Chapter 47
3rd POV
Voldemort
Harry woke up with the sensation of Fleur pressed up against him, they were both still naked from their activities the night before. But it wasn't Fleur who woke him up, rather it was the phoenix perched at the end of the bed, amusement and concern warring in it black eyes.
It took Harry a moment before he realized the bird was there for a reason, which meant something important was happening somewhere.
Harry squeezed Fleur to his chest.
"Fleur, wake up." He whispered so as to not startle her.
She groaned and tried to borrow deeper into the bed.
"Fleur, come up, wake up." He gave her a soft shake and she frowned before her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a sleepy smile.
"Ey handsome." She yawned before she noticed his expression.
"What is it?" She murmured, arcing her body as she stretched.
Harry kissed her forehead and motioned his head toward the end of the bed.
"Fawkes is here. Get ready." He said as he stood and rushed to the closet, preparing for a combat situation, even if it was just an important thing that the headmaster wanted.
Fawkes squawked and landed on Harry's head as they turned away from Fleur's naked form, running across the room getting herself prepard.
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Two minutes later Harry and Fleur stood in the headmaster's office, appearing in a burst of flame. Fawkes left Harry's head and flew to his perch with a sift trill.
Harry took in the room; it was as haphazard as always. Small whirling trinkets and strange objects covered most surfaces while maps and portraits covered the walls. On the desk in front of Dumbledore lay the coloured map he'd seen the old man use frequently, this time however, the color wasn't the blue of Morgana.
It was purple still hadn't spoken, his eyes locked on the mud before him and his fingers steepled in front of his mouth. The headmaster's eyes held none of the customary twinkle.
Harry waited a moment before sighing.
"Sir, what's wrong?"
The headmaster sighed and leant back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment before meeting Harry's. He was looking older than ever, more like a normal old man than the powerful figure he'd known him as.
"Voldemort will attack the ministry any moment now."
Harry snarled and his wand flicked into his hands before Dumbledore stilled him, a hand held up in the universal hold on motion. Cocking his head, Harry calmed his mind, but his wands remained in his hands.
"There is more." The headmaster sighed.
Harry and Fleur glanced at each other, each shrugging before turning back to Dumbledore.
"Grindelwald is also on the attack. The European Ministries are headed to Nurmengard and I need to go there to help them. The ICW is sending their own elite auror squads to assess the situation."
Harry scowled, his mind racing to find a solution to the problem before them.
"The British aurors are ont he their way to Nurmengard, leaving the British ministry wide open to attack from Voldemort and his minions. The only allies you will find in the ministry will be each other." Dumbledore explained and Harry's jaw clenched, and he noticed the tensions in Fleur's shoulders as her blue eyes narrowed.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but we either fight Voldemort or we fight Grindelwald. We can't do both."
Harry snarled, his hands thumping the table in front of him, staring at the map on it.
A hand rested on his shoulder adn he felt the tension ease in his shoulders.
"It will be alright, 'Arry." Fleur murmured and Harry let out a long breath, calming himself.
He straightened his shoulders.
"Fleur and I will protect the ministry while you go stall Grindelwald. Once we're done with Voldemort, we'll follow you to Nurmengard." He paused, running a hand through his hair.
"Though I don't know the way." Harry admitted, then Fawkes squaked, flapping his large wings and crossing the room to land on his head, drawing grim smiles from the room.
"Yes, Fawkes probably is the best idea." The headmaster agreed before standing, letting out a pained groan as he stepped away from his throne-like chair.
"We have no time to waste. Harry, you have become a remarkable young man. I am proud to have seen you grow these last five years." Dumbledore held a hand to Harry's shoulder for a few moments before turning to Fleur.
"Ms. Delacour, you have been a wonderful addition to our castle, and I think you are a good influence for Harry. Look after him, please." He urged and Fleur smiled with a nod.
Dumbledore stepped back, gave them both a final nod before disappearing with a pop.
Harry turned to Fleur.
"'Arry, you better not be trying to think of a way to stop me from joining you." Harry ducked his head, sheepish. That was exactly what he'd been contemplating.
She flicked her wand and her patronus shot out, tearing through the air before disappearing through the wall of the office.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Informing the veela where they will be needed."
Harry nodded with a soft smile before nodding, disrupting the bird on his head.
"Fawkes, we're ready to go."
With a soothing trill, Fawkes spread his wings wide while Fleur wrapped Harry in a hug, kissing him.
They left Hogwarts in a blaze of flame.
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Harry and Fleur dropped to one knee as they arrived in the atrium of the ministry, Fawkes trilling at them as he flew into an alcove about to watch the battle.
They had arrived in the midst of a battle, it was carnage. Fallen ministry workers littered the floor while only a handful of death eaters joined them. It looked like Voldemort had taken the opportunity to take over magical Britain while the aurors were fighting a larger war.
An explosion rocked the atrium, as the floo terminal burst to life, spewing out dozens of death eaters. The explosion felt like it came from below while even more death eaters crawled out from the flue terminal.
Using both wands, Harry fired constant piercing hexes, taking down the death eaters almost as quickly as they entered the atrium.
Then, dozens of people tore out of the apparition terminal down the hallway, converging on the atrium. The newcomers fired too many curses for Harry to keep up with, but he noticed that all of them were deadly if they hit.
With one wand he tore a wall out fot eh floor in front of him that collapsed so soon as it appeared, torn apart by the dozens of spells that hit it.
Harry knew Fleur was working on defensive spells beside him and he stepped to the side, covering her from view as he gave her the time needed to set up their defenses.
The death eaters he'd hit as they came out of the floo pulled themselves to their feet and Harry's eyes widened as he saw them tear off their tattered robes, revealing hairy bodies and bestial, though not fully transformed werewolves.
With a growl, Harry used one wand to fire pinpoint piercing hexes at the wizards, cutting them one by one. While with his other wand he conjured paperthin silver needles before banishing them at the werewolves.
Once the silver needles pierced the werewolves' skin, they were too thick to tear out. This left the werewolves writhing on the floor, the silver leaching into their skin. It would be a long painful death, but Harry didn't plan on the battle taking long. He would remove the silver before leaving the werewolves restrained.
He heard a rumbling from below and focussed on taking down the werewolves, content for the moment to send a handful of blasting hexes at the wizards, forcing them to take cover.
A brief glance around the atrium forced Harry to admit the headmaster was right, it didn't look like he had any allies in the room. Apart from Fleur. A momentary thought crossed his mind to have Fleur dominate the death eaters, but it would drain too much of her magic. He knew they'd need it against Grindelwald.
Within moments, filaments of silver hund suspended in the air above the writhing werewolves. They were all subdued, including a particularly large and scarred one that Harry was sure he should recognise. With a mental shrug, he turned his attention on the wizards who cowered behind rubble and overturned furniture.
He narrowed his eyes, not recognising any of the death eaters. He figured they were expendable, not even being led by anyone important.
The rumbling from below came closer as Harry and Fleur shared a glance before the fountain behind them exploded, chucks of gold speeding through the air with enough force to embed themselves in the walls on impact.
Harry stared, mouth agape, at where the fountain had been for a moment.
In its place was a platform upon which Voldemort stood, surrounded by death eaters wearing silver masks rather than the white of the normal death eaters that Harry had been slaughtering until now.
Held in Voldemort's hand was the limp form of Cornelius Fudge, the minister was covered in blood and as Voldemort dropped Fudge to the ground, the atrium began to change.
Where once the atrium looked like an ostentatious open space decorated by a hyperactive gold-loving teenager without a budget. Within moments, every surface turned a dull iron gray.
In seconds, the ministry was on lockdown.
Voldemort watched Harry like a cat with a mouse, a small smirk on his face as his red eyes never wavered from Harry as the pale wizard strode down from the platform past where Fudge's body lay.
Harry heard the whoosh of the floo terminals ignite, signaling reinforcements.
"We have company." Fleur murmured, her back to Harry.
Harry narrowed his eyes at Voldemort, the man who'd caused him so much pain throughout his life. He couldn't keep the snarl off his face as he considered the monster in front of him. Voldemort was still pale like he'd been at his rebirth, but the man had gained much of his looks, his hair had grown back, as had his nose.
Now, the dark looked like an older, paler Tom Riddle.
Harry glared at the pale man before him.
"Run, take your followers and leave Britain. I have sent Mordred, and Morgan Le Fay to the underworld. I have sent Salazar Slytherin himself there too. You are next." Harry began, gaining a savage enjoyment out of the slight widening of Voldemort's red eyes.
"But I will give you the chance to run, survive for just a little longer. This is your only chance, you monster."
The dark lord grinned at Harry, it was feral adn filled with rage.
"No one speaks to Lord Voldemort like that. There was a prophecy made about the two of us and our first meeting was a mistake, acting on an incomplete prophecy." The man snarled; his voice almost sibilant.
"But we both know it now, what better time is there to fulfill the prophecy? Your protector Dumbledore is nowhere to be seen, nor his precious order. Who does he send to protect you? A filthy half breed whore?"
Harry snarled, but calmed himself. Giving in to his anger wouldn't help him, but he filed away the insult and would repay it in time.
The dark lord cocked his head at Harry, noting the anger fuelling Harry's magic.
"You know young Potter; we are remarkably similar."
Harry snarled, a growl escaping his lips.
"We are nothing alike. The only similarity we have is that we both had horrible childhoods. Except you are the cause of mine." Harry's body tensed, like a spring ready to be released.
"I moved past my childhood, Tom. You are still trapped by yours, even dying didn't release you."
Harry sighed, noting Voldemort's face twisting in rage. His skin turned a mottle red that stood out on his otherwise pale skin.
"This time, I will release you from the world and nothing will prevent that."
Harry flung two overpowered piercing holes at the dark lord, one ricocheting off a killing curse Voldemort sent in the exact same moment. Both curses veered off to crash into the walls of the atrium while Harry's second piercing hex bore through Voldemort's left shoulder leaving a hold the size of a golf ball.
A red mist sprayed out behind Voldemort while he death eaters watched on in despair.
With a wordless snarl, the dark lord waved his wand over the wound and it re-knitted itself within moments.
Harry grunted and narrowed his eyes, then unleashed as many overpowered spells as he could at the dark lord who did the same. Except most of his were killing curses or were otherwise deadly spells, designed more for a painful death than efficiency.
Curses and hexes flew through the atrium with reckless abandon. Harry shielding or deflecting each one, not willing to dodge while Fleur and were fighting back to back.
She was fighting just as hard, keeping all the present death eaters at bay, taking them out of the fight as efficiently as she could, knowing they had to conserve energy.
Harry felt curses whiz past him from the death eaters, knowing that she defended what she could, leaving the ones that would miss, even if it was only by inches. But he knew she was on the back foot, fighting all the death eaters by herself while he fought Voldemort.
He heard voices amidst the death eaters that recognised.
Malfoy, Nott, Avery and Carrow.
Then a wild cackle filled the atrium and Harry knew that Bellatrix was there too.
"Fleur, go alpha and get in the air, I have a plan." Harry whispered while deflecting a handful of nasty curses from Voldemort before unleashing a torrent of fiendfyre at the man, forcing the dark lord to defend against it.
A moment later, a bright white flash behind him heralded her transformation and the whoosh of great wings signaled her escape from the immediate area.
With one wand Harry created his stunning shield he'd used on the Goblins under Camelot while the other wand fired an overpowered explosion hex at the ground in front of Voldemort, kicking up dust, shards of metal debris and rubble into him.
Then Harry released the stunning shield.
Sidestepping, he spun around and fired blasting hexes on each of the fallen death eaters.
A few moments later, the dust cleared revealing only the inner circle death eaters who had defended against the stunning shield.
Fleur landed beside him with a slight smile before she engaged the momentarily stunned death eaters, staring at the bodies of dozens of their comrades.
Harry turned back to Voldemort to see the man fire a killing curse, but not at Harry.
The target was Fleur.
The spell careened toward her exposed back; her fight was more active not that she used her wings for the extra maneuverability. With a jab of his holly wand and sheer willpower Harry tore up a sheet of the iron gray floor to take the killing curse before he turned his attention on the dark lord who stared at Harry with wide eyes.
Harry felt his ritual tattoos activate, their white light filling the room. The power surged through him, making his wands buck at the power of the spells flowing through them.
He knew his increase in power, his anger at the man in front of him affected his accuracy didn't help either and Harry sought to wrestle his emotions into a semblance of control. Power was no use if he couldn't use it to do what needed to be done.
The boost to the spells coming fromHarry had the effect of forcing Voldemort to dodge them rather than shielding or deflecting them. Harry's brute force overpowered Voldemort's ability to defend. It was only the dark lord's experience that was keeping Harry from tearing him apart.
Harry strode toward Voldemort, exulting in having the upper hand against the man who murdered his parents.
But Harry noticed the dark lord's spells missing him. Was the man scared, his spells going wide in panic?
He heard the wild cackling of Bellatrix and realized what the man was doing. The monster wasn't aiming at Harry.
Enraged, Harry fired a flurry of curses at Voldemort and some at the floor beneath his feet, blasting up shards of dull gray iron into his face. Harry let out a smirk as the dark lord stopped his attack on Fleur, unable to continue under Harry's barrage of spells.
He unleashed a massive fiendfyre, filling the space between himself and the dark lord. Using one wand to exert his will over the fiery serpent and his holly wand to deflect Voldemort's spells. He watched the dark lord's eyes widened as the massive fire serpent barrelled toward him like an angry flaming train.
Harry fired a piercing hex with his holly wand but it connected with a killing curse. However rather than deflecting, the two spells combined. A sphere of golden light erupted from the core made of his and the dark lords combined spells.
The core generating the golden sphere shifted under the pressure of both Harry and Voldemort exerting their will. A warm trilling sound frilled the air, sounding like Fawkes' song and Harry frowned in confusion.
The confusion and sphere were short lived, however.
Harry's fiendfyre reached the dark lord and leapt upon him, the man was unable to defend against it, his wand locked in a battle of wills against Harry.
Harry hears the wild screams of Voldemort as the fiendfyre devours him. His eyes were flinty as Harry watched Voldemort fall to the floor, dropping his wand and breaking their connection. Tom Riddle rolled on the dull iron colored floor, his screams filling the atrium as the fiendfyre consumed him.
After the screams faded, Harry willed the fiendfyre away and it dispersed, leaving behind a charred husk of what was once Voldemort.
No floating spirit emerged from Voldemort's body. He hadn't escaped from the underworld like the others, he'd used some other way to cheat death.
Not that it had worked in the end.
Harry dropped to one knee and let out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment.
He felt Fleur's arms wrap around his shoulders, her lavender scent filling him with a sense of home. A sense of overwhelming fatigue filled him, and he sagged back into her embrace.
"I think I need a few days of sleep. We only had a day between Mordred and Voldemort." Harry remarked adn Fleur kissed his cheek.
"Oui 'Arry. But we must go aid you headmaster, no?" She replied and Harry nodded with a groan.
He kissed her hand and stood, looking around the room at the bodies of death eaters littering the floor. Countless death eaters with white masks, werewolves who were half transformed still writhed on the floor from the silver in the wounds. But the bodies of the inner circle death eaters were torn apart.
Nott, Avery and Carrow were missing limbs while half of Malfoy's face was burnt. Bellatrix however was covered in wounds, her robes torn in more places than not. The woman must have given Fleur a hard time, refusing to give in.
Then he looked at the body of Cornelius Fudge. The man was a fool but he didn't deserve to die.
Harry waved a wand and conjured chains to bind the werewolves. The conjured steel spikes that pinned the chains into the atrium floor. With his other wand he removed the silver from the werewolves. At Fleur's raised eyebrow he gave a grim smile.
"I'm pretty sure that not all these werewolves really wanted to be here. Hopefully there are at least some aurors still in the country to deal with this mess." Harry ran a hand through his hair before letting out the breath he'd been holding before turning to face Fleur.
"I hope that this next battle will be the last one. Maybe we can go on that holiday you parents mentioned?' Harry asked with a hopeful expression. Fleur leaned in to kiss his cheek.
"Oui, that would be a good idea."
Harry sighed, before straightening his shoulders.
"Fawkes, can you take us to Dumbledore?" He called, and the phoenix gave a happy trill as it circled down from its perch high above them.
"E may need some help." Fleur added as the bird landed on Harry's head.
In a flash of flame, the two teens and fire-bird left the British ministry atrium.
And entered a war zone.