Alternate Ending for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood-Prince by JK Rowling

This is alternate ending, or alternate almost-ending, begins on page 584. The first three paragraphs are from the book, but the rest is original. I did this for a school project, but I thought "why not post it?" So there you go. This is my first Harry Potter fan fic, (if you can call it that) so be nice!

The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted "Expelliarmus!"

Harry's body became instantly rigid, and he felt himself fall back against the tower wall, like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. He could not understand how it had happened- Expelliarmus was not a freezing charm…

Then, by the light of the Mark, Harry saw Dumbledore's wand fly out of his hand and he understood…Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilized Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance to defend himself.

Harry watched Dumbledore's face relax in relief as the figure stepped forward. "Ah, it's you, Severus. I expected to see a Death Eater instead." He slowly got up to his feet.

"Do not move."

"Eh…what? My ears aren't what they used to be, I-"

"I said don't move," Snape answered forcefully. "Soon, Malfoy will be here and the mission will be complete."

"The mission to kill me?" asked Dumbledore innocently.

"Yes." Snape stepped closer to Dumbledore, his wand now moving menacingly towards the headmaster's throat. "Yes, that mission."

Dumbledore was still without a wand. He was now on his knees with Snape's wand pointed to his neck, though he showed no sign of panic. Harry knew that Dumbledore would never fear Snape, or anyone for that matter.

"So Draco has become a Death Eater?" Dumbledore asked casually. Snape nodded darkly. "Yes, I suspected as much. But you Severus, I never suspected you."

"I know you trusted me, Dumbledore. But trust is a dangerous thing." Harry saw Dumbledore suddenly stiffen. Snape must have used the same immobilizing spell that had kept Harry from defending Dumbledore.

A door suddenly opened. Snape swirled around. "Ah Malfoy"- He stopped when the mysterious figure stepped through the door.

"Wha- what's goin' on?" a half asleep Neville answered. He stood in the doorway in his pajamas, a piece of toilet paper stuck to his foot. "I was just making a midnight trip to the…" his voice trailed off when he noticed Dumbledore immobilized.

Snape raised his wand. The hex was almost out of his mouth when the door opened again to reveal Draco Malfoy. Snape lowered his wand and greeted him. "Now, Malfoy; it's time. Complete the mission and we can escape.

Malfoy stepped forward, his eyes on Dumbledore. Harry wanted to scream out at Neville to do something, anything to stop Malfoy, but he could not speak. Almost as if he had heard Harry pleading, Neville suddenly spoke up. "Wait, you're going to kill him! You can't! You can't kill the head master," he shouted as he stepped in front of Dumbledore.

"Step aside, Porker, or I am going to kill you too." Malfoy retorted coldly.

Neville did not step aside. He simply stood still his eyes staring at Malfoy. "P-p-porker?" His eyes narrowed. "Nobody calls me Porker," he muttered quietly, and Harry suspected he was the only one to have heard him.

Malfoy had raised his wand when Neville heaved himself on to the teenage Death Eater. He pinned him to the ground and threw a fist to his eye. The two began wrestling about the tower, rolling about the floor until Neville bumped into Harry, knocking the invisibility cloak off him. Snape seemed to be the only one who noticed as Neville was still on the floor his hands tightly around Malfoy's neck, his face now becoming quite pink.

"Potter!" Snape cried, his voice echoing through out the halls. Harry suddenly felt the effects of Dumbledore's spell disable and he could now move his arms. But his attention was diverted to the sound of spells and footsteps coming closer to the corridor in which Dumbledore was about to be killed.

Expecting Death Eaters, Harry was shocked to see Professor McGonagall fall through the door and topple over Snape. "Err, hello Minerva," Snape said, Professor McGonagall sitting uncomfortably on his chest, her skirt entangled in his robes. The two wizards immediately extricated themselves from each other and stood up as several Death Eaters and members of the Order of the Phoenix followed into the corridor, the two sides shouting hexes and charms at one another.

Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore intently and soon he was able to move again. The teacher had wordlessly disabled the charm on her headmaster. He stood, and shot a spell at a Death Eater that had narrowly missed hitting Lupin. Snape looked around himself hurriedly. More and more members of The Order had entered the room, and now the death eaters were clearly out numbered. Dumbledore at first appeared to be about to attack Snape, but he shot a protecting charm on Professor McGonagall who was about to be struck by a powerful hex.

Snape seemed to realize that his plans were not being carried out. The Death Eaters were losing badly, and Dumbledore would soon come after him. He had missed his chance to kill Dumbledore, to carry out his mission. But if Dumbledore managed to kill him, he would dishonor the Dark Lord even more. This was not about to happen. Prying Neville off Malfoy, tossing Neville aside like a used tissue, he lifted Malfoy up by his color and began to run.

Harry looked around himself. Every wizard was intently focusing on the other wizard he or she was fighting, no one in the room had enough time to look up at to what Snape was doing. Snape had already sprinted out of the room, and clearly no one had noticed. Gripping his wand tightly, he ran after the potions master.

Pushing his way through the throng of people, he ran as fast as he could but Snape was far ahead. Harry chased him down through the school and out the main entrance, shouting hexes and curses. But Snape was much too skilled and he blocked each enchantment without even pausing to think.

Stricken with frustration, Harry, mustering all of his concentration, shouted Levi-

"NO!" Snape shouted as he blocked the spell. "How dare you! You think you can use my own spell against me? The spell that I -the Half Blood Prince- created?" He turned back around and continued running, still dragging Malfoy along by his collar. Harry wanted to stop to catch his breath, but he couldn't let the man who had almost killed Dumbledore escape. Harry suddenly had an idea. He concentrated on his broom stick, a picture of it becoming vivid in his mind. Without stopping, he shouted the spell and his broom stick soon came speeding to his side. Mounting it hurriedly, he kicked the ground and took off. Snape was coming closer and closer into focus as Harry soared about 15 ft above the ground.

Harry's mind was only on Snape and Malfoy. Now that he had his broom stick, he was catching up. Hagrid's cottage came closer, and Harry was sure that after he swerved around it, he could dive down and catch the two wizards. He was almost smiling in the confidence now as his broom moved smoothly past the thatched roof of the cottage-until the entire house burst into flames, that is.

Harry had been concentrating so closely on catching up with them, he hadn't at first realized his broom stick and clothes where on fire. Noticing his shoulder was bright orange from the flames, he began trying to smother the fire on his clothes with his sleeve and cursing loudly. The broom, now burning, began to shake and swerve and Harry eventually lost his grip on the wooden handle. His body fell limply down landing in Hagrid's pumpkin patch on the side of the cabin. Wiping the vegetable out of his eyes, Harry looked up eagerly for Malfoy. But by now, both wizards had disappeared.

A/N: I forgot to say, I dedicate this to my dad who wants a 6th book where Dumbledore doesn't die.