The Intelligent Potter

*** Present

Voldemort's red eyes looked straight at the little plane before he lifted a single finger and a tendril of Darkness pulled the piece of folded parchment-origami close to him.

He touched the parchment with a single finger and suddenly the image began flickering before Harry saw an image of himself, Hermione, and Daphne reflected up at him, before it returned to an image of the Dark Lord.

Voldemort smiled, "Harry Potter!" he said with mock excitement before crushing the paper airplane.

Despite having just pulled the Hogwarts Express straight off its tracks, Voldemort was only the slightest bit winded.

More peacekeeper troops seemed to flood in, helping hold the perimeter of the train, while their compatriots went inside the train.

Realising their plan to evacuate the students, Voldemort smirked, simply waving his hand, installing anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards around the train specifically, if they wanted to escape, they would have to come out of the train.

Seeing his Death Eaters struggle and their numbers dwindle against the might of the peacekeeper force, Voldemort waved a hand, sending a wave of darkness crashing towards the peacekeepers, which was diverted away from the majority of the combatants by a last-minute gust of air from Iliad.

Enraged at the sight of his former possible-recruit, Voldemort sent more tendrils of Darkness at the Greengrass Lord, who seemed to be playing to stall rather than win, diverting the attacks once again, putting a large amount of his magic into ensuring that no-one was injured.

This continued for a solid minute of casual duelling, as Voldemort continued to play with Iliad. Voldemort heard the telltale cracks signaling the arrival of more peacekeepers. They had for the most part stayed out of his way, targeting his Death Eaters, while Iliad kept him at bay, so he didn't pay any mind to the new arrivals until he sensed a spell just about to hit him, which he turned to parry just in time.

The total might of the men gathered before him was enough to make even Voldemort feel apprehensive.

Dressed in peacekeeper garb, Albus Dumbledore, Arcturus Black, Babajide Akingbade and Nicholas Flamel stood before the Dark Lord.

The red sashes on the arms of the four men identified them as commanding officers of the highest possible rank of the peacekeepers, though none of the men really needed it, their very presence enough to command the respect and obedience of the peacekeeper force present.

"Dumbledore!" Voldemort greeted with a mock-smile, spreading his arms wide as if for a hug.

Without another word, the wizened Headmaster acted, far faster than anyone could even imagine for a man his age, his wand flashing as a fissure appeared below Voldemort.

As the very ground collapsed below him, Darkness came from around him to support the Dark Lord who was immediately set upon by a magical assault by Arcturus, Babajide and Albus.

Albus continued to try and lock Voldemort in with rock, moving the earth around him, sending it rushing inwards and trying to get it to bind his opponent into place.

Arcturus and Babajide on the other hand were keeping him occupied with a barrage of spells, that the Dark Lord was using fragments of Darkness to absorb and counter, most of which were incinerated by the bursts of fire being created by Babajide.

While the three kept Voldemort occupied, Nicholas, still under the guise of Pierre, rushed towards the Hogwarts Express, blowing away any Death Eaters who tried to get into his path.

A Death Eater with a golden mask that identified him as one of the Generals of the Inner Circle of Voldemort tried to intercept Nicholas, with the hopes of faring better than his comrades.

A flick of Nicholas' wrist sent a gust of wind to blow his opponent into the mass of peacekeepers who were slowly but surely taking down the Death Eater forces. However, the golden-masked Death Eater batted away the attack with a gust of wind of his own.

Forced to take his opponent seriously, Nicholas went all out from the very start, flinging walls of fire at the golden-masked Death Eater, who surprised Nicholas by managing to slice through the wall of fire just in time to avoid being roasted in an unfortunate (for him) demise.

Nicholas motioned for the other peacekeepers, who had till that point stayed out of his way, to come in and take over the golden-masked Death Eater.

With a parting spell or dozen, Nicholas quickly moved past the golden-masked Death Eater, as a dozen peacekeepers struggled with the task of restraining him.

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord was easily holding his own against his three opponents.

Knowing that they would only hinder the incredibly powerful wizards locked in combat with Voldemort, the rest of the peacekeepers simply stayed out of their way, an unfortunate few still getting caught in the debris that was caused to fly by the battle, causing a few extra injuries and one very unfortunate casualty as a byproduct of the intense duel.

Despite the combined skill of his opponents being greater than his own, Voldemort was managing to fight back on the sheer power of The Darkness.

While spells seemed to be hitting Voldemort, his ragged body was just about able to tank the damage that was being dealt to it while, in response, tendrils of the Darkness lashed out at his opponents aggressively, sometimes being countered, other times connecting.

While invested in the duel, Voldemort was keeping a close eye on the progress of the fourth newcomer, and as he was about to make it to the Express, Voldemort realised what Nicholas had gone to do.

With his many tricks, the famed alchemist could probably generate enough power to break his wards from the inside and evacuate the students.

Just as he was about to block that blasted alchemist, he was hit in the side with a large chunk of rock that Babajide had ripped out of the ground, breaking several of his ribs.

Voldemort gasped for breath as The Darkness enveloped his c.h.e.s.t, tightening to hold his body together and more of it dedicating itself to keeping his internals going.

The Dark Lord felt as his wards were ripped through by a wave of powerful magic and he left several presences leave through the hole in the wards that had been created by Nicholas.

Voldemort roared in frustration, and a wave of Darkness emanated from his figure, destroying everything in his path, only slightly inhibited by shields put up by Dumbledore, Arcturus and Babajide.

Swiping his opponents aside, Voldemort sent a large blade of Darkness that tore straight through the train.

After the split second it took for them to finish off his previous attack, Voldemort's opponents were on him with renewed vigour, keeping him tied up in the battle versus them.

*** End of Chapter