LORD VOLDEMORT vs. MINERVA MCGONAGALL, HORACE SLUGHORN, & KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT
Voldemort had been making his way through the crowd, throwing curse right and left and snarling as few managed to hit their mark. This wand, the wand that was supposed to be the greatest wand, still performed like rubbish in his hand. He was the most powerful wizard alive or dead, he had beaten death and Dumbledore and Harry Potter, there should be nothing the world denied him now.
And yet. These foolish imbeciles still fought back, as if they had a chance against him, against those who had chosen to follow him. His shields held against those foolish enough to try and attack him, the wizard once known as Tom Riddle ignoring all of their pitiful attempts.
Until he couldn’t any longer. Minerva McGonagall stood in his path, sending a large chunk of rubble hurtling towards him, the stone transformed into the shape of a phoenix that burst into flame, the stone quickly twisting into molten rock as it attacked Voldemort with his claws.
“That’s for Albus,” McGonagall pronounced, the birds rending Voldemort’s robes and dripping flames onto him before he countered it with a creature of his own, a snake conjured of water that doused the flames of the stone-phoenix.
“Pitiful,” he scoffed. “To think you have been corrupting the minds of wizarding children for decades. Crucio!”
The curse hit McGonagall before she had a chance to dodge, and she briefly screamed, staying on her feet. It wasn’t as powerful as she’d expected it to be, her mind focusing through the pain to keep her standing.
Horace Slughorn was the first one to dash to his colleague's side, as he shot his former student — the supposed Dark Lord — a look of that was a mixture of both absolute disgust and absolute astonishment. "Tom," he started, before he flung a own Bombarding Spell at Voldemort, fully intending to distract him enough so that Minerva was no longer in his bind.
Kingsley followed suit by aiming for Voldemort, as well, with a well-timed Relashio. Once McGonagall was free again, Kingsley responded by shouting with a half dozen Stunning Spells.
Now more of them thought to challenge him? That was fine. Foolish, but there was no match in the world for him. He’d defeated all of his true enemies, and now there were just this irritants left for him to deal with.
Which was a pity, since he’d had something of a respect for Slughorn, once upon a time.
The self-titled Dark Lord stumbled back slightly at the force of the spells thrown at him, his concentration broken. He quickly sent back a flurry of his own curses, intended to hurt and maim and twist the bodies that dared take up arms against him.
Kingsley deflected some easily, while the fingers on his left hand were hit with one of the bone twisting curses, though it barely felt like a sting. Momentarily confused by the lack of oomph in that curse, Kingsley shot a confused look at Voldemort, before he shouted, "Incarcerous!"
Meanwhile, Slughorn wasn't as lucky, being hit with Voldemort's other spells, and he could feel the bones on various parts of his body twisting, and yet he didn't feel as awful as he had expected to be. In fact, it just seemed to be more like his bone twisted and returned to its original position, with perhaps a hairline crack. It hurt, but no where as painfully as it should have. He didn't have time to muse over that, though, but Slughorn did manage to send a Stupefy at Voldemort again.
Recovered enough from the Cruciatus she’d endured, Minerva rejoined the fight, throwing every jinx and hex she could think of at the dark wizard who had ruined and destroyed so many lives. She settled into a rhythm with her duelling partners, three of them weaving and ducking the attack from Voldemort, struggling to get a good hit on him but he likewise struggling to land a proper attack on them.
BELLATRIX LESTRANGE vs. HERMIONE GRANGER, GINNY WEASLEY, LUNA LOVEGOOD, & MOLLY WEASLEY
She had waited, wished, hoped. All those nights at Hogwarts, telling herself that he was fine, that Hermione would keep them safe. Forcing herself to believe it in order to help others believe--Needing to believe it to keep her own strength.
Then she'd known he was alive after Easter--And just a few hours ago she'd seen him. There hadn't been any time for her to say much of anything to him, only to argue with him when he tried to send her away.
She'd stayed, but she hadn't been able to save him. He was gone, murdered by Voldemort after all. She charged toward Voldemort, determined to kill him even if it meant her own death.
It seemed she wasn't the only person who had the same idea. Kingsley, Slughorn, and Professor McGonagall had all raised their wands at him and were attempting to do him in. Ginny sought for an opening to join the fray without risking an injury to them before she she realized that Bellatrix was close. Too close.
She could join Voldemort in a moment if she wanted to, Ginny realized.
"Expelliarmus!" she said, starting with a shout to try and catch the accomplished duelist off guard. A small spell like this wouldn't hurt Lestrange, but perhaps it would give her a few seconds to make a plan. She lifted her wand again, shooting a severing spell at Bellatrix's wand arm.
Bellatrix cackled at Ginny’s attempts, parrying both of her pathetic attacks with ease. No mere teenager would get the better of her, especially not this slip of a girl. The blood traitor daughter of blood traitors, one of the ones who had been such an annoyance to the Carrows. Potter’s little girlfriend. Her wand flicked up, tossing a fireball at the girl.
Hermione felt like she had three thousand emotions at once clogging up her brain, but there was no time. No time to wonder what had happened to Harry, whether he was really dead or whether he had somehow managed to evade Voldemort. So Hermione tried to put it all out of her mind as best she could and joined the fight.
After throwing a Blasting Curse at a Death Eater she didn’t recognise, she spotted Ginny’s red hair a little further ahead. “Oh darn,” she muttered under her breath when she realised where her friend was headed. Ducking through the crowd as quickly as she could with curses being thrown back and forth, Hermione hurried towards Ginny and Bellatrix Lestrange, only just managing to get in range to throw an Aguamenti in the direction of Bellatrix’s fireball before it hit its intended target.
WIth a slash of her wand Bellatrix turned the water into ice and shattered it, turning the ice shards back on the two girls. How did this scum dare to fight back; they needed to learn their place. The ice shards were soon followed up with a barrage of knives, only to be stopped by a shield.
Luna had joined her friends, her Protego Horribilis stopping Bellatrix’s attack from hitting Hermione and Ginny. She smiled at the two Gryffindors, nodding to them as she concentrated on keeping the shield up.
“You bitches!” Bellatrix shrieked, flinging Bombarda curses at the shield, trying to get through to the girls that dared to attack her.
"Perfect, Luna!" called Ginny, grinning at her friend. "Always there when we need you." She geared herself up for another hit on the Lestrange, her eyes in narrow slits as she shot a silent "Reducto" toward the Death Eater. She kept her eyes on the lookout, ready to move if it looked as though Luna's shield wouldn't hold against Bellatrix's attacks.
With Ginny and Luna by her side, for a moment Hermione felt like she was back in the Room of Requirement during fifth year, practising Defence. Except, of course, they were fighting one of the most dangerous Death Eaters in existence. Not long ago, Hermione had experienced exactly what horrors Bellatrix Lestrange was capable of, and just looking at the woman now opened up a dark pit low in her stomach.
“Atelectae,” she cast, defiantly raising her chin in the air. It was a nasty curse, she knew from reading about it, and one she previously would not even have considered using, but the rules had changed and so had Hermione Granger.
“Ah—” Bellatrix’s screech was cut off when Hermione’s curse hit off, her breathing compromised as one of her lungs collapsed. Gasping for air, she bombarded the girls with various curses— Aculeuo and Crucio and Avada Kedavra.
“Oh, be careful!” Luna said, more urgently than her usual mode of talking. Her shield wouldn't help against the Unforgivables, so she joined her friends on the offensive. “Locomotor Wibbly!”
Unforgivables. Not surprising, Ginny thought, as she narrowed her brow at Bellatrix Lestrange. She'd stand against them, she wasn't going to let a curse bring her down. Ginny moved quickly, her agility helping her hold her own against Bellatrix's flying curses. She looked more confident than she felt--She knew that it couldn't take more than a simple slip to have green light burst against her chest.
Her side was aching from the still-healing injuries that she'd sustained earlier, but she tried to block them from her mind even as she felt the wound re-opening. "Reducto!" she shouted, aiming at Bellatrix's feet so that her spell didn't hit anyone behind the Death Eater if she dodged.
Hermione ducked out of the way of a Killing Curse, hissing when several Stinging Hexes hit her instead. While Bellatrix was hurt, she was still a formidable opponent, and she didn’t know how much longer the three of them could hold their own against her without any of them getting seriously hurt in the process. As if fate had read her mind, another green burst shot past her, narrowly missing Ginny’s cheek. Hermione’s heart pounded loudly in her chest.
Molly had been helping the injured on the grounds, not because she couldn't duel, but because she was afraid of leaving her children without a mother. That fear dissipated immediately when she looked up and saw her daughter and then - WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING WORLD WAS GINNY DOING DUELING BELLATRIX LESTRANGE?
Dropping the salve and bandages she had, she ran as fast as she could to the group. “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” she shouted, flinging her cloak off to make moving more easily. “GIRLS. OUT OF MY WAY,” she barked to the threesome, giving Ginny a brief we are going to talk about this later, young lady look before focusing her attention to Bellatrix. In her day she had been a good dueler, quick and precise, but it had been a long time since she'd been in a situation like this. Still, it came back to her quickly. “Depulso!,” and “Flama Pellis!,” and “Conjunctivitis!”
Bellatrix faltered when Molly came barrelling into the duel, her momentary lapse letting one of the curses through her guard. She hissed as her skin felt like it erupted into flames, but she battled on, hurling curse after curse at Molly. What was this fat old woman doing daring to challenge her? It was ridiculous.
“Avada Kedavra!” She flung the last curse at Molly, the pain and struggle to breathe throwing off her aim.
Molly easily avoided the killing curse, but her anger boiled over. “Nitor Lapsus” she shot, with full intention behind her. A few students ran forward, trying to help, but Molly shoed them away without taking her eyes off Bellatrix. “Get back,” she said, eyes narrowing, voice scarily calm. “Get back. She is mine.” A severing charm flung from her wand.
“What will happen to your children when I’ve killed you?” Bellatrix danced and dodged Molly’s curses, laughing as she returned them just as furiously. She could not wait to see this blood traitor dead and broken at her feet. “When Mummy’s gone the same way as Freddie?” Bellatrix sucked in some air and threw a Luxatio at Molly.
Anger boiled up in Molly as the reminder of seeing her son's body lifeless flashed back at her. “You,” she bit back, sending a blasting curse at Bellatrix, “will never,” and another, “touch,” and another, “our children,” and another, “again!” One last “CONFRINGO” shot out of the tip of her wand, all the emotion and anxiety and stress of the past few years behind it.
Bellatrix just laughed at Molly’s rage, flicking curses randomly about as she did. She didn’t really expect the housewife to be able to keep up with her, and she definitely didn’t expect Molly’s curse to breach her defenses. It hit her square in the chest, her smile freezing, eyes bulging as the curse exploded through her.
Her body fell to the ground, not hearing the roar from the crowd at her death, nor the scream of her dearest Dark Lord. Bellatrix would hear nothing again.