Dumbledore's health continued to decline rapidly.
The curse on his hand had spread throughout his body, and combined with the magical damage Dean had inflicted, the old man was fading fast. But before he died, he made one final move.
He called a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dean learned of it through Snape, who attended the meetings as a spy. The Order was planning something, some kind of final confrontation with Voldemort. They were preparing for war.
But Dumbledore had made a discovery that changed everything. He'd realized that Harry Potter had been absorbing the Horcruxes. He'd figured out that Dean wasn't Harry, that something had fundamentally changed in the boy who'd survived the Triwizard Tournament.
And he was planning to use that knowledge to stop Dean before he became too powerful.
"He's going to try to kill you," Snape said, delivering the message in the privacy of the Room of Requirement. "He's convinced the Order that you've been possessed by Voldemort, that you're a threat that needs to be eliminated."
"Let him try," Dean said with a confidence that wasn't entirely feigned. He was powerful now, far more powerful than Dumbledore had ever been. But the old man was cunning, and he had allies.
The confrontation came sooner than Dean expected.
It was late at night, and Dean was in the Room of Requirement, preparing for the final ritual that would complete his transformation. He was alone, vulnerable, at a critical moment in his ascension.
And that was when Dumbledore attacked.
The headmaster burst through the door of the Room, his wand raised, his expression grim. Behind him came other members of the Order: McGonagall, Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Step away from the ritual circle, Harry," Dumbledore commanded. "You're not yourself. You've been corrupted by the Horcruxes."
"I'm more myself than I've ever been," Dean said, not moving from the circle. "And I'm not going to stop what I've started."
"Then you leave me no choice," Dumbledore said.
The battle that followed was unlike anything Hogwarts had ever seen.
Dean, still in the middle of the ritual, was vulnerable. But he was also far more powerful than any of them. Spells flew back and forth, the air crackled with magical energy, and the very structure of the Room seemed to shake under the force of the magic being unleashed.
Dumbledore fought with the skill of a master wizard, drawing on decades of experience and knowledge. But Dean had something Dumbledore didn't: the combined power of six Horcruxes, plus the magical knowledge he'd accumulated through study and innovation.
More importantly, Dean had nothing left to lose. Dumbledore was fighting to save a boy he thought was possessed. But Dean was fighting for his freedom, for his right to exist as his own person.
And that gave him the edge.
In the end, it was Dumbledore who fell. Not dead, but defeated. The old man lay on the ground, gasping for breath, his wand shattered, his power broken.
"You've won," Dumbledore said, his voice barely a whisper. "But at what cost? You've become the very thing we fought against."
"No," Dean said. "I've become something better. I've become free."
He turned back to the ritual circle and completed the final steps. As he did, he felt the last fragment of Voldemort's soul integrating fully into his being. He felt his power reaching a new level, a level that transcended what any normal wizard could achieve.
When the ritual was complete, Dean was no longer just a wizard. He was something new, something unprecedented. A being of pure magical power, with the knowledge of ages, with the strength to reshape the world according to his vision.
And Dumbledore, the man who'd tried to control him, lay defeated at his feet.
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