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"Moody's plan stinks!"

That was Harry Potter's conclusion as he stumbled around in the dark, deep under the Ministry of Magic.  Harry cleared his throat and looked for another opponent.  In his last year before coming to Hogwarts, he'd done a book report on Sir Winston Churchill.  Given the state of his home life at that time and his present situation, one of the man's many notable quotes stuck with Harry and it came to the forefront of his mind once more.

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

Harry promised that he next time Dumbledore allowed him to use the Resurrection Stone; he'd call up the legend just to see what he might say.

The battle started in the Department of Mysteries.  Harry was told to use his traceable wand, knowing full well that the Death Eaters were monitoring Hopkirk's office.  Harry knew the faces of all the members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix.  Everyone else was a legitimate target.  Voldemort's followers hadn't "dressed" for the occasion, so it was just a mass of people fighting each other.  Aurors fought against their coworkers.  Chaos reigned throughout.

For the second time, he passed by the room that had a tank filled with things that looked like a cross between jellyfish and human brains, and pulled Moody's invisibility cloak tightly to him.

During the first rush of fighters attacking the archway room, the group Harry had been with fired off a volley of spells and Apparated out of the room.  They were supposed to wait ten seconds and reappear on the group’s flank and strike again.

It was a superb plan, but someone raised anti-apparition wards in the middle of all that and it scuttled their counter attack.  Harry, Hestia Jones, Sturgis Podmore and three others were forced to rely on their crudely drawn maps of the area to make their way back into the fray.

Unfortunately, the six of them ran smack into the second wave of law enforcement and Death Eaters (masquerading as concerned citizens).  Hestia pushed him into a room filled with different doors and sealed the one behind him.

Turning his wand on that door, he hesitated, retrieved the borrowed invisibility cloak from his bottomless bag and donned it.  Even with all his training, four wizards or witches attacking at the same time could easily overwhelm him.  Without anyone to back him up, he opted for stealth.

Already, the sounds of spellfire had died down on the other side.  Harry could only hope Hestia and the others had been captured.  He didn't want to entertain the other option. 

When he heard the sounds indicating they were trying to break the door open, Harry added his own charms to his side and immediately went to another doorway. 

"I still need to find my way back to Dumbledore and the room with the arch.  That stupid prophecy says I am the one that has to deliver the finishing blow to Riddle!"

Navigating the passageways, Harry tried to imagine that it was just like sneaking around the castle...minus the wand waving lunatics running around.  His godfather's lessons in stealth paid dividends and after eluding the main group, Harry decided to do more than just hide.

"This place is a ruddy maze, Alecto!"  Harry recognized the name of one of the Carrow siblings.

"I heard the sounds of fighting at the last junction.  We should double back and head in that direction."

"Incarcerous!  Stupefy!"  Harry's quick wand movements threw open the cloak and he caught the wide eyed expression of the female hag as his ropes encircled her.  Her brother dropped like a sack of potatoes to his stunner.

"Help!  It's Potter!  He's..."

Harry cut off her shrieks with another stunner and summoned ropes for the other.  A quick search turned up a pair of wands on the male.  The female only appeared to have one and Harry had no urge to search her disgusting form with his hands.

The trio of wands along with a belt containing several potion vials went into his bottomless bag.  He didn't take the woman's canvas purse because it probably had size expansion charms on it as well.  Both Sirius and Dumbledore had warned him of the instabilities that could occur when placing an object with size expansion charms inside his similarly charmed bag.

Instead, Harry used a sticking charm and attached her purse to the ceiling.  A tiny whisper in his mind said to kill them and just be done with it, but he remembered the ghostly words of James Potter.

If he could help it, the only life he'd take tonight would be Tom Riddle's.  Dumbledore reasoned that Voldemort's death would take the wind out of the Death Eaters' sails like chopping off the head of a snake.

Harry could live with that analogy.  In fact, he planned on it.  Finishing up, Harry followed their advice and went to the junction searching for where the sounds of the battle grew louder.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

His collection of captured wands had grown to over a dozen by the time Harry found a familiar passage and knew he was headed in the right direction.  The Order had counted on the Ministry and the Death Eaters not being familiar with the Department of Mysteries.

In hindsight, having disillusioned or cloaked wizards creating a disruptive influence might have worked even better based on what Harry was doing.

Unfortunately, all good things had to end.  Harry's luck didn't last beyond his ninth victim.

A Death Eater named Yaxley came around the corner and discovered Harry as he finished his most recent ambush.

Harry rolled and sent a body bind.  Yaxley blocked and responded with the Killing Curse.  He barely dodged the bolt of green death, which hit and killed one of the hapless souls Harry had just stunned.

Harry's strategy changed instantly.  "Confringo!"

His blasting curse wasn't aimed at the shield Yaxley had reflexively waiting for it, but into the stone floor in front of the man.  Chunks of rock went right through the barrier meant to deflect Harry's magic.

Yaxley howled and stumbled right into the cutting curse Harry cast.  Despite the dim light, Harry saw the man staring at the huge gash across his chest as dark liquid leaked down his front.  His wand twitched and he tried to close the wound.  Harry banished the dying man as hard as he could into the group coming around the corner.

With the knowledge that the passageway was too narrow to fight in, Harry ran in the other direction, into the main battle.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Once inside the Veil Room, Harry banished his way through a group separating him from the area around the veil where Dumbledore was fighting.

Even Harry, who had dueled against Dumbledore, was astonished by the sight before him.  It lent credence to the myth of the Deathly Hallows and the Master of Death legend.  The venerable wizard fought against Tom Riddle, Bellatrix Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood and Dominic Mulciber all at once and the best the Death Eaters and their master could manage was a stalemate.

The rest of the Order was busy holding the Ministry forces and the rest of the Death Eaters in check with a bloodied Alastor Moody defiantly hurling spells and shouting orders.  From Harry's vantage point, it looked like the Ministry and Death Eaters were trying to separate Dumbledore from the rest of the Order.

Conjuring a stun whip, Harry wasn't about to let that happen.  The magical construct sliced through the air and cut down four opponents as Harry scrambled into the gap created by their forms falling to the ground.

Flicking his wand upward, Harry sent the last vestiges of the spell into the back of Bellatrix, who stumbled and fell before being sent flying into the chamber wall by Harry's follow-on banisher.  He didn't have the chance to admire his handiwork.  Instead, he sent a bone breaker directly at Riddle's back.

Saying a prayer to any powers that might be listening, Harry's eyes followed the bright blue pulse of magic to its destination.

Maybe Voldemort saw Bellatrix being thrown through the air, or perhaps he was even capable of sensing the oncoming magic.  Either way, the dark wizard raised a shield to parry faster than Harry thought possible. Once more, the Phoenix cry could be heard as the brother wands were forced to fight each other.

"No!" Voldemort yelled as a dome of magic enveloped them.

Harry spared Dumbledore a brief glance and the man nodded.

The two had planned in the event that this happened.  Harry's new mission was to keep Riddle in check, which freed Dumbledore to turn his considerable power on the rest of Riddle's entourage and with luck on their side; the pair would turn their combined might on their enemy once the tide had turned.

"I'm going to kill you, whelp!"  Riddle screamed trying to disengage from the magical tug of war they were locked in.

Unlike the last time, Harry fought to keep his opponent inside the connection and switched to a two handed grip.  "You've been trying and failing for years, Tom.  What makes you think tonight's going to be any different?  Except for the fact that you're mortal now!"

Harry shouted that last part for those watching.  The Order members had been briefed on what happen and kept up their attacks.  With his offhand Riddle fumbled in his robes and retrieved a knife.  Using a wandless banisher, Riddle sent it toward him.

Harry had wanted to wait a bit longer, but he had no choice.  Pulling his spare wand, he used his own banisher to deflect it.  It took a tremendous amount of energy to cast that second spell.  The exertion forced Harry down to one knee.

Seeing Voldemort's eyes went wide at the sight of Harry's second wand.  He searched his mind for a spell that didn't require much power.

"Percuito!"  A wounding curse wasn't much, but it drew blood on Riddle's arm and somehow that was a victory in itself.

His enemy attempted to summon a wand from one of the fallen, but it bounce off the dome shield and Harry knew for certain that Voldemort didn’t have a spare.

“Undone by his own arrogance!  Amazing!”

Riddle dodged the second one and began pushing as hard as he could against their connected wands, trying to overwhelm the Gryffindor's power.  Fighting back against the panic, Harry took a calming breath.

"I have to hold him off long enough for something to finish him!" Harry thought.

The bead of power began picking up speed, rushing towards Harry.  He thought of it like a rapidly closing snitch and pulled his magic away from it still looking for that one spell.

His mind raced through his inventory.  The blasting curses and the Reductors needed more strength than he had.  The ice spear or conjured arrows could be dodged.  He needed something that couldn't be avoided...he needed...

"Incedius Draconis!  Burn you motherfucker!"  Harry screamed and dropped to his knees.  The spell simulated Dragon's fire.  It was easily dispelled or could be interrupted with a gust of wind, but Riddle's magic was still tied up in their connection and the dome shield around them prevented anyone from aiding him.

Unable to block the sheet of flame, Riddle ducked his head into his off arm to try and protect himself.

Harry kept funneling power into his spell, like one of those World War Two flamethrowers, and just like a flamethrower, his flames began to sputter as he ran out of energy.

Then, he heard the most horrible and beautiful sound ever...Tom Riddle screaming.  Harry was down on his right elbow and nearing the point where he would pass out when the connection snapped.

The dome collapsed and Harry sensed some of his energy returning.  Forcing himself upright, he wasn't sure if he could fight off Hermione's cat, Crookshanks at this point, but the words of Sirius Black came to mind.  "Don't let your enemies see you're weak."

He'd gone on to tell him that it was okay to let a pretty girl see you vulnerable, because, "Women really dig that sensitive stuff."

Try as he might, Harry couldn't stop those stupid thoughts from running through his mind as he stumbled across the space separating him from the smoldering carcass nearby.  Most of the fighting had died down and he felt the weight of everyone's stares on him.  Their battle ended with Voldemort's still form draped over the steps leading up to the platform where the Veil of Death stood.

The smell was awful and part of Harry thought a killing curse would have been kinder.  The part with the voice that sounded like his godfather reminded him that Riddle deserved the most painful death possible.  Half of his inhuman face had been melted away and the rest was burnt beyond recognition.  It was over!

He bent down and picked up the slightly scorched yew wand and held it aloft.  There was a smattering of cheers, led by the Order members.  Harry caught the eyes of a few familiar faces.  Moody's face was bloody and his one human eye was shut, but the creepy wizard eye was locked on Harry and the crazy bastard was actually smiling.

It wasn't nearly as unnerving as the stench, but it was a close second.  Lupin was clutching Nymphadora Tonks close and healing cuts and curses on the injured Metamorphmagus.

Finally, Harry's eyes settled on Albus Dumbledore.  The old man, fueled by the power of the Deathly Hallows, looked decades younger and was virtually crackling with magical energy.  The Elder wand pointed at the crowd.  He spared Harry a proud smile before the young wizard could see the fatigue behind the mask of confidence he wore.

Undesirable Number One cleared his throat and addressed everyone, "The self-styled Lord Voldemort has met his final end at the hands of Harry Potter.  His power is broken and the day is won."

Dumbledore started to lower his wand and spun toward Harry.  It all happened in slow motion.  A dark red spell that Harry knew was a cutting curse streaked by and struck Dumbledore just below his right elbow and Dumbledore grunted in agony as his lower arm and hand, still clutching the Elder wand fell to the ground.  The cackling bitch, Bellatrix Lestrange had pulled herself upright and staggered toward the platform.

"Never!"  Bellatrix screamed, with the look of utter madness plastered on her face.  "Kill them!  Kill them all!  Avada Kedavra!"

Her killing curse was intercepted by Fawkes, protecting his master.  She prepared to do it again, but Harry's weak disarming charm managed to knock her wand from her grasp.

All around, the fighting erupted anew.  That last spell, cast out of sheer panic left him dizzy.  The crazy bint rounded on him and didn't seem to care that she no longer held a wand.  She charged at Harry and grabbed him.

He could feel her trying to wrestle any of his wands from him when their momentum carried them backward.  Harry heard a strange howling sound and the whisper of voices.  Craning his head momentarily, he saw the rustling curtain of the Veil of Death speeding toward them like the Hogwart's Express.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Apparently, death felt like being turned inside out, thrown into a dryer for what might have only a minute, but seemed far longer.  It was like a ride on a broken broomstick with the braking charms removed.

The insane journey ended with them being dumped on onto the unyielding floor of a poorly lit room.

"I'm not dead?  I'm not dead!"

His thoughts were interrupted by Bellatrix clawing at his face.  The wand in that hand had rolled into the darkness of the barely lit room.  The other was in his hand, but they both had control of it and a stream of sparks emanated from it.

"Die Potter!  Die!"

She head butted him and bit his arm.  Harry was still seeing stars when he caught a flash of metal in her hand.

"She's got a knife!"

It was probably the twin to Riddle’s and Harry knew he was magically exhausted.  Bellatrix buried the knife in his shoulder, pulled it out and slashed him with it.  The wound on his shoulder was joined by one on his hand.  There was a sharp sting followed by a burning sensation spreading across his skin.

“Poison!”

Focusing, Harry did the only thing he could think of as the crazed witch pulled back for another blow.  Her next downward strike was met with a larger than expected arm.  The serrated edge bit into that arm, past the thick fur that had appeared. 

The hand attached to the thick arm didn't stop, and continued up into her face and gripped her around the neck.  With strength that belonged to no human possessed he tossed Lestrange off of him.  She hit a column with a sick, wet thud, and slid to the ground.

Ambling to his feet, Harry cautiously made his way to the witch in his unfamiliar body.  He'd made partial transformations before, but this was the first time he'd put it all together in one oversized impressive package. 

When he and Sirius first figured out what Harry was, Sirius made him watch every single movie in The Planet of the Apes series and proceeded to overuse that, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape" line.

Getting a closer look at the unmoving Lestrange, he saw her neck was bent at an odd angle with a fittingly insane look frozen on her face.

With one problem solved, he needed to do something about the poison.  Even in his Animagus form, it could be lethal.  He took a deep breath and focused on his next step.

The sharp pain returned as Harry forced his body back into his human form and immediately went for his pockets.  A pair of bezoars went into his mouth as he removed the stopper from a vial and poured the contents into his mouth.

It was Snape's best broad spectrum antidote and Harry briefly worried about whether his former teacher would do something underhanded.  The general answer was yes, but not when it came to his creations.  The man was a bloody foul monster, but Snape took too much pride in his work.  The stinging stopped spreading as Harry assessed his situation.

There was a duplicate of the Veil standing in front of him.  He quickly gathered the wands and stumbled toward the archway.  Though he wasn't sure how much good he'd be able to do and didn't look forward to reliving the return trip, but Dumbledore and the rest needed him!

Nothing happened...other than Harry smacking into the wall.

"No!  No!"  Harry shouted.  He went through it the other way.  That didn't work either.  He tried a diagnostic spell.  The result was feeble and told him very little.

Still weak from the poison, he slid his normal wand into his holster and put Riddle's into his bottomless bag.

Glancing around, he recognized that this appeared to be some type of museum.  Moving over to a bench, Harry sat down, somewhat less than gracefully.  He looked at a nearby sign and his best guess was that it was Greek lettering.

Sadly, what little rune work he knew was either Celtic or Norse.  Greek was…well all Greek to him.

Fatigue set in as the adrenaline wore off.  Magical exhaustion, poison, and everything he'd just been through hit him like a ton of bricks.  He considered making a Portkey, but that and Apparition were out of the question in his current state.  All Harry could do was holster his wand and hope the Greek Ministry wouldn't treat him too harshly.

Lying down on that bench seemed like a smashing idea right about then.

"I was right, Sirius," Harry mumbled, wondering if his godfather's spirit was watching him at that moment.  "I made my transformation before the New Year.  Couldn't have done it without you, you old mutt."

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• Shall We Depart? Paying Delores a Visit Even Legends Must Die Athena's Warning Silver Hands and Silver Tongues Veiled Intentions The Dog Runs Fast Offerings and Revelations An Unexpected Reunion Culture Shock Priorities The Caprica Cowhenge
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