HRA# Chapter 60: Harry Strikes Down Voldemort... But Not Completely

Unlike an earth elemental giant with humanoid legs, the water elemental giant’s lower body was a rapidly swirling mass of water, spiraling upwards like a vortex, as if constantly drawing water from the surface below, sending waves splashing in all directions.

Its upper body, however, possessed a humanoid torso, head, and a pair of powerful arms and hands. At first, Voldemort could see Harry through the translucent body of the elemental, but as it absorbed more water, its form seemed to compress and solidify, turning into a deep, murky blue-green—resembling the depths of the Black Lake.

Water continuously spun off the elemental, spraying in all directions. Its towering figure had already reached the ceiling of the corridor, almost completely filling the space, blocking Voldemort’s view of Harry entirely.

The green light of the Killing Curse disappeared into the water elemental’s body, sinking like a stone in the sea—whether it was dissolved or merely dispersed was unknown.

“What… is this magic?” Voldemort stared in shock at the colossal entity before him. He had never seen anything like this before—its principles, its formation, and even its source were completely foreign to his understanding of magic.

And yet, there was no doubt it was a magical construct. No mere Muggle could create such a thing.

From Voldemort’s perspective, this summoned entity must have drawn its form from the Black Lake itself, for he could clearly see fish swimming inside its body—wait, they were swimming? Inside it?

Impossible!

A mere first-year student—no matter how prodigious—should have been limited by his undeveloped magical core. How could he possibly control such an immense amount of water from the Black Lake, let alone create this monstrosity?

And now—the monster moved.

It raised its right arm and swung at Voldemort. A projectile of pressurized water shot from its fist, hurtling toward him at breakneck speed.

Despite the unfamiliarity of this magic, Voldemort was no fool—he dodged the attack without hesitation. His eyes widened in shock as the water blast struck the corridor wall behind him, carving a deep crater into the magically reinforced stone.

The sheer force of the attack rivaled some lesser Dark Arts spells! Yet Voldemort was certain this wasn’t dark magic—this was pure, raw physical force, water propelled at an extraordinary speed.

Before he could further analyze this unknown spell, another attack was already upon him—

Ice Nova!

A ring of frost expanded outward from the water elemental, freezing all moisture in its path into solid ice. This was a spell designed to distinguish friend from foe, locking enemies in place while leaving allies unharmed.

But it failed.

A surge of crimson flames erupted from Voldemort’s wand, coalescing into fiery birds that soared through the air. The ice and fire clashed, and in an instant, the freezing water was vaporized into scorching steam. The flames Voldemort had summoned were not only unnaturally hot but carried a sinister, corrupting force. As soon as they appeared, they began consuming everything around them—portraits, statues, even the very walls of Hogwarts itself.

Harry’s water elemental did not back down. It raised both hands and summoned even more water, causing pipes to burst open and flooding the corridor with torrents from the Black Lake.

Water Surge!

A blast of water, thick as an ancient tree trunk, erupted from the elemental’s hands, crashing toward Voldemort. If it struck him directly, the body he possessed would be reduced to nothing more than pulp—casting magic would no longer be an option.

The freezing water surged forward, colliding with Voldemort’s fire, producing a violent cloud of steam. The corridor’s temperature skyrocketed, turning the area into a suffocating sauna. The thick mist obscured all vision—

Then—

A scream pierced through the haze.

Hermione!

Panic surged through Harry. The scream wasn’t alone—he could also hear the deep roars of the two trolls still on her side of the battlefield.

Something was wrong with this fire. It burned endlessly, devouring anything in its path—

Even water.

“Hahahahahahahaha!” Voldemort’s manic laughter echoed through the mist. “Do you see it now, Harry?! This is the power of dark magic! Your summoned beast is useless before Fiendfyre! Given enough time, it will consume Hogwarts entirely—reducing it all to ash!”

Whoosh—!

A sudden gust of wind.

Even the fiery beasts conjured by Voldemort’s spell failed to track the blur that shot past them.

Harry!

Encased in an icy shield formed by the water elemental upon its summoning, Harry charged forward like a bullet. Voldemort flinched, instinctively halting his Fiendfyre and raising a defensive barrier—but Harry wasn’t aiming for him.

He dashed past, slipping effortlessly over the ice-covered floor, moving with fluid precision.

At that moment, the water elemental dissolved into the surrounding lake water, transforming into a massive tidal wave that surged down the corridor, threatening to engulf Voldemort entirely.

But Harry couldn’t spare a thought for that.

Hermione was in danger.

He knew Voldemort would not hesitate to let Fiendfyre consume her if it meant killing him.

When he reached Hermione, she was sitting on the floor, trembling with terror. Her legs had given out beneath her, and though she tried to stand, she could only shuffle backward in desperation.

One of the trolls had noticed her.

It scratched its disproportionately small head, grinned stupidly, and raised its massive club.

Elemental Impact!

The air surged with the power of water, wind, fire, and even earth—ripping a chunk out of the bathroom wall as the attack materialized. Concrete, after all, was just another form of earth.

Now was not the time to worry about Hogwarts’ infrastructure.

The elemental strike crashed into the troll’s skull.

Unlike ordinary spells, this attack carried true weight due to the earth element mixed within it. The impact sent the troll staggering—

But even so, its club still descended toward Hermione.

“Ahhh—!”

Hermione shrieked, instinctively covering her head.

At the last possible second, Harry leaped forward—

His body shimmered, transforming into a translucent spectral wolf. He lunged forward, jaws open, and clamped down on Hermione’s waist, pulling her away just in time!

To Hermione, the world turned upside down as she was flung through the air. The force at her waist left her helpless, like a ragdoll caught in a storm.

When she finally regained her senses, she found herself sprawled on the wet floor, staring up at the massive blue spectral wolf that had saved her. It turned and lunged at the second troll, tackling it to the ground with earth-shaking force.

Her gaze darted to the first troll—

Or rather, what was left of it.

Its head—no, even the flesh near its neck—had been utterly obliterated. Charred remains leaked fresh blood onto the floor as its enormous body collapsed lifelessly.

From the moment the battle began, Hermione had been screaming non-stop.

She thrashed in the water, barely managing to avoid the falling corpse.

"Ugh!!"

It was the first time she had seen such a gruesome corpse, and Hermione couldn't help but gag.

But for Harry, Hermione's reaction was actually a good thing—it at least proved that she was safe. Compared to Voldemort, killing these two trolls had been practically effortless.

The ability to wield magic made a wizard far more dangerous than a troll, no matter how physically strong these creatures might appear.

For Harry, the greatest threat posed by trolls wasn't their brute strength but their stench. To a beast like a wolf, that smell was simply too...

But then again, as a battle-hardened shaman, there was nothing Harry hadn’t encountered before. Compared to ogres, quilboars, demons, and the countless places he'd ventured—including sewers of all kinds—trolls were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

He had even torn a troll's head clean off by biting into its skull and ripping it out with sheer force. The massive ghostly wolf landed on the ground, stepping over the troll’s collapsing corpse. After spitting out the severed head, it turned its gaze back to Voldemort.

It all seemed to happen over a long period, but in reality, only a few seconds had passed. Voldemort had only just sealed the raging water elemental—transformed into a torrent of crashing waves—on the other side of the corridor with a spell. And when he turned back around, Harry had already slain the two trolls and was now staring him down with predatory intensity.

"So this is the soul magic you've mastered?" Voldemort let out a low chuckle, his anger seemingly subsiding as reason once again took hold. "Interesting… Come then, Harry. Show me the true power of your soul magic."

Harry did not speak. He let out a low growl.

The next moment—

"Avada Kedavra!!!"

A blinding green light shot through the corridor, and at the same time, the fiendfyre-controlled beasts under Voldemort’s command lunged at Harry, their fangs bared and claws swiping. He could already feel the searing heat!

Twisting his body with agility, he dodged the Killing Curse and pounced toward Voldemort!

Then—

"Finite Incantatem!!!"

A deep, aged voice suddenly echoed through the corridor.

A visible ring of orange light spread rapidly across the floor, and wherever it passed, the fiendfyre began to wither, its flaming beasts shrinking back in fear.

Even the golden shield surrounding Voldemort flickered rapidly before vanishing completely. Just as the incantation's name suggested, all magic was brought to an end.

As Harry reached Voldemort, the last of the snarling fiendfyre beasts had already been extinguished—

The massive wolf claw slashed downward!

Its razor-sharp talons tore through Voldemort’s entire body!

A piercing black shadow shrieked as it burst forth from the confines of Voldemort’s robes, howling in pain. And yet, at the same time, Voldemort laughed—loud, maniacal, triumphant.

Without uttering another word, he plunged into the floor and disappeared.

A flash of blue light swept through the corridor, and in an instant, the massive spectral wolf was gone. Harry stood once more in human form, his gaze falling upon the remains before him—if they could even be called remains.

It had melted.

Exactly as the word implied, the body Voldemort had possessed had melted.

No flesh. No bones.

Only the black robes remained, soaking in the floodwaters that now covered the corridor. They drifted gently, while thick, tar-like liquid—dark as pitch—slowly seeped from the fabric, dissolving into the water.

Harry stared at the place where Voldemort had vanished.

For the first time, he saw Voldemort’s soul clearly—

And there was no doubt. This was truly his soul. It was not some new Dark creature or shadowy entity, but a fragment of Voldemort’s own spirit, reduced to nothing more than a severed head.

And in that fragment, Harry saw Voldemort’s agony.

Beyond the fundamental torment of splitting his own soul, there was also the damage inflicted by the spectral wolf’s claws—

When transformed into a ghostly wolf, Harry's attacks didn’t just tear through flesh—they wounded the very soul itself.

But all of that was merely an afterthought, a battle analysis to reflect upon later. What truly struck Harry was how familiar Voldemort’s soul fragment looked—

So familiar.

Because back in Azeroth, he had seen a soul fragment just like this before.

Not anywhere else.

But within himself.

More precisely—on his forehead.

That scar.

As a shaman with extraordinary talent, Harry had only discovered the presence of that soul fragment after delving deeply into the ways of the shaman, when he first underwent the elemental infusion that transformed him into an Ascendant.

That was when he first saw it—the Ascension Ritual.

And then—nothing.

Unlike Harry, who had walked far along the path of the shaman, that soul fragment had no consciousness, no understanding of the shamanic ways.

The so-called Ascension Ritual essentially reshaped a shaman’s physical form into one of pure elemental energy. In essence, it turned them into a new type of elemental being.

Throughout the ritual, both body and soul were purified by elemental forces. Only those who had mastered the essence of the elements and wielded them with precision could complete the ritual and attain Ascendant form.

Fire, air, and water.

These were but a few of the many forms an Ascendant could take. Beyond the four classical elements, there were also forms of frost, mercury, and even primal aether.

For Harry, it had simply been a way to gain new power to protect Azeroth.

But for the soul fragment within him—

It had meant only one thing.

Death.

During the ritual, Harry had distinctly sensed the presence of that soul fragment in his forehead. He had watched as it was shattered by the flood of elemental energy—obliterated, erased, leaving not a trace behind.

Not even a final word.

Harry had never known why a soul fragment had been lodged within him in the first place, nor whose careless mistake had left it there. His own soul had always been whole and untainted.

But now—after all these years—the mystery was finally solved.

Harry had never imagined that the fragment had been a piece of Voldemort all along—so small, so insignificant that it hadn’t even retained its own will.

There was no way Voldemort would have intentionally placed a piece of his soul inside his mortal enemy. This could only have been an accident—

An accident from that fateful night eleven years ago.

The sudden revelation left Harry with complicated emotions.

"Vaporize."

Behind him, Dumbledore's voice rang out once more, casting a spell that dispersed the dense mist filling the corridor.

A chorus of splashes echoed as footsteps moved through the flooded hallway, followed by a sharp gasp—

"Oh, heavens!!"

Harry could hear Professor McGonagall’s breath hitch as she exclaimed in shock.

She was utterly horrified by what she saw.

"Is it him, Harry?"

Dumbledore’s voice came, calm and piercing.

"It is, Headmaster."

Harry turned around, scanning the faces of the gathered professors.

"It’s exactly as you feared. He set a trap here."

"—Voldemort."