Old-Friends-Reunited (III) [Chapter 200]

~~FLASHBACK~~

“So, what is your new ‘Lord’ planning?” Albus asked, emphasizing the Lord part. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Gellert was working under someone. Yes, Harry was stronger than the two of them combined, but he knew how prideful Gellert was, so he couldn’t understand how Harry managed to get him to work for him.

“Ah~ Ah~ Ah~” Gellert clicked his tongue with an amused look on his face. “It is not as simple as you might think. I have no idea about his plans or what he is planning… I didn’t even know about this attack until a few hours ago” Gellert revealed with a shrug. It was obvious that Albus was trying to fish for information, and even though Albus was his dear friend, he wasn’t feeling generous.

“So, you are just an expendable pawn for him?” Albus asked, trying to get a rise out of Gellert.

“Not really, none of us are expendable pawns for him” Gellert corrected Albus with a soft smile on his face. “By the way, let me give you an advice… Stand aside and let Harry do whatever he wants to do” Gellert advised, but he was certain that Albus wasn’t going to listen to him. After all, Albus was an animal of control… Well, at least he tried.

“I cannot do that, my friend” Albus declared in a hard tone while shaking his head.

“Then we are at an impasse” Gellert declared, losing any hint of amusement from his face. Albus also shifted into his battle stance and got ready to fight as he knew what was coming… Last time, Gellert was able to catch him off-guard and they wouldn’t be standing here right now if Minerva and Filius didn’t come to his rescue. He glanced toward the Wand in his hand…

Somehow, Gellert was back in his prime, which meant that Gellert was now much stronger than him. Even Harry was several times stronger than him and he was only able to match Gellert thanks to the Elder Wand, so if he lost the Elder Wand then there would be no hope for the light no matter how much he tried…

To be honest, after the Elder Wand failed to break through Harry’s barrier, he was certain that he won’t be able to beat Harry in a straight fight, which meant that he had to entrap Harry in some sort of trap and the Elder Wand was a must if he wanted to set up such a trap. So, he needed to win this fight… He couldn’t lose the Elder Wand at this stage or there was no hope for the Light side.

Albus was the first one to cast the Spell and Gellert quickly returned the favor. Their Spells clashed in mid-air and both of them were pushed back when it happened… Albus grimaced before twisting his wrist to increase the output of his Spell. Moments later, Gellert was starting to get pushed back, but instead of matching Albus’ power, he simply stepped aside and allowed the amalgamation of their Spells to pass by him and it struck the rubble, melting the rubble.

Instead of paying the melting rubble any mind, Gellert flicked his Wand over his head, launching several pieces of rubble at Albus.

Albus quickly moved his hand and raised a shield with a flick of his Wand to protect himself from the rubble and he was surprisingly fast for someone of his age… Then with a quick twirl of his Wand, Albus Transfigured the rubble into pillars and dropped them in front of him and moments later, one of the pillars exploded when Gellert’s Blasting Curse struck the pillar which was aimed at Albus.

Albus internally smirked and cast a couple of Spells from the gaps before another pillar collapsed when Gellert’s Bone Breaker struck the pillar. Meanwhile, Gellert growled in frustration when Albus was saved by one of the pillars for the second time… Gellert could easily destroy the pillars in one go, but doing that would take time which would give Albus time an opening to attack him without getting worried about a counter-attack.

He scowled unhappily when another one of his Spell struck a pillar and Albus used that small opening to attack him with a Jelly-leg Jinx. Thankfully, Gellert was quite sharp and he noticed the Spell coming at him, so he easily managed to dodge the Spell and he used the same momentum to twist his body around and cast a water blade Spell at Albus…

The blade easily sliced through the pillars, but Albus easily managed to defend himself from the water blade by casting a flame whip. A chuckle escaped Gellert’s lips before he cast a lightning whip at his opponent as an answer to the flame whip… Gellert realized that this is exactly what he was missing in his life… Yes, he sparred against both Harry and Jacklyn, but Harry was simply beyond his league and Jacklyn was still pretty weak.

Then there was no thrill of danger in the spars… He knew that Harry wasn’t going to kill him and Jacklyn simply wasn’t strong enough to kill him, but it was different with Albus… If he made a mistake, then he would be down and if he got captured, then the ICW would most definitely kill him this time while at the same time, he was going all out as he wanted to beat Albus.

The lighting whip clashed against the flame whip, and plasma started to drip on the floor… The plasma was so hot that it started to melt the stone floor and the two of them immediately pulled back their Spells at the same time, leaving a deep gash on the floor for the lightning whip and a charred mark for the flame whip… Though instead of wasting any time, the two of them cast a Spell again at the same time, but this time, Albus wasn’t quick enough to dodge the Spell.

The bone breaker meant for his chest hit him on his Wand arm and he could only stare in horror as the Elder Wand slipped out of his shattered hand, but before he could do anything a Stunning Charm struck him on his chest and he silently slumped down on the floor. Even though Albus was down, Gellert didn’t lower his guard as he didn’t forget about the blasted songbird.

The said bird screeched… ‘Just as I expected’ Gellert internally grinned. He knew that the blasted songbird would come to save his master. “Avada Kedavra” Gellert hissed and the green beam struck the Phoenix and it fell on the ground, completely lifeless… Alas, the damn bird wasn’t dead. It would return to life after some time, but by the time it would return to life, they would be long gone.

Now, that the Phoenix was finally down… Gellert breathed out in relief and he had to admit, the fight was a lot of fun…

~~FLASHBACK ENDS~~

“You can have the memory if you want” Gellert suggested as he finally finished recalling the fight. He knew that Harry wasn’t planning to kill Albus, so there was a chance that he might get another chance to fight his old friend… ‘I wonder if Harry would agree to rejuvenate him?’ Gellert wondered inside his mind. After all, he only managed to win against Albus so quickly because Albus couldn’t keep up with him.

“I will, but before that, there is something else I need to do” Harry accepted the offer with a nod before he turned toward Albus. “Take him to one of the basement cells after you get someone to fix his arm” Harry ordered and Gellert nodded his head in understanding. In the meantime, Harry decided to head toward the infirmary as he wanted to check on the injured and get a proper look at the dead.

So, he disappeared in a pillar of flames, leaving Gellert on his own to deal with Albus… Harry arrived inside the infirmary in a pillar of flames and after asking around, he quickly found where the injured were being kept. All the injured including Jacklyn were put to sleep by the healers, so he wasn’t able to give them a piece of his mind, so he decided to head toward the morgue.

He arrived inside the morgue and stared at the bodies covered by white sheets and the sight made him clench his fists in anger… Nobody from Lost Garden was supposed to die, after all, it was supposed to be an easy mission, but the reality was a bitch… |You shouldn’t feel bad for them, Hadrian… I am certain that none of them would have wanted you to mop around, especially Himera. Though you should avenge them| Lily explained, and after some silence, Harry nodded his head in understanding.

Harry took a deep breath and started to make his way toward Himera’s body… He wanted to see if he could still extract the X-Gene from her body and preserve it or not. He always wanted to experiment on her X-Gene as he wanted to use it for the body he was planning to build for his mom… He arrived in front of the body and removed the cover to reveal Himera’s bare body, which was also missing the head.

Her head was beside her body, but it was kept under another white sheet… He removed the white sheet to reveal her head and he couldn’t help but feel the loss when he stared at the peaceful look on her face… He genuinely cared about the woman, but now she was gone. Even though she was gone, Harry decided that he would keep his promise and destroy Hydra for her. He took a deep breath and he was about to start casting some Spells on her body when something clicked inside his mind.

He stared at the neck and the head… |What if I…|