"Crucio!"
Harry Potter trembled uncontrollably on the floor as the curse spread throughout his body. His enemy laughed; a cold, high laugh that Harry knew too well.
"Harry Potter!" the man spat, his yew and phoenix feather wand pointed down at his foe, "Give up! You have lost. My Death Eaters are taking the Ministry now, your dear Rufus Scrimgeour has fled in fear, and the Order is outnumbered 10 to 1.
"Your friends have abandoned you, your protectors, Dumbledore and Black, are long gone, and I have you here alone. It is over!!"
Harry, still twitching under the curse, looked wistfully at his wand. If I could only reach it, he thought. Harry stared at his wand with all his might and muttered, "Accio Wand". The wand zoomed through the air to Harry's bloody hand, much to Voldemort's dismay. He broke his connection with Harry.
"I see you have learned some new tricks, Potter," Voldemort said with glee, "no matter though. I knew this would happen. You having beaten my six known Horcruxes and-"
"Known?" Harry asked, "What do you mean known?"
Voldemort laughed openly, a chill that sent such a chill down his spine that he shuddered. "What I mean by known, Potter, is that you know of 6 Horcruxes, but I made more than that."
Harry stood dumbstruck. Did Voldemort actually make more than six Horcruxes, as Dumbledore predicted? Was Dumbledore wrong with his guess? Did Harry waste the last year looking for the pieces of a large puzzle when he didn't even know the number of pieces? Voldemort smiled.
"Still stumped?" he asked in an unusually happy voice, "I'll give you a hint: it is here, it is living, and it has an interestingly shaped scar."
"Me?"
"Correct! Ten Points to Gryffindor!" Voldemort said sarcastically. "Now you must choose Potter; save yourself and let me kill you, or kill yourself and let me run free. Either way, you're dead and I'm alive."
Harry stood still, perplexed at the cunning of Tom Riddle. Could he actually be the seventh Horcrux? Should he kill himself so others have a better chance of killing the then-mortal Voldemort? Or should he save himself and attempt to escape from the area. Where would he go from there? Should he find Ron and Hermione? Should he-
"Potter," Voldemort said, making Harry remember that he was with a mass-murderer, "You have a time limit. If you don't give me an answer in the next five minutes, five hundred dementors will come to give you the Kiss. You were lucky four years ago in the Forbidden Forest, but this time you won't." Voldemort then left, turning his head from Harry and headed to an oak tree. He pointed his wand at the tree and muttered few words. A digital clock popped out of the trunk, looking peculiar against its natural wooded background.
"Your time begins now." Voldemort touched his wand to the clock again and it showed 5:00…then 4:59…4:58 and so on.
What should I do, Harry thought. Does killing myself help the world beat Voldemort? But the prophecy says only I can beat Voldemort, one part of Harry thought.
………4:34……
What if the prophecy is wrong, the other part of Harry thought. How can it be? It can. The fighting inside his head was almost unbearable.
……3:56……
What if Voldemort's bluffing? What if he wants to make you think that you have to kill yourself to get rid of a Horcrux. Remember what Dumbledore said, it is inadvisable to put a piece of your soul in something that can move and think for itself.
……3:22……
Although it would explain why I have such a close connection to Voldemort's mind. Not to mention it fits with his obsession with the number seven.
……2:55……
Also remember that Voldemort is scared of death, so he assumes that everyone thinks the same, except for Dumbledore of course, and that killing yourself would be terrible.
……2:27……
"Potter, you have two minutes left!"
……2:00……
Why would Voldemort put me in this position? Why would he do this? It's like he said, 'either way, you're dead and I win'. He did this ages ago so when I thought I had him beat, he could pull it out like a hidden ace.
……1:31……
What if it is better to just wait out the time limit? Five hundred dementors can't possibly be worse than Voldemort. After I conjure a Patronus, I could Disapparate to a far off place.
……:59……
"One minute Potter!" yelled Voldemort.
The second he releases the dementors, Harry thought, I'll conjure my Patronus and Disapparate to……somewhere.
……:35……
Almost there……
……:15……
……:13……
……:10……
"Your time's running short, Potter!"
……:05……
……:03……
……:01……
……:00……
The numbers flashed brightly from the tree like a siren. An eerie smile snuck across Voldemort's face,
"Well," he said, "It is time for Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, to die." Voldemort waved his wand effortlessly at the clearing behind him. A large, metal cage appeared to float out of the ground. The coldness now surrounding him was enough evidence for Harry to know what was in the cage. The trees froze into ice, the leaves looking like delicate sculptures in the moonlight. Once again, Voldemort waved his wand. The cage doors disappeared, letting free the deadly creatures from within..
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry bellowed, the silvery white stag bursting out of his wand. It charged at the dementors, but to seemingly no avail. There's too many, he thought, what can I do-. He began to feel the dementors suck away at his soul, all his happy memories being drained from him. He looked up, one dementor was taking off its hood, showing its grotesque mouth. Harry no longer had the willpower to go on. He once again heard his mother screaming inside his head. He also heard Voldemort laughing in the background, clearly amused by the pain of his enemy.
As Harry lay on the ground, helpless, he used what strength he had to think of his life, of his friends, Ron and Hermione, of Hogwarts, of Dumbledore, of the Weasleys, of Ginny, of Sirius, his only family. All of a sudden, the dementors fled from him somewhat in pain. Was it possible that his happy thoughts drove them away. Voldemort's glee turned to anger,
"No!" he yelled, "Come back here and finish Potter! He is weak. Kiss him! Kiss him!" Voldemort seemed to have lost control of the dementors, which Harry took as an opportunity. Gathering himself, happy thoughts flooding his mind, Harry yelled at the top of his lungs,
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!!" For the second time, the silver stag leapt from his wand, only this time, there was another animal, a doe, beside the stag. Both charged the dementors with speed and power. The black-hooded figures glided away, the happy thoughts too much to bear. When the dementors were out of sight, the two animals vanished. Harry turned his wand to Voldemort, who had a look of horror on his face. He turned himself to Harry,
"How did you-?"
"Surprised, Riddle?" Harry said, a wind of confidence circulating him, "So am I."
Voldemort wiped away his look of horror and smiled,
"Just as I suspected. You complete amazing feats of magic and yet you don't even know how you do it!
"They seem to surprise you, so that makes two of us."
"No matter. I wanted to kill you myself anyway."
"So let's duel."
The two held their wands up, bowed to each other, turned away from each other, and walked back. They faced each other with looks of determination.
"And so it begins." Said Voldemort.
"Expelliamus!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The two jets of light meet in between them, as they did three years ago when Voldemort resurrected himself. The familiar faces of Harry's parents, Bertha Jenkins, and other new faces, Cornelius Fudge, Kingsley, and nameless Muggles poured out of the wands. I need to get away from here, Harry thought. He saw the green light creep closer and closer to him, so he broke the connection and quickly Dissapparated. He heard Voldemort shout in fury as he was pulled into nothingness.
He soon felt himself being pulled into the ground. As he picked himself up, rubbing his arm in pain, he looked up at his destination. The familiar rustic house stood out like a needle in a haystack. He opened the squeaky gate and walked to the door. As he opened it and peered in, there seemed to be nothing going on, so he entered. The house didn't stir. He walked slowly inside, looking at the old grandfather clock with all the Weasleys names and faces. Each and every one pointed to Mortal Peril.
Harry strolled over to the cupboard, pulled out an apple, and took a big bite out of it. The juice slid down his throat, his first nourishment in the past 12 hours. He chowed down the apple until there was nothing left. He took out his wand and sat at the table, which was very lonely with just Harry sitting down.
"Accio Parchment." A roll of parchment flew to his spot.
"Accio quill." The feathered quill flew as well to Harry's hand.
Harry positioned himself comfortably and wrote swiftly, tears running down his cheek and onto the parchment. He hesitated, thought of a few words, and continued again.
He signed his name, stood up and walked to the living room.
He pulled out his wand, his face wet with hot tears of regret, and pointed it to his head.
"I'm sorry everyone," he said, "I'm sorry."
"Avada Kedavra!" the jet of green light shot from the wand and into Harry head. His scar prickled, then the world went black. He felt himself descend into nothingness, like Apparating except this time he knew that he'll never resurface.
Ginny Weasley opened up the door to her home and saw a note on the kitchen table. She skipped to the table, picked up the note, and read it. Her face of innocence and happiness turned to horror. She shrieked, her voice echoing throughout the house. Molly and Arthur Weasley ran into the house, expressions of terror etched into their faces,
"Honey," Molly said, "What's wrong?"
"It's Harry," Ginny shrieked, shoving the note to her parents, "He was here!"Molly and Arthur read the note and the faces of terror remained there. Ron and Hermione entered the house, followed by Fred and George.
"We heard Ginny shouted, Mum," George said, "What's up?"
Molly stared at Ron and Hermione, her face sober with grief. She beckoned them into the kitchen alone. One they were there, she showed them the note.
"I believe he wrote this note to you two," she whispered, "I believe you should read it."
The two took the letter and peered at it:
Dear Everyone,
By the time you read this, I'll most probably be gone. Not gone like disappeared. I mean dead. Voldemort somehow made me into a Horcrux (Ron and Hermione, you know what I mean). So to get rid of his last stowed away part of his soul, I have killed myself, in hopes to give others a better chance to get rid of him. I'm sorry to everyone close to me, but I had to do this. Dumbledore would have wanted me to do this. It is now the Order's responsibility to defeat Voldemort. I love all of you and I'm going to miss you. If my body is still here, please bury me in Godric's Hollow with my parents. It's where I want to be.
Goodbye Forever,
Harry Potter
Tears gushed from Hermione, whose shoulder was on Ron,
"So he's gone?" she asked in between sobs.
"I guess so." Ron said without any emotion.
"I never got to say goodbye."
"None of us did."