The Intelligent Potter

*** Present

In her pain, Anu barely noticed the slight telltale pop of apparition accompanied by a sprightly "Good Morning!" being spoken by a cheerful voice.

Anu turned her head as much as she could, the cruciatus curse on her having been momentarily dropped as Voldemort himself surveyed the new arrival.

Anu's eyes finally landed on the poor soul who had landed up there at that very moment.

Pierre Moreau.

"Ah, the Frenchman joins us, I thought you had run away like the rest of your people." Voldemort said mockingly, twirling his wand between his fingers, "Well, it's your lucky day, you get to join your playmates!"

Voldemort sent shackles of Darkness at Pierre, but as they restrained the man, his body faded into dust.

A kick to the back of his head alerted Voldemort to the real position of the French wizard.

With a giggle the Dark Lord turned to face his enemy, "At least one of you has some brains." he said.

Without a word, Pierre sent a wall of fire bursting at Voldemort, far hotter and fiercer than any such attack by his companions before him.

Voldemort put up a wall of Darkness to block it, but even The Darkness, had to yield to the immense wall of fire, not dissipating but getting pushed back slowly.

Pierre could have chosen to use the time he had gained to try and get an advantage over Voldemort, something he could certainly have used, but instead turned to his friends.

The restraints on Anu had dissipated as the Dark Lord called all of the Darkness that he had to defend against Pierre's wall of fire. The Indian witch had gotten to her feet unsteadily.

Pierre waved his wand deftly over Cyril, sealing up the many wounds that had been bleeding out just moments earlier.

The sealings were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and were very vulnerable to attack, but they would stop the Greek wizard from bleeding out entirely before they got out of there.

"Quick, we have to get out of here," Pierre said, "If I'd known it was this serious, I'd have been here a long time ago, what were you idiots thinking, taking on the Dark Lord without Baba!"

"We weren't," Anu said, gesturing to the unconscious body of Babajide.

Pierre cursed under his breath but couldn't say anything further because the Dark Lord had finally burst out of the fire, dispelling the entire thing with a boom that caused the ground under their feet to crack and sent shockwaves all the way into the Minister's house, which stayed upright only by the copious amounts of magical enchantments that prevented its downfall.

Voldemort emerged, looking far more burnt than he had before, but once again enveloped in Darkness which kept his body going, stronger than ever.

The Dark Lord held out both his hands, shadows forming in a spiral around them.

With a boom, the shadows around his hands dispersed, moving so fast that they caused the air to ripple, flinging Pierre backwards.

The French wizard caught himself a second after he was launched, and dropped to the ground gracefully before continuing the fight.

Voldemort seemed to be a little distracted throughout the fight and finally came to a realisation.

After sending a dragon of Darkness flying at the man, Voldemort pointed at him, "You, you are Nicholas Flamel!"

Pierre stiffened, "I don't know what you're talking about," he said casually.

"No, the old magic you are using," Voldemort said, "I can feel it, not even Dumbledore knew magic this old."

"You are mistaken, Voldemort, if you think THIS magic is old, you don't know very much about magic itself," Pierre said, continuing his assault on the Dark Lord.

"I am NOT WRONG!" Voldemort yelled in fury, Darkness swirling around him and pointlessly gouging the ground, as if he were throwing a temper tantrum, a highly lethal temper tantrum.

Anu looked at Pierre in shock, "Is he telling the truth?" she said disbelievingly.

"Of course I am, girl, Flamel isn't even bothering to disguise his face, he looks exactly as he does normally, the rest of you were pathetic to not recognise him for who he is."

"Shut up." Flamel said, sending a whip of fire at Voldemort.

Voldemort defended against the whip of fire before addressing Anu again, "Foolish girl, do not believe Flamel, besides, it's your fault for believing him entirely at face value."

Anu felt a spike of anger and mistrust towards Pierre, for a second she felt like turning on her ally, attacking him with everything she had.

How DARE he lie to her.

Just a second later, however, she realised she was being influenced by The Darkness.

The Indian witch took a deep breath and said, "It doesn't matter what his name is, I trust Pierre."

The French wizard shot her a quick grin before jumping back into the fight.

Suddenly, Anu heard Pierre's voice in her head.

You two cannot help me in this fight, you would only hinder me, but even I myself cannot win this fight. It is only a matter of time until I will be overcome by the powers of The Darkness. By our location, I assume that you are protecting the home of the Minister, while I hold off the Dark Lord, go inside his house, get him and pick up Baba. You cannot currently apparate out of here, as I'm sure you have found already, you simply do not have the power to break through the Dark Lord's wards To combat this, I'm giving you a-

The message was cut off abruptly as Pierre was slammed into a wall.

Voldemort had a triumphant smile on his face, until Pierre emerged from amidst the rubble with barely a scratch on him.

"You thought I had no protections on myself?" Pierre said casually, "Only you are that arrogant, Voldemort."

Just before charging at Voldemort once more, Pierre's voice appeared in Anu's head once more.

Squeeze it, it will give you the strength you need to apparate out of here.

Before she could ask what it was, the voice in her head cut off and she saw Pierre jump at Voldemort, spells coming out of his wand, fire being directed by his other, he sent kicks of charged air, and punches of flame at his opponent.

Amidst the chaos, Anu felt something very heavy settle into her pocket.

She took it out of her pocket discreetly.

It was a small disc made out of pure gold with runes all over it. In the centre was embedded a small ruby red shard which seemed to emanate power.

Out of curiosity, Anu pressed down on it lightly and felt a surge of power go up her arm.

Both duelists turned to look in her direction.

Anu hid the disc hastily, running towards the Minister's house.

Voldemort attempted to attack her directly, but Pierre got in the way, blasting him off course and sending the Dark Lord flying into a tree.

"You're not getting at her until you get through me." the French wizard said, sending a spell at the ground directly beneath Voldemort, turning it to ice and causing his opponent to slip.

Anu raced towards the Minister's house, Cyril hobbling behind her, apparently having received a message of some sort from Pierre as well.

The Greek Wizard slung the unconscious body of Babajide over his shoulder, and after a bit of hesitation, picked up the body and head of the decapitated Bromophenol Blue, casting a featherlight charm on the load he was carrying.

Just as Anu was about to enter the house of the Minister, the front door opened.

Cornelius Fudge stood at the doorway with his hands on his h.i.p.s and an irritated expression on his face, dressed in only a towel that was wrapped around his lower half, his large stomach overflowing out of the towel

"Aurors!" he barked, "I thought I had made it clear I wanted no disturbances tonight" he said, "I wanted complete peace and-"

The Minister finally registered the carnage laid out in front of him.

"Well shit." he said, before an Avada Kedavra caught him straight in the c.h.e.s.t.

*** End of Chapter