FicWad

Disclaimer: Life is never logical. Things are never what they seem to be or what they should be.

Chapter Twenty Three: Face to Face

It was September the First, right before her sixth year at Hogwarts, and to say Hermione’s mind was as far away from Hogwarts as possible was an understatement to say the last. Harry had been missing for over seven weeks and despite the fact that people were looking, through every possible avenue, every possible lead, nothing turned up. This was kept from the Ministry of Magic, they had no idea that Harry was gone, the official story that they had been fed was that Harry had left to train on an undisclosed island to prepare to the inevitable battle with Voldemort. Hermione had demanded to be informed immediately had anything occurred, but her Uncle Antonio said that the entire organization was working around the clock. There was nothing to indicate that Harry was dead, but there was also nothing to reassure Hermione that her best friend was alive.

“Hermione?” asked Luna quietly as she entered the compartment, with Neville following closely behind. “I’d thought Harry and Blaise would be with you.”

“Luna, did you read the Daily Prophet?” asked Neville. “It says that Harry’s gone to an uncharted island to train, so he can finish off You-Know-Who again.”

“No, I never read that paper,” commented Luna. “But I did hear about that, I’m sure it will fool most of the Wizarding World, but now that I think about it, it was obviously a planted story to cover up something else. So, what’s the deal with Harry?”

Hermione remained silent, but her silence was all the confirmation that Luna felt she needed.

“Harry’s missing,” prodded Luna perceptively and Hermione just nodded in a distracted manner.

“Yes, he must have gone out and done something really stupid, he should know better after last time!” snapped Hermione, taking Neville aback, but Luna just stood there, calm.

“Please don’t talk about Harry like that, Hermione,” said Luna calmly. “Harry’s far from stupid, his brain just works on a different level then most of us can comprehend and that can lead to some rather unfortunate situations.”

“And I’m sure you have him all figured out,” responded Hermione in a bit of an agitated tone.

“No, not entirely,” admitted Luna. “I have a general idea though, but he’ll get out whatever situation he got into.”

“Yeah he will, after what happened during first year, that proved that Harry can handle whatever You-Know-Who throws at him,” added Neville.

“There was a rumor that Blaise’s father went missing too,” said Hermione, suddenly, remembering it for the first time, she brushed it aside because she was so worried about Harry. “And if I know Blaise, she’d go after him and she might have been captured.”

“So you think this is connected somehow?” asked Luna.

“No I don’t think that,” replied Hermione shortly. “I know.”

The Great Hall was filled with the usual amount of chatter, as far as ninety five percent of the Wizarding World knew, there was no reason to believe that something was wrong with Harry. As for Blaise, she was not that all liked with most of the Slytherin house, as she did not hold the same “all Mudbloods should be tortured and killed” attitudes as most of the house, so the majority of the school paid her absence little mind, other than the teachers of course.

Flamel rose to his feet, from the expression on his face, there was no reason to believe that this was not a normal year.

“Students and faculty, welcome to another year at...” started Flamel but the ancient Headmaster and legendary wizard was cut off by a loud sound that could be heard through both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, that shook the entire Great Hall and perhaps all of Hogwarts. Another powerful impact, that shook the entire school. “Prefects, get all the students to the Common Rooms, to safety, no time to dawdle, someone is trying to break down the wards.”

It was a sea of insanity, as prefects, along with the Head Boy and Head Girl, began to round up the students, as many explosions could be heard from outside.

“This way, hurry, come on!” shouted one of the prefects in a frantic voice.

“What’s going on?” asked Sirius as another loud explosion rattled the Great Hall, causing several students to fall.

“No time to explain now, everyone work with me to attempt to reinforce the protections, to drive out the intruders!” yelled Flamel in a commanding voice, as all of the teachers to line up, pointing their wands, but before they could use the proper spell work, each teacher was blasted backwards, landing hard from the backlash of magic from their attempts to seal the wards shut.

“It’s almost like someone has taken control of the magic around the school,” said Professor Flitwick.

“No, I doubt so, that’s supposed to be impossible,” argued McGonagall in a skeptical voice but Flamel shook his head.

“No, very possible, they would have to have a detailed building schematic on the wards around the castle and the power to break through them,” said Flamel, and the teachers looked taken aback at this grave piece of information. “You’d be surprised of what you can get a hold of when you wave enough gold under the noses of those goblins, but that’s not important right now, the protections must be reinforced before the protections are completely broken down.”

“I’d save you the trouble Flamel,” hissed the cold voice of Voldemort that echoed through the entire school. “You teachers have been completely locked out and out of your hands.”

“If he’s got the wards, we’re at his mercy,” muttered McGonagall.

“Hardly, I have little time to take control of Hogwarts, rather a capable individuals, my newest follower and my second in command, has taken control of your school,” announced Voldemort. “You have but precious minutes to surrender the school to him or you will face annihilation. In fact, a small sample of the power he holds over the school is about to take place right now. Now, as much as I’d like to stay and chat, I have the fall of the Ministry to oversee.”

Voldemort’s voice disappeared and several of the suits of armor around the Great Hall came to life. One of the suits raised its hand and a jet of blue light flew across the Great Hall, blowing the Slytherin Table into mere toothpicks, before the suits of armor quickly advanced on the teachers.

A large jet of orange light was blocked by Flitwick and reflected directly back at the suit of armor. Quickly, he dodged around, and a jet of white light flew, ripping it to shreds. On the other end, McGonagall managed to blast back the suit that she was fighting. The suit continued to advance on the Transfiguration professor, but she slowed it with a rust acceleration spell. Another wave of her wand and she transfigured the suit into a swarm of pigeons, taking it out of commission.

Sirius dodged around, as the helmet sent dangerous looking jets of green light towards him. Remus attempted to get behind armor, but it turned around. A blast of silver light went right at Remus, who dodged it, before Sirius and Remus fired blasting charms from either side, blasting the suit of armor, as Sprout had magically wrapped a plant vine around it, crushing the suit into scrap metal.

Flamel was left with the last suit and the old wizard moved surprisingly fast for his age, dodging the suit. He flicked his wrist back and forth three times. The suit of armor began to vibrate at the speed of light, before it abruptly fell apart.

“It may be prudent for us just to surrender,” said Narcissa, as the typical Slytherin, the Potions Mistress stayed off to the size, carefully surveying the fight and not attracting any attention.

“It may be prudent, but we’re condemning these children if we do so,” argued McGonagall defensively.

“Besides, we don’t know who this new follower of Voldemort is,” added Remus. “He’s obviously dangerous and extremely powerful if he took control of Hogwarts.”

“Yeah, I gathered that much, Moony,” said Sirius, as another explosion, as they all walked out towards the entrance hall, where the wooden doors were beginning to splinter open, before they completely were blown off the hinges, a burst of raw magical energy being release in the Great Hall. It took the collective efforts of all of the teachers and their shield charms to avoid being blow into smithereens. Off to the side, there were scorch marks on the castle walls where the magical explosion.

The dust began to clear and a figure began to walk towards them took all of the teachers aback. Standing in front of them, dressed in full Death Eater robes, without a mask on, his green eyes showing no hint of emotion, was none other than Harry Potter.

Right by the staircase leading to the Ravenclaw Common Room, Luna and Hermione, among others, looked down with absolutely mortified looks on their face, as when they were in the middle to getting to their Common Room, the staircase just vanished. Needless to say, several students fell, suffering a variety of severe injuries, depending on the height they fell. A few injured managed to pull themselves to their feet, but many were not so lucky, when the staircase reappeared right on top of them, crushing them instantly, killing dozens.

“This is so horrible, I want to go home,” wailed a second year girl, as the walls around them began to flash a multitude of colors.

“Don’t panic anyone,” said a seventh year prefect named Lucy Scrimgeour, the daughter of the current head of the Auror office, in a firm voice and the only Ravenclaw prefect not to perish in the stair malfunction. “Everything’s going to be okay…”

“How can you say that?” snapped another student, a fifth year. “My little sister was down there when the staircase reappeared, she’s dead, nothing’s going to be okay, I hope the bastard who did this receives the Dementor’s Kiss!”

“Inside the Common Room, we should be safe in there,” ordered Lucy, as she turned to face the Eagle Knocker on the door. However, instead of asking a question to allow them entrance, the knocker began to glow, causing a blinding blue light to fill the hallway, before a solid blast impacted the prefect in the chest and caused her to fly over the banisters. Several students watched her land in horror, before they screamed in absolute horror, running around.

“QUIET!” yelled Luna loudly, and they stopped suddenly at the surprisingly forceful voice from the normally quiet and reserved Luna. “Now, it’s obvious that running around like a chicken with your head cut off isn’t going to do anyone any good and might hurt more people. So, I would highly suggest not touching anything but the floor you’re standing on. Perhaps you haven’t figured it out, but something is rather off about the magic flowing within the walls of Hogwarts.”

The students remained still and rather quiet, as Luna turned to Hermione, who seemed to be contemplating something horrific over in her mind.

“Harry…no surely not,” muttered Hermione under her breath, the entire thought was absurd but could Harry have cracked, frustrated with his inability to defeat Voldemort successfully as quickly he wanted to, this second time around?

“There’s no easy answer,” said Luna calmly. “The events of the last couple of months, the last couple of years even have been rather peculiar, even for me.”

In the Entrance Hall, Harry advanced on the Great Hall, all of the teachers in shock, but Sirius was finally the one who found his voice.

“Harry, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” demanded Sirius, but Harry just regarded him with casual indifference, before responding.

“Serving the will of the Dark Lord and exterminating all of you filthy blood traitors,” said Harry cruelly. “It seems that we are at a bit of a stand still, as you are unsure whether or not to attack me. Well let me help you make on your minds.”

A loud sonic vibration spell ripped through the entire entrance hall, the shield charm just barely able to keep the brunt of the spell back, but it completely drove the teachers backwards and into the Great Hall, all of the chairs and tables over turned.

“We have to attack him, perhaps if we all work together, we can subdue him,” suggested McGonagall, who was rather felt rather uneasy about having to attack the son of two of her favorite students, but at that moment, McGonagall was blasted backwards and Harry vanished.

“He’s using school’s magic to cloak himself,” said Flamel as he fired a yellow orb into the air, that slightly revealed the outline of Harry, before several more spells were blasted, all of them reflected back at their attackers with the greatest of ease, as Harry reappeared, towards the back of the Great Hall, a rather bored expression etched on his face. Flitwick sent a stasis charm right at Harry, in an attempt to catch him off guard, but it was fired right back it him. Flitwick gave a small yelp, before he fell to the ground with a thud.

“STUPEFY!” yelled a set of voices, as many stunning spells hit Harry in the chest, but Harry didn’t even flinch, before he waved his arm, a gust of wind knocking the teachers back. McGonagall pulled herself back to her feet and proceeded to quickly transfigure a chair into a bear. The bear growled before it lunged at its prey, but Harry spun his arm. Golden circles materialized in the air and sliced directly through the bear, transforming it into confetti.

Harry vanished once again into thin air, before the Great Hall began to shoot multi color bolts of magic at the teachers.

“And exactly how did the founders think that putting in something that allows the Great Hall to shoot magic would be a good idea?” demanded Sirius, as he blocked a slicing spell from the chair, before a castration hex can from the ceiling, that Sirius also managed to avoid being hit with.

“Suspect it was a defense mechanism of some sort,” grunted Lupin, as a bone crushing curse struck him in the back of the leg, dropping him to the ground.

“Try and figure out a way to contain this!” bellow Flamel, who was afraid that the entire castle would come crashing down on them from the heavy amount of raw magical power. “I’ll deal with Mr. Potter!”

“Focus a shield charm on the ceiling!” shouted McGonagall. “That might contain most of the blast, to allow us find a more permanent solution.”

Flamel walked down the corridors, wand drawn, ready for anything, it was too quiet for his own good and he quickly turned around, before blocking an attempted puncturing spell, aimed directly at his heart as Harry quickly materialized to face Flamel.

“Why, Mr. Potter?” asked Flamel. “Because you are the absolutely last person I’d think that would side with Riddle.”

“The Harry Potter you know will no longer be a concern any longer,” commented Harry dryly. “He was a weak, insolent child, who could not match up to the power of the Dark Lord. I will obliterate anyone who stands in the way of the Dark Lord and erase the undesirable elements tied to the name of Potter.”

A jet of blue light scanned Harry but Flamel frowned as it came up negative, before he was caught off guard when he was lifted off the ground and throw halfway across the corridor. Harry charged in, with an attempted slicing spell, but Flamel blocked it.

“No Polyjuice,” muttered Flamel, before he shot thick metal ropes at Harry wrapping them around them, but they burst into flames seconds later, with Harry freed and in the speed of light, Harry was on the other side of Flamel. Flesh rotting curse was blocked by Flamel, before Flamel sent a mild coma curse back at Harry, who blocked it as well. “So what has Voldemort done to you?”

Harry responded with a high cold laugh that caused Flamel to be slightly unnerved and it did take a lot to freak him out, given that he had seen much in his six hundred and some odd years alive. He did not have much time to reflect on this manner before Harry blasted a jet of grey magic, revealing demonic looking ravens. The ravens dove right at Flamel, beaks pointed right towards his eyes but the six hundred year old plus wizard had a counter measure, jabbing his wand, transfiguring the ravens into harmless stuffed animals. A conjured jet of acid propelled itself right at Flamel. At the last split second, Flamel redirected it right towards a tapestry, burning a hole right through it.

“Winded, Nick,” taunted Harry. “I can run through everyone, both student and teacher, in this pathetic school without breaking a sweat…”

Flamel blasted Harry right in the chest with a dark shade of blue light that caused him to smash right through the wall into the next corridor.

“Sadly, it seems you’ve succumbed to the downfall of many before you, talking when you should be about to kill me,” said Flamel, but Harry calmly walked through the hole in the wall, casually brushing the dust off of his shoulders, before he coolly pulled his arm back, before making a light punching motion. Flamel staggered back, it was almost like he was hit right in the chest with a blunt object. In a half of a blink of an eye, Harry positioned himself to the left of Flamel, before platinum spirals shot right at Flamel. The unblockable magical disruption spell, a spell rarely used because of the extreme power needed to pull it off and the small chance of fatal magical fatigue to the caster.

Flamel dropped to the ground, unable to defend himself with magic. Harry showed little mercy, as he magically pushed Flamel directly into the wall and seconds later, Devil’s Snare burst out of the wall, wrapping around the ancient wizard.

“Feel free to expire at your leisure, I have a few loose ends to tie up,” said Harry casually, before he walked off, as Flamel did his best to relax until his magic returned but there was no indication whether it would return due to the volatile nature of the spell.

Right in front of one of the headquarters for the Barone mob, large thunderous foot steps could be heard, as several mobsters exited the building, as they saw a car get crushed like a can underneath the foot of a giant that approached the building.

“Aim all of your guns at that thing, all hit him at once, maybe we can drop him!” suggested one of the mobsters, and the others raised their guns, assaulting the giant that was approaching with a heavy barrage of bullet. This did not slow the thirty foot creature down, rather it just enraged him. The giant scooped up a van in its bulldozer like hand before it tossed it right at the headquarters, breaking it through the wall. The mobsters scattered, retreating, as the giant smashed its way through, slowly obliterating the building, reducing the large structure to dust!

The giant reached up and viciously ripped a power line down, before he swung it recklessly like a rope, sending sparks dangerously every direction, starting an electrical fire in the city, as tanks rolled into the picture, but the giant scooped up the tank, before it threw it halfway across the city, but the tanks fired several more missiles at the giant, backing it down.

“Hit them with everything you’ve got!” shouted a loud, booming voice. “Drop that thing to the ground.”

More missiles impacted the giant, with the large creature swinging its beefy fist, smashing several more buildings to the ground, before several large canisters were shot right to the foot of the giant. The giant stomped on one but they all released a grey cloud of gas. The beast gave a bellow, before its knees began to buckle, the collective effort of the twelve canisters taking it down. The beast fell backwards and when it hit the ground, the city and several others nearby shook, the equivalent of a high magnitude earthquake rocking everything in the city, obliterating several buildings, along with causing countless casualties. The dangerous rampaging beast was put down, but at a rather high cost.

Minister Weaver waved over a team of Aurors, who were reinforcing the barrier within the Ministry of Magic. Most of the non-Auror employees had been evacuated just barely, but the Death Eaters posed a very real threat to the Wizarding World should they take control of the Ministry headquarters.

“Keep fighting, we can’t let them in here!” ordered Weaver, as a door began to be magically pushed open, but a pair of Aurors quickly blasted it right back, magically sealing it shut.

“I don’t know how much more we can keep this up,” grunted one of the Aurors. “The other teams have said some of them have poured into the Wizengamot chambers.”

“They have theirs orders, to try to keep contain them within the chambers,” supplied Scrimgeour. “Although Minister, respectively speaking, the plan to destroy the chambers does seem a little bit…”

“It is, but there is not that much that can be done, we can’t just roll back and allow him to have the Ministry,” said Weaver, but the entire wall was blasted, allowing Death Eaters to pour in but the Aurors quickly remained on the attack. “Lethal force is authorized; stop them at any costs.”

All Ministry law was thrown right out the window, as the Aurors moved in to take out the Death Eaters or at least drive them out, to deliver a blow to the morale of Lord Voldemort’s forces. An unfortunate Auror dropped to Weaver’s side, ripped crudely in half, but there was little time to worry about those who fell. Several more fell, from both sides, as the roof of the Ministry corridors crumbled.

“Scatter!” shouted one of the Death Eaters, as they blasted thick pieces of concrete at the Aurors, some managing to be lucky enough to dive inside offices off to either side. The dust cleared, and the Aurors came back out fighting, as the stalemate continued for quite some time.

“Keep them on the move, if we can get them into the next corridor, they can be trapped with Plan X9,” ordered Scrimgeour and several of the Aurors gasped, that plan was only to be used as a last resort, but the same spell that killed Moody came close to striking the Minister, who was very lucky to be facing off against a wizard with worse aim them Voldemort. The entire wall behind them was blown into oblivion.

A jet of green light impacted one of the Aurors, causing him to flop to the ground, but Scrimgeour signaled for several jagged silver spells to be sent right at the Death Eaters, forcing them to break through the defensive barrier.

“Keep up, don’t stop for anything, even if this corridor caves in on us!” barked Scrimgeour and the Death Eaters were in the corridor. “NOW, QUICKLY!”

An interconnected web of pure raw magic appeared right in the corridor, before it shot outwards in several directions, slicing everything that moved. The Death Eaters were ill equipped to fight this rather new Auror technique, that had the potential to blow the entire Ministry of Magic to bits, scattering it all over Britain. Thankfully, just as the Aurors disapparated, it only just completely blew up the entire west half of the third floor of the Ministry, splattering the blood of many Death Eaters, as they were ripped to shreds.

“Okay, that’s all of them, I think,” said Weaver as he turned to Scrimgeour who nodded, as a silver shape had left them, as they had repositioned themselves in another floor of the Ministry.

“I receiving word that Shacklebolt lead the other team, sealed them in the Wizengamot court room, put a disapparation shield around it, before they set the entire thing on fire, a bit suspect, but the job was done,” answered Scrimgeour and at that moment, an Auror, who had been positioned to monitor all incoming communications in, rushed at them.

“Minister, Head Auror, you really need to hear some of the news that’s reached me, it’s chaos, the Ministry’s going to be cleaning up this mess for months,” commented the Auror in a breathless voice. “Giants have been on a rampage throughout the entire country, Dementors have been sighted in Hogsmeade, and…Harry Potter has attacked Hogwarts.”

“Wait, Potter attacked Hogwarts,” said Weaver. “Are you sure you heard that right?”

“The entire school has gone wonky, sealing everyone inside, suits of armor coming to life, everything, and Potter’s the one behind this, we’ve only been able to hear fragments,” replied the Auror but the wrist band that he had charmed to work on the main Floo connection with the Ministry of Magic began to blink and the wizard rushed inside, to get more grave news yet. “The Muggle Prime Minister is demanding answers, he was nearly attacked by a Muggle strapped down with a bog or whatever those things are that Muggles use to blow things up are called. Another communication, a follow up, said the Aurors we had stationed there managed to get him out, the Muggle may have been put under the Imperius Curse.”

Chaos reigned, as the Minister stood, thinking quickly, he needed to come up with a workable solution, before the entire country descended into anarchy.

“Ministry of Magic, I must offer you congratulations of defeating a group of rookie Death Eaters,” commented the voice of Lord Voldemort. “Now, for twenty five years, the Ministry of Magic has resisted my power and that cannot go on any longer. Therefore, twenty four hours, the Ministry will surrender control over to me or…well just take a look at the fate of the citizens of Hogsmeade if you want to know what will happen to every city, every village, every town in this entire country. Do not test me, you only have twenty four hours or I turn the Dementors loose on London.”

The Aurors looked at each other, completely speechless at this proclamation.

“Surely, You-Know-Who’s not serious,” said one of the Aurors finally finding his voice.

“We must take every threat seriously,” said Scrimgeour as he turned to his men. “We need to check out this Hogsmeade situation and proceed straight to the school, to investigate these strange reports involving Harry Potter.”

Outside the Ravenclaw Common Room, the Ravenclaws all stood quiet and motionless, almost afraid to move with what had happened so far.

“Help, I’m hurt, is anyone up there?” demanded a very familiar voice and the figure of Harry Potter staggered out from behind a tapestry, causing Hermione to gasp.

“Harry, what happened?” asked Hermione.

“Death Eaters, they attacked me…Hogwarts…” stammered Harry as Hermione rushed down the stairs, but Luna just looked at the figure down the stairs, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, before she followed Hermione.

“You need to get to the Hospital Wing Harry, it looks like you can barely stand,” said Hermione but Harry’s eyes snapped up, a malignant look right in Hermione’s face, before a slicing charm was aimed right towards Hermione’s stomach. Her heightened reflexes from training with Harry had just managed to partially block the spell, but she was knocked off of her feet none the same.

“Naturally, I suspected you fell for that, after all, that trick wasn’t in Hogwarts: A History, Mudblood,” said Harry coldly, as he knocked Hermione backwards but Luna attempted to come from behind, Harry turned, knocking Luna backwards. “Hello, Luna, nice to see you, I figure I’ll have some fun with you but this should keep the Mudblood occupied in the meantime.”

A gargoyle came to life and went right after Hermione but Luna took advantage of the momentary distraction of Harry, to send a bone shattering curse right towards the back of Harry’s head but Harry turned around and casually deflected her effort. Luna send two more spells but Harry deflected them to the side with the ease.

“Now, Luna, that’s no way to treat your friend, trying to hurt me like that,” taunted Harry.

“You’re not Harry,” replied Luna calmly, as Hermione just barely avoided being smashed to bits by the animated gargoyle off to the side and Luna conjured a sharp dagger, before she blasted at Harry, but Harry dodged it. “Therefore, I have no problems hurting you.”

Another spell and Harry casually deflected it, but Luna’s eyes narrowed.

“Where is he?” demanded Luna, but Harry just calmly blasted her with a banishing charm. Luna struggled to her feet and large bang indicated that she attempted to wrap Harry up with ropes, but Harry calmly flicked his wrist, slicing them. “Tell me, what did Voldemort do to him?”

“Not impressed with the new and improved Harry Potter, Luna?” asked Harry in a bored voice, as Luna attempted to hit him with a magically conjured ball of fire but Harry effortlessly doused it with a jet of cold water. “Maybe you’ll be impressed with this. CRUCIO!”

Luna screamed in agony, it was pain beyond anything she could even imagine feeling. The other Ravenclaws looked down fearfully but Harry turned to them, as Luna dropped to the ground, panting heavily.

“Any of you wish to come down here and stop me, be my guest,” commented Harry as Hermione attempted to blow the gargoyle with a blasting charm but it just continued to go after her. “I’ll have you murdered just like I did the rest of your house mates, and this entire school should they try and stop me.”

A couple of the Ravenclaws made a movement like they were going to do something, but the walls around them began to light up, along with the floor, and they all dropped to the ground, stunned, before Harry turned to Luna.

“Maybe if you get on your knees and beg me, I might keep you as a slave,” said Harry, but another spell by Luna forced Harry to deflect it and he looked at her, a very nasty, spiteful look etched in his cold emerald eyes. “CRUCIO!”

Luna screamed once again, under an immense amount of pain, as the battle between Hermione against the gargoyle had been lead to another hallway. Hermione tripped in her haste to move back and the gargoyle advanced on her, but a large burst of golden light connected with the gargoyle, blowing it to bits. Weakly, she looked up and the last thing she saw was a very familiar figure retreating before she passed out from exhaustion.

Back in the Great Hall, the teachers were beginning to severely weakened, attempting to fight off the raw magic but in the blink of the eye, it stopped. McGonagall looked up, weakly, the entire Great Hall was in ruins, but no more magic had been fired within the walls, with the other teachers also mimicking her.

“I’d suggest we attempt to move out of here, before the defense mechanisms around the Great Hall start up once again,” said McGonagall, and the other teachers agreed, as they gingerly walked out of the hallway, some barely able to stand because of magical exhaustion.

Luna dropped to the ground, her arms and legs snapped together and Harry stood over her.

“I must admit, you nearly came close to landing a spell on me,” replied Harry, as he traced his finger on Luna’s cheek, with a bit of a leer on his face, as she was unable to move with the full body bind. “Now, before I put you out your misery, I think I should get a little something out of this, a mere taste of what you would have gotten had you accepted my offer and beg.”

Harry reached down, gripping Luna’s robes, but a hand on his shoulder roughly spun around. The next thing he knew, a fist impacted his face, staggering him back before a large slash of magic in the air caused him to ricochet all the way down the corridor.

From the shadows stepped, Harry Potter, who calmly waved his wand to undue the full body bind on Luna, before he reached down and helped her back to her feet. Luna got a good look at Harry, his hair more wild and unruly then ever, covered with grime, his hands mucked up, his robes completely tattered, and he held a stolen wand in his hand.

“Okay, Luna?” asked Harry, the real Harry, in a raspy tone of voice.

“Now I am,” replied Luna, as she leaned against Harry from support, the after effects of the two Cruciatus Curses still visible, but the figure of the imposter Harry walked up, as if nothing occurred, and he looked at the real Harry, with absolute distaste evident in his eyes.

“The original,” commented the fake Harry scornfully, as he stood in front of them, but Harry just stood there, not taking his eyes off of his double.

“Voldemort made a clone of me, through a forgotten and lost ritual, a modified version of what returned him to his brand new body,” muttered Harry in an undertone.

“Clone, I’m insulted by your common vernacular,” responded the duplicate. “I am an enhanced replication of you, with all the previous imperfects eliminated. I’m what Muggles might call an upgrade.”

Harry quickly blasted his duplicate backwards, but this only deterred it for a few seconds. Quickly, Harry summoned a suit of armor, before he caused it to slam against the clone, pinning it against the wall.

“Luna, can you walk on your own?” asked Harry and Luna weakly nodded. “You need to get to the hospital wing, help Hermione if you can, she’s in the next corridor over, I’ll meet you there once I finish this thing off.”

Luna staggered forward as quickly as she could manage, before the duplicate blasted the suit of armor off of him. Harry quickly dodged in front of him, shining a super charged light spell in his eyes, impairing his field of vision, but the duplicate was through playing games. Harry found himself blasted backwards by raw magic. Another blast of raw magic sent Harry backwards once again, he felt his chest burn slightly from the impact. His double advanced on him and sent another burst.

“REDUCTO!” yelled Harry and the duplicate laughed at Harry’s poor aim, that was before the floor crumbled from underneath him and the duplicate crashed through below. Pulling himself up, panting heavily, Harry watched as the duplicate pulled himself back up and send a cutting curse. Harry just barely blocked the curse. A tapestry shot off the wall and wrapped around Harry, before it began to squeeze tightly. Harry struggled to breath, as the tapestry grew tighter, as he was about crushed but he managed to free himself and then was banished backwards right towards the side of another staircase.

“Really, this is just pathetic, this is the best that these pathetic Mudbloods and Blood Traitors can hope for to fight the Dark Lord,” said the duplicate with a high cold laugh as he stood over Harry. “It’s quite a shame that I was spawned from this, but eliminating you will ensure that all the imperfections of the past are erased.”

Harry attempted to fight back but he was blasted down the stairs. He just barely managed to ease his fall by turning the stairs into a slide as he came down. The clone watched at the top of the stairs, before he slid down and Harry was blasted up into the air, knocking over an entire row of suits of armor. Through a haze, Harry spotted a sword having been dislodged from one of the knights.

“You know, all things considered, I thought you’d fight back,” said the clone, as he approached Harry. “I’ll finish you off, and I’ll finish my business with young Luna.”

Harry quickly turned and stabbed the sword directly into the chest of his clone, before he slashed his wand, melting the sword right into the duplicate’s chest. The imposter shrieked out in agony, as Harry quickly reared back his arm and another heavy wave of raw magic, this time from Harry. The duplicate slammed backwards into the wall but much to Harry’s distaste, the imposter continued to move forward. He screwed his eyes shut in concentration, before another blast sent his adversary backwards. Harry magically propelled himself forward, at the speed of light and another blast knocked both versions of Harry through the window, glass flying in every which direction, as they landed right into the ground below, ripples of magic vibrating throughout the air from the impact.

Harry rolled up, completely cut up from the glass, blood dripping from his arms, as his clone calmly sat up, not a scratch on him. The real Boy-Who-Lived was blasted twenty feet up into the air and down, narrowly avoiding landing on his head. Another pair of sickening blasts and Harry crashed into the bleachers off to the side of the Quidditch Field. Harry rolled over, staggering to his feet and his mirror image flicked his wrist. Silver wire coiled itself around Harry, crushing him while simultaneously cutting into his skin. More blood dripped as Harry managed to snap the wire, before he collapsed to the ground, soaked in his own blood. Valiantly, Harry struggled right to his feet but a bone shattering charm impacted his jaw, causing blood to splatter from his mouth from the impact.

“The end comes for you, just think how the Dark Lord will reward me for your utter annihilation,” announced the duplicate, before he waved his hand, healing Harry’s jaw. “Before I finish you off, I want to know one thing. Why do you fight a futile battle?”

“For my friends, for me, quite frankly, if I had the choice, I wouldn’t be fighting Voldemort, but I don’t,” answered Harry, as he clutched his side, barely able to stand. “Now, just one thing, what makes you think you can’t be beaten?”

“The Dark Lord has informed me so,” replied the duplicate in a smug tone but this just caused Harry to laugh, in spite of the situation and all that happened over the past eight weeks. “I hardly thing your death would be such a joking manner, unless you’ve finally lost your mind.”

“No, that happened years ago, but the fact remains, you might be hard to beat, but Voldemort would not make someone other than him impossible to beat,” said Harry and the clone looked at him. “Let’s face it, you are a tool, to serve Voldemort’s twisted whims, once you get broken, worn out, or Voldemort just gets bored with you, you will be finished.”

“I’m his most trusted servant!” cried the duplicate. “He told me himself.”

“He’s told everyone that, but it matters little, because he owns you and when he feels your usefulness is outlived, you’ll be done,” said Harry. “With all the power, you are just nothing but a soulless puppet, it’s not like you have any purpose, any thoughts, any dreams, any feelings beyond what Voldemort has programmed into you. You have no heart, no soul, no purpose“

The duplicate stood, before he angrily blasted Harry backwards. Another blast of light and the top half of Harry’s robes were completely burned off. He staggered to his feet, his chest raw and red. Harry was blasted right in the face and knocked right onto his back. The double was right on top of him and he had conjured a large spear, that was glowing a sinister shade of green.

“You’ll be the one without the heart, you sad, obsolete excuse for a wizard, when I burn right through your chest and slowly pull it out!” thundered the duplicate coldly, as he stood over Harry, his legs spread as he raised the spear high over his head for maximum impact. “Perhaps this should teach you a lesson to quit while you’re ahead.”

“And maybe you should learn not to stand over someone with your legs spread,” spat Harry, before he brought his foot right up, punting the duplicate right in the groin. Even with his heightened tolerance to plan, this tried and tested maneuver had backed the duplicate off and Harry struggled to his feet, with the duplicate attempting to stab Harry once again. A solid stone shield appeared in front of Harry and the spear impacted it, the blast knocking the clone backwards.

The duplicate pulled himself to his feet and Harry dug down deep, to draw magic the likes of which he’d never used before a large vice like construct made of pure magic grasped around the neck of the clone. Harry envisioned his duplicate’s neck snapping in the vice and that was followed by a crack, dropping the clone down to the ground. Unfortunately for Harry, a snapped neck was not enough to defeat his mirror enemy, as the duplicate pulled itself back to his feet, it’s head bent awkwardly to the side.

“DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!” yelled Harry, his anger at this monster that had his appearance reaching its completely boiling point, as he aimed his wand, before he impacted the clone right in the heart with an organ combustion curse. The clone was lifted off the ground and even Harry was surprised at what happened, almost subconsciously, he began to rotate on the spot, his clone rotating in the air above him, kicking up a large cyclone of wind from high above.

The double circled around, as Harry lost his concentration, staggering backwards, as a large burst of raw magic went off right in the center of the Forbidden Forest. All of the trees ripped from the ground, all the grass on the grounds completely incinerated and the walls on the castle covered in highly disfiguring magical scorch marks. Harry laid flat on his back, not knowing whether or not he was able to move again, but quickly, his fingertips twitched slightly, the feeling slowly coming back to the rest of his body, as by completely by the force of his own will power, Harry pulled himself up to a standing position. With great pain, but somehow, Harry walked his way up to the school, wincing each and every step of the way.

A few hours later, Harry was in Flamel’s office, along with Sirius, Remus, Luna, Hermione, and Neville, just completing the account of when he was captured with Blaise in that doomsday maze and battle with his duplicate.

“So Harry, one thing’s been perplexing me, how exactly did you manage to escape?” asked Sirius, curiously.

“By the skin of my teeth,” said Harry darkly, but he had been forced to acknowledge something that had been buried in the back of mind. “Blaise, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.”

“She’s…” stated Hermione and Harry nodded, he had been forced to watch the entire messy ordeal, all the prolonged agony that his friend went through, just so Voldemort could send a demented statement to Harry.

“I just wish, no I should have made her stay and go on my own, in hindsight, it was a trap, it’s so obvious, but at the time, I wasn’t thinking clearly, and now she’s dead,” said Harry in a flat, emotionless tone of voice.

“Oh, and how would you have made her stay, Harry? She would have gone no matter what you said, so how could you stop her?” challenged Hermione. “Stun her and shove her in a broom closet until you got back? I know you feel bad, but at the same time, Blaise chose to go, you were the one who didn’t have to go.”

“Besides, I doubt she would have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened,” added Neville and Harry just sat there, unmoving, he had no energy to argue this point, after what had happened and the door slid open, allowing Flamel entrance, who looked very grim, not to mention rather weak and every bit of his age, plus more, after narrowly surviving his predicament earlier.

“Harry, I’m afraid that things have gotten grimmer, Scrimgeour found out that his daughter was one of the students killed. Needless to say, this inspired him, with the approval of Weaver, has authorized a hunt for you to be brought in, dead or alive, for the slayings of several students within Hogwarts,” said Flamel. “As far as he knows, you’re not here, but he wants to do a full investigation of the school in the morning, to look for anything that else that can be used to bring you. Also, I’m to pass along that two of your buildings were obliterated, one by a giant and one by a group of Muggles under the Imperius, strapped with explosives.”

“More good news,” remarked Harry in a slightly sarcastic tone of voice. “Did you try to explain to the Ministry about the clone deal or did they chose not to live in reality again?”

“They wouldn’t have listened anyway, as I did not directly listen anything and since the only known witness to seeing the two of you at the same time is Miss Lovegood here, I’m afraid not much can be done,” said Flamel in a tired voice. “I’m sorry Harry.”

“What’s wrong with Luna’s word?” demanded Harry in a defensive voice but Luna grabbed Harry’s hand calmly.

“Harry, I appreciate the support, but I doubt very much the Ministry will believe me because of two things. One, we’re friends and two, who my father is,” commented Luna with a sigh, as she correctly interpreted the disgusted look on Harry’s face. “Yes, I suppose it would be rubbish.”

“There’s more, isn’t there?” prompted Remus and Flamel nodded gravely.

“Right around the time of the duplicate’s attack on Hogwarts, Voldemort staged an attack on the Ministry and then gave them an ultimatum, either surrender the Ministry to him or everyone will suffer the same fate as those in Hogsmeade,” informed Flamel.

“All of them were given the Dementor’s Kiss, every man, woman, and child in Hogsmeade, I saw the carnage when I arrived at the village,” inputted Harry. “Judging by the amount of fog, there were more Dementors taking part in the attack then you could imagine, I doubt the even my full powered Patronus charm could hold off that many, the villages didn’t have a chance.”

“The Ministry’s considering accepted Voldemort’s proposal, because he’s hinted that London’s next and if everyone there is kissed, they feel that this might be a cataclysmic event the likes which the Wizarding World has never seen,” said Flamel and the entire group looked taken aback.

“The Ministry’s just going to surrender to him?” shouted Sirius incredulously. “They’re not going to attempt to mount a counter offensive?”

“No, Voldemort has them backed into the corner, they feel the situation is hopeless and nothing can sway them from their decision,” said Flamel, who looked rather agitated with the entire situation.

“There’s one hope, I have to go back and finish him off for good,” said Harry as he attempted to pull himself to his feet, but he sank back down in the chair, still pained from the battle with his duplicate.

“Harry, how, you can’t even stand, even you must see that there’s no way,” said Hermione. “Harry, please, don’t do something stupid?”

“I have to fight him and finish this now,” grunted Harry. “It’s not going to happen again, I won’t let it!”

“Harry, I doubt you could make it across this office in your condition,” said Luna logically. “Unless there is some miracle cure for your condition, I don’t think you’ll be able to last even ten seconds, with the state you’re in.”

“I might have something that can help,” supplied Flamel in a reluctant voice. “Now, Harry, you must understand the risks, this will either restore you back to full strength or it will cause your nervous system to slowly shut down, killing you.”

“It’s worth the risk,” said Harry firmly and Flamel walked over towards a cabinet. In the days of Dumbledore, this is where his Pensieve was kept, but Flamel kept a small object, wrapped it a cloth. Flamel unrolled the cloth and Harry’s eyes widened when he saw what Flamel had. “I thought the Philosopher’s Stone was destroyed.”

“About ninety percent of it was, but I kept this small piece handy for an emergency,” said Flamel. “Now, the Elixir of Life is not meant to be consumed by an under-aged body, normally, there are exceptions. With your condition, there is a chance that you may be one of these exceptions, but there’s a chance that you’re not and the consequences can be fatal.”

It’s worth the risk,” repeated Harry in a firm voice.

“Okay, if you’re certain,” said Flamel and Harry nodded curtly. “It will take a few minutes to prepare the Elixir.”

Flamel walked off to an adjacent chamber off to his office and Harry’s eyes widened.

“I should have known Voldemort would have tried something like this,” said Harry suddenly. “I might not have committed those murders, but I enabled them in a way.”

“What, Harry, what are you talking about?” asked Hermione with a frown.

“Remember when Voldemort said that I’d join him one way or another?” asked Harry and the others nodded. “And guess what, after all I’ve been threw, I still fell for it. Voldemort played me for a sucker, he knew I would not let one of my friends go alone, it wasn’t the first time after all. How could I be so s…”

Harry was cut off when Luna kissed him directly on the lips which needless to say, caught him off guard. She backed off before Harry’s brain had a chance to register what happened.

“Why did you do that?” asked Harry calmly, when he finally found his voice.

“Harry, you were about to call yourself stupid, something that I really disagree with,” replied Luna in an equally calm voice. “You are many things, more then I came name, but stupid’s not one of them. True, you might be reckless but that’s part of life. You can’t get anywhere without taking chances and some of them sadly fail to pay off.”

“You kissed me,” remarked Harry, he was surprised, also a bit angry with himself that he enjoyed it, how could he have let his guard down?

“Yes, that was my intention,” answered Luna casually. “And I’d do it again, but that’s neither here nor there, we can talk about that later.”

Harry just stared before he turned to Luna, his mouth opened but Luna cut him off.

“I know, you’re going to say that it’s too dangerous for us to be anything but friends and a few other reasons that I’m sure you’re cooking up in your brain as we speak, but you’ll find that I’m don’t care all that much,” added Luna. “Now, once again, I can’t have you distracted when you have to beat Voldemort, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about this later, along with a couple of interesting theories that I have about you that I want you to verify.”

Before this line of conversation, Flamel returned with a vial containing the Elixir of Life and Harry snatched it, before Flamel could attempt to advise him of the risks. In one gulp Harry downed the entire vial.

A minute, Harry sat there rigid, his eyes blank, before all of his injuries began to heal and soon, Harry was restored to a completely healthy state of body.

“I haven’t felt this good since…well ever,” said Harry, as he rose to his feet ready for action, before he looked at the wand he stole when he escaped. “You know, this wand doesn’t really suit me, good thing I have a spare that I can pick up before I finish Riddle.”

“Dumbledore’s wand?” asked Sirius in an undertone and Harry nodded.

“Well technically, it would be my wand now,” responded Harry but Hermione frowned.

“What if it was destroyed, I assumed you kept it at one of the office buildings?” asked Hermione.

“Good thing I didn’t keep it there, in fact, I kept it in the one place that no one would ever look for an extremely powerful wand, the least magical place on earth, Number Four Privet Drive, in my old bedroom, under the stairs” said Harry before he walked off, a focused expression on his face, it was do or die, he had to kill Voldemort tonight.

Voldemort sat on his wooden throne, elevated over stairs, with a indifferent expression on his face. He was to meet with the Ministry of Magic representatives in an hour, where they would hand control of the Ministry over to him.

The doors blasted open and one of his many followers flew right to the ground, landing with a thud. Voldemort looked down and saw Harry Potter standing below him, a look of intensity etched on his face, not blinking, his eyes completely fixed at Voldemort.

“May I help you Potter?” asked Voldemort in an indifferent tone.

“I, Harry James Potter, challenge you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to a magical duel to the death!” thundered Harry, as the walls of Voldemort’s throne room shook but Voldemort responded with a high cold laugh.

“Please, don’t embarrass yourself child, I’ve already beaten you,” commented Voldemort. “Your twisted reflection has caused untold damage to the name Harry Potter and within the hour, the Ministry of Magic will be under my control. With all the assassins, all the murdered Death Eaters, all your resources, even with all the foreknowledge gained when you were blasted back in time by that freak accident, I still won.”

“Found out about that, didn’t you Riddle?” asked Harry. “Naturally, you weren’t savvy enough to figure it out on your own, so like a cowardly cheat, you decided to break in my head and find the truth. Not that I’d expect much from a guy who has to hide behind a false name.”

“Potter, you failed, I have nothing to prove, you can cease with all the attempts to bait me,” said Voldemort.

“Shame, I was given you a chance to fight me like a man, but it just proves you are just a pathetic little boy, hiding his own sorrow at the fact that his mother was nothing but a rapist and his father was just a common Muggle, behind a campaign of being a Dark Lord, quite sad and quiet pathetic when you come down to everything,” said Harry and Voldemort refused to move, so Harry thought a bit of deception would be in order “Plus, I’ve learn something since you rifled around in my mind, I’ve figured out the one weakness in that little alleged invincible body of yours.”

Voldemort’s eyes snapped up and were focused on Harry. How could have failed to make his body perfect? What could this boy have found out?

“Tell me Potter,” demanded Voldemort softly.

“No,” said Harry. “You have to beat me a duel and I’ll consider letting you in on the secret.”

“How can I be certain that you’re not lying, like you were with the Prophecy?” asked Voldemort.

“How can you be certain that I’m not?” argued Harry. “Still, you’re right, I doubt that much can be accomplished by a duel, it’s obvious that there is no way you can beat me in a fight to the finish.”

“Potter, I will let that flippant remark slide and offer you one final chance to join me,” said Voldemort and Harry rolled his eyes, Voldemort’s obsession with him never ceased to amaze Harry. “Think about it, you have too much potential to be wasted.”

“Riddle, my answer is the same it was the first time, absolutely not there is no way in hell that I’ll ever join you,” said Harry. “Now, last time, I was forced to play by your rules and it cost my friend her life. This time, we’ll see how well you, the so called most feared dark wizard that ever lived, fair when you play by mine. Once again, I, Harry James Potter, challenge you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to a duel to the death.”

“So be it,” answered Voldemort as he descended the stairs, wand out, as both wizards stared each other down, raising their wands, preparing to duel.

And that’s it, with two more chapters to go. Sorry, but someone had to die (other than evil! Harry), and Blaise drew the short end of the stick. As for the reason why Harry was kept alive, well Voldemort will tell you all about his reasoning in the next chapter. That’s the tease. And the sequel that may or may not happen looks to be more twisted each time I think about it. Next chapter will be written when it’s written.