Voldemort watched, hidden in the shadows, as Argus Filch walked down the long, dark corridor, unaware of what he represented, inadvertently avoiding any magical traps.
Whispering to himself, with a note of surprise and irony tinting his cold voice, he reflected.
"Rowena Ravenclaw, with all her wisdom, probably never imagined that the defenses she designed would have such a glaring flaw. Not that it's her fault, of course. Who, after all, could have predicted that a Muggle devoid of magic might one day work at Hogwarts? In her eyes, and those of all the founders, the idea of a Muggle walking the halls of Hogwarts would be unthinkable. Yet, this gap, this blind spot in the old school defenses, allowed someone completely devoid of magic to enter the Core undetected by the defenses."
The revelation of this flaw in the magical defenses of Hogwarts, designed by one of the wisest witches of all time, served as a grim reminder to Voldemort of the power and, at the same time, the limitations of magic.
Magic was different from humans; it didn't think and couldn't alter itself to fix those flaws. It was like a cold, calculating, lifeless program.
Argus Filch, devoid of magic, was invisible to the magical defenses, almost as if he posed no threat. Ironically, given the situation, he would put all of Hogwarts in danger in just a few moments.
Suddenly, a colorless spell burst from the shadows, striking Voldemort's decaying body squarely. He barely had time to raise a magical barrier to protect his vital parts before the detonation.
– Boom!
The corridor reverberated with the explosion.
"Impossible!" Voldemort writhed in fury and shock. "I didn't detect anyone nearby!"
As his body was torn apart by the magic of the Bombarda spell, shock and surprise completely overtook his mind.
Struggling to retreat, Voldemort touched the void where his right arm had once been and, with widened eyes, stared at the small figure pointing a wand at him.
"Filius Flitwick!" Voldemort hissed the name with contempt and pain.
He had made a mistake; he hadn't accounted for Filius Flitwick's Innate Technique!
[The Invisible Man's Walk]!
The Innate Technique had no destructive power but consisted of hiding the user's entire presence. This included scent, sounds, and even magical fluctuations. Filius Flitwick was feared by many wizards because of his Innate Technique.
Voldemort would rather fight a powerful but inexperienced Asterion than face Filius, a powerful and experienced Semi-Special Grade wizard, especially in his current physical state.
Drinking unicorn blood to recover would indeed restore his power to its peak, but only for a brief period. If Dumbledore were to arrive and see him in a weakened state after the effects of the unicorn blood wore off, this Horcrux would be destroyed!
This was unacceptable to Voldemort!
"Ready to die?" Filius spoke coldly, his gaze never wavering from the man before him.
"It won't be so easy to kill me, you filthy half-blood," Voldemort replied, his voice regaining its usual calm after the initial shock.
Filius remained indifferent to the taunt and vanished from Voldemort's view, putting the Dark Lord on high alert.
Holding Quirinus's wand with the arm that still remained, Voldemort looked cautiously around. His sharpened senses did not detect anyone's presence; even the air seemed normal without any disturbances.
Suddenly, his instincts screamed danger!
Driven by decades of experience as a feared and powerful wizard, he trusted his instincts and leaped from his initial position. At the spot where he had been, an invisible slash tore through the floor, leaving a deep scar in the stone.
Without wasting time, Voldemort's instincts stirred again, warning of danger!
Moving along the walls, Voldemort dodged each attack, alternating between running up the walls, across the ceiling, and sliding on the floor. Each one nearer to hitting him than the previous one the attacks seemed to come dangerously close.
Knowing he couldn't just keep running, Voldemort began to cast spells in all directions.
As if in a Star Wars battle, spells flew tearing through the confined space of the corridor while both dodged each spell masterfully.
Filius ran upside down along the ceiling while pointing his wand at the fleeting shadow running along the left wall.
With the wand in his right hand, Filius began to cast spells using his own left hand as a wand, doubling the number of spells launched.
At that moment, Filius turned into a veritable machine gun of lethal spells. Each spell he cast took no more than 0.5 seconds!
Voldemort stopped retaliating and focused on dodging the spells while cursing the genius of the Hogwarts professor. The half-blood had an impressive talent for spellwork, and combined with his Innate Technique, Filius was truly a troublesome opponent.
While they battled, Argus had reached the Core of Hogwarts!
-
Pushing through the massive doors that separated the outside world from the deepest innards of Hogwarts, Argus Filch barely glanced at the hundreds of millions of runes that covered the walls around him, each pulsing with ancient stories and magical powers unknown.
His focus was solely on the crystal ball that floated serenely in the center of the room, bathed in green and blue lights that danced around it like a aurora borealis. To a wizard, those lights represented pure and extremely concentrated magic, drawn directly from the Ley Line that ran beneath Hogwarts. This crystal ball was not just a mystical ornament; it functioned as the Core of Hogwarts, the beating heart that supplied magic to fortify the school's defenses.
Disregarding the danger he might be in, Filch stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the crystal ball!
He was a man without magic in a world where magic was everything. Feeling the warm energy flowing through his body as he held the Core brought tears to his tired eyes.
Every day, Filch saw magic, lived alongside it, but he could never touch it or control it like the wizards around him. The pain of being so close, yet eternally distant, filled him with a mix of contempt, resentment, and deep melancholy.
Now, before him, was the promise of change. The Archbishop of the Aurora Society had offered him a chance, not just to belong, but to be transformed. The reward for his cooperation would be something Filch had never dared to dream possible: magic within his grasp.
"I just need to break this and I will finally have magic," he murmured to himself, the weight of the decision making his voice tremble. Without further hesitation, driven by a lifetime of repressed longing, Filch lifted the Core above his head and, with a cry that mixed despair and hope, hurled the crystal sphere onto the hard ground.
The sound of the impact echoed like thunder, followed quickly by a tremor, almost as if Hogwarts itself was weeping.
At the moment the crystal ball shattered into millions of white crystals, a colossal amount of magical energy was expelled!
Before Argus Filch could say anything, he was vaporized by the vast amount of magical energy.
Filius, who had been relentlessly attacking Voldemort, stopped and looked in disbelief at the trembling castle.
"This isn't possible!" He murmured to himself.
Suddenly, a sharp pain snapped him out of his thoughts.
Looking down, Filius saw a long streak of blood across his chest, almost as if an invisible sword had slashed him.
With a look of guilt, Filius's body fell to the ground, uncertain whether he was alive or dead.
"HAHAHAHAHAH." Only Voldemort's laughter echoed through the halls of Hogwarts.
"HAHAHAHAHAH." Only Voldemort's laughter echoed through the halls of Hogwarts.
Voldemort laughed and pulled out the flask containing the Unicorn Blood.
Without any hesitation, he drank the sacred liquid!
As the defenses around Hogwarts fell silent, Voldemort sensed the shift in the magical currents—the protective barriers that had once made the castle nearly impenetrable were now weakened. This was his chance not just to recover but to gain power that would make him unstoppable.
He swiftly moved through the corridors of the school, now quiet and dimly lit, as the magic that had animated Hogwarts seemed to drain away. The usually vibrant tapestries and animated portraits hung still and silent, as if mourning the loss of the Core.
Voldemort's path was clear, and his mind was focused. The location of the Philosopher's Stone, hidden deep within the castle and guarded by a series of complex enchantments and creatures, was now within reach. Without the school's magical defenses at full strength, he could bypass what had once seemed insurmountable obstacles.
The laughter that had echoed so ominously through the corridors turned into a sinister smile of anticipation. If he could possess the Stone, he would not only restore his own life but also have the power to conquer death itself. This was more than just a recovery of power; it was the ascension to an absolute dominion that Voldemort had always envisioned for himself.
------------------
Author's Thoughts: Honestly, he's a character I really like.Poor Filius... should I kill him or not?
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter: Chapter 71 - Invasion of Hogwarts (4), Chapter 72 - Invasion of Hogwarts (5), Chapter 73 - Invasion of Hogwarts (6), Chapter 74 - Invasion of Hogwarts (7), Chapter 75 - Invasion of Hogwarts (8), Chapter 76 - Invasion of Hogwarts (9), Chapter 77 - Invasion of Hogwarts (10), Chapter 78 - Invasion of Hogwarts (11), Chapter 79 - Post-War (1), Chapter 80 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (1), Chapter 81 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (2), Chapter 82 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (3), Chapter 83 - Salazar's Heir Slytherin (4), Chapter 84 - Sequels, Chapter 85 - Civil War (1), 86 - Civil War (2), 87 - Civil War (3), 88 - Civil War (4), 89 - Civil War (5), Chapter 90 - Civil War (6), Chapter 91 - Battlefield (1), Chapter 92 - Battlefield (2), Chapter 93 – Conflicts on the Battlefield (1), Chapter 94 – Conflicts on the Battlefield (2).