Soul Searching/End Game
EG Chapter 17 - End Game
By Chem Prof
This is it! The big one. The one you’ve all been waiting for. In fact, this chapter ended up being twice as long as a normal chapter. Ordinarily I’d break it half way through, but I didn’t think you’d want to wait to see how the battle ended. Isn’t that thoughtful of me? So sit back, take your time, make sure your spouse/parents/children/siblings/boss/roommate or whatever isn’t going to bother you for the next hour or so, and enjoy.
Chapter 17, End Game
Saturday, February 14, 1998
Minerva McGonagall watched as her students boarded the carriages for Hogsmeade, most of them with no idea that they were about to become participants in a battle that was sure to be a turning point in the struggle between the forces of light and darkness. Her stern visage masked the fear and anxiety that were tormenting her inside. Years of suppressing her emotions enabled her to maintain the appearance that today was nothing more than the day that annually marked the celebration of love.
If all went according to plan, the wizarding world would have much more than that to celebrate on this day in future years. If not, well then they wouldn’t feel much like celebrating anything for some time to come. Forcing herself to discard the negative thought and focus on the positive one, she turned back into the castle. There was much work to be done, beginning with turning the Great Hall into a receiving area for evacuated students and casualties.
-ooOoo-
Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones finished up their final briefings of their two Auror detachments in meeting rooms of the Hog’s Head Inn and the Three Broomsticks respectively. In ones and twos the undercover Aurors left the rooms to begin unobtrusively patrolling the streets of the town.
-ooOoo-
Viktor Krum finished talking with Patrick Troy and closed his communicator, then opened his mirror. The two disillusioned strike force teams were in place at either end of Hogsmeade, each with one of the MILAN antitank missile launchers. They were carefully sited to give themselves a maximum clear field of fire. He waited until the mirror cleared and Harry Potter’s face appeared.
“Everyone is in place. No sign of them yet. I’ll let you know when the shooting starts.”
-ooOoo-
Lucius Malfoy finished speaking into the small band around his forearm, directly over his Dark Mark. These clever devices enabled him to communicate with the members of the inner circle of Death Eaters, and with his Lord Voldemort. The Death Eaters were all now in position. Everything was going according to his master’s plan.
Their instructions were twofold. The primary mission was to find Potter and portkey him to Voldemort where the Dark Lord would personally destroy his enemy once and for all. Their secondary mission was to kill Potter’s closest friends: the Granger girl, the youngest Weasley boy and girl, the Longbottom boy, and the Lovegood girl. It would be a fitting payback. Those five and Potter were the ones who had humiliated him and the others in the Department of Mysteries.
He and his fellow Death Eaters were positioned at the places in Hogsmeade that Potter and his friends were most likely to visit, according to Pansy Parkinson. Dolohov was waiting outside Madame Puddifoot’s, Pettigrew near the Shrieking Shack, Avery at the Three Broomsticks, and he himself waited by Honeyduke’s. Macnair was on station near the gates of the castle.
They were all disillusioned and would remain that way until their targets were in sight, no matter what else was happening in the battle. There would be no premature exposure this time. The only possible flaw in the plan would be if Moody spotted one of them with his infernal magical eye. And he was being taken care of. He activated the forearm band again.
“Everyone is in place, my Lord. No sign of them yet.”
-ooOoo-
“Hi Professor Moody.” Alastor Moody stopped as he entered an alleyway, having just emerged from the final briefing of the Order of the Phoenix in the Weasley twins’ shop. He had been musing about how few effective fighters the Order was able to muster for this battle. Arthur and Charlie Weasley were still out of action, as was Molly. Fleur, being pregnant, had to sit this one out. Aside from the members who were Aurors, Podmore, Diggle, and the oldest Weasley boy were the only experienced ones left. Good thing they had inducted Fred and George last year.
No, this battle would be won or lost by the army of students Potter had trained, Krum’s strike force, which Potter was also responsible for, and the Auror detachments that Scrimgeour had sent, mainly because he owed Krum and Potter a favor. Any way you looked at it, everything came down to Potter. The fabled Order of the Phoenix had been reduced to bit players. With all of this on his mind, he turned in annoyance to confront the girl who had just greeted him.
“How many times to I have to tell you kids?” he snapped. “I was never your professor. That was an imposter.” The girl shrank away, duly chastened.
“I’m sorry sir,” she told him as he turned away and headed in a huff into the darker part of the alley. “Stupefy.”
The girl looked around to make sure they were unobserved. “Accio Moody’s magical eye.” She finished up by binding him, and stunning him once more for good measure. Polyjuice is a wonderful thing, Pansy Parkinson thought to herself. She paused to sneer down at the ancient Auror. Constant vigilance indeed, old man.
-ooOoo-
“No sign of Potter, Granger, or the Weasley boy,” reported Macnair as the carriages passed through the gates. “The Weasley girl, Longbottom, and Lovegood are together.”
“Very well,” came the reply. “Everyone, keep looking.”
-ooOoo-
Madame Puddifoot watched the pair of students at one of her tables. He was a tall, handsome black wizard and she was a pretty blonde witch. But to her, the more interesting thing was the way they were acting. She had watched young couples in her establishment for years, and knew how to read all of their body language. Each of these two was very nervous, but for different reasons. Each had something important to say to the other, and they were worried about how their revelations would be taken. From her experience, she was sure that the young man had nothing to worry about. The young woman, on the other hand, was justifiably concerned. She knew it would turn out better if the young man spoke first.
A squeal of delight and an excited hug signaled that his part of the exchange had gone well. Seconds later, the happy witch had a sparkling diamond ring on her finger. But Madame Puddifoot was not going to get a chance to see the remainder of the conversation, as hundreds of screams suddenly filled the air outside on the street.
-ooOoo-
“A mixed force of trolls and inferi just appeared in the middle of the village,” Viktor shouted into the mirror to Harry. “About a hundred each. No Death Eaters, no Voldemort. Krum out.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting with rapidly diminishing patience at Grimmauld Place. They had taken their power boost potions and were ready to go. If Voldemort accompanied the attack on Hogsmeade, they would apparate there and confront him. If he followed his more recent pattern and remained behind, they would apparate to wherever he was located, assuming their spies figured that out. They had hoped that all the Death Eaters would be at Hogsmeade, so they wouldn’t have to face them too.
-ooOoo-
Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Colin were up from their table in a flash. Their assignment had been Honeyduke’s, and they immediately rounded up the startled students. Neville quickly darkened the windows of the store. Dennis Creevy gave his brother a fierce hug, both of them realizing that they might never see each other again.
Dennis had been assigned the critical task of leading this group of students through the tunnel back to Hogwarts, then standing watch at the castle end. They broke apart and he began herding the students down to the cellar. The sounds of an all out battle were beginning outside, and the students were starting to panic. But the presence of the older DA members who seemed calm and in control reassured them that they were going to be all right. Once the last of them disappeared, the remaining fighters shared a determined look. Leaving behind the DA members whose task was to defend the designated stronghold, the foursome went out into the street.
-ooOoo-
A bell rang out in the crowded showroom of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. The twins had linked the bell to a ward designed to set it off if a large number of creatures suddenly appeared in the streets of Hogsmeade. Immediately George flicked his wand and the windows of the store were transfigured into stone walls. As he hurried to the door, Fred spoke out in a magically amplified voice.
“Attention all shoppers. Hogsmeade village is being attacked. Please remain calm and we will evacuate you. If you would all move to the center of the store, Angelina and Alicia will be handing out portkeys to return you to Hogwarts. In addition, each of you will receive one free Wheeze, compliments of the house. Move quickly now and everyone will get out safely.”
In the middle of the quickly forming mob of students, Angelina and Alicia patiently grouped them into threes and fours, passed out the free samples, made sure all of them were touching their portkey, and activated it. In one minute, each girl had sent fifty excited students back to the castle.
At the door, Fred had joined George as his brother was pulling students in off of the streets, and providing diversions to keep the attackers away. Every troll got hit with a small blast of instant darkness powder, which disoriented it until it blundered its way out of the dark area. The inferi, which were at home in the dark, were hit with the corresponding bright light powder, which incapacitated them for a short time.
Once Angelina and Alicia joined them, Fred and George left the witches to defend the stronghold along with some sixth year DA members and they ventured further out into the street to begin destroying the invaders. The first spell they cast was a detection spell, designed to reveal anyone who was disillusioned. Unfortunately, Avery and Malfoy, the two nearest Death Eaters, were outside the range of the charm.
-ooOoo-
As a rule, the residents of Hogsmeade tried to avoid being out and about on the weekends that the Hogwarts students descended upon the village. This time, they had been given little warning of the onslaught, so those who were caught up in it had retreated to the Hog’s Head tavern, which usually had few student visitors. This was the stronghold that the members of the Order of the Phoenix had been assigned to defend.
When the fighting started, Dedalus Diggle, Sturgis Podmore, and Bill Weasley hurried to the doors while Aberforth Dumbledore, in his other identity as the Hog’s Head barman, loudly called on the bar patrons to remain calm and orderly. For a brief instant Bill wondered where Moody had gotten off to, but didn’t have time to pursue the thought as a group of trolls came into view.
-ooOoo-
At Madame Puddifoot’s all thoughts of romance were swept aside as Lavender and Dean quickly gathered the couples at the other tables together in the center of the room. While Lavender methodically handed each pair of students a portkey, made sure they were both holding it, and activated it, Dean went to the door, where he guarded it while more students hurried inside.
Outside, Seamus rounded up every student he could see and sent them running into the tea shop. He had no way of knowing he was being watched by a nearby Death Eater.
Antonin Dolohov was filled with hate. He had seen the tall black student enter Madame Puddifoot’s hand in hand with the voluptuous young blonde. It was disgusting. No, it was an abomination. A mudblood with a pureblood. He made one last check. No sign of Potter or any of the other targeted students. After quickly reporting this information to Malfoy, he joined the end of the line of students going into the tea shop, still disillusioned.
-ooOoo-
Viktor and Troy were astounded at how rapidly Harry’s army of students had responded. Within thirty seconds of the onset of the attack, the streets of the village were cleared of students, giving the MILAN missile launchers a clear shot. In another thirty seconds, the high explosive charges of the antitank missiles had eliminated a third of the invading force before the remainder had scattered and the defenders had begun to engage. Leaving the missile batteries to pick off any additional targets when a clear shot presented itself, the remainder of the strike teams jumped into the fray.
-ooOoo-
Remus and Tonks had been stationed near the Shrieking Shack when the attack began. They quickly reached the few students who had wandered up that far and dispatched them with porkeys. As soon as they finished, they gave the area one last scan and headed for the battle. Just as Tonks apparated away, Remus pulled up short. His enhanced senses smelled a rat.
-ooOoo-
Once Dolohov was inside Madame Puddifoot’s, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Instead of being filled with students in a panic, just waiting for him to kill them, the place was almost deserted. The blonde witch was calmly handing them all portkeys! His rage greater than ever, he pulled out his wand and started a killing curse.
But before he could even finish the incantation, she had dived under a table and his green jet of light merely destroyed a chair. Realizing he had missed his first chance, Dolohov whirled to face her companion, who he knew would not just be standing there taking this lightly.
To his surprise, the kid was pretty good. But the veteran Death Eater was more experienced and as they traded hexes he maneuvered the younger wizard into the center of the room, where the overturned tables and chairs would be in his way, and where he could keep an eye on both of the students. Unfortunately for him, instead of cowering in fright at having just been missed by a killing curse, the young witch was fighting back.
However, Dolohov knew how to fight couples who were in love. They were too worried about each other. He sent a particularly vicious curse at the pretty blonde. Amazingly, she blocked it successfully but it had the desired effect as the distracted black wizard glanced anxiously in her direction to make sure she was OK. That was the opening Dolohov needed, and a full powered Sectumsempra cutting curse, a favorite of Severus Snape’s, severed the boy’s spinal cord and he collapsed, paralyzed from the waist down.
If Dolohov had expected her to crumble in terror, Lavender Brown sorely disappointed him. Seeing the man who was now her fiancé and the father of her unborn child lying before her in a slowly expanding pool of blood sent her into a fury. Erupting from the table she had dodged behind, she advanced on the startled Death Eater behind a flurry of curses. At first, he could only shield, withholding any attack spells until her initial assault was spent. Before that happened, however, he was in for one more surprise.
“Expelliarmus!” Seamus had finished checking the street outside and was wondering what was taking Lavender and Dean so long. As he returned to the entrance to Madame Puddifoot’s he heard a crash inside. Quickly disillusioning himself, he crept through the door just in time to see Lavender’s fierce counterattack. His disarming spell left Dolohov helpless just before a bludgeoning hex and a stunner from her hurled him against the wall and knocked him unconscious.
As soon as Lavender saw that her opponent was down and Seamus was there to take over, she hurried back to Dean. She hadn’t had the chance to tell him about the baby, and now he might never know. Trying unsuccessfully to hold back her tears, she gathered him into her arms and took hold of the special voice activated portkey that had been issued to the elite DA members, which would take them directly to the Hogwarts hospital wing. “Poppy.” She spoke the activation code and the pair vanished, reappearing a second later in the infirmary.
Dean thus became the first serious casualty of the battle. He would not be the last. In the meantime, Seamus magically bound Dolohov, snapped his wand, stunned him once more for good measure, and left him in the corner of the tea shop. Once outside, he sealed the door and ran down the street to join some nearby Order members.
-ooOoo-
Back at Grimmauld Place, the trio’s patience was at its end when Dobby finally appeared. Breathless, the house elf reported that Voldemort was exactly where they had expected him to be, lurking in the Riddle family graveyard. As far as the house elves could tell, he was alone. The bad news was that he had erected some sort of anti house elf barrier that prevented them from coming near the area. If Master Harry went there to confront him, the house elves would be unable to assist. Harry immediately thanked Dobby, gave him a hug, and asked him to inform Viktor.
“Well guys, this is it. This is what we’ve been training for.” Before Harry could continue parroting his former quidditch captain’s pep talk, Hermione was on him with her arms around his neck.
“You can do this Harry,” she blurted out. “You’re a great wizard, you know.” This turned both of their thoughts to the first time she had said this, right before he left her to go face Quirrel, and ultimately Voldemort. Harry couldn’t resist responding in kind.
“You guys are great too, you know. And it’s not just books and cleverness, right Hermione?” Despite the tension of the moment, she managed a small smile and a slight shake of her head. Ron, who had heard this story many times, responded with a weak grin. Harry paused, then looked each of them in the eye. “It’s bravery …”
“Friendship …” added Ron.
“And love …” finished Hermione. She couldn’t resist one last hug, first for Ron, then Harry. “Be careful, Harry.”
Harry pulled away and nodded. “Let’s go.” Ron and Hermione each pulled out their invisibility cloaks, and after a twirl of fabric Harry stood in an empty room. Closing his eyes he concentrated on the place that had haunted his nightmares. With a barely audible pop he disapparated.
-ooOoo-
Outside Honeyduke’s, Lucius Malfoy made another report. “Still no sign of Potter. I have three of the secondary targets in sight.”
The response came back through his forearm band. “Potter is here,” hissed the voice of his master. “I will deal with him. You may proceed against his friends.” With a satisfied smile, Malfoy carefully moved into position.
-ooOoo-
Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Zacharias Smith came out of Scrivenshaft’s to join the battle, having successfully evacuated all of the students inside. Once outside, they found themselves faced with a group of trolls. Zacharias Smith was eager for the challenge. After all, if Potter and Weasley could take one of these out as first years, he ought to be able to handle one as a seventh year. He quickly learned that trolls were every bit as tough as Harry had tried to impress on him, as his stunner merely irritated one of the ugly creatures and caused it to target him first. It was the last lesson he ever learned.
Shaking their heads at their classmate’s arrogant stupidity, the other three quickly adopted the tactics Harry had drilled into them, teaming up with their spells, and went to work. Three simultaneous bludgeoning spells hurled one troll through the wall of a nearby abandoned building, then the combined power of three blasting hexes tore another in half.
-ooOoo-
Remus Lupin searched frantically for the rat animagus that he knew was hiding somewhere nearby. Finally, he located it behind a wall and leapt over it to pounce on his former friend. Just as he was about to grab it, the rat transformed and Peter Pettigrew stood before him once more. A brief exchange of spells quickly disarmed the disgraced former Marauder.
“Remus!” he whined, holding his hands out. “Old friend! Spare me. We were friends, remember? For old time’s sake.”
“Don’t you talk about friendship to me, you traitor!” snarled the enraged werewolf. “Sirius and I spared you the last time and you betrayed us again. Without you Harry would never have had to go through the hell that has been his life for the last three years, and Sirius would still be alive.”
“But I surrender,” whimpered the pathetic little man. “Harry didn’t want you to kill me the last time. He wouldn’t want you to …”
“Don’t you dare speak Harry’s name to me,” roared Remus. “He is everything you never were and never will be.” But even through his anger, Remus knew that the lying traitor was right. Even with everything the rat had done, he still couldn’t kill him in cold blood. Slowly, the weary Marauder lowered his wand.
“Expelliarmus!” Too late, Remus realized that Peter had a backup wand hidden in his sleeve attached to his silver hand. In an instant Pettigrew was behind him, the silver fingers curling around his throat. Remus was easily strong enough to throw him off, but now he became aware for the first time that the tips of Peter’s silver fingers were razor sharp, and his throat would be slit before he could dislodge his captor. Even now, he could feel the poisonous silver seeping into the scratches where Peter’s hand had grabbed him.
“Wormtail! What are you waiting for? Finish him off!” A familiar female voice heralded the sudden appearance of a new participant in this deadly duel.
“Bellatrix!” Peter gasped. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”
“Where I have been is no concern of yours, you sniveling fool. Suffice it to say that I have escaped, and just in time it seems, since you idiots have managed to bungle this attack completely.” Peter had no response to this, but could only gape at the evil witch. “Now, are you going to kill this werewolf or do I have to?” Bellatrix raised her wand and pointed it at Lupin, who had been forced to his knees with Peter’s hand still around his throat. “I thought not, you pathetic coward. Diffindo!”
To both Peter’s and Remus’s surprise, the severing spell sliced cleanly through Peter’s arm, missing Remus completely, and the silver hand fell to the ground. Now Remus turned on his captor, but before he could strike him he was confronted once more by a squealing rat. As he tried to grab the rat it sank its teeth into his hand.
With a yell of pain, Remus hurled the loathsome creature with all of his might, right into the stone wall alongside the road. With a loud snap, the rat’s neck was broken. As Remus stood there panting, the dead body of Peter Pettigrew reappeared. Suddenly remembering the other participant in the fight, Remus turned to see the dark visage of Bellatrix Lestrange disappear as she morphed into the familiar pink hair and petite figure of Nymphadora Tonks.
Remus dropped to his knees as the metamorphmagus caught him in a desperate embrace. He was already weaker than normal due to his recent bout with the full moon, and now the silver induced wound was rapidly taking its toll. “Tonks, I …”
“Shh, save your strength,” the young Auror whispered to her lover. “We’ll get you fixed up in no time.”
Remus had his doubts. He had never felt this weak before. “Tonks, tell Harry …” Once again the pink haired witch interrupted him.
“Don’t you dare give up on me! You are going to tell him yourself, you hear me? Now grab hold of this portkey and let’s get out of here.” Thrusting the charmed bracelet into his hand, she called out the activation signal and suddenly the area around the Shrieking Shack was quiet once more.
-ooOoo-
Harry was once more in the place that he had hoped never to see again. But deep down, he knew that it was fitting that it should end here, where this final drama had begun with the resurrection of his enemy nearly three years before. As he cautiously moved through the tombstones he spotted Voldemort waiting for him.
“So Harry Potter, we meet again,” the evil wizard began to taunt. “Come here. I’ve been waiting for you.” Voldemort made a motion with his wand, but he wasn’t casting a spell at him, so Harry didn’t respond, though he continued to keep his senses on high alert as he approached.
“I’ve made certain that we won’t be interrupted here today,” Voldemort hissed again, and Harry suddenly realized that an anti-apparation jinx had just been cast. “And it would be a shame if you were to leave before we are finished this time, so I’m afraid that portkey you’re probably carrying won’t work either.” The dark wizard was clearly proud of himself. “After all, Harry Potter, you aren’t the only one with access to goblin magic.”
So, Harry mused. Voldemort really does seem to be alone, and he intends to keep it that way – just the two of us. That part of the plan, at least, had worked. “How utterly predictable you are, Harry Potter, and how arrogant,” Voldemort continued to taunt. “Do you actually think that by leaving your friends behind and facing me alone you can keep them safe? Everything that has happened today has been according to my design. Your friends in Hogsmeade are walking into a trap. Five of my most loyal Death Eaters are patiently waiting for them. Their sole task is to ensure that those closest to you will die today. And when I destroy you your failure will be complete. You and all your loved ones will perish.”
Harry fought to keep himself calm. Voldemort had known exactly which buttons to push, as Harry’s greatest fear was that those who loved him would die because of him. He forced himself to think of something else. Geez, this guy sounds just like the evil emperor in Star Wars. I wonder if he can shoot lightning out of his hands. With that image in mind, he regained control of his emotions and returned his foe’s taunts. “You need to get some new lines, Riddle. Do all of you bad guys study from the same book? Is there some Evil Overlord’s manual you use or something?”
Voldemort’s anger flared and he raised his wand to punish this insolent brat. But Harry had determined that he would not wait for his opponent to get the first shot this time. Even as he finished his taunt he cast a full power nonverbal reductor curse. Voldemort was caught by surprise, but not so much that he couldn’t respond. With a disdainful flick of his wand he raised a shield, only to be utterly astonished when Harry’s curse shattered it.
“What have we here?” he hissed, recovering quickly. “Young Harry Potter is far more powerful than he has any right to be. The only one way to increase your power that much is with dark magic. I should know, since I have learned more dark magic than any wizard alive. What delicious irony,” he cackled. “The great hope of the light side has embraced the Dark Arts in order to destroy me. My victory is now complete. Even if you should by some unlikely chance defeat me, I have still won. Once you embrace the Dark Arts they embrace you. And they will never let you go.”
They had continued to circle warily around each other, and now Voldemort stopped. “But I have made myself more powerful than you could ever hope to. And for your presumption you shall suffer before you die. Crucio!”
But Harry was ready for this. He had studied every memory he could find of Voldemort’s attack strategies. He always led with an unforgiveable curse, which would throw his opponent into a panic and off balance. Even if it didn’t connect, the followup attack did. It was exactly how Voldemort had defeated his father. It would not happen to him. He ducked the cruciatus curse and came up firing a spell of his own, just as Voldemort launched his secondary attack.
“Avada Kedavra!”
“Expeliarmus!”
Just as had happened the last time, their wands locked up together, bound by a golden thread. Once again, the thread splintered and a multitude of duplicate threads wove a web around them forming a cage of light. And once more phoenix song filled the air. Now it was a battle of will, and of power.
-ooOoo-
Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillan, and Justin Finch-Fletchly had finished clearing out Dervish and Banges. After carefully sealing and warding the structure, they ventured outside to see if they could help with the battle. The only opponents in their general area were a dozen inferi, who were pursuing a few terrified Hogsmeade townspeople past their location. Their training immediately kicked in, and the tactics they had practiced worked perfectly.
Hannah and Susan each snared half of the inferi with the flaming lasso charm, while Ernie hit them with the napalm grenades and Justin followed with the incendiary grenades. As they watched the animated corpses turn into a belated funeral pyre, they forced themselves to remember that these creatures were already dead, and they were doing them a favor by releasing them from their curse and allowing the bodies to finally be at rest. As they moved carefully off down the street searching for more foes, they wondered if things were going this well everywhere.
They weren’t.
-ooOoo-
Avery was getting impatient. Potter was with the Dark Lord, and there was still no sign of his two closest friends. Malfoy had his sights on the other three. The battle had been going on for some time now, so the others must not be coming. There was a different group of Potter’s friends before him. They would make good alternate targets.
The Three Broomsticks contingent of the elite DA had established a secure perimeter around the popular tavern. So far, Anthony Goldstein had been the only casualty, suffering cracked ribs when he mistakenly got within range of one of the trolls. He had been portkeyed to the Hospital Wing, and the rest were managing the defense successfully. Padma and Parvati were working flawlessly together with the flaming lasso spells and fiery grenades, and Terry Boot and Michael Corner were combining their firepower to keep the trolls at bay.
Avery couldn’t believe how well these students were coordinating their attacks. The Death Eaters had never spent much time practicing coordination. They were accustomed to their victims fleeing in terror when the killing curses started flying, so they had rarely encountered an organized defense. These must be the students that they had heard that Potter had been training. They would very satisfactory substitutes for his mission. He took careful aim at one.
“Avada Kedavra!” Michael Corner crumpled lifelessly to the ground as the rest of the students sprang apart while spinning around to locate their attacker. As his disillusionment charm faded (it took too much effort to maintain the spell while casting killing curses) Avery fired more killing curses.
But to his annoyance, he kept missing as the nimble students dodged every time. Then, they had the audacity to return fire! While he was able to block their curses, it meant that he had to suspend his own attack. Then one of the dark-skinned girls disapparated with a loud pop, followed seconds later by the other. Now this was more in line with his expectations. Mere students should not be able to stand up to an experienced Death Eater. He focused on the remaining student, deciding that killing two of the four would have to suffice. But before he could speak the killing incantation, a blasting hex blew away his wand, along with his arm up to the elbow!
Parvati and Padma had spent many hours on their own time practicing the maneuver they had just pulled off. First Padma would disapparate away, then she would apparate back behind the opponent as the noise of Parvati’s disapparation covered her reappearance. It required perfect timing and coordination, and the twins had pulled it off brilliantly. By the time the pain from his severed arm reached his brain, three more blasting hexes ended Avery’s career as a Death Eater, never knowing what hit him.
But there was no time to celebrate, or mourn. Terry quickly put a portkey on Michael’s body and sent it off, and the grim students resumed their defensive positions.
-ooOoo-
Harry soon became aware that there was a flaw in his plan. He had hoped to engineer a repeat of what had happened in the graveyard on the night of Voldemort’s rebirth. But now he belatedly realized just how weak Voldemort had been on that night, less than an hour after emerging from the cauldron. For the Voldemort standing before him now was almost effortlessly forcing the large beads of light toward his end of the thread. His wand was already beginning to grow hot, and started vibrating. He was forced to grasp the wand with both hands, and concentrate with all of his energy to stop the beads just short. But Voldmort merely stood there with one hand casually holding his wand, seeming to toy with Harry. Once again the horrible cackle rang out.
“You foolish Gryffindor. Did you not think that I would remember the fluke that enabled you to escape me before? Did you really think that you could overpower me, with those pathetic dark rituals you used on yourself? Did you truly believe that I have been doing nothing since we last met? I have strengthened myself beyond your ability to imagine. I am many times more powerful than my newly reborn self that you encountered right here in this very spot. Oh no Harry Potter, make no mistake about it. You are going to die today. I shall utterly destroy you.” Voldmort then reached his free hand into his robes and withdrew a second wand. “But first, you will suffer as you have never suffered before. Crucio!”
But the painful curse never reached its target. Just as it was about to strike Harry, who to the dark lord’s surprise was just standing there with a look of defiance on his face, it impacted on a granite tombstone that seemed to spring up out of nowhere. Astounded, Voldemort darted a look around the graveyard. Had Potter somehow summoned one of the tombstones to himself to block the curse? No, all of the grave markers were still in place. Returning his attention to his foe, he noticed that the inscription on the tombstone was now glowing in bright golden letters.
Tom Marvolo Riddle
1927 - 1998
Furious, he raised his second wand again. “Reducto!” This time a shield appeared in front of the tombstone and the powerful blasting curse exploded against it. What was this madness? As if in answer to his unspoken query, another figure appeared beside Harry as an invisibility cloak dropped to the ground. The figure of a teenage girl. Inside the cage of light.
Hermione had determinedly kept contact with Harry all the way through his apparation to the graveyard, and his initial encounter with Voldemort, in order to be with him within the golden web. Now she was ready to join in the combat and play her part, shielding Harry against whatever the dark lord could throw at him.
Finally Harry spoke up. “Tom, I’d like you to meet one of my best friends, Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is Tom Riddle. I’m sure you’ve heard me speak of him.”
“You!” the enraged wizard shouted. “The mudblood who is so dear to Potter. You think you are so clever. You have merely changed the location of your death. I had already determined that you were to die today. It will only be more fitting now, that I can kill you myself while Potter watches, powerless to prevent it. But first, let me show you what I think of your little trick. Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!”
The first two killing curses destroyed the tombstone Hermione had conjured. No shield could block them. The third he sent streaking at her, trying to catch her off guard. But it was to no avail. She was alert and ready, and easily dodged it. Turning his full attention to her now, he fired a blistering array of curses at her, but to his amazement, she dodged, blocked, or shielded every one of them. Finally, he fired another killing curse at Harry, but she had anticipated that and raised another marble slab in front of him to block that too.
Voldemort paused briefly. He had exerted a lot of magical energy in that flurry, and Potter had taken the opportunity to force the large beads of light back to the midpoint of the golden strand that connected their wands. This slip of a girl was also more powerful than she had any right to be. Even though he was using less than half of his power against her, it should have been enough to break through the shields of a fully mature wizard.
Apparently she had also undergone the dark power strengthening rituals that Potter had. No mudblood could possibly be this powerful naturally. He grudgingly admitted to himself that she was brilliant at detecting and countering his spells. That made it all the more important that she die. A mudblood that talented could not be allowed to live. He decided on a new tactic.
The dark wizard launched a nonverbal series of spells, mixing up spells sent at Harry with ones targeting Hermione. It took all of her attention to keep up, as she needed to determine what spell was being used, which one of them it was intended for, and what was the best counter, all in less than a second’s time. Some she shielded, some she blocked, some she ducked. Through her connection with Harry he also knew when he needed to dodge.
Hermione Granger’s prodigious vocabulary of spells and counters, developed over six and a half years of obsessive, near fanatical study, was being put to the ultimate test. Failure was not an option.
But without her notice, Voldemort had mixed in a nonverbal levitation spell on a boulder behind her, and another nonverbal banishing spell sent it flying toward the back of her head. Just as it was about to crush her skull, another voice rang out. “Reducto!” The boulder was reduced to gravel. Shocked once again, the dark lord turned to see yet another figure appearing from beneath an invisibility cloak on Potter’s other side. This time it was a tall red haired teen.
Once more Potter spoke up in that infuriatingly calm voice. “Tom, I’d like you to meet my other best friend, Ron Weasley. Ron, this is Tom Riddle.”
-ooOoo-
Rubeus Hagrid and his giant half-brother, Grawp, had been charged with guarding the castle gates. As the battle began Hagrid hurried to collect the thestral drawn carriages, hastening them and the few students within back to the safety of the castle. Grawp covered him, easily turning back any trolls who ventured too close. In terms of size and strength, a troll was no match for a giant, and inferi were no more than rag dolls to be tossed casually aside. When Hagrid completed his task, the two of them began to take the offensive, clearing a progressively larger area from the gates of Hogwarts toward the village of Hogsmeade.
Walden Macnair watched all this with increasing anger. He hated all inferior magical beings, and had delighted in his former profession of executioner of wayward magical creatures. As far as he was concerned, they should all be destroyed. And these two, particularly the giant, were interfering with his master’s plans. It was time to take action.
“Avada Kedavra.” Macnair would have preferred to use his axe, as it was more satisfying, but a killing curse was the only way to bring down a giant. He chortled as the half-giant Hagrid rushed to the dead giant’s body. Hagrid needed to die also. He himself was an abomination, being of mixed blood, and he had a ridiculous fondness for the disgusting magical creatures that Macnair hated. Knowing that there was nothing Hagrid could do to him, since the oaf couldn’t even practice magic, Macnair stood and gloated while the brokenhearted gamekeeper’s mournful sobs filled the air. Finally, Hagrid looked his way with hate-filled eyes and Macnair decided to end this drama.
Before he could voice the incantation of the killing curse he screamed as two sets of sharp talons dug into his shoulder. Looking up, he saw to his horror that he was in the grasp of a hippogriff! The hippogriff looked familiar, but before he could place it two crossbow bolts pierced his chest. Apparently Hagrid wasn’t so helpless after all. Unfortunately Macnair didn’t live long enough to appreciate the irony that the executioner of magical beasts had met his end at the claws of one of the creatures that had been intended for his executioner’s axe.
-ooOoo-
Pansy Parkinson had managed to stay out of sight while she waited for her polyjuice potion to wear off. When the attack had started, she had still been in the form of the young Slytherin girl that Crabbe had impersonated the prior year while guarding the Room of Requirement for Draco Malfoy. One of her annoying former classmates had tried to evacuate her from the village, but she had managed to disillusion herself in the confusion and get away.
She missed Draco. He had disappeared on a secret mission in August and she was impatiently waiting for this war to end so he could be released from whatever prison he had been taken to. If he had been captured by the Ministry it would have been easy to free him, but those irritating foreign fighters had been making things more difficult for the dark side.
Finally herself again, she approached Scrivenshaft’s and was incensed to discover that three of the students battling in front of the quill shop were from Slytherin house! What did these traitors think they were doing, fighting against the forces of her master? She raised her wand just as the trio before her immolated the last group of inferi in the area.
“Avada Kedrava!” Blaise Zabini’s lifeless body fell to the ground as Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass whirled to face their erstwhile dormmate. The three pureblood Slytherins stared each other down for an instant, before Tracey and Daphne shared a quick glance and Daphne dropped to her knees by Blaise’s still form.
“Parkinson, you fool!” shouted Tracey. “What do you think you’re doing?” Startled, Pansy could only stare openmouthed at the girl. What was she going on about? While she hesitated, Daphne pulled out a portkey and placed it on Blaise, then muttered something and both of them disappeared with a pop. Now it was just Pansy and Tracey.
“You just killed one of the Dark Lord’s best agents in Hogwarts!” Tracey continued. “The three of us have managed to infiltrate Potter’s army of do-gooders and have been sneaking out information all year. Who do you think helped set up this ambush today?”
“But … but you were just fighting against our allies,” protested the confused Slytherin, lowering her wand slightly.
Tracey rolled her eyes dramatically. “These inhuman creatures are expendable. We had to maintain our cover. We already let them kill the other members of Potter’s little group who were here with us.”
“I … I’m sorry. I didn’t know …” But Pansy’s apology was cut short by her scream, as a slashing hex opened a gash from her wand arm, up over her chest and across her face. She dropped her wand and raised her hands to her face, staring horrified at the blood leaking through her fingers. She screamed again as more slashing hexes reduced her robes to blood soaked tatters. Slowly she dropped first to her knees, then to her side on the dusty street as she gradually lost consciousness.
“Bitch,” Daphne’s voice sounded as she moved forward to rejoin Tracey.
“What took you so long?”
“Well, I had to reappear far enough away that she couldn’t hear me. Not all of us have mastered silent apparation as well as Potter and Granger, after all,” she smirked. “Besides, I wanted to hear that masterful performance you were putting on.”
Tracey gave her a mock glare, and gestured at Pansy. “If she had any brains, she wouldn’t have fallen for your little stunt. She should have realized that portkeys don’t make any noise.”
Daphne shrugged. “She doesn’t, and she didn’t.” Thinking back on her comment about Harry and Hermione, she turned to Tracey and asked, “How do you think they’re doing?”
Tracey knew what she was referring to, and made an attempt at levity. “Probably Granger and Riddle have got themselves into a contest of ‘Name That Spell’ and each is trying to come up with the most exotic hexes they can think of.”
“My money’s on Granger in that one.”
Tracey shook her head sadly. “Riddle’s more than twice as powerful as she is. Sooner or later he’ll simply overpower her, no matter how perfect her blocks or shields are, and she’ll be history.”
“Potter will go berserk if that happens. I wouldn’t want to be in Riddle’s shoes then.”
“I think that’s what she’s counting on.”
“You think she’s going to deliberately sacrifice herself?”
“Not unless she needs to, but I think she’ll willingly do it if she thinks it’s necessary for Potter to win.”
“I can’t imagine loving anyone that much.”
“It goes both ways with them, you know.”
“I know.” She turned her attention back to Pansy’s now motionless figure. “What should we do with her?”
Tracey shrugged. “Leave her. If she’s not dead yet she soon will be.” Looking around, she noticed that the fighting had ended in this section of town. “Come on, let’s find some more Death Eaters to kill.” Daphne nodded and the two disillusioned themselves, then drifted off like a pair of avenging angels of death
-ooOoo-
Lord Voldemort was growing increasingly frustrated. These three children had him totally stymied. Potter was drawing off an unbelievably large amount of his power through the golden thread connecting their wands, and he didn’t seem to be tiring at all. The other pair were as powerful as any two adult wizards he had ever encountered. It was like fighting against Dumbledore and two of his strongest Order members simultaneously. The blasted mudblood was countering everything he was throwing directly at any of the three, and the redhead was covering all three of their backs, and getting in quite a few attack spells as well. Their teamwork was impeccable. It was time to break them up.
‘Imperio.’ Voldemort sent this spell nonverbally, and with no beam of light to give it away Hermione was unable to block it before it struck Ron. Its results were immediately apparent, however. Ron turned toward his friends with a glazed look in his eye.
“Ron!” Hermione screamed. “Fight it off! Come on, you can do it. Fight it off!” Nervously she tried to keep one eye on Ron and one eye on Voldemort. He had stopped attacking them for the time being, putting the effort into subverting Ron, his wand directing their friend like a master puppeteer. If he succeeded, it would be nearly impossible for her to shield Harry from him and Ron simultaneously.
“Ron!” Harry shouted at his best mate. “Focus, Ron. It’s us. You don’t want to do this. You can break free. Don’t let him tell you what to do.” Ron stopped, clearly struggling against the compelling voice in his head. His shield ring was glowing brightly, aiding him in his internal battle. He lowered his wand, but stood there still frozen in place. He would not fight his friends, but he could not break free either.
Hermione blocked another killing curse, as Voldemort evidently decided that he could not bend the young Gryffindor to his will, and tried to kill him again. She could tell by the way that Voldemort’s curse impacted against the stone slab she had conjured that he was weakening. But she could see that Harry was feeling the strain as well. Which would outlast the other?
Deciding on a change of tactics of her own, Hermione sent a quick mental alert to Harry and hurled an instant darkness capsule at their foe, plunging them all into blackness. Taking a risk in the resulting confusion, she took a step back to get clear of Harry and used a summoning spell on Ron, then dropped to one knee, lowered her shoulder and braced herself. Ron crashed into her, was upended, and came to rest in a heap just past her. Ouch, that hurt, she thought, rubbing her shoulder. But at least she had broken him free from the Imperius curse.
Feeling his enemy’s confusion, and in order to distract him from what Hermione was attempting, Harry focused his energy and gave an extra push on their connected wands. The beads of light moved to Voldemort’s side of the golden strand. Just then Hermione, after giving Harry a mental heads up, tossed out the bright light counter capsule and the darkness vanished. Voldemort, who had turned his attention to Harry’s push, was blinded and momentarily thrown off balance. Hermione took this chance to hurl a few attack hexes of her own.
She got him! Catching him by surprise, at least one of her spells made it through the shields he hastily threw up and part of his right shoulder was blasted away. Now the dark lord was absolutely livid. He cauterized the shoulder wound and turned his full fury on the impudent witch who was thwarting his every move. Withdrawing some of his power from his battle with Potter, he sought to eliminate this nuisance once and for all.
Hermione tried her best to shield and block him, but now he was just too powerful for her. His spells consistently shattered her strongest shields, and only her dragonhide armour and her protective necklace kept her alive. As it was, she was getting battered and beaten and was close to collapse. She realized now that she was moments from death. She only hoped her sacrifice had been enough to allow Harry to finish off their deadly foe.
But Harry was not idle during this time either. Seeing Hermione in trouble sent even more power flowing through his body and he poured everything he had into the struggle between the linked wands. The beads now moved inexorably toward Voldemort’s wand and when they were on the verge of entering it the dark wizard was forced to ease back on his assault on Hermione to halt their progress only inches from his defeat.
Suddenly a disarming spell shot through the air from the other side of Hermione and caught Voldemort’s spare wand cleanly, sending it spinning off into the air. Ron had regained his senses and was now back in the contest, catching their foe unawares with an Expeliarmus. Before Voldemort could react, Hermione sent a disintegration hex at the flying wand and destroyed it so that the evil wizard would not be able to summon it back. But the dark lord had one more tactic at his disposal. Just as Hermione was gathering her strength back to renew the attack, and Ron had already begun launching blasting hexes, an eerie glow surrounded the dark lord and every one of the curses was repelled. It was unbelievable. Voldemort had erected an impenetrable shield by the direct mental projection of his magical energy, without using a wand. It required an incalculable amount of magical power. Hermione suspected that not even Dumbledore could have done such a thing. This wasn’t over yet.
-ooOoo-
Viktor Krum was not happy. It was taking longer than he thought it should to clear the trolls and inferi from Hogsmeade. The Aurors were turning out to be little help for some reason. Gradually, his strike teams were working their way from the ends of the village towards the middle, picking up Potter’s student fighters along the way. Up ahead, the center of town was finally coming into view. It appeared that a small group of students were holding their own in front of Honeydukes.
Lucius Malfoy had been judiciously biding his time. This section of town was seeing the heaviest fighting, and it had been difficult to get a clear shot at his three targets. So he cunningly reduced the number of combatants, casting low powered stunning spells (the best he could manage while remaining disillusioned) at Aurors while they were engaging trolls. Usually, this led to the troll gaining the upper hand and crushing the Auror. At last he had eliminated the final Auror and only the three students remained. He decided to have a little fun with them before killing them.
Ginny, Neville, and Luna had been managing to keep Honeydukes safe, but not much else. Colin had been knocked unconscious a bit ago, and had been portkeyed to safety. Now the threesome found themselves in control of only the small section of street in front of the sweetshop. They were, however, working well together, each using their strengths.
Luna was not affected at all by the inferi, apparently regarding them as just another curious kind of magical creature to study. She nonchalantly used the flaming lasso spell to round up any who wandered by, whereupon Ginny expertly tossed the pair of grenades in quick succession to set them ablaze. Neville, with an occasional assist from Ginny, was powerful enough on his own to keep the trolls at bay. After some of them were blown back a few times by his blasting hexes, the rest kept their distance and looked for easier prey.
“Expeliarmus!” The disarming spell caught the three students by surprise, since they had not seen a single Death Eater all day, and they watched in dismay as their wands flew away. Bracing themselves, they saw Lucius Malfoy come into view, his wand pointing at them menacingly. Uneasily, they noticed that they were suddenly alone in the street, and had been maneuvered out of sight of the Honeydukes windows.
“Well, what have we here?” came the sneering voice of Voldemort’s right hand man. “Three blood traitors.” He glared at each of them in turn. “Longbottom, it looks like you’ve grown up a bit since we last met. You’re actually able to fight without tripping over your own feet and bloodying your nose.” Neville kept his cool, refusing to respond to the insult. “And Lovegood, is it?” I don’t believe we’ve met, although I know about your father and that ridiculous excuse for a newspaper he puts out. Too bad the poor fellow lost his mind when your mother died.” Luna only stared at him. The vacant look in her clear blue eyes unnerved him slightly, and he quickly turned his attention to the redhead.
“And Miss Weasley. My, you have certainly turned into a beautiful young woman. Of course the two of us have met before, haven’t we. Still keeping a diary, my dear?” Ginny clenched her fists together as tightly as she could. She had to keep her temper under control. She wasn’t as defenseless as Malfoy thought, but she had to keep calm and bide her time.
Malfoy continued his disgusting comments. “My son has commented to me about how desirable you’d become. Perhaps I won’t kill you right away. He’ll enjoy having a pretty little plaything like you once he’s released.”
Ginny could feel Neville tense himself beside her, and blurted out a response before he could react to the disgusting suggestion. “You stupid sick bastard! Your son isn’t going to play with anyone. He’s dead! You hear? Dead! Hermione Granger killed him last summer. What do you think of that? Your precious pureblood son killed by a muggleborn witch.”
“Shut up, you disgusting little bitch!” Malfoy snarled, losing his composure. Part of him was certain the little witch was just trying to rile him up, but another part feared that she might be right. “You’re going to pay for that insolent remark. Crucio!”
The first part of Ginny’s plan had worked. She had gotten Malfoy to lose control, and to focus his attention on her, leaving the others alone. Now came the hard part. She was the best of all the DA at dodging hexes. She was going to have to use everything Harry had taught her to survive this. She easily evaded the first Cruciatus curse, and managed to avoid the second also. Unfortunately, she stumbled against Neville. Before she could catch her balance and leap away from the third, Neville had pulled her behind himself and stepped right into the path of the painful hex. With a scream he collapsed in agony.
“So, Longbottom,” Malfoy snarled. “You want to play the hero, do you?” Igonoring Ginny for the moment, he twirled his wand and an all too familiar purple hex slammed into Neville as he lay twitching on the ground. “Here’s a favorite of my good friend Dolohov. He …”
Malfoy’s declaration was abruptly terminated as one of Ginny’s throwing knives buried itself into his throat. His eyes bulged out as he dropped his wand and raised his hands to the weapon, trying to extract it. Before he could move any further Ginny was on him, tackling him to the ground, and plunging her second knife repeatedly into his chest, screaming her lungs out.
“Take that, you bloody bastard!” she shrieked at the man who had turned her first year into a living nightmare. “Take that for all the evil, disgusting things you’ve ever done.” Her initial outburst spent, Ginny clambered to her feet, picking up their wands. Then she turned to him again, not finished yet. “Reducto!” Coldly, she began blowing the body of Lucius Malfoy into pieces with the blasting hex.
“Ginny!” Luna’s shout turned her attention away from her grisly work, and she regained her composure. Then she remembered Neville and raced over to where Luna sat, cradling his head, and pulled him into her arms.
“Neville!” she sobbed. “Dear sweet Neville. Why did you do that?”
The hex that Dolohov had perfected and used against Hermione in the Department of Mysteries was designed to destroy a person’s internal organs, leading to an agonizing death. Unlike the one Dolohov had hit Hermione with, this one was delivered at full power. The only thing keeping Neville alive for now was the fact that his dragonhide armour had mitigated the effects somewhat. Fighting to remain conscious, he lifted his eyes to Ginny’s.
“I love you Ginny.”
Ginny could only stare at him with tears streaking down her face as he finally lost his struggle and gave in to the pain, his head slumping to her chest.
Ginny was unable to move until Luna spoke again, while shaking her. “Ginny, we have to get him to Madame Pomfrey.” In a daze Ginny watched while Luna pulled out Neville’s portkey and wrapped both Ginny’s and Neville’s hands around it, then leaned back. “Poppy.” The pair disappeared, leaving Luna all alone in the street.
Luna got up and calmly retrieved her wand and looked around. This apparently had been the final battle of the day. She stood silently and watched while two men raced up. While one of them knelt to examine the remains of Lucius Malfoy, the other turned to her and gave her an admiring appraisal.
“Hello, Viktor Krum,” she said politely. “It’s good to see you.”
-ooOoo-
The battle at the Riddle graveyard had turned one-sided, but was again at a stalemate. Voldemort had no means to attack them and hunkered down behind his glowing shield, focusing all of his attention on the duel with the linked wands, moving the beads away from the danger point. It was back to basics now, a battle of wills and whatever energy remained in each of their depleted stores of magical power. Hermione had used up so much of her magical energy that her attacks on Voldemort’s shield had little discernable effect, but Ron, who was still relatively fresh, was having better results. The shield’s glow flared slightly each time one of his spells impacted.
“Ron, keep it up!” Harry shouted out. “Every hit weakens him a little.” Now all of the training and conditioning Ron had been doing began to pay off. Over and over again, he hurled full power blasting and explosion hexes at their foe. He would keep this up until he collapsed if necessary. Once more, the telltale beads began to slide toward Voldemort’s wand.
For the first time, Lord Voldemort began to sense his imminent defeat. But he was the greatest, most powerful dark lord in history! He refused to be beaten by three schoolchildren! Now he reached deep down within himself, drawing upon all the hatred that had driven him for more than fifty years to crush all who dared oppose him. HE WOULD NOT LOSE!
Hermione watched the contest between the mortal foes in awe. Never had she witnessed such single minded determination from two contestants, locked together in a struggle for everything they believed in. It seemed like they had been going at this for hours. Somehow, she needed to find a way to help Harry tip the balance. She moved up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, willing him to victory, offering him everything she could.
With that thought, the magical necklace resting on her chest began to glow once more. But instead of the customary warm caress that she so enjoyed, it was cold, and seemed to be sucking energy from her body. This was it! This was what they had been told the linked necklace and ring were able to do! Concentrating hard, she willed her magical energy to transfer to Harry, and was rewarded as she felt him gather himself and straighten up, squaring his shoulders as he tapped into this new power source.
As she hugged him for all she was worth, willing every last bit of her magic to him, her hands felt the disillusioned .45 automatic in its holster strapped to Harry’s chest. ‘Take it,’ she heard Harry’s voice say in her mind. She slipped it into her hand as she fell to the ground, totally depleted of all of her magical energy. She had given him everything she had.
Hermione Granger, the most powerful witch of her generation, was now a muggle, just like her parents. The power that she had worked so tirelessly to develop for these past seven years, that had shaped her very identity, was gone.
It was a sacrifice she would gladly make again if she could. For Harry Potter, she would give anything.
But she was not merely a muggle, she reminded herself as she crawled away from Harry. She was a muggle holding a powerful handgun. Exhausted, she pulled herself to her knees, then leaned back, steadied herself, and took aim.
Fueled with Hermione’s magical reserves, but not yet realizing what it had cost her, Harry was finally able to release one hand from his wand and draw out the wand of Lily Evans Potter from its hiding place. With great satisfaction he watched the horrified look on his opponent’s face as he beheld a doubly armed, vengeful Harry Potter. Even as he leveled his mother’s wand toward the evil wizard, the first of the beads on the golden thread linking his own wand with Voldemort’s completed its journey.
Screaming erupted from the wand in Voldemort’s shaking right hand, as the reverse spell effect began. This time, instead of the ghosts of his recent murdered victims appearing, the agonized screams of the recipients of the dozens of cruciatus curses he had cast in the past year filled the air with their hideous sound.
To stop the unbearable cacophony of screams, and to complete the disarming of his foe, Harry repeated Hermione’s earlier action and used Lily’s wand to launch a disintegration spell, to put an end forever to the brother wand of his own. When it hit, Voldemort’s wand exploded in a gratifying blast, taking his hand with it. But to his dismay, Harry realized too late that the brother wands were still connected and the curse shot down the golden thread back to his own wand. In similar fashion, it also vanished in a fiery blast. Belatedly he released it, but not before it shredded his own right hand. The linked pair of phoenix feather wands were no more.
Amidst the noise of the exploding wands, mingled with his own and Voldemort’s screams, Harry barely heard the shots ring out next to him. But their effect was soon evident. The first slug hit the dark lord with the violent jolt of a bludger to the hip, all but knocking him off his feet. The next shot a second later had the same impact but to his shoulder, spinning him around and reopening the wound that Hermione’s earlier spell had created.
Voldemort looked up and stared at the young witch in disbelief, only to be hit again, this time in the stomach, as another gaping hole opened. She fired again, knocking him to the ground as if shoved by a giant. As Hermione emptied the magazine of the automatic weapon, the dark lord’s body continued to jerk at the impacts, and more of the gruesome wounds appeared where the powerful slugs found their mark. When she had finished, the form of Lord Voldemort lay crumbled and broken before them.
Exhausted, Ron dropped to the ground and leaned back against a tombstone and Hermione lay down, trying to recover enough strength to get up. Clutching his torn and bleeding hand, Harry slowly walked toward his downed foe, scarcely believing it was finally over.
It wasn’t. Right before their astonished eyes, the figure of Lord Voldemort stirred, then began to rise. It was only at this point that the three students noticed a curious thing that they had overlooked until then. There was no blood. The massive wounds leaked tissue and bone, but no red fluid emerged. ‘What is this guy, the Terminator?’ Harry thought, and to his horror, the wounds slowly began to close, as Voldemort’s last bit of magic attempted to repair his shattered body.
And only then did the full reality of the situation strike him. Voldemort indeed was not human. Harry himself had witnessed his birth. He had emerged from the cauldron, the product of magic alone. This was no longer a human being. It was merely a vessel housing the last of the seven fragments of Tom Riddle’s soul. It was the final horcrux. And Harry knew what he must do to complete its destruction.
Reaching out with his still functioning left hand, he called forth the sword of Gryffindor and moved resolutely forward to where his nemesis had now managed to move to a kneeling position. But the evil wizard still had a card to play. Before Harry could reach him he thrust out his remaining hand and one last spell issued forth from his fingertips. Crucio! Harry jumped to the side, only to realize to his horror that the spell had not been directed at him. Screams erupted behind him as one of his worst nightmares became reality. Hermione, lying helpless and writhing, screaming in agony under the dark lord’s cruciatus curse.
Acting on pure instinct, Harry lashed out with the sword, severing Voldemort’s remaining arm at the elbow. The curse ended, and Hermione’s screams abruptly ceased. But as much as he needed to know that she was all right, Harry could not turn to look at Hermione, as he dared not divert his attention from his wounded, but still deadly foe.
“Harry, she’s OK!,” came Ron’s voice, filling him with relief. “Finish the bastard off!”
But even facing total defeat, Lord Voldemort remained defiant. As Harry raised the tip of Gryffindor’s blade to his throat, he sneered. “You cannot defeat me, Harry Potter. You may destroy this body, but I shall return once again, more powerful than ever. You have merely delayed the inevitable.”
“But you are wrong, Tom Riddle,” Harry returned calmly. “You are no longer immortal. My friends and I have destroyed your horcruxes. All three of them.”
The high pitched evil cackle of Voldemort pierced the air. “You fool!” he shouted. “You stupid, Gryffindor fool! Seven is the magical number. Seven. You only have half of them. When this body is destroyed my essence will once again fly free, and will easily find some weak creature to possess. Make no mistake. I will return once again and destroy you!”
“Seven, you say,” stated Harry, still calm. “Seven. The diary. The ring. The cup. The dagger. The locket. The snake. And now you. All seven. Farewell, Tom Riddle.”
Complete and utter terror now filled the snakelike visage of the inhuman creature before Harry, as death, the thing he had always feared above all else, was now only moments away. “No! No, you can’t. Join me. Join me and we will rule the world together. I’ll give you anything, anything you want. Whatever you desire will be yours.”
“Anything?” Harry paused, as though considering the offer.
“Anything. Anything you want.”
“Offer me money.”
“Money. All the money you could dream of.”
“Power too. Promise me that.”
“All the power in the world will be yours.”
Ron listened in alarm. What is Harry doing? He can’t possibly be willing to deal with this snake. A groan from Hermione, who he had gathered into his arms, caused him to look down. To his surprise, she had the faintest smirk on her face.
“Offer me anything I ask for.” Harry continued.
“Yes. Yes. Anything.”
“I WANT MY MOTHER AND FATHER BACK YOU SON OF A BITCH!!”
With all the strength he still possessed, Harry thrust the gleaming sword up, through the jaw and into the brain of the creature that had once been Tom Riddle. A more awful scream than any he had yet heard burst forth, a final surge of magic knocked him to the ground, and he was blinded by a flash of light, as the final fragment of the soul of the wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort passed forever from the earth.
Harry crawled over to where Ron sat leaning against the tombstone with Hermione’s head resting in his lap and dropped down next to her. “Hermione,” he gasped, “are you OK?”
Hermione didn’t open her eyes, but there was a slight smile on her face. In a voice that was barely more than a whisper she chided, “I do not believe … that you just destroyed …the most powerful dark lord in history … while quoting a line from The Princess Bride.”
Harry grinned at her. “Hey, I liked that movie.”
But Hermione did not respond. Through the sheer strength of her indomitable will, she had forced her battered, exhausted and magically depleted body to remain conscious until Harry had fulfilled his destiny. The cruciatus curse, striking her when she no longer had any magical defenses, had nearly destroyed her nervous system. Now that she knew that Harry was safe she could finally let go, and succumb to the blissful darkness.
Realizing that Hermione had passed out, Harry turned his attention away from her and noticed that the phoenix song which had issued from the threads of the dome shaped web had not ended when the web dissolved. Now it came closer and he finally spotted Fawkes circling overhead, spiraling in for a landing. Alighting on Harry’s shoulder, Fawkes gave a trill of acknowledgement, then leaned his head over Harry’s bloody hand, which had been torn apart when the wands exploded. In a minute the phoenix tears had healed the wounds and the hand was once again as good as new.
“Thanks again, Fawkes,” Harry said gratefully. “Thanks for everything.” Fawkes gave Harry a long, sorrowful look and Harry realized that this was it. Fawkes had remained behind to complete Dumbledore’s unfinished business, but now his work was done. This was goodbye.
Fighting back tears at the loss of his friend, Harry stroked the soft feathers one final time. Then the phoenix flicked his beautiful tail and a single, perfect tail feather fell into Harry’s hand. Immediately Harry realized that this was the magnificent creature’s last parting gift. One last tail feather for Harry to replace the wand that had just been destroyed. And this time there would be no brother wand. Unable to think of anything to say to express his thanks, Harry could only nod. Fawkes returned the nod, spread his mighty wings, took to the air, and vanished in a bright flash, never to be seen again.
Harry now felt himself fading fast. Looking up at Ron, he realized that ironically, his best mate was leaning against the tombstone of Tom Riddle, the very stone to which Harry had been bound, helpless, as he witnessed the rebirth of Lord Voldemort nearly three years ago. It was uniquely fitting that this same stone should be witness to the dark lord’s final destruction.
“Ron,” Harry finally managed. “We did it mate. We did it.” Then he also let go, and his head came to rest next to Hermione’s. His arm reflexively curled around her waist as the consciousness slowly ebbed from his body, and he fell into a well-deserved rest.
Ron just sat there, watching his two best friends entwined together on his lap. They had indeed done it. Harry had destroyed the scourge of the wizarding world, and Hermione and he had been there with him, fighting together all the way to the end. The boy who had lived all his life in the shadow of his brothers had just taken part in the greatest accomplishment of his lifetime.
He would find fame now, beyond his wildest dreams. But that was no longer so important to him. He finally understood what truly mattered. Harry Potter had fulfilled the prophecy. And he, Ron Weasley, had been there and come through when Harry had needed him the most. The three of them had done it as a team. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Even better than quidditch.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Whew! This was the longest chapter I’ve ever written. What do you think? Wouldn’t this be a good place to end the story? ;-)