Duel in the Ministry Atrium

The duel in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic was a critical duel fought between Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic at the end of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in June of 1996. It was almost certainly one of the greatest duels of the generation.

The Duel


The duel began when Voldemort entered the Ministry, to find out if the Prophecy was destroyed and to try once again to kill Harry Potter, who had been chasing Bellatrix Lestrange from the Department of Mysteries and was then in the Ministry Atrium. Dumbledore, following Harry, intervened as Voldemort was about to kill Harry. Enchanting the statues from the Fountain of Magical Brethren to protect Harry, immobilise Bellatrix, and warn important Ministry officials, Dumbledore proceeded to take on the Dark Lord. Voldemort responded by Apparating near the fountain pool and firing a curse at Dumbledore, which missed.

After Voldemort missed hitting Dumbledore, he then sent a powerful spell at Voldemort, that the Dark Lord was forced to block with a Silver shield; the spell did not harm the shield, but made a deep gong-like sound as it was deflected. Voldemort realised that the nature of the spell was not meant to kill him, and, surprised, tried once again to kill Dumbledore; this time, the centaur statue intercepted the curse and was destroyed. Dumbledore then cast a fiery rope around Voldemort, which Voldemort transfigured into a snake and sent after Dumbledore. Voldemort again disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the fountain, sending another Killing Curse at Dumbledore. The snake and the curse nearly struck simultaneously, but Fawkes the phoenix sacrificed himself by diving into the path of the curse. He burst into flames and was immediately reborn as a tiny, featherless phoenix.

Dumbledore then simultaneously caused the snake to vanish while raising the water from the fountain to surround Voldemort. Voldemort struggled unsuccessfully to throw off the suffocating sheet of water until he finally Disapparated out. After a brief pause where Dumbledore showed his first sign of alarm during the duel, Voldemort attempted to possess Harry in the hopes that Dumbledore would sacrifice him to kill the Dark Lord. However, the power of Harry's love made it impossible for him to possess Harry, and he fled, taking Bellatrix with him, but not before he was seen by Ministry officials who had just Apparated into the Ministry. The duel was over, Harry was saved, and the Ministry could no longer deny the fact that Voldemort had returned.

Ministry Duel, film version
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix after Harry chases Bellatrix, in rage of Sirius Black's death, he attempts to use the Cruciatus Curse on her. The spell knocks her down, but doesn't cause her prolonged pain. Harry stands over her with his wand pointed at her, while the Dark Lord's voice whispers to him to give into his hatred and kill her. Voldemort Apparates into the atrium and Bellatrix laughs. Harry turns on Voldemort, who Disarms him with a slashing wave of his hand. At that moment Dumbledore appears from one of the fireplaces by way of the Floo Network, and warns Voldemort that the Aurors are on their way.



Voldemort attacks Dumbledore with a jet of green light (possibly Avada Kedavra), which Dumbledore counters with a cord of red light (possibly Expelliarmus or Stupefy). During the chaos, Bellatrix disappears through the Floo Network. As both spells collide and the two wands connect in a manner similar to Priori Incantatem (though not truly Priori Incantatem because one wand does not force the other to relive its most recent spells, this only happens if both wands share the same core), Harry backs away to a wall behind Dumbledore. Voldemort attempts several times to direct his curse (still locked in battle with Dumbledore's wand) towards Harry, with lightning-like tendrils popping off from the main beam, but is unsuccessful and merely destroys part of the wall, causing some of the tiles to chip off.



Voldemort slashes his wand to break the connection and as the smoke clears he conjures a huge, flying serpent (possibly Fiendfyre). Dumbledore backs up and slashes at the creature with his wand, dispelling the flames that Dumbledore then gathers for himself and sends them hurtling towards Voldemort. Voldemort likewise defends himself, causing the flames to disappear. Dumbledore then nonverbally casts a hydrokinetic spell (most likely some form of Aqua Eructo) where he draws the waters of the Fountain of Magical Brethren so that they erupt from their container and surround and encase Lord Voldemort inside an enchanted sphere of water in an apparent attempt to drown him. Dumbledore maintains the shape of the water sphere by continually sculpting and spinning it.

Harry gets too close to the duel, necessitating that Albus Dumbledore magically repels him away whilst attempting to maintain his spell and breaks Dumbledore's concentration, this combined with Voldemort slashing through the water causes the sphere to collapse, allowing Voldemort to escape from his watery prison. Voldemort then casts a large, continuous torrent of darkness towards Harry, but Dumbledore holds it back with an exceedingly powerful charm (possibly Protego or Protego Horribilis). In a second attack, Voldemort gathers the black energy into a ball of incandescent light, which he releases with roar, sending the energy in all directions; this explosion of Dark energy knocks over Dumbledore and Harry and causes all the windows in the Atrium to shatter.

"You're the weak one. And you'll never know love. Or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."

- Harry breaking Voldemort's possession over him.

The millions of tiny shards of glass start to rain down upon Voldemort and with a flick of his wand he magically diverts their path, causing them to home in on Dumbledore and Harry mid-way through their descent, to which Dumbledore responds by transfiguring the shards into sand en route by means of transparent, bluish-white shield. The Dark Lord then conjures a small whirlwind which whips up the sand around him. As it falls to the ground, the Dark Lord appears to have Disapparated. However, he then attempts to possess and torture Harry. Harry tries to fight back, but is unable to do so until his friends enter the hall. He is reminded of all the happiness he has had with the people he loves, and as he fills with emotion he is able to eject Voldemort from his body.

Voldemort materialises above Harry, and appears to nonverbally cast some form of Shield Charm around himself and Harry. A faint ring of sand encircles them, floating in mid-air, and whilst Dumbledore seems to be touching the edge of the barrier, his gaze appears fized on Voldemort. Voldemort advances on Harry, but at that moment the Minister for Magic and various Aurors arrive through the fireplaces in time to see Voldemort just before he Disapparates in another whirlwind of sand.

The duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort ends in a stalemate as Voldemort flees. Harry and Dumbledore are vindicated, Fudge is forced to admit that he has been wrong about the Dark Lord, and the Second Wizarding War begins.

Ministry Duel, game version
In the video game Dumbledore arrives and duels with Voldemort. There are four stages for the player to complete. The player as Dumbledore duels Voldemort using the spells learned in the game in Stage 1. Then in Stage 2 Voldemort can absorb any spell that the player casts at him and then throws it back at Dumbledore. Stage 3 is the same concept as Stage 1, but this time Voldemort will be floating chairs and tables against the player. Stage 4 the player becomes Harry forcing Voldemort out of his mind. After Voldemort has been dealt enough damage a cutscene happens with Harry telling Voldemort he'll never know love or friendship or true loyalty and he feels sorry for him (exactly what he says in the film). The Aurors appear and so does Fudge and they must admit Voldemort has returned.

But in the DS version they engage in a normal duel.

Significance

 * Benchmark for the start of the Second Wizarding War.
 * Causes the Minister for Magic to finally accept Voldemort's return

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7