The Awakening Power

* * *

Ginny slid down a tight ventilation shaft, her wand held in front of her as she cast Tractum spells to pull herself along. She was very glad that Lupin had put the slick charm on her; she was moving along the shafts quite quickly. The series of tunnels were far longer than she expected and if she'd had to crawl within them, she never would have made it very far.

On the other hand, she was growing increasingly frustrated. The tunnels were seemingly endless as she came upon fork after fork. Occasionally, she found duct that angled upward, so she took those, figuring it was better to keep moving higher. One good thing was that the shafts had grown a bit larger, giving her more room.

The air flow in the shafts was very odd; it seemed to flow one direction, and then blew back the other, as if the caverns themselves were breathing. She had tried to figure out what direction the air was coming from, but that proved impossible.

"Tractum!" she cast, pulling herself down yet another stone tunnel. She dead-ended into another tunnel, her wand lighting the smooth wall of a perpendicular shaft. Ginny was about to decide whether to go left or right when she noticed a distinctive gouge in the wall - the same gouge she had seen before.

"Damn it!" she shouted, her voice muffled by the narrow passageway. She felt tears coming to her eyes; she felt helpless and claustrophobic, and now she realized she had been going in a circle.

She pulled herself together, remembering that Harry and the others were counting on her to find a way out. She decided to give herself a minute to think. There had to be a way to do this more efficiently and effectively.

And then it hit her... she had a mapping charm on her wand. "Stupid!" she said, hitting herself in the head. She invoked the display incantation. A small, three-dimensional map floated in mid-air, showing all the cavern spaces and ventilation shafts that had been in her view since the charm had been invoked. The spaces were in a dim red, with a blue line running along the path she had traveled. The news wasn't all bad; she had managed to climb to some extent, and only her recent path had been in a circle.

She studied the map, rotating it around, and then saw something she hadn't noticed before. An opening to a shaft, somewhat larger in size, led directly upward from one of the tunnels she already had been down. She must have missed it when she slid by using the Tractum charm.

That has to be something, she thought excitedly. Checking the map one last time, she figured out a path back to the vertical passage.

* * *

Hermione, Ron and Lupin walked around the edge of the huge pit, gazing down at the enormous amount of magical equipment and supplies. The base of the crater was about two hundred feet below them, emitting a strange glow which illuminated everything but cast no shadow.

"What could they possibly be doing down there?" Hermione whispered.

"Something significant, if Voldemort went to this much trouble to bring in all this material," Lupin replied.

"All I know is, whatever it is, there's a lot here that we can destroy," Ron said, grinning.

"Agreed," Lupin said. "Let's do some scouting, see where everyone is, and perhaps even find out what's going on. It's even possible we may find a way to communicate with the outside."

Ron and Hermione nodded as they continued sneaking along the edge of the pit. There were large openings in the walls that apparently led to other caverns. They saw some goblins rolling in another load of the bluish-white metal bricks on a cart from one of the large openings.

Coming up to a very rocky area, they spotted a wide path with large boulders that angled down along the wall to the bottom of the pit.

Lupin peered into the huge chasm, scanning around the local area. "I think this might be a good way to go down. If we try and keep behind the rocks, we may be able to stay undetected."

Ron and Hermione nodded as they began their descent, carefully watching for anyone that might spot them. They paused behind the large rocks, but this part of the pit seemed to be unoccupied.

At last they reached the bottom where they found themselves next to one of the huge bins of supplies, which was a rusty brownish-red in color and about six feet high. A large spout was at one end, with a wheel valve above it. Ron walked over and pulled himself up to peer over the edge.

"There's some kind of red liquid in here," he said.

"Well, don't touch it, Ron!" Hermione hissed.

"I'm not!" Ron said, annoyed.

"Someone's coming!" Lupin said quickly.

Ron dropped down and ran over with Lupin and Hermione behind some rocks. A goblin came strolling up with a wheelbarrow. He placed it under the spout in the bin and turned the valve, causing the red liquid to pour out. He filled up the wheelbarrow to about half full, then turned off the valve. He began rolling it away toward another part of the pit.

"Well, now what?" Ron asked.

"I suggest we follow this fellow. Perhaps we can learn more about what's going on," Lupin replied.

They followed at a safe distance, hiding behind various rocks as the goblin rolled the wheelbarrow along a line of the large bins. The temperature began to grow noticeably hotter as they moved into the area of the pit with the line of enormous cauldrons, each one towering over the three of them. The goblin moved to the third row, then rolled the red material to a cauldron in the center of the row, five cauldrons down.

Ron, Hermione and Lupin carefully hid behind a boulder parallel to the row the goblin was working in. They peeked around the rock; the goblin seemingly oblivious while doing his work. He reached for a clipboard next to the cauldron and wrote down something, then waved his hand at the wheelbarrow, sweeping it toward the cauldron. A column of the red liquid flew up into the air and poured itself in.

The goblin watched until he was satisfied the job was complete, then began rolling his wheelbarrow toward Lupin, Ron and Hermione, who ducked behind the boulder. The goblin continued walking as they followed.

They heard a loud SNAP and a gurgling sound began coming from another one of the cauldrons. The goblin stopped and went over, as if it were routine. He checked the clipboard, then waved his hand at the cauldron and a black sludgy liquid came out of the cauldron and loaded itself into his wheelbarrow.

They followed him as he rolled the material away from cauldron, and into a large cavern in the side of the pit. Lupin, Ron and Hermione peeked around the corner and watched him pour the sludge into a hole in the cave floor. After completing this task, the goblin rolled the wheelbarrow away.

Ron and Hermione were about to continue following him, but Lupin stopped them. "Let's examine this cavern," he whispered.

After the goblin had gone out of their sight, they crept inside, trying to stay out of direct view. They peered into the strange hole, which descended into darkness. It was apparently very deep. Ron picked up a large rock and tossed it into the hole. They could hear it hitting walls for ten or twenty seconds before hitting the sludge with a thick 'gloop' sound.

Meanwhile, Hermione had found a narrow passageway into another cavern. "Look in here!" she said, peeking through the doorway. "It's like those metal bricks, but different."

Lupin and Ron followed her in. Inside they saw a large pile of the bluish-white metal, but instead of neat bricks, they were misshapen lumps, and checking closely, they could see odd yellow streaks in the metal. Ron picked up one of the lumps, struggling to lift it. "It's bloody heavy, whatever it is."

"We'd better move out before someone else shows up," Lupin said. "Let's see if we can find out more while we wait for Harry's signal."

* * *

Harry strode back through the field of huge stones, trying not to think too much about the task ahead of him. Somehow, he needed to stall Voldemort, to give Ginny as much time as possible. He had to hope that Garnak was right, and Voldemort hadn't arrived yet. Perhaps he was delayed... if he took long enough, it was possible that Harry might not even have to fight him...

Harry sighed, not truly believing it.

Finally arriving at the blasted door, he cautiously moved down the tunnel and broke out into the chamber where he'd battled the goblins, who were still unconscious. He peered down the tunnel into the room where Ginny had entered the ventilation duct, feeling an urge to run over and call to her, to get any kind of a sign that she was still alive.

Steeling himself, Harry marched the other way, down the tunnel that led to the cell block his friends had been held in. He peeked into the cell where they had put the guard and noticed the goblin was awake, sitting on the floor, looking extremely irritated. He wondered if he could get some information out of him.

"Comfortable?" Harry asked with a malicious smile.

The goblin's head snapped around. "So. You're not dead yet. Only a matter of time," he said bitterly.

"Do you know a way out of this place?" Harry asked.

The goblin chortled. "Yes. Simply die, and your soul will leave this place."

"What will Voldemort do to you when he hears that you let us go?" Harry asked, an edge in his voice.

The goblin gave him a wary glance. "I'm not the one that let you out."

"In my experience, Voldemort isn't one to listen to excuses," Harry said. "But you know better than I do. Good luck." He began to walk away.

"Wait!" the goblin called after him, a bit panicked. Harry went back to the window. "I know something perhaps useful to you."

"Well?" Harry said, with an affected voice of impatience, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"What do I get in return?" the Goblin said slyly.

"I don't have time for this," Harry said, feigning anger. He stomped away.

"All right!" the Goblin said, running up to the door and pounding desperately. He was too short to see through the window as Harry returned. "I've only heard rumors... but I'm told that the Dark Lord has a special wand. It's supposed to be attuned to you."

Harry blinked at him, stunned as that thought sank into him. Apparently Voldemort had planned to not run into any Priori Incantatem problems this time around. He supposed it only made sense that Voldemort would get a new wand.

"How is it attuned to me? What does that mean?" asked Harry sharply.

"I have no idea, wizard," the goblin said condescendingly. "That's all I know."

As Harry nodded and turned away, the goblin called out to him. "Hey! What about me?"

Harry turned and drew his wand in a lightning motion. "Stupefy!" he snapped, stunning the goblin who fell back into the cell with a loud thud. "Sorry about that," he muttered, not feeling terribly guilty.

Continuing down the corridor, Harry again considered Voldemort's new wand. What could it mean to be attuned to him? He had never even heard of such an idea.

Harry reached the end of the tunnel, breaking out into the cavern that connected to his own cell block. He eyed the tunnel two entrances to the left, feeling a knot of nervousness in his stomach. Clutching his wand tightly, he began creeping down the corridor toward Voldemort.

* * *

Ginny crawled along the ventilation duct that led to the vertical shaft she had seen on the map. This has to be the way out, she thought furiously. She kept moving, sliding along more slowly so that she wouldn't miss it. It ought to be here by now!

Just as she was about to examine the map again, she saw a shadow up ahead from her wand light. She slithered along faster and came upon a smooth shaft heading straight up. The passage was much larger than the duct she was in, giving her hope it was a main airway. She pointed her wand up into the shaft. The light disappeared into the darkness; she couldn't tell how high it went.

Having an idea, she displayed the mapping charm again. She didn't totally understand how the charm operated, but she suspected it showed everything that was in her view, even if she wasn't directly looking at it. Studying the shaft on the map, she saw it rise high and then seem to stop. There was sort of a mushroom shape around the top, which she thought might be all the charm could show of another duct or even a cavern. The shape appeared rather large.

She vanished the map and considered how she should climb up the shaft. Tractum wasn't strong enough to pull her own weight, so it was probably time to use the Rappelling Charm. She wondered if it would reach all the way to the top.

"Apeler Spicum!" Ginny shouted, her voice echoing up the duct as she imagined the piton reaching the top. The rope shot upward and she heard a loud PING far up the shaft.

She shoved her wand into her pocket, keeping it lit up so that she'd have some light. Taking a deep breath, Ginny pulled herself up into the shaft and then wedged herself between the two walls, her legs pushing her back against the wall. Ginny found that the slick charm made it much easier to climb; she could push with her feet and slide against the other wall, while also pulling up with the rope. She quickly moved up the shaft.

The duct went up about a hundred feet and then she reached the top. Ginny pulled herself over the edge and flopped onto her back, a bit out of breath from the climb. She pulled her wand out and lit up the space. It was a much larger tunnel, almost large enough to stand up in, perhaps five feet high. She grew excited, suspecting that this was a main airway.

She displayed her map, which showed that one end of the tunnel appeared to narrow, while the other direction grew larger. She could feel a considerable amount of air moving back and forth, similar to what she felt in the narrow ventilation shafts. Getting up from the floor, she kept her head ducked carefully. The top of the tunnel was very rough; it would be very easy to hit her head if she wasn't careful. That's all I need, to hit my head and knock myself out, she thought.

Ginny moved quickly down the tunnel, all too aware that time was important, needing to find help as soon as possible. The tunnel gradually grew higher and wider, finally allowing her to stand erect. She began jogging, moving quickly yet carefully.

A hole suddenly opened up in front of her; she stopped abruptly, kicking a stone into the hole, which fell for a long time before hitting the bottom. She felt a stab of fear as her stomach flip-flopped. Ginny breathed heavily; she had almost fallen into the shaft. Stupid! I should have realized there would be more shafts, she thought, angry with herself. She needed to be more careful or this would end a lot sooner than everyone wanted.

Jumping over the hole and continuing on, she paid much more attention to the ground. The tunnel was growing quite wide now as she tried to move even faster, breaking into a jog again. She slowed as she heard a very odd sound; it was almost musical, a loud whistling was coming from up ahead.

Ginny continued on, hoping it was something significant. Seeing a vague flash of something green ahead, she squinted through her wand light, but didn't see it again. She extinguished her wand, and then a green glow was visible far up ahead in the tunnel. She hadn't seen it before because of her wand light, but there could be no doubt that something odd was up ahead.

Lighting up her wand again, Ginny ran down the tunnel, still keeping one eye on the floor, but feeling certain the glow had to tell her something about the way out. As she approached the end, she could see the glow growing bright enough to see, highlighting the sharp edges of an opening to the tunnel. She slowed and crept up to the end and was astounded by what she saw.

It was a massive cavern. The rough walls glowed with a dim, eerie green glow, with occasional bright spots of light, like stars in a green sky. Other tunnels similar to hers lined the cavern, presumably other air vents.

But the oddest thing was the base of the cavern. It was a smooth, pink, fleshy color. As Ginny watched in fascination, the floor fell sixty feet, then slowly rose again to about ten feet below the edge of her tunnel. The entire cycle seemed to take about a half-minute; the cavern seeming to breath like an enormous lung. As the floor went down, air was drawn out of the tunnels, and when the floor went back up, the air was pushed back.

She peered up the chamber. The green glow appeared to fade very high up until she couldn't see into the darkness.

This has to be the main air supply, Ginny thought excitedly. She examined the walls of the cavern; they were very craggy and rough, with a lot of outcroppings. They were climbable, particularly with the aid of the Rappelling Charm.

She saw a small ledge to the right of her tunnel entrance; it seemed like a good place to start. Since there was plenty of light from the green glow, Ginny extinguished her light. Pointing her wand upward, she cast the Rappelling Charm, imagining the piton sticking in as high as possible. A rope flew out of her wand, higher and higher, finally sticking into the rock about one hundred fifty feet up.

She wrapped the rope around her waist and stepped out onto the narrow ledge. She began climbing, often finding good handholds and foot steps, but sometimes having to pull herself up with the rope. Reaching the top of the rope, Ginny took a quick glance down, then quickly looked back up, feeling nervous from the height. She rested for a few seconds, then aimed her wand up and sent another rope up high. It again stuck in the rock another hundred and fifty feet above her.

Two more rope lengths she climbed, until the rope stuck in the bottom of a large ledge. She took another deep breath, feeling very tired from all the crawling and climbing. Still she kept moving, getting into a rhythm as she climbed, trying not to dwell on what might be happening with everyone back in the chambers.

At last Ginny reached the bottom of the large ledge, her muscles burning as she climbed slowly over the edge. She collapsed on the flat surface, about ten feet by twenty feet. Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the green glow. Tears sprung to her eyes; she could hardly see the top. It would take forever at this rate. But she had to keep moving, everything depended on her...

All right, Weasley. What would Harry do? You know he would keep going, exhausted or not. She forced herself to get up and warily eyed the cavern as she shot another rope up. Up she climbed, muscles unused to the activity aching from the ascent. Ginny was about two-thirds of the way up the rope when she heard some activity below her.

She glanced down and felt a thrill of fear as she saw four goblins on flying desks staring up at her from a newly opened entrance at the bottom of the cavern.

* * *

Harry crept along the tunnel, keeping his wand at the ready to stun anything that moved. The passage twisted and turned several times, then began angling upward. Spotting the end, Harry slowly approached and saw a brightly lit room ahead. Getting down on his knees, he crawled cautiously toward the entrance, then laid down on the floor, inching his way toward the entry, trying to make himself as unobtrusive as possible in case anyone was there.

At last he was able to get a good look. It was an enormous, rectangular room, perhaps one hundred yards long by seventy-five yards wide. The floor of the room was sunken, with a large flat outer area, which sloped down to a flat inner area, giving an appearance of a large bowl.

The walls were quite rough stone, with large boulders on the outer track, giving the place an unfinished feel to it, but the middle sunken section was covered with a smooth marble floor. Golden patterns were artfully inlaid in the marble. A shallow reflecting pool stood in the very center, surrounded by elaborately-carved marble benches. In the middle of the pool was a golden serpent fountain, spraying water into the air. Oddly, the drops hit the water, but created no waves that disturbed the mirror surface of the water.

Tall stone pillars engraved with golden-colored serpents surrounded the pool, with matching pillars along the edges against the walls. Harry could also see tunnels leading elsewhere.

The place appeared to be empty. Harry cautiously got up off the tunnel floor and entered the room, hiding behind some of the large boulders as he moved around the edge. Although the room was beautiful in its way, it had an oddly cold, sterile feeling to it, causing Harry to shiver a little bit.

Seeing a strange-looking bin at one end of the room, Harry walked toward it, keeping his wand at the ready in case someone might come in. As he approached, he could see a bright glow coming from the contents. Peering into the bin, he was stunned to see that it was filled with golden Galleon coins. Thousands upon thousands of Galleons sparkled up at him as he reached in and took out a handful, letting them fall through his fingers like grains of sand.

Why does Voldemort have a small fortune in here? Harry wondered. Maybe it was used to finance the rogue goblins, but why keep it in a bin here in this chamber?

Harry sighed as he backed away from the container, and looked around the room. He saw a good hiding place toward a corner of the cavern, with several large boulders. Since Voldemort didn't seem to be here yet, he might as well wait and keep himself concealed.

* * *

Ginny pulled her wand, knowing that she was at a distinct disadvantage being stuck to the cavern wall while the goblins could fly around her. She glanced up, seeing another large ledge above her, but it was quite a distance away.

Suddenly, some flashes of light flew up at her, hitting the green cavern wall and reflecting up into the darkness. She felt a sting as several curses hit her in the leg and then the back, blood flowing and soaking her trousers and shirt. They launched several more curses, but she was ready this time, and managed to block them effectively. Still, she felt anxious; the longer she spent fighting them, the less chance there was of bringing back help in time. She launched some stunning spells at them, but they were too far away and they easily dodged out of the way.

After seeing Ginny block their curses, the goblins apparently decided that taking potshots at her wasn't going to be an effective strategy and starting flying up to her. Ginny tensed; her wand at the ready, as she wrapped the rope around her waist several times so that she could concentrate on fighting them without worrying about falling. She cast a few more stunning spells, but the goblins dodged, being very maneuverable on the desks.

The goblins split up, two of them going above her right and left, and two staying below, and they began firing curses at her from four directions. She did her best to block them, but could only do so much; she concentrated on protecting her face and chest. She felt cutting curses hitting her legs.

I need to keep moving, she thought desperately. Ginny pulled the rope extra tightly around her waist and pushed off from the wall, running along the vertical surface. The goblins started chattering at each other in goblin language, apparently exhorting each other to hit her, but they had a much more difficult time hitting a moving target.

They began to move closer, trying to get a better aim at her. Ginny saw out of the corner of her eye that one of the goblins was pulling up next to the wall, so as to nullify Ginny's movement advantage. She had an idea... maybe she could surprise him...

Gripping the rope in one hand and her wand in the other, she waited for the goblin to get a bit closer... Ginny then pushed away from the wall with all her strength, flying out into the air like a pendulum. She waved her wand at the goblin.

"Stupefy!" she shouted. The spell flew through the air and hit the goblin dead center. He slumped over the desk as it began to fall, and fell onto the wide ledge she had rested on earlier.

The other goblins flew down out of range and huddled together, apparently discussing the situation. Ginny had another idea; she hated to go down, but the ledge below would be much more defensible than being a sitting duck on the wall.

She slid quickly down the rope next to the unconscious goblin. She scooted to the edge and peered over as the other goblins stared back at her. They seemed satisfied with the stalemate for now. And why not? she thought bitterly. As long as I stay on this ledge, they're happy. Time is on their side.

There had to be something she could do. She sat down on the ledge with her back against the rough wall, considering her options. She stared at the unconscious goblin, wanting to kick it in frustration. Her eyes then moved to the goblin's flying desk... and a shiver went down her spine. Merlin's bloody beard, that's my ticket out of this place.

She'd never flown on one of the goblin desks; in fact, it was a good thing she was small, otherwise she wouldn't fit on one. Ginny crawled over to the desk, inspecting it closely. Fortunately, it appeared to be undamaged from the fall. It was very probable that it used the same charms as brooms for flying.

Ginny pushed the goblin's body away and set the desk upright again. She sat down, barely fitting on it, trying to get the measure of how it felt. She gripped the table surface as he had seen the goblins do and willed it to rise a few inches, the way she would a broom. It rose up exactly like a broom, sending a thrill of excitement through her. There was a chance to get out of this alive...

She considered her options. Undoubtedly, the goblins would follow her immediately. She wondered if she could distract them somehow, to give herself a head start. Ginny eyed the unconscious goblin. She felt a slight twinge of guilt at her idea, but the goblins were trying to kill them all. It was no time to be squeamish, and she wasn't feeling in a particularly gentle mood anyway.

She readied herself and took a deep breath. Angling herself in the air, she pushed the goblin off the ledge. Hearing a panicked noise and a whoosh of desks through the air as they went to check on their comrade, Ginny took to the air, flying very fast.

An amazing sense of relief ran through her as she flew up the cavern; it felt so good to be flying instead of climbing up the bloody cavern wall on a rope. She risked a glance behind her. She saw the goblins looking up at her from far below, and they were just starting to move.

Ginny had a long lead on them, however. As she flew by another ledge, she noticed that it had a pile of large, loose stones. Abruptly stopping her desk, she spun around and levitated a large pile of rocks into the air and dropped them, then quickly continued on without checking to see where they went. She heard a loud crash, and she banged her fist on the desk surface in triumph, suspecting she had managed to catch another one. Taking another peek back, she saw the two left were hugging the walls to avoid any more dropped objects.

Higher and higher she flew; the green glow growing fainter as the cavern faded into darkness. She was about to light her wand when a bright beam of light emitted from the front of the desk, illuminating her path.

She heard the two goblins coming closer; cutting curses started to fly around her as she took evasive maneuvers. Ginny was forced to slow down; she couldn't see very well and was afraid she would hit the cavern wall, being distracted by the goblins. She had no choice; she had to turn and fight them. But trying to fight them in the dark was very risky...

Ginny decided she had to get rid of the goblins if she wanted any chance. Abruptly spinning the desk around, she flew straight down at a reckless speed, flying past the stunned goblins, trying to get back to the green glow so that she could see them to fight them. A half minute later she reentered the glowing part of the cavern, the light on her desk extinguishing automatically. She spun the desk around and waited with her wand raised...

And nothing happened. She punched the top of the desk in frustration; the goblins weren't taking the bait. Damn, nobody ever said goblins were stupid, she thought with irritation. They were perfectly happy to have her waste her time down here while they waited up there in the darkness.

Hmm, she thought, as a rather radical idea came to her...

She flew back up, holding her wand in front of her. The light grew dim once again, and her desk light turned on again. She saw the goblins high above her, on opposite sides of the cavern, trying to squeeze her. Perfect, she thought, just where I want you...

Just as she was approaching the goblins, she could see them raising their hands, getting ready to fling curses at her...

"Apeler Spicum!" she shouted, casting the Rappelling Charm. The rope flung out toward the first goblin, and stuck straight into his desk. She then cast another charm, sticking into the other goblin's desk. Cutting curses were flying at her as she wrapped the rope around a bracing connecting the top of the desk to the seat, and then accelerated upward, as fast as the desk would go.

Higher and higher she went until suddenly she felt the ropes grow taught. Ginny glanced down, just in time to see the two goblins jerked upward and away from each wall. They swung together and collided in mid-air with a huge crash. The desks broke apart, causing the goblins to fall to the floor of the cavern.

"Take that, you bloody bastards!" Ginny screamed out loud in triumph.

Ginny exhaled a heavy breath. Now to get out of here, she thought as she untied the rope. She flew upward through the cavern, the desk lighting the way. She could barely make out the sides of the cavern as she flew higher. Abruptly she broke out into an enormous, well-lit chamber. Huge torches lined the walls and she could see hundreds of holes in the floor, with fifty foot stalactites hanging from the ceiling and equally large stalagmites coming up from the floor. A damp smell permeated the air from water dripping all around the chamber.

She flew around the huge space, looking for any sign of a way out. She was just about activate her mapping charm when she saw cart tracks coming out of a tunnel in a corner of the cavern, turning, and then disappearing into the side of another.

Ginny looked at the tracks excitedly, thinking that they had to lead somewhere. She just needed to follow them and find help, and hope that somewhere her friends were doing all right.

* * *

Harry sat behind his boulder, feeling fidgety that he should be doing something more, but at the same time thankful that with every minute that passed, Ginny had that much more of a chance. He worriedly wondered if she was making any progress.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps entering the cavern. He peeked around his boulder and saw a very familiar face strolling about the cavern, even his gait seeming familiar as he moved with an air of arrogance.

It was Lucius Malfoy.

He sauntered toward Harry's side of the room as Harry ducked back out of sight. Slow footsteps echoed through the room as he moved closer, causing Harry's heart to beat a little faster. He was tempted to quickly stun him, but at the same time, he didn't want to give himself away. He wasn't certain what his strategy should be.

The footsteps stopped, not far from him. A silence descended on the room, then he heard the jingling of coins. Lucius Malfoy had stopped at the bin, and was handling the coins. Harry heard a small chuckle.

"Lovely," Malfoy said in a low, drawling voice.

Harry thought quickly, trying to decide what he should do. Voldemort clearly wasn't here yet, but was Voldemort expecting Lucius Malfoy to be here? If Harry captured him, would that tip Voldemort off that something was wrong? But if he didn't capture him, that was perhaps one more Death Eater he might have to fight later, when the odds weren't nearly as good.

Harry made his decision. He gripped his wand tightly, hoping that Malfoy was turned away from him. He stepped out quickly from behind his boulder and aimed his wand.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted.

Unfortunately, Malfoy was facing Harry's hiding place. His eyes went wide as he dropped to the ground, behind the bin. Harry's spell missed.

Harry swore, running along the side of the cavern wall to get a better angle. Meanwhile, Malfoy had rolled away from the bin and rose to his feet.

"Avada Kedavra!" he screamed, launching the killing curse.

Harry dived behind a boulder, the curse causing a large spray of rock to explode from the surface of the boulder.

"I don't know how you escaped, Potter, but surely you know you can't win," Malfoy said smoothly, with Harry peeking over the boulder.

Malfoy was exposed, now was Harry's chance. He rose up and ran straight at Malfoy, wanting to be certain he didn't miss this time...

"Sopor Irrationalis!" he shouted on the run as Malfoy shouted a Protego spell. His stun spell blew through the shield, causing Malfoy to fall to the ground, unconscious.

Harry stared down at the body, considering what to do with him. Cold anger filled him as a little voice began to talk to him, rationalizing to himself... Remember what he did to Ginny, the voice said. No one would ever know if you killed him right now. Doesn't he deserve it? And doesn't that give you a better chance of coming out of this alive, anyway? Remember what happened when you showed mercy to Peter Pettigrew...

Harry closed his eyes, temptation filling him. He opened his eyes, looking back at the helpless body... he hated him, but... he couldn't kill him. Not like this. He cast a binding spell, tying up Malfoy's body. He found Malfoy's wand lying nearby, and, casting an inferno spell, burned it to ashes.

Levitating the body, he jogged quickly to the tunnel he had entered in and back into the holding cell area. He picked one of the cells in the tunnel where he'd been kept. As he locked the door, he cast a silencing charm so that no one could hear Malfoy, in case he woke up.

He quickly moved back to the fountain room, cautiously peering around, but the room was empty once again. He moved back to his hiding place and waited.

* * *

Ginny flew cautiously along the tracks, occasionally seeing another track branch off to some unknown place. She had absolutely no idea where to go, but it seemed reasonable to continue following the same set of tracks. Since there were so many off-shoots, it was possible that the one she was following was a main line.

Fortunately, all the passages were well lit, so she was able to maintain a steady clip. She passed quickly by a set of vaults, whizzing past before she realized what it was. She stopped the desk and cautiously flew back, wondering if there might be some goblins about. It had to be a good sign that she was finding vaults.

There was a landing with four medium-sized vaults, but the floor and doors were covered with dust. She sighed in frustration; wherever she was, it hadn't been accessed in quite some time. Seeing some narrow tunnels leading away from the landing, she was tempted to get off the desk and hunt around for someone, but she recalled hearing that Gringotts had all sorts of odd security measures, so it was best to stick to the tracks.

She continued on, seeing more and more vaults along the tracks, but no goblins. I have to be getting close, Ginny thought worriedly, squeezing the sides of the desk a little tighter. How long had she been gone? She didn't even know anymore.

Reaching another area, she saw a large, open vault, with a cart parked in front, causing her heart to start thudding in her chest. She landed the desk on the landing.

"Hello?" she called. "Is anyone here?"

She peered into the vault and saw six goblins stacking crates into neat stacks. The goblins immediately froze in shock at the site of her. I must look like a mess, she thought idly with blood stains all over her.

"Wizard!" one goblin snapped. "What are you doing down here?"

"Look, you need to take me to Ragnok... it's an emergency!" Ginny said imploringly.

The goblin stared at her as though she was insane. "What sort of trick is this? I have no time for games from thieves. Hold still, prepare to be stunned and you will be turned over to the Ministry unharmed."

"I don't have time for this!" Ginny said angrily. "I'm not a thief. But Voldemort is holding my friends... he's holding Harry Potter. He has a base below Gringotts!"

The goblins began laughing at her riotously. "If you're going to lie, at least make it plausible, thief," another goblin said derisively.

"It's the truth! And we don't have much time..." Ginny began to feel desperate as the goblins glared at her with intense skepticism.

"Tell your story to the Ministry. We have too much work. Hold still..." the goblin said, raising is arm. Ginny pulled her wand, causing the goblin to stop and eye her warily. "We have no desire to hurt you, wizard. It's clear you have already had a run-in today with my kind. Surely you don't want another?"

"I'll do what I have to do," Ginny said grimly, feeling extremely frustrated. "Please believe me... just take me to Ragnok... I got these cuts because goblins are helping Voldemort! They're working below Gringotts..."

"Now I've had enough," the goblin said angrily. "First you tell us lies, now you insult our kind by saying we would work with Voldemort. You want to be taken the hard way, then so be it." The goblin threw a curse at her. Ginny blocked it automatically, all her golem practice paying off.

"Stupefy!" she shouted, stunning the attacking goblin. The other goblins began launching cutting curses at her, which she tried to block, but there were too many of them as she felt stabs of pain in her leg and shoulder.

Ginny ran away from the goblins, hopping onto her desk, but got turned around and flew back the way she came. She banged her fist on the desk, thinking she should have continued the other way. Flipping the desk around, she flew back but met the other five goblins piling in the cart, who started flinging curses at her.

She swore and turned back again as the goblins chased her in the cart. She increased the speed, flying recklessly down the passage, hoping to lose them by flying into one of the other tunnels, but the cart kept up, keeping her in view.

Pointing her wand backward, she shouted "Stupefy!" The goblins began shouting, falling back slightly in the cart. Ginny raced ahead, wondering if she should take another tunnel and lose them, but she didn't want to get lost, and also wondered if they had some way of following her. Another idea came to her instead. She aimed her wand up ahead and launched a spell, destroying the track.

The goblins immediately stopped the cart, barely coming to a halt before the break. Ginny was a bit relieved; although the goblins had been trying to capture her, they were technically the good guys and she didn't want to hurt them.

Ginny continued on, breaking out once again into the huge cavern with the holes in the floor. She ran her fingers through her hair, wondering what she should do. She eyed the track that went the other way. Since she didn't have any better ideas, she decided to go off that way.

She flew along the tracks for a short distance, and then saw a small cove. She stopped the desk and noticed that there appeared to be signs of recent work. A table was set up with some papers on it, and a large rubbish bin was set up nearby, filled with various litter. It appeared to be some sort of worker base camp.

Moving up to the table, Ginny read through the papers, hoping to find some sort of clue of how to get out. She grew excited as she noticed that it was written in English and not Gobbledegook, the goblin language. She read one of the lines: "Curse tested tunnel 1532, subsection Q2. No result. B. Weasley." The date on the line was several days ago.

Ginny suddenly remembered that Bill was here, working for Gringotts... They had been searching for the secret cavern. Could Bill be down here? she thought excitedly. It was Sunday... he might not be working today, but she might be able to find someone... she hurriedly scanned through the papers and her breathing grew short as she saw another line... with today's date. The curse breakers were down here and probably nearby.

She ran over to her flying desk and climbed aboard. They have to be ahead... they just have to be, she thought desperately. She didn't know how much time Harry had, but time must be growing short.

Ginny was just about to fly off when she heard a loud roar come down the tunnel - a familiar roar. Fear filled her as the sound sparked a memory about Gringotts - a rumor that everyone heard, but often people doubted. However, the rumor had to be considered confirmed now.

The goblins did indeed use dragons to guard their highest security vaults.

* * *

Harry sat in his hiding spot once again, sighing as he waited for something to happen. He tried not think too much about what was to come, but he couldn't help it. Every story he had ever heard about Voldemort ran through his head, and they all had one thing in common: almost no one lived against him, except for a single incident that no one truly understood, when his mother had sacrificed herself and caused Voldemort to lose his body.

True, Harry had dueled Dumbledore to a draw, but that wasn't under life or death conditions. And there was no getting around the fact that even Dumbledore couldn't defeat Voldemort in the last war.

Harry tried to keep his focus on the goal... stall for time, give Ginny a chance to bring back help. It wasn't necessary to defeat Voldemort; only to play a defensive battle. Glancing around the room at all the boulders, Harry saw a lot of opportunity to keep Voldemort off-balance.

Some time later, a group of seven hooded wizards appeared at the end of the room opposite Harry, apparently by Portkey. They appeared to inspect the room, then moved apart and waited. Harry's scar gave a painful twinge, causing his breath to grow short, as he suspected who was coming next. He was proven correct as Lord Voldemort appeared among the Death Eaters, causing a thrill of fear to go down Harry's spine.

Voldemort seemed to glide as he moved into the marble-floored part of the room, his black robes billowing through the air. He scanned the large space, his head moving slowly, and somehow unnaturally smoothly. Stopping at the pool of water, he held his hand out, spreading his skeletal, pale fingers. The water began to ripple, then swirled around, faster and faster. A funnel of water formed above the surface, slowly reaching out toward Voldemort's hand.

The water touched his palm, and he tilted his head back. Harry had no idea what he was doing, but Voldemort appeared to be drawing something from the pool.

Voldemort slumped slightly as the water fell away from his hand, falling back into the pool without any ripples. The water became a mirror surface almost instantly as he backed away slowly. Six of the Death Eaters surrounded him, then they walked to the side of the cavern, the side opposite where Harry had come in originally.

Good, Harry thought, He isn't going to talk to the goblins yet.

The seventh Death Eater waited until Voldemort and his followers entered the tunnel, then pulled back her hood. It was Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry felt a surge of hatred fill his mind at the sight of her.

She moved over to the pool, kneeled down and cupped some of the water in both her hands. Raising it to her lips, she drank the water, acting like a religious ritual. Harry watched the process, wondering what he should do. This might be a chance to capture Bellatrix, making his job that much easier...

Making his decision, he rose silently from his position behind the rocks, but Bellatrix spotted some movement as she looked up sharply. She rose to her feet and pulled her wand all in one motion. Harry launched a powerful stunning spell, but Bellatrix moved aside, dodging the spell gracefully.

"Potter!" she snapped, then screamed, "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry threw himself to the side, dodging the spell as he ran toward the pool. He needed to end this quickly, before Voldemort heard the commotion and came back. He threw a barrage of Bludgeoning spells at her. She blocked several of them, but two got through, knocking her off her feet. She cried out in pain, holding her shoulder.

She rolled back to her feet quickly and took cover behind one of the pillars next to the pool. "Well, baby Potter managed to escape from the goblins. Do you miss your little Godfather, Potter?"

A rage built in Harry as she suddenly stepped out from the pillar and launched another Avada Kedavra curse. Harry, momentarily distracted by her taunting, just managed to dive behind his rock again.

Harry anger grew overwhelming; he decided it was time to stop messing about. He ran across the room, getting an angle on Bellatrix.

"Adfectus Anfractum!" he shouted, hitting her with the manipulation spell, the spell he had used on Malfoy. Despite his guilt over using it before, he wasn't feeling particularly guilty about using it now.

Bellatrix froze in mid-motion, locked into place by Harry's spell. He forced her hand open, letting her wand drop to the ground. Her face showed naked fear as Harry walked over to her, an utter loathing filling him.

"So," he said to her coldly. "Am I baby Potter now? Maybe I couldn't do a Crucatus curse on you before, but I'm positive you know what I could do to you now."

Again temptation filled him, the same temptation as he'd felt with Lucius Malfoy, to punish her for what she did to Sirius... what she did to Neville's parents...

And then he remembered Ginny's words. You looked like Tom Riddle, she had said. This is what Riddle would do, kill people with no regard to justice. Is that what he really wanted to become? An executioner?

Harry blew out a breath, regaining control over himself. Picking up her wand, he backed away and released her from his spell. He immediately cast a binding spell, tying her up tightly with rope.

Bellatrix laughed mockingly. "This is why you will lose, Potter. Your mercy with Wormtail led directly to the rise of the Dark Lord. You don't have the stomach to kill. How do you plan to kill my master? Will you show him compassion to death?"

Harry ignored her as he burned her wand into ashes, causing Bellatrix to screech in rage. He levitated her body and began floating it toward the door, intending to put her in another cell. He was to the side of the room when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun around, letting Bellatrix fall unceremoniously to the stone ground with a loud thud.

"Careful, you bloody..." she said angrily, followed by a stream of expletives.

Voldemort had returned into the room, staring at him with an expression of shock. The other Death Eaters seemed taken aback as well. Harry assumed a dueling stance, preparing himself to dodge if anyone launched a killing curse.

"Well! Potter. Apparently you escaped from the goblins. Congratulations. Welcome to my humble abode, as they say," Voldemort said, gesturing around the room, an expression of amusement on his face. "I must thank you for delivering yourself to me."

High pitched laughter emitted from his throat, giving Harry chills. "I must say I'm somewhat astonished," Voldemort continued. "In fact, I'd say it was unprecedented. My enemies don't normally commit suicide by coming back to me once they've escaped."

Harry thought quickly. If Voldemort was in the mood to talk, then the longer he could keep him talking, the better. "I had no choice. There is no way out of here. You would have found me sooner or later."

Voldemort gazed at him, almost seeming to stare into him... he could sense probes into his mind... Harry used Occlumency techniques, pushing him back. He hadn't tried any since last year, but it was much easier now... his defenses felt much stronger, despite the lack of practice.

"How very Gryffindor of you," Voldemort chuckled. "Keep me busy, while your friends attempt to escape. Of course, you would have let your friends out. The goblins will pay dearly for not informing me of that." He gestured to three of the Death Eaters. "Find the other four and bring them to me." Three of the Death Eaters hurriedly left the room, the hooded figures glancing at Harry as they passed.

Harry almost tried to stop them, but there was nothing he could do without prematurely starting a fight with Voldemort. He had to trust his friends to stay low. Except... Harry crossed his arms, putting his wand under his arm pit, but staying ready if Voldemort attacked. "Invocarem," he mumbled. He felt a tingle from the wand glow, indicating that his signal was sent to Ron, Hermione and Lupin.

"It's only a matter of time, Potter. You will be interested to know that Aurors are madly searching for you a hundred miles away," Voldemort said with a cold grin. "I even had a report that Dumbledore was on the scene."

Keep him talking, keep him talking, Harry thought to himself, as he felt the glow subside. "How'd you know that I was coming here?"

"You may thank Bellatrix for that," Voldemort said conversationally, gesturing at the bound form of Bellatrix, as though she were tied up quite often. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to kill Harry. "With the death of Sirius Black, she felt it was inevitable that you would eventually take a special trip here to inspect his vault. We only had to wait, and you would come to us. The best sort of plan, wouldn't you agree?" He laughed. "Though, I must say that you took an annoyingly long time to come. I finally let the goblins try and capture you, then a few of my own followers.

"We could have captured you last summer when you accessed your own vault, but, unfortunately, Ragnok decided to meet with you. It was also much riskier with all the extra Aurors about, protecting the students. Yes, we had to be patient, and you played into our hands perfectly."

"But Lucius Malfoy contested the will!" Harry said.

"Yes, the idiot," Voldemort said, annoyed. "He was in Azkaban, so did not know the plan. Fortunately, he failed."

"What is all this?" Harry said, gesturing to cavern, not really caring all that much, but hoping Voldemort would keep talking.

"We're just having a nice little chat, aren't we, Potter?" Voldemort said, clearly amused as he glided toward the reflecting pool. "If only we had some tea and crumpets. But why not?

"So why all this? An excellent question. This place is the key to winning the war. I actually created all this before the first war, and it was almost operational," Voldemort explained. "It took a fair amount of research, I must tell you. I'm quite proud of it. I created what few other wizards have made throughout history, and what no one has done on the scale that I have done it. One wizard found the secret that you'll know by name... Nicolas Flamel, the creator of the Philosopher Stone. What's amusing is that he and others like him didn't even know why it worked. Only I know the answer to that particular mystery."

"Why what works?" Harry asked. Please keep talking...

"Why the Philosopher Stone can turn any base metal into pure gold," Voldemort replied.

* * *

Lupin, Ron and Hermione sat out of sight, occasionally watching a goblin pass by. They had found a very good hiding spot, behind some large boulders far away from the nearest equipment. No one could sneak up on them, and they had a good view of anyone who might approach, so they had decided to wait there until they received Harry's signal.

"I can't imagine what all this could be for," Hermione said musingly.

"It is an odd puzzle," Lupin replied. "The goblins have been worried about some sort of problem with the banking systems. I can only assume that this complex has something to do with it."

Ron sighed. "Wish we had eaten lunch before getting captured."

"Ron! How can you think about your stomach at a time like this?" Hermione said, irritated.

Just then, their wands began glowing. They all stared at the wands, then at each other, knowing that it was time to do their part.

"Ready?" Lupin said grimly, as he got up from his spot. Ron and Hermione got up as well, nodding their heads. The area appeared clear, so they moved out. They encircled the area, avoiding a few groups of goblins they saw. At last they found a long line of the large storage bins.

"This looks like a good place to start," Lupin said, studying the line of bins appraisingly.

"Perhaps if we all use a jacking charm at the same time, we can tip these over," Hermione said. "That ought to create a bit of a mess and hopefully the sound will tip them off that something's amiss."

Ron nodded. "The Death Eaters will have to come and investigate. We probably won't have much time before someone comes; we better do all these quickly." He gestured at the line of bins.

They raised their wands, invoking a charm that lifted the edge of the bin. A loud creaking sound came up from the bin as it tipped on its edge, then fell, creating an enormous crash that echoed throughout the chamber. A green liquid gushed out, flooding the floor.

The three flinched at the noise, glancing at each other, then ran to the next bin. They tipped that one over, creating another loud clatter. This time, a black, powdery substance fell out, mixing with the green liquid.

Down the line the went, doing bin after bin. As they tipped the last one, they saw some goblins shouting at them from the other end of the bins, just beyond the mess. They were eyeing all the spilled materials warily, apparently afraid to try and cross it.

Three Death Eaters joined the goblins. Curses flew from their wands, and Ron, Hermione and Lupin fired back as they all took cover. They could see the Death Eater starting to circle the mess, heading toward them.

"Didn't take them long, did it?" Ron said.

"No," Lupin said grimly, as they began running. "Remember, we want to avoid direct battles; just cause as much trouble as possible. We better keep moving."

* * *

"You created a Philosopher Stone?" Harry asked Voldemort, wondering what gold had to do with anything.

"Not exactly - the Philosopher Stone can turn metal into gold, as well as create immortality for the owner," Voldemort replied. "I created a more specific process to turn lead into gold. In fact, I have Muggles to thank for the method."

"Muggles?" Harry said, shocked.

"Yes, ironic, isn't it? The Muggles provided me the means to destroy the wizarding world. During my search for immortality, I studied many things. Both magic knowledge and Muggle knowledge. Specifically, the Muggle sciences of physics and chemistry. Muggles are far more advanced in understanding the nature of materials.

"Wizards are a superior race to Muggles, but there is a downside. Magic makes us intellectually lazy. Muggles, without magic, are much more motivated to understand why things are the way they are.

"Do you know what is the difference between lead and gold, Potter?" Voldemort asked, his thin eyebrows raising on his pale, bony face.

Harry shook his head, interested in spite of himself in what Voldemort was saying.

"Four protons. Of course, Muggle technology is not advanced enough to remove protons out of the nucleus of an atom, and it's not a simple problem for magic, either. But that's the problem I solved. Once I understood the nature of chemistry from Muggle science, I was able to combine the two, develop spells that worked at the subatomic level."

"All right," Harry said. So far, so good. Keep him talking more, he thought. "But how does this destroy the wizarding world?"

"Economics, Potter," Voldemort continued. "Wizard currency is based on a gold standard. Flood the wizard economy with gold, and you wreck trade. Galleons become worthless; no one can buy anything. Without commerce, nothing can function. Aurors can't be paid. Citizens panic. The government falls. There are no functioning organizations to stand against me."

Harry's head buzzed, trying to understand everything he was being told. Ragnok's words came back to him, A war is not only fought on the battlefield. "The Order of the Phoenix will continue to fight you." he said quietly.

"Yes, I expect Dumbledore to fight to the end. But that brings us to the prophecy, does it not?" Voldemort asked.

"What about the prophecy?" Harry asked guardedly.

"It says, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord.' Dumbledore knows that he can't win. It's prophesied that only you can. But what is the rest of the prophecy? You know the rest of it. I've felt your knowledge of it..." Voldemort's eyes gleamed at this. "You've had an irritating habit of escaping from me, and I suspect the reason may be learned from the rest of the prophecy."

It suddenly hit Harry why Voldemort was talking so much. He feared what he didn't know about the rest of the prophecy. He was afraid to attack Harry again. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you? But I'll tell you this - you can't win," Harry lied.

Voldemort laughed derisively. "A poor bluff, Potter. That's not the way prophecies work. You can be killed by me. The only question is the circumstances required. And I will take the risk today if I have to. But I have a better idea. I will give you a bit of - motivation - to tell me." He laughed high-pitched laughter.

A chill ran down Harry's spine at that. Voldemort didn't need to tell him that he planned to use Ron, Hermione and Lupin to break Harry and tell him the prophecy. Fortunately, Voldemort probably didn't know that his friends also knew the prophecy. He tried to send telepathic thoughts to them: Please, be careful.

* * *

Ginny flew cautiously along the tracks, expecting a dragon to jump out any second. Please, let me find the curse breakers before I find the dragon, she thought anxiously. As if the thought had triggered the action, another huge roar echoed down the tunnel that sounded closer - much closer. She abruptly stopped the desk in a panic, her breathing coming in short gasps. The dragon sounded quite angry about something.

Taking a deep breath, she continued flying down the torch-lit tunnel. An odd smell permeated this part of the passage, a rank, reptilian smell. She cautiously moved forward, coming around a corner - and there it was.

The dragon was thirty feet long with a huge, spiked tail. An enormous collar was around its neck, and it was chained to a large, iron post. It glanced at Ginny sharply and then an unmistakable look of hunger came into its eyes. Its great head swung toward the platform and bumped a large dish, about three feet in diameter. Apparently, the dragon was hungry and expected Ginny to feed it.

She stood hesitantly back, just watching the dragon, feeling overwhelmed with everything. How could she get past a dragon? Much less a bloody hungry one?

Abruptly the dragon seemed to grow irritated with Ginny's lack of feeding action. It roared with impatience and lunged at her, hitting the end of the chain with a loud SNAP. It breathed an enormous wall of fire, ending about ten feet from her. A blast of heat hit Ginny as she screamed, spun the desk around and flew backwards around the corner to safety.

An involuntary shaking took Ginny as she closed her eyes. She just wanted to go home to the Burrow, crawl into bed with her mummy and daddy and cry hysterically. Taking a deep breath, Ginny tried to remember that everything depended on her. Pull yourself together, Weasley, she thought to herself angrily. You don't have the luxury of self-pity right now. If Harry can get an egg from a dragon on a broom, then you can just bloody well get yourself past a dragon in a tight tunnel on a flying desk.

She cautiously moved the desk forward, back around the corner. The dragon's head snapped back over, hunching down aggressively. Ginny considered her options; what spell could she use to disable the dragon? Or something that would keep it busy temporarily so she could fly by. Hmmm, she thought musingly. Why not?

Raising her wand, she prepared to fly quickly while the dragon was distracted. "Mucus Chiroptera!" she shouted, hitting the dragon with a Bat-Bogey Hex. The dragon shook its head violently, snorting and roaring in pain as black objects flew out its nose, growing and transforming. Bats began attacking its face as it stomped around in a panic.

Just as Ginny was about to fly, the dragon blew out a mighty jet of fire and the bats disintegrated into ash, floating down onto the floor. The dragon snarled in rage, its tail swishing back and forth violently with the spikes looking particularly nasty.

So much for that idea, Ginny thought moodily, as she couldn't help but imagine herself being turned into ash alongside the bats. She thought back to the Triwizard Tournament. Harry had distracted the dragon by flying, but she didn't have enough room to really do that. The dragon would pick her off easily. Viktor Krum had used a Conjunctivitis Curse, but again, in the enclosed space, it was very dangerous to have the dragon thrashing around. Fleur Delacour had hypnotized her dragon, but that was an advanced charm that she didn't know.

Cedric Diggory had transfigured a rock into a dog... a good solution, since the dragon was hungry. The problem was that transfiguring inanimate objects such as rocks into animate objects was very advanced magic, well beyond her knowledge.

She studied the space with frustration, trying to will her brain into coming up with a solution. The dragon was pacing back and forth, as if it was trying to will its own brain to come up with a solution to eat her. The vault door it was guarding was much larger than usual; Ginny idly wondered what was so important that it needed to be guarded by a dragon. I wonder if that's the Malfoy family's vault. A dragon would be about their style.

Actually, she could see cobwebs around the door. Apparently it hadn't been opened in some time. Wait a minute, she thought, excitement building in her, spider webs mean spiders are in here. It was a lot easier to transfigure a living creature into a different living creature...

She would need to do the spell from a distance, which was a bit trickier. Ginny maneuvered her desk along the wall slowly, so as to not spook the dragon, who was a bit calmer now. Spying a relatively fresh-looking spider web, she took careful aim with her wand and launched the transfiguration spell.

A large dog grew out of the spider web, falling to the ground with a thump and scratching of claws. It took one look at the dragon and began barking. The dragon roared as it turned around to see what was making the noise. It eyed the dog hungrily.

The dragon's attention distracted, Ginny threw the desk forward, flying very fast. The dragon turned its head, sensing the motion. With lightning speed, it whipped its tail around to swat her out of the air. Ginny dived toward the tracks, the tail just missing her with a whoosh inches from her head.

Ginny felt a blast of fire and heat on her back as she flew down the tunnel, safely away from the dragon. She stopped for a second, breathing heavily, her heart racing in her chest. The dragon had come this close to killing her, dog or no dog.

She felt slightly guilty about the animal, but tried to keep in mind that it wasn't really a dog... the dragon would be very disappointed when it turned back into a spider, probably in his stomach. Ginny giggled a little hysterically at the thought, feeling herself losing some control, before she pulled herself back together.

Blowing out a slow breath, she continued down the tunnel, hoping she didn't run into any more dragon-guarded vaults.

* * *

Ron, Hermione and Lupin ran along a set of cages, glancing back occasionally, but apparently they had lost the Death Eaters for now. They ducked behind a pile of rocks, catching their breath.

"I don't see them anywhere," Hermione said, peering around a boulder.

"We need to keep our eyes open," said Lupin. After a minute's pause to rest, he said, "Perhaps we should keep moving."

They left the rocks, moving over to the strange cages. A large funnel was on the top with pipes that ran through the interior, ending with spouts over twelve large bins. A lever was attached to each cage. In each bin was a bar of the strange whitish-blue metal, floating in a purple, oily fluid with red streaks. The fluid seemed to be in motion around each bar as they could see the red streaks moving and swirling.

"What does this lever do?" Ron asked curiously as he reached out to grab it.

"Ron, don't touch that!" Hermione snapped, but Ron had already pulled it. A bolt of lightning rained down from the ceiling with a loud CRACK, hitting the cage and causing it to glow. Ron leaped back in a panic, emitting an involuntary yelp.

"Now look what you've done!" she said angrily.

"Yes... look at what was done, indeed," said Lupin curiously, staring into the cage.

Each bar had been transformed in some way. Most were now misshapen lumps with yellow streaks, but two of the bins now held a gleaming gold bar.

"Is that..." Ron said in a whisper, pointing at one of the bars.

"Yes. Those bars appear to be pure gold," said Lupin thoughtfully. "And, now that I think of it, I believe the previous bars might have been lead. Apparently Voldemort has set up a factory to transmute lead into gold."

"That's why the goblins are so upset!" said Hermione with a stunned expression.

"What? Why? I thought the goblins liked gold," asked Ron, confused.

"They like gold when they control the supply," said Lupin. "But if Voldemort can manufacture great quantities of gold, then that devalues Galleons, potentially causing runaway inflation. It would destroy the wizard economy." He paused, his face falling into a grim look. "It's even more important that we destroy this place. Come on, let's see what else we can find."

Ron and Hermione nodded as they moved out.

* * *

Ginny flew up the tunnel, hoping she was getting close. She felt like a wreck after crawling through tight ducts, climbing caverns, fighting bad goblins, fighting good goblins and fighting a bloody dragon on top of it all. Her muscles ached and her body flared with pain from all the cuts she had suffered from the goblins.

She came around a corner into an area with floating balls emitting bright lights. Floodlight charms, she thought excitedly, her heart starting to thump in her chest. Did goblins use them? She had no idea, but she recognized them from visiting Bill in Egypt. The balls were lighting up a large cove with several small tunnels leading off the main tunnel.

Parking the desk, she picked the nearest tunnel, breaking into a run despite her exhaustion. Ginny emerged into an oval cavern about a hundred feet wide with loose gravel strewn about. She felt her heart soar when she saw a human man waving his wand along the stone wall.

"Are you a curse breaker?" Ginny asked, out of breath.

The man's eyes grew wide as he saw the blood all over Ginny from the goblin cutting curses, as well as her disheveled appearance.

"Are you all right?" asked the man with concern.

"Are you a bloody curse breaker or not? Answer me!" Ginny snapped impatiently.

"Er... yeah... but what are you doing down here?" asked the man, perplexed.

"Is Bill Weasley here?" Ginny demanded.

"Um... in the other cavern..." he started.

"Take me to him, now! It's an emergency!" Ginny said, cutting him off.

The man hesitated. "Maybe we should find you an infirmary..."

Ginny pulled her wand, her patience gone. "I'm his bloody sister," she shouted. "Take me to Bill Weasley right now, or you'll be wearing your bloody arse for a hat! MOVE!"

The man held up his hands, staring at her wand. "All right! All right! Take it easy... he's just over here... blimey, you Weasleys are high strung..."

The man scurried down the tunnel, with Ginny following, wanting to prod the man in the back to make him go faster.

* * *

Voldemort cocked his head, appearing to listen to something in his ear. His eyes widened as he appeared extremely angry. He spoke in a low voice to the other three Death Eaters who left in a dead run from the room.

Ron, Hermione and Lupin must be causing some trouble, Harry thought with a bit of satisfaction, but tried to keep his face neutral. It was just Voldemort, himself and Bellatrix now.

"For reasons I'm certain you're aware of, I have no more time for you, Potter," Voldemort said coldly. He reached into his robe and pulled out a wand, stained very dark, almost black.

Harry watched the wand warily, wondering if it was the special wand that was attuned to himself. It definitely didn't look like the wand Voldemort had before...

"Avada Kedavra!" he screamed.

Harry dived to the side and rolled behind a boulder, the killing curse shattering a large chunk out of the rock. He rolled back up to his feet and ran along the edge of the massive cavern, trying to keep large boulders between himself and Voldemort.

But he had seen something. The curse... it had seemed to arc toward him, as if the spell was somehow drawn to him. But Avada Kedavra wasn't supposed to behave like that... Shaking himself, he returned his mind to business. Need to get him to launch more killing curses, he though, recalling that he could only do so many of them before he weakened himself.

Spotting a large boulder, he ducked behind it. "Concussium!" Harry shouted, sending a compression spell. Voldemort raised his wand, shielding himself. The spell struck him, rocking him back on his heels.

"Well done, Potter," he said coldly.

"Do you know that I dueled Professor Dumbledore to a draw?" Harry shouted at him, hoping to get him talking again, to stall for more time...

"Yes, a friendly duel," Voldemort said contemptuously, moving silently toward Harry's position. "We shall see how you do when the stakes are a bit higher. Still, I give you credit... few doubt that you are a powerful wizard, Potter. But I have defeated powerful wizards before."

Harry kept moving, keeping the boulders between himself and Voldemort, not giving him a chance to get a fix on him...

"Your father was a powerful wizard," Voldemort said smoothly. "And he quickly fell to me... as you will... why do you run, Potter? It's because you know you can't win."

Harry had a sudden thought... would it work? If it did, he might be able to get Voldemort to waste his Avada Kedavra spells. Perhaps it was time to borrow a page from Hermione's book.

Running behind an especially large boulder so that Voldemort couldn't see him, he whispered a spell, one that he had learned from Hermione. "Illusio Corpora!" he cast.

Harry looked over and saw the back of his own head, looking in the same direction as himself. He raised his hand and saw a fake illusionary Harry raised his hand as well. If it fooled me, maybe it will fool Voldemort for a few minutes...

"Come now, Potter. I grow weary of these games," Voldemort said, annoyed.

"Fine, then," Harry said and stepped out from behind his rock, raising his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted. He was pointing his wand at the illusionary Harry.

Even though Voldemort was pointing at the wrong body, Harry made a show of dodging the spell, hoping that Voldemort would continue to be fooled. Again, the spell arced toward him, but it oddly arced toward the illusionary body. However the wand was attuned to Harry, it seemed to also be fooled by the illusion.

Harry ran through the room, cutting a corner. Voldemort launched three more killing curses in rapid succession, which might have hit Harry, had he been visible in his own body.

"Very clever, Potter. Clever indeed," Voldemort said suddenly. He pointed his wand up in the air and cast a spell. Sparkles rained down from the ceiling, causing Harry real body to glow, and then the illusionary Harry disappeared. "As I thought. An illusion charm. Well, Potter, I can't deny you're entertaining. But it's time to end this...

"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted at Harry, who was far too exposed. Nothing happened as Voldemort realized that he had performed too many killing curses in too short a time, and was too drained to do another one. He appeared furious as he launched a different curse at Harry.

The curse arced through the air, directly at Harry who rolled away while blocking it with a shield spell automatically. The spell deflected, hitting one of the pillars surrounding the pool, causing it to collapse and fall into the water.

Harry ran away, wondering how Voldemort was making the spells draw toward his body. It was giving him a huge advantage. But, so far, Harry was managing to draw the duel out, using up time.

Voldemort shot a powerful curse. Harry dodged while he put up a shield, but he wasn't able to move away fast enough because of the strange arcing effect. The spell partially slipped past his defense and hit his left arm. It instantly froze, ice forming on the skin.

"Agh!" Harry shouted, clutching his arm as extreme pain shot through his limb. Voldemort laughed cruelly.

Harry cast a warming spell, trying to get it back up to temperature, but the damage was done. His hand felt numb and his arm tingled with painful intensity.

"You can't win, Potter. I was the most powerful wizard that Hogwarts had ever seen, and that was before I modified myself to become even more powerful..." Voldemort called to him coldly.

Blocking out the pain, Harry noticed Voldemort standing next to the pool, giving him an idea. He shot a pulverizing spell at a stone pillar, his aim perfect as it split and began to fall. Voldemort had to quickly move and push the pillar out of the way. With his attention distracted, Harry launched a barrage of very fast-moving bludgeoning spells.

Voldemort moved quickly to block them, but was too late as they slammed into his body, knocking him off this feet, to the ground. Pressing his advantage, Harry launched a lethal crushing spell. It was too late, however, as Voldemort deflected the spell from the ground, directly back at him. Harry threw himself to the side as the spell rushed past, hitting a boulder and reducing it to a pile of sand.

Voldemort climbed to his feet, then cocked his head, appearing to listen to another report. "So," he said coldly. "Your little girlfriend is in the ventilation shafts. After I kill you, Potter, I will have a special fate for her, I promise you."

Rage and fear built up in Harry. Without thinking, he stepped out and aimed at Voldemort. "Avada Kedavra!" Harry shouted, wanting the whole nightmare to end.

A green light leapt out of Harry's wand, but was very pale and weak compared to Voldemort's or even the Death Eater's killing curses. Voldemort dived out of the way, Harry's curse hitting the marble floor and chipping the surface.

Voldemort laughed loudly, the sound echoing through the chamber. "That was a miserable excuse for a killing curse, Potter. It's not enough that you want to defeat me, personally. You have to want to kill. But then, we know that's your weakness, do we not? Even as I try to kill you, your compassion prevents you from truly wanting to kill someone. Your love makes you weak."

* * *

"Look," Ron said, pointing from behind some rocks where they were hiding temporarily. About fifty yards ahead, six Death Eaters were talking together. As they watched, the Death Eaters split into two groups, one group heading directly for them.

"It appears we have a few more searching for us," said Lupin.

"How about in there?" Hermione said, pointing to a nearby tunnel. They were able to duck into the tunnel without the group of Death Eaters seeing them. They ran quickly down the corridor, making several turns before breaking into a large room.

The three stopped abruptly, the room bathed in a very bright yellow glow. They gazed in awe at a neatly stacked pile of gold bricks, along with a bin on wheels containing a loose pile of Galleons.

Two wooden boxes with elaborate runes also stood in the room. One box was large, about five feet tall and ten feet long with many smaller boxes jutting out seemingly at random. A slot was open at one end, which was next to the pile of gold bricks. At the other end was a ramp that led to the other box, which was much smaller. It appeared to have goblin writing all over it. Out of that box was a spout, which was next to the wheeled bin.

Ron walked over wide-eyed to the Galleons and grabbed a handful. "Bloody hell, there's a fortune here!"

"It looks like this box transfigures the gold bricks into Galleons," Hermione said musingly, gesturing to the large box.

"Yes, but what's particularly interesting is the small box," said Lupin. "What many people don't know about Galleons is that they are magically imprinted for counterfeit protection. That small box, if I'm not mistaken, is a magical imprinter. Voldemort must have some deeply placed operatives to gain one of those."

Lupin raised his wand. "Stand back," he said. Ron and Hermione moved out of the way. He pointed his wand at the each box, and, mumbling an incantation, reduced each one to a pile of rubble. For good measure, he then started casting vanishing spells on all the broken pieces.

"Right then. That should shut them down for awhile," he said with satisfaction. "At least as far as passing off Galleons. The gold is still a problem, of course."

Hermione raised her own wand and aimed at the Galleons. She cast a spell, and the Galleons began melting into a gold slag.

"Augh, that's painful to watch," Ron said with a grimace, looking as though he was calculating what sort of broom he could have purchased with the large pile of Galleons.

Hermione chuckled and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "We better keep moving," she said.

They continued on through another tunnel and found an exit back into the pit. "Well, it looks as if we lost the Death Eaters," Ron said.

"Yes, but it's only a matter of time before they find us. There's six of them and three of us; we'd better think of a way to distract them on a larger scale," said Lupin.

* * *

Harry's left, non-wand arm flared with pain from his freezing injury as he fought a pitched battle, trying to draw it out, make it take as much time as possible. Voldemort was clearly getting irritated; he was launching extremely powerful spells, but Harry was mostly successfully blocking them or dodging them.

Voldemort aimed his wand away from Harry, who wondered in confusion what he was aiming at. Voldemort launched an odd red spell that made a spiral pattern through the air, which Harry didn't recognize. The spell appeared as if it was going to miss, but relentlessly curved toward Harry, who tried to block. His shield spell was slightly misaligned, allowing some of the spell to penetrate

A large gouge was ripped from his wand shoulder, causing Harry to cry out in pain. He ran backward, blood pouring down his side. He ran behind a boulder and cast a bandage spell, which also helped to quickly scab the wound. Thinking back, he finally recalled what the spell was, sending a chill down his spine. It was a ripper spell that would have torn his body into pieces if it had hit him directly.

Harry thought desperately, trying to think of a way to make some progress in the battle. He had noticed that Voldemort didn't seem to be handling frustration very well. The longer the battle went, the more wild his spells were becoming, making it somewhat easier to stay out of his way. Harry suspected that Voldemort wasn't used to drawn-out duels; he appeared absolutely enraged.

Maybe that's a tactic I can use, Harry thought, keep him angry, off-balance. A memory came back from the Ministry... Dumbledore employed a similar tactic to make him angry.

"Well, Tom, the battle seems to be taking longer than you thought," Harry shouted.

Voldemort froze. "Do not call me by that name," he said furiously.

"And what will you do about it, Mr. Riddle? Kill me twice?" Harry shouted back, as a sort of madness seemed to take hold of him.

"There are many ways to die, Potter," Voldemort said, launching another hex. Harry blocked it.

"Perhaps, but you haven't been very successful so far with the simple ways," Harry shouted, launching a barrage of bludgeoning spells at the same time. One slipped through, hitting Voldemort in the side, knocking him backward. He clutched at his ribs, Harry hoping that he might have broken a few.

Hiding behind another boulder, Harry watched Voldemort launch a huge fireball, but again aimed it off to the side. The fireball shot out, then began curving toward Harry, coming at him from the side. He realized it wasn't going to hit the boulder...

Harry raised his shield in time, blocking most of the fireball, but some slipped through as he felt the side of his body and clothes catch fire. Harry cried out once again, casting a fire extinguishing spell, putting out his shirt and trousers. One side of his body flared with pain, including the side of his neck and face. Both felt as though he had suffered some severe burns.

Harry pushed the pain in his body out of his mind. Have to keep him off balance... He raised his wand, preparing a spell. "You know, Tom, I found a letter to your mother that you left in the Chamber of Secrets."

As Voldemort physically jerked at that, Harry decided to return the favor with a ripper spell. Voldemort raised his shield, but he had been distracted by Harry's words. The spell partially penetrated as Voldemort let out a high pitched, squealing cry. Pinkish blood began pouring out of a wound in his hip. He waved his wand, casting some sort of spell at the wound.

"All right, Potter. I'm letting you get me too angry. It's time to end this," Voldemort said grimly.

He abruptly aimed his wand high above Harry's head. A beam of red light erupted from his wand as he swept it up at the ceiling. Rock exploded out of the top of the cavern. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Harry as he dived out of the way, rolling on the ground and pointed his wand up in the air.

"Deflectimenta!" Harry shouted. The shower of boulders began deflecting away from him, as if he had an invisible umbrella over his head. Harry immediately turned his attention back to Voldemort, who was launching another curse at him, which Harry managed to block.

Harry rose back to his feet, but a final boulder about three feet wide fell about ten feet from him, hit another boulder and bounced straight toward him. Not seeing it until the last second, Harry tried to dodge, but the boulder smashed into him, knocking him down and rolling over his leg.

"Augh!" Harry shouted, feeling the bones crushed under the weight of the rock. He levitated the rock and threw it off himself, but his leg was badly broken. Voldemort laughed at him loudly, echoing through the chamber.

"Well, Potter, I suppose this is it," he said.

No, it's not, Harry thought grimly. He tapped his wand on his leg and cast, "Ossa Rectus!" An unbelievable pain filled his leg, far worse than the original injury, causing him to scream out loud, clutching at his leg as it violently straightened.

He gritted his teeth and cast the second spell. "Ossa Fusum!" His leg burned for several agonizing seconds, as if the bones were melting and fusing inside the skin. At last the pain stopped, and miraculously, all the pain in his leg was gone. Harry leapt to his feet, his leg healed from the use of the emergency bone repair spell that Dumbledore had taught him.

Voldmort's eyes narrowed. "Impressive, Potter. Very impressive. Not many wizards know that pair of spells, much less can do them."

Harry's leg was healed, but it felt very odd, as thought his foot wasn't attached completely straight. The damage with the crushed bones was much worse than Dumbledore's injury; apparently there were limits to what the spells could do. He was able to continue running, but his limping movements were much more awkward.

Another spell rocked him back on his heels, as another of Voldemort's curses seemed to strangely track Harry's movements. The curses were getting too obscure, too targeted, and Voldemort's wand was giving him an incredible advantage. He only needed to get his curses in Harry's vicinity, but Harry had to be perfectly accurate.

He squeezed his wand with frustration. He had scored some hits on Voldemort, but he was taking much more damage than he was delivering. Harry felt himself losing the battle, as though it was only a matter of time...

Suddenly a memory came to Harry... of all people, Snape's cold, irritated voice filled his head... "Treat everyone as a deadly enemy, and dispatch them as soon as possible! Are you so arrogant that you think you can choose the moment of defeat? The longer a duel goes, the more likely your opponent will find a way to beat you."

Snape was right. He had to end this. He may or may not be equal to Voldemort in power, but he was definitely not equal to him in knowledge and experience. Eventually, Voldemort would find a spell to defeat Harry.

Running to another part of the chamber and taking cover to give himself some time, Harry thought frantically, trying to exhort his memory to give him an answer. He needed something powerful... but something obscure, that Voldemort wouldn't expect, and thus wouldn't have a ready counter-charm. Harry glanced around the large chamber, looking for something that would give him an idea. He noticed many tunnels branching off from the main chamber. Some appeared rough, but others were smooth...

And then... he remembered a spell. It was one of the most powerful ones he knew. It was very, very risky. But it was a devastating, destructive spell. It was the mountain tunneling spell used for large scale construction.

He had practiced it in Dumbledore's Library... it had been frighteningly powerful, causing some very large stones he had played with to violently vaporize into dust, and that was on the lowest power setting. He hadn't dared try the higher power settings. The big disadvantage was that it had a draining effect on the wizard. It concentrated the wizard's power, causing a loss of magic for up to several hours. If he tried this, it would be all or nothing. If it didn't work, he would be helpless.

The book also had some warnings against very powerful wizards using the spell at high power settings, because of potential damage to the casting wizard...

High pitched laughter ran through the cavern. "Well, Potter? You're the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord. I give you credit for surviving this long, but isn't it time to fulfill the prophecy? I promise you a quick death. Let us end this. You cannot win; even your mother's ancient sacrificial magic wasn't enough to defeat me."

Harry closed his eyes tightly, fear welling up in him. Mad-eye Moody's voice came to him, from his birthday party. "Ninety-five percent of his job is done if everyone fears him. People cower and don't fight back. But you didn't cower. You did what you had to do. Luck had nothing to do with your fighting back."

Gathering his courage, Harry stepped out and faced Voldemort.

* * *

"You know, I have an idea," Ron said, peering at the long line of huge cauldrons. "This ought to make a huge mess."

"What are you thinking?" Lupin asked.

"These cauldrons. Almost like dominoes, wouldn't you say?" Ron replied with a grin.

"Yes," Hermione said slowly, her grin spreading out on her face as well. "I think that could make quite a mess. If we sever one of the legs..."

"Let's do it," Lupin said. "But I think we'd better make certain we're far away from this when they go."

"Perhaps after cut the leg, we can use a reinforcement charm, but also add a timed Finite Incatatem so that it releases after a set amount of time," Hermione said, pondering the problem.

"Excellent," Lupin said, smiling. "You two make a pretty good team, you know that?"

Ron and Hermione blushed, smiling at each other.

They moved over to the first cauldron in the line, glancing around carefully for any goblins. The base of the cauldrons had three thick, iron legs. Lupin began cutting the leg adjacent to the next cauldron using a cutting spell.

"Ten minutes sound about right?" Lupin asked.

Ron and Hermione nodded. When it was almost cut through, Lupin cast the temporary reinforcement charm, and then finished cutting the leg. The cauldron moved slightly, but the charm held.

"Right then. I think we better get out of this pit, now..." Lupin said now, moving out.

They began sprinting towards the spot where they had originally climbed down into the pit. Just as they started climbing the path, three Death Eaters appeared and began chasing them.

"Bloody hell, just what we need..." Ron said as they ran up the path.

Curses flew around them as the Death Eaters tried to pick them off. Ron, Hermione and Lupin hid behind some boulders along the path, launching hexes at the Death Eaters, who also decided to take cover.

Ron grinned suddenly. He aimed his wand at various boulders between themselves and the Death Eaters. He cast a spell, lifting them up and causing them to roll down the path. More and more stones began rolling at them.

"Now! Run!" Ron said, gesturing to Hermione and Lupin, who began running. Ron ran backwards, continuing to roll rocks at the Death Eaters, who were taking cover from all the large rocks bouncing around them.

As Ron levitated another rock, he saw a Death Eater taking careful aim from around his boulder at Hermione's back.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted. He moved in front of her, pulling the stone in front of him. A green jet of light flew out of the Death Eater's wand, striking the rock just as Hermione glanced back. The rock exploded into gravel, covering Ron's chest.

"Ron!" Hermione shrieked as they continued running. "That was... that was..." she couldn't finish.

Avada Kedavra, Ron finished to himself, breathing heavily, trying not to think about what had just happened.

They finally reached the top. "How much time is left?" Ron asked.

Suddenly, they heard a huge crash and ran over to the edge. The first cauldron had collapsed, leaning against the other cauldron, which was just starting to move. Cauldron after cauldron tipped over, an immense amount of material flowing through the corridors, flooding all the equipment. They saw the Death Eaters running back down into the pit, apparently wanting to save the equipment.

The cauldron liquid reached some of the material from the bin that had been tipped over earlier. A huge bubbling flew up from one area, while huge sparks erupted from another area. Another area exploded, sending material flying to other parts of the pit.

"Erm, is it... dangerous down there?" Ron asked nervously.

"Maybe we should move away from this," Lupin said slowly, backing away.

Ron and Hermione quickly followed as they began running into the area with the huge boulders, the way they had come in. Suddenly, huge lightning cracks rained down into the pit. The three turned around and watched wide eyed as electrical bolts struck the pit over and over, causing the ground to shake. They kept running, diving behind a particularly large mound of rocks as the whole place seemed to erupt in one, final tremendous explosion.

Smoke and dust filled the air as they huddled behind the rock pile, waiting for the echoes of the blast to subside.

"Whoa," Ron said with a grin. "Well, I guess we wreaked a bit of havoc today."

They cautiously walked back toward the edge of the pit and peered over the side. The whole bottom of the pit had been leveled into a red, glowing sludge, with an occasional gold streak here and there.

* * *

Harry gazed coldly at Voldemort. The pain in his body seemed to fade away as he concentrated everything he had... he had to imagine the stone pulverizing for maximum effect. He prepared himself to use the maximum spell power, there would be no second chances...

"Silicis Demolirum!" he shouted. He felt something welling up within him... strong, terribly strong...

Voldemort's face went through a variety of expression in a split second... confusion, recognition, and then... fear. He waved his wand and dropped into a crouch, a white translucent shield surrounding him. Harry recognized the spell... it was a bunker shield. It was the strongest type of shield; he would be immobilized, but it was very difficult to penetrate, almost impossible...

He held his wand pointed at Voldemort, it took several seconds for the spell to build up. It was growing stronger and stronger within him... it was almost... painfully strong... and then a blindingly bright blue light burst from his wand, spreading out and hitting the floor around Voldemort.

A huge explosion of rock and gravel flew up in the air. Dust flew around violently, being blown back as though by a big wind. A roaring sound filled the chamber as Harry could see a cavity forming behind Voldemort, a tunnel forming. The bunker shield was holding, though was beginning to glow slightly red.

The power continued to grow within Harry; the spell had apparently only been warming up. He could sense something within him, violent and raging, almost as though it wanted to break his body apart as it traveled through his chest and his right shoulder, causing his arm to shake violently... his wand was hot, he could feel it starting to burn his hand...

The beam grew brighter still, the tunnel behind Voldemort growing into a huge cavern, large rocks were now getting thrown around the chamber. One huge stone landed inches away from Bellatrix's head, who screamed out loud. Harry could barely hear her through the deafening sound of pulverizing rock. Another stone flew through the air, destroying the golden serpent fountain.

Voldemort's shield was glowing even brighter, the red spreading across the front. This has to work! Harry thought desperately, the pain growing more intense...

The power continued to increase, the pain becoming unbearable... It's too much, too much, TOO MUCH... tears burned his eyes as his arm shook uncontrollably, feeling as if his body couldn't possibly hold together. His hand felt as though it had burned to his wand; he could smell the damage... Harry heard himself screaming out loud in agony, yet he kept his wand on Voldemort, it was his only chance...

He saw a small, red line form on Voldemort's shield... and then another... and another, spreading across the front. It was cracking... Harry didn't know how much longer the spell would last, surely not much longer, but he had to keep his concentration. He ignored the pain and redoubled his efforts, concentrating everything he had... he imagined the cracks growing, concentrating the spell... the beam seemed to narrow, training on Voldemort more effectively. A spider web of cracks now ran across the front; the lines were glowing brighter...

And then Voldemort's shield failed.

A hole formed in the surface and Harry could see blue light fill the bunker as it completely collapsed. Voldemort screamed a high pitched wail as the spell ripped into his body, just as Harry could feel his tunneling spell start to run out of power. Voldemort flew through the air, a shower of pink blood surrounding him. One of his arms was severed as it flew through the air with him. He hit the back wall and collapsed into a heap.

Harry's spell stopped completely. Voldemort got to his feet, his wand arm missing. Strange pink blood was pouring out of his shoulder and from dozens of deep wounds around his pale body. He reached into his robe and pulled out a different wand with his remaining hand. He tapped his injured shoulder, a fire blazing out and cauterizing the wound as he let out another high pitched, horrible scream. Harry tensed, preparing to dodge quickly if Voldemort tried to spell him, but instead Voldemort looked toward Bellatrix.

"Accio Bellatrix!" Voldemort shouted. Bellatrix flew toward him and fell before his feet. He reached again into his robe. They both disappeared, apparently by activating a Portkey.

Harry stood for another few seconds, then collapsed to the ground. Pain flared throughout his body; his hand felt as though it was fused into a lump with his wand. He lay on the cavern floor for some time, slipping in and out consciousness.

And then... he heard something. Odd, small footsteps were coming into the cavern... inhuman footsteps...

Harry's body howled in agonizing protest as he tried to rise, finally willing himself to stagger to his feet. Goblins were peeking around the corners of the tunnels. One launched a cutting curse at him. He tried to block it automatically, but his shield charm barely activated... he had nothing left. The curse hit him in the side as he felt a stab of pain; he could feel blood starting to flow.

The goblins moved cautiously into the chamber, more and more of them. Harry felt a moment of panic. He couldn't fight them, not with his magic so drained. If they'd only waited a bit more time, given his magic time to recover...

"Stand back!" Harry shouted threateningly. "I'll kill the first one of you that comes near me!"

Most of the goblins fell back at that, but one of them shouted back boldly, "You used a tunneling spell, didn't you? Goblins know that spell, wizard. You're weak now."

"Who wants to be the first to try me?" Harry shouted back, but a little panic started to rise in him. He didn't know how long he could maintain this bluff...

The bold goblin stepped out. "Let's test you, wizard." He waved his hand at Harry, launching a cutting curse. Harry tried to dodge instead of using his wand, his body responding about as well as his magic had.

"Why do you move instead of using your wand?" the goblin said with a smirk.

The other goblins began moving toward Harry. He thought frantically, there had to be something he could do... but without magic, the goblins could easily kill him.

"The rewards will be great for the goblins who kill Harry Potter," the goblin said, a malevolent smile on his face. The smile seemed to spread among the other goblins as they continued to move closer. "Well, wizard? If you're going to kill us, best hurry up and do it." Loud goblin laughter followed this statement.

Fear filled Harry... how could he survive a battle with Voldemort and then die like this? He glanced around desperately, trying to find an exit, but goblins were blocking all the exits. Harry ran to the farthest point of the chamber and hid behind a large rock, blocking him from the cutting curses.

He bent down to pick up a rock, but his right hand was useless and burning with pain. He picked up the rock with his weak left hand, the arm damaged from Voldemort's earlier curse, and threw it at the goblins. It was his only chance, but they laughed at his pathetic attack. He threw another rock that almost hit a goblin in the head, but they were still coming, surrounding him.

Cutting curses began flying. Harry shielded his face and eyes, as he could feel more and more sharp pains from the cuts, his clothes growing wet from the flowing blood. Dizziness filled his head from the loss of blood on top of his injuries he had suffered from Voldemort. He staggered and fell to the stone floor. He heard the goblins moving closer...

Suddenly, a loud explosion filled the room as a wall of the chamber collapsed. Harry peered over and saw a large number of goblins and humans pouring into the room, and at the front was... he couldn't believe it. He must be dreaming...

It was Ginny. She charged recklessly into the crowd of goblins moving toward Harry, her wand flinging curses right and left. Goblins flew through the air violently, one hitting a wall with a brutal crunch. The murderous look on her face was positively frightening as the other goblins decided to run.

Harry felt himself drifting... Ginny leaned over him, her face full of concern. Harry gazed up at her... he was fading away... or was he already gone? She was so beautiful... was he dying? She was safe, thank God, she was safe... maybe Ron, Hermione and Remus were safe, now, too. He had to tell her one last time...

His lips parted, and Ginny leaned down closer to hear. Harry whispered, "I love you, Ginny..."

As Harry finally lost consciousness, he decided that, if it was his time to die, he was happy that she would be the last thing he saw on earth.