Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 48: The End of The Road
Dumbledore stopped before the liquid could touch his lips and brought the cup down.
"What's the matter, Professor?" Harry asked.
The Headmaster rested the teacup on the table. "Tell me… who are you really?" His usual grandfatherly tone was nowhere to be seen.
His cold blue eyes were now glaring at Harry in a different way, and his body posture gave away that he was ready for an attack.
Harry sighed. "Where did I go wrong? I thought my performance was perfect."
"You made a few minor mistakes in your story. The way you speak to me is also different from how the boy used to. You try to hide it quite well, but I can feel the contempt and murderous intent beneath the surface of your mind," Dumbledore said.
He missed this the previous time they met because he wasn't looking for it. Now things were different, as he was already suspicious of Harry even before he showed up unannounced at his office.
"I suppose my eagerness has betrayed me," Harry lamented. Had he taken more time to slowly plan the old wizard's demise, he could have done things much better.
The school year was almost over, and he couldn't leave for the summer while this man was alive. Albus Dumbledore was too much of a threat to his plans.
Dumbledore tapped on the cup. "What type of poison did you use… basilisk?"
"That is a very good guess," Harry responded.
"I have a phoenix at my side. Anything slower than that would not be enough to kill me. And you knew where to find that particular one… as I never got around to getting rid of the basilisk remains in the Chamber." Dumbledore glanced for a moment at his notebook.
All the information he had collected had been written in there. No matter what happened here tonight, he had to make sure that book went to the right hands.
Harry did not miss that gesture. "Something valuable?"
"I'm assuming that you are not going to answer my first question… should I take another guess about your identity?" Dumbledore got ready.
"Guess all you want." Harry took something else from his pocket and held it in the same hand as his wand, while his left one was placed under the table.
"Is this you, Tom?" the Headmaster asked.
A cruel smirk appeared on Harry's face. "Wrong."
He used his left hand to lift the entire desk and push it on top of the Headmaster.
Dumbledore blasted the wooden desk away with a quick charm, right after securing the notebook in his hand.
Harry immediately shifted his attention to the other target. The glass container in his hand was thrown in the direction where the phoenix was sitting.
"Reducto!" He immediately followed it by destroying the container right as it was about to reach Fawkes, releasing its contents.
It was white powder that spread all over the creature, making it let out a cry of agony.
This was another great thing he found inside Snape's cabinet.
The Frost Willow isn't particularly rare, and it's only used in a few potions that are not in high demand, so Harry had no idea why Snape was keeping it in his cabinet.
Regardless, it was a nice surprise when he saw it and grabbed it immediately. He knew that if he wanted to get rid of Dumbledore for good, then he would need to first deal with this phoenix.
The Frost Willow can be turned into dust that is extremely cold, almost reaching absolute zero in temperature, even if just for a moment.
"Aguamenti!" Harry finished his attack by launching a stream of water on top of Fawkes. When mixed with the cold dust, it covered the phoenix in a thick layer of incredibly hard ice.
Harry wasn't completely sure if this would be enough to kill a resilient creature like a phoenix, but it would definitely keep it out of commission for the next few minutes.
"Fawkes, no!" Dumbledore noticed what Harry did just as he moved the pieces of desk out of his way. His eyes glared at Harry with absolute fury. "Cohiberum!" Three rings made of pure energy shot out of his wand and traveled toward Harry at tremendous speed.
If a single one of them were to touch him, they would wrap tightly around his body, preventing any movement and ending this fight.
"Too soft," Harry scoffed as his magical barrier stopped the rings from catching him.
It appeared that, despite discovering his real intentions, the Headmaster was unwilling to use lethal force.
This was not the case for him. "Avada Kedavra!" The deadliest curse lit up his wand with the same color as his eyes.
Dumbledore reacted by moving a large piece of his desk to intercept the spell.
The piece of wood broke off into hundreds of fragments that shot out like shrapnel.
One of these buried itself into the old wizard's leg.
Dumbledore groaned in pain but was still unwilling to give up. "Harry… if there is any of you still left in there… You have to fight!"
"I'm sorry, old man. But Harry Potter is gone." His wand snapped up, moving as quickly as a bolt of lightning. "Confractus!"
"Ahhh!" Dumbledore screamed as his wand hand bent ninety degrees, destroying his bones in the most painful way.
He then fell to the ground while still holding the notebook in his other hand.
"I thought you were going to put up much more of a fight," said Harry as he approached. "How sad..."
Dumbledore smiled. "It is not me that you should fear… I'm just an old man, after all." A twinkle appeared in his glasses, and the next moment, a flash of light blinded Harry for a moment.
"Tsk! You bastard." Harry couldn't see, but he knew where Dumbledore was, so he fired another bone-breaker his way.
Dumbledore groaned in pain.
Just as Harry was recovering his sight, he noted that the notebook Dumbledore had been holding in his hand was transformed into a white bird that quickly flew out of the window before he could intercept it.
" You wasted your only chance to kill me. What did you write in there that was so important?" Harry demanded to know.
Dumbledore moved his head with difficulty. The last curse had broken his nose and damaged the bones in his neck. Blood was covering part of his face as he looked back at Harry.
"The future," was all he said.
Harry became furious. "Avada Kedavra!"
This time, the curse found its target.
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