Different Paths

Chapter 23: Duel against the Dark Lord ~ Round 1

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Yasmin. She was sitting in the middle of Seth's demolished room, cradling Seth's head in her lap.

"Much," replied Seth. "I must say your lap is making me feel exceptionally well."

"Don't make me drop your head, Seth," said Yasmin rather curtly.

Seth chuckled before standing up. "Before I leave, I must give you two things," he said. He wobbled over to one of his drawers and rummaged through it before pulling out a battered up wand. "This wand is the original wand Mr. Voldemort gave me when I hid him in the shed all those years ago. It is with this wand that I made my first kills: my foster family. I want you to return this to Mr. Voldemort for me."

"Seth? How come?"

"Whichever philosophy is true, it doesn't change the fact that it was Mr. Voldemort who saved my life all those years ago. If it hadn't been for him, his philosophy, and this wand he gave me, I would be dead. This is a sign of my gratitude as well as the sign that I am now independent from him."

Yasmin took the wand. "And what was the other thing?"

"The other thing is the secret of Mr. Potter's Stellar Patronus."

Yasmin's eyes widened. "You mean you were able to figure out the secret?"

"Not of how Mr. Potter casts the spell," said Seth. "However, I managed to observe the intricate details of the mechanics of his spell. You see when most right-handed people cast a spell, they habitually step their right foot forward to cast the spell. In Mr. Potter's case however he needs to move his wand in the form of the constellation Leo. It appeared to me that he steps his right foot during that wand movement and then further takes another step with his left foot while casting the spell. Since Mr. Potter is right handed, this opens a very slim margin where he is rather vulnerable."

"And you think this information will be of assistance to Tom?" asked Yasmin.

"If anybody can take advantage of this information, it'll be Mr. Voldemort," said Seth. "You may take the hidden passageway behind the dresser: it'll get you to the throne room far faster than Mr. Potter and Mr. Black. And now, I bid you a fond farewell."

* * *

"So, Seth said that did he?" said Voldemort. He was sitting on his throne, examining Seth's old wand as Yasmin and Horace looked on. "Well, if he's decided to go independent, I'll have to live with that. For the time being that is. In the mean time, I'll freely use the information he has given to me, to finally crush Harry Potter once and for all!" Saying that, the Dark Lord crushed the wand in his hand into two.

* * *

Later, in the final arena, Voldemort was chuckling as he batted his wand around. Horace was standing not too far behind him. "You are looking forward to this, are you not Master?" he asked.

"Oh, I am truly looking forward to this," said Voldemort. "How long has it been since I've faced someone on equal terms? How long has it been since I have faced a true challenge? Believe me Horace, I have been waiting for this duel for years now."

'Perhaps so my lord,' thought Horace. 'But even so, I must think of the position of the future of the Dark Arts. In the unlikely event of the tide turning against my Lord I will intervene, even if it means breaking the First Fundamental Rule of Wizard Dueling and thus forfeiting my magic and my life.' Secretly, out of Voldemort's view, Horace placed his hand on his wand, hidden underneath his cloak.

Meanwhile, Harry and Sirius had just barged into the throne room and were quite surprised to find it empty save Yasmin. "You're late, what took you so long?" she asked.

Sirius's jaw dropped. "What the! How did you arrive here before us?"

"Never mind that now," said Yasmin. "Our Lord has designated the Battle Arena as the place for his duel. You will follow me and I will lead you to it." Without waiting for a response, Yasmin pointed to the wall behind the throne and said, "Alohomora." A section of the wall opened up, not too dissimilar to the entrance to Diagon Alley, revealing an archway that led to another cavern.

Sirius turned to Harry and said, "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," replied Harry.

"OK, quick review of the Fundamental Rules of Wizard Dueling," said Sirius.

Harry rolled his eyes but recited: "Number 1: a wizard or witch must never intervene in another wizard's duel unless he or she's the backup in case the dueler falls. Number 2: 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. Number 3: a dueler is allowed to use any available weapon or method of combat, so long as it isn't denied by the Second Rule. Number 4: if a dueler's wand is destroyed, then the dueler may take a spare wand from a bystander if he chooses, so long as the bystander doesn't intervene in the duel itself. Any breaking of these rules will result in the loss of magical powers of the one who breaks the rule, meaning he or she becomes a squib."

"You forgot number 5," said Sirius.

Harry frowned. "Number 5? There's no rule number 5."

"Oh yes there is: Never give up," said Sirius with a grin. "Now lets go."

They nodded to each other and followed Yasmin through the archway.

They found themselves on a rock bridge that led over what appeared to be a bottomless pit. From the darkness of the wide pit occasional bursts of fire gushed upward with the occasional echo of a roar. Harry and Sirius immediately recognized what was causing them.

"Dragons," said Sirius. "They've probably been utilizing their fire as a power source for this lair."

The bridge led to a large arena that was simply hovering in midair by magic in the middle of the pit. It was completely walled off though the bridge led to a large double door that seemed to be made out of pure steel. Yasmin pushed the door and it opened with an echoing creak. Yasmin led Harry and Sirius inside of the arena to come face to face with Voldemort and Horace.

"Welcome Harry, to my Battle Arena," said Voldemort with a laugh. "I trust you have enjoyed my welcoming party."

"If by welcoming party you're referring to the Elite Ten, I trust that my actually arriving here should speak volumes," said Harry.

Voldemort laughed. "So it does. After this I must remember to select a new Elite Ten. Still, it certainly appears that they've at least done their job," he said as he observed Harry's injuries carefully.

"I'm not injured to the point where I can't take you on," snapped Harry. "Lets finish this Voldemort. Lets finish what you started 16 years ago, when you killed my parents. It's going to end today, right here, right now!"

Voldemort laughed once again. "My thoughts exactly Potter!" He started stepping toward Harry but Yasmin stepped up right in front of him.

"Tom, I know this is very important to you," she said. "But please, I must ask that you be careful. I do not..." Yasmin was abruptly interrupted when the Dark Lord pulled her into a passionate, bruising kiss. Yasmin lost herself in the kiss and started kissing him back before Voldemort pulled away.

"I will finish him in 15 minutes," said Voldemort. He walked toward Harry, leaving a flushed Yasmin behind.

Harry was also about to step forward when Sirius grabbed his shoulder. "You sure about this?" he asked.

"Sirius, I know that I'm not the only one fighting this war. But I want to be the one to fight this duel. It's always been me and now it has to be me. This is something I have to do Sirius: for everybody's sake, for my parents' sake, for Hermione's sake." Harry's green eyes flashed with determination. Sirius didn't say anything, only nodded and let Harry step toward the waiting Dark Lord. For a moment that seemed to stretch on toward eternity, the two glared at each other.

It was Harry who made the first move. Harry made a quick dash to his right and made a charge at Voldemort from his left. Harry yelled "Magicus Ensis!" sending forth his green blade from his wand. Harry made one sideways slash at Voldemort but the Dark Lord simply dodged the blade by taking a back step. Harry slashed diagonally which Voldemort ducked. Undaunted, Harry thrust his blade. Voldemort too said, "Magicus Ensis," creating his own scarlet blade, which blocked Harry's blade. While most spells would've resulted in the glowing threads of prior incantati between the brother wands, the magical blades only released golden sparks with each hit, just as Dumbledore had told Harry.

Harry slashed twice more at Voldemort. Voldemort grinned and blocked each blow. He then slashed at Harry himself which, Harry easily blocked. Just as the two blades connected however Voldemort exclaimed, "Magicus Ensis Inflamarrae!" To Harry's utter shock, Voldemort's blade suddenly burst into flames.

"What?" Harry rolled away sideways from the sudden burst of searing heat. "Bloody Hell," he muttered as he observed the Dark Lord's blade of fire.

"I don't believe it," said Sirius. "The sheer amount of magical power needed to sustain a blade of fire should be too overwhelming, even for Voldemort."

"Really now Black," said Voldemort. "I would've thought that you would've long learned that the regular laws of magic don't apply to me."

"I wouldn't be too sure," said Harry. "If the rules aren't apparently applying to you, that can only mean that you're bending some other rule to make it work. And I'm going to find out what!"

"Humph, I'd like to see you try," smirked Voldemort. The Dark Lord slashed at Harry once more, the flames searing forth. Just as their blades connected however, Harry yelled, "Exorcise!" To the Dark Lord's surprise, the flames disappeared. Harry took advantage of the Voldemort's momentary distraction to slash at him, but he couldn't make a good enough blow.

"He quelled the flames?" exclaimed Yasmin.

"How did he do that?" shouted Horace. "No one has ever been able to quell the Master's flames!"

"It was surprisingly easy," said Harry. "Anybody with an OWL level education should know that a magical blade of fire can't be sustained by one's own magic power. Therefore, logic dictates that the only way you could possibly sustain a fiery blade would be if you're using the magical power of other sources." 'Thanks for teaching me about logic, Hermione,' he thought. "When I came close to the fiery blade, I felt an icy cold draught similar to the feeling of being touched by a ghost, despite the searing heat of your blade. That was the key to figuring out what that blade of yours really is."

Sirius gulped at Harry's serious tone. "And, what is that?" he asked.

"Souls," said Harry. "You're using the souls of the hundreds of people you've killed with that abominable wand of yours. You've enslaved your victims, not even granting them the freedom of death just to power your flaming blade!"

'Enslaved Souls?' thought Sirius. 'I think I'm going to be sick.'

Voldemort laughed. "Most impressive Harry. I believe you've been spending much time with that mudblood girlfriend of yours." He grinned at Harry in a condescending way. "You are quite correct Potter, my flames are powered by the souls of the many of I have killed with this wand. So of course your exorcising spell dispelled some of the souls in my wand, quelling my flames. But really, I must take some offense to your referring to my wand as 'abominable'. After all, your wand and my wand are brother wands."

"Well, get ready to have your enslaved souls liberated!" hissed Harry. He charged at Voldemort, wielding his blade.

Voldemort created his scarlet blade rather than his fiery one and deflected Harry's slash. Not missing a beat, Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort however merely deflected Harry's disarmer with a swipe of his wand.

Before Harry had a chance to react, Voldemort shouted, "Vampirus!" creating a spectral pair of fangs, which promptly sunk into Harry's left shoulder. Harry shrieked in pain as he clutched his bleeding shoulder and sank to the ground a little way away from Voldemort.

"I've already observed your disarmer when you used it against Century at Graypine, amongst other incidents. You rely on it far too much," said Voldemort. "The disarmer is a spell for the weak, not worthy of such high-class wizards such as ourselves. Your reluctance to achieve the power you have a right to, has always been your weakness Potter. After all, there is no good or evil, only power, and those too weak to take it. The strong are fated to take power while the weak are fated to be devoured by the strong."

Harry started. "Those words. Those are the words Seth said."

"Of course, I'm the one who taught him that simple truth," said Voldemort. "Seth, as well as Death Eaters and Elite Ten were too weak to destroy you: it would've been better off if they were killed. Still, they had their uses: they were able to deal sufficient damage to you to make it easier for me to take you down. Since I am the most powerful of all, it is only natural that I take control of this world some day."

"So that's your reasoning?" demanded Harry, anger coursing through him. "That just because you're oh so powerful you can step all over the lives of those weaker than you?"

"I never said it was my 'reasoning'," said Voldemort. "Survival of the fittest is the simple rule of nature."

"Rule of nature or not, it's still wrong!" yelled Harry, rising to his feet again.

"I'm not here to ask for your opinion Potter," said Voldemort. "Can't deal with it, fine by me. But if you do plan on continuing to stand in my way, I will show which of us is truly the more powerful one."

Harry literally growled and charged at Voldemort wielding his magical blade, nearly blinded by anger. Voldemort had no problem dodging each one of Harry's slashes, as Harry wasn't exactly thinking clearly. The Dark Lord than fired a particular curse at Harry that Harry didn't recognize, nor was he willing to find out. Shouting "Stupefy!" Harry's stunner connected with Voldemort's curse, resulting in the threads of magic to connect in the golden spell of priori incantati. Not willing to face the forms of his victims, Voldemort broke the connection.

Harry didn't miss his chance. Leaping forward, Harry slashed forth with his blade. Voldemort barely managed to get out of the way as Harry's blade slashed into his robes. Had Harry been in his right mind, he would've backed off a little and regained his bearings, but since he was still driven by rage he continued recklessly slashing at his opponent. As a result, he was completely vulnerable as Voldemort suddenly grabbed Harry's face.

Harry yelped as pain shot through his scar with direct contact to Voldemort. Voldemort lifted Harry up into the air, leaving him hanging by his face.

"Harry!" yelled Sirius. He would've leaped out to help his godson had Harry not glared at him through Voldemort's fingers, telling Sirius to heed the First rule of Wizard Dueling and stay put.

"Brilliant Potter, absolutely brilliant," said Voldemort. "But perhaps, you should be disciplined a little so that you learn to fight with a cool head." He pointed his wand at Harry's face.

Harry knew Voldemort wouldn't use the killing curse and risk hitting his own hand at such close proximity, but the alternative couldn't be better. 'Uh-oh,' he thought.

"Crucio!" Harry felt the excruciating pain of the Cruciatus Curse rip through his body as a terrifying scream was let loose from his lips, so loud that not even Voldemort's hand on his face could muffle them. Finally, Voldemort released his grip on Harry's face and let him drop to the floor. He hit his head on the ground, the curse still rippling through him. Voldemort finally removed the curse but Harry remained lifeless on the floor.

"Harry! No!" screamed Sirius. "Get up Harry! You have to get up! You can't fall now!"

"Oh but he has, Black," snarled Horace. "Harry Potter is fallen. He has been defeated by our Lord's might." While he said this, Horace was also thinking, 'How foolish I was, to think that the Dark Lord would require my help. I should've trusted in his abilities more. None can stand before my Lord.'

"7 minutes, 49 seconds," muttered Yasmin while examining a handheld watch. "I guess there really was nothing to worry about." She let out a breath of relief.

Voldemort was looking over Harry's lifeless form, a look of contempt and satisfaction on his face. "Thus perishes Harry Potter," he said. He turned away from Harry and started walking toward Horace and Yasmin.

Suddenly, a familiar voice yelled, "Its that arrogance you display in turning your back on your enemy that has always been a weakness of yours!"

"What? Snape?" explained Sirius just as the doors to the arena burst forth with an explosion and none other than Severus Snape emerged from the explosion, charging straight for the Dark Lord.

"Lord Voldemort, your head is mine!"

To be continued...