Chapter 41 -
A trio of death eaters walked through the darkness, trying to find Potter, hoping that if they were the ones to capture the Potter brat then they would be rewarded. They looked up, down, left and right and every other direction. They cast detection spells in case he was hiding under a disillusionment charm or invisibility cloak. After a few minutes of searching they turned at the sound of a hiss, all three looked into a pair of yellow eyes before they fell dead on the ground.
Selena slithered past the bodies, remembering her father's orders. She was not allowed to bite any of them, something about her venom being found in their bodies. Not that Selena wanted to bite any of them, they were stinky and horrible. She slithered towards another group, they looked towards her and fell to her deadly gaze. She grinned as a basilisk could and continued moving.
She saw one person come in front of her and was seconds away from allowing her gaze to kill the person when she stopped and realized it was her father, that was close, she had nearly killed him. She quickly moved on and began taking out more, all fell under her mighty gaze. Daddy would be proud.
"We're losing our men!" Lucius growled.
"Where is the filthy half-blood bastard?!" Bellatrix growled as she looked around, trying to find him but unable to see him through the darkness. She fired a spell in a random direction, hoping to hit Harry, unfortunately she did not hit anything.
"Don't throw them out randomly!" One death eater hissed.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bellatrix snarled at him and the death eater stepped back in fear.
"Stop fighting amongst yourselves!" Lucius hissed, "I..." Lucius was cut off as a spell crashed into one of the shelves, the shelves crumbled down and took out a trio of death eaters as it crashed into another set of shelves, resulting in a domino effect of the other shelves falling as well. If that was not enough the opposite side of the hall suddenly lit up in flames, the death eaters quickly realized that it was fiendfyre.
"We need to get out of here!" One death eater shouted as the shelves stared collapsing into the flames, the death eaters quickly ran towards the door, they quickly began undoing their locking charms on the door only to realize that it was already undone, since they didn't have time to question it they just quickly opened it before running out of out the room, unfortunately for them one of them wasn't able to get out in time. The other death eaters closed the door quickly before the flames could get out.
"Fucking hell!" Lucius cursed once they were out, he looked around and saw that he had somehow been left with just eleven death eaters. He listened and heard the sound of flames slowly die down, meaning someone must have got rid of the flames, it was not an impossible task but extremely difficult and could only done by the best of wizards.
"How the hell did the brat take out so many?!" Barty Crouch Junior hissed. "He was not that strong before!"
"Hey." A voice called just before a burst of blood popped out of Barty's chest as he fell to the floor. The death eaters looked towards Barty before looking in the direction of the voice, they saw Harry Potter lower his wand. "By the way." Harry raised his other hand and gave the death eaters the finger before he ran off.
"Get after him!" Rodolphus Lestrange yelled before they began chasing him.
"Whoa guys." Harry laughed as he entered the Ministry's main atrium after a rather long chase. "Now come on, no need to get violent." Harry said calmly. "I mean we could just talk this out."
"Potter," Malfoy sneered. "where is the prophecy?" He demanded upon noticing that Potter was not holding it in his hand, Malfoy quickly placed his mask back on his face in case a Ministry worker happened to show up.
"The prophecy?" Harry asked in a confused voice.
"The orb Potter!"
"You mean the white one?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! The white orb! Where is it?!" Malfoy shouted impatiently.
"Alright jeez," Harry winced as he tugged on his ear. "you Malfoy's always have to shout everything." Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't have the orb."
"Where is it?!" Rabastan Lestrange yelled.
"Oh I smashed that fucker." Harry grinned.
"You smashed it?!" Malfoy paled before growling in anger. "You smashed it?!" He roared.
"You're about as slow as your son as well." Harry commented.
"Potter." A voice called, the death eaters turned behind them to see Apophis standing behind them.
"Oh fucking hell, it's you." Harry sighed. Apophis walked forward and past the other death eaters.
"He's mine." Apophis said to the other death eaters before he walked diagonally from the death eaters and stopped so he was facing Harry and standing a small distance away from him.
"So...remember that time you never beat me?" Harry asked right before leaning to the side to avoid a piercing curse that was aimed between his eyes, Harry responded with a cutting curse that Apophis batted away. "Touch a nerve?" Harry asked innocently before batting away another spell.
Apophis jabbed his wand forward and a white beam shot towards Harry, Harry swatted it away before jabbing his wand in Apophis's direction and sending a blue spike at him. Apophis changed the spike into a knife before catching and tossing it back at Harry, Harry vanished the knife before he responded with a simple disarming-body bind-stunner combo. Apophis side stepped the first spell, ducked under the other and blocked the last. Apophis sent two cutters which Harry cancelled out with his own cutters.
The death eaters were watching as Harry and Apophis exchanged spells, both starting slow but slowly building in speed as the fight continued. Some were tempted to shoot at Harry while he was distracted but did not want to disobey Apophis's orders since it was basically the same as disobeying the dark lord's orders and both would result in a lot of pain.
Harry and Apophis continued exchanging spells when suddenly a red beam from Harry's wand and a green beam from Apophis's wand connected in midair, the two beams pushed against each other for several moments before they appeared to combine into a large ball of multicolored magic, the ball grew in size until it eventually burst.
"Mine was bigger." Harry commented before he waved his arm, sending a bright blue arc shaped beam at Apophis. Apophis sent a small spell that whistled as it charged towards Harry's spell, it pierced through his spell and caused it to implode on itself. Apophis sidestepped a fire ball before shooting an arrow at Harry who defeated the arrow with one of his own.
Harry shot a trio of throwing stars at him, Apophis vanished the stars then shot a metal spike at Harry. Harry changed the spike into a bat and directed it at Apophis who quickly got rid of it with a cutting curse before sending another cutting curse at Harry who blocked then sent a fire blast followed by a bone breaker. Apophis dodged both before firing a jagged blood red spell at Harry who ducked before jumping back to avoid a pink curse that nearly hit him in the foot.
Harry blocked a trio of spells before sending a trio of his own spells that were also blocked, Apophis ducked under a fourth spell and fired a bone breaker at Harry's feet but Harry jumped over it and shot an acid spell at Apophis who quickly transformed the acid into water before transforming it into an ice spike and sending it at Harry. Harry side stepped and produced marble to block a cruciatus curse, Harry shot the damaged piece of marble at Apophis who destroyed it with an explosive spell before shooting a flaming dagger at Harry.
Harry ducked under it and aimed his wand at Apophis before sending out a swarm of bats that charged towards him, Apophis fired a large flame blast that burnt the bats and charged towards Harry who quickly cast a flame freezing charm on himself to prevent the flames from damaging him and was only barely able to do it before he was covered in flames. When the flames stopped it was to reveal a unharmed Harry Potter who was grinning at Apophis.
"That tickled." Harry laughed. "You know this would be a lot more fun if we would talk to each other."
"I don't want to talk to you." Apophis said right before he fired a killing curse at Harry who side stepped.
"You see behavior like that is why you don't have friends." Harry replied before shooting a spiraling flame blast at Apophis, Apophis shot a small air based spell that whistled as it headed towards the fire. It pierced through the middle of the flames and caused the flames to explode outwards before they reached Apophis. Apophis shot a rotting curse at Harry who blocked it with a shield before responding with an air blast.
Apophis shielded against the air blast, he aimed his wand at Harry and fired a golden curse at Harry who countered with a silver curse, Harry blocked an eye gouging spell before shooting razor wires at Apophis, Apophis burnt away the razor wires before shooting an organ liquifying curse at Harry who rolled under it and fired a flame whip at Apophis.
Apophis cut the whip with a wave of his wand before casting an explosive hex near Harry's feet, Harry jumped back and shielded to protect himself from the explosion and debris. He landed on his back and immediately shot a piercing curse at Apophis, Apophis leaned to the side to avoid it and fired a cruciatus curse at Harry who barely dodged as he got to his feet. Harry and Apophis continued exchanging spells while the death eaters watched, eyes on the intense battle in front of them.
Harry dodged a skin shredding spell before he aimed his wand in the air, a trio of beams shot from his wand and into the air before they arched down and headed towards Apophis. Apophis rolled out of the way before firing a mud spell at Harry, Harry dodged before firing a jet of boiling water at Apophis who countered with his own jet of water.
Apophis blocked another spell before firing a black curse at Harry who dodged before swinging his arm and sending a trio of throwing stars at Apophis, Apophis shielded but one star managed to get through before he could block it, the metal star hit his shoulder but the star bounced off of it instead of piercing it. Apophis fired an arrow at Harry followed by a flame blast.
Harry blocked both before shooting a snake out of his wand, the snake flew towards Apophis who punched it in the face with his free hand before catching it by the tail with the same hand and throwing it back at Harry. Harry got rid of the snake with a cutting curse before firing a banishing curse at Apophis. Harry blocked a body bind and casually flicked his wand to create a stone shield that blocked Apophis's next spell, Harry blasted the shield towards Apophis who destroyed it before it could reach him.
Apophis levitated the broken bits of the shield into the air before sending them towards Harry, Harry quickly transformed the stones into birds and sent them back at Apophis. Apophis quickly burnt them down with a flame spell.
Apophis apparated behind Harry, he aimed his wand and was about to fire a spell in his back but was interrupted by Harry apparating behind him. Apophis turned around only to get tackled down to the ground, Harry punched Apophis twice before aiming his wand at Apophis's face, Apophis's free hand grabbed Harry's wand hand and directed it away from him while Harry's free hand did the same with Apophis's wand hand. The two struggled, neither were giving an inch and the death eaters were starting to doubt if Apophis would win.
"If you want to give up then feel free." Harry said.
"Never!" Apophis growled, he pushed Harry and their positions were reversed and now Apophis was looking down at Harry. "I am the future, not you!"
Harry growled before he pushed Apophis off, Apophis transformed into a King Cobra and lunged at Harry who barely managed to jump out of the way in time. Harry shifted into his animagus form and his tiger paw pushed Apophis's head down to the floor, Harry roared as he bared his fangs, he reached down to bite him when he suddenly found himself forced back into his human form.
Harry blinked in surprise but didn't get much time to do anything else before he was blasted off, Harry flew back and rolled a few times after he landed before he finally stopped and landed on his back. Harry shook his head and looked up to see Apophis kneeling in his human form, past him were the death eaters who were bowing their heads and spilt apart to let the new arrival walk past them.
Lord Voldemort calmly and gracefully walked past them, and stopped alongside Apophis.
"Rise my heir." Voldemort spoke in a soft voice, Apophis stood up and stood still. "Shall I assume that you were enjoying yourself?" Voldemort asked Apophis, Apophis didn't answer and stayed silent. "Leave," Voldemort said to the other death eaters. "my heir and I shall deal with Potter then rejoin you." The death eaters, realizing that it was not a request, quickly rushed towards the floo stations and left. "So Potter, how are you?" Voldemort asked, casually twirling his wand in his hand.
"Not bad," Harry shrugged before he pushed himself to his feet. "I was just playing catch up with my friend, your heir did you say?" Harry asked in an interested voice.
"Ah, did Dumbledore not tell you?" Voldemort asked in an amused voice. "Either he did not wish to...or perhaps he truly did not know." Voldemort seemed almost thoughtful for a second before his focus returned to Harry.
"You'd be surprised how much Dumbledore tells me." Harry replied. "So...how are you doing Tom?"
"Don't call me that." Voldemort narrowed his red eyes at him. "You do not want to anger me Potter." He added in a warning tone.
"The first thing you need to know about me Tom, is that a lot of the time I have no idea what is going on but I am a sass machine and I will fight anyone. You and your little bastard included, who the hell's the mother anyway? Was she ugly? I bet she was ugly." Harry smirked at him.
"I will enjoy killing you Potter." Voldemort hissed, he raised his wand at the same time as Harry and Apophis. "You will die by my hands." Voldemort said, he stepped forward but stopped when one of the floo's flared, a second later Dumbledore stepped out of the green flames.
"You will not be killing anyone tonight Tom." Dumbledore said calmly as he walked forward and stopped next to Harry, he gestured Harry to get behind him but Harry didn't move.
"Dumbledore," Voldemort sneered. "here to save the day, naturally after all the fighting has already happened."
"Surrender Tom," Dumbledore said. "I..."
"Do not call me that!" Voldemort cut him off. "I see where Potter gets it from."
"Hey, I am the one and only." Harry replied.
"Harry get behind me." Dumbledore said.
"Ah yes Potter, hide behind Dumbledore." Apophis responded.
"I'm not the one hiding behind daddy." Harry replied as he stepped forward but stopped when Dumbledore placed a hand over his chest.
"Get behind me Harry," Dumbledore ordered. "this is not a game."
"Really?" Harry asked in a sarcastic voice. "A dark lord and his heir are trying to kill me and you think that I think it's a game?"
"Harry I..."
"Just pick your opponent and I'll pick mine." Harry said as he gestured to Apophis and Voldemort.
"Harry you can't," Dumbledore said. "you have to go back and let me handle this."
"Fine...I'll pick." Harry said before he shot a bone breaker at Apophis, Apophis blocked and returned fire. Dumbledore didn't get to say anything as he blocked a spell from Voldemort. Dumbledore began exchanging spells with Voldemort while Harry and Apophis were doing the same.
"Harry you need to get away." Dumbledore said as he blocked a skin shredder before sending a stunner at Voldemort.
"You deal with your opponent and I will deal with mine." Harry said as he got rid of a flame whip before shooting a metal spike at Apophis, Apophis got rid of the spike before firing an organ liquefier, Harry dodged before shooting a banishing curse at Apophis. Apophis blocked it and the two continued exchanging blasts while Dumbledore and Voldemort continued dueling.
As the four continued throwing after spell they noticed that they were no longer alone, Harry heard more than saw a camera snap and heard a voice that sounded very much like Minister Fudge's.
"Harry get back!" Dumbledore commanded after blocking a killing curse with a conjured shield.
"Fuck off and keep fighting!" Harry said as he sent a cutting curse at Apophis before blocking a piercing curse.
"Harry get back!" Dumbledore hissed as he cast a wandless spell to push Harry away, Harry fell backwards as intended but he also moved sideways and right into a cutting curse that hit him on his right side, Harry cried out in pain as blood began pouring out of his side.
Voldemort and Apophis stopped shooting as they were surprised by that while all who were watching the fight were equally as surprised, including the camera man who managed to get a picture of it.
Dumbledore was probably the most surprised as he did not intend for that to happen, it was several moment later that Dumbledore managed to shake himself out of his shock. Dumbledore reached down to help Harry but Harry wasn't having any of it, Harry shifted so he was leaning on his left hand and foot then swung his right leg and kicked Dumbledore in the face, Dumbledore stumbled back while Harry hit him with a banishing curse that sent him flying backwards and landing harshly on his back.
Harry cast a healing charm on his side before looking up at Voldemort and Apophis.
"I'm still up for a fight, how about you two?" Harry coughed as he stood up.
"No," Voldemort held a hand to stop Apophis from moving forward. "another day Potter." Voldemort sneered, Apophis waved his wand and a green mist quickly covered the two. Harry fired a wind blast to get rid of it but by the time it was gone so were Voldemort and Apophis.
"He...he's back...he's back!" Fudge squeaked. Harry looked towards Fudge, he was tempted to make a comment but decided he couldn't be bothered.
"H...Harry," Dumbledore said as he stood up. "I..."
"Save it!" Harry growled before he began walking away.