Dead bodies littered the ground as Harry appeared. He was surprised there weren't more wearing the armor of the ice people, but Captain Nailoff had done an amazing job at organizing a defense with the fifty soldiers he had been left with. Dozens of Death Eaters were littering the yard of the fortress, most of them with smoking holes in their chest. Looking up, Harry could see the gun emplacements the ice soldiers had used to cut down the invaders.
He walked through the fortress, knowing where he was going, glad to see the place devoid of life. It meant the ice soldiers had followed his orders and vacated the island as soon as Voldemort and his Death Eaters had breached the inner defenses. The torches and lamps the Ice people had set up flickered as they lit the way down into the ruins beneath the former prison fortress. Harry was surprised to see that there weren't any Death Eaters around, figuring that Voldemort would have left a few behind to guard against the soldiers returning.
"Harry!" a female voice shouted from the darkness.
The young Lord of Polairix whirled around, wand in hand, only to let out a relieved breath when a familiar redhead ran out of the darkness, skidding to a halt when she found herself at wandpoint. "Thank goodness you're here," the girl cried, taking a tentative step forward.
Harry looked her over. Ginny looked like she had been through hell. Her robes were torn and charred, her skin was showing blisters and burns and bruises. Her red hair was smattered with mud and what looked to be dried blood, turning the fiery red color a dark coppery-brown. The girl's face was by far the worst off. One of her eyes was swollen shut, her lower lip was split, and blood was trickling from the corner of her mouth. Bloody gashes covered her cheeks, and there was a long line of red along her throat where Harry guessed someone had tried to slit her throat. Her eyes were wild and unfocused, gleaming with desperation and fear, and she was swaying on her feet in obvious exhaustion.
Looking around and finding no one else around, Harry relaxed his guard somewhat. Ginny's presence changed things; the way she looked, he needed to get her medical attention, whether she was the traitor or not. Despite all the facts pointing towards it, Harry really hoped that she wasn't - he had the feeling Voldemort wouldn't treat anyone like this, not even his enemies. Actually, Harry mused with grim realization, Voldemort did treat his enemies just like this… most just didn't live through it.
"What happened?" he asked, still cautious. He never lowered his wand, though he took a step towards her.
"It was Tonks," Ginny whispered hoarsely as her legs buckled and she collapsed to the ground. "She's a traitor, Harry! You've got to warn the others!"
Kneeling down next to her, Harry helped Ginny sit up against the wall. He shrugged off his cloak and covered her shivering form with it. "What do you mean?"
"She… she just walked into the library, right after you guys came back. I was there with F-Fred and George, we were helping Hermione with looking through a few b-books that she'd pulled out. H-Hermione stepped out for a moment to check on you, and Tonks just drew her wand and s-started throwing spells around!" Ginny sobbed hysterically. "T-Tonks, she blew Fred into the wall with some kind of dark curse, and he started bleeding, a-a-and she just cut up George. Oh Harry, it was awful!"
"What happened then?" Harry asked. He hated putting her through this, but what she was telling him was the first real clue to what had happened in the library of Nair'i'caix. A flicker of doubt started creeping up in his mind. Could Ginny actually be innocent? He had been the one who had concluded that Ginny was the traitor by her conspicuous absence, but even before that, Tonks had mysteriously gone missing. Maybe they had been too quick to jump to conclusions. Maybe Moody was right in his suspicions about the metamorphmagus's sudden disappearances. Even Dumbledore, whom she had claimed she was working for, had acknowledged that she had, at times, gone missing for far longer than they had planned.
"She… she took me," Ginny whispered. "To see him . Oh God, Harry…"
Harry shook his head. No, Tonks would never betray us. She hates Voldemort and what he stands for just as much as I do. She would never join him and do something like this, he thought. But then again, he was forced to admit the same about Ginny. The situation was giving him a headache. "Ginny," he called softly. "Are you sure it was Tonks? Absolutely sure?"
"Yes." She hiccupped and swallowed hard. "It was Tonks. They… Harry, the beating was the easiest part of it. They… they took me, and the Cruciatus…" she trailed off, shuddering. "They… they brought me here. I thought they were going to kill me, but they brought me here. I don't know why, but I managed to get away while they were fighting. And when the soldiers left, I… I just ran and hid."
"All right," Harry whispered soothingly. "It'll be all right." His animosity for the girl was put on the backburner. Right now, she needed his help, and what she'd been through eclipsed any pain she'd caused Harry. He did, after all, know how Voldemort treated his prisoners. All too well.
He held her for a while, until her breathing calmed and she stopped shuddering like a leaf in the wind. "Can you stand?" he asked. When she nodded faintly, he helped her up and reached into his robes, pulling out a silver medallion. "Here, this is a portkey that will take you back to Nair'i'caix. Use it. I need to go and take care of Voldemort."
"All right…" Ginny looked at the simple round piece of silver for a moment, before taking it, clenching her blood-encrusted hand around it. "Harry," she called out after he'd turned around.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry… for everything." Then she vanished, before Harry could respond.
Voldemort looked at the Rod of Dominion as it hung suspended in the air, behind its protective red barrier. He turned to look the traitor, who'd accompanied him. "Remarkable, isn't it? Such power in such a simple-looking staff. I'd expected something more… ornate."
The woman at his side remained impassive, the dagger in her hand still dripping blood. Behind her lay the three corpses of what remained of Voldemort's inner circle. After they had managed to penetrate this far down and reached the chamber with the Rod, Voldemort had given her the signal to kill them. The men had gone down pathetically easy, never really expecting to be stabbed in the back by the beaten and bruised woman who'd betrayed the Order of the Phoenix.
"Now, thanks to the texts you've brought me, my dear, I'll be able to access it." The dark wizard stretched out a hand, hovering it over the surface of the red barrier, almost caressing it.
"Not if I stop you first, Tom." The voice came from the entrance to the hall, and Voldemort snapped around in surprise.
"Didn't I already kill you, old man?" he hissed in annoyance.
Albus Dumbledore strode into the brightly-lit room. "You didn't do a very good job of it," the headmaster replied with a hint of humor. He was walking slowly, carefully. As he had planned, he had awoken from his coma with Fawkes's help while the fortress of Nair'i'caix was deserted, and everyone had left for the battle at the Ministry. Fawkes had teleported him to Azkaban, where he'd made his way down into the catacombs to await Voldemort. He was surprised at the woman's presence, his eyes narrowing as he realized that he had been wrong in assuming the identity of the traitor.
Voldemort shrugged. "It'll be a pleasure to finish it, then," he snarled, drawing his wand. The woman in the room stepped back as the two mages began circling each other. The dark wizard looked over his shoulder at the traitor briefly. "Go bring Potter here. And bring the prisoner. This is something I want him to see."
"Yes, Master," the woman replied stoically, before leaving the room. Dumbledore looked after for a moment, before Voldemort began firing off spells. The old headmaster no longer had time to think as he was forced on the defensive.
Harry followed the corridors until he reached the broken stairwell. Stepping through the illusion, he was surprised to hear sounds of battle coming from the chamber ahead. A wave of his wand snuffed out the torches around him, plunging him into complete darkness. Carefully, he made his way through the corridor, hidden by the shadows. An explosion rattled the foundations of the ruins, followed by a pained groan. By now, Harry had reached the end, and was pressing his back against the corridor wall to remain hidden.
He suppressed a gasp of surprise when Dumbledore crashed to the ground, bleeding and unable to get back up. The old headmaster didn't see him, knocked unconscious as the dark wizard approached him almost casually. Dumbledore's wand lay across the room, smoke wafting from its tip, and far out of his reach. Harry swore under his breath. As much as he hated giving up the element of surprise, as much as he hated Dumbledore being there, he couldn't let the old man die.
"Better make this one count, Harry," he muttered to himself as he leveled his ivory wand at Voldemort's approaching figure. Before he had a chance to even begin casting the spell, he suddenly found Voldemort looking straight at him.
"I know you're there, Potter. Come on out, or the old man dies right here." Voldemort sounded almost amused as Dumbledore's eyes fluttered open.
Cursing himself for not realizing that Voldemort had somehow detected him, Harry lifted his hands, still holding on to his wand, as he stepped out into the chamber. Ginny was right, he thought to himself. Tonks is the only one who- As he walked into the open, he noticed the dead bodies of three Death Eaters on the ground. The once-pristine room was pockmarked with craters and charred where the Voldemort and Dumbledore had dueled.
"So," Harry finally said after a long pause. "Here we are again, Tom."
"So we are, Harry," Voldemort replied with a smirk.
"Now what?" Harry asked. "I assume that you're just going to kill us all, get your hands on the Rod, and take over the world."
"That's about right," the dark wizard confirmed, "but there are a few things I wanted to indulge in, first."
Harry shrugged, glancing over at the Rod. "Look, Tom, there's a little problem with your plan. I know you had a traitor among us, and I know that she brought you the texts we were studying to break the Rod out of the wards surrounding it."
"Go on," Voldemort nodded, his interest piqued.
"Well, the Rod doesn't exist in this dimension," Harry told him.
Voldemort snorted in amusement. "What are you talking about, of course it exists! You're looking right at it!" The dark wizard eyed Harry suspiciously. "My minions didn't hit you too hard upside the head, did they? You're not hallucinating, are you?"
Harry blinked in surprise at the comment. Concern was the last thing he'd expected from Voldemort, and it had even sounded genuine - what was the world coming to? "Err… no, they didn't hit me. In fact, I reckon they're about to get their asses kicked right now."
"Hmm… oh well." Voldemort shrugged nonchalantly. "Good to hear you're still in one piece, though."
"Oh, because you wanted the pleasure of killing me personally?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"Almost, Harry." Voldemort grinned toothily. "You see, when I first rose, the only wizard I was afraid of was Albus Dumbledore. He was acclaimed as the greatest wizard of all time. I admit it, I feared him. Respected him even. And when I returned… I found a new foe. A new archenemy, if you will. You, Harry Potter, have galvanized me, ruined my plans, and fought me on more occasions than even Albus Dumbledore, and you, you alone, have had more success in doing so than he ever had." Voldemort spread his arms, gesturing all around him. "I realize now that almost dying when I tried to kill you has been a blessing. Because of it, I've become stronger, more powerful. Much more powerful. And when I fought Dumbledore again two days ago, I realized something: I had become so powerful that Albus Dumbledore is nothing. The one wizard, the greatest of all time, and he was nothing before my might."
"Get to the point, Tom," Harry snapped irritably. He'd been looking for an opportunity to fire off a spell at Voldemort while he was talking, but the dark wizard was always on guard.
"The point is, Harry Potter, that you have taken the place of Albus Dumbledore as my greatest enemy!" Voldemort announced grandly. "You are the only one with the potential to become as powerful as I am, and in the short time you've had, you've grown to be able to fight me on even ground. In fact, because you have grown so powerful in such a short time, one might even argue that you will become more powerful than me. Before I acquire the Rod of Dominion, before I continue to move on with my conquest of the wizarding world… I will fight and defeat you. I will finally put to rest my most worthy foe - you."
"What?" Harry blinked in confusion. "You… you want to duel me? Like, man to man?"
"Correct." Voldemort grinned. "If I can indeed overcome you, then the rest of the world will be within my grasp."
Harry began to wonder if Voldemort hadn't been hit on the head too hard at some point, because this man was different from the evil maniac mastermind he'd come to know. "What brought all of this on?" he asked finally, unable to understand why Voldemort would be asking him for a duel. Why not simply take the Rod and blast all of existence to hell? He looked around the room for anything that could be used as a distraction, and his gaze fell on the three dead Death Eaters. Now that he looked at them closer, he realized that they didn't look like they had been killed by spells. A huge puddle of blood was forming around them. It made Harry wonder what had killed them.
"Curious about that, too?" Voldemort asked, noticing the direction of Harry's gaze. "I can answer both in one, I believe."
"Oh yeah?"
"Let me ask you this, Harry… what is conflict without an opponent? What point is there in war if there is no one to be fought?" the dark wizard didn't wait for Harry to answer. "Simple, there is none. I fight this war for the extermination of all those who are unworthy. You have been my greatest opponent, Harry Potter, but once I hold the Rod of Dominion in my hands, even that will be no more. For the last time, I will fight you, before I kill you and move on. As for them," Voldemort pointed at the three dead men, "the Rod holds inconceivable power, as do its protections. Why share the secret with those who are unworthy of it?"
Harry realized Voldemort truly was crazy. The dark wizard knew next to nothing about the Rod of Dominion, except for the fact that it was capable of killing him, and apparently was dangerous enough to be forever sealed away. He had somehow gotten the notion that with the Rod, he would be above all opposition - and Harry reluctantly admitted that he may be right. The Rod was a Deus Ex Machina, something so ludicrously powerful that it had to be lost to all time, because its power would corrupt even the purest of saints. And before he got his hands on it, Voldemort wanted to duel him, duel someone he thought worthy, for nostalgia's sake.
The dark wizard's final comment also made Harry realize something else: Voldemort would never stop killing. The power at his fingertips was too compelling, too seductive. He may have set out to purge the world from muggles and mudbloods, but in the end, the darkness within would never let him stop killing, even if it meant turning on his former followers. He probably was rooting for his army to get decimated, Harry thought grimly. The only thing that would appease Voldemort was bloodshed… no matter whose blood it was.
"I see…" Harry said, slowly lowering his wand arm until it was resting by his side.
"I doubt you do," Voldemort laughed. "But maybe you will indulge me anyway."
Harry brought his wand up, holding it close to his right ear as he extended his left arm forward. His weight was shifted onto his back foot as he spread his legs shoulder-width apart. "I don't think I have any choice, do I?"
Voldemort eyed the teen with some amusement, recognizing the dueling stance as one of Bella's favorites. "No, you don't," he replied as he slid into a stance of his own. "I am told you have a warlock rune. I look forward to seeing what you can do."
Harry's eyes narrowed. It appeared that the spy had informed Voldemort of far more than the Rod's location. Fine, he wants to see what I can do? Time to dig real deep, then, Harry thought to himself. Twirling the wand through his hand to distract Voldemort from the spell he was casting, Harry fired off two blasting hexes in quick succession. The Dark lord ducked under the first, then simple batted the second one away with a negligent flick of his wand.
"Is that all you can do, Harry? You did so much better when we fought in Southhallerton. Malum Ictis !" The jet-black spear of magic hurled towards Harry, forcing him to dive to the side. As he tumbled to the ground, he returned fire.
Three stunners impacted Voldemort's shields as the dark wizard raised a shimmering golden barrier around him with little more than a flick of his wrist. He let Harry rise back to his feet, smirking in amusement. "Like it? It's an archmage-level shield spell," Voldemort explained. "In fact, it's the only archmage-grade shield spell. Do you know why?"
Without replying, Harry flicked his wrist, sending a torrent of elemental spells towards his still opponent. Voldemort merely stood calmly as all the spells dissipated harmlessly against his barrier, causing no more than ripples in it. Harry gave up barraging the shield with spells, and slowly began to circle his enemy, trying to find a weak spot in the barrier.
"You won't find any weak spots, Harry." Voldemort said calmly, even though his back was facing Harry. "The reason Aegis Contego is the only archmage-level shield spell is because it is the only shield that is needed. It will stop anything. Anything," Voldemort cackled. "In fact, the only spell that will penetrate it is the killing curse. Are you willing to use it, Harry?"
Frowning, Harry flicked his wrist with a muttered " Comburo ." The fire spell lashed out, but the flames parted harmlessly around Voldemort. It appeared Voldemort was right - he had barraged him with a wide assortment of all the spells he knew, short of the Unforgivables, but nothing had worked. Voldemort's words wormed themselves into Harry's thoughts.
" Avada- " Harry paused in the middle of the spell. If Voldemort was telling the truth, then he was a mere word away from ridding the world of the most powerful dark lord in centuries… but was he really willing to sell his soul to the killing curse? He thought back to some of the discussions he'd had with Bella about the killing curse. He'd wondered why it was considered an Unforgivable when other spells, most of which were actually considered harmless, were equally capable of killing people.
The reason was as simple as it was frightening. The first time someone cast the killing curse, they lost a piece of their soul. The same properties that allowed the spell to bypass any shield and kill any person would also slowly but ineroxably cost the caster his soul. It certainly explained why Voldemort was who he was now, Harry thought grimly. Was he willing to go there to rid the world of Lord Voldemort? He had sworn that he would do anything to keep his family safe, but there was a flicker of a doubt.
Would he remain the same person? Would he go down the same path as Voldemort? Dumbledore had more than once alluded to the fact that they were both very similar. They had similar upbringings, similar experiences. A lot of people seemed to think that it wasn't a far cry for Harry to turn dark. Would this be it? Could just casting the spell a single time cause him to become the next Lord Voldemort? The prospect was a frightening one.
"Well?" Voldemort asked. "I am waiting. I thought you promised Bella and your child that you would never let me touch them," he taunted. "Unless you cast the killing curse, you will never defeat me. I'll keep coming back."
That thought slammed into Harry hard. The thought of Voldemort going after his wife and child was beyond anything he could bear, and he found himself saying the final word to the spell, taking care to enunciate it slowly so that there would be no chance for it to go wrong. Voldemort would die.
" Kedav -"
"Don't do it, Harry!" Bella's voice surprised both of them, causing the dueling wizards to turn to look at the corridor. Bella and Hermione were there, having run down from the island's shore.
"Bella?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"We came as soon as we realized that Voldemort would be going after the Rod," she explained. "He wouldn't pass up such a chance to get his hands on it while everyone else is fighting for their lives at the Ministry."
Voldemort almost seemed to sigh in annoyance. "A perfectly good duel… ruined."
"Shut up, Tom," Harry snarled.
"Hermione? Bella? Harry ?" A new voice chimed in. The two women at the entrance to the chamber turned around, surprised to see a battered Tonks leading Ginny at wandpoint. The redheaded girl whimpered pitifully.
"Voldemort," Tonks snarled.
Harry had his black ash wand out and aimed at Tonks in an instant. "Let her go, Tonks." He mentally kicked himself for not making sure Ginny had gotten away okay. He had been so caught up in getting to the Rod in time he'd left her alone - Tonks must have stumbled over Ginny… when exactly? Harry wondered. She must have infiltrated the castle, he realized, but something still didn't add up.
"Harry, listen to me, Ginny's the traitor," Tonks explained. Hermione and Bella immediately drew their wands and aimed them at the youngest girl.
"Funny," Harry growled. "She told me the same thing about you. How you cut up Fred and blasted away at George. How you kidnapped her and then let the Death Eaters have their fun with her."
Hermione and Bella immediately pointed their wands at Tonks. The auror froze, her eyes wide in disbelief. "What? I wouldn't do that! I'm on your side, Harry!"
"I thought so, too," Harry hissed angrily. "Step away from her." He eyed Voldemort out of the corner of his eye, wary that the dark wizard would try and kill him while his attention was elsewhere, but Voldemort seemed content to watch the spectacle unfolding before him with an unreadable expression.
Tonks reluctantly stepped away from her captive, raising her hands into the air. "You're making a mistake."
Bella had knelt down and was looking Ginny over, trying to make sure the girl was all right, as she knew a few minor healing spells. Hermione still had her wand trained on Tonks, and was eyeing the auror with distrust. "Give me your wand," the brunette ordered.
"What? Hermione, it's me, Tonks!"
"Give me your wand," Hermione repeated.
With a heavy sigh, Tonks handed the younger girl her wand. "You're making a big mistake here, Hermione. Please, listen to me! You've got to believe me, I didn't do it! It was Ginny, she caught us all by surprise! Hermione, remember, you'd just left the library when Harry came back? I wanted to check on the twins, and Ginny was there, she'd stabbed Fred and was casting some kind of dark spell at George. I tried to stop her, but she knocked me out - I woke up as Voldemort's captive!"
"Then how did you get away? How did you get a wand, hm?" Bella asked, glaring up at the auror. The raven-haired witch didn't like Ginny, not after she had heard how much the youngest Weasley had hurt Harry, but she couldn't help but feel sympathy for her as she examined Ginny's wounds. Bella only knew full well what Voldemort's idea of hospitality was. She'd been subjected to it a number of times, and she was supposed to be one of his followers.
"They brought me here. Ginny was holding me at knifepoint when they breached the outer defenses. When the ice soldiers started fighting back, we got separated from the Death Eaters. Some kind of explosive shell almost hit us, and knocked Ginny unconscious. I hid, and took the wand off one of the dead Death Eaters after they'd all left," Tonks explained.
"Then how come you didn't try to return to Nai'i'caix?" Harry asked. "You could've returned and warned us there. Why stay around here?"
Tonks looked Harry in the eyes. "Because I knew Voldemort was after the Rod. I knew we needed to stop him," she said sincerely.
Harry felt himself conflicted once more. But right now, they were in the perfect Mexican Standoff, as he'd heard Hermione call a situation before. He wasn't able to make a move that wouldn't leave him open. If he trusted either, there was a chance that the other was the traitor. He thought about using legilimency to probe into their thoughts, but at the first foray into Ginny's mind, he pulled back abruptly, stunned at the maelstrom of hurt, pain, and fear.
"What are you up to, Tom?" Harry muttered to himself. He had his answer when a pained cry came from behind him, followed by the discharge of a wand. He turned around, horrified to see Hermione blasted into the wall and slumped over, unconscious or dead, he couldn't tell. Tonks was struggling with Ginny for control of the wand she'd stolen from Bella, who was still shaking the cobwebs from her head at the sudden explosion. Before Harry could react to help them, Ginny twisted around, using the wand both she and Tonks held on to as a pivot. The redhead brought her back against Tonks's front, and executed a shoulder throw that sent the auror crashing to the ground. Before she could do anything more, though, Ginny was tackled from behind by Bella.
The older witch managed to dislodge the wand from Ginny's grasp by slamming her wrist against the marble floor, and pinned the smaller girl on the ground using her bodyweight. Pain blossomed from her belly, causing Bella to look down, just in time to see Ginny tear a dagger out of her wound. The redhead shoved the older witch off of her and leaned down, preparing to finish the job.