A-Meeting-Long-Awaited (III) [Chapter 156]

“Forgive me, my boy” Albus apologized before casting a Body-Binding Curse at Harry, and Harry hated the fact that Albus was apologizing to him for attacking him when the man wanted to have him under his thumb from the beginning. Harry easily side-stepped to dodge the Spell and cast a Body-Binding Curse of his own toward Albus.

The man flicked the legendary Elder Wand and batted away the Spell with extreme ease, before attacking Harry with a Stunning Charm…

While watching the Spell approach him, Harry realized that there were two paths in front of him. He would either crush Dumbledore right here and make it clear how outclassed and outgunned the man was or he could pull his punches and make Albus think that while Harry was strong, he wasn’t unbeatable… There were advantages and disadvantages of either path.

Harry used his own Wand to deflect the Stunning Charm before returning the favor. In a way, he was mocking Dumbledore as he was casting the same Spells at him in return. So, after some consideration, Harry decided to pull his punches to make Albus believe that while he was strong, he wasn’t unbeatable… If he crushed Albus at this stage then the man might end up doing something unpredictable and drastic to gain the upper hand.

Harry couldn’t have that…

Albus Dumbledore was still within the realm of his predictions and if the man realized that he couldn’t defeat Harry by any conventional means, then who knows what he might end up doing… From what Harry has come to know about Albus, he knew that Albus hated not being in control. Currently, Albus believed that he was still in control, which meant that he wouldn’t do anything reckless, but the case wouldn’t be the same if he crushed the man with overwhelming power.

Well, he could always kill the man and be done with it, but he didn’t want to do that… First of all, killing Albus would destabilize Wizarding Britain, and while he didn’t care much about Britain, this was his father’s birthplace, so he would rather have it not destroyed, and secondly, killing Albus right now would be mercy… Harry wanted the man to experience the pain and despair he experienced at the hands of the Dursleys.

“You will need to do better than that, Headmaster” Harry declared with a mocking grin as side-stepped to dodge the Stunning Spell.

Albus stared at him with a contemplative look on his face before finally nodding his head. “Yes, yes… I believe you are right, my boy” Albus admitted and twirled the Elder Wand in his hand before casting a Bludgeoning Hex at Harry.

Harry easily dodged the Hex and cast an Exploding Curse at his opponent. Albus jabbed the Elder Wand to cast the same Curse of his own. The Spells collided mid-air, creating a massive shockwave. The whole hall trembled due to the shockwave and Albus had to admit that he was underestimating Harry by quite a lot… This wasn’t good for his plans.

The hall trembled again as their Spells collided against each other. The duo continued to dish out various Spells in an attempt to defeat the other, but neither of them was able to gain the upper hand, not that Harry was attempting to gain the upper hand in the first place. Albus frowned when he realized that Harry was somewhat on his level, so without any other options, he decided to stop holding back. He needed to detain Harry at all costs.

Albus’ hand turned into a blur as he stopped holding back… Albus was beyond a century old, but it was almost unbelievable the way he was moving at this age. Since Harry had witnessed the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, he knew that Dumbledore was far from his prime, but if anyone saw Dumbledore right now, then they would be completely blown away by the sight.

For the first time since the fight started, Harry started to get pushed back even though he seemed to be holding his own… “Hadrian, you cannot win, please surrender” Albus requested with a solemn look on his face. “You are in a lot of danger, let me help you” Albus pleaded, hoping for Harry to listen.

“I know, Headmaster… As long as he is out there I will always be in danger” Harry admitted, surprising Albus. There was no doubt in Albus’ mind that Harry was talking about Voldemort, but he wondered how the boy came to know that Voldemort was still out there. Then he remembered that he had revealed almost everything to Sirius… He decided it was a mistake and started to wonder if Sirius had revealed the Prophecy too.

“I am sorry, Hadrian, but he isn’t the only danger you are facing… Let me help you, Hadrian. I can help you, I can keep you safe…” Albus pleaded in a grave tone, only for Harry to shrug and continue his attacks. Albus realized that Harry wasn’t going to surrender and to be honest, he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for the others to arrive as they were causing a lot of ruckus.

He needed to capture Harry before the others could arrive… It was a matter of plausible deniability and he was sure that except for Severus, nobody would agree with his actions…

Harry frowned and started to wonder if should stop sandbagging the fight anymore as Albus started to overwhelm him. He realized that Albus wanted to finish the fight as quickly as possible, but before he could make up his mind, he started to receive a message from none other than Rita Skeeter. He brushed away the Knockback Jinx with a flick of his Wand.

‘I have found something. It’s urgent’

‘What happened?’ Harry asked as now he was purely on defense.

‘Can’t tell’

He received a short message from Rita, which made him frown before receiving another short message from the woman.

‘I am on Prophet roof’

Harry internally sighed… He believed that the woman could have told him everything through the Mark, but the woman had a flair for dramatics. At least, now he had an excuse to leave, but Rita wasn’t the only one who had a flair for dramatics… So, he decided to use something he learned very recently to escape and leave something for Albus to ponder about…

“It was nice meeting you Albus, but it’s about time I get going” Harry revealed with a grin as he deflected a Body-Binding Curse. Throughout the fight, neither of them used anything overly lethal, which was quite an achievement for Harry.

“I am sorry, Hadrian, but there is no escape” Albus sighed in disappointment as he continued his attempt to capture Harry.

“Then allow me to surprise you” Harry revealed with a grin before he was engulfed in a pillar of flames and moments later, when the flames disappeared, Harry was nowhere to be seen. To be honest, Albus couldn’t believe his eyes… Harry used Phoenix Flash to escape, but how? There was no way Albus would mistake Phoenix Flash, after all, he had experienced Phoenix Flash uncountable times.

He turned toward Fawkes with a dumb look on his face, only to find that his familiar also seemed to be equally dumbfounded… Hundreds of questions started to pop into his Mind, but he didn’t have an answer for any of them… Albus realized that he won’t be able to get much sleep tonight and he would have to review the memory until he had some answers. With that thought in his mind, he started to fix the hall as he didn’t want to leave any signs of the fight.

For a moment he wondered if should tell the other Professors or the Ministry about the break-in or not in an attempt to hold something over Harry, but he quickly dismissed the idea… There was no way he would be able to prove it in the court, and he would be simply giving the Dark and the Grey Faction to call him senile…

They had been trying to diminish his influence within the Wizengamot for years and while Albus could do without the political clout of Chief Warlock, losing it right now would be quite detrimental for his cause when Harry Potter could very well be a Dark Lord in the rise. He was certain that Harry was already undergoing dark and dangerous Rituals, or how else could he explain the power the boy possessed at the age of fourteen?

The hall was almost fixed when he started to hear footsteps, which made him realize that this was going to be a much longer night than he was expecting… With that thought in his mind, he started to ponder how to explain the mess to the other Professors…

<Line Break>

Meanwhile, Harry arrived at the outskirts of Hogsmeade in a pillar of flames… He grinned before he decided to thank Albus’ Phoenix for this nifty ability… Phoenix Flash was quite an overpowered ability as Harry wasn’t sure if there were any means to stop Phoenix Flash or not and even if there was a way to stop Phoenix Flash, he was certain that not many knew it.

|That was quite something| Lily breathed out. |He is old, but he is still better than me when I was still alive| Lily revealed with a grimace.

|There is a reason why Dumbledore is considered the second coming of Merlin| Harry declared. No matter what anyone said about Dumbledore, there was always the undeniable fact that the man was incredibly powerful and Harry experienced that firsthand. Yes, he could have defeated Albus, but that didn’t mean that Harry wouldn’t recognize and respect the man’s capabilities…

After all, Albus did defeat Grindelwald, who had the Elder Wand in his possession at that time, and that was enough to show just how strong Albus really was even though he was no longer in his prime…