Chapter 60: Fall

Chapter 60: Fall

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25th June 1995, Nurmengard

(Dumbledore POV)

Albus went inside went to Gellert's former throne room and sat down on the throne in the middle of the castle. He was as ready as he could ever be. Albus looked at the mark on his chest, watching the last line slowly fade away into nothingness. He kept watching for hours until it disappeared. The crow on his chest started pulsing and disappeared. It was time, the Morrigan was coming.

The room started to inexplicably darken. The light coming from the candles seemed to find some sort of resistance, like it was slowly being stopped from illuminating the room. Even the Gubraithian Fire torch was being affected, something that should have been impossible. Nothing should affect the everlasting fire from burning.

Albus did not feel the wards being affected and that made him nervous. The wind seemed to pick up, even when he's indoors. He could feel it in his bones, she was coming. Then, suddenly, the torches seemed to be put out in a fraction of a second. Even the Gubraithian Fire torch was affected, once more. Suddenly, as the torches and candles were lit once more, a hooded figure in black stood in front of him, shadows moving around her.

He instinctively knew that it was the Morrigan. He could feel the danger and power this being's presence seemed to broadcast. Albus felt like his own subconscious told him to run away as fast as he could and go as far as possible, away from death.

But the former Headmaster knew that he couldn't escape his hunter, his pursuer. His only chance at survival was to fight, and he certainly had the time to do so.

The Morrigan entering Nurmengard without triggering any of the wards took him off-guard, the only thing that he had heard of that could do that was the Potter invisibility cloak and his pursuer seems to have replicated the magic somehow. This did not bode well for him.

The figure just stood there for a few seconds and seconds was all it took Dumbledore to activate his trap. Since wards didn't seem to stop her from moving through them, he could not rely on them to delay her until the trap is properly powered on.

One of the unique features of the Nurmengard is the fact that the wards allow their master to affect the fortress itself. Which meant he could create rooms and walls wherever and whenever he wanted. He could even affect the spacial enchantments of the castle. No wonder Gellert was overconfident; in this fortress, he was a god.

Albus created a room around the hooded figure trying to trap it somehow. He manipulated the extension charms to make it almost as big as the Great Hall in Hogwarts. He turned around to create a secret passage to get away, only to find the Morrigan standing there. This was impossible, it should have taken her minutes to escape his impromptu prison.

She glided towards him, and he create a wall separating them and remove the floor from her side of the room. He turned around to run away once more, to find his hunter standing in front of him. Again, she glided over to him, but this time she was faster and Albus panicked. He created a hole in the ground under him to escape this terrifying being. He fell down to the lower floor and was barely able to cast, "Arresto Momentum" to avoid serious injuries.

Again, his pursuer was not far behind, and he decided to cast the first spell at her. "Protego Horriblis" he bellowed spinning the elder wand in a circle. This was Gellert's signature spell, an army killer spell if used correctly, both defense and attack. It was a variation of the Fiendfire spell that was a bit less powerful but allowed a lot more flexibility and control over the fire. One of the characteristics of Fiendfire was its ability to consume magic, and this shield charm derived from it allowed it to nullify practically every spell that goes through it.

Albus created a giant phoenix out of the cursed flames and thrust his wand, sending it at his enemy. He had hoped briefly that she was dead now, that he had won. It was for naught of course as after he recalled the flames, the figure was still standing there as if nothing happened.

"Ah, yes I went by that name a few centuries back. Was confused by another witch called Morgause Le Fey. Horrible woman, she stole my last name for notoriety and was adamant that Camelot was hers and wanted to conquer Britannia."

Albus was too stunned to actually answer.

She continued, "Oh, right. Where was I? Ah, yes, the Hallows. I made them as a way to trick the Peverell brothers. They were always cursed artifacts; they were just subtle curse. Powerful but subtle, you have felt the elder wand's curse. Which brings us to today's issue. You broke the natural laws by killing Fawkes. Phoenixes have a much bigger role than you realize, and your murder will have severe consequence in the near future, something that could destroy the entire planet."

"How?"

"This is not the time for a lecture on cosmic balance. Teaching you will be as easy as teaching a monkey how to use calculus. Especially considering how old you are, you're very set in your way." She answered back.

"How dare you! This is an illusion of some sort, I had plans. I was going to save the wizarding world." He sneered at her.

"You, Albus Dumbledore, have been seeing the world through a keyhole trying to see as much as possible but now that you understand that you could have simply picked the lock and opened the door, you refuse the truths that you couldn't see before." She answered back without a tinge of heat in her voice.

She continued, "I never like you, Dumbledore. You're very manipulative and judgmental, and your morals are so flexible. You have no honor, no code. You caused me to have a miserable childhood but I'm too old to care about that. Your summoning of me was cute and I was slightly bored, so I agreed to come. I had planned to let you kill yourself with the ring's curse and be done with it but then I saw what you did to my castle and knew that you had to suffer for it before dying. I took away your magic first by disarming you. It was the thing that made you special, your power. But you couldn't handle the loss and broke a natural law to bring it back which sealed your fate."

"How was I supposed to know that it was a natural law? They are not written." Albus yelled at her.

"Of course, we can't write them down, if people know of them, they'll try to break them just because they could. Your actions threatened every life of this planet. You have to deal with the consequences of your decision. I put the idea in your head to find the resurrection stone in the Gaunt shack and let you be cursed. I used another compulsion for you to visit Grindelwald to deal with the curse and you killed him."

"No!" He gasped.

She laughed at him, "You might consider yourself a master of the mind arts, but your skills are that of a child compared to mine. I didn't make you do anything; I just gave you ideas, you're the one that acted on them. You killed the only man to ever love you, the real you not the persona you project. You killed the only man you ever loved. I made myself a target for your obsession, the Hallows. I made sure that Nicholas told you about the saying between the Morrigan and the master of the Hallows and you fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. You killed my teenager self and I made sure the whole world watched. Now, look at you, I took away your magic, your reputation, your goals, your love. I didn't even have to do it myself; you're the one who is responsible for this. When you die today, the world will remember Albus Dumbledore as the hidden dark lord that almost conquered Britain, the man that sacrificed children for power. Your dream is dead. Albus Dumbledore is destroyed. Your war will not happen. I made sure Nathan killed Voldemort, permanently this time, and with a bit of soul magic, every death eater is now dead. Which is something that was blamed on you."

Albus could not believe for a second how deep her manipulations ran. He never stood a chance. How could he? Everything was planned masterfully from the start.

"Why? Why do all this? You could have just killed me any time. Why would you prolong my suffering?" He asked, resigned to his fate.

"Hogwarts is more than a building, the wards became self-aware centuries ago, by my design. She is the closest thing I have to a daughter, and you hurt her. You imprisoned her in her own walls for decades. This wasn't just some convoluted way for me to kill you, this was revenge." She smirked at him.

"Alright then, I'm ready to join my family." He lowered his head, preparing for his death.

"You're not going to see them. You're never going to see them again. You broke the natural laws, Albus Dumbledore. You have broken the laws of life and death. You will not be allowed in the afterlife, or as you call it, the next great adventure. You will suffer in limbo, in the void alone until you succumb to your madness and lose your identity, your self. That is your punishment. You will see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. You will be alone for centuries. You will beg for death in a day, your mind will fracture in a week. Time is meaningless there; you will stay in limbo until there is no you anymore. Goodbye, Albus Dumbledore."

Listening to his fate, he looked up at her, eyes wide. Before he could protest, Jasmine touched him, and he turned to dust and ash. Albus Dumbledore was dead. Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)