Voldemort: Seven Down to Three

Dumbledore, who had been advancing slowly, suddenly flicked his wand.

The blue Fiendfyre was briefly granted life.

Just as the majestic lion-shaped flame creature let out its first roar upon being born,

its life came to an abrupt end.

It scattered apart.

An invisible spell had ended its life.

But it had also blocked a fatal strike for its creator.

Dumbledore's mind raced as the scene just now replayed over and over in his head.

Before long, he found the key detail.

At the instant the lion died, an almost imperceptible flash of green light had appeared in the air.

A century of reading and accumulated magical knowledge converged at that moment, and guided by his sharp intuition, he reached a conclusion.

That was the Killing Curse!

It and its caster were in the intermediate stage between Apparition and reappearing.

They could not be observed at all before they reappeared!

Against a Demigod Wizard with lopsided abilities and dull wizarding instincts,

someone like Voldemort, for example,

he would very likely be killed the first time he encountered it.

If he had not created Horcruxes, only death would await Voldemort!

When had a counterfeit become stronger than the original?!

Combined with the methods by which the seven Voldemorts had vanished, as well as the identity of the dead Voldemorts,

the identity of this Voldemort surfaced in his mind—Rabastan Lestrange!

Because of him, that brute of an older brother of his, who loved brawling, acted with reckless straightforwardness, and liked launching overconfident sneak attacks, had managed to graduate in one piece.

"Truly remarkable, wouldn't you say, Rabastan?" As Dumbledore's words fell,

the scattered Fiendfyre was granted life once more.

A massive fire phoenix spread its wings, completely enclosing Dumbledore within them.

What Dumbledore did not know, however,

was that Rabastan was not