Son Of Riddle

Chapter Thirty-two - The battle for the Ministry

  James wiped blood from his face. "Rodolphus." He regarded him darkly.
Rodolphus looked down at his dead commerade with dissaproval on his face. "Poor child, he knew he had it coming when he first joined this cause. He wanted it really."
"Why would you come here, the one place crawling with aurors?" James asked him suspiciously. One thing he had learned from Rodolphus was that when he did something drastic or brash, he always had a plan, always.
"Well quite frankly, I only sent Blaise to find out information, he wasn't sopposed to uncover himself until he was out of the ministry, but we'll make it work."
A spell whizzed by James' head, an inch from from his face and nearly hit Rodolphus, but he pivoted just in time.
Rodolphus nodded, impressed. "They're getting better, but still not good enough." He sent a spell of his own in the direction the oppsoing spell came from and a scream of terror told James the spell hit it's target.
"What are you planning?" James asked.
Rodolphus outright laughed. "You're certainly delusional if you think I'm going to tell you that." He cast a spell at riddle, but he easily dodged it. "While I do enjoy reading about long and tortuous monologues, I do not intend to make a speech." He cast another spell at Riddle, who blasted it back to him. Rodolphus managed to dodge it, letting it sail into a wall which promply crumbled. "You're getting better, child." He informed Riddle.
Four more spells flew at Rodolphus from across the room, but he blasted them all away.
He looked at his fellow death eaters. "Well, we're here now, might as well do what we planned."
The death eaters all nodded and slowly dissapated into black smoke. James ran forwards, shooting spells as fast as he could from all his fingers at Rodolphus, who also dissapated into black smoke with a malicious grin on his face.
James faced the rest of the still stunned ministry. "They'll reappear any minute, prepare yourselves, now!"
He ran to the quartet who were all hiding behind a pillar with The Minister. "Mrs. Weasley, you'll want to hide yourself, they're most likely looking for you to try to kill you so they can take over the ministry." He told her.
Hermionie nodded. "I'll gather the aurors."
She ran past the lanes without identifying herself, causing the alarm to go off.
"What are we gonna do?" Benjamin asked.
"We're gonna do anything we can to make sure no one else gets hurt." James answered.
An explosion and a scream from further in the ministry told the quartet it was time to go.
"Remember, do anything you can to keep them from hurting people. Even if you have to kill someone." James reminded them.
They all nodded with grim determination, and ran into the ministry.

As they ran in, they realized they were late to the battle. Spells were flying everywhere, and one person was already lying unconsious, or dead, on the ground. "Start targeting death eaters and protect the minister as best you can; if they kill her, they win. I'm going to find Rodolphus." James yelled to the quartet over the sound of chaos around them. They nodded and he bolted to find Rodolphus, dodging stray spells and bodies.
A death eater suddenly appeared in his path, a student, maybe 12 or 13. He grinned maliciously at James.
"So your'e the one they always talk about, the mysterious 'Son of the Great One.'" He looked Riddle up and down. "You don't seem so powerful...let's see if you can defeat me." He shot one spell at Riddle, who dodged it and zipped forwards in one motion.
"Tantabus" He hissed at the boy, who's cold eyes immediately glazed over, and he fell backwards in shock, trapped in his own mind. He would be there a while.
James returned to his search for Rodolphus, but he seemed to have disspeared. James turned a hall, down towards the rooms labeled 'court rooms.' He ducked inside the first open door he found when he heard approaching footsteps. He rolled underneath a desk to hide himself.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" He heard Rodolphus sing, his voice carrying througout the hall. James's heart dropped as Rodolphus entered the very room Riddle was hiding in. Well, it appeared as though his seach was over.
As Rodolphus's footsteps faded as he went further into the room, James rolled out from under the desk and readied himself for a fight.
"Staying silent always was your forte, wasn't it?" Rodolphus asked over his shoulder.
"You can't take the ministry, Rodolphus." James informed him, slowly inching closer.
"What makes you think you can stop me?" Rodolphus inquired, turning to face James, a cold and eerie smile on his face. "You couldn't even defeat me with all your friends by your side."
"And you couldn't even keep me on place with all your minions at your beck and call." James reminded him. "I'm pretty sure I can best just you, don't you think? Have you forgoten who I am?" 
"Ah, but I have this." Rodolphus grinned as he pulled a piece of wood out of hid robes.
James eyes widened when he saw it. "That's...that's the wand Father was after all that time..."
"Indeed it is, child. Now tell me, who do you think is more powerful? You, who has been trapped in an enclosed space with no contact to anyone for the last 20 years, or me, who now has the most powerful wand?"
James studied the wand closely. "It's broken." He realized aloud.
"Oh please, you don't seriously think I don't know any repair spells?" Rodolphus said in a mocking tone. "It was broken at one time, but it is now fixed, and more powerful than ever." He pointed it at Riddle. "And now, I am going to kill you...or should I mind control you? That would be much more fun. All your poor little friends would think you've turned against them. Now, wouldn't that be tragic? You killing your only friends in the world. Yes, that's much more fun."
James stood his ground as Rodolphus took his aim. He couldn't run fast enough to get away from the spell, he just had to hope his will was strong enough to resist it.
"Imperio" He flicked the wand at Riddle, but was instead of hitting James, the spell backfired, sending him flying into a witness stand; a look of surprise frozen on his face.
James took the chance to sprint away and find a spot to try to ambush him. He couldn't help but smile to himself as he ran. Rodolphus should have known you can't repair a wand with a simple repairing spell. He ducked into a room as soon as he heard Rodolphus's scream of rage. He readied his wand and climbed up inside an arch in the ceiling.
"I'm coming for you, boy!" Rodolphus screamed, sending miscillaneus things flying at the walls.
Riddle rolled his eyes. This was Rodolphus's equvalent of a temper tantrum.                
He could hear Rodolphus creating carnage until he passed the room Riddle was hiding in. "Where are you, you little runt?" He yelled as he passed.
Riddle jumped down from his alcove and blasted Rodolphus with a spell. Rodolphus barely dodged it, and whirled around to face his attacker.
"I'm going to make you wish you had never been born, boy." He snarled. "You had your chance to join us, and now you must pay for your mistake."
"Sectusempra!" Rodolphus ran towards James, holding his own wand, leaving the elder wand forgotten in the courtroom where he had paid for his greed.
James sidestepped, dodging the curse, but it caught his left hand, laving a bloodied gash.
"Why is it always this hand?" He asked himself as he pointed his wand at Rodolphus who was getting closer and closer by the second. "Crucio!" He flicked his wand.
Rodolphus doubled over, not quite able to dodge it in time. He writhed and rolled around in pain as the spell ran it's course. James realized it lasted a fair bit longer than the last one when Rodolphus let out a bloodcurtling scream that rang painfully through the halls.
When Rodolphus finally stopped writhing and lay panting on the floor, James noticed the ministry was too quiet. He paled as he realized the sounds of war had stopped, and with that, reinforcements would be coming to aid the injured Rodolphus.
He pointed his wand at the weak man as he heard footsteps running toward them.
He almost fell over in relief when he saw Benjamin's worried face. "What happened?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"I hit him with the torturing curse, help me hold him up." He replied, trying to prop Rodolphus upright as the sound of thundering footsteps grew closer and closer. Benjamin helped lean him against the wall and stayed next to him making sure he stayed in a dazed state. "Petrificas Totalus." He cursed Rodolphus with his wand, put it back in his pocket and held his knife against Rodolphus's throat.
James turned his wand to the hallway entrance just as the crowd of death eaters arrived.
"Take one more step, and you can say goodbye to your precious leader." James told them, motioning to Benjamin who held his knife tighter against Rodolphus's neck.
The first line of death eaters reluctantly put their hands up, but one stepped forwards. "It's obviously a trick, they couldn't get Rodolphus. They're using illusion magic."
Benjamin held his knife so close to Rodolphus's neck that it indented. "Do you want to take that chance?"
The death eater faltered, but gathered his pride about him. "You can't trick us, boy. It's obvious. Confringo!"
Time seemed to slow down as the spell left the death eater's wand. 
As it hit James, causing an explosion and sending him flying backwards, Benjamin screamed, and slashed his knife as hard as he could. A spurt of warm blood flew from the paralyzed man's now exposed throat, causing most of the death eaters to double backwards and gag in shock and disgust.
No less than a second later, spells were flying everywhere, causing mayhem and distruction of random things laying about, aurors from the ministry had finally arrived at the scene.
Benjamin ran to James, who was stuggling upright and bleeding from his head. Adam and Lucy ran through the chaos and towards James and Benjamin. "What happened?" Lucy asked, shocked and frightened.
"We took Rodolphus as a hostage, but they didn't believe he was the real Rodolphus so they blasted him with a spell and..." Benjamin trailed off, looking at Rodolphus's still bleeding body. "That happened."
"I'll be fine, try to get as many of the death eaters as possible, without Rodolphus, they shouldn't be much more trouble." James said, his voice pained.
"Ferula."  Adam flicked his wand at James and the wound in his head stopped bleeding, and the gash in his hand had a thin layer of skin over it, not enough to be completely healed, but enough to stop the bleeding.
"Where did you learn that spell?" Lucy asked, intruiged.
"An old spellbook in the library." Adam answered.
Benjamin took off into the sea of death eaters and aurors, and Lucy followed, looking determined.
"Do you feel well enough to fight?" Adam asked.
James chuckled. "I've fought with worse."

The four of them ran into the thick of battle, spells flying left and right, and firing some of their own.
Benjamin, who's demeanor which was usually kind and calm, turned  calculative and a different kind of calm. Lucy seemed mostly scared, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins made some of her werewolf instincts show and she fought more ferociously than she ever had before.
Adam became more calm than ever, only his eyes were cold, an eerie kind of cold.
James was the same as he always was, fighting as hard as he could, with all he had. By the time 20 minutes had passed, almost all the death eaters were either knocked out in some kind of way, or laying dead and bleeding in some kind of way.
They tied up the paralyzed and unconcious ones and held them inside a courtroom.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Lucy asked Riddle as she wrapped his hand and head in gauze.
He nodded, and smiled at her. "I'm ok. I've had worse, believe me."
"Ok... but if you're lying and you die from blood loss, I'm going to ressurect you so I can kill you again."
James chuckled and kissed her on the cheek. "I think you'll have quite a bit of trouble doing that." He told her. He laughed at the expression frozen on her face, a mixture of shock and mortification, but she smiled through it all.
A quiet groan from the group of captured death eaters caused all attention in the room to immediately shift to them.
Two of them were waking up.
The quartet all ran to them, as did a few aurors and the minister, who was unharmed, aside from a few scratches and bruises.
"Should we unparalyze them?" Lucy asked, readying her wand.
The minister nodded.
Riddle flicked at the paralyzed ones and they woke with a gasp.
"Rennervate!" Lucy swished her wand and the others woke with a jolt, looking extremely confused and disoriented.
James pointed his wand specifically at the one who the others looked to, accidentally giving away the second in command.
"Who was Rodolphus working under?" He demanded.
The death eater looked around, confused and dazed. "What are you talking about? He wasn't working under anyone."
James sighed with impatience. "I know you know." He said. He leaned closer to the chestnut haired man. Using magic to remove his contact lenses, Riddle revealed his snake eyes. "Would you like to tell me, or would you rather me get it out of you?"
The man's puplils dilated. "We-we don't know!" He said, looking away from James. "We knew he was working for someone, but he was very careful, we never saw who. Please, let us go."
James chuckled coldly, causing everyone else, even his friends, to glance at him nervously. "You know we can't do that." He informed him. "See, you've decided to betray the ministry, and the rest of the wizarding world. We can't let you go unpunished." He looked to Hermione. "I'll leave their punishments up to you."
Hermione stepped forward and thought hard. "The Dark Lord ruined my entire childhood. I left my parents behind and went on my own to save them because of him, and all of my friends nearly gave their lives to take him down." She pointed her wand angrily at the death eaters. "And you decided to try to join another cause like his, and for what? For power? Money? I should kill you right here and now." She growled.
"Please ma'am, let us go, he...he had us under the imperius curse!" The man begged.
"There is no possible way you expect up to believe you, right?" She asked them.
"Please just let us go." The man's begging turned to sobbing and snivelling.
Suddenly, an auror burst into the room, bringing the two student death eaters with him. "I found these two hiding in a different room." He told them. "What should I do with them?"
Hermione thought for a while. "Let them go." She sighed.
"Let- ma'am, are you sure?" He asked, shocked.
"They're just kids, I doubt they knew what they were getting themselves into." She explained. "You can let them go."
The auror left the room, the two kids followig suit behind him, one of them thanking her profusely, the other crying.
"Obliviate!" Hermione shouted the spell at the top of her lungs and shot it at the group of death eaters, who winced as the bright light came flying towards them.
A few seconds later, they were looking around, not a clue who they were or what in god's name had happened to them.
"Take them out and let them find their own lives." She ordered the aurors. They nodded, and led the mumbling death eaters out of the room, untying them
first.
"Well, that was rather kind of you." James commented.
"I'm not a monster." Hermione answered curtly, walking away.
James sighed and turned back to his friends. "We're going to have to explain this mess to McGonnagle, aren't we?"
They all nodded sadly, except for benjamin who started into a fit of nervous laughter.