Fawkes's fire of rebirth finally went out.
Fawkes turned into an egg and flew into Dumbledore's hands. Having lost the fire of rebirth, he could no longer rise again from the ashes. He could only turn himself into an egg and wait for a second life.
But Fawkes had bought Hogwarts quite a bit of time.
In the courtyard, Professor Flitwick raised a massive shield over the entire castle. One stream of magical light after another shot into the air and poured into the barrier, making it even stronger.
Dumbledore joined in as well, adding his own strength to the shield protecting Hogwarts.
"Piertotum Locomotor!"
At Professor McGonagall's command, the stone statues on Hogwarts' walls leapt down.
They formed ranks and charged into the gray fog beyond the shield.
"The rear bridge has already been blown up. The gray fog won't get through for a while." Professor McGonagall came to Dumbledore's side, looked at the phoenix egg in his hand, and sighed.
"We can hold out, can't we?"
Dumbledore said nothing. Stroking the phoenix egg, still faintly warm, he looked at the gray mist eating away at the shield and let out a sigh.
Whether they could hold out depended entirely on whether that barrier could withstand Death God's power. Even a few extra seconds would buy Grindelwald more time.
The teachers and students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang all watched expectantly as Hogwarts' enchanted stone guardians charged into the mist.
But those powerful constructs, more resistant to magic than even dragons, barely made any impact at all. Instead, they were seized by Death God's power and turned around to attack Hogwarts' barrier.
And the barrier was already struggling under the erosion of the fog. Spots of light kept flaring across its surface, magic concentrating there under focused attack, a sign that the defense had no choice but to reinforce itself in patches.
The shield would not last much longer.
The students gathered in the courtyard saw it too, and sorrow spread across their faces.
"Waaah... I don't want to die yet."
"What is even happening? Where did these monsters come from?"
"Mum... Dad..."
"Shut the hell up. I can see your mum and dad. They're outside waiting to skin you alive."
That came from a Slytherin student. His parents had been Death Eaters, had died earlier, and were now serving as Voldemort's claws.
The professors were not doing much better.
Professor Trelawney, who taught Divination, had retreated into a corner and was muttering to herself, "We're all going to die, all going to die..."
But not everyone had given up hope of survival.
In the middle of that atmosphere of despair, the other two headmasters found Dumbledore.
"Lift Hogwarts' anti-Apparition wards!" Maxime shouted. "What is the point of defending the place now? Let us leave!"
Dumbledore gave Maxime and the grim-faced Karkaroff a glance and said calmly, "I lifted them long ago. You should have felt it."
Maxime clenched her teeth, barely stopping herself from swearing.
She had felt it. The magic blocking Apparition had indeed vanished. But she still could not use Apparition.
The chaotic magical interference was disrupting all forms of magical travel, and even the Floo Network had been sealed off. She was deeply afraid that if she tried to Apparate, she would plunge straight into the gray fog and be torn apart by ghosts.
Her big frame would not withstand a pack of ghosts gnawing on her.
"Then what are we supposed to do now?" Maxime shouted, losing control. "Do you know how outstanding the students I brought are? Their deaths would be a loss to the world."
Dumbledore shot her a look. What a ridiculous thing to say. As if the deaths of Hogwarts students would not be a loss too.
Karkaroff was calmer. Fixing his gaze on Dumbledore, he asked, "How much longer can the shield last?"
"Five minutes? Ten?" Dumbledore shook his head.
"Then Hogwarts doesn't have some secret passage to escape through?" Karkaroff asked.
Dumbledore shook his head again.
He could not say it. Revealing an escape tunnel now would only cause greater chaos. The passage was too narrow, there were too many people, and people might even start fighting each other to get out first.
Karkaroff clenched his jaw, thinking that if it came to that, he would have no choice but to call Father God down. He only did not know whether Father God could defeat Voldemort.
Dumbledore glanced at Karkaroff's odd expression, but what he was really thinking about was Leonard.
That boy had vanished a while ago. Where had he gone? Had he gone to help Gellert?
Meanwhile, as despair spread through the crowd, some students started letting go of all restraint.
No matter what, before dying, they should at least confess, right?
Ernie ran over to Fleur, hesitated for ages, then finally gathered his courage and asked, "Miss Delacour, do you have a boyfriend?"
Fleur looked up at the steadily cracking barrier and answered casually, "No."
"Then... what do you think of me?" Ernie asked hopefully. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. It's just, at a time like this, I don't want to leave regrets behind."
"I understand." Fleur smiled. "But I'm sorry. You're not my type."
"Oh... is that so?" Ernie scratched his head awkwardly. "Then what kind of person do you like?"
"At the very least, someone who can resolve this crisis," Fleur said.
"Someone who can resolve this disaster?" Ernie was dumbfounded. If even Dumbledore had no answer, then who possibly could?
Suddenly, a violent explosion sounded in the sky. The barrier protecting Hogwarts had finally reached its end. Huge bursts of light flared out, and the whole shield exploded.
That beautiful radiance, scattering like fireworks, drained all color from the faces of the teachers and students.
They were finished.
In the distance, Voldemort's shrill laughter rang in Grindelwald's ears.
"It's over. Dumbledore will be drowned under my servants, and you're finished!" Voldemort said wildly. If he had not still been too wary to appear directly in front of Grindelwald, he would have danced to express his delight.
Grindelwald looked toward Hogwarts. Looking at the beautiful glow of the shield shattering, he suddenly smiled.
"Isn't it still a little early to say it's over?" he said.
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, the earth began to tremble. The vibration spread throughout Hogwarts, as if countless armies were trampling over the land.
"What's that sound?"
"Has something else happened? Can't they just make it quick?"
The teachers and students let out miserable cries, but then the professors standing at the edges noticed something.
"No, wait. Something's bursting out of the gray fog. So many ghosts are being destroyed!"
"Those look like plants. Is that where the sound is coming from?"
Ernie and Fleur saw the change inside the fog too. Joy lit Fleur's face, and in that instant it felt as though the whole world had brightened.
"Look. He's here," Fleur said, pointing at the plants with absolute certainty.
The plants had gone mad.
Towering trees sprang up from nowhere, smashing through the gray fog with unstoppable force and pouring out life as they grew.
Each tree was like those raindrops from before, able to corrode the gray fog and destroy the ghosts within it, carving out one fog-free safe zone after another in that sea of mist.
But that was only the beginning. Soon those rapidly grown trees began to scatter seeds. Wherever the seeds landed, they took root, in soil, on rock, inside buildings, even on the surface of water, and in moments countless plants sprouted and grew wildly.
Those seeds did not become more giant trees. Instead, they took on all kinds of different forms.
Vines twisted and knotted together as five-meter treefolk hauled themselves upright. Layers of hopping cabbages bounced clumsily across the ground.
Every one of these living plants could open up a patch of pure land inside the gray fog, and their aggression far surpassed that of the giant trees. They began actively hunting ghosts and the Death Eaters among them.
The spread of the fog was halted. Under the assault of the plants covering the mountains and plains, it even began to retreat.
Ignoring Grindelwald beside him, Voldemort burst out of the world of death and cried out hoarsely as he stared at Hogwarts in the distance, "Impossible. What did you do?"
Voldemort's mindset cracked. He had thought he would wipe out Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore in one stroke, but instead the situation had turned around.
Where had all these damned plants come from?
Wait...
Plants? That student...
Grindelwald smiled. The weight on his heart finally eased a little.
"Can't you tell?" he said with a laugh. "The tide has turned. Now it's my turn to hold you here. Don't even think about escaping. This time, neither of us is leaving unless the other dies."
Before his words had even settled, Grindelwald wrapped himself in a massive surge of magic and crashed toward Voldemort like a meteor.
Voldemort tried to flee, but that terrifying assault, reckless and unconcerned with cost or consequence, pinned him in place.
Boom.
With a huge crash, Voldemort's body was hurled away. His body was left in tatters, and he could feel that for a short time at least, he had already lost the ability to flee.
A violent storm of chaotic magic had completely sealed off the area.
"Heh... so what? I'm immortal. No matter how powerful the force, it still can't kill me." Realizing that escape was impossible, Voldemort stopped dodging and started attacking in earnest.
The gray fog carrying Death God's power gathered around him. Endless souls poured into his body, swelling his power more and more.
The ground trembled. Seeing Voldemort's aura rising higher and higher without the slightest sign of retreat, Grindelwald showed no fear. Vast amounts of surrounding matter came to his hand as easily as breathing and were shaped into deadly magical creatures that hurled themselves at Voldemort.
In an instant, thunderous sounds of slaughter shook the sky. Even faraway Hogwarts could hear the scale of the battle.
"What exactly is happening over there?"
"It sounds like someone's fighting?"
"How is that possible? What kind of wizard could fight at that level?"
Now that they were no longer in immediate danger, the students' thoughts became lively again, and they stared toward the site of the battle in open curiosity.
Plants were still constantly sprouting there too, but they were always shredded apart by the clashing magic and turned into pure magical power that fed into the battle.
That place had already become a swirling, entangled storm of magic.
"Could one of them be Voldemort?" Professor McGonagall looked into the distance, horrified. "Then who's the other?"
Dumbledore did not answer. He watched the battlefield with furrowed brows, thought for a moment, then said, "Send everyone away. You and Madame Maxime should talk and arrange for them to leave in Beauxbatons' carriage."
"Albus? What are you worried about?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Looking at the escalating battle, Dumbledore said in a low voice, "I'm staying here. I need to see how this fight ends."