Ch. 148

Three stunners impacted Voldemort's shields as the dark wizard raised a shimmering golden barrier around him with little more than a flick of his wrist. He let Harry rise back to his feet, smirking in amusement. "Like it? It's an archmage-level shield spell," Voldemort explained. "In fact, it's the only archmage-grade shield spell. Do you know why?"

Without replying, Harry flicked his wrist, sending a torrent of elemental spells towards his still opponent. Voldemort merely stood calmly as all the spells dissipated harmlessly against his barrier, causing no more than ripples in it. Harry gave up barraging the shield with spells, and slowly began to circle his enemy, trying to find a weak spot in the barrier.

"You won't find any weak spots, Harry." Voldemort said calmly, even though his back was facing Harry. "The reason Aegis Contego is the only archmage-level shield spell is because it is the only shield that is needed. It will stop anything. Anything," Voldemort cackled. "In fact, the only spell that will penetrate it is the killing curse. Are you willing to use it, Harry?"

Frowning, Harry flicked his wrist with a muttered " Comburo ." The fire spell lashed out, but the flames parted harmlessly around Voldemort. It appeared Voldemort was right - he had barraged him with a wide assortment of all the spells he knew, short of the Unforgivables, but nothing had worked. Voldemort's words wormed themselves into Harry's thoughts.

" Avada- " Harry paused in the middle of the spell. If Voldemort was telling the truth, then he was a mere word away from ridding the world of the most powerful dark lord in centuries… but was he really willing to sell his soul to the killing curse? He thought back to some of the discussions he'd had with Bella about the killing curse. He'd wondered why it was considered an Unforgivable when other spells, most of which were actually considered harmless, were equally capable of killing people.

The reason was as simple as it was frightening. The first time someone cast the killing curse, they lost a piece of their soul. The same properties that allowed the spell to bypass any shield and kill any person would also slowly but ineroxably cost the caster his soul. It certainly explained why Voldemort was who he was now, Harry thought grimly. Was he willing to go there to rid the world of Lord Voldemort? He had sworn that he would do anything to keep his family safe, but there was a flicker of a doubt.

Would he remain the same person? Would he go down the same path as Voldemort? Dumbledore had more than once alluded to the fact that they were both very similar. They had similar upbringings, similar experiences. A lot of people seemed to think that it wasn't a far cry for Harry to turn dark. Would this be it? Could just casting the spell a single time cause him to become the next Lord Voldemort? The prospect was a frightening one.

"Well?" Voldemort asked. "I am waiting. I thought you promised Bella and your child that you would never let me touch them," he taunted. "Unless you cast the killing curse, you will never defeat me. I'll keep coming back."

That thought slammed into Harry hard. The thought of Voldemort going after his wife and child was beyond anything he could bear, and he found himself saying the final word to the spell, taking care to enunciate it slowly so that there would be no chance for it to go wrong. Voldemort would die.

" Kedav -"

"Don't do it, Harry!" Bella's voice surprised both of them, causing the dueling wizards to turn to look at the corridor. Bella and Hermione were there, having run down from the island's shore.

"Bella?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"We came as soon as we realized that Voldemort would be going after the Rod," she explained. "He wouldn't pass up such a chance to get his hands on it while everyone else is fighting for their lives at the Ministry."

Voldemort almost seemed to sigh in annoyance. "A perfectly good duel… ruined."

"Shut up, Tom," Harry snarled.

"Hermione? Bella? Harry ?" A new voice chimed in. The two women at the entrance to the chamber turned around, surprised to see a battered Tonks leading Ginny at wandpoint. The redheaded girl whimpered pitifully.

"Voldemort," Tonks snarled.

Harry had his black ash wand out and aimed at Tonks in an instant. "Let her go, Tonks." He mentally kicked himself for not making sure Ginny had gotten away okay. He had been so caught up in getting to the Rod in time he'd left her alone - Tonks must have stumbled over Ginny… when exactly? Harry wondered. She must have infiltrated the castle, he realized, but something still didn't add up.

"Harry, listen to me, Ginny's the traitor," Tonks explained. Hermione and Bella immediately drew their wands and aimed them at the youngest girl.

"Funny," Harry growled. "She told me the same thing about you. How you cut up Fred and blasted away at George. How you kidnapped her and then let the Death Eaters have their fun with her."

Hermione and Bella immediately pointed their wands at Tonks. The auror froze, her eyes wide in disbelief. "What? I wouldn't do that! I'm on your side, Harry!"

"I thought so, too," Harry hissed angrily. "Step away from her." He eyed Voldemort out of the corner of his eye, wary that the dark wizard would try and kill him while his attention was elsewhere, but Voldemort seemed content to watch the spectacle unfolding before him with an unreadable expression.

Tonks reluctantly stepped away from her captive, raising her hands into the air. "You're making a mistake."

Bella had knelt down and was looking Ginny over, trying to make sure the girl was all right, as she knew a few minor healing spells. Hermione still had her wand trained on Tonks, and was eyeing the auror with distrust. "Give me your wand," the brunette ordered.

"What? Hermione, it's me, Tonks!"

"Give me your wand," Hermione repeated.

With a heavy sigh, Tonks handed the younger girl her wand. "You're making a big mistake here, Hermione. Please, listen to me! You've got to believe me, I didn't do it! It was Ginny, she caught us all by surprise! Hermione, remember, you'd just left the library when Harry came back? I wanted to check on the twins, and Ginny was there, she'd stabbed Fred and was casting some kind of dark spell at George. I tried to stop her, but she knocked me out - I woke up as Voldemort's captive!"

"Then how did you get away? How did you get a wand, hm?" Bella asked, glaring up at the auror. The raven-haired witch didn't like Ginny, not after she had heard how much the youngest Weasley had hurt Harry, but she couldn't help but feel sympathy for her as she examined Ginny's wounds. Bella only knew full well what Voldemort's idea of hospitality was. She'd been subjected to it a number of times, and she was supposed to be one of his followers.

"They brought me here. Ginny was holding me at knifepoint when they breached the outer defenses. When the ice soldiers started fighting back, we got separated from the Death Eaters. Some kind of explosive shell almost hit us, and knocked Ginny unconscious. I hid, and took the wand off one of the dead Death Eaters after they'd all left," Tonks explained.

"Then how come you didn't try to return to Nai'i'caix?" Harry asked. "You could've returned and warned us there. Why stay around here?"

Tonks looked Harry in the eyes. "Because I knew Voldemort was after the Rod. I knew we needed to stop him," she said sincerely.

Harry felt himself conflicted once more. But right now, they were in the perfect Mexican Standoff, as he'd heard Hermione call a situation before. He wasn't able to make a move that wouldn't leave him open. If he trusted either, there was a chance that the other was the traitor. He thought about using legilimency to probe into their thoughts, but at the first foray into Ginny's mind, he pulled back abruptly, stunned at the maelstrom of hurt, pain, and fear.

"What are you up to, Tom?" Harry muttered to himself. He had his answer when a pained cry came from behind him, followed by the discharge of a wand. He turned around, horrified to see Hermione blasted into the wall and slumped over, unconscious or dead, he couldn't tell. Tonks was struggling with Ginny for control of the wand she'd stolen from Bella, who was still shaking the cobwebs from her head at the sudden explosion. Before Harry could react to help them, Ginny twisted around, using the wand both she and Tonks held on to as a pivot. The redhead brought her back against Tonks's front, and executed a shoulder throw that sent the auror crashing to the ground. Before she could do anything more, though, Ginny was tackled from behind by Bella.

The older witch managed to dislodge the wand from Ginny's grasp by slamming her wrist against the marble floor, and pinned the smaller girl on the ground using her bodyweight. Pain blossomed from her belly, causing Bella to look down, just in time to see Ginny tear a dagger out of her wound. The redhead shoved the older witch off of her and leaned down, preparing to finish the job.

....

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