Chapter 684 - Ruse Ⅶ

Battling up the steep slope towards the smoking cottage situated on top of the hill, the figures of Auror's Gideon and Fabian Prewett lead the fight and rapidly advanced forward. Closely following behind them is the polyjuiced Damocles Belby, who is in fact Auror Percius Clements. Spells flash left and right with some successfully hitting the Auror's despite their best efforts. Still, they stubbornly pressed forward bruised and battered until they manage to break through the encirclement of Death Eaters to arrive at the top of the steep slope.

Breathless and wild-eyed they arrive at the scene only to find a bleak scene. Laying on the ground is the bleeding is the weak and severely wounded polyjuiced figure of Auror Percius Clements. Standing nearby is the irked figure of Voldemort, who points his wand at the polyjuiced Damocles Belby. "Where is Damocles Belby, Auror Clements?" Voldemort hissed irritably causing his crimson snake-like eyes to flash with a tinge of old madness.

The tortured, polyjuiced figure of Auror Percius Clements whose body quivered visibly with the violent aftereffects of the Cruciatus (torture) curse. Lifted his voice and sneered, before his eyes go wide for a moment catching sight of the nearing Auror's, before spitting on the ground before him. "Kill me, and be done with it," he gasped with a bloody sneer.

"Crucio!" Voldemort roared as he tortured the wizard again. The polyjuiced figure of Auror Percius Clements against his will begins to scream under the effects of the vile curse. Despite his obvious agony, he curled his fingers together to gather the last remnants of his strength for one last move, and reached for a fistful of mud, before hurling it at Voldemort's crimson snake-eyes and blinding him.

Voldemort shrieks in pain and rage as he moves to wipe the mud from his eyes. The trembling polyjuiced figure of Auror Percius Clements despite the respite weakly crawls to his knees panting as his body trembles with the aftershocks of the Cruciatus. It was a miracle that he was on his knees despite the violent trembling of his body that threatened to cause him to slump forward face down onto the cold, hard ground. Still, he struggled with a determined expression to rise to his feet.

Three wizards rush forward with one of them in the lead. "Relashio," the handsome, red-head Gideon Prewett roared causing the outstretched wand to forcefully be released from Voldemort's grasp.

Whirling about, Voldemort shouts, "Nagini!" With robes flapping wildly behind him, he rushed forward reaching down for his fallen wand, while the poisonous serpent darts from the shadows with fangs bared at those that dare to harm her kin!

"Reducto!" The long-nosed Fabian roared casting the Reductor Curse in the defense of his brother.

Sensing the curses intent, Nagini curls back abruptly as the curse hits the dust in front of her and disintegrates it. The curse certainly would not have killed her but would have painfully gouged out a deep wound into her flesh. It was most vexing.

"I'm standing right here, Voldemort," shouted the polyjuiced Damocles Belby drawing the attention of Voldemort and nearby Death Eaters, who were rushing up the hill to aid their Master. "Come face me, if you dare."

Voldemort curls his lips in disdain and does not even merit to answer the question. Instead, he points his wand at the annoying Potions Master and shouts, "Avada Kedavra!"

The polyjuiced Damocles Belby does not move, but in slow motion, he sees a figure dart between him and the spell, the polyjuiced figure of Percius Clements, who had unnoticed risen to his feet and made his way forward. What seems to be in exaggerated slowness, the polyjuiced Percius Clements falls slowly to the ground with a satisfied expression on his face. His body bounces once or twice, before settling in the dust as his eyes become blank, but a smug expression remains on his face as though he had won a wizarding chess match.

"Good riddance," Lord Voldemort hissed as he triumphantly leered paying no further attention to the corpse on the ground. With the polyjuiced Percius Clements now dead, the Polyjuice potion reverted unto the potion drinkers' true form that of Potion Master Damocles Belby.

Seeing the figure of polyjuiced figure of Auror Percius Clements fall to the ground, Gideon and Fabian Prewett let out cries of pain, but refrain from letting down their guard. "Protego!" Fabian shouted as he began to retreat backward dragging the stunned polyjuiced Damocles Belby behind him.

Gideon quickly followed as he sent curse after curse at Lord Voldemort as they hastily retreated down the hill. Voldemort with ease parried the curses as he followed closely after with Fabian barely managing to keep Nagini at bay. However, Fabian missteps and loses his grip on the polyjuiced Damocles Belby, who begins to revert to his true form revealing his true identity as that of Auror Percius Clements.

Seeing the abrupt transformation even Lord Voldemort is stunned and comes to a halt. "You-," Voldemort began to say, "you are not Damocles Belby." His eyes widen in recognition at seeing the so-called dead wizard arise from the grave, Auror Percius Clements. "No, you are dead!"

"Polyjuice," Percius Clements answered with grim satisfaction. "Diffindo!"

Voldemort darts back from the blast as Percius Clements fires spell after spell forcing Voldemort to retreat step by step. Seeing the momentum turn in their favor, Gideon and Fabian cease to flee and advance together upon the serpent and the Dark Lord.

Screams from the nearby Death Eaters can be heard as one of them in a panic hollers, "The Auror reinforcements have arrived! RETREAT!"

Furious, but not stupid, Voldemort shouts, "Nagini come!" Nagini hurls forward, before hastily apprarating away with her kin.

Similar popping sounds can be heard across the field as Death Eaters flee except for those that lay dead on the floor, and those that have been captured by the Auror's. The wood still burns in part, but it is quickly and efficiently being put out by the Auror's, who had just arrived as reinforcements. Those wounded are instantly given first aid, while the worst are instantly apparated to St. Mungo's for treatment.

With the battle l.u.s.t slowly fading away, Fabian shivers as Gideon blankly stares at their friend, Percius Clements standing before them. "How? When?" Gideon choked in disbelief.

Wiping the soot from his face with his sleeve, Percius says, "It was Master Belby's idea. However, I failed him." He paused for breath with a pained, guilt-stricken expression. "And now, he is dead."

Gideon nor Fabian can think of anything to say at the moment as the Senior Auror in charge of the attack, Alastor Moody emerges from the smoky woods. Stomping up the hill, he spots the ash-covered faces of the three Auror's. "What happened, Auror Clements!" Alastor snapped with a hint of concern visible in the depths of his eyes.

"It was meant to be a trap, Auror Moody," Percius replied formally. "I had a valuable lead which suggested that an imminent attack would occur at Master Belby's home. Following that lead and after several conversations, it was decided that I would Polyjuice as Damocles Belby and Master Damocles Belby as myself. We had come to the solemn conclusion that the so-called, Dark Lord would attack me, and Master Belby, who would be polyjuiced as myself would easily escape capture as I was a lesser important objective."

"Then exactly what went wrong?" Alastor pointedly inquired.

"I did not count on Master Belby casting the Full Body Bind and portkeyed me away," Percius truthfully answered, before slightly omitting a few details to protect Belby's Apprentice, Wilfredius. "I wasn't able to break away from the spell until sometime later only to arrive in the middle of the battle and had to forcibly make my way through the woods to the cottage."

Alastor rubbed his soot-covered face, before letting out a sigh. "Take Master Belby's body immediately to the Ministry of Magic and wake the Minister of Magic if she is not already up. It's best we get in front of this, before the Daily Prophet and any other press gets the word of Master Belby's death."

Gideon and Fabian immediately move to comply, but Alastor clamps a hand on Percius's shoulder. "For what it's worth, I'm glad that you are still with us," Alastor sheepishly said with a tinge of embarrassment. Coughing, he clears his throat and says, "You best be on your way, Elphinstone and Ogden will want to hear your report first."

"Yes, Auror Moody," the three Auror's chimed with Percius giving Alastor a nod of thanks, before the three of them apparate away leaving Alastor Moody sighing. It was bound to be a rough night for all of them. Not to mention that they would have to get the oblivator's done here to obliviate anyone in the town, who happened to notice the battle, if not the fire. Either way, it was going to be a long night for all of them.