"You?" Fred asked, confusion rising from his voice as he stared at a Querell. Querrel was the thief they were worried about?
"Oh, yes, it was me," Querell said without a stutter. He'd been faking it? "i'm honestly disappointed, I expected Potter so I could finish what I started at that Quidditch match.
"You," Fred said, knocking an arrow, "you were the one who Imperiused me and George."
"Fred," Hermione whispered, "calm down."
"No," George said, making hand signs as he went, "this bastard made us try to hurt Harry. Raiton!"
At the same moment, Fred loosed his arrow, flying straight and true. Querell waved his hand, and both attacks were deflected by an invisible forcefield.
"I'm guessing you're also the one who let in the Voidsent?"
"Voidsent? Is that what those creatures are called? No, that wasn't me, though I wasn't unwilling to take advantage of it. I would have come here if it wasn't suspect for a teacher to be on the front line. But with just about every teacher injured, even the 'great' Albus Dumbledore, it felt like a good time to make my move."
"But you lost a hand," Neville said.
"Simple severing charm to my own wrist, got me out of the fighting but let me observe it. They can be quite strong in the right hands. Watch, diffindo!"
Ron barely got the barrier up around Neville in time, the severing charm cutting deep into the barrier and creating a spiderweb of cracks across it. Fred fired three more arrows, only to hit the invisible barrier and be repulsed. Hermione followed it up with several fireballs, all of which washed over the shield. Ron joined in, casting Broil on the barrier to no effect.
"Now, now children, mind your manners! I am still your professor."
"You stopped being our professor when you betrayed Dumbledore's trust," Fred spat, then began to sing the Mage's Ballad, causing Querell to stagger back in his barrier clutching his ears while everyone else became more invigorated.
"Stop him!" a high pitched voice came from behindbehimd Querell, and the dark wizard raised his wand, speaking firmly and clearly, "Crucio!"
Half a second before the spell could hit him, someone shoved him to the side. Fred watched in horror as Neville locked up for a second, before falling to the ground writhing in pain, hid screams echoing in Fred's ears. Ron formed a barrier around Neville and the screaming stopped, leaving Neville panting for breath.
"Alright," Fred said, eyes ablaze, "We're bringing this bastard down."
—
Hermione launched into a barrage of Firagas as soon as Fred said that, each one smashing against the invisible barrier around Querell to no more effecteffects than Fred's arrows, George's Ninjutsu, or the Broils Ron was throwing out between healing Neville.
The Reaper was lying flat on his back, gasping for air and eyes wide. That just filled Hermione with even more rage and made her push the spells all the harder.
"Sectumsempra," Querell said, almost casually, slashing his wand at Hermione leaving a deep cut across her chest. Ron's fairy immediately flew over to her and began to magically stitch the wound shut. Hermione staggered back. The group split up as far as they could, making a half circle around the mirror Querell was standing in front of… Wait, maybe…
Hermione threw a Firaga at the mirror, watching it bounce off and hit Querell full blast. Two different screams of pain came from Querell, and when he finally put out the flames with a wave of his wand, it was to burnt robes and a completely destroyed turban.
"What the fuck," George said, stopping for a second to stare at the Querrel, from across the room, Fred did the same, and in the mirror, Hermione could see… Could see-
A snake-like human face stuck out from the back of Querell's head, red eyes glaring and slit like nostrils flaring. Hermione thought back to all her lessons with Harry and G'raha, breathed in deeply, and then, for the first time, cast flare on the monstrosity that had been teaching them for the last year. The barrier finally shattered, and Querrel screamed in pain again as Hermione's Aether ran dry. The others wasted no time capitalizing on the attack, George covering Querell in water before dropping a lightning bolt on him, Fred nicking him with cursed arrows, Ron sending Broils at him as Neville sat up.
Then Querrel stabbed his wand at Hermione and hissed, "Crucio!"
Immediately it felt like someone had taken a hot branding iron to every nerve in her body at once. She dropped Blade's Furry and fell, writhing and screamed in pain. Even as everyone unloaded into Querell, he didn't seem to want to stop until she was unconscious from the pain.
—
Neville sat up, ghosts of pain aching across his body as Ron began pouring healing magic into Hermione. Gripping his scythe tighter, he forced himself to stand. Power, he needed more power.
I can give it to you, the Voidsent whispered in his mind, but you're not ready for it. We'll both be left weak and defenseless when it's done.
He didn't care. Give it to him. He wasn't going to lose his friends the way he lost his parents. He was going to stop Querell.
The Avatar rose from him unbidden, wrapping around him and fusing with him. Neville felt a surge of strength as his and the Voidsent's Aether mixed. Lowering his legs, Neville kicked off the ground and appeared within Querell's guard within a second, scythe cleaving into his chest and bouncing off bone. George and Ron hit it with a blast of fire and broil together as Neville rushed behind Querell. The snake-like face gave him a sinister smile and said, "Hello, Neville Longbottom. How are your parents? I heard some of my followers paid them a visit after my downfall."
No, there was no way. This could be- "You Know Who?"
"Oh, yes," Voldemort crooned, "did you think me dead, Neville? Did you hope that much? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but-
Neville, we don't have time for this. Every second the link becomes harder to maintain!"
"-but I'm alive, a shadow of myself, but alive-"
Neville cut him off by swinging his scythe through the shoulder of the arm holding his wand at Hermione, who had descended to vomiting on the floor in pain, with lightning speed. Voldemort and Querell both gave a roar of pain. A gesture of his remaining hand, to one that he had cut off during the Voidsent attack, and all the kids were bound and dragged in a line in front of Querell-Voldemort.
"Let's see," Voldemort said as Querell raised a hand, "I think we'll start with you, Longbottom. You'll be with your parents soon. It'll be sweet, three Longbottoms lying in bed together, until your bodies give out. Crucio!"
George, who was next to Neville, did his best to throw himself in the way of the curse. It hit him on the head, and Neville was forced to hear George scream in pain and strain against the bonds, some spasms snapping the bonds around his arms and chest. Luckly, it was only for a minute, George was shoved out of the way and the arm pointing at Neville, "You'll get your turn, Weasley. I'll make an example of you all. That if this is what a shade of Lord Voldemort can do, he will destroy anyone who faces him, even the Great. Harry. Potter."
"Even at your strongest, Harry would be ten times the man you are," Neville spat out, screwing his eyes up in preparation for the pain to come.
"Hey, shite for brains," George croaked, "Gotcha."
A fuma shuriken flew straight and true, cleaving off the weakened hand and lodging itself in the wall."
"YOU-!" Voldemort screamed, only for it to be cut off by the flames parting themselves, Harry in purple and black robes with a hat covering his left eye walking through with Alisaie and G'raha.
"Sorry to interrupt," Harry's voice was icy, his visible eye taking on a menacing yellow glow, "but it appears you've been hurting my students."
"Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed, "So good to see you again, after all this time."
"Do I know you?" Harry retorted, "actually, I don't care, you'll be gone in a moment, and then I'll forget about you. Goodbye-"
"You think you can defeat Lord Voldem-"
"-Despair."
A pillar of flames swallowed Querell-Voldemort whole, and when it faded, there was nothing left but ash on the wind.
"Raha, you mind teleporting everyone to the Hospitalto Hospital Wing?
"Of course," G'raha tapped his staff on the ground and next thing Neville knew, they were in the Hospital Wing.
"What happened?" Madame Pomfrey asked, immediately rushing over.
"Cruciatus," Neville croaked, "Professor Querell, he was evil, trying to get the Philosopher's Stone. We stopped him, but Hermione, George and me were hit by the Cruciatas."
"You three, in beds, now," Pomfrey ordered, "Potter, go to Dumbledore, he'll want to hear about this."
—
Harry entered Dumbledore's office with a tired sigh, walking towards, "I'm guessing I'm in trouble?"
"Not necessarily, I will be having a long talk with all of you about going to a teacher before going on a dangerous adventure, but you, G'raha and Alisaie went along to save them. Still, if you think you deserve a punishment, there is a house in London, quite old and quite large, that is in desperate need of repair and restoration. It will be the Scions detention to fix it up. Does that sound fair to you?
"Still feels too lenient to me," Harry answered honestly.
"Oh, trust me, it is an appropriate punishment,". Dumbledore said, "and I can't be too hard on you, you banished a Dark Wizard from the school with this escapade."
"He said I knew him, called himself Lord Voldemort. The name sounds familiar but…"
"Voldemort is the one who killed your parents. I expect he would rather like to see you dead too, especially after tonight."
"I'm pretty sure I killed him."
"Ah, but killing him has never been the problem, else he would have vanished after failing to kill you. I suspect Voldemort has found some way to make himself immortal."
"Yeah, well, he'll regret that in the end. I knew several immortals, it wasn't all that it's cracked up to be from what they said."
"Very true," Dumbledore said, "the longer we run from death, the harder it chases us. It's those that accept Death that find true peace. Now, you've had a long day, Harry, I would suggest getting some sleep."
Harry left Dumbledore's office, calling Alisaie on the Link Pearl. He just wanted to spend all day cuddling.