AUDREY
Disclaimer: You might recognize a lot of things from this chapter, that's because I stole it directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Sorry about that, I just wanted to show someone else view point during the battle. This is my first Audrey/ Percy story. I hope you like it.
Prologue: The Battle
It was complete chaos. Spells being fired from everywhere, flashing lights, people dying in front of me. I stayed behind because I'm of age, and the good side needs all the help it can get it we're going to win this war, but now I'm sad. I've watched two people die right in front of me and narrowly missed getting hit by the killing curse myself.
I just want it to be over already.
"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery" a voice said that made me shiver. It was him, he-who-must-not-be-named. "Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one." I shivered some more and leaned against the nearest wall. "I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste." He says that but he's the one doing all the killing. This is ridiculous. "Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately." Is he serious? Is this a trap? They're retreating are we winning? "You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you."
I stopped listening at this point and I slid down the wall and broke down into tears. My brother was the first person I personally knew who died for the cause. He was only four years old, killed by that werewolf Fenir Greyback. My father was the next one to go. He isn't dead. No what happened to him is worse. He got his soul sucked out his body by those damn dementors. The only person I have left is my mother. Oh God, I don't even know where my mom is. She went into hiding months ago.
"…then the battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour" he-who-must-not-be-named said.
I cried harder now. I put my head in my hands and let it all out.
It's not over. If anything it will probably get worse. Is it sad that even with all these bodies around me, blood everywhere, the school literally falling to pieces and evil people out to kill us all, all I can think about is my mother?
I cried for my mother, wanting nothing more in the world than to be somewhere else. Anywhere else would be better than here.
I have no idea how long I sat there sobbing my eyes out. People were moving by me, I saw bodies being carried.
Is that Colin Creevery? I used to date that boy. He's a muggleborn, how'd he even get here?
Is started whispering for my mother. Maybe this is just a dream, and if I try hard enough I'll wake up.
Not like being in the real world is any better. Those Carrow siblings are arseholes.
Someone stepped up right in front of me. I didn't say anything just keeping up my muttering.
Then the person squatted down to my level.
"It's alright," the girl was saying, "we're going to get you inside."
"But I want to go home" I said. Why can't I just go home already? "I don't want to fight anymore!"
I grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little to get my point through.
"I know" the girl said. She had tears pouring down her cheeks as well. "It's going to be alright."
"I just want to go home" I repeated as the girl lifted me up and walked me into the Great Hall where it seemed like everyone was meeting.
There were bodies lined up in rows and rolls. Injured people were being healed where the head's table used to be. I didn't want to see anymore. I closed my eyes and leaned into the girl who was walking me.
"GINNY!" someone yelled.
The girl who was walking me paused.
I opened my eyes to see a girl with lots of brown hair running towards us closely followed by a tall guy with red hair. I knew them Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend. So that must mean the girl I'm leaning on is Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend.
"Have you seen Harry?" Hermione asked. She too had tear streaks down her face. She looked as battle worn as the rest of us.
"Not since the Room of Requirements. I thought he was with you" Ginny said.
"We haven't seen him since Voldemort told him to hand himself in" Hermione said.
"You don't think he actually did it?" Ron asked.
Now I was the one holding Ginny up. Her legs seemed to have failed her at her brother's words.
"We have to find him" Hermione said.
"I'll help" Ginny said, suddenly steeling herself.
"No, don't leave me" I said and I clung to her hand.
We went to where the other Weasleys were hovering over the body of one of their family members.
"Have you…have you seen H-H-Harry?" Ginny asked shakily.
"No, he hasn't been by" Mr. Weasley said without glancing up from his son.
"I saw Harry"
Ginny, Hermione, Ron and I whirled around and faced a round faced boy I recognized as the leader of the resistance. The D.A. I think it's called.
"Where?"
"When?"
"How?"
"Harry said he had to be somewhere alone and he told me to kill the snake," Hermione and Ron paled, "then he put on his invisibility cloak."
"Oh no" Hermione whimpered and she leaned into Ron.
"He said he wasn't going to turn himself in" the DA leader said.
"And you believed him?" Ginny screeched.
There was a lot of commotion at the front of the hall. "They're coming back" Professor McGonagall said.
We're going to have to fight again. I don't want to fight, but I can't sit around doing nothing.
"Harry Potter is dead" the voice sounded throughout the castle again. It was way louder this time.
Everyone in the great hall who could stand up, did. Harry Potter, dead? It couldn't be true. He can't die. Not now when we need him the most. I followed Ginny and the others as they rushed towards the school gates.
"He was killed as he ran away trying to save himself while you lay down you lives for him."
"That's not true" Ginny said.
I believed her. There have been a lot of rumors going around about Harry since my first year, but a coward he was not.
"We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman or child, will be slaughtered, as every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."
He killed my family, he slaughtered my brother and destroyed my father. I cannot submit to him. I wouldn't want to live the rest of my life the way I lived the last two years. Any world… Voldemort ran is a world I don't want to be a part of.
We burst through the door.
"NO"
"NO"
"It can't be"
"HARRY!"
"Harry!"
People started screaming profanities at the death eaters. I couldn't do anything but stare at Harry's limp body in Hagrid's arm.
"SILENCE!" Voldemort cried. There was a flash of bright light and it became quiet.
I gripped my wand tighter. No matter what he says now, it's all a lie. He doesn't mean it. I'm going to go down fighting.
"It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"
The half-giant Care of Magical Creatures Professor put Harry's limp body down in the grass.
"You see? Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"
That's not true.
"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds." Even I could hear the lie in Voldemort's voice. "Killed while trying to save himself."
The DA leader broke apart from our group and rushed towards the death eaters.
There was a bang and a flash of light and the DA leader was on the ground.
"Who is this? Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"
I knew it. Voldemort didn't want us kneeling at his feet. He wanted us to fight so he could strike fear in the rest of us. He wants to kill us all.
"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord!" someone said. "The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble The son of the Aurors, remember?"
We have to do something, we can't just watch. I lost track of the conversation as I thought about an effective way to attack.
"I'll join you when hell freezes over, Dumbledore's Army!" Neville yelled.
Voldemort muttered something and then flicked his wand. I thought he was doing a curse but Neville didn't look to be hurt. The sorting hat appeared.
Was Voldemort off his rocker? Why in the hell would he summon the sorting hat? What possible use could it have?
"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School. There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield and colors of my noble ancestor. Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they Neville Longbottom?"
Never. I'd never support that lunatic, either one of them Salazar or Voldemort.
"Neville her is going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me."
Neville was then set on fire. I screamed and tried to move but I couldn't. Damn when did they use the body-bind curse, I don't remember.
And then everything happened so fast, I could barely tell what was going on. People, hundreds of people were joining in the battle. A giant appeared on the side of the castle screaming "Hagger!" and two other giants went after him. They crashed into each other. I couldn't hear a thing, but I knew I could move again, and move I had to do. The inhabitants of the forest were charging the death eaters, and the death eaters were charging us.
We were forced into the great hall. I sent curses at any death eater I could see.
House elves burst out of the kitchens with knives and cleavers in their hands. I saw Fenir Greyback getting bought down and I let out a war cry and hit the nearest death eaters with a stunning spell.
We were winning. The Death Eaters' number began to crumble. Until finally there were only two left.
I stood on the side lines and watched as the two most powerful death eaters each fought three people at once.
A killing curse barely missed Ginny. No I had to help her. She helped me, she can't die.
I made my way towards them as Ginny's mother fought Bellatrix Lestrange.
And just like that Mrs. Weasley killed Bellatrix. Voldemort screamed.
"PROGETO!"
Harry Potter appeared out of nowhere.
"Harry"
"He's alive"
People were screaming his name happy to see him.
I grabbed Ginny's arm to keep her from running up to him. This battle had to be between the two of them.
"I don't want anyone else to try to help, It's got to be like this. It's got to be me" Harry said.
"Potter doesn't mean that" Voldemort hissed. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"
My eyes went back and forth between the two.
"Nobody. There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good." Harry sounded so calm.
"One of us?" Voldemort jeered. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledor was pulling the strings?"
"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me? Accident, when I decided to fight in the graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and survived, and returned to fight again?"
"Accidents!" Voldemort screamed. He sounded nowhere near as confident as Harry did. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"
That was a low blow.
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight. You won't be able to kill any of them ever again." Really? I wanted to be relieved, but not yet. "Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people-"
"But you did not!"
I swear I'm going to get whiplash following the two of them back and forth.
"I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"
"You dare—"
"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "I know things you don't know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"
They were still circling around each other.
"Is it love again? Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, love which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me from stamping out your mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter." How dare he say that? "And nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"
"Just one thing" Harry said.
"If it is not love that will save you this time you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"
"I believe both."
Quickly my mind began to wonder where Harry went when he disappeared. Did he do something to make him strong enough to defeat Voldemort?
Voldemort's insane laughter filled the room. It bounced around the hall giving me the chills.
"You think you know more magic than I do? Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?" he sounded more and more insane with every word he spoke.
"Oh, he dreamed of it but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."
"You mean he was weak! Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"
It was coming to an end, I could feel it.
"No, he was cleverer than you, a better wizard, a better man."
"I bought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"
"You thought you did but you were wrong."
What? What does that mean? Dumbledore is dead. I saw his body the night he died. I went to the funeral. The rest of the hall and I exhaled at the same time. I wasn't even aware that I was holding my breath.
Ginny squeezed my hand and I squeezed hers back.
"Dumbledore is dead! His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle. I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"
"Yes, Dumbledore is dead" Harry said. Oh, then what did he mean? "But you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."
What?
"What childish dream is this?"
"Severus Snape wasn't yours. Snape was Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a patronus, did you, Riddle?"
I didn't understand. Was Dumbledore's death staged?
"Snape's Patronus was a doe the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"
My mind was reeling but I couldn't think of a solid thought.
"He desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and purer blood worthier of him." He sounded unsure of himself.
"Of course he told you that" Harry said like it was the most obvious thing ever. "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you every since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"
"It matters not!" Voldemort shrieked. He started doing his crazy laugh again. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand! Dumbdledore was trying to keep the elder wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy- I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago. And the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"
The elder wand? That's a child's story isn't it? Then again we really did learn about powerful wands in History of Magic class. And my mother always did tell me that all stories and myth have some facts in them. Merlin's beard what are we going to do if Voldemort indeed has the Elder Wand?
"Yeah, it did. You're right." He knew this and he's still calm? "But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think what you've done…think, and try for some remorse, Riddle."
Remorse? Voldemort would never. What's Harry playing at?
"What is this?"
Voldemort looked like he was losing it. He's going to strike soon.
"It's your one last chance. It's all you've got left. I've seen what you'll be otherwise. Be a man. Try…Try for some remorse."
"You dare—?" that's the second time Voldemort has said that tonight.
"Yes, I dare because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you Riddle. The wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."
"He killed—"
"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore" Harry said as if he were talking to a two year old. "Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die, undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would've died with him, because it had never been won from him!"
But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand! I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against the last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"
'The wand chooses the wizard' that's what Ollivander told me when I got my wand.
"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Did you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard." That's what I thought! "The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given his it's allegiance… The true master of the Elder wand is Draco Malfoy"
What? Draco, that Slytherin bastard who used to like to walk around the school like he owned the place? Well he wasn't acting that way this past year.
"But what does it matter? Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: we duel on skill alone. And after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy."
That bastard would even turn on his own followers.
"But what does it matter. You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him."
I looked at the wand in question. Was it good enough to beat Voldemort?
"So it all comes down to his" Harry said quietly. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was disarmed? Because if it does then I am the true master of the Elder Wand."
The sun chose that precise moment to rise. It was bright and blinding.
"AV-" "-EXP-" "-ADA" "ELLI-" "KED-" "-ARM-" "-VRA!" "-US!"
There was a loud bang and golden flames appeared. Voldemort's wand flew through the air towards Harry, the green light spilling out of it still. Harry caught the wand and the spell hit Voldemort. Voldemort's body fell, it was almost like slow motion. His body hit the floor and there was a great silence.
He's dead, it's really over. He's not coming back. I dare not say it out loud. And then everyone rushed to Harry to hug him, to thank him. It was over. The Darkest Wizard ever had finally fallen.
Things got a bit chaotic after that. Dead bodies were rounded up, injured people were in long lines waiting to be healed. There were people everywhere.
"Audrey?"
I knew that voice. I turned to the sound of it and I saw my mother with her brown hair in a messy bun, her robes were torn and bloodstained. I held my arms out and ran to her.
We caught each other, and I was now openly sobbing into her shoulder.
"I'm so glad you're okay" mom said through her tears.
"When did you get here? How?" I thought the school was sealed off after Voldemort was killed to prevent reporters or Voldemort sympathizers from entering the castle.
"You potion's professor came with a bunch of other people. He said you were fighting at the school, so I joined in" mom said.
"I've missed you" I said and I gripped my mother tighter.