Godslayer

Adrian Pov.

Under the Great Lake, inside an air bubble in the merpeople’s city sat Adrian Barnes. Fully healed and trained intensely the last few months, he stood nearly ready for a rematch with the man who thought he killed Adrian.

He pulled in a deep breath. “Abaddon.”

Inside his head and soul, a gravelly voice spoke to him, “have you decided Adrian?”

“Yes.” This was the only way he would beat Dumbledore. This was the only way he could protect those he cared about. This was what he needed to do. “I accept you. When we’re done you can have my magic. I decide when we’re done though.”

Laughter and fire filled him. Screaming, he fell to the stone floor just for it to end. The pain left, and he felt stronger, much stronger. He stood up and drew his wand. Pointing to the nearest target statue he muttered, “reducto.” The spell hit the statue and vaporized it on contact. Not a single piece was big enough to make a noise when it hit the floor.

He smiled. It was time to kill his killer.

Joan Pov.

Joan Winters strapped another knife to her body.

“Are you sure this is the right time?” Tom Riddle stood in the doorway to her room. He only had his wand, but Joan was preparing for a one-woman war.

“Yes. From what you’ve told me we have no choice. This is the time. Gather everyone, we move to take the castle.” She glared at him and emphasized, “Dumbledore is the only one who needs to die. All others can be spared.”

Tom glared right back and told her, “I know that very well. Dumbledore ruined my life, none of the others had any part of that.”

Joan finished gathering all her weapons and moved past him to head downstairs. Sirius, Remus, and Harry still sat there. Harry eyed Tom as he passed. Things were still tense between them, and she couldn’t blame them. Now that wasn’t her concern, she had a monster to kill.

“Besides Tom, who’s going to Hogwarts with me?” Joan needed to know who would fight beside her.

All three of them stood up. Remus spoke for them when he said, “this is our fight too. We’re not siting it out.”

Joan emphasized, “only Dumbledore needs to die, but we might end up fighting our friends there. They won’t understand what he’s done until we can convince them.” She cocked her head. “Trust me, trying to explain something during a fight is difficult at best.”

Remus nodded. “We know. It’s unavoidable. We don’t have to kill them though.”

“Agreed.”

In a silent agreement they apparated to the castle gates. The place that used to be home to them all now loomed over them as the house of their greatest enemy. All five of them raised their wands and battered at the enchantments holding the gate in place. Between five powerful magic users it shattered apart. They walked in unhindered.

The battle had begun.

Dumbledore Pov

Albus Dumbledore twitched his head as the voices called to him again. Ever since he ate the demon from the Goblet of Fire, he heard them occasionally. People from his past. Mostly his sister telling him to stop his evil plan. Didn’t they understand that this was the only way? He had to gain immortality and supreme power to keep bad things from happening. His sister died in a fight between him and Grindelwald, if he was stronger than he could bring her back. The power would allow him to destroy anything in his path, anything that could hurt her. How could she be so stupid as to not see that? Being the immortal ruler of Britain would allow him to do that. It was the only way and the rest of the world burned for that to happen then so be it.

He picked up the mirror on his desk and put on his Voldemort disguise. The mirror called the new leader of the Death Eaters, Bellatrix. Lucius was worse than useless now. “I’m lowering the barrier around Hogwarts, get your allies and attack the school. Capture Potter, kill anyone who gets in your way.” As an afterthought he added, “target McGonagall, she’s too smart and powerful to let live.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Dumbledore ended the call. He would let them come in, sow some fear and chaos then kill them all. This would give him traction for Harry to lead the new generation against Voldemort. This would be much easier if he could get Tom back where he belonged.
The voice of his sister whispered to him. Pleading with him to stop the violence.

With a violent twist of his head, he shook it off. None of that mattered his plans were in motion. He lowered the barrier around the school. At the bottom he noticed a hole in it, made recently. “Someone else is attacking the school. Huh.”

Grabbing the elder wand, he stood up and left his office.

Joan Pov.

The front door provided no problem for them. Joan led the way down the corridor, wand at the ready. The rest followed behind, close to the walls for quick cover and wands held high. Only the occasional ghost passed them, but when they saw the familiar faces, they backed off. None of them raised the alarm.

Class was in session now; the hallways were empty except for the occasional ghost or house elf. They avoided them, no one stopped them.

In the corridor to Dumbledore’s office the announcement system crackled to life, stopping her in her tracks. The headmaster’s voice called out, “all students, faculty, and invaders are to report to the Great Hall immediately.”

Her muscles tensed up. Their target knew they were in building. Not only that, but he was toying with them.

“He knows,” Tom stated. “We still have a chance if we strike together. My two allies just entered the building.”

“Should we leave?” Harry shook where he stood. Joan didn’t blame him. Fighting the most powerful wizard of the modern age backed up by a dozen professors would be nearly impossible.

Remus shot that idea down, “I’ll talk to the others, maybe we can convince some of them to stand aside at the least. Either way we have to end this here.”

“He’s right, it’s now or never,” Sirius agreed with him.

The corridors filled with footsteps. None came towards them. The headmaster’s corridor wasn’t a good way to travel between class and the Great Hall. They had space to themselves for the moment.

Joan nodded to Remus. “I’ll let you lead the way. Try to talk us out of fighting the whole staff please. I don’t think we could win that fight.”

Remus led them down the corridors. They only passed a few groups of students who only stared at them. Most of the students reached the Great Hall before them. All too soon, the doors loomed before them. Remus didn’t hesitate, they went inside with almost all the occupants of the school in the room.

Joan spotted Dumbledore sitting smugly in his chair. Rage filled her, but she held it at bay. Remus needed to do his part.

At their arrival, McGonagall stood up and asked, “what is the meaning of this?”

Remus stepped forward. “Everyone, I have terrible news. You’ve all been lied to for years.” Mutters flew throughout the room. “Dumbledore is not the man you thought he was.” Remus stepped further into the room. “He’s a murderer and a deceiver.”

Dumbledore asked, “oh am I, werewolf?”

Remus didn’t slow down. “The sandy-haired man with us is Tom Riddle, who you know as…Voldemort.” Screams echoed throughout the room, but no one ran or attacked them yet. “Tom lived under Dumbledore’s control for years, committing the horrors that led to the war all those years ago.”

“Ridiculous!” Someone called out.

Harry jumped forward. “It’s true! All of it. Dumbledore is evil. We have to stop him.”

“Shut up, Potter!”

McGonagall looked to Dumbledore; horror written in her eyes. Dumbledore’s smug grin faded when he looked to her. He asked her, “you don’t believe this, do you?”

Her mouth worked a few times before saying, “it makes too much sense Albus, all the decisions I questioned, all the things I thought were unnecessary. It makes too much sense.” McGonagall drew her wand and raised it towards Dumbledore.

The other professors remained unreadable, until Snape stood up and joined her. Joan decided to say her piece, “he murdered the man I loved, Adrian Barnes is dead because of you, Dumbledore.”

“He tried,” a familiar voice called from behind her. Joan’s heart skipped a beat. She slowly turned to see Adrian walk right by her. In slow motion she watched him walk past Remus and point an accusing finger at Dumbledore. “YOU KILLED ME! Now it’s time for me to return the favor.”

Dumbledore looked around him. He saw all the looks pointing at him. As if he’d been given a tough house chore, he sighed. With a wave of his hand McGonagall flew backwards. With snarls, Adrian and Dumbledore charged each other. They met in a magical blast that barely missed the nearby students.

Screams ripped the Great Hall, Sirius called out, “behind us!”

Joan turned just in time to defend herself as Death Eaters entered the Great Hall behind her. Spells failed on her shield as she fell back to find cover. This was the worst-case scenario. Hundreds of students were in the middle of a deadly firefight. Not only that, but several of them might feel compelled to join in and Joan felt that too many of them might still side with Dumbledore, though seeing him attack McGonagall might change their minds.

Most of the students should be smart enough to run for the side exits. Joan blasted a Death Eater back out the door they came in from, but more poured in after them. Joan had to fall back, only to bump into students trying to fight the Death Eaters. She’d intended to get behind a table. Now that it was blocked off, she had to focus on defending herself and the students around her.

She constantly applied and reapplied her shield spell. Attacks splashed uselessly against it. She screamed out to the students, “get out of here! It’s not safe!”

No body listened to her. The wall to the right of the main door exploded. From the dust cloud, Adrian launched himself back at Dumbledore. The two attacked each other with rapid firing spells to hit the other. In the brief moment she had to watch the fight, Adrian seemed more aggressive than usual. There wasn’t time to think on it anymore. She had to survive the fight.

A great battle tactic when fighting a larger force is to funnel the larger force into a narrow space. It gives the smaller force less targets to focus on at once. The Great Hall door was the perfect spot to narrow the number of Death Eaters they had to fight at once. Their numbers were bolstered by the more foolish students so the Death Eaters couldn’t push past the doors.

The Death Eaters seemed to realize this, they fell back, leaving the doorway open.

Tom screamed out, “Advance! Push them out of the castle.” He rushed to Joan and told her, “I’m going to help Adrian with Albus. Fight off the Death Eaters.” Without another word, he ran behind them into the fray between Adrian and Albus.

Joan followed him with her eyes. Most of the professors were concerned with getting the students out of harm’s way, as they should be. Professors McGonagall and Snape were circling the main fight, getting attacks in when they could. Dumbledore moved with speed that ignored his age, he kept up with Adrian as they attacked and defended while constantly moving all around.

A group of chairs sprang to life and charged at Adrian, he moved from the fight to focus on them while Tom moved in to attack Dumbledore.

She didn’t waste anymore time. Raising her wand, she yelled, “forward! Drive out the Death Eaters!” She ran forward, a shield spell raised in front of her and the following yells of the fighters charging with her. They ran into the entrance hall, scaring the Death Eaters attempting to take a breather. Joan dropped her shield spell to launch stunning spells quickly. A sea of spells flew at the Death Eaters from the wands of the attackers. Despite there being thirty Death Eaters, they were instantly overwhelmed. Half of them fell where they stood, and the other half ran from the attack. They didn’t stop, they pushed the Death Eaters down the entrance hall. Some tried to flee down side corridors, but groups of attackers split from the main group to chase them down.

The Death Eaters fled all the way out of the front door, some tried to turn around and fight back on the grass, but they were defeated in less than a second. The last few made it to the gates and vanished without a trace.

Cheers went up from the students. Joan and her group knew the fight only just started. Remus was the first to lead them back to the Great Hall. Joan burst back into the Hall to see Dumbledore standing over four people. Just barely moving, Adrian, Tom, McGonagall, and Snape lay on the ground around him.

Joan raised her wand, but Dumbledore vanished. A few spells flew through the spot he’d stood just a second ago.

“Dammit!” She swore. He’d gotten away. Moving forward, she barked, “check the wounded! Start moving them to the medical wing!”

She kneeled by Adrian first. He lay with his eyes just barely open, panting with a line of blood trailing down his forehead.

“I still can’t beat him. After all I did, he’s still too powerful.”

Joan grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “Is it really you?” Hope threatened to fill her, but she couldn’t let it. The dead don’t come back. This had to be a trick. “Tell me something only Adrian would know.”

His gaze unfocused for a second. He still seemed dazed. “I’m sorry.” He looked back at her. “I’m sorry for everything. I was a shitty boyfriend.” The resolve was breaking. The hope pushing at the dam she’d built against it. Adrian began listing all her favorite things. Ice cream, food, songs. When he got to sex positions, she shut him up by slamming her lips against his.

Grumbles escaped as he tried to keep talking but sometimes it’s better to keep men shut up. He relented and returned the kiss.

Hope broke over the dam and flooded her being. She cried tears of joy as she pulled him into the tightest hug she could manage.

Gasps of pain made her release him. He wore a pained expression now. “I got hit a few times in the ribs.”

Remus’s voice told her from behind her, “the others are hurt, but alive.” Joan looked back to see him staring at Adrian. “Is it really him?” She nodded. Remus took some time to compose himself. “I don’t suppose you’d like to tell us why you’re alive?”