DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.

CHAPTER ONE – THE POWER OF LOVE

"Kill me."

The words came from Harry's mouth, but were spoken with Voldemort's voice as he dropped to his knees before falling over and curling up into the fetal position.

The dark wizard had just tried to take possession of the young raven haired wizard with a distinct lightning bolt shaped scar after dueling to a stand still against Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort knew that Dumbledore had a weakness for Harry, and decided to use the fact that he wouldn't harm the boy against him, and then to use Harry to kill the leader of the light.

However, the moment his essence entered Harry completely, he was wracked with pain very much like the time he had faced the young wizard when he had possessed that fool Quirrell on his quest to get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone.

Voldemort could not believe it. He was so sure that when he had used Harry Potter's blood for the ritual that gave him back his body the year before, he removed that defense. Yet there he was, curled up on the floor of the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic and begging for death to take him.

If Voldemort was in pain, it was nothing to what Harry was going through. When Voldemort had returned the previous year and touched his scar, Harry felt like his head was splitting open.

Now, with the dark wizard inside him, he felt like his entire body was going to burst with pain.

Harry wanted nothing more than to die at that moment, not only to end the physical pain, but the emotional pain that he had lead Sirius to his death by coming here. A slight wave of peace washed over him as he thought of how he would be able to see his parents again on the other side.

Then, something dawned to him. If he died, Voldemort would still be alive and would kill everyone he knew.

Images flashed through Harry's mind of everyone he cared about.

"Yessssssss," hissed Voldemort. "You are right to be worried for them. I know all that you do. I know who you care for and will make their deaths slow and painful once you are gone."

When images of Hermione started to play through Harry's mind, he refused to let it happen. If he was going to die, he was going to make sure he took the bastard that had ruined his life with him.

And so, Harry grabbed onto the essence of Voldemort that was inside his mind and refused to let the dark wizard go as he fought and screamed in pain.

Dumbledore watched as Harry's scar started to throb slightly before it started to bleed.

"No," he whispered as he watched. "You must fight it Harry. You must."

Harry noticed the more he thought about those he cared about, the more pain Voldemort endured. So he started focusing on moments that meant most to him. The night Hagrid had come and told him he was a wizard. When he met Ron on the train to Hogwarts and they became friends. The first time he laid eyes on Hogwarts during the boat ride. Becoming friends with Hermione after he and Ron saved her from the troll. The night between his first and second year when Ron and the twins came to break him out of the prison the Dursley's made his room into. The moment when he tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby. The joy he felt in his heart when Hermione was no longer petrified. Finding out that Sirius was his godfather and was going to take him away from the Dursley's. The late night flight on Buckbeak with Hermione to rescue Sirius. How Hermione was the only person that believed him and stuck by him when his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. How beautiful she looked at the Yule Ball and how he regretted not asking her himself. The times they spent together talking, laughing, studying, and just relaxing in the common room.

Harry's life was practically flashing before his eyes, and as it did, he came to realize something. He was in love with Hermione Granger.

"NO!" Voldemort cried out in pain as he felt his connection to his Horocruxes diminish.

In a small cottage in Little Hangleton, a stone embedded in a ring shattered. In a small cupboard in Grimmauld Place, a locket cracked. In a safe deep in the bowels of Gringotts, a cup melted, as did a diadem hidden within Hogwarts itself. At Malfoy Manor, a large snake aged rapidly till it was nothing but dust. And on the Atrium floor of the Ministry of Magic, black smoke rose out of the scar of a teenage wizard.

Just as Harry felt his life starting to slip away, he used what mental strength he had left to grip the essence of Voldemort inside his head as tightly as he could.

"I love you Hermione," Harry whispered, and then both his and Voldemort's spirits vanished into the great beyond.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Dumbledore could feel nothing but sadness in his heart as he watched the young man he had come to respect and care for die. He regreated the distance he kept between the two of them over the past year

Just as the floo's throughout the Atrium came to life, ejecting a few dozen Auror's and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, Fawkes flamed in right over Harry's body. Within a few seconds, he grabbed Harry's shirt in his talons and flamed away before anyone else could see the body.

"Thank you old friend," Dumbledore whispered as he stood up and prepared for what would undoubtedly be a very long day.

"Albus, what are you doing… Bloody hell, is that…" Fudge asked when he noticed the lifeless body of Voldemort.

"Voldemort, yes," said Dumbledore. "As we have been telling you for the last year, he did return."

"And you beat him?" asked Fudge.

"No," said the Headmaster. "That honor belongs to Mr. Potter."

Fudge gulped as he watched his political carrier come to an end. He had made such a public stink that You-Know-Who couldn't be back. Had put pressure on the Daily Prophet to make out Potter and Dumbledore to be considered mentally unstable so no one would believe their claims. Had placed Potter on trial for using magic to defend himself against Dementors. Had placed Deloris Umbridge within Hogwarts to slowly take it over, giving him control of the school and even agreed to allow her to use any means to drive Potter away.

Now not only was he proven wrong that You-Know-Who was back, it had been none other than Harry Potter that had beaten him once again.

Fudge was sure he would be packing up his office before the week was over.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Madam Pomfrey was busy straitening up the hospital wing after she had healed and sent off the Slytherin students that had worked with that vile Umbridge woman.

It would seem that once word quickly spread only as it could in Hogwarts that she had been dragged off into the Forbidden Forrest by a pack of Centaurs, every student that had been picked on by the Inquisitorial Squad decided it was time for a little payback.

The result was a mixture of so many jinx's and curses that left the Slytherin's looking like mutant creatures out of some 1950's Muggle science fiction movie.

Normally, she would keep students like that over night once they had been healed. However, after the last year, she felt that they needed to learn a lesson and reap what they had sowed. So, she fixed them up as quickly as she could and sent them off on their way with a smile as they had looks of fear on their faces.

She also knew that most of them had parents that the Headmaster believed to be Death Eaters, and that this little lesson would teach them that using power and fear to rule over those they believed less then them would and could bite them back in the arse, thus preventing them from wanting to join Voldemort when they were given the chance.

Madam Pomfrey was about to head down for breakfast after a long night of healing when there was a sudden flash of fire over one of the beds.

She turned just as the flash happened again over the unconscious body of Hermione Granger.

"What in the name of Merlin?" she started to ask when another flash brought Ginny Weasley to another bed along with Dumbledore's phoenix, who quickly flashed away.

"Miss Weasley, what is going on?" asked the resident healer.

"It's a long story," said Ginny. "But you really need to take a look at Hermione. She was hurt really bad by one of the Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?" asked Madam Pomfrey, not understanding how it could be possible.

However, her curiosity put aside, she set to work on healing Hermione while Ginny told her about what had happened in the Department of Mysteries and Fawkes brought Ron, Neville, and Luna to the hospital wing.

"Where's Harry?" asked Neville when he arrived.

"I haven't seen him since he ran off after Bellatrix," said Ron, which caused Neville to go pale as he thought about his parents and wondering if Harry had suffered the same fate.

"He chased after that insane woman?" asked the healer and they all nodded. "She wasn't always stable when she was a student here. Then after, when she joined You-Know-Who, she really went off the deep end."

"I don't think Azkaban helped much based on what I saw last night," said Luna.

"Anyways, after Harry ran off, Dumbledore and everyone else captured the rest of the Death Eaters and then Dumbledore went off in search of Harry," said Ginny. "That's when Fawkes came and started bringing us here."

"Smart bird that phoenix is," said Madam Pomfrey. "If Hermione hadn't received medical attention soon, she might not have made it. Thankfully, he got her here in time and she's going to be alright in a few days. The question is, what happened to Mr. Potter?"

As if to answer her question, Fawkes flamed into the hospital wing, delivering the lifeless body of Harry to his usual bed.

Madam Pomfrey rushed over to the bed and quickly began waving her wand over him, her face going pale at the lack of results.

"Merlin, no," she whispered, refusing to believe what she was seeing and preformed her scans again.

"Is Harry alright?" asked Ginny, though Madam Pomfrey didn't answer. She checked his non-existent vitals again and again till she knew there was no point anymore. Harry Potter was dead.

The healer conjured a sheet that covered his entire body before she slowly turned towards her office and said, that she needed a drink.

The four friends couldn't believe it. Harry was dead.

"H… how?" asked Ron.

"Voldemort."

They all jumped and turned to see Remus Lupin walking into the hospital wing.

"Professor Lupin," said Neville.

"It's just Remus," said Lupin. "I haven't been a professor for two years now."

"Sir, how did it happen?" asked Luna.

"Dumbledore said that Voldemort tried to posses Harry," Lupin said as he pulled back the sheet and looked down at the carbon copy of his long dead friend James. "But it would seem that there was something within Harry that Voldemort couldn't stand." A tear started to roll down his cheek. "Dumbledore used Legilimency to watch it all happen within Harry's mind… Harry used every last bit of strength he had to fight him off. Then, when he knew he didn't stand a chance of surviving… He took that bastard with him."

"You mean…" Ginny started to ask.

"Voldemort is dead," said Lupin as he wiped away his tears before covering Harry's face back up with the sheet. "Harry beat him again… This time, for good. And when I found out, I had to come and see him for myself."

Lupin was broken inside. In one night he had lost the two closest people to him. Both Sirius and Harry were gone.

They were all silent for a few moments before Ron stood up and walked over to Harry.

"No," he said. "No, I don't believe it. He can't be dead. He just can't." Ron pulled the sheet down and looked at Harry's blank face. "You're Harry bloody Potter for Merlin's sake. The Boy-Who-Lived. You survived the killing curse when you were a baby. You jumped on the back of a troll at eleven. You faced You-Know… Oh screw it. You faced Voldemort that same year and beat him again. You've faced a Basilisk, giant Acromantulas, a bloody Hungarian Horntail, not to mention this whole year of dealing with that toad. I refuse to believe that you're dead, so quit screwing around and wake up."

Ron was practically screaming as he cried at the end, and Lupin had to drag the red headed boy away.

Madam Pomfrey, who had heard what Ron said, quickly grabbed a vial of calming potion, which she made him take.

Neville, Ginny, and Luna sat in stunned silence after witnessing Ron's breakdown. The youngest Weasley male was notorious for four things. Food. Quidditch. Chess. And having the emotional range of a teaspoon. So for Ron to act the way he did to Harry's death really drove the fact home that Harry Potter was dead.

OoOoOoOoOoO

In the divination tower, Sybil Trelawney stumbled out of bed, still drunk from the night before.

Her head was spinning and she tried to make her way to the toilet, but tripped over one of her overstuffed poof chairs and landing on a pile of pillows that Professor McGonagall had placed there after finding out that the 'seer' normally tripped and fell there every morning.

"Ow," she said, her voice slightly muffled.

A head splitting migraine hit her as she sat up. Her eyes fogged over and her voice spoke as though many were talking through her at once…

"The dark lord is vanquished, the hero shall return

The Order of the Shadows grows in strength and an old foe shall return

The leader of old shall fall and the hero shall take his place

Death awaits all shall the hero fail to prevent the return of the betrayer"

Trelawney almost fell over as her eyes returned to normal and she cleared her throat.

"Oh dear," she said. "I must be coming down with something… Maybe I should cut back on the cooking sherry for a bit."

She stood up and once she managed to keep herself from falling over said, "That is after just a wee nip."

As Trelawney turned a wee nip into drinking the entire bottle over the span of half an hour, a new orb holding a prophecy appeared in the ruins of the Hall of Prophecy at the Ministry with the tag S.P.T. about H.J.P. and M.