Chapter Eight. The Duel In The Garden, Part Two.
Lord Voldermort caught the wand that Bellatrix had thrown to him and almost simultaneously blasted out a stunning curse at her as soon as it was in his hand, but he had no time to aim properly and it hit a small wooden garden summerhouse next to her, causing it to partially collapse.
In return Bella shot a powerful jinx at Lord Voldermort, which he only just avoided in time by ducking behind the tree he'd stood next to. As Voldermort took cover so did Bella in turn, ducking behind the broken summerhouse, from where she watched the thick trunk of the tree hiding Voldermort from her concealed position.
"Well Tom," called Bella. "This is interesting isn't it? As I see it it's a fifty fifty chance. I don't know if you'll come out from the left or right of that tree but I can only hit one side or the other before you get a shot at me, if I stand up in the open. Interesting indeed eh?"
"You dare use my despised muggle name Bellatrix? For that alone I must kill you, prepare to die!"
Yes, I dare call you by your real name Tom Riddle, you lying mongrel," replied Bellatrix, and as to dying, well we'll see which of us does that."
Riddle replied, "You have no chance, hiding behind that flimsy, broken shed Bellatrix. Just another blast and it'll collapse completely, leaving you with no cover at all. Why not surrender? I might be merciful, you never know. After all you have been useful to me in the past."
"Your right about this flimsy building Tom, that's for sure, but in order to demolish it you still need to break cover and, like I said, it's then fifty fifty, left or right of the tree. So why don't you surrender? Throw out that wand and toddle off to Azkaban where you belong, I'm sure the dementors are dying to see you and can't wait to give you a great big kiss!"
"Why are you siding with the mudbloods, half breeds and blood traitors Bella? I thought you were a proud Pureblood witch, not a supporter of mongrels and muggles." Tom Riddle called from his refuge.
"You're a bloody murdering hypocrite Riddle," said Bella, "Of the two of us I'm the only Pureblood here and you are the mongrel, I have seen the hell to which following you will drag my fellow Purebloods. It already happened to my cousin Regulus, a Pureblood killed by the trap you set. You respect nothing and will kill anyone to achieve power. We old wizarding families may be rightly proud, but we are certainly not murderers of children!"
"By the way, we know all about your horcruxes Tom. I've been to your muggle father's grave and yes we did find Helga's pretty little cup! I went to your downtrodden, half-mad witch mother's family home as well, where I had a little 'bonfire of the vanities' and used fiend fire on Rowena's diadem, Slytherin's locket and that lovely little ring you had. Incidentally Tom, I recovered the stone from the ring after the fire and some of our Research Wizards at the Department of Mysteries think it might have been something called a 'Deathly Hallow' even before you made a horcrux out of it, sadly the fire destroyed any power it might once have had. Thought you might be interested to know that anyway, before you die."
Bellatrix continued saying, "We figured you've been aiming to make seven horcruxes eventually Tom, that being a magic number in arithmancy. But as yet we are fairly sure you only had six and Lucius did a poor job of hiding your diary. That just leaves your dear Nagini, but guess what? They say barbecued snake tastes just like chicken and she should be done to a tee, just about now! I may pop over after I kill you and give it a try."
Hearing his last hope for immortality was gone Voldermort gave a terrible keening cry and emerged from the right hand side of the tree, wand in hand trying to cast a killing curse at Bellatrix, who had already emerged from the cover of the damaged summerhouse and stood in the open facing him.
But it was Riddle's barely human sounding cry that gave Bellatrix a slight advantage, as she heard the direction he was moving behind the tree before he had fully emerged and with that split second advantage her Avada Kedavra killing curse hit him first, full in the chest as he stepped out. Riddle died , right there, without making a further sound, except a slight thud as his body hit the soft, grassy ground.
Just seconds later several of her Auror colleagues stormed into the garden, wands at the ready and then Alastor Moody made a more sedate entry. He walked over to Tom Riddle's body, nudged it gently with the side of his foot and then said to Bellatrix, "Well done Ms. Black, a bloody good job! I think this will mean a promotion for you!"
Alastor Moody then smiled at Bella, looking a little sly and saying, "I believe there was some sort of confusion earlier as to your role in this affair, but sadly all the records of our previous meetings seem to have got lost," he smiled. "Some sort of bloody administrative cock up again I suppose, I wouldn't know, can't stand bloody paperwork anyway."
Moody winked at her and went on. "I swear the Admin Section at the Ministry are getting worse by the day. I believe your ex works there? Perhaps you could have a word with him and get them to buck their ideas up. Anyway I'm damned if I can remember what you told me in our first meeting exactly No matter, this bugger's dead, you killed him and so that's that as far as I'm concerned! My report will recommend you receive a commendation. I think you're also overdue for some well earned leave.