The Only One He Ever Feared

John stared at the archway, completely dazed, Harry's yelling barely reaching his ears. Sirius was gone. Despite John's best efforts, he still fell through the archway. John momentarily considered joining him, throwing himself through the veil and ridding himself and the world of his uselessness, but Kingsley holding his arms and Sherlock's panicked thrill in his head kept him rooted to the spot. He slowly became aware of Dumbledore and Mad-Eye still duelling the remaining Death Eaters and numbly watched as they were Immobilised and gathered in the centre of the room.

Kingsley was forced to let go of John and continue Sirius' duel with Bellatrix, but John didn't move, not even as curses whipped past him. It wasn't until Kingsley hit the ground yelling in pain that John looked around properly.

Bellatrix had turned tail and was running back up the stone steps, dodging a spell from Dumbledore.

'Harry - no!' Lupin yelled, but Harry was already chasing after her.

Before he could even think, John's legs were moving and he was following Harry, with Dean close behind them.

They all sprinted back through the brain room, but Dean's concern was no longer with Harry and John. They both continued on after Bellatrix, but Dean skidded to a stop next to Cas, who was still lying on the floor with the others.

'Cas?' Dean said, kneeling down and shaking Cas's shoulder, but he didn't respond. He was deathly pale, more black liquid had trickled from his nose, ears, and the corner of his mouth. 'Cas?' Dean repeated, his voice cracking.

'He's still alive,' Sherlock said quietly, crawling over to them, feeling his way along.

Dean picked up Cas's limp hand. 'Wake up,' he murmured. 'Please.'

Cas didn't move.

'Come on, Cas, you can do it,' Dean said desperately. 'Please wake up.' Cas couldn't speak, or open his eyes, but Dean felt the faintest squeeze on his fingers and gasped. 'That's it,' Dean said. 'Just keep squeezing my hand, I'm right here.'

Sherlock sat back, staring, unseeing, into space.

'You all right?' Dean asked?

'I don't know…' Sherlock mumbled. Dean had never seen him so uncertain. 'They're still chasing Bellatrix…' Sherlock winced.

'What?'

Sherlock shook his head. 'Harry's trying to cast the Cruciatus Curse.' He felt it affecting John, the visions reverberating between them, but John kept going. Neither were sure why John was still following Harry, but the deep terror drawing him on felt sickeningly familiar to Sherlock.

Dumbledore dashed past them at a speed that shouldn't have been possible for someone his age, but they paid him no heed.

Suddenly, Sherlock went rigid and all the colour drained from his face.

'What?' Dean said, alarmed.

'He's here,' Sherlock said, his voice trembling.

'Who is?' But Dean needn't have asked. The look on Sherlock's face told him the answer.

Sherlock shoved himself to his feet.

'Where are you going?' said Dean.

'I have to get John,' Sherlock said, turning towards the door.

'You can't,' Dean protested. 'Sherlock, you're blind.'

'I don't care, I remember the way.'

Dean leapt up and grabbed hold of Sherlock. 'What are you going to do, just walk in there and grab him? You can't see!'

'But he'll get hurt-'

'You can't help him. I know it's hard, but you just can't,' Dean insisted. 'Even when you could see, you wouldn't stand a chance against him, and you know it.'

Sherlock choked down a sob, feeling John's fear as he hid behind the glittering remains of the golden statue in the Atrium.

'The best thing you can do is wait here. Dumbledore's on his way. John would only be distracted by you wandering around trying to find him. You have to let him hide, stay out of the way.'

Sherlock bit his lip, pulling against Dean's grip, but he was right.

'Now sit your ass down, and if you make me let go of Cas again, I'll kill you myself.'

Sherlock sunk back down to the floor and held his head in his hands, feeling John's heart leap as Dumbledore finally entered the room. Cold spread through them as Voldemort shot killing curse after killing curse at Dumbledore.

To Sherlock's surprise, John gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain and colour exploding in his head, and yanked Harry out of the way of all the spells being deflected in their direction.

John huddled behind the now-headless golden statue of the wizard that had been in the fountain, hands over his ears. Every spell made his head pulse, but he chanced a look around the statue at Voldemort.

His scarlet eyes blazed over a silver shield he'd conjured.

'You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore? He called, his voice cold. 'Above such brutality, are you?'

'We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,' Dumbledore said calmly, walking towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world. 'Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-'

John shivered at his words.

'There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!' Voldemort snarled.

'You are quite wrong,' said Dumbledore, still closing in on Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. 'Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness-'

A jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. The centaur statue from the fountain, now missing an arm, galloped in front of Dumbledore and took the blast, shattering into a hundred pieces. Before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A thin long flame flew from the tip, wrapping itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed as though Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and turned, hissing ferociously, to face Dumbledore.

Voldemort vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike -

There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where the golden statues had stood.

Without thinking, John raised his wand and shot a weak Stunning spell at Voldemort. Not aiming to hit, just distract, but he still heard Sherlock's voice screaming in his head, and he dropped his wand, falling to his knees.

Voldemort didn't seem to notice the spell at all, and another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand.

Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole; he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one, long fluid movement - the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.

For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass -

Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.

John felt a cold rush pass him by, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He turned to look at Harry, his heart pounding wildly.

'What?' said Harry. A moment later, he cried out in pain and clutched at his scar.

John took a step back from Harry, staring in horror as he shimmered before John's eyes.

'Kill me now, Dumbledore…' The words came out of Harry's mouth, with his voice, but they didn't belong to him.

John shuddered.

'If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy…'

'Leave him alone!' John blurted out, and grabbed his head as it was once again filled with Sherlock's echoing shouting.

Suddenly, the fireplaces all lit up with green flame and Harry went limp, falling heavily to the floor.

Voldemort reappeared and pulled Bellatrix from underneath the statue she had been pinned by. Just as the room flooded with Ministry officials, they both disappeared, but not before several people, including Cornelius Fudge, saw them both plainly.

Dumbledore strode over to Harry and John, kneeling down beside Harry, waiting for him to wake.

'Are you all right, Harry?' he asked, as soon as Harry stirred and put his glasses back on.

'Yes,' said Harry, shaking violently.

'I saw him, Mr Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who!' a man with a ponytail shouted.

'I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!' gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak. 'Merlin's beard - here - here! - In the Ministry of Magic! Great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my word - how can this be?'

'If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius,' said Dumbledore, rising to his feet, announcing his presence, 'you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them.'

'Dumbledore!' gasped Fudge. 'You - here - I - I -'

Mycroft, spotting John, extricated himself from the gathered crowd and hurried over to them. He was also in his pyjamas, and picked John's wand up for him.

'Sherlock?' Mycroft muttered, pressing the wand back into John's hand.

'Downstairs,' John said numbly. The babble of magic and voices making his head feel fuzzy.

'Dawlish, Williamson,' Mycroft commanded, beckoning to them. 'Come with me.'

Two more wizards left the crowd and followed Mycroft out of the Atrium.

'Dumbledore, you - you will need to tell me exactly - the Fountain of Magical Brethren - ' Fudge stammered as John helped Harry to his feet. 'What happened?' He stared around at the scattered remains of the golden statues.

'We can discuss that after I have sent Harry and John back to Hogwarts,' said Dumbledore.

Fudge stared at them both as if having only just noticed them.

'They - here?' said Fudge. 'Why?'

'I shall explain everything,' repeated Dumbledore, 'when they are back at school.'

He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, 'Portus.' The Head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.

'Now see here, Dumbledore!' Fudge blustered. 'You haven't got authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that in front of the Minister for Magic, you - you-'

His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.

'You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts,' said Dumbledore. 'You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me.

Fudge turned pink. 'I - you -'

Dumbledore turned his back on him.

'Take this Portkey,' he said to Harry and John, placing the golden statue head in Harry's hands. John put his hand on top. 'I shall see you in half an hour. One… two… three…'

The polished wooden floor disappeared from beneath their feet and they flew into a whirlwind of colour and sound…

Hi everyone, sorry for the long gap. Happy tenth anniversary to the series, thanks to all of you who are still around and being so patient with me :) See you next time!