Different Paths

Chapter 16: Angelus the Destroyer

Only hours later, Harry, Sirius, and Snape arrived at the Tower of London. It was still rather early in the morning and there were virtually no muggle tourists there.

"I still can't believe that Voldemort hid his lair out here under our very noses right smack in the middle muggle London," said Harry.

Snape shrugged. "If you had bothered to pay attention in History of Magic you would've learned that before it fell into the hands of the Dark Side, the sanctuary under the Tower of London was built as a spot to spy on the muggle royal family and a potential assassination base in case the monarch had started witch hunts."

Sirius took Harry aside and whispered, "Don't worry, nobody's ever paid attention in Binns's class, even when he was still alive."

Harry would've laughed out loud if Snape hadn't rudely snapped, "We're here." They were at perhaps one of the most secluded areas a bit of a distance from the actual tower. It was a small opening into a brick tunnel that went into a wooded mound. However, the most obvious clue that the tunnel was the entrance to the Dark Lord's Lair was the scarlet clad woman standing in front of it.

"Welcome," she said. "I am Yasmin Corellan. I am to be your guide."

Sirius scoffed. "A guide? Why the bloody hell do we need a guide for?"

Yasmin glared at Sirius. "Oh, so you don't want a guide? OK, fine. Just don't try crawling back to me for help when you starve to death after getting lost in the labyrinth of caverns that extend throughout the lair."

Sirius shrugged a little hesitantly. "Er...well...OK."

"Now, before we waste anymore time, shall we proceed?" Saying that, Yasmin turned around and entered the tunnel. Snape, Harry, and a grumbling Sirius entered after her.

Yasmin hadn't been lying when she described the lair as a labyrinth of caverns. There were turns around full pillars of stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars and sometimes they would cross a hanging vine bridge that crossed right over bottomless abysses. The only light came from the Lumos spell of their wands and it often seemed like the darkness was about to close in on them.

"You know I once asked Hagrid this and I never got a straight answer," said Harry. "I never bothered to look up when I started at Hogwarts but what's the difference between stalactites and stalagmites again?"

"Stalagmites grow out of the ground while stalactites hang from the ceiling," said Sirius. "If you want an easy way to remember the difference, just remember that 'stalagmite' contains a 'g' for 'ground' and 'stalactite' contains a 'c' for 'ceiling'."

Harry nodded and that was the last time anybody smoke until they finally came across a large wooden door constructed in a gothic style with huge lion head knockers. Yasmin took one of the knockers and knocked three times and the doors slowly opened with an eerie creek.

The group entered what was clearly a large cathedral created in the gothic style. The ceiling was raised high above the ground and arched in the same gothic style that emanated throughout the entire cathedral. The walls were covered with stain glass windows that let light stream into the room though Harry wondered how light came into the room in an underground chamber. Interestingly enough, Harry noted that none of the windows depicted any saints or biblical stories. The crucifix had also been removed from the front of the cathedral and the benches had been completely cleared from the stone floor. And there, standing in front of the sanctuary facing the group stood none other than one of the Death Eater Elite Ten, Angelus "the Destroyer" O'Connell.

"Obstacle number one huh?" said Snape. "Well I suppose we can take him out..."

Before Snape could say more, Sirius held his arm out blocking Snape's path. Then in a voice laced in pure venom, he said, "He's mine!"

Not even Snape dared to try to stop Sirius after hearing the tone in Sirius's voice.

"Do you know him?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Sirius, not taking his eyes off of Angelus. "He's the one who taught me the Double-Neutral Spell." Before Harry could say a word in response, Sirius strolled out down the Sanctuary toward his opponent.

"Angelus," said Sirius rather curtly.

"Black," replied Angelus. "So, we meet again."

"Not in the way I would've expected," growled Sirius. "You were the last person I would've expected seeing on Voldemort's side."

"Did it comes as a surprise?" asked Angelus. "Personally, I'm the one who's surprised. What are you doing as a stooge for the ministry? The last I knew, there was a mutual hatred between you two."

"Ha! Don't get me wrong! I may absolutely despise the ministry, but it's still a million times better than whatever regime Voldemort could bring! Whatever happened to all that talk about sticking up for the oppressed?"

"You misunderstand me," said Angelus. "My allegiance with the Dark Lord is but a means to an end: to bring down the ministry."

"What?" Yasmin suddenly exclaimed. "What do you mean by that Angelus? How is this all going to fit into our lord's agenda?"

"It is quite simple Yasmin," said Angelus. "If the Dark Lord's regime is something as bad or worse than the ministry, I will bring it and the Dark Lord down."

Yasmin was completely speechless. Before she could come up with an angry retort, Sirius laughed humorlessly and said, "Looks like there's no reasoning with you monk. There's only one way to finish this now, in a wizard's duel!" Sirius extended his right outward, his fingers pointing straight out and touching the wall. With a surge of magical energy from his fingers, Sirius blasted a hole into the wall. "And I'm going to beat you with the very spell you taught me and I mastered!"

Angelus crossed his arms. "You are so naïve," he said. "All I taught you are the simple basics of the that spell. To truly call yourself a master of the Double-Neutral Spell, you must be at least able to do this." Angelus simply fretted his eyebrows and the floor and walls around Angelus simply exploded in a burst that could only be the Double-Neutral Spell.

Sirius looked a tad hesitant but it passed quickly and the challenging glint had returned to his eyes. "Ha, mastered, novice, it's still the same spell. I'm not about to back down from this duel. And to even further odds in your favor, I'm making Snape my backup!"

"Oh joy," muttered Snape.

"Very well," said Angelus. "The Second Fundamental Rule of Wizard Dueling: in a wizard duel there is a challenger and the challenged. The challenged gets to choose the details of the duel and even when to call it off while the challenger must abide to the challenged's rules and must see the entire duel through." Angelus straightened up. "In this situation I am the challenged while you are the challenger. Therefore, I'll set the rules for this duel, and there's only one: the spell that can be used is the Double-Neutral. You do know what happens if you break the Fundamental Rules don't you?"

"Yes," said Sirius. "Due to an ancient magic that no one has been able to counteract, anybody who breaks any of the Fundamental Rules instantly loses all of their magical powers and becomes a squib. It is a magic connected to the rite of Wizard Dueling since ancient times and to the best over our knowledge, it can't be countered." To illustrate his point, Sirius tossed his wand to Harry for safe keeping, so that he could fight exclusively with the Double-Neutral spell.

"I see we understand each other than," said Angelus. "So without further ado, let us start this duel!"

With that, Angelus charged straight at Sirius. Sirius just barely managed to leap out of the way as Angelus's fist came crashing down, taking away a portion of the floor in a Double-Neutral explosion. Before Sirius could gather his wits, Angelus swung his fist toward Sirius in a Double-Neutral powered punch. Angelus kept swinging powered up punches and occasional kicks, each taking out entire sections of the chapel with each blow. Sirius barely managed to dodge each blow by a hair.

Harry was looking at the duel in clear anxiety. Snape however was actually yawning. "Well Black? Would you like to switch? I could dispatch him in seconds if allow me," he said.

"Shut up grease-ball! I'm already coming up with a plan!" yelled Sirius. Snape clearly didn't believe him, but Sirius was indeed coming up with a plan. 'OK, Angelus may have a lot of physical strength but he's so bulked up on muscle that his movements are rather slow and clumsy. If I can counter his strength with a little speed, I might be able to land a blow. The Double-Neutral is an all or nothing spell so just one hit finishes the whole deal!'

Finally, his chance came. Angelus punched out one powerful, yet clumsy blow. Dodging it, Sirius leapt under Angelus's arm at lightning speed and with a yell, smashed a Double-Neutral punch straight into Angelus's side.

"He did it!" explained Harry. However, that was not so.

"What?" Sirius was quite startled when he realized that just when he had landed a Double-Neutral on Angelus's side, Angelus had Double-Neutralled his other side, thus canceling out Sirius's blow.

"The Reverse-Neutral," said Angelus. "It must be precisely timed or else we might fall by our on Double-Neutral Spell."

Having said that, Angelus lashed out again. Sirius barely made it away as Angelus's Double-Neutral grazed him. Pain rocked through Sirius and he coughed up blood.

"Sirius!" exclaimed Harry.

"Hold on to your horses, I'm all right," said Sirius. "That was close though: too close. If that blow had landed right on, I wouldn't even be alive."

"Ready to switch?" said Snape.

"Over my dead body," yelled Sirius.

"Well it looks like that's going to come true any time soon," said Snape.

"Why do you keep fighting Sirius Black?" asked Angelus. "It is clear that you cannot win. If you wish to back away now, I will allow you to."

Yasmin looked furious. "Angelus you buffoon! Why are you showing mercy? Kill him already!" She was completely ignored by everyone present.

"No backing down!" yelled Sirius. "I never back down, especially if I can save you by fighting?"

Angelus was confused. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You're obviously a lost man Angelus O'Connell," said Sirius. "Words don't seem to be penetrating that thick skull of yours. So I figured a little beating would give you just the jostle to open your eyes."

Angelus seemed to be thinking for a moment but that quickly passed. "You are delusional Sirius Black," he said. "I am the Destroyer. That is who I am and that is who I will always be. There is nothing to save."

"Doesn't matter," said Sirius. "Like I said, only a good beating will wake you up. So COME ON!"

Sirius charged straight at Angelus. However, that turned out to be a mistake, as Angelus reeled back, landed one powerful Double-Neutral punch on Sirius's torso.

"Sirius!" yelled Harry. Even Snape looked shocked while Yasmin had a 'about time' look on her face. With Sirius's body still hanging from his massive fist, Angelus silently started to chant a funeral prayer and made a Catholic Cross with his free hand.

However, everyone present was suddenly surprised when Sirius suddenly spoke: "Now, now, the fat lady hasn't sung yet. So don't get out the pall bearers yet!"

Angelus was shocked, "What? How..." It was then when Angelus noticed Sirius's fist on the other side of Angelus's. "The Reverse-Neutral?"

"That's right. It was a risky gamble in that I wasn't sure I could do it but it worked, MUCH TO YOUR MISFORTUNE!" Not giving Angelus a chance, Sirius grabbed his arm and blasted the Double-Neutral straight through his fingers into Angelus's body.

"Argh!" The force of the Double-Neutral blasted Angelus away into the wall at the very back of the sanctuary.

"Angelus!" exclaimed Yasmin. Harry breathed a breath of relief while Snape's face was unreadable. The two men made their way to Sirius.

"You look rather beat up," said Harry observing Sirius's injuries. He then turned to Angelus's prone form and asked, "How is he?"

"Unconscious," said Sirius. "If he were conscious, he would be in a lot of pain though. I didn't want to kill him but even the weakest form of the Double-Neutral packs a whole lot of damage."

However, to everyone's surprise, Angelus suddenly growled and started to pull himself up to his feet.

"That was close," he hissed. "Too close, I would've been finished if it weren't for the children." To everyone's surprise, Angelus pulled out a battered crucifix from his robe, which had clearly taken the brunt of Sirius's Double-Neutral Spell. "It appears that the children have protected me, so that I may continue fighting for them."

"Children?" asked Harry. "Angelus, if you don't mind, could you explain to me who these children are and what that crucifix symbolizes?"

Angelus suddenly looked very human and vulnerable, as if he were remembering something very sad. "No, I do not mind. But it is a bit of a story:"

20 years ago, North Ireland, 30 miles west of Belfast in a small secluded monastery in the foothills. It was a time when the Irish Republic Army was spreading terror across the land against the English who controlled the northern portion of Ireland. It was the time when Lord Voldemort had just started his first rise to power in Europe and the magical community was on the verge of war.

However, none of that was any concern to the young friar, Angelus O'Connell who ran the monastery. He lived there with several children, orphans, whom he was looking after. Those children were also the only ones who knew Angelus's secret, a secret frowned upon by the Catholic Church Angelus had dedicated his life to; that Angelus was secretly a wizard, though he had never had his magical abilities formally trained. It was an ideal situation: Angelus looked after the children and the children looked out for Angelus. It was a rather poverty stricken monastery, but those living there didn't care. They were happy and that was what mattered.

Unfortunately, it was not to last.

* * *

"Leave?" Angelus couldn't believe he's ears. Here he was leading this ideal life in the foothills when along comes this official from the British Ministry of Magic telling him that he had to leave. "I don't understand. Why must we leave?"

"Security issues," said the official. "North Ireland isn't safe these days. First of all there's that muggle here causing all that mischief, the IRA. If it was just they alone, we could continue our protection but recently a new movement has risen in England: a group called the Death Eaters headed by this Voldemort fellow. Our security is too thin to extend our protection."

Angelus couldn't bode well this line of thinking. A secluded Catholic Monastery would be the last place the IRA would target, and though he didn't know much about these so called Death Eaters, he certainly didn't think they would care about some hidden monastery that housed orphans.

Before, Angelus could say anything more, the official stood up and said, "You have one week to leave, after that you will be staying here at your own risk." With that, the official left.

It was only later that Angelus found out the truth that the man who had just visited him worked for specifically one ministry official: Burgess Morton, a fat, middle-aged, short, balding, high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic, with a bank account that rivaled that of the Malfoy family. The manservant met up with Morton on a path outside of the monastery. "So? What did he say?" he asked.

"He was rather hesitant," said the servant. "I told him that he should move out by the end of the week."

"A week?" yelled Morton. "Damn it fool, I want them out now!"

"But sir, you can't just..."

"Can't want Pearlman?" demanded Morton. "I used to be able to get anything I wanted just by showing them my Gringotts account or mentioning my long prestigious pure-blood family. Why, I was also the next in line to the office of Minister of Magic. But now with this...with this You-Know-Who running around, it looks like Bartemius Crouch is going to win the office! I may have lost the Minister's Office but theirs is no bloody way I am going to lose the site of my new Country Club to some old run down monastery!"

"But sir, what can we do?"

"What can we do? I'll tell you what we're going to do! Burn down that monastery tonight Pearlman!"

"What? But sir..."

"Burn it Pearlman, or else I'll burn it myself, with you in it! No brainless monk is going to stand between me and my Country Club!"

Pearlman was not ready to back down and follow his boss's orders. "But...but...sir, the Ministry's not about to stay silent if an entire monastery that's a wizard's residence, burns down. Even if we blame it on You-Know-Who, there going to investigate and they'll uncover us whereupon it's Azkaban!"

"Ah, but who said we're going to blame it on You-Know-Who?" said Mortan with a sinister grin. "We're going to blame it on the IRA. If it was some muggle group that burned the monastery, than the Ministry wouldn't care enough for an investigation."

* * *

Later that night, Angelus was out looking for prospective places to move when he noticed an orange glow against the night sky and smelled something burning. "No!" he yelled. Running as fast as he could, Angelus hurried to a ledge overlooking the monastery and gasped in horror.

The Monastery was on fire. It was completely ablaze and Angelus could feel the heat radiating from the inferno. There was also a sickening smell in the air.

"No! No! NO! NO!!!" screamed Angelus. No matter what however, Angelus couldn't get close to the raging inferno. Had Angelus been a fully trained wizard, he might've been able to put the fire out and save at least some of the children but alas, he didn't have the training.

The fire continued raging until the morning, and by then all that was left of the monastery and the children, was a burned up crucifix that one of the girls had owned. Angelus found it while digging graves for the children.

There, over that single crucifix, Angelus wept. He wept for hours upon hours until there were no more tears to left. And when those tears were spent, the kind twinkle in Angelus's eyes were replaced by a burning rage and "Angelus the Destroyer" was born.

* * *

5 years later, the silent tranquility of the North Ireland Wizard's Country Club was broken by a blood-curling scream. Burgess Morton looked on with pure horror as the hulking figure of Angelus O'Connell walked toward him, stepping on the crushed corpse of his manservant, Pearlman.

"Morton," hissed Angelus.

"Stay away! Stay away!" screamed Morton. "What do you want, money? I can pay you! I can really pay you! 5 million galleons! Just spare my life!"

"Burgess Morton," hissed Angelus. "You will now pay for your sins." With that, Angelus crushed Morton's head in his massive Double-Neutral powered hands.

"That is why I must fight!" yelled Angelus. "That is why I became "The Destroyer"! To right this corrupted world, it must first be destroyed and then rebuilt from scratch! Until the deaths of the children are avenged, "Angelus the Destroyer" will not fall!"

Sirius had a pensive look on his face. "Angelus I sympathize with you, far more than you can possibly imagine. But your theory, that the world must be destroyed and remade, is highly, and I mean highly flawed. And what's worse, you're on Voldemort's side!"

"My allegiance to the Dark Lord is conditional," said Angelus. "I joined the Death Eaters on the single condition that I myself can decide whether to kill or spare my assassination targets."

"Bullshit!" snapped Sirius. "Condition to kill or spare lives my eye: that's just nothing more than a petty excuse to justify your bloody quest of vengeance! But since it doesn't seem like my words are penetrating your skull, COME ANGELUS!!! I'LL BEAT IT INTO YOU!!!"

After that, the Wizard Duel between Sirius and Angelus digressed into an all or nothing street brawl as Sirius and Angelus did nothing more than pummel each other with Double-Neutral powered fists. However, no matter how impressive the fist fight was, it was next to nothing compared to the shouting match between the two duelers.

"Open your eyes Angelus!" yelled Sirius as he continued pummeling Angelus. "Stop this rampage now!"

"You don't understand," shouted Angelus as he caught Sirius in another powerful blow. "I have nothing to live for! All there is for me is to destroy. I am the Destroyer, this world must be cleansed."

"You fool! Don't you get it? Nothing comes from destruction, just a whole pile of dead things. All you're sprouting are a bunch of excuses to further your vengeance crazed rampage!"

"Destruction is what the world needs now! The corruption must be destroyed before the world can be saved!" Angelus pulled out his wand and slammed it into the floor, sending a Double-Neutral pulse toward Sirius.

"Oh yeah, and then what? What if the next world is just as corrupt as this one? And the one after that! Will you just be doing nothing but destroying worlds over and over again?" Sirius avoided the pulse by leaping into the air. He landed right on Angelus was a triple Double-Neutral powered punch combination.

"If need be," yelled Angelus. "I must be the Destroyer. I must continue being the Destroyer for the sake of the Children!" Angelus made another powerful punch toward Sirius.

"Open your eyes Angelus O'Connell!" yelled Sirius as he grabbed Angelus's arm. "The children don't want you to become a destroyer! All they want is for you to be happy! Don't believe me, well look at the crucifix you have tucked in your belt! That crucifix that represents those children to you! Can't you see that they are weeping in pain?"

"What?" Angelus suddenly ended his rampage and looked toward the crucifix tucked into his belt. His own blood covered the crucifix: it looked as if it were weeping.

"My God," muttered Angelus. Slowly he sunk to his knees, and it was if scales fell from his eyes and he had regained his vision for the first time in twenty years. And right there, before all those present, the Destroyer once again became human. "My God, what have I done? What have I become?" Angelus whispered as he started weeping.

Sirius stood in front of his fallen adversary and said, "Angelus, I have no idea how much pain you're going through, now that you've realized your mistakes. But just listen to me, no one wants the world to be destroyed, especially not the children you lost twenty years ago. You've been given another chance now Angelus O'Connell. Take it, and live your life once again. I'm sure that's what the children would've wanted for you."

"Yes," said Angelus, still on his knees. "I have lost this duel. You, Sirius Black have proven yourself to be the better man."

Sirius nodded grimly. "Yeah, I know."