73.For the Good of Wizardkind

Nice Voldemort POV. PR pivot is real and working. The magic was great, including Dumbledore very clearly playing for keeps. Couple notes:

Voldemort’s hair stood all on end when he saw the caster. Pristine pink robes that stood out like a sore thumb in the fighting, a wizarding cap and eyes twinkling behind the crescent-shaped spectacles. His spread-out intent was immediately rebuffed by a bubbling wave of magic no less thick than his own.

Dumbledore’s entrance is great, down to the pink robes. Not sure why his eyes would be twinkling here though.

Sun-mages. Nur al-Nejoom’s disciples. The dark lord didn’t know how the ICW managed to drag those reclusive fellows out of the City of the Dead, but they spelt trouble.

“Fellows” seems a bit odd for a Voldemort narration. IDK, just doesn’t seem like a word in his vernacular.

I’m curious about the scale of the battle. “Thousands” is a big number for wizards given the stated populations of magical Britain, but a proper coalition would make sense. You’ve piqued my interest in large scale battle tactics with magic. We see combat through the eyes of Voldemort and Dumbledore (and Harry and Juno to a lesser extent), who move mountains. They can slaughter their way through multiple opponents so tactics matter less than for rank and file hitwizards.

You do a good job of showing Voldemort’s fear, which most authors ignore in favor of his hubris. He has both the hubris to attempt to cheat death, and the fear to bother attempting it. He exists in perpetual fear of people like Dumbledore, or being overwhelmed by numbers, but cannot show it as it’d ruin the mask of invulnerability he’s built. That’s great characterization. Him having cold sweats thinking about Lily Potter is fantastic.

Liked seeing Emberwick. The juxtaposition of his presence with his stature was well done. Harry’s phoenix vs Emberwick’s flames will be something, I’m sure.

Poor Ron. Emotional range of a teaspoon despite his growth as a person. Knew Gabby would make trouble for him lol.

Thanks for writing.