Harry Potter and the Scar of Fate

Chapter 16

Death Comes as the End

Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore quietly arrived at the Chamber of Secrets. Lord Voldemort was already there, waiting for them.

"Hello Harry. Hello Dumbledore."

"Hello Tom."

"Hello Grandpa. Where is your second?"

"I don't need one. It ends tonight, one way or the other."

"Good. Professor, please stand aside. It is time."

Dumbledore moved away to a spot where he could view everything without getting hurt. Harry and Lord Voldemort bowed to each other. In one fluid movement, both their wands were pointed towards the other.

"Crucio!" screamed Voldemort.

"Reducto!" Harry shot back. Their wands connected, the golden cage of light appeared, and both of them were lifted off the ground. Harry concentrated on his wand, willing it to expel the phoenix feather from its core. Voldemort seemed to be doing the same.

The cage of golden light suddenly exploded. Dumbledore shielded his eyes. Harry shut his eyes. So did Voldemort.

When the light dissipated, two feathers, belonging to Fawkes, floated down into Dumbledore's outstretched hand and the two duellers fell to the ground with a thud.

"Well, at least we won't have the reverse spell effect again," chuckled Harry.

"You might as well throw away your wand, my boy. I have already won this battle. The coreless wand is entirely useless."

Harry stared at his grandfather in shock. He suddenly felt as if he were hit by a Cruciatus. It took him only a minute to cast it off, however. Dumbledore and Voldemort watched in awe as the boy shone with a green light.

"Your wand has multiple cores as well?" he asked weakly.

"Of course," said Lord Voldemort. Then his eyes widened in realisation. He gaped at Harry, and it seemed that the red eyes reverted to their original green for an instant and shone with what was unmistakably pride.

"What are your cores?" Voldemort asked Harry.

"Hairs of the founders. Yours?"

"You wouldn't want to know, my boy..."

Harry laughed. "Afraid to spill your beans, Lord Voldemort?"

Harry's eyes unfocussed suddenly, as if an Imperius curse had hit him. Again he glowed green, and he eyes came back into focus. Dumbledore noticed it, Voldemort was too amused to notice.

Voldemort chuckled. "How impertinent of you! Well, my wand has hairs of Slytherin, Grindelwald and every single Dark Lord before me."

"There were only three, barring Slytherin. Speaking of which, we probably ought to discard Slytherin as well, because that core will cause the wand spewing again."

"True."

Both the wizards concentrated on ejecting the said core. Two strands of black hair shot out of their wands, straight into Dumbledore's hands.

"Do you realise that you've thrown away your last defence, Harry Potter?" Voldemort laughed.

Harry smiled back, though a cold hand pressed around his heart. Voldemort was right. To kill, he had to use the Killing Curse, but he, having no real desire to kill, would never be able to use it.

"Goodbye, Harry. Avada Kedavra."

"Goodbye Grandpa. Protego Patroni!" yelled Harry, his instinct taking over. He didn't even have to think about what he was doing. He just put all his power in that spell.

The green light of the Killing Curse hit the shield Harry had erected. The impact brought Harry to his knees and his shield dissipated. The atmosphere was thick with screams, part of which, Harry realised, were his own. He opened his eyes and dimly saw Voldemort bent over, screaming in agony. I have to win! Harry thought furiously. An immense pain shot through his scar and he welcomed the velvety darkness as he blacked out.