SWNOVELXO Chapter 437: Banishment
Tendrils of sharp-toothed darkness suddenly burst through the brick wall behind Oleandra's back on all sides. Not a moment too soon, Oleandra dived to the ground— just in time to avoid the monstrosity's flailing tentacles, which sliced open a gaping hole in Madam Bone's house.
Despite its strange features, Voldemort instantly recognized the monster for what it truly was— a Lethifold. Furthermore, he correctly guessed that this particular Lethifold had been the one to massacre so many of his loyal Death Eaters, including Crabbe and the Werewolf fodder under his command.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort hissed, but the Lethifold twisted its body out of the beam's way.
However, Voldemort was wrong on one account— the creature and its mistress were not in league with Oleandra Greengrass, the eternal thorn in his side. It was more of the opposite!
The Dusk-Elf let out a fearsome war cry, and the Manticore-Lethifold Hybrid screeched, shattering the windowpanes that had survived Oleandra's stunt dive; before swooping over Oleandra's head to bring the fight to Voldemort, whom they had recognized as the greatest threat in the room.
While the Dusk-Elf had received a fourth-year education at Hogwarts, she had failed pretty much all of Hannah Abott's classes, her elven magic circuits too weak to power anything other than first-year spells.
From her studies and general gossip, she knew of Voldemort, but she didn't know what he looked like. And as a result, when Icthiara and Voldemort finally came face to face, they mistook each other as Oleandra's ally— a rare stroke of good luck for the normally unfortunate girl!
Voldemort Conjured himself a silvery shield, which he grabbed with his left hand and held aloft in front of him. Accepting the challenge, the Lethifold rammed squarely into the shield, causing it to resonate like a gong. Its dark tendrils then snaked over the shield's rim, toothed tentacles wrapping around Voldemort's forearm, stripping away the pallid skin…
"Crucio!" Voldemort snarled.
Crackling red lightning smote the Lethifold's dark hide, but it did not seem to know pain, as it continued its onslaught, protecting the Dusk-Elf hidden within its folds.
"By Jove," breathed Amelia Bones, as she watched the Lethifold beginning to slowly smother the Dark Lord. "What is that thing?"
"Never mind that," Oleandra whispered in her ear. "Come on, we need to leave before they realize that they're not the ones they should be fighting…"
"My slippers," Amelia whispered back. "Together, they form an emergency Portkey that leads to—"
"DEPULSO!"
A shockwave of purple energy exploded outwards, with Voldemort at its epicentre— sending the Dusk-Elf flying and blasting Oleandra and Amelia off their feet… as well as knocking down several load-bearing walls.
"Elhaz!" Oleandra shouted, throwing her arms up into the air.
"Arresto Momentum!" shouted Amelia, pointing her wand upwards. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
A deluge of clay tiles, wooden splinters and broken beams fell down upon them, burying the pair alive in debris— but thanks to Madam Bones's magic, they stopped short of squashing them to death. And thanks to her own protective spell, Oleandra escaped relatively unharmed…
"My slippers!" gasped Amelia. "Find them!"
It was taking all of Amelia's concentration to keep the debris from falling on their heads. Even if she had the magical wherewithal to Disapparate away under these conditions, she was certain that Voldemort wouldn't have attempted to ambush her in her own home without first setting up an Anti-Disapparition Jinx to prevent her from fleeing.
Which meant that the only way out of this conundrum were the slippers that she'd turned into a Portkey…
"Accio slippers!" Oleandra chanted. "…Accio slippers!"
But nothing happened.
Either the slippers couldn't navigate their way to her through the mountain of debris, or they had been destroyed. Or perhaps, the Dusk-Elf's presence was weakening Oleandra's Witch's magic, as they were forced to share a heart together…
"Hurry!" Amelia Bones urged her. "I think I can smell smoke!"
The acrid smell of burnt had also reached Oleandra's nose. Furthermore, she could also hear police sirens in the distance…
"ACCIO SLIPPERS!" Oleandra screamed.
This time, her magic obeyed her, and a pair of pink slippers shot out from under Amelia's bed and flew into Oleandra's hands.
"Good," said Madam Bones in relief. "Make them touch each other, and then hold on to me— you'll only have a second or so before—"
"Bombarda."
An explosion rocked the pile of debris under which they were trapped, causing a stray wooden plank to slip out of alignment with the other debris and fall on Amelia's head. Her magic faltered, and the whole thing began to collapse around them!
Oleandra had mere moments to act.
If Voldemort had turned his attention back to them, then she supposed that he must have routed the Dusk-Elf— which meant that she wouldn't have to share her magic with her any more!
"Levioso!" shouted Oleandra.
Oleandra's bet paid off, and a magical sheen covered the debris above her head, stopping it from falling; effectively maintaining her little pocket of breathing room around her.
"Reducto!" Oleandra continued, firing a beam of blue light in the general direction of Voldemort's voice.
The Reductor Curse vaporized an entire section of the collapsed pile of debris, clearing the way out, but also exposing her and Amelia to further danger in the form of a certain Dark Lord. The moment an opening formed in the dome of debris, Transfigured snakes swarmed around Oleandra, hissing and baring their fangs at her.
"Not so strong without your sister, are you, Greengrass?" Voldemort couldn't help but taunt her. "It was a mere fluke that—"
"—that we beat the great and powerful Dark Lord?" Oleandra said smarmily. "Is that what you were going to say?"
Voldemort's pallid face darkened, and in a flash, his wand was pointed straight at her…
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort snarled.
"Cambio Exuvia!" Oleandra screamed, twisting her upper body preternaturally fast to dodge the green beam of death, while pointing her own wand towards her sternum.
…and as far as Voldemort could tell, Oleandra's unknown spell failed.
"Pathetic," Voldemort spat. "To think that such an incompetent fool would cause me such trouble. Well, no more. Avada—"
"Farewell," said Oleandra with a mischievous smile.
And just like that, Voldemort disappeared.
Unbeknownst to Voldemort, Oleandra had swapped her shoes with Amelia's Portkey slippers. She had then clicked her heels together, thereby activating their magic, before finally exchanging the slippers with Voldemort's own shoes with her trickster's Fairy Magic, causing him to get teleported into the heart of the Ministry of Magic instead of her!