Chapter 85: The Last
- Avada Kedavra," the only guard of the manor unknown to me failed to dodge the curse and slumped backwards. The traces of blood on the floor showed where Voldemort was hurrying away from us, or rather flying away, as his mangled legs could hardly support his entire body.
- Harry," my godfather's eyes burned feverishly as he turned to me. - We act the same way we did at Hogwarts. I attack, you try to burn him in molten rock.
I nodded - there was no more time for words. A vague shadow darted through the hinged doors in our direction, hovering powerlessly in Sirius's exposed shield.
- Nagaina! - I snatched the dagger from my belt as the huge snake hissed and struggled to break free of the magical grip.
The honed blade, made from the fang of an ancient basilisk and impregnated with its venom, sank into the snake's neck like butter.
As soon as I pulled the dagger out, Sirius threw us back a few steps with a sharp impulse, throwing his hands into an attacking stance.
- Fiendfire! - The snake, frozen in place by the venom, disappeared in a cloud of purple fire.
- Further! - Sirius surrounded himself with a thin film of defence and dashed through the uncooled part of the room towards the door where Voldemort had gone a few minutes ago.
We caught up with the Lord, who had already somehow healed the terrible wounds on his legs but was unable to stand on them, across two halls. Where he wanted to get to, we never found out. As soon as Sirius and I were in the same hall, Voldemort's red eyes stared at us fiercely.
- You will die," the Lord said shortly as he soared into the air, and once again I marvelled at the incredible power of his magic, which Sirius and I were the only two people who could stand up to it.
The flashes of spells flashed again, and Sirius was enveloped in the aura he'd used when he'd fought the late Bellatrix, either trying to squeeze Voldemort with a crushing vise or piercing the air with a myriad of sharp needles. After a few seconds of respite, during which the godfather was literally burning himself to death in a whirlwind of nonstop attacks, I slashed my instantly created blade across his wrist, and the blood flowed to the floor, forming a complex pattern of faintly shimmering Runes around him.
The grey orb of Chaos Breath that struck from my hands dissolved into the spell Voldemort had cast towards me, unknown to me. Having received a sensitive flick on the nose during the battle at Avery Manor, the Lord had clearly wasted no time in finding a way to defend himself against my favourite spell. Sirius distracted the Lord again, literally driving him into the ground with a sudden increase in gravity, as if the laws of physics were no longer operating at his will, but I saw a thin trickle of blood trickle from his godfather's nose. With a wave of my hands, I created two spells at once - small drops of molten stone shot out of the floor, aiming at the enemy who was barely floating in the air, and at the same time, a lake of boiling lava began to form under the thin layer of floor slabs. Rainbow dots danced in front of my eyes, the spell almost overwhelming even for me.
- One more time, Sirius! - I shouted.
With a groan of exertion, Sirius repeated the spell from his great-grandfather's journals, trying to crush Voldemort with the force of the increased gravity. And the moment the Lord's counterspell almost broke the godfather's pressure, I struck my own blow.
- Take that! - I fell to my knees from the sudden dizziness, but the purple-glowing lump of boiling lava that broke through the floor engulfed the black smoking figure. The lava, unsupported by my magic, collapsed with a sickening slurping sound back into the seething cauldron that was part of the hall, and only Sirius's instantaneous reaction kept us from being killed: the room was literally infernal.
- Let's go," Sirius bent down in pain and hauled me to my feet. I grabbed one of the elixors from my belt pouch, which gave me an ocean of strength for a short time, but then turned a person into a plant for twenty-four hours, and drained it.
Just in time. The base of the room, melted by the heat, could no longer hold up the walls, and an alarming crackling sound was building up around us.
Sirius, waddling ahead, was also draining the elixirs from his bag one by one, straightening up before my eyes.
- Not so fast, gentlemen, not so fast. - The voice that stopped us on the threshold of the apparatus room was a voice I would rather not have heard at all.
- Dumbledore," Sirius hissed angrily, but I could sense that my godfather wasn't scared, no-he was just preparing for a hopeless fight.
The fight was short - too much energy we'd expended in the last few hours. It wasn't long before Sirius, much more exhausted, missed the restraining charms and was trapped in a silver bubble of magic, and a minute later I felt an irresistible weight begin to press me into the stone floor.
- You allowed yourself to bully a defenceless, shackled old man last time," Dumbledore snickered as he continued to slowly break down my defences, enjoying the sight of my godfather's mouth open in a silent scream. - 'And now I will allow myself to return the favour.
The weight of magic crushing my defences became even heavier and I realised that I had no chance. Even with all my strength, there was no way I could break free of the former headmaster's spell, who had wisely relied on the crude but incredibly effective Heaviness of the Mountains.
" - How could he know that we would appear in this very castle?" - the last sensible thought in my head was swept away by an avalanche of pain from the shields that were gradually crumbling.
The last shield, which I had struggled to keep from being reduced to jelly on the floor by the Weight of the Mountains, was about to give way when a new actor entered. A man wrapped in a black robe, armed with a heavy staff with a dragon's paw on the top, stepped into the hall and immediately clashed with a surprised Dumbledore. And, judging by the fight that ensued, the former Headmaster of Hogwarts wasn't doing as well as the battle-weary us. The stranger was struggling to keep up with the Headmaster without his Elder Wand, throwing spells at him that I didn't recognise. Transfiguration, of which the Headmaster was a master, was encountered with no small amount of skill, as the stone statues Dumbledore had created had to contend with bizarre creatures that appeared out of thin air.
Dumbledore, waving his wand furiously, was almost successful in fending off the stranger who was charging at him, until some particularly nimble creature got the better of him and bit the old man on the leg. Dumbledore's movements immediately lost speed, and though I could see the compressed spiral of healing charms he was hurriedly infusing into his body, he began to weaken. Just a moment later, the robe on Dumbledore's back ripped open, allowing the stranger's staff to pierce through the old man. Not resting on that, our unknown saviour cold-bloodedly chopped off the head of Dumbledore, who was pinned like a butterfly on cardboard.
The fight had not been cheap for the wizard - I could see the monstrously burnt side, where a piece of flesh was charred to the bone, but it didn't look like he felt any pain. With a wave of his bloody staff, the stranger cancelled the spell that had restrained Sirius, and the godfather slumped to the floor, struggling to get to his feet.
- Thank you," I still couldn't bring myself to rise, the weakness from the loss of strength preventing me from conjuring. The only thing I could do was make my voice sound firm.
- It was a pleasure to help you, Lord Potter," the hood dropped, revealing a face I knew well.
Aurelius Cimus.
- The gentlemen you know from the German branch of the International Tribunal bought my services and sent me to England to see if the great 'victor of Grindewald' would go to his grave," Aurelius grinned tiredly, leaning on his staff. - But if you hadn't taken his wand from him, our fight might well have ended differently.
- He wasn't fighting with his wand? - Sirius asked incredulously.
- You just couldn't feel it," Cimus waved his hand, casting a healing spell on his side. - His wand had been taken as the most appropriate, and the Elder's wand fit as if custom-made from perfectly matched components. And the power of his spells was somewhat less because his weapon was in the way of Dumbledore himself.
Sirius came over to me and helped me to my feet, though he was staggering slightly from exhaustion.
- I think we made it," he said hoarsely. He took a good sip of the flask from his belt and handed it to me. The firewhiskey burned my throat.
Cimus took the flask and took a long swig.
- I think we'd better check it out, gentlemen," he said, taking the rest back to Sirius.
We made our way between the collapsed sections of the walls and reached the room that had been turned into a branch of hell, where Tom Marvolo Riddle, called Voldemort, had found his final resting place. The floor was still almost red-hot, and Cimus had to cast spells to protect us from death in this inhospitable place.
A strange chill crept into me, despite the heat of the walls and floor. It was similar to the feeling I'd felt when I'd first appeared in the ruined Potter's Wing of the Potter's Menorah, where Voldemort had died.
- Looks like that thing is finally dead," I whispered. Tears sprang from my eyes.
Sirius was hunched over, as if he'd lost the hard core of will that had kept him fighting for the past two years.
- We should leave," Cimus's magic led us to the safe corridors, away from the infernal heat. - I think he's dead. Especially if you destroyed all of his Horcruxes.
- All of them," Sirius replied. - His monstrous snake was burned, too.
I searched inside me for joy and happiness that this brutal war was finally over. And I found none - inside there was only fatigue and a desire to collapse on my bed and sleep for twenty-four hours.
With some difficulty, the three of us apparated to the edge of Hogwarts' protective fields, the more alert Cimus covering us with magic, since neither Sirius nor I could offer any more resistance to a possible enemy after the elixirs had stopped working.
Moving carefully between the trees, we reached the exit to the edge of the forest. The castle was silent, only one of the towers crackling as it burned down-it had clearly been hit by a spell like Hellfire, no other spell that could set the granite walls on fire. People wandered around the castle, gradually cleaning up the aftermath of the night's assault: chopping down trees damaged by the fire, levitating the carcasses of giants away from the castle.
The gates of Hogwarts were already open, with a squad of Aurors on duty near them, saluting Sirius.
- Voldemort is dead! - shouted the godfather suddenly. - Dead!
- And we all have a lot of work to do," I whispered quietly. Cimus gave me an understanding and slightly sympathetic look, and we entered the castle, accompanied by the Aurors.
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