FicWad

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, then it might well belong to J.K.R or to some of her affiliates. Or to some random people out there. I only claim my OC:s and plot.

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Chapter five: Desperate Duelling



"Who are you?"


Harry blinked behind his black mask. He had nearly forgotten the Auror witch. "Well... some of my acquaintances call me Dark Knight."


"A code-name?"


Harry snorted. "Of course. What did you expect?"


"I wasn't asking your name, I was asking..." She didn't manage to finish her sentence as a black haired woman entered the room. Tonks' eyes went wide as saucers when she recognized the woman. Bellatrix.


Harry could recognize the Death Eater too. But unlike Tonks, he knew that she should be dead for years now. Damn it. They are like cockroaches.


A silvery flash of light erupted from her wand. Harry knew that spell, it was a mass stunner. A hex created by Duel-Master Flitwick in the beginning of this century. Harry cast the counter-curse near instinctively. Without a wand Tonks couldn't do anything to avoid her aunt's spell. Her body slumped down on the floor.


Harry launched a blood-jellying curse, which Bellatrix easily avoided by twisting her torso so that the spell rocketed by her, simultaneously casting her own curse. A black bolt of tainted energy hit a purple shield with tremendous force. Shower of black and purple sparks erupted from the damaged shield. Harry knew it wouldn't be able to take another one of those shadowy bolts.


So Harry spun away from Bellatri's next curse, releasing his shield spell, and launched a powerful reductor curse at Bellatrix. Almost simultaneously, a jerking motion of his left hand send his sword spinning through the air, aimed directly at her throat.


Bellatrix grinned madly as she quickly conjured a silver shield which placed itself between her and incoming attacks, clearly enjoying the fight. The sword injected itself on Bellatrix's conjured shield on which the reductor curse left only a slight scorch mark.


Harry continued his attack, but the silver shield hovered front of her and moved to block all his curses. He couldn't get any spell through it. Apparently the situation required an extreme measures.


He ducked left, barely avoiding her flaying curse. "Cinisafunis!" he yelled. Harry knew that loud verbalisation was generally considered as a bad form, but it allowed him to push bit more power into the spell.


Brilliant reddish orange ropes erupted from the tip of his wand, forming a net and flying towards the Death Eater. The conjured ropes radiated terrible heat, causing the room temperature to rise few decrees.


Bellatrix whirled her wand in a complicated motion, blue sparks erupting from its tip. The air front of her suddenly solidified, forming a glass-like wall. It was a spell created by her master, Lord Voldemort. She smiled, her master really favoured her above all others.


The Ember Net charm hit the wall and the shield with loud hissing sound. The silver shield melted in seconds, and the molten drops of metal vanished before they hit the floor as the magic which had created them waned. The now red hot sword gave a loud 'clang' as it hit the floor. The air wall managed bit better, though the glowing ropes of magical energy still managed to burn their way though it. The spell had, however, lost its momentum and the ropes hit the floor front of Bellatrix. She was still smirking and completely unharmed.


With a flick of her wand what was remaining of her wall vanished. A second later she had cast a purple, entrails-rotting curse at him. If that spell were to hit him, he would be a goner, as it was almost impossible to cure.


Harry conjured a stone boulder to front of him. The curse hit it silently, leaving no mark. He quickly rose back to his feet and sidestepped as a tunnelling charm went straight through the boulder, releasing a faint whooshing sound and filling the air with grey stone dust. Harry had to admit, the bitch was good.


They exchanged few curses, mostly Dark or otherwise maliciously wicked, before Harry got an idea. If his silver hand had protected him from a Killing Curse, it should work on other curses too...


Harry didn't cast a shield or dodge Bellatrix's next curse, his silver hand snatched the pulsating yellow bolt from midair. The curse exploded with a bright flash of yellow light as it impacted harmlessly into his enchanted hand. A castration curse? That bitch! At the same time his own heart stopper curse erupted from his wand tip. Dark magic of the highest order. Harry smiled wickedly, his eyes were burning red behind his black mask. Casting that spell always gave a tremendous feeling of power.


Surprise was evident at her face, but she wasted no time. Bellatrix's wand rose and she cast a curse at him but weirdly she made no move to avoid his curse. As Harry sidestepped her curse she brought her other hand front of her. A ring in her left index finger flashed with pink light and a semitransparent glowing pink shield, half foot in diameter, appeared in front of her hand. His curse hit it and was rebounded directly towards his heart.


Harry's eyes widened and he frantically dodged to his right. Damn it. She has her trinkets too. His own rebounded curse rocketed by him, missing by a less than an inch. He knew he had no chance to avoid her next spell. He mentally braced himself for incoming pain.


Luckily it was only a banishing charm. She quickly followed it by a sticking charm. A second later Harry hit the wall with a loud, wet crack. White hot pain seared through him and air was blasted out of his lungs. At least few of his ribs had been broken. He didn't know how many. Hopefully his spine and internal organs were not damaged. He found himself unable to move as her spell glued him to the wall. Unfortunately even his wand was glued to the wall. He was unable to cast spells. And knowing that bitch, it was probably a permanent sticking charm.


"You are one of the Kheiron's friends?" she said with a victorious smile on her full, red lips. "It's heart warming to see such loyalty towards my cousin-in-law." Her voice was filled with unicorn-pure sarcasm. "You must be very brave to come here."


Harry gritted his teeth in pain. "And you must be a psychotic bitch to be here with Voldemort." He knew it was stupid taunt her, but it was not like he had anything to lose anymore. Besides, defiance was much preferred to grovelling. And it was not like grovelling would help him at all against people like her. She was probably getting orgasms by the very idea of torturing somebody. That sadistic bitch.


Her eyes narrowed and she lifted her wand. Harry closed his eyes, knowing very well what spell she was about to cast. After all, the Cruciatus Curse was Death Eaters' favourite right after the Killing Curse.


"Cruc-" Bellatrix begun, but suddenly her voice was cut of and a popping sound of a portkey echoed in the room. Harry opened his eyes to see that Bellatrix wasn't there anymore. She had vanished. When he turned his head to his left, he could see Tonks watching him intently, her hand raised. Apparently she had already awoken.


Suddenly it all clicked. She had activated the portkey he had given to her previously and then threw it at Bellatrix. Relief flowed into him, and he released the breath he had realised he was holding. It was very relaxing to know that you weren't about to die.


"We are now even," was all she said. Harry smirked in response. In a back of his mind he could feel the life-dept dissolving. It was probably one of the most quickly paid life-debts in recent history. The dept had existed less than ten minutes.


*


Rodolphus sidestepped and the Killing Curse flew past him. He drew his hidden, spare wand and cast a powerful freezing curse at Kheiron.


Kheiron nearly sighed as the hastily intoned curse missed him by two foots. The Levistus curse was a very powerful and very illegal freezing curse, but it wouldn't help you if you can't hit a stationary enemy. With a flick of his wand he conjured a shimmering purple shield which absorbed Death Eater's barrage of Black magic. "I haven't seen many people with faster reflexes... seen quite a few with better accuracy, cousin," he taunted as he rose shakily to his feet.


A Killing Curse shattered his shield and he was forced to dodge. He bent backwards and the sickly green curse sailed past him, missing his nose by few inches. Before he hit the floor he cast a stunner, which Rodolphus easily avoided. Kheiron's banishing charm, which he had managed cast even before the stunner had zoomed past the Death Eater, blasted his distant cousin to the stonewall behind him.


Before Rodolphus had a chance to recover from the hit, a severing ribbon went through his chest. The curse ripped his heart muscles and collapsed his left lung. A terrible pain surged through him before the merciful darkness overtook him and he felt no more.


Kheiron closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He was now last of his line. Not that he had ever truly cared about his family, but still...


He rose to his feet and nearly fell again. He was still shakily after those Cruciatus curses. He really hated that spell.


He gathered his strength for a few minutes before leaving the room. As soon as he step out the cell he heard a cold, familiar voice. "Ah, Kheiron. So nice of you to be here today."


He turned towards the voice. "Well, hello Voldemort."


A tall, dark figure stepped out of the shadows. "So, you killed your cousin. That's unfortunate. He had served me well, even if he wasn't nearly as talented as Bella."


Kheiron laughed. "Talented in bed, you mean."


"I cannot say anything about his sexual expertise, but I guess that you can soon," Voldemort said evenly and pointed his wand towards Rodolphus' dead body in the cell behind Kheiron. "Alacritasi Corpus."


A black and green sphere of malicious energy shot out of the Dark Lord's wand. When it reached the dead body, the sphere shattered and tentacles of Dark magic surrounded the body, releasing waves of profane power. The newborn Inferius opened its eyes.


Kheiron twirled his wand and the cell door slammed shut, magically sealing itself. "I don't think so. Avada Kedavra."


The Dark Lord muttered something under his breath and a soft golden glow surrounded him. The Killing Curse simply ceased to exist as soon as it touched the golden halo. A second after that the glow ebbed away.


Kheiron blinked. "Well. That was unexpected."


Voldemort let out a short laugh. "Indeed. It's a pity, but you must die now." He brought his wand down in a slashing movement, releasing a twisting ribbon of purple light. An entrails-expelling curse. It was a very nasty piece of Dark magic. If Kheiron remembered right, that particular curse was invented by an insane Scottish sorcerer who had wanted a spell that would instantly create haggish when fired at sheep...


Kheiron conjured a large slab of stone to intercept the curse. After the curse had harmlessly impacted and dissipated to the stone, spraying small amount of debris around, he cast a supercharged blasting curse into the stone slab, which promptly exploded with a terrible cracking sound, discharging a shower of sharp stone fragments towards the self-styled Lord Voldemort.


The Dark Lord had, however, been expecting this and had already cast his Proteus charm. Voldemort was smiling behind his shield as he send a Killing Curse towards Kheiron, who barely had time to dodge it. He followed it with a fire-screamer charm.


A large column of white-hot fire shot out of Dark Lord's wand and met a shimmering shield of pale blue energy. Everywhere where the flames touched walls or floor, the stone melted and cracked due the intense heat. After the fire died out the shield vanished. As soon as the Dark Lord's spell ended, Kheiron cancelled his shield. It wouldn't do to waste magic when one was in a duel like this.


Kheiron knew his chances of winning were small. He was few decades older and perhaps even more learned than the Dark lord, but Voldemort was magically more powerful and far more experienced dueller. But still, he had a chance, and he wasn't about to give up.


Two pairs of crimson eyes met and their gazes locked. Both Dark wizards instantly attacked with Legilimency. The both attacks encountered near similar, near impenetrable Occlumency walls. Neither of them bothered with subtler forms of mind defences. After all, they weren't trying to deceive each other, and therefore there was no need to try hiding the fact they were using Occlumency. It was simply a battle with both sides intending to fry each others brains.


Neither of them managed to gain upper hand.


The mental battle ended as quickly as it had started as Kheiron sent a barrage of pyroprojetile charms towards Voldemort. The blazing bolts of magic met an invisible shield midair and exploded into balls of fire, showering the room with fiery sparks.


Voldemort made a sweeping motion with his yew wand and a long red rope flew at Kheiron, who managed to vanish it midair before it would have entangled him.


A heartbeat later the Dark Lord had again cast a Killing Curse. Kheiron cursed inwardly as he saw the bolt of green light speeding towards him. He quickly conjured a raven on its path.


The green light hit the raven that immediately started to fall downwards. Kheiron dodged Voldemort's severing ribbon and fired his own curse at the falling raven. Midnight blue bolt of pulsating light hit the raven to its back, blasting it towards the Dark Lord. A second later the blood within the raven exploded, ripping its small body apart in a tremendous blast of black fire.


Before the black fire had died out two severing ribbons emerged from the fire, speeding towards Kheiron, who quickly cast a shield charm. The first charm hit the shield with a gong like sound and was redirected towards the ceiling, but the second spell went straight trough his shield... and stomach.


Kheiron screamed and fell to his knees as pain surged trough him. Blood flowed from the gaping wound on his stomach, and the exit wound was even larger. "Viscusar," he quickly mumbled the incantation on flesh-crafting charm. His wand started to glow in familiar electric blue light and the wound vanished as suddenly as it had been created. But still, he wasn't quick enough.


"Accio wand." The wand flew from his hand to Voldemort's, who was grinning victoriously. Next sweep of Dark Lord's wand conjured green ropes which tightened themselves around Kheiron.


"So this it how it ends, Kheiron." If he didn't know better, Kheiron could have swore that there was a tinge melancholy in the Dark Lord's voice.


"It seems so," Kheiron muttered in defeat. I didn't even manage to harm him. Damn it! "You have become better, which is quite a surprise considering that you spent nearly ten years as a wraith." His hand slowly moved towards a storage rune hidden behind his ear. One last try...


The Dark Lord was smiling annoyingly. "I have always managed to exceed all expectations." Inwardly Kheiron shook his head. Why do antagonists always begin to speak about themselves when they are about to administer the killing blow? Not that Kheiron was criticizing his opponents methods. True, nobody wanted to get killed. However, this was just way too cliché. Well, what am I complaining about? This gives me a chance to take him with me.


"That's not necessary anything positive, Riddle," Kheiron snarled. The Dark Lord had grown very strong, far stronger than he would have ever thought. Still, it didn't mean that he couldn't kill Voldemort, it merely required desperate measures. But then again, he was already about to die. At least in this way he could die with his dignity and honour intact. He pushed the tiniest amount of magic into the rune, which immediately vanished with near silent puff, leaving only a small glass pebble on its wake. The glass pearl fell onto his waiting hand.


"You know, Kheiron, you could have been great," Lord Voldemort begun, shaking his head slightly. "You were a great help for me when we studied Spellsilver. With your-"


Suddenly a perfect, whirling sphere of pulsating energy had formed itself less than an inch above Kheiron's palm. "What's that?"


Voldemort's eyes widened as he realised what his opponent was holding. He had no idea how Kheiron had managed to smuggle one here. A Globe of Thanathos. The actual item was no larger than a pearl, it only formed that larger sphere when it was about to be released. And when it is released it explodes with magic consuming white fire. Everything mundane and magical nearby will be destroyed in a heartbeat. They had been used in the famous Purging of Atlantis. Well, it would have been famous if the records of the purge wouldn't have been purged...


Kheiron grinned like a madman. "At least I can take you with me, Tom. See you in hell," he spat and the sphere exploded in a brilliant pulse of light, intending to destroy everything within hundredth feet radius.


Voldemort yelled something incoherent. He could allow it to end this way. Not that he would truly die, he was immortal after all. But he dreaded to think what effect would the magic eating fire have on his spirit. It could theoretically reduce him to a mere muggle, and that was something he found completely unacceptable. Magic was his life. And it was simply way too disgraceful end. Death he could accept, even though it was something that he had fought all his life against. He had always known that his quest to conquer the wizarding world was not without its risks.


The Dark Lord pushed himself with all his magic, empowered by anger and desperation, against the wards. With a terrible crack the wards woven around the prison gave up and he Disapparated barely a nanosecond before he would have been incinerated. If there had been anybody to witness this, Voldemort would have been marked as the first person to ever Apparate through class five anti-Apparation wards.


*


A terrible explosion rocketed the High Security Prison. It wiped out more than half of the whole building in a blinding maelstrom of magic-craving fire. The rest of the prison crumbled down within minutes, leaving only smouldering ruins.


The Aurors and other people from MLE surrounding the prison could only watch the destruction. It was a pure luck that their attack hadn't yet begun, and looking from the recent developments, it never would.


The director of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones couldn't understand what was happening. Why would the Death Eaters suddenly explode the whole building? It made no sense, considering that she hadn't yet sent the Aurors in. Especially when all detecting spells said that there were still Death Eaters inside at the time of the explosion.


Suddenly a cracking sound was heard. Someone had just Apparated. Everyone within vicinity had their wand pointed at the newcomer.


She could instantly recognise the woman. "Auror Tonks. We though you were dead," she said. And it was true. They hadn't been expecting to see her again. Especially not after they realised that her squad had been infiltrated. Tonks was wearing a bloodied and partly burned Death Eater robe that was too large for her. Amelia could see her red Auror uniform under the robes was ripped. She could far too easily guess what had happened. A wave of hatred surged through her. The thing she couldn't even begin to guess was how she managed to escape. And thus she voiced her question. "How did you escape?"


Tonks turned towards her boss. "It was him! It was the boy who I fought at the Gringotts who set me free."


Her answer raised more questions than it answered. The Papers would have a field day.