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(Enchanting Melodies) Chapter 451: Fimbulwinter
🕑 Added 2025-04-01 14:08:58 +0000 UTCChapter 451: Fimbulwinter
21 June 1995, Nurmengard
As if they were waiting for his words, a familiar man walked out of the shadows, Vlad. Harry had made sure that the vampire would remain far away when Daphne’s ritual took place, to avoid being affected as well. Similarly, Alexander Marinakis appeared in a burst of Lightning, holding a trident in his hand, ready to attack as well. Surprisingly, Grindelwald grinned, “This is going to be fun!”
This was it. The final battle. Months of planning on Harry’s part, and probably thousands of years of meddling, all came to this single fight. This was a race against time, with the three most powerful and skilled mages in the world, other than Grindelwald and Dumbledore, of course, against the Champion of the Dark. They needed to stop him from activating the ritual, to defeat him before he was ready to unleash it, or at least, delay it altogether until it was time for Harry’s plan to finally pay off.
This was, by far, the single most dangerous and unpredictable part of his plan. Harry could have accounted for much, could stack the odds to his favour as much as he could, but it all came down to this single fight where he could win or lose everything.
From the looks of it, the abomination that Grindelwald became seemed to agree. He chuckled, the sound sending shivers down their spines, “For some reason, I always thought it would end like this. No armies, no games, not anymore. Just a battle between you and me, your best allies and mine. I think it was always meant to be this way, magic against magic.”
He was right, of course. What Harry achieved alone was mind-blowing, and he didn’t think anyone could have done more with the resources and time he had. Harry had wiped every vampire from the face of the earth, destroyed Grindelwald’s army, and destroyed his seemingly impregnable fortress, without too many losses. He had outplayed Grindelwald in their little chess match, but cleverness was all nice and good, at the end of the day, it was always going to end in a fight, and the winner would be the one left standing.
Harry didn’t answer for a second, giving a look to Marinakis and Vlad, who also started to circle their opponent, “I suppose this means that our game is over.”
“The game is never over, Peverell. This is just a different sort of move.”
And just like that, he attacked. He created a pulse of Darkness that swallowed everything it touched, which Harry cut in half with a sword of Light. Grindelwald barely dodged as a gigantic slash of Lightning was almost going to bisect him, and his shadow arm elongated, grabbing the man, only to be cut apart by another shadow from the courtesy of Vlad.
The hand quickly morphed back and sent hundreds of shadow spikes at Vlad, which Marinakis shielded against immediately by conjuring a shield of green lightning and Harry used this to his advantage by warping space in front of him and cutting through the Dark Lord’s chest.
The impact created another pulse of Darkness, which Harry redirected upward by warping space all around them, only for his Arcane Hearing to warn him, creating a spherical portal around him, redirecting the thousands of strings of darkness that almost skewered him. Harry created another portal to move away from his position and move his old spherical ones to condense even further, before narrowing into a singularity that threatened to absorb everything in sight.
Grindelwald’s darkness was absorbed until he opened his mouth and released a beam of black flames which wiped away the entire singularity. However, Harry rigged it so that dispelling the space-time manipulation would release the energy used to create it, creating a beam of plasma that raced towards the Dark Lord, which shielded against it by creating a forcefield which resisted it. However, he found himself bound by green chains made of lightning courtesy of Marinakis.
Before he could react, Vlad ran at the Dark Lord at blinding speed, and Harry opened a portal to give the man an ice sword imbued with soul magic. The first vampire grasped the whole plan easily enough and used it to impale Grindelwald in the heart.
It would do much, Harry knew that, but soul magic was the only way to truly harm the man if he could even be called that. Grindelwald had literally turned his body into a physical embodiment of the Dark. It was why he was most likely limited to Dark-based magic, not that it made him any less dangerous. In fact, his spells seemed more potent, and he literally couldn’t be hurt. What they were seeing now was essentially him using the ritual itself to somehow bind his soul to the material realm, meaning that he wouldn’t need a body, not anymore. It was a bit short-sighted since he would die the moment the ritual took place, or at least, he would have, if it wasn’t for the fact that he planned to use it to ascend into a higher being, essentially a god to the magical population that he sought to take with him.
He had transcended the limitations of his body, which made him able to channel almost an unlimited amount of energy from the Dark, and he would heal himself for as long as his connection to the Dark remained.
Well, attacking his soul hadn’t worked so far. Oh, he was such an idiot, no wonder it didn’t work. The man had used his soul as the main catalyst of his own ritual. There was so much energy there that trying to attack it with soul magic would have been akin to punching an ocean. It would literally achieve nothing, especially given that both Grindelwald and Dumbledore had proven themselves to be resistant to soul-based attacks before. No, he needed to come up with something and quickly.
Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted as he saw Grindelwald shatter the ice blade in Vlad’s hands and hoist him up in the air by his neck while growling, “Traitorous worm!”
Grindelwald’s hand morphed into claws, ready to impale his teacher, only for Harry to conjure a portal, making the claw cut off his other hand, allowing Vlad to disappear. The Dark Lord released a growl, and he released another pulse of energy that Harry had to redirect.
When the dust settled, Harry noticed that Grindelwald’s figure was slimmer and the energy more controlled. He looked smaller, with the darkness receding a bit, with a mimicry of skin and humanity taking his place.
Harry turned towards his allies and spoke up, “He’s getting more control over his power. We need to stop him quickly.”
“What do you think we’ve been trying to do so far?” Vlad answered with sarcasm in his tone.
He was right, but it wasn’t working. They were trying to overwhelm a man with essentially unlimited energy at his disposal, the only thing limiting him was the rate of the flow of the energy from his connection to the Dark, but also the fact that Grindelwald’s soul, mutated as it was by his ritual, was still human. His perception of the world was still human, and that had nothing to do with his body.
It was like an idea clicked in Harry’s mind. It had been nothing more than a thought exercise, before, but it could work. It was extremely fitting for this exact situation. He turned towards his allies and spoke up, “I have a plan, but I’ll need you to buy me some time.”
Marinakis nodded and shared a look with Vlad, “That, we can do. I’ve been itching to let loose a bit.”
The former headmaster then opened his hand, and a trident made of Lightning appeared in his hand. Vlad conjured a crimson spear that looked like it was made of blood, “It’s been a while since I used this. I suppose the End of Time is fitting if anything else.”
Grindelwald seemed amused by their conversation more than anything, “Brave, but foolish. And yet, who am I to deny a chance at vengeance? After all, you’re the one who betrayed me, who called me a fool, who said that my dream was impossible, who refused to join me when I almost begged you to. What do you think?”
“Gellert, you were one of the most brilliant men I have ever met, let alone taught. You have achieved greatness, but at what cost? I should have helped you see the error of your ways. I should have helped you instead of scorning you, which I do regret. Because when I look at you, I cannot see the boy I helped raise, the boy I taught, only a monster who is wearing his face.”
The only reaction was that the Dark Lord’s shroud of Darkness rumbled as if it was echoing his mood and he simply stated, “Then you will die with that regret.”
The ground cracked beneath their feet as Grindelwald raised his hand. Shadows coalesced above him, spiralling inward until they formed a jagged blade of writhing darkness, pulsing like a heartbeat. With a single step, he vanished—and reappeared behind Marinakis, blade already descending.
A flash of silver.
The former headmaster spun mid-air, intercepting the blow with his trident. Lightning surged from the weapon, splitting the ground as raw power lashed out. The impact threw both men back, but Marinakis landed steady, sliding across the rubble, eyes locked on Grindelwald.
Before Grindelwald could strike again, Vlad appeared behind him, his crimson spear already in motion. He threw it with a speed that seemed to warp through space itself to find its target. Grindelwald twisted, raising a shield of condensed shadows that shattered on impact, sending a shockwave through the air.
The Dark Lord swung his sword, and a slash of Darkness erupted from the edge, roaring across the battlefield like a tidal wave. Vlad leapt above it, cloak billowing, then twisted mid-air and sent a barrage of spear-shaped blood projectiles down upon Grindelwald.
The man cut through each with clinical grace, his blade moving like ink in water—no wasted motion. Sparks of black energy exploded in every direction as he advanced, step by step, undeterred.
Marinakis raised his trident to the sky, thunder gathering in swirling arcs. A lightning storm speared down upon Grindelwald, turning night to day. But the shadows wrapped around him like armour, absorbing the strikes until only scorched earth remained beneath his feet.
Then he exploded in a pulse of Darkness, which slowly started to gather back into its source until Grindelwald seemed to be as tall as a building, made entirely of shadows and darkness, and he swung his sword, only for Marinakis’ trident to grow almost as large and repel it as well with the collision creating a burst of lightning and thunder that sent everything away.
The lightning started to solidify into an armour around the former headmaster who also grew seemingly as large as his opponent. The two giants were about to meet, only for a black blur to appear out of thin air on Grindelwald’s body of shadows.
It was Vlad. He had stabbed his blood spear into the man, which enlarged immediately.
But it didn’t stop there.
With a growl that echoed like a curse from the depths of the earth, Vlad gripped the spear and channelled his magic into it. Blood erupted from the ground—rivers of it, flowing toward Grindelwald like they were answering a summons. Dozens of crimson pikes erupted upward, impaling the Dark Lord’s massive shadow-form like jagged thorns through flesh.
Grindelwald roared in fury, darkness flaring, trying to dissolve the spears—but they held, with Vlad using his very magic to maintain them, using them to channel a Blood Magic spell. Harry didn’t know what price Vlad paid, but its purpose was to destabilize Grindelwald’s connection to the Dark. It seemingly worked, for a fraction of a second; the Dark Lord’s form trembled, destabilized—shadow limbs flickering in and out of reality. It was just for a heartbeat.
That was all Marinakis needed.
His armour, gleaming with electric fury, began to dissolve—streams of energy flowing into his trident, which pulsed brighter and brighter until it could no longer hold shape. It warped, shimmered—and then burst forth in a radiant explosion of light.
The trident had transformed into a colossal creature of storm and spirit—wings of lightning, hooves of starlight. A Pegasus, forged from the very essence of thunder and almost divine wrath.
It reared, then leapt into the sky, galloping through the clouds, and as it soared, the sky split. Reality bent beneath its hooves. A shockwave of light followed it, parting the heavens as it dived.
Grindelwald, still reeling, snarled—and raised his hands.
A massive sphere of energy coalesced before him—pure, undiluted Dark. He unleashed it in a roar, a torrent of void energy meeting the divine beast mid-flight.
The sky collapsed.
The two forces met in a colossal impact, swallowing the horizon in white and black, silence and thunder. The battlefield disappeared beneath a dome of annihilation; the sound sucked from the world. For a second, the world its breath.
Then—
The world detonated. Wind, light, ash. Magic warped into static. The earth cracked for miles. And as the shockwave blew outward, even Grindelwald’s shadow-form was ripped apart, scattered like ash in the storm.
Silence returned, deafening.
And from the scorched ground, the Pegasus—broken, fading—dissolved into sparks that drifted upward like dying stars.
Only one figure still stood amidst the ruin.
Harry.
He could still sense Grindelwald’s soul, obviously going to regenerate soon, but for this fraction of a second, he could enact his plan. He whispered to himself, “Fimbulwinter.”
Norse runes started to glow from the entire battlefield, glowing, and yet for the casual observer, they looked like they were shifting in and out of reality, a small side-effect of using them with Solomon’s magic. From them, a coldness unlike the world had ever seen existed, not just on a physical level, but capable of freezing souls themselves. Ice crept from the ground, with Time itself slowly slowing to a halt. Harry could see his every breath stop.
He could see Grindelwald’s form slowly flicker into existence, the Dark trying to manifest his soul into existence, but Harry didn’t let it. He increased his magic, slowing things down even further. But it wouldn’t be enough. Harry knew that perfectly well, and instead, he started to sing.
It started slowly, like a small pulse of energy, a realm born beneath his feet and expanding until covered the entire valley. He could feel Grindelwald trying to rage, but that was his weakness. For all his existence, he was still a mortal and saw the world as one. He was bound to the laws of Time like every person was.
Each note was a concept, a law, an edict echoing through the fabric of reality itself. The realm that bloomed from beneath his feet was no longer Earth—it was a domain, a sealed world where only one will held dominion: his.
Fimbulwinter was not just a spell, it was a concept, a myth, of an eternal winter before Ragnarok. It was carved into the very world, and using it as a beacon for his realm made it more stable and more real.
Ice formed around Grindelwald’s soul as it tried to manifest, but Harry held it firm once more. The Dark writhed, but every twitch became slower, dimmer, and still Harry sang.
He could feel his magic circuits burning. Even with the efficiency of Solomon’s magic, Harry could only keep a fucking realm going for so long. He had literally improvised this, and yet, he only had to keep it for a little longer.
Just a little longer.
That was what he kept saying to himself. He only to get Grindelwald not to activate his ritual for as long as possible, until, hopefully, his plan worked. It was close, he could tell. It was so close.
Just a little longer.
Until he felt his knees buckle.
Something was trying to break in. Something was trying to destroy his realm.
He felt a flash of agony with every attempt he rebuffed. Something outer, something more, wanted to break it. Harry could only do so much until there was a small crack.
It was minuscule, but it was more than enough to consume it. The very Dark, chaotic, and destructive, leaked through and unravelled the spell, essentially attempting to subsume the entire realm and save its champion.
And just like that, the entire realm cracked, like glass, and Harry found himself kneeling in the material realm once more, with Grindelwald slowly reforming himself once more.
It wasn’t fair.
Harry had won. He had him literally imprisoned, frozen in time and space.
He wanted to rage and scream at it all, but he stopped himself. The young magic had still achieved something. He had still delayed the ritual by a lot. He steeled himself and slowly stood up, watching Grindelwald whose amusement had faded completely, “I underestimated you. I didn’t think I could, not after what you have done before, but you would have achieved is delay my ascension for just a few hours. You cannot fight against infinity. Goodbye, Peverell. You were a worthy opponent.”
Slowly but surely, hundreds of Dark constructs started to encircle Harry, trapping him beneath them, hoping to snuff him out.
Until they were cut apart with a slice of energy, which fractured the world like a broken mirror.
It wasn’t fire. It wasn’t lightning. It wasn’t anything of this world.
The slash burned in every colour—and none. A prismatic, shifting blade of pure dimensional chaos carved through the constructs, disintegrating them. No, it was better to say that it unmade them. Harry’s previous scythe appeared back in his hand, but in the place of his blade was a swirling edge of fractal light, as if reality itself had been bent, layered, and folded into a weapon.
He raised his weapon against Grindelwald and spoke up, his voice echoing over what remained of the battlefield, “You’re not the only one who can break the rules of the game, Grindelwald.”
AN: This took a lot out of me to write and I’m not sure I pulled it off quite right. The goal was to have Vlad and Marinakis shine a bit. I didn’t really show them fighting before and it was fun. Other than that, I guess I wanted the Harry vs Grindelwald fight to have its own chapter, like a proper fight, without anyone else being involved. To be honest, I’m not sure it came out like I wanted it to, but I don’t mind rewriting it depending on your feedback. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Comments
Anthony
Thank you
Abe 7
Marinakis and Vlad proved to be stellar allies. Wonder when and where Dumbledore is going to step in to help Grindelwald. Awesome fight sequence. 👍🏽 Well done indeed
Afterdark230
Wonderfully done again. It’s time to really see what Harry is made of!
