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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 80: Amenhotep's Downfall
Amenhotep raised his own skeletal palm, not in defense, but in a mirroring gesture.
The creature moved its mouth as if muttering a chant under its breath.
A torrent of spectral, blue-white frost erupted to meet the descending golden fire. The collision created a chaotic maelstrom that filled the chamber with a scalding fog.
"He is countering your moves really well," V said.
"Yeah… I can see that." Harry responded, his eyes sharp behind the steam. "His knowledge is instinctual, a remnant of his living prowess. Let's test its depth."
As the last of the steam cleared, Amenhotep found Harry gone from the air above. Before he could locate him, Harry's voice rang out from behind a pillar. "Vincire Ossa! (Victory over Bones)"
Bands made of a shimmering, spectral force shot forth at the target, attempting to coil around the sorcerer's limbs and ribcage.
Amenhotep snarled, producing a dry, rattling sound. His golden bones shone, and the binding spell shattered like glass.
The skeleton hissed in short intervals, and it came out as something akin to laughter.
"Now he is making fun of you," V pointed out.
"Yes, I got that…" Harry huffed. "If you are not going to help, can you stay quiet?"
"Do you want me to help?"
"No!" Harry responded.
"Careful there. It's doing something again," V warned him.
Amenhotep whirled his finger while aiming it at the pillar behind Harry.
The stone column erupted into shrapnel, but Harry was already moving, having anticipated the destruction. He slid across the floor while avoiding the trail of petrifying smoke still clinging to the stones.
"He's too resilient for direct constraints," V observed. "His physical form is like a fortress, while his soul is protected inside his crown." There was a mixture of envy and admiration in the hat's voice.
"Then we don't attack the fortress," Harry said, a plan forming in his mind. "We attack the ground it stands on." He pointed his wand not at Amenhotep, but at the floor directly beneath his feet. "Infirmus Terra! (Weak Earth)"
The ancient stones didn't crack… they simply lost all cohesion, turning into a pit of quicksand-like dust and mud. Amenhotep roared, his massive form sinking immediately to the knees, then the pelvis, his thrashing only hastening his descent.
Seizing the moment, Harry weaved another spell, "Vinculum Fulgoris! (Binding of Lightning)"
Crackling ropes of pure lightning lashed out, not to bind the bones, but to entangle the arms, attempting to pin them to the sorcerer's sides and away from the crown on his head.
The undead sorcerer, now trapped from below and constrained from above, threw his head back in silent fury and roared. The flames in his eyes flared blindingly.
With nimble movements, Harry snatched the crown from Amenhotep's head and conjured a secure box to place it inside before storing it in his bag.
"Well… job's done," said V.
"Not yet." Harry shook his head. "Those restraints won't hold him for long." He placed his hands on the ground and closed his eyes.
All around Amenhotep, the floor tiles began to repair themselves and return to their original shape.
Then, runic symbols started to appear, forming a perfect circle around the undead.
V noticed something. "Are those the same ones from before? The ones you destroyed?"
"Yes. I made sure to memorize the array before breaking it. As a precaution, in case I needed them for something," Harry told his friend as he completed the formation.
Then it activated, using the potent ambient magic trapped inside this chamber.
Amenhotep suddenly froze completely, and the fire in his eyes began to dissipate.
Just a few seconds after this, the undead sorcerer had returned to its previous state of slumber.
"Whoever created them definitely knew what they were doing. That should be enough to keep him trapped for at least a millennium or two," said Harry as he cleaned the dust from his robes.
"And then…?" V asked.
"And then, let's hope that someone had the sense to destroy the crown and dissipate his soul. Or… it will be someone else's problem by then," Harry said.
"That's more like it!" V said with a cheerful tone. "Now let's get out of here. I'm sick of this tomb."
"Hold on. I want to make another stop first." Harry opened a portal and walked inside.
"Hmm?… what are we doing here?" V asked when he realized they were back at the starting corridor of the tomb, where they had faced the obsidian golems.
"I'm planning on fixing these guys and giving them a new runic array so they will serve to protect Ginny's house. It will be easier than creating them from scratch."
"I see…" V looked at the dozen broken golems.
"They would certainly make for excellent guardians. I can't imagine many wizards capable of taking them out as you did."
Those golems were incredibly resilient to physical attacks and spells. When working together, they would be a tough opponent for any wizard or witch.
"You are going to need a bigger bag, though…" V pointed out. The one that Harry had been using could only hold a few cubic meters of matter before being filled.
"I know." Harry transfigured a stone box that was almost as tall as himself, using materials from his surroundings, and took out his carving tools.
"Are you going to make a dimensional box now?" V asked.
"Sure. Why not? I told Sirius I would take a couple of days before returning. We still have plenty of time for this," Harry said before he got to work.
"But… this is so boring to watch, and it will take hours!" V complained.
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