Chapter 875 - The Foretelling Ⅴ (1/2)
Dumbledore does not immediately reply waving his wand. Abruptly the golden statues of the wizard, witch, goblin, and house elf, and centaur spring alive leaping from the plinth. The statutes crash onto the ground and move to stand between the evacuating public and Voldemort. ”Tom,” Dumbledore gravely answered having recognized the previously charmed face. The pieces simply fell together into place revealing the identity of Tom Marvolo Riddle, his former Transfiguration student, and the same applicant, who he had turned down for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
”Professor, you seem to be confused,” Voldemort snickered perversely. ”Then again, I even managed to fool the greatest wizard of all time,” he paused to emphasize, ”or at least he WAS until my appearance.”
”It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom,” Dumbledore firmly said, before raising his wand.
Without hesitancy, Voldemort raises his wand, and a jet of green light races towards Dumbledore. At the last instant, Dumbledore turned and vanished with a whirl of his cloak. A cold gleam appeared in Voldemort's crimson eyes of approval. He did not expect his dear old transfiguration professor to go down without a fight.
Voldemort whirls around fully expecting Dumbledore to appear behind him. ”AVADA KEDAVRA!” He roared, but the useless house elf statue leaps in between them violently absorbing the attack, before exploding into shrapnel. Yet the centaur statue leaped before Dumbledore absorbing the shrapnel.
Dumbledore flicked his own wand in attack, but the force of the spell emanated from the wand is such that the Auror's hair stood on end as the spell passed harmlessly through them. Voldemort's nostril flairs, before forcefully conjuring a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect the attack. The spell, whatever it was caused, caused no visible damage to the shield, through a deep, gonglike note reverberated throughout the atrium, an oddly chilling sound…
”You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?” Voldemort called out as a cold enraged smile appeared on his face. ”Above such brutality, are you, Professor?”
”We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,” Dumbledore calmly answered striding towards Voldemort without fear. ”Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-.”
”Your's would!” Voldemort snarled. ”For there is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!” ”Expulso!” he cried out as a fatal blue light is emitted from his wand.
A cloud of dust falls over the atrium as bits of debris rain down upon them. Through the cloud of dust, Dumbledore's voice can be heard. ”You are quite wrong, Tom,” he said as if discussing a private matter over drinks. ”Indeed, your failure is to understand that there are things far worse than death has always been your greatest weakness-.”
Dumbledore is unable to finish his sentence, a flash of light blasts its way through the dust. The curse missed Dumbledore and instead hit the former security desk of the deceased Eric Munch which burst into flames. Before Dumbledore can speak another curse erupts at him, but the witch leaps before the spell, before shattering and clattering into hundreds of pieces across the broken floor.
Dumbledore draws his wand and waves it as if brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip and wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield, and all. Just as abruptly the fiery rope became a serpent and relinquished its hold upon Voldemort, before turning furiously to attack Dumbledore.
The remaining statutes of the wizard and goblin forward and attack the flaming snake. The flaming serpent withers beneath their attacks as they forcefully drag the serpent into the pool. The flaming shrieks and dies in a cloud of steam instantly melting the golden statutes leaving them unable to move.