backwards. Rolling, as he hit the floor, he was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. "I can't see!"
"Don't worry, I will sense the incoming spells and warn you.", D calmed him down.
With D's help, he managed to dodge Draco's spells, but he didn't dare cast himself. Slowly, his vision returned to him, though it was still blurry, he could see the spells and Draco again. He pointed his wand at Draco. "Wingardium Leviosa", he said, a grin splitting his face.
Draco started floating, but he didn't seem concerned. When Ganon threw a spell at him, he pointed his wand at the floor.
"Ventus.", he said and the gust pushed him out of the way. Ganon couldn't help but laugh, it looked dumb, yet it was simply brilliant at the same time. Draco dodged more of Ganon's spells like this, until Ganon had enough. He ended the levitation charm and Draco fell down on his ass. The blond boy rolled out of the of an Expelliarmus and got back to his feet.
"Circum Illum Terra!", Ganon bellowed and a brown spell shot towards Draco. It hit the blonde boy's legs, encasing them in hard rock. Draco could still move, but he was slow, dodging was out of the question for him. So he stood there and raised his wand.
"Let's end this.", he said grinning at Ganon and the taller redhead nodded. Both of them shouted on spell. "Expelliarmus!", and red light shot out of their wands.
Their spells clashed against each other, connecting the two wands. They had talked about this in their lessons, duellist called it the "Clash of Might", but it was rarely ever done actual duels. There was only one possible outcome, the more powerful wizard would win. In the middle, where the two spells touched, they tangled around each other and formed a bright red ball of energy. Draco put magic behind his spell and, slowly, the ball started to move towards Ganon. The bearer of the Triforce increased his own efforts and the ball stopped, but didn't move back. Draco stared into Ganon's eyes.
"I will win this Ganon, I will not bent to your power!", he bellowed and put even more magic into the spell.
Ganon stared back at his friend, as the ball moved towards him, then he sighed and pushed back. Again the ball slowed down to a halt, before it started moving towards Draco, going past the midway point until I was mere inches away from the blond boy, where it suddenly stopped. Draco gritted his teeth, but he didn't give up. Sweat was pouring down his face, his legs started to shake, but he didn't relent. "I'm not going to loose, you hear me? You will not defeat me!", Draco screamed and through some sort of miracle, the ball was being pushed back, but stopped moving when Draco went down on one knee, and yet, he kept pushing.
Ganon couldn't watch this any longer and lowered his head. "I'm sorry.", he whispered, before he switched hands, now holding his cherry wand in his left hand, where the Triforce was. With D's help, he channelled only a small amount of power through his wand. In an instant, the ball accelerated towards Draco and poured into his wand. The wand was ripped from Draco's hand and flew towards Ganon so fast, the tall boy had to duck or the wand would have hit him. With the magic connecting the wands gone, Draco fell backwards and lied still on the floor. Ganon rushed over to his friend, who was breathing heavily. The teachers came running as well, Lucius Malfoy right behind him. "Why did you keep pushing?", Ganon asked, looking down at Draco.
The blond smiled through his pain at Ganon. "I had to try. You used the Triforce to put an end to this.", Draco said, it wasn't a question.
"You could have gotten hurt pretty bad, so what was I supposed to do?"
"It's alright, I knew I didn't stand a chance, put we gave them a good show, right?", Draco asked.
Ganon was pushed aside by Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey and Lucius Malfoy. Ganon couldn't hear what they were saying, but at the end Dumbledore conjured a stretcher, before levitating Draco onto it. Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and the stretcher followed her out of the room, Lucius Malfoy not leaving his son's side. Ganon went up to Dumbledore. "Sir?", he asked and the old wizard looked at him. "Is he going to be alright?", he asked concerned, but Dumbledore smiled at him.
"Do not worry, Ganondorf, he is merely suffering from magical exhaustion, just like you were after the troll incident. And while you are undoubtedly more powerful then Draco, your condition back then was worse then he is now."
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
The tournament continued without another mayor incident, only a few bruises and one broken nose. The opponents Ganon faced where not as difficult as Draco had been, his friend could have gone up against the second and third years, if not for Ganon. With out a problem he had made it to the finals and he was watching the the two students, that could become his opponent. One was Cedric Diggory, a third year Hufflepuff, the other was Lucas Cunningham, the boy Ganon had talked to last night. Both boys had done well so far, but Ganon had a feeling, he had to face Lucas today. Just as the thought had crossed his mind, Diggory was disarmed and Lucas announced as the winner. Ganon smiled and went up to the stage. He looked at Lucas with a smile and the older boy smirked right back. This time, Dumbledore stood between the two duellists.
"Both of you have done well to get this far, especially you, Mr Dragmire. A lot of time has passed since a first year made it to the finals. I wish the both of you the best of luck. May the better one win.", the headmaster said with a smile and left the stage.
Ganon and Lucas bowed and then waited for the signal. It came and went, but none of the two had even raised their wand. "So, here we are, I guess.", Ganon said with a smile and again, Lucas smiled back, but this time his smile was cold as ice.
"I've waited eleven years for this day, Ganon, and I must say, everything I've seen is beyond my wildest expectations."
A shiver ran down Ganon's spine, something was of. "Lucas, what are you talking about?", he asked, gripping his wand tighter. He looked at Dumbledore who looked completely at ease.
Lucas followed his line of sight and laughed cruelly. "The old geezer can't help you now, he can't even hear you." Ganon looked dumb-founded. He called out to Dumbledore, but the old wizard didn't even look at him. Lucas laughed again. "See? You're alone, Ganon. No one save you from me, Lord Voldemort, the greatest wizard alive."
"You're still alive? But... how?"
Voldemort smirked. "On that fateful day, you only destroyed my body, but my spirit lived on. I was weak, a shadow of my former self, but with the help of a faithful servant I made it back here and possessed poor Lucas' body."
"Your servant? Are you talking about Snape?", Ganon asked, his wand now pointed at his enemy. Voldemort didn't reply, only pointed his wand at Ganon.
"Come now, Ganon, time to die." He flicked his wand and a yellow spell sizzled through the air at Ganon, who slashed his wand downward.
"Protego!", he cried out and the spell was deflected into the stage, were it left a hole, as if it had burned right through.
Ganon stared at it in terror, as Voldemort chuckled. "Do you like the Liquid Death? A nasty spell from Egypt, I heard that it causes quite a painful death. But please, show me what you can do."
Ganon raised his wand and thought of the most dangerous spell he knew. He remembered some from the tome he had gotten from the vault of Slytherin, but most of them were beyond him. "Incendio!", he screamed and a fireball flew towards Voldemort, who blew out of the air with a silent Ventus.
"Not a bad idea, fire is always dangerous and Incendio is easy to cast, but let me show you what a real wizard can do." He raised his wand again. "Incendio Diabolica.", he almost whispered and a fiery snake came out of his wand. It tried to fly of the stage, crashing against the barrier several times, until Voldemort pointed his wand at at Ganon. "Kill.", he hissed and the snake charged at Ganon.
He was about to cast another Protego, until he heard D's yelling. "Don't try to block it! Blow it out of the air with Ventus!", the spirit said and Ganon raised his wand, as the snake flew towards him.
"Ventus!", he cried desperately and the gust caused the snake to miss him,but it circled back around for another attack. Two more times Ganon cast the spell, before Voldemort called the snake back and made it circle him. "What is that?",Ganon asked out of breath.
"Oh, just fiendfyre, something beyond your capabilities to stop." He pointed is wand at Ganon again. "Burn him to cinder.", he hissed and the snake obeyed. With no other way out, Ganon raised his left hand. A golden barrier stopped the snake and made it writhe in the air, before a bit of ash drizzled onto the stage. Ganon dropped to his knees, the power of the Triforce taking its toll. "Ah yes, the same trick that saved you in Hogsmeade, but it seems to me, that you can't quite handle it." He sighed. "What a shame, I hoped for more."
Defiance started burning in Ganon's eyes and he got back up, his wand pointed at Voldemort again. "I've... got one more... left.", he managed to get out.
Voldemort smiled at him. "Well then, my boy, hit me with your best shot."
Ganon's hand shook, but he knew this was his last chance, "Percutio", he said and a black bolt left the tip of his wand.
Voldemort's eyes widened in surprise and, or so it seemed Ganon, he had to defend himself in earnest this time. "Protego Maxima.", he said and the spell crashed into a shield. For a moment, the black bolt pushed against his shield, then it disappeared. He looked back towards Ganon, honest respect in his eyes. "I didn't think that you'd tried to kill me. A piercing curse at your age? I like that. You could be a great wizard. I could help you reach greatness, raise you as my own. What do you say?"
"Never!", Ganon spat and Voldemort shook his head.
"What a shame. Goodbye, Ganondorf Dragmire!" He slashed his wand downwards and a ripple went through the air, like an invisible blade, that went straight for Ganon. He couldn't react, his arm to heavy to lift. The blade hit his chest and he only felt the pain for a moment, before everything went dark.
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
The boy stumbled backwards from the impact, the Cleaving Curse leaving a deep gash in his chest, and yet, Voldemort felt disappointed. He had cut people in half with that spell before and despite Lucas being weaker than him, the curse still should have had enough power to tear him apart, but he hadn't even hit the floor. Ganon was simply standing there, his head hanging down, not moving an inch. Suddenly, a twitch went through the boys body and he slowly raised his head. Red eyes stared at Voldemort, hatred burning inside of them. The boy took a deep breath, before he looked at his wound.
"Heh, you got him pretty good, I'll have to patch that up.", he said, before placing his left hand over the wound. The golden light shined again and after a few seconds, the gash was nothing more then a small scar. "It seems, your curse wasn't enough, Voldemort. It takes more than that to kill a Ganondorf or me, for that matter.", the boy smiled.
"Who are you? You seem different then before.", Voldemort asked and Ganon, or whoever it was, shrugged.
"I guess, I can tell you. My name is Demise, I live inside Ganon's body as a spirit, just like you are living inside Lucas. Ganon and I are not of this world, but where we come doesn't need to concern you. I have plans for this world, though, and I don't need you standing in my way. Now I have a question for you. The spells you used, especially that fire snake, must require a large amount of magic. Ganon could channel them through the Triforce, but Lucas doesn't have that. How can you cast those spells with his body?"
"It's simple, really. You know that body mass can be transformed into magic?", Voldemort asked and Demise nodded. "That's what I'm doing. I'm taking from the organs, he doesn't need to fight or function right know. Organs like his liver or kidneys. Even a small amount of body mass holds a lot of magic."
Demise nodded in understanding. "You don't care about the boy, he is just a tool for you. Now that I know, that his live is forfeit, Ganon will surely forgive me, if I kill him. I'm only putting him out of his misery, after all." A wild grin spread over the boy's face, as Demise raised his hand. "You like to play with fire, don't you? I must admit, the snake was impressive, something I will make sure, Ganon learns, but were I come from, we control fire in a different way." A golden symbol appeared on his black hand and a flame seemed to grow from it that formed into a spear, twice as long as Ganon was tall. Demise gripped the spear and pulled back his arm, before throwing it with incredible speed. Voldemort took a step to the left, yet it still grazed his shoulder, before it pierced the barrier and broke through a window inside the room. For the first time in many years, Voldemort felt true terror. He looked back at Demise, who simply smiled. "You had a chance against Ganon, since he doesn't know how to probably control the Triforce, but I have had so much experience in using it, that I can nullify the backlash by channelling it back into the Triforce." His face turned cold, his smile now gone. "I will end our battle, but instead of killing the boy, I thought of something else., something more painful for you. I will force you out of his body. Expello!"
A white light shot towards Voldemort. He flicked his wand at it, but it only broke into smaller pieces, that bored into the body he was controlling. He screamed, agony in his voice, before he left the boy's body and disappeared through the barrier, no one but Quirinus and Demise able to see him. Demise watched as the boy fell to the floor and his gaze followed Voldemort's spectre, as it fled. Suddenly, a sound filled his ears, the cheers of the students.
They think, their savior won again. Those fools don't know, what danger they were in, he thought to himself, as the teachers came onto the stage. He locked eyes with Flitwick. "I need to talk with you, but first Ganon and the other boy need to be treated.", he sent a message to the charms master's mind, before he carefully lowered Ganon's body to the floor and relinquished control, for now.
-Of Power, Wisdom and Courage-
Flitwick was sitting next to Ganon's bed in the hospital wing. He already had an idea, who sent the message, but he had to know for certain. He quickly glanced over to Draco Malfoy, who was sleeping peacefully after his, frankly, stupid actions. His resolve was impressive, but he would give the boy quite the lengthy lecture when he woke up, He looked back at Ganon, who was now watching him with his red eyes. "Professor Flitwick.", he greeted him with a nod.
"Demise, I presume?", Flitwick asked and the boy nodded again. "Why did you decide to show yourself to me?"
Demise sighed. "Well, for one, after what happened during the duel, I didn't really have a choice. I had to use my own strength, otherwise both Ganon and I would have met our end. And once I started to show Voldemort, who was the stronger wizard, it should have been obvious to you."
Flitwick flinched, as he heard the name. "Voldemort was here?", he whispered and Demise nodded.
"He had possessed Lucas Cunningham." He looked around for a moment. "Where is he anyway?", he asked and Flitwick sighed.
"He was taken to St Mungo. Several of his organs started failing after your duel."
Demise nodded. "I expected that. Voldemort said, that he drew from the organs, that weren't necessary for the duel to fuel his spells," He paused and looked at Flitwick. "What are you going to do, now that you know that I'm awake again?", he asked.
"What are your plans for Ganon?", Flitwick shot back and Demise smiled crookedly.
"His survival. Now don't look at me like that, I have never spoken more truthful words. In fact, I have no idea what will happen to me, if he dies and I have no inclination to find out either. I don't really know this world yet, I only woke up after his first meeting with Dumbledore, so I will take my time and decide later."
"And you expect me to believe, that you never tried to sway Ganon towards evil?"
This made the demon snort. "He doesn't even know my name yet, he only calls me D. I haven't even told him his own history or that of his people." He suddenly winced. "Ganon is waking up. Please, don't tell him who I am and in turn, I will start to help you teaching him." Demise waved his left hand and the Triforce shined for a brief moment, before an adult Ganon appeared besides Flitwick. He was slightly transparent, like the ghosts at Hogwarts, and his turned red, just as Ganon's returned to their steel grey colour.
He blinked a few times, before his eyes focused on Flitwick. "Professor?", he asked, before he saw Demise next to Flitwick. "D?! What are you doing?", he said and Demise smiled at him.
"Do not be alarmed, Ganon, I just had a little talk with Flitwick."
"What exactly happened, after I blacked out?"
"I took control of your body and defeated Voldemort. And don't worry about Lucas, he is still alive, though they transferred him to St Mungo because of the damage Voldemort did to him."
Ganon looked at Flitwick at the mention of Voldemort. "Does Dumbledore know yet?!"
"No, but I will inform him immediately, you focus on regaining your strength." He smiled at his student. "And congratulations on winning the tournament, even before D took over, you did a good job. The headmaster already awarded you 100 points for your victory, take another 50." He winked at Ganon, before he left the hospital wing.
AN: So, there goes Demise' and Voldemort's first meeting. I still haven't figured out how to exactly do the battles, but this time I tried to put more of the characters themselves in, instead of them just chucking spells at each other. Let me know what you guys think.
Next time, we'll explore more of the tournament's aftermath and Christmas at the Potters.
Until then, Zardas out!