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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 265: Dolohov
Harry spotted a small wooden shack standing near the top of a mountain. He had to fly through almost half the country towards the northern area to find this house.
The barman had given him clear directions under the Imperius Curse, so he had no doubts about finding the house, but he could only hope that Dolohov was still hiding there.
It was still nighttime, but dawn was only a short time away. He pulled on his Firebolt broom and landed a good three hundred yards (270 meters) away from the actual house.
Even before using any detection spells, he could tell there were several wards around the small home.
'If I alert him about my presence, he may run away like Yaxley, and then I will lose my last source of intel. I need to be cautious with this one,' Harry thought.
He could set up a rudimentary anti-apparition wards around the area, but that wouldn't stop portkeys since they work very differently. That would require a different array setup that he didn't even know how to create.
Runes weren't exactly his specialty, he had just learned a few arrays from his old friends.
But after spending fifteen minutes performing a thorough examination, he was confident he could at least break through Dolohov's defenses without being detected.
Other than the charms meant to repel Muggles and animals, there were only two protective wards in place.
One was simply a detection ward that would alert Dolohov if anyone got too close.
A bit ahead of that one was a shield ward. It wasn't very strong, but its purpose was probably just to stop any intruder for a few minutes while he escaped.
Passing by the first defense was a simple matter for Harry.
His body vanished when he activated his invisibility. While using this power, he should be completely undetectable, so the ward would be unable to pick up his presence.
Harry walked forward and could feel the foreign magic pass by him as he crossed the ward.
'Mmm… no changes… I think I'm good.' He never had the chance to try this method of bypassing a detection ward. He had a lot of confidence in his chances of success; otherwise, he would have taken a different approach. But at the end of the day, any method would have some attached risks.
'Okay… now I need to break through this one.' The second ward was a protective one that would physically stop him from advancing.
He pulled his staff out and got it closer to the ward.
"Expulso." The jewels shone brightly as Harry channeled a large amount of magic through it.
He then heard a loud crack before the protective ward started to shatter like a dome of glass.
'That must have alerted him… I must hurry now.' Breaking that barrier was always going to make noise, so he had been ready to rush after it went down.
Harry maintained his invisibility as he moved. This would at least give him the upper hand to capture Dolohov alive or at least prevent his escape.
Once he was very close to the house, he spotted someone turning on the lights, and a few moments later, he saw a man opening the curtains and looking outside.
His wand was already in his hand.
"Confringo!"
The window, along with a large part of the wall, exploded in a cloud of fire.
"Aguamenti." Harry heard someone groaning in pain inside the house as he put down some of the fire before going in. He did not need the entire house burning down before he could even talk with the man.
"W-Who's this?!" Dolohov moved his eyes frantically around the room, pointing his wand and yelling.
"Show yourself, you bastard! I'll rip you to pieces!" His clothes were burned, and he had to cover half his face with his free hand.
Harry walked around until he was behind him.
"Imperio."
Dolohov became stiff as a table when the curse hit him.
"Drop the wand and turn around." Harry removed his invisibility.
The man turned around but struggled to avoid the other command.
"Y-You!... P-Potter!" He gritted his teeth so hard that they started to make unpleasant noises. The grip on his hand remained firm as his entire body trembled and shook.
"You have a strong mind…" Harry was genuinely impressed. There weren't many who could resist his Imperius Curse to this degree.
"Depulso." Harry gave his wand a flick, and a powerful wind pushed Dolohov's hand away, finally taking his wand away and sending it flying in the air.
"Arhhgg!" He screamed. Some of his fingers were bending in strange ways and were clearly broken after receiving the brunt of the magic.
The pain seemed to have been enough to give the wizard the final push, and he was then able to completely throw off the Imperius Curse.
"Get out of my head! Get out of my house!" he yelled.
"No," Harry simply answered.
Dolohov made a swift move with his left hand, and another wand appeared in it. This was his spare holster, and it wasn't the only one. He had been prepared for an attack.
His left hand moved like lightning as he unleashed four spells in quick succession.
Three of them were restriction charms, while the last one was a dark curse.
Harry deflected the charms and used his enhanced speed to avoid being hit with the curse. This one passed by him and ended up dissolving part of the wall behind him.
"Was that the organ-dissolving curse or the corrosive one?… and you're using your offhand. Very impressive."
He knew this man was a skilled duelist, but even in his late forties, he seemed to be in good shape.
"It's too bad you tried to murder my family; otherwise, I would have humored you with a proper duel."
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