Tidal wave

Harry was running. He climbed stairs and passed through doors without really knowing where he was going. All he could hear was the sound of his madly beating heart and Bellatrix’s heartless laugh.

The sound was echoing around the walls of the empty ministry building, but he was able to follow it nonetheless. Bellatrix had killed Sirius. Bellatrix had severed Harry's last connection to his family, to his parents.

Rage as he had never felt before surged through him. He would make her pay. He would make her suffer.

Strangely enough, he was able to keep a clear mind in the midst of it all. Oh, he had no doubts that the feelings of loss at Sirius's death and regret for having all but beckoned him into a trap were going to crash into him very soon. For now, though, his brain appeared to be on shutdown.

As soon as he stepped foot into the Ministry main hall, he noticed Bellatrix had stopped and was standing still, head tilted to one side, watching him -studying him.

Harry slowed his pace, only stopping when he was only a few meters away from her. He took a second to scan their surroundings: the wall full of fireplaces had a chain crossing it from side to side, signaling the floo system was not in function at this time. Around them everything was still and quiet, the only sound breaking the silence being Harry’s laboured breath. Bellatrix wasn’t breaking a sweat, standing tall and proud in front of him.

Not for long.

Harry gripped his wand tighter, ready to burst into action at any moment. Adrenaline was running through his veins urging him to move, to curse the smirking woman in front of him, but something was telling him to wait. 

She had abruptly stopped running, after all. She might have lured him into a trap.

"What happened, itsy bitsy Harry? Are you sad for your pathetic excuse of a Godfather?" she mocked him, a crazed expression on her face.

Harry took in a breath. "I am sad for you, actually," he replied calmly. "because I know he is in a better place now. You, on the contrary, will go straight to hell." 

He fired the first curse as soon as the last word left his mouth. Bellatrix widened her eyes, not having expected the boy to cut their chat so short, but she sidestepped it without any trouble.

“Look at you, Harry! Firing barely legal spells! We all thought you were only able to use the disarming Spell” she laughed, her curls falling freely on her face. Harry fired another curse and once again Bellatrix leisurely dodged it. 
"You are slow. You are weak" She mocked again, opening her arms wide and bowing slightly forward "And you don't have what it tak-"

The next spell Harry cast hit the woman straight in the chest. She sucked in a harsh breath, her eyes widening in realization before falling to the ground, screaming. Harry put as much power as he could in the spell, fuelling it with his own rage and grief. She would never hurt anyone else, he would make sure of that.

A shift in the air had the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

He knew exactly what had happened and who was standing behind him: his scar was prickling and the temperature in the hall had drastically dropped. it didn't take a genius to figure out Lord Voldemort had just apparated into the Ministry hall. 

In spite of that, Harry couldn't bring himself to turn around. As of now, his greatest enemy was the woman twitching on the floor before him and not the mass murder that had been out to kill him for more than a decade behind him.

His head was messed up like that.

To his surprise, Voldemort didn't kill him on the spot. His usual mocking words weren't there either. The man slowly made his way around Harry, head tilted to the side as if studying him, eyes on his wand.

"You could make her suffer more if you tilted your wand to the left, Harry" he said, voice soft and luring. Harry didn't flinch when Voldemort’s cold fingers latched on his wrist -he had expected the touch, Voldemort had reached out for him ever so slowly as if not to scare him away. The man slowly tilted Harry's wrist clockwise a few millimeters at best, but it was enough for Bellatrix’s screams to increase tenfold. 

Harry's breath hitched in his throat at the surge of power that went through him.

Voldemort took a step back, eyes never leaving Harry, head still tilted to the side. Studying him. Waiting. For what, Harry didn't know.

Little by little Bellatrix's screams turned to weak wimpers until she stopped screaming at all. Her body was still spasming and twitching uncontrollably on the floor, but Harry knew she was barely conscious by this time. He had held her under the cruciatus for minutes, there was no way she would be able to move or attack him.

He lifted the curse. The magic connecting him to Beatrix immediately cut off, but the euphorical feeling still rushing through his veins did not quell. He turned his eyes on Voldemort, pupils blown wide by the excitement he was feeling. He was sure Voldemort would attack him now that the show he had been putting on had ended, but the man surprised him once again by giving Harry a small smile.

"Intoxicating, isn’t it? Your first torture session." he said, voice barely above a whisper. "Little Harry has grown up, it seems.” 

He took a few steps forwards coming to a stop behind Bellatrix. "She was my second in command, you know? And now look at her, a mere shell.”

He turned his eyes on Harry, but where the boy had thought to find ire and contempt, he found none.

Instead, Voldemort's expression looked to be... mirthful? A relaxed smile was stretching his lips and he had a calculating look in his eyes.

"I do have a favor to ask of you, Harry." the man added after a while, stepping away from the still twitching body at his feet. "Show some mercy and end her miserable life."

Harry's eyes widened in horror and understanding. He wanted Harry to kill -to use the killing curse on his servant. Granted, Harry had intended to kill her all along and death really was a better option than suffering for the rest of her life from the effects of a prolonged exposure to the cruciatus curse, but using the killing curse? Was he ready to take that step?

"You know the words, Harry" came Voldemort's voice from behind him.

Harry jumped. He hadn't even noticed the man moving! Instead of turning around and pointing his wand at his sworn enemy, though, Harry trained it on Bellatrix. He had already cast an Unforgivable, he was already going to Azkaban, anyway. 

More than anything, though, he wanted to kill the woman responsible for his godfather's death. 

He gripped his wand tighter, steadying it.

"Keep it in line with your arm, Harry. Good. Now flick it slightly upwards as you say the words.”

Harry let Voldemort’s voice guide him. He felt a wave of pleasure course through him as a green light surged from his wand and hit Bellatrix straight in the chest. She immediately stopped moving.

A wide grin spread on Harry's face. The curse had been successful! On the first attempt! And he was feeling great!

"I did it!' he exclaimed, pupils blown so wide that they almost completely masked the green of his eyes. He turned exultantly towards the man luring at his back, who was sporting a similar expression as Harry was.

"You were very good, Harry.”

At those words, realization suddenly came crashing down on him.

He had tortured and killed Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort’s right hand right under the man's eyes. He took a step backwards. Adrenaline was still pumping in his veins and his breath was still heavy and labored, but he was beginning to understand the predicament in which he was: alone with his worst enemy, an enemy who was praising him for the display of dark magic Harry had just performed.

"Shit" he cursed, eyes darting from voldemort to the lifeless body behind him.

“Language, Harry. What would Dumbledore say if he heard his golden boy use such words?" 

Was Voldemort mocking him, now? Harry was sure he looked like a deer caught in the headlights -he felt like one, anyway- but he couldn't make his heart rate slow down as much as he wasn't able to regularize his breath. In addition to that he still felt powerful, as if he was standing on top of the world.

He knew it was probably the aftereffect of using dark magic for the first time and he was more than aware that the monster in front of him would kill him in less than a minute if they were to duel, but he still felt like he could take on anyone.

Invincible.

"Ah yes. The first kill,” Voldemort was smiling at him. Smiling! Was he seeing things, now? "I am afraid it will take some time for the rush of magic to leave your system. When it does, if you will be able to resist killing yourself over regret and guilt, do send me a letter.”

The man walked past him and stopped right before Bellatrix, towering over her. Harry followed him with his eyes, unwilling to move and cause the man to take some kind of action against him but also aware that a spell could fly towards him at any moment.

It was a miracle as it was that Voldemort hadn't raised his wand on him yet. 

"Beautiful" the man whispered. Harry didn't know if he was meant to hear it or not. Voldemort searched his robes for a moment, then he threw a small object on Bellatrix. As soon as it touched her dress she disappeared in a twirl of robes. A portkey.

Voldemort had disposed of the body for him.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked at last, completely baffled by Voldemort’s behavior. The man turned his ruby eyes on him, studying Harry for a few seconds.

"You can tell Dumbedore whatever you want, Potter. Tell him you killed Bellatrix and you get a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Tell him she escaped you and you can play being Dumbledore’s Golden Boy a little longer." 

Harry grimaced. "I am not a good liar." he admitted, clenching his fists.

"It's a good thing that there is no body that can be used as evidence, then.” Voldemort remarked, smirking. "However, if you want the old fool to believe your words you most definitely lack something.”

Lack something? Harry opened his mouth to ask for further explanation when a curse hit him square in the chest. A scream tore from his throat as a thousand needles seemed to simultaneously pierce his body, limbs bending at unnatural angles. He fell on his knees and then to the ground, unable to stand for a second longer as he felt his body lit up on fire.

"Now you can say Bellatrix hit you with the cruciatus before leaving.” Voldemort stated, towering over Harry's limp body. He had a strange, amused gleam in his eyes. 

Harry, on his part, was having trouble trying to breathe in enough air not to black out, seeing as his lungs weren't cooperating very much at the moment. Voldemort waved his hand and the weight on Harry's chest lifted a little: not enough to allow him to move, but at least he could breathe properly again.

"Thank you" he croaked out, panting. Voldemort’s grin deepened.

"We can't have the Boy who Lived die because of a punctured lung, now can we?" 

Voldemort's eyes suddenly flickered to the fireplaces, that had flared green for a second despite them being supposedly out of service at this time. Aurors were on their way, then.

“Remember what I told you, Potter. I'II be waiting for your owl." 

Voldemort took a couple of steps back, training his wand on Harry once again. "The effects of the curse will linger for a few hours. Play it well." he commanded, raising his eyes on the fireplaces for a few seconds, waiting.

Harry didn't do anything, he didn't even acknowledge Voldemort’s words with a nod. He was aching too much to even think about moving a muscle. Voldemort's wand pointing towards him did unsettle him a little, but he reasoned it was pointless to panick or try hitting his enemy with a spell. He would be dead the second he raised his wand, anyway. 

Besides, Voldemort wasn't even paying him any attention: it looked like he was waiting for something to happen any moment now.

A minute later, all the fireplaces lit up at the same time, a horde of Aurors coming out of them. They all stopped at the sight of the supposedly deceased Dark Lord standing over an injured Harry Potter. After the first shock ran out they all trained their wands at Voldemort, ready to duel him to death. 

There were twenty, maybe thirty of them, but Harry knew they didn't stand a chance. And the light side wouldn't, either, unless Dumbledore himself joined the battle. 

As for Harry… there was no way he would be able to injure the Dark wizard standing beside him, let alone kill him. 

Only a day before he had been sure he wouldn't be able to hurt a human being, even his foe, but Bellatrix had proved him wrong. Catching her off guard had been simple, though. She had always underestimated Harry. With Voldemort, however, things were different. He had no delusion of being able to land even a small hit on the man.

The sound of a spell being fired brought Harry back from his musings. A brave Auror had taken a step forward and dared to cast a red spell - a stunner?- at Voldemort, who brushed it away with a flick of his hand. Wandlessly. 

The Aurors were no match for him.

To his surprise, Voldemort lowered his eyes once again to meet Harry's.

"See you again, Harry Potter" he hissed before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.