Riddle released a harrowing laugh, "It's sad, you know. You don't see it but we're so alike. I used to play games like the one you're doing with me. Pressing the right button to get reactions. You played on my fondness for Luna, something that I barely even realized how much I treasured, just to get me to reveal my plans. Here you are, wandless, weaponless, and yet you're the one in control. Such is the power of words."
Harry snorted, "Yeah, your older self didn't really do the same. It was all threats and torture. It's funny when I compare the two of you, you're like night and day. So, let's just make it even, why don't you just tell me why you're doing all of this, and I could even help you if I like it."
"You're not going to help me," Riddle said while shaking his head, "and I'm not going to reveal my plans to you like some idiotic story villain. My plans are my own, and besides, what's the point of having our little game if we're on the same side? It's just not as fun, is it?"
Harry knew that there was something more to his answer, something Riddle was keeping back but before he could say anything the older boy perked up, "Now, the question is what to do with you. You see, I'm a bit old fashioned like this, but you know too much, you're too dangerous. The game we played was fun, even if it was short, but if I let you leave this place alive, you're going to cause more problems and I just can't allow that to happen. My goal is too important. My dream is too important to risk for the sake of the euphoria of having a worthy opponent. It's a shame really, I was looking forward to having fun with you in our little duel."
The Potter scion's breath hitched, "Come on Riddle, we can talk about this."
"What's there to talk about? You pushed too far, and you raised the stakes. I don't have another choice. If it's any consolation to you, Potter, I am sorry. But you broke the rules of the game. You went too far and forced me to do this. I never thought I'd say this, but you were too good that you evolved from being an entertaining rival to an active threat to my goals. You were proving yourself to be a worthy rival, too worthy, it's why I have to do this. Goodbye, Potter."
Just as Riddle was pointing his wand at Harry, the younger boy activated a magical circle that telekinetically pushed Riddle away. The force didn't really send him flying, but it did go through him. It was so large that Riddle had to drop the only physical thing he had, Harry's wand, which the young Potter summoned to himself.
"You were saying," Harry commented.
Riddle snarled back at him, "Do you really think that I didn't plan ahead at all?" he then wandlessly summoned another wand from the pile of tables on their left, "you're just delaying the inevitable."
Riddle sent in a piercing curse, which Harry countered by summoning a table into a shield and then banishing it towards Riddle. The shards just went through the projection entirely. That was annoying. The older boy sent him a smug grin, "I'm not here. I'm just a projection and you can't hurt me at all."
When the projection went through an entire spell chain without flinching, Harry knew that he had a tough fight on his hand. Of course, Riddle seemed to want to attack Harry using curses that seemed to get darker and darker with each one. The Potter scion dodged a flesh rotting curse and transfigured the entire pile of tables into two giant wooden arms to act as shields against any incoming attack.
They stayed like this for what felt like hours in this stalemate. Harry's defence was malleable enough to defend Harry, while Riddle just kept attacking and ignoring any spell coming his way. Harry snarled and summoned chains of ice using his Cryomancy, and he charmed them into a poltergeist banishing charm. It was a simple spell that Flitwick had told them to use on any object that they didn't want Peeves to touch, and it was simple enough to work.
This time, the chains animated chains actually touched the wraith and sent it flying back. Although the older boy seemed to take things a lot more seriously since with a wave of his wand, he created a shockwave that obliterated Harry's shielding hand and unbalanced him enough for Riddle to get back up.
If the stakes weren't that high, and if Riddle wasn't obviously trying to kill him, he would have burst into laughter at the dumbfounded look on the older boy's face. Who would have thought that it would be a basic charm that solved this issue? Riddle's magical projection must have resembled that of a poltergeist in some way.
Harry grinned and animated another pile of scrap into a hand that he charmed as well and animated it to attack his opponent. For all Riddle kept sending one blasting curse after another the Potter scion just kept adding more scraps after another to stop it. Honestly, Riddle should have fought back better, but it seems he was restricted in some way. Maybe it was the fact that Riddle was relying entirely on magic stolen from Luna, or maybe it was the fact that he was just a projection, and he couldn't really siphon as much magic. Riddle must have been confident that Harry wouldn't have been able to do much without his wand. That was his mistake.
Before the young Potter could revel in his coming victory, his opponent did something unthinkable, something that Harry would describe later as the desperate actions of a mad teenager. Tom Riddle summoned Fiendfyre in the middle of Hogwarts.
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