Wand-Leader & The Spy

40- Death and Destruction

The Dark Lord Voldemort was breathing heavily. Casting the Storm Spell, blasting the roof and turning it into debris to give the wind the deadly shrapnel to shred his enemies in the skies, didn't tax him much. But holding the Fiendfyre consuming his house at bay until Bellatrix had recovered the cup? That had been a draining experience, even with his skill and power.

But now he was attacking, blasting the walls trapping them inside the house, putting out the fire someone had started in the field - no Fiendfyre, that - and his Death Eaters surged forward, passing him on both sides.

Suddenly, a Fire Whip snapped across the first rank of his followers, cutting them in half. He stopped it with a conjured pillar of steel, then looked for the caster. Dumbledore! Snarling, he fired a Killing Curse at his nemesis. The old wizard stopped it with a conjured slab of marble, and the Blasting Curse Voldemort followed up with was deflected by a Shield Charm. At least the mudblood next to Dumbledore was felled by it, his broken body thrown back.

He readied himself to defend against the counter-attack he knew was coming, and when the earth around him rose, changing to blades, he was confident his own Shield Charm would stop them easily. But instead of striking at him, trying to shatter his defenses, the dozens of sharp metal spikes shot away from him, ripping through the ranks of his Death Eaters. And not all of their Shield Charms held up as well as his would have.

Snarling, he started to send curse after curse at Dumbledore, aided by Bellatrix at his side, whose own shield had withstood those attacks easily. His foe dared to ignore him, and attack his lessers? Voldemort would teach the old man the folly of his arrogance! And Dumbledore was giving ground, the sheer mass of dark curses forcing him to dodge and improvise - straight into the path of two of the Blood Inferi!

At the last moment though, his foe stepped to the side and swept his wand in an arc - and the earth beneath the two monsters rose in a huge wave, carrying them and others towards Voldemort. The Dark Lord blew a hole into the earthen wall rushing him at once, but the two parts left kept coming, one of them burying another group of his Death Eaters, crushing them under tons of earth and stone.

That was what Dumbledore wanted, he realised. He wanted to force him to protect his followers, so the old wizard could defeat him!

"Scatter!" he yelled, "Massacre the mudbloods! Leave Dumbledore to me!" When he saw Bellatrix wasn't moving from his side, he added: "You too!"

"Yes, milord!" the dark witch spat out, almost reluctantly, then ran off.

But the command had given Dumbledore enough time to go on the offensive again, and this time Voldemort found himself forced back by spells he wouldn't have expected the old wizard to know, much less use.

Protected by a shield of shining metal, the Dark Lord grinned. His enemy had to be desperate to stoop to such measures. Victory was near!

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Hermione and Dean had managed to join another team and the group had succeeded in driving back the monsters attacking them. Not unscathed though - Violet and Jenny were busy protecting Martin, who had lost his left arm when an abomination had suddenly jumped over another. If not for the storm pushing it to the side while it was in the air, he'd have lost his head.

For the moment though, they were in the clear. Hermione pointed her wand at the ground, and a flick of her wrist transfigured the earth into stone, forming a path safe from underground ambushes to the next group of wands. "Let's move!" she shouted. Her voice barely reached the group over the howling winds. Even walking became difficult in this storm.