A/N: Well, this would be my first Harry Potter fic ever and I'm excited to post it. It's a one-shot, so yeah. A lot of my own personal theories are tied into this - for instance, Zacharius Smith is the heir of Hufflepuff and Luna Lovegood is the heir of Ravenclaw. I think there are only one or two I didn't get in later.This is kind of silly, I hope and pray JKR doesn't end the books this way. Pairings... it doesn't really feature any, except perhaps Harry/Ginny but I think that Luna/Neville and Ron/Hermione are implied as well, along with all the canon adult pairings. Oh, and look for my fic about the founders, coming soon. Yeah, that's it. Enjoy.

A Letter for You, Dark Lord

Fiyero Oberon

Lord Voldemort,

Hello. My name is Harry Potter. Perhaps you've heard of me? You tried to kill me once, many years ago, when I was a baby. You killed my parents, James and Lily Potter. You gave me a lightning-shaped scar on my forehead. You forced me, however indirectly and unwillingly, to live with a group of wicked Muggles, by name of Dursley. You forced me to live an abusive childhood - much like your own, I believe - and placed upon me ignorance of the wizarding world, of my world, where I truly belong.


I survived your Avada Kedavra curse. You know that, of course. The curse repelled off of me because of the protection my mother gave me by dying for me in the name of love. Love. Have you ever heard of that, sir? It's an emotion, a feeling, a feeling that one being feels to another being, or beings. Love brings up compassion, kindness, willingness, and devotion. It's most unfortunate that you never received love, but even more unfortunate that you never learned to place love upon others. I feel that even the Dursleys loved me, however slightly. If you had only learned what love was, perhaps you never would have developed your fascination with immortality, and never would have become the wicked man - or, rather, thing - you are now.

Oh yes, you must be wondering now about how I know of your inability to die. Well, what was your inability to die. I know of the Horcruxes, sir, I know thanks to the master Light Wizard, the most powerful magician the world has ever known, Albus Dumbledore. I, of course, destroyed your first Horcrux - the diary in which you kept the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle. But it was Dumbledore who discovered your dark secret and he himself began the hunt for them - he found Slytherin's ring and destroyed it, then found the locket. Unfortunately, Regulus Black found the locket first and the only thing that came out of our escapade with the Inferi was Dumbledore's weakening. The Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts, Snape killed Dumbledore, you killed Draco Malfoy for not completing his task, and so on. You know all of these details.

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place was the rather uncreative hiding place Regulus Black chose for hiding the locket. With the help of Nymphandora Tonks and Remus Lupin, I was able to track the locket and destroy it, your third Horcrux. The fourth, of course, was the golden cup of Helga Hufflepuff, kept within the home of Zacharius Smith and his family. Zacharius is, of course, the heir of Hufflepuff as you are the heir of Slytherin. I figured this through the memory of Hepzibah Smith and her admittance to you that she was distantly related to Miss Hufflepuff, and how else could Zacharius be in Hufflepuff House? He holds none of the traits Helga sought in her students, so of course he was her heir. Thinking along these lines, I discovered the Miss Luna Lovegood was the heir of Ravenclaw. Again, how else would she be placed in that house? Luna is a friend of mine, so when I asked, she searched her home for any strange heirlooms of Rowena Ravenclaw's. She produced a silver goblet encrusted with sapphires - but as soon as I saw the cracks that ran through the sapphires, I knew that the fifth Horcrux had been destroyed.

There are now only two Horcruxes left, sir. The one that I believe is held within the snake Nagini and the one that possesses the body that you are currently in. Notice how I do not use the word 'living' - I do not believe that you are truly alive, for the Horcruxes are not your life split into seven, but your soul, therefore you are not really and truly alive.

You and I now know of three of the four heirs of the founders... perhaps you would like to know the fourth? Lord Voldemort, the heir of Slytherin. Luna Lovegood, the heir of Ravenclaw. Zacharius Smith, the heir of Hufflepuff. And none other than Neville Longbottom is the heir of Gryffindor. Do you not feel foolish now, sir? Neville was the second choice - Neville filled the requirements of the prophecy, but in perfect honesty is a weaker wizard than I am. It sounds boastful, but I say it to rub the painful truth in your face; if you had chosen to attack Neville Longbottom instead of myself, not only would you have killed him, spared yourself, and taken over the world by now, but you would have ended the ultimate battle that is fought between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

It saddens me to see the people that have been hurt through your foolishness - my parents, the Longbottoms, Albus Dumbledore, Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger, the Malfoys, Gilderoy Lockhart, Professor Quirrel, Ginny Weasley, Moaning Myrtle, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Cedric Diggory, Barty Crouch, Sr. and Barty Crouch, Jr., Arthur Weasley, and many, many more. Not one of those people deserved it, from the exalted and mighty as Dumbledore to the intelligent, Muggle-born Hermione to Peter Pettigrew, whom I consider to be the scum of the earth. Even the rotten Malfoys deserve better than to be thoughtlessly murdered as you did so effortlessly.

If you are reading this letter then you, of course, have won. I am dead, for I will keep this in my pocket as we proceed through the Final Battle. I cannot tell you how much I hope that I will be able to toss this letter in the garbage afterward and never let your named enter my mind again.

Always,

Harry James Potter

Harry cried out in fear and fury as he plunged the Gryffindor sword into Voldemort's chest. But those red eyes continued glowing and his cracked lips parted into a high-pitched, wicked laughter. "You think a sword will destroy me, Harry? Don't be so foolish. The most powerful wizard ever... and you think I will die a Muggle death?"

"Harry," Ginny whispered. "You've only destroyed five Horcruxes."

Nagini came slithering down the steps.

What? Harry thought, his mind racing. I thought we got it... I thought Voldemort's staff had been...

Ice-cold pain ran up Harry leg and he dropped to the floor silently. An evil laugh now hissed out of Voldemort's lips. Nagini had wound her way toward Harry and had bit his leg, injecting poison into calf. Thankssss amigo, the snake whispered in Parseltongue, and horror struck Harry as he recognized the snake he had freed from the zoo just before he went to Hogwarts.

"Nagini," he muttered aloud, growing weaker and weaker, "is part of Voldemort... so she... can... kill me..."

"NO!" cried Ron, throwing himself upon the snake. It whipped around, sinking its fangs into Ron's neck, once, twice, three times. Ron grabbed the Gryffindor sword and neatly sliced the snake's head from its body. The snake twitched, then fell still. Green smoke hissed from the snake's frozen body.

"NO!" Voldemort echoed, stooping to retrieve Nagini. Harry grabbed the sword and held it high up in the air as Voldemort swooped downwards - the blade ran straight through him and this time, blood spurted out. Harry pulled back the sword and shoved it in again as hard as he could.

Voldemort slowly evaporated into emerald smoke, which evaporated as well.

Ginny ran over to Harry and Luna and Neville rushed to see if Ron was all right. Luna burst into sobs instantly, her cries of "He's dead, he's dead," muffled by Neville's shoulder.

Ginny brushed the hair out of Harry's face. "You did it," she whispered. "Voldemort's gone."

But Harry's face was still. His green eyes were frozen wide-open and his face was arranged in an expression of satisfaction. And somewhere, far off, Ginny knew that Harry was with his parents.

Dissolving into tears, Ginny cried over Harry's body for hours before Tonks, Lupin, Mrs. Weasley, and the rest of the Order finally arrived. Tears were shed, but no one cried as hard as Ginny. Her shoulders shook with sobs even long after her tears had run dry. At last, she leaned down and gently kissed Harry good-bye.

Harry woke up. He felt so strange - so light, so relaxed, so . . . happy.

He realized he was lying on the beach - he had never been to the beach before. The Dursleys never let him go when they went, and of course there had been no time at Hogwarts to spend at the beach. But as he looked at it now he realized just how beautiful it was - pictures didn't do it justice. The sun was setting, sending streaks of orange and purple and pink across the darkening sky and the red sun was dipping into the water's horizon to rest for the night. He smiled as a pair of dolphins jumped out of the water and back in perfect unison.

"Harry?"

Harry jumped and turned around. A kind-looking woman with a round face was behind him, a short distance away. She had flaming red hair and bright green eyes. Harry knew those eyes . . .


The man beside the red-headed woman was a replica of the man Harry himself had grown to be. The only difference was the lack of a scar and blue eyes instead of green . . . green eyes . . . Harry had green eyes, like this woman . . .

Tears of joy ran down Harry's face as he ran into the open arms of his mother and father. Lilly covered him in kisses and James could not stop grinning.

"You did it," James whispered to Harry, "you killed Voldemort."

Sirius came up and hugged Harry, followed by Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory, Alice and Frank Longbottom, even Draco Malfoy and his parents. Finally, Hermione and Ron came forth, all hugs and kisses from Hermione and Ron about pumped Harry's arm off, muttering, "Congratulations, Harry, congratulations!"

And Harry knew that this was where he needed to be. This was where he belonged.

Out of all the hand-shaking and hug-giving and congratulations, Harry noticed Dumbledore standing in the background. Harry smiled and waved at the ancient wizard and Dumbledore winked at Harry and gestured to his forehead. Harry's hand flew to his forehead to meet a smooth surface of skin.

Harry no longer had his scar.