The odd part was that he wasn’t nervous at all, and there were no chanting Death Eaters. It was simply him and Voldemort. In a way he was relieved, because no matter what the outcome, at least it would all be over. If he won, he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore, and he certainly wouldn’t if he was dead. He pulled out his wand, scratching his nose slightly. Voldemort chuckled menacingly.
“Finally we arrive at the pivotal moment in this Great War,” he said smoothly, “I have often imagined this moment.”
Harry nodded and muttered, “So have I.”
“Yes, but I’m sure we both know the outcome. Dumbledore isn’t here to save you anymore, little Potter. He’s dead. I made sure of that.”
“No. Dumbledore is not dead. He is very alive. He is…”
“’Still alive within my heart,’” Voldemort mocked in a high-pitched voice. “How disgusting! Still speaking little clichés to make you feel better?” Harry glared, squeezing his wand tightly.
“How about we just start this,” Harry said, annoyed. He shot a nervous glance at the stairs. What if Ginny, Ron, or Hermione came down those steps? They would walk right into a battle and Harry might not be able to protect them.
“Worried about your little friends?” Voldemort asked slyly, and Harry realized he had been reading his unguarded mind. Damn! He had completely forgotten to protect his thoughts! “I am not an imbecile, Potter. Do you really think I would leave stairways open for people to walk down? Am I not the Great Lord Voldemort?”
“What did you do?” Harry said, getting slightly nervous.
"Wouldn't you like to know...” Voldemort said menacingly. He smiled evilly then, waving his wand around. Harry forwned, not sure what to think...had he hurt them? Was Ginny ok? He knew, however, that he needed to stay focused. 'They're fine,' he told himself. He knew Voldemort was trying to get him distracted so he could hit him with a spell. He decided to rid him of that idea.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” Harry yelled, putting all the force he could muster into the wand. Voldemort’s eyes widened, but it hit him square in the face. He fell backwards. Harry stared. Had he done it? Was he dead? Slowly he walked over to Voldemort, and saw blood trickling from his nose. Harry grinned. Well, that was easy!
“CRUCIO!” Voldemort yelled, levitating himself upright immediately. Harry dropped to the ground. “That was your first time trying to kill somebody, wasn’t it, Potter?” His only response was Harry’s screams. He was in agony for the hundredth time that day. He writhed around, twisting his own body into shapes he had never thought possible. He was sobbing uncontrollably. Voldemort lifted the curse. “Yes…yes Harry. This is how it should be. This is how it should have been seventeen years ago. I am in control.” Harry tried desperately to stand up, and managed to do so, but he was shaking viciously. He had to concentrate.
“How do you know that killing me won’t mess with the Prophesy?” Harry gasped, trying to regain his composure.
“Oh, I’m perfectly aware now that it is quite safe to kill you, Potter.”
“How?” Harry gasped, blood trickling out of his mouth. Voldemort gave a devilish grin.
“It was quite easy to get it out of Madam Rosmerta,” he whispered. Harry laughed at first, thinking he was joking.
“You’re desperate, Voldemort. Madam Rosmerta would have no idea about my Prophesy,” Harry said, still laughing brokenly.
“Oh? Is that true? If last I remember, Sirius Black was becoming quite smitten with her. All I had to do was put her under a simple Imperius Curse. She was extremely easy to control,” Voldemort said. Harry’s lungs deflated. Sirius…told Rosmerta? No, he wouldn’t. Would he? If he thought himself in love with her he might…Harry closed his eyes tightly. There was no way out of this one. He looked up at Voldemort, and he remembered his father. He wouldn’t have given up. He didn’t. He knew he was going to die, and yet he still fought for those he loved. His father had fought for Lily. Harry would fight for Ginny.
“EXPELLIARMUS!” he yelled, and to his surprise, and Voldemort’s, it hit the Dark Lord. Harry then ran and hid behind one of the tables propped up against the wall.
“YOU BRAT! AVADA KEDAVRA!” Voldemort yelled. It hit the table Harry was behind, and the table caught on fire. Harry ran to the next one.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” he yelled, and he picked one of the tables up. It swung toward Voldemort.
“Etherellius!” Voldemort muttered, and the table went right through him, and when it should have clattered to the floor, it instead sank right through. Harry stared; Voldemort had made the table intangible! He had to remember that one.
“Stupify! Stupify! Imobiliarmus!” he yelled over the table. Voldemort waved his hand, and a shield appeared in his hand. He deflected the spells, and they all came flying towards Harry. Harry’s eyes widened, and, his heart thumping, he rolled out from behind his hiding place. As the spells hit it, the table exploded into a hundred shards. “Protego,” Harry muttered, and the shards bounced off the invisible dome that now covered him.
“PANERUSTHIA!” Voldemort screamed at the top of his lungs, becoming incensed. He would not let this boy escape again! He pointed his wand at one of the chairs, and it turned immediately into a slinking black panther. It was completely silver, the light dancing off its shiny coat. Its eyes, however, were bright green. Harry froze. He hadn’t expected this. The panther stalked him slowly; it hips swaying threateningly back and forth. It let out a low hiss, barring its extremely large teeth. Harry looked around, and saw a wood shard by his feet. He picked it up, waving it at the cat.
“Here, kitty kitty! Go fetch the stick!” and he threw the stick far away from him. The panther ignored it completely. Harry’s throat tightened. Well, he was worth a try.
“Not so cocky now, are we? I’ll enjoy watching this cat rip you to shreds, Potter,” Voldemort seethed. Harry didn’t reply, but kept his entire attention on the panther. It was inching closer and closer, until finally, it made a huge leap at Harry. Harry leapt to the side. He rolled on the ground, and scrambled up. He knew he couldn’t turn his back to it, or he was dead. Then he had an idea. He focused his entire attention on the many large wooden splinters laying a few feet from the panther. Again he had to leap aside, however, as the beast approached.
“Come on, come on,” Harry muttered soft enough that Voldemort, who was watching with immense pleasure, didn’t hear. “Nice kitty.” The panther swayed around to look at him again, hissing once more. It was getting very frustrated. It crouched, ready to spring again, this time to kill. It was done playing with its prey. Harry took the opportunity.
“Accio wood!” he yelled, focusing his mind on those splinters. They lifted into the air, and shot straight to him. They were intercepted, however, by the panther. The deadly splinters shot into the beautiful animal, several through the chest, one through the leg, and another through its head. Harry felt very sad, but realized also that this wasn’t a real panther. It was a creation of the Dark Lord. Voldemort’s face contorted in rage.
“WHAT?!?” he yelled, as the panther slowly faded, turning back into a chair. “NO!” Harry didn’t wait for him to stop his dramatic ranting.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” they both yelled, Harry first, but then Voldemort, just in time for the two spells to meet in the middle. They clashed together, and for the second time, fused to make a bond of bright white thread. A tiny bead, almost like sweat, or water, was in the middle. Voldemort’s eyes widened in terror.
“NO! NOT AGAIN! NOOO!” he yelled, losing his sanity. Long enough had he dealt with this boy. Long enough had he been forced to the shadows, trying desperately to cling to any amount of life he could muster.
“Priori Incantatum!” Harry muttered in delight. Voldemort started yanking at his wand, pulling with all his might. He ripped and tried desperately to free himself of Harry’s wand, but still he could not break free. They started lifting in the air as they had done last time, Voldemort cursing all the while. He tried to move his hand over to grab Harry’s throat, but a shield of some sort stopped him.
“NO!” Voldemort yelled again, realizing that while he was struggling, Harry was working on getting the bead to his side as it had last time. “NOT AGAIN!”
Harry focused his entire being on the bead of liquid light. He felt much more confident this time, as he had already done it. If only he could get it…but Voldemort had calmed down enough to try to get it away. He muttered curses and words Harry had never even heard before as he did so.
He would not lose this time, Voldemort thought. Not again would he fall victim to a little boy! But what he couldn’t register was that this was no little boy. Harry Potter was seventeen, and a very powerful wizard.
The bead hovered inches from Voldemort’s wand.
“No….No….” Voldemort pleaded, sweat streaming down his own face. The bead moved even closer. Their wands were vibrating terribly now. Voldemort held on with both hands, shaking from both the wand and rage. “Move back, damn you!” he muttered. Harry grinned, his hands starting to grow numb from the vibration. Just a little closer… Voldemort knew it was a matter of seconds before the bead touched his wand. He couldn’t let that happen. He started blowing on the tiny bead, losing his head completely in his panic. Harry almost laughed out loud as, at last, the bead touched Voldemort’s wand again. Bright light filled the Great Hall, along with beautiful music, like a Phoenix song. Harry grinned.
“Yes,” he muttered, as their feet touched the ground once again. Voldemort dropped his wand on the ground, remembering what had happened the last time.
“NO! STOP!” Voldemort yelled in panic. Harry watched eagerly…would he see his parents again? Out of the wand came Madam Rosmerta. Harry’s eyes filled with hurt. What would Sirius do…Rosmerta glared, her busty figure walking towards Harry.
“I’m sorry, Harry. You must realize that. I didn't mean to tell him. But…will you tell Sirius?” she begged, rather sadly. Harry nodded, slightly choked up. She smiled brightly, but then turned around as the next figure came out of the wand. Harry’s heart thumped as he realized who it was…Aunt Petunia!
He felt numb...Aunt Petunia was...dead? How could this be? Aunt Petunia couldn't die.... She was, well, Aunt Petunia! Sure, she was annoying, but she was always a solid presence in Harry's life....To Harry’s surprise, his eyes filled with tears. He had killed her…So she hadn’t been in Azkaban. Well, that made sense, because Azkaban was run by Voldemort anyway, so why would she be put in jail there?
“What are you staring at, boy?” she snapped, but then her beady eyes rested on Voldemort. “He killed me! That…wizard killed me! I didn’t want to be a witch, but my idiot sister…oh well. Dudley is safe, right Harry?”
“Yeah,” Harry muttered, “Yeah he’s safe.” Petunia nodded in satisfaction. Voldemort staggered back, muttering incoherently. Petunia glared, and Harry stared, still disbelieving.
“No…this won’t happen again! I WON’T LET IT!” he yelled, running towards his wand. Maybe he could stop it…he picked the wand up with shaking, skeleton-white hands. Then he glared at it, just before he snapped it in two. The entire room went completely black, and Harry’s heart stopped. What had he done?
The only sound that filled the air was the sound of breathing. Petunia and Rosmerta stared in shock.
“Please tell me you didn’t just do that…” Petunia whimpered.
“You idiot,” Rosmerta mumbled, shaking her head in shock. Harry was feeling scared, and the room started to shake. He stared at Voldemort, who looked terrified at what he’d just done. He dropped the wand pieces onto the ground, and the clattering noises echoed loudly around the room, but instead of getting softer, they grew louder, and louder. Harry covered his ears.
CLANG!
CLANG!
They echoed as if they had been pieces of metal. Then all was silence, as if somebody had pressed the mute button….
SNAP! A sound like a whip slapped across the room. Harry leapt into the air, as a glowing light blazed from the broken edges of the wand. As Harry’s eyes adjusted back to the dim light, he saw hundreds of people now filled the room. Transparent people. He looked around, recognizing some.
Frank, the gardener for the Riddle House waved, smiling toothlessly at him.
Cedric Diggory gave him the thumbs up, which Harry returned shakily.
Gideon and Fabian Prewitt, Mrs. Weasley’s brothers, waved at him. Harry recognized them from the picture Mad-Eye Moody had shown him years ago. Harry waved.
Many others he didn’t recognize simply stared non-stop at Voldemort, who had backed up, whimpering at the hundreds of victims that now surrounded him. Harry looked around; he waited impatiently, his eyes scanning the crowd of images.
“Looking for us?” a calming voice said behind him. Harry jumped and turned abruptly. His already bleeding heart wrenched itself into knots. Staring lovingly down at him were Lily and James Potter.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Lily whispered, laying her hand on his cheek. He shivered, it was very cold. He had tears running down his face now.
“Mum…Dad…” he murmured.
“It’s alright son. It’s going to be okay,” James muttered. He shot a glare at Voldemort, who was now scrambling away, scrunching himself into a ball.
“Do you still have your wand?” Lily asked gently. Harry nodded.
“That’s my boy,” James said, winking. Harry stared at the spitting image of himself. Lily saw the tears in his eyes, and her face filled with love and worry.
“Harry, please don’t hurt for us anymore,” she pleaded softly.
“It’s just…” Harry started, but James put an ethereal hand on his shoulder.
“Son…we aren’t real, you do know that right?” James asked. Harry nodded.
“But you are very real to us. Right now, we are the closest thing to your parents you are ever going to see again,” Lily said, now crying herself. “And I know that if I were alive, and standing here today, I would tell you that I could never have asked for a finer son, or a more handsome one,” she added with a slight smile.
“You’re our pride and joy, son. You were when we were alive, and though we can’t show it, you are to this day. We both love you very much, and we know that, one day, you’ll grow up to have kids of your own. I know you’ll be as happy as we were,” James said.
“Were you happy though?” Harry asked, voicing the feeling that he had had in fifth year when he had seen Lily yelling hatefully at James. “You used to hate James.” Lily laughed at this.
“Oh, no I didn’t. But I was very stubborn. Too stubborn. Harry, never doubt that we were in love. We were the happiest of families. And maybe that’s why fate picked us…we were too happy,” she said sadly. James sighed.
“I’m afraid our time dwindles, son. Voldemort must be destroyed. And you must be the one to do it…”
“But I can’t! I’ve tried the killing curse, and it doesn’t work,” Harry said desperately. James smiled then.
“I’m sure we can help you then. Go on, give it another go,” he said, nodding Harry forward. Harry turned away from his parents, looking at Voldemort who was now standing, leaning against the wall in terror as his victims taunted him. He caught sight of Harry.
“YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” he yelled, not knowing what to do without his wand. Harry ignored him, walking very quickly now. “What are you going to do? You can’t kill me! I’m Lord Voldemort!” he yelled, sounding as though he was trying to convince himself more than anything.
“This is for seventeen years of hell,” Harry muttered, whipping out his wand. The wispy people stopped talking at once, and a loud silence filled the air. Harry closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. He had to do this. For his friends. For his family. Opening his bright green eyes, he stared at Voldemort. “AVADA KEDAVRA!” he yelled with all of the fury, and hatred, and loathing he had felt for his entire life. A steady green stream shot through his wand, and Voldemort grunted slightly. The green stream kept pouring into him. Voldemort laughed in relief, but Harry’s eyes widened in fear. He hadn’t done it!
“Well, that was pathetic. It’s rather uncomfortable, I must admit. And at least it’s still trying. I’m afraid, however, you’ll need a bit more power for this one,” Voldemort laughed, standing up, trying to get out of the green stream of light that was pouring oddly into his chest, where the heart should have been. He moved, but it moved with him. He frowned; this wasn’t supposed to happen.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” a voice yelled, and Harry turned to see his father pointing a transparent wand at Voldemort. Harry stared, as did Voldemort, who grunted again as a second stream of bright light shot into his chest.
“What?! They can’t do that!” he yelled, clutching his stomach, obviously in more pain.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” another voice yelled, and Harry saw Lily glaring daggers as her own spell poured into him.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled Cedric.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!” and Petunia and Rosmerta joined in. Voldemort dropped to the ground, clutching his stomach in a great deal of pain.
“STOP! YOU CAN”T DO THIS TO ME!” he was yelling, but soon more people had added their own wispy beams of green light. Harry felt the room vibrating now. Voldemort started screaming as at least fifty beams of green light shot into him.
“NOOOO!!” he sobbed, rolling around in pain. Now the room was filled with yells of “Avada Kedavra.”
Harry felt power being drained from him, as more and more people produced the spell. Were they getting their powers from him? Soon everybody in the room had their own spell going, and Voldemort was screaming screams of pain Harry had never heard before.
“STOP! PLEASE!! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!” he sobbed uncontrollably. Harry watched in fear, but his own head was swimming. The only sounds now were the buzzing of the spells and Voldemort’s tortured cries. Harry began to shake, as Voldemort’s screams got worse and worse. Voldemort was thrashing around on the ground, screaming bloody murder. Harry dropped to his knees, his eyes blurring over. Blood streamed out of Voldemort’s eyes and nose. Next began his ears, until his entire face was drenched in blood, making him look even more skeleton-like. Harry struggled to stay upright.
“Come on, Harry. Almost there,” a soothing voice muttered. Harry found it difficult to breath. Was he going to die? No…he couldn’t…not now, when he was so close. Voldemort’s screams of torture filled Harry’s own head, and it was as if he was also feeling the pain. Then, finally, Voldemort stopped screaming, and lay motionless on the ground, slumped in a puddle of his own blood. At that moment Harry dropped to the ground too, his eyes fluttering closed….His scar gave a painful throb for the last time.
“Harry? HARRY!” a desperate female voice called. “HE’S AWAKE! EVERYBODY! HE’S AWAKE!!” Harry winced as the screech of joy filled his pounding head. “Oh, sorry Harry,” the voice said, whispering now. He now heard the thumping of feet slapping on steps, and then entering the room, breathless.
“Oh, thank Merlin,” somebody sobbed.
“Harry…” a melancholy, rather scratchy voice said.
“Brilliant,” a choked voice said, overflowing with joy. Harry’s eyes opened heavily. He couldn’t see! But then somebody put his glasses on, and he saw the four people he cared about most standing around his bed. Sirius, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were all smiling brightly, tears staining their faces. Harry looked around, and saw that he was in St. Mungo’s. He also noticed that he had been given a room all to himself. He saw flowers, chocolates, and pictures of people he didn’t even recognize filled the room. He looked confusedly at Ginny.
“A few of your fans seemed to be grateful that you saved the world…no idea why,” Sirius supplied.
“There’s even more in a separate room. I don’t know how we’re going to get it all back home,” Ginny muttered happily, obviously wanting to burst into tears of joy, but afraid to do it in front of him. Harry smiled. He opened one of his arms, and she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. “I was so worried about you…”
“I’m alright,” Harry muttered, kissing her on top of the head. Ron and Hermione smiled, holding each other’s hands tightly. He then looked at Sirius, afraid to ask the question that had popped into his head as soon as he had awoken. “Where’s Voldemort?”
“Dead,” Sirius said, a slow smile creeping across his face.
“Voldemort… is dead,” Harry muttered, saying it aloud, feeling the taste of the sweet words on his tongue. He looked at Hermione and Ron, who were both standing back hesitantly. Ron was also tearing up. Harry grinned, and Ron and Hermione came over, both embracing Harry tightly. “You two alright?”
“Yeah,” Ron said. “Especially now that you’re awake, mate.”
“Oh, Harry. You did it! He’s gone!” Hermione rejoiced.
“Yeah, but now Harry has to go to jail…” Sirius said sadly. The room got deadly quite.
“WHAT?!” Ron, Hermione, and Ginny roared at once.
“Well, he used an Unforgivable Curse,” Sirius concluded. Harry stared, this fact sinking into his brain. He would have to go to jail? But then he saw Sirius’ lips twitch, just before he burst into laughter. “I had you going so good…” he gasped between laughter.
“Ha ha,” Harry said sardonically, but before long, the entire room was filled with laughter. Hermione rolled her eyes. As the laughter died down, Harry frowned. He felt…different. It was as if half of his world had gone. His whole life had been Voldemort. Even before he had been born his life was fated to be intertwined with Voldemort’s. What was he to do now? He looked at Ginny, and smiled. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.
“Ginny, I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Harry muttered, his mind reeling. Ginny smiled, her eyes refilling with tears.
“I’ve waited for you to say that,” she muttered, and, ignoring everybody else that was in the room, pressed a kiss to his mouth. Harry returned it, and before long, they were lost in each other.
“Ahem,” Sirius said, rather embarrassedly. Harry and Ginny broke away, smiling. But then Harry remembered something. Rosmerta…did Sirius know?
“Sirius,” Harry said, holding Ginny’s hand for support. Sirius looked at him, still smiling.
“What is it?”
“Well, when I fought with Voldemort, that Priori Incantatum thing happened again,” Harry said, trying to see read Sirius’ face. It was rather confused, so Harry continued. “Well, you know how it shows dead people…people that Voldemort killed…”
“Yeah…” Sirius said slowly.
“I saw Rosmerta,” Harry said quickly, looking away. There was complete silence. Harry chanced a glance at Sirius, and saw his face reddening in pain. He looked back at Harry to see if it was true. Harry nodded sadly. Sirius stood up, motioned that he was sorry, but needed to leave, and rushed out the door. Harry closed his eyes in pain and leaned his head against the head-board.
“He’ll get over it. Don’t worry,” Ron said sadly. Harry nodded, sure Ron was right. It didn’t seem like a very serious relationship, even if they were married. Harry doubted they were actually in love.
“Harry, I want to show you something,” Ginny said, trying to smile. Harry watched as she got off his bed and walked over to the side table. She grabbed a mirror and placed it in his hands. Harry frowned at her in confusion. “Look at yourself,” she urged. Harry looked oddly at his own reflection.
He saw a rather pale, seventeen year old. He was slightly skinny, but had grown into a very handsome young man. He had bright green eyes, and jet-black hair that had a permanent wind-swept look to it. And in the middle of his forehead was a…he froze. Squinting, he moved the mirror closer. He pulled his bangs back, searching his forehead. A smile spread itself across his entire face. His scar…it was gone!
Voldemort was officially dead. There was no trace of him left in Harry. No scars, no regrets, and no fear. Harry was a new person, with a new life, and it didn’t involve The Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort.
Harry closed his green eyes, clutching the hand of the woman he loved. It was over. The war was over. He could, for the first time in his life, feel truly happy.
A/N: Well, that's my story! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Oddly, this story turned out to have the same amount of chapters as Mirror! Thanks to everybody who reviewed, giving me encouragement and critiques. Both made my writing so much better, and I can assure you that every time I saw a new review, it literally made me smile! I'm sure you all noticed the EXTREME longness of this chapter, but know that it is only because I just didn't want to let go! I simply didn't want to end the story, because, oddly, I felt like I was literally saying goodbye to actual people. Alright, I won't bore you further. Just please review, let me know what you think. Love ya.
Lish