When Myths Meet Magic || 5

45|| Percy

"NO!" Harry screamed. "SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

His arm was bloody but he pushed himself up and scrambled forward. "NO!"

"HARRY!" Percy shouted as Harry dove for where Sirius fell. Bellatrix threw her head back and cackled, pointing her wand at the frantic boy. "HARRY, STOP!"

A blast of light shot across the room and threw Bellatrix back. She shrieked and fired a spell back to Annabeth, who dodged it and began sprinting forward. Seeing his chance, Percy leapt forward.

Suddenly, a burst of light exploded from the doorway. Dumbledore stood at the entrance, his wand raised, a figure of imposing authority. Invisible ropes seemed to fly to the center of the room as if they were rounding up loose cattle. There was a bang and a scream — The ground beneath Annabeth's feet had sprouted thorny vines and in a split second had caged her, closing tighter and tighter. A split second was all Bellatrix needed as she turned and flew up the stairs, blocking a spell Dumbledore fired at her and vanishing up the stairway.

"HARRY!" Percy yelled as he stumbled forward.

Harry lifted his head slowly. His normally emerald green eyes were filled with dark, poisonous, hate.

"You killed him."

"Harry, I —"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Harry roared. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED SIRIUS!"

He lifted his wand and a blast of red light struck Percy squarely in his chest. Riptide and his wand were torn from his hands and flew across the room.

"YOU KILLED HIM, YOU BASTARD!"

"Harry!"

Percy was thrown up the stairs and out the nearest doorway.

"Harry, NO!"

But Harry was flying up after the Son of Poseidon. Percy rolled to his feet and reached for Riptide — but it hadn't returned yet.

Harry's rage and grief seemed beyond words as he aimed a Stunning spell. Percy dove out of the way and backed up to a door, it swung open and he fell inside, Harry following closely — gold winked in his peripheral vision; a fountain, they were back at the entrance — Percy's hands extended. There was a low rumbling sound and water flooded from the fountain and it hovered threateningly in the air.

Percy didn't trust himself to speak. They stood in tense silence, each waiting for the other to strike...

Suddenly, a blast of light knocked Harry off his feet. He was thrown to the side and skidded across the room. Nearly at the same time, another spell struck Percy and he fell to the floor, immobile. Bellatrix stalked forward, her face lit in triumph, unaware of the water hovering in the air above her.

"I've got you now," she cooed. A smile stretched over her gaunt face. "Ahhh... did you love him, little baby Potter?"

Harry snarled and pointed his wand at her. "Crucio!"

Bellatrix screamed as the spell knocked her off her feet, but she recovered nearly immediately. "Never used an Unforgivable curse, have you, boy?" she cackled. "You need to mean them, Potter! You really need to want to cause pain, to enjoy it..."

"Crucio!" Harry shouted again, but this time she dodged the spell.

"You can't win against me!" She shrieked. "Now give me the prophecy!"

"I don't have it!" Harry shouted. "It's gone!"

"What do you mean it's gone?" she cried, and there was real fear in her voice.

"The prophecy was smashed in the explosion!" he shouted. "It's gone!"

"LIAR!" Bellatrix yelled. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME — Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

The spell was beginning to wear off of Percy, who appeared to have been forgotten... He wiggled his leg and felt Riptide in his pocket.

"Save your breath!" Harry laughed. "He can't hear you!"

"Oh, can't I, Potter?"

Percy froze, as did Harry and Bellatrix. Voldemort had suddenly appeared in the center of the room, his wand pointed at Harry.

"So you smashed my prophecy?" he said softly. "No, Bella, he is not lying... I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind... Months of preparation, months of effort... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again..."

"Master!" Bellatrix fell to her knees. "Master, I am sorry, I knew not —"

"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"

"But Master — he is here — he is below —"

Voldemort paid no attention.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KE—"

And Percy let the water fall.

It crashed over Voldemort, drowning out his words. Harry sprung up from the ground and bolted to the doorway — Bellatrix screamed and aimed a spell at him but suddenly a gold statue on the top of the fountain sprang to life and blocked the spell, standing in front of Harry like a sort of guardian.

"What?" Voldemort spluttered. His robes were dripping wet and clung to his frame of nearly all bones, which certainly made him seem less imposing. He spun around, not noticing Percy who was hidden by the fountain, and then he breathed — "Dumbledore!"

"Hello, Tom," said Dumbledore. His bright blue eyes never left the twisted wizard. Around them, statues sprang to life and closed in on them, forming a wall between Harry and Voldemort.

Bellatrix moved suddenly but before it was clear what she was trying to do, Percy had sprung up and sliced Riptide across her wand before seizing her outstretched wrists and flipping her to her back.

"It was foolish to come tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way —"

"By which time I shall be gone, and you dead!" spat Voldemort. He sent another Killing Curse at Dumbledore but missed. Dumbledore flicked his own wand, seemingly without a care, and Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no damage to the shield, though a deep, gonglike note reverberated from it, an oddly chilling sound...

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, walking toward Voldemort as though he was taking a stroll in the park. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit —"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.

"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness —"

He lifted his wand and brandished it like a whip. A rope of fire wrapped around Voldemort, shield and all, and began to close in tightly, cracking the shield like it was glass, but then the flame morphed into a snake which dropped to the ground and began to advance on Dumbledore... he lifted his wand and he snake exploded into smoke which dissolved into the air — Dumbledore turned once again to Voldemort and all the water on the ground rose up and engulfed him in a cocoon, for a moment all they could see was Voldemort's silhouette, twisting and writing in the water...

The the cocoon exploded, the water vaporized in a blast of light — when it faded, both Voldemort and Bellatrix had vanished.