Wand-Leader & The Spy

41- The Alchemist

The Weald, Kent, Britain, October 2nd, 1999, 08.21 hours

Tom hadn't been as weakened by Severus's efforts as he had hoped and expected, Albus Dumbledore had realised shortly after the two had started to duel. And the Dark Lord weathering his own assault by using metal shields, then counter-attacking when Albus spent a bit too long trying to transfigure the shields - without success - proved it further. Those shields weren't conjured metal, he realised out, but an illusion laid upon a variant of a Shield Charm. Clever, indeed. After stopping the first volley of curses with some quick Conjuration, Albus switched targets, transfiguring the earth around Voldemort as he had done before, even though that hadn't been as effective as he had hoped for. So far.

Not that he had the time to truly appreciate his enemy's guile, not with green Killing Curses flying at him in the midst of other dark curses. A wave of his wand raised a wall of earth, which blew up, stopping the last volley - but for the curse that flew high above and sent acid raining down on him, barely stopped by Albus's Shield Charm. He managed to send the acid to the side with a Water-Making Spell, hitting one of the last remaining abominations he could see, and dodged to the side while the acid ate into the dead skin and flesh.

Unlike many of his followers, the Dark Lord was very skilled in battle, and aware of how often indirect attacks were the key to victory. Though, Albus thought with pride, Tom had never even come close to mastering Transfiguration on his own level. Nor, he mused as he turned debris near the Dark Lord into animated wolves charging his inhuman opponent, then transfigured more of the topsoil, had Tom ever mastered Alchemy.

While the wolves were destroyed with rapid curses, each of them no more powerful than needed, Albus turned the ground beneath his enemy into tar, then animated the sticky mass in an attempt to engulf the Dark Lord.

Tom countered by flying up, evading the grasping tendrils of tar that would not let go without the proper solvent, and blew up those that followed him. His own storm forced him to the side though, and Albus managed to shatter the man's shield with his curses. Before he could exploit that opportunity though, he was forced to protect himself against another wave of curses that left the very earth around him corrupted and sizzling with unnatural poison while the Dark Lord found cover on the ground.

Albus was out of breath by now, and his robe was in tatters, ripped sleeves hanging from limbs that were hurting from the effects of barely-countered curses. Yet he would go on. Had to go on. He just had to hold on, and hope his plan was working. Hope Severus had not spilled that last secret.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

The Dark Lord Voldemort rolled out from behind the conjured wall that had shielded him from Dumbledore's last attack a second before it turned into steaming poison that splashed his former position. The old man was not quite as desperate as Voldemort had thought. He'd fall anyway. And even if the unthinkable happened, the Dark Lord would return. He was immortal!

He stood up and thrust his wand at the old wizard. A rippling wave shot out from its tip, shooting forward, trailing a dark red line dripping with corruption behind it. His enemy twisted away, but to no avail - Voldemort flicked his wrist, and the spell turned, weaving a pattern around Dumbledore. No Bubble-Head Charm would protect against this dark curse. He barely noticed the very earth rotting away, creating dark holes, wherever the dark red drops fell. All that counted was to destroy his enemy.

The spell turned again, under his control. Even the storm's fury couldn't break it, couldn't prevent him from cutting his enemy off from the sky. Dumbledore was now caught in a web, and could neither run nor fly. Another twist of his wand sent the spell down, straight at the wizard. Victory was…