AN: new chapter up, enjoy.

Chapter 49 - Curse of the Damned (2)

Harry's feelings of elation at having quickly defeated Gaunt did not last because, in a matter of seconds, more than 10 Aurors created a loose circle around him, keeping a safe but still threatening distance.

"Freeze! Put down your wand!" one of the Aurors shouted and all of his colleagues also aimed their wands at Harry, a red light glowing at their tips. It was a tell-tale that they were about to fire a volley of Stunning Charms.

Even as the Aurors closed in their encirclement, Harry could hear sounds of Apparition ringing in the distance. More and more people were arriving at the Bones family mansion. Ever since Voldemort had attacked the Ministry of Magic in his attempt to assassinate Bellatrix Black, several countermeasures had been taken. The first, of course, was that all the employees of the Ministry of Magic were required to use the Muggle Subway entrance in order to pass through the Thief's Downfall security system.

But one of these countermeasures was also that it had become mandatory for all the high-ranking employees of the Ministry - especially for the Minister of Magic - to share the status of the warding spells of their homes with the Auror Office. Amelia Bones had not forgotten how many people were killed in their homes by Voldemort and his followers, nor had anyone forgotten how even the Longbottom couple and their son, the Boy-Who-Lived, would have died in their own homes if it had not been for Bellatrix Black's coincidental visit.

That said, thanks to a modified version of the Caterwauling Charm the Aurors on duty had been alerted at the very moment when the wards of the Bones family home had been attacked.

As the Aurors closed in on him, Harry noticed that around half of them looked like they had just gotten out of their beds, one of them even wearing a lilac sleeping cap.

"This is your last warning! I'll count to five. Let go of your wand or Merlin help me if I don't blast you to pieces!" an Auror shouted. His magical eye and his wooden leg made his identity unmistakable - he was none other than Alastor Moody.

"One!" Mad-Eye yelled.

But right as he yelled the first number, a beam of bright orange light also burst from his wand. It was a Blasting Curse (Confringo).

Even before Harry reacted, a Shielding Charm encapsulated him in a protective sphere of blue light. It was the fir and dragon heartstring wand, casting a spell out of its own volition to protect him. It was as if it was trying to make up for its earlier mistake.

"You old scumbag, what happened to counting from one to five?" Harry asked almost amused while patting the holster holding the fir wand as to show his appreciation.

Mad-Eye clicked his tongue in annoyance but refused to answer. Instead, he quickly took the chance to summon Amelia Bones' unconscious body to get her out of harm's way. Harry had no intention to stop them.

Turning his attention to the rest of the Aurors, Mad-Eye told them in a serious voice: "Stall for time. Don't engage. He's too dangerous."

"But sir, there are ten of us. He's just one guy-"

"If you feel like throwing your life away, fuck off back to your home and hang yourself," Mad-Eye growled and glared at the younger Auror dangerously.

He had seen with his own eyes how the young man in front of him had defeated Dumbledore during the Birmingham Hunt nearly two years ago. Alastor Moody was known to be a gritty and relentless fighter in battle but that did not mean he was stupid. There was no reason for them to throw their lives away meaninglessly when many more Aurors and members of the Oder of the Phoenix were going to arrive there soon. All they had to do was to keep the status quo until reinforcements arrived.

Half a minute trickled at the speed of a snail. Tension was so thick in the air that it was as if the ten Aurors were facing a rabid Dragon instead of a young man. But then, something unexpected happened!

Distracted by the squad of Aurors aiming their wands at him, Harry moved his gaze away from the nearly dead Gaunt for one second. It was exactly then that a wall of mud rose from the ground in the shape of a dome, completely hiding Gaunt's impaled and bleeding body within.

"God damn it!" Harry screamed a swearing as he suddenly found himself caught in the middle of a pincer attack - the dome-like wall of mud covering Gaunt exploded outwards, pelting him with debris, and, from the other side, the Aurors also fired a volley of Stunning Charms and Reductor Curses at him, trying to take advantage of his misfortune.

In times like this, the best solution would be to Disapparate and Apparate to another place on the battlefield. However, the Totem of Ala, the Goddess of Earth, did not discriminate between his enemies and him - nobody could use any sort of teleportation in its range.

"...No fucking way!" an Auror said, his face bearing an expression of disbelief.

Wielding a wand in both hands, the alleged serial killer froze the debris from one side with a spell and stopped the volley of spells with a powerful Shielding Charm. Dual Casting. The Aurors had never even heard of something like that.

That overwhelming display of skill and power created a momentary lull in the battle. The Aurors' volley of spells sizzled harmlessly against his shield and the debris from the mud wall fell to the ground, revealing the person that it had hidden before. This time, it was not only the Aurors but even Harry himself that was startled - Gaunt who had been on his death bed only a few moments ago, with his arms and legs shattered and blood flowing out of his body like a river appeared to be completely unharmed!

"What magic is this?!" Harry muttered unconsciously. He had experienced three magical wars and he had fought against more dark wizards and witches than he could count but he had never seen or heard of anything like that before.

"I would like to ask the same: I've never seen this kind of Anti-Apparition Spell," Gaunt said. "Who are you?"

Even though Gaunt and the serial killer suspect were by their lonesome selves, the ten Aurors could not help feeling as though they were like a pack of stray dogs trying to intrude in the battle between two tigers. The only fortunate thing was that, while they were watching the stand-off between the two powerful wizards, more wizards were steadily coming to their side. Aurors, members of the Order of the Phoenix and even some reporters had appeared at the scene.

The newcomers looked bleary and their clothes were in disarray but all tiredness disappeared from their faces at the sight of the destruction in front of them.

"I know you aren't after the Minister. I am your target. Why are you trying to kill me?" Gaunt asked conversationally, completely ignoring the ever-growing number of wizards and witches at the Aurors' side.

Harry's answer was to sheathe his fir wand into its holster and take out something from the inner pocket of his jacket. It was a stick, no bigger than his index finger. Under the effect of his magic, the stick grew until it was 3 feet tall and as thick as a man's forearm.

"Reveal your wrath and smite my foes. For you are Shango, the God of Thunder and Storms. Wind Fury!"

A gentle gust of wind started to blow. It was not a regular breeze, it was filled with magic and Gaunt was the first to notice the abnormal phenomenon. Shouts of panic rang in the silence of the night as the previously gentle gust of wind suddenly raised clouds of dust in the air.

"Retreat! Run away!" Mad-Eye hollered and the Aurors and the rest of the members of the Phoenix at the scene started backing away like a swarm of rats running from a flood.

A small tornado took shape in the destroyed wing of the Bones mansion, raising up entire chunks of destroyed walls, broken pieces of furniture, and all kinds of debris.

At the centre of the tornado, in the eye of the storm, it was eerily calm. It was so calm that Harry and Gaunt who were in the middle of it were completely unaffected - not even their clothes were fluttering.

Seeing such a spectacular spell, it was Gaunt's turn to ask in disbelief: "What magic is this?"

He had always thought that he was at the top of the world. He thought that he knew everything that there was to know about magic. He had pushed the limit of magic further than anyone else before him but he had never seen anything like what he was seeing in the present. So fascinated he was with the display of magic that he had even forgotten - if only for a moment - that the man in front of him wanted to kill him.

⁂

When Dumbledore received a Patronus message in the middle of the night that the wards protecting the Minister of Magic's home had been destroyed, he had not even changed his pyjamas. Grabbing onto Fawks' tail, he and the Phoenix flashed directly to the Bones Mansion.

Whoever had sent him the Patronus message had not warned him that there was an unbreakable anti-apparition spell that could negate even the teleportation of a Phoenix. Dumbledore and Fawkes slammed into the domain warded by the Earthbind Totem before being bounced away like a tennis ball upon hitting a wall. Despite feeling dizzy and nauseous, he wobbled up to his feet, his old wand from his youth in his hand.

But when he saw the partially demolished mansion in the distance and the tornado further breaking it apart, the old wizard broke into a sprint so fast that it would put even some 20-year-old men to shame. Once he got closer, he saw that all the wizards and witches at the scene were watching the scene helplessly, not knowing how to deal with it. All they could do was cast Shielding Charms to protect themselves from the rampaging windstorm.

It was a power that surpassed reason. It was this kind of power why, in his past life, Harry Potter had become feared by entire nations and barred entry at their borders.

⁂

Breaking out of his awe-induced stupor, Gaunt looked at the man in front of him intensely. As if they had an unspoken agreement, the two of them raised their wands simultaneously and shouted:

"Defodio!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry's incantation being almost two times shorter than that of Gaunt, he fired his spell a split of a second faster than Gaunt cast his. Because of that, Gaunt was forced to duck to the side to dodge it and his Killing Curse shot way off the mark.

Suddenly angered at being made a fool of, Gaunt brandished his wand and shouted one more:

"Avada Ke-"

But a nonverbal Knockback Jinx cast by Harry blasted him off his feet before he could finish his chant and threw him into the tornado wall surrounding them from all sides.

A shrill scream of agony burst from Gaunt's chest as his left arm and part of his torso were torn off at the contact with the tornado. The windstorm created by the Wind Fury Totem was not a mere tornado. The wind was suffused with magic, it was as sharp as a razor blade.

But Gaunt's torn-off arm regenerated like a miracle, making Harry inwardly exclaim in wonder. While Harry had been obsessed with becoming powerful for the sake of revenge, Gaunt's obsession had been to become immortal.

"Fiendfyre!" Gaunt screamed hoarsely and an immense serpent of fire came to life from his yew wand.

A deafening hiss-like growl came from the creature of fire and Harry was startled to see it swell in size crazily.

'The cursed flames are feeding off my windstorm!'

Noticing what was going on too, Gaunt laughed out loud. With a grunt and a wide wave of his wand, the demonic fire attacked the tornado to snuff it out.

Harry's left arm twitched as he clenched his hand on the handle of the Elder Wand. With Gaunt being busy controlling the Fiendfyre spell, if Harry fired a Killing Curse at that moment, there was nothing that Gaunt could do to avoid it. However, he needed Gaunt alive, he could not kill him.

Nonetheless, he reigned in his murderous impulse and let out a long breath, calming himself. Even as his windstorm waned and the demonic flames evolved from a snake into the form of an immense dragon, he did not bat an eye.

He brought the Elder wand at his waist, on his left, in a posture that made him look as if he was about to draw a sword with his left hand - the handle of the imaginary sword being the Elder Wand.

Gaunt's laughter abruptly died when he sensed the tremendous spike in his enemy's magic aura.

"Die!" he screamed as he stabbed the air in Harry's direction with his wand. The bellow of the dragon of fire reverberated in the air and made the ground shake as it launched itself at its target.

Harry Potter's silhouette appeared minuscule in front of the terrifying dragon filling the night skies with its cursed flames. Like a tiny boat on a stormy ocean, like a candle in the wind, it looked like there was no hope for him.

But he was undaunted. His face was serene and fearless, his stance was steady and firm. His eyes glowing with power, he drew out his 'sword'.

"DAO!"

A tiny glint. A flash of light. A mournful cry.

Then, the world was split in half.

⁂

'Is this a duel between wizards?' was what the bystanders collectively thought as they looked at the tornado that had come out of thin air and the enormous dragon of demonic fire.

Their shock was renewed when an invisible blade all of a sudden split the immense flaming dragon in half and a mournful cry reverberated in the night. The invisible blade of magic continued on its trajectory and split the sky in half too, parting the clouds in two like the Red Sea.

But Fiendfyre could not be extinguished just that easily. The demonic flames losing their draconic shape only meant that Gaunt had lost control of the spell, not that the spell was cancelled.

Realizing the danger, before the demonic fire instinctively launched itself at them, Dumbledore shouted:

"Together in a circle! Your wands into the Earth! Or we're all going to die! FINITE!"

Most of the people that had gathered at the scene were either Aurors or members of the Order of the Phoenix. They were capable wizards so they understood what was about to happen too. Following Dumbledore's example, nearly 30 other wizards and witches also stabbed their wands into the ground at the same time and screamed:

"Finite!"

⁂

As walls of light grew from the ground and sealed the demonic flames in, the remains of the Fiendfyre spell had no other choice but to go upwards to escape their restraint. However, directly upwards was the Earthbind Totem, the totem of Ala, the Goddess of Earth, that Harry had sent to levitate above the mansion to stop all sorts of magic teleportation.

Anticipating what was about to come, only seconds after splitting the dragon of fire, he raised his wand at Gaunt who was still in disbelief:

"Crucio!"

Screams of agony burst from Gaunt's throat as he collapsed on the ground shaking as if he was being electrocuted. Even as his connection with the Earthbind totem broke and he felt the anti-apparition spell fade, Harry continued to hold the Cruciatus on Gaunt's body until he started to foam at the mouth and lost his consciousness.

However, right after Gaunt's body became limp, a shade floated up from his body.

Dumbledore and the Aurors were still fighting to extinguish the Fiendfyre spell so they did not notice the ghost-like silhouette that floated out from Gaunt's body. His face twisted by rage, Gaunt's shade spoke:

"You may be powerful. You might be the strongest wizard to have ever lived. But there is more to magic than power and there is more to power than combat strength."

"That sounds like what a sore loser would say," Harry said mockingly and swished his wand at him.

Smoke-like shackles came out from the Elder Wand and clamped onto the arms, the legs, and the neck of Gaunt's ghost. It was a spell that Harry had learned in his previous life for the sole purpose of capturing Voldemort's soul in the eventuality where he tried to escape after his physical body got destroyed.

If Gaunt did not know the purpose of the smoke-like chains that had captured him or if he had simply resigned to his fate, Harry was not sure what to think because Gaunt's shade started smiling at him. Then, he began speaking in a language that Harry could not understand. But if Bellatrix had been there, she would have recognized it - it was old Egyptian.

Eventually, Gaunt's shade's chant stopped and he said, this time in English:

"He who last laughs, laughs the longest. I am immortal. I cannot be destroyed. You may have won this battle. But I won the war."

Leaving those parting words behind, Gaunt's shade started to disintegrate in tiny particles of light.

A bad feeling crept up into Harry's heart. Were Gaunt's words merely what a sore loser would say? How did he even escape from his Soul-Binding Curse? He could not understand what was going on.

But as on cue, his heart throbbed painfully and fell down on his knees.

'What the..?!'

That was his last coherent thought. His hands gripping at his chest, Harry fell to his side, his body convulsing spasmodically on the ground. A few moments later, his heart ceased beating and his body stopped moving. Harry Potter was dead.