A/N: Alright, so it's been a couple of years since I last posted anything. But! I had this partly done, lost my muse, got it back, didn't like how it flowed, redid it, lost where I put it in my pile of papers, found it, didn't like it, redid it a second time, saved half of it in my drafts in my e-mail and just found it when I was cleaning it out and decided to just completely redo it a third time. And it's done! The long-awaited sequel to "Hit the Floor"! Finally! \o/ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter, nor do I own anything to do with Linkin Park or "In the End".

In The End

It starts with
One thing I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing

Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on but didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you go

Well, I must say that I never thought Dumbledore's little resistance band would last this long. Nor did I think that they would attempt an attack on Headquarters. But here they are, bursting through the doors shouting nonsense while a meeting is being held and acting like the grand heroes they think they have deserve to be. What fools. I watch, as the Death Eaters make short work of capturing the babbling, bumbling band of baboons led by the Great Manipulator. Honestly, one would think that Dumbledore would have at least tried to get them ready to do battle. But no, he builds them up on lies and pretty promises he has no intention of keeping and leads them here like lambs to the slaughter they truly are to him. Once the last of them, still shouting madly that they will win, are brought down and bound I turn my back on the doors. Looking at Neville and Luna, I motion them closer and whisper to them to help any of the Death Eaters that were injured in the mild skirmish. They nod and disappear behind me. Bill, Fred, George and Tonks inch closer to me as Remus out-rightly moves to stand at my side. I shake my head and look at Marvolo (Riddle's insistence that as co-rulers, we not use each others last names when talking to or about one another to show a unified front was met with a compromise) with a raised eyebrow and a nod toward the doors. He smirks and shrugs in response before drawing his wand and casting silently.

"Well, what do we have here? A rag-tag group calling themselves witches and wizards that follow an ancient relic?" Marvolo looks over the crowd before turning and walking up the couple of steps to the thrones he insisted the two of us as co-rulers have and sat down. Looking at me and tilting his head to the throne to his left, I roll my eyes and walk up the stairs myself.

"Tom, my boy," Dumbledore started but Marvolo hissed, cutting him off. I snorted, stopping in front of my throne, and reached a hand over to Marvolo's shoulder. Moving so I could lean into Marvolo, I squeezed his shoulder gently.

I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it mean to me will eventually be a memory of a time when ...

We need to watch our tempers, I hissed quietly in Marvolo's ear in Parseltongue. He is going to try to get under our skin and use that as an advantage for him. You know this, why are you playing into it Marvolo?

He brings out the worst in me, Hadrian. Marvolo hissed quietly back, staring at Dumbledore and his group. He turned his head to look at me and smirked. I blinked in question before feeling his shoulder muscles move under my hand. The back of his hand brushed some of my hair off the side of my face and I wrinkled my nose. I had let it grow longer to try and tame the unruliness of the Potter hair and it now reached just below my shoulders. I'm still not sure if it was an improvement or not, but have been told by Remus that it brings out the Black features I inherited from my Grandmother Dorea. And it has the bonus of not making me look like a clone of my father, but my own person.

"There is no Tom here, Dumbledore. Nor is there anyone here that is your boy." Marvolo finally looked back at Dumbledore. I straightened, Marvolo's hand running down my arm as I pulled mine off his shoulder. "You will do well to know that your little ploys won't work. Only those who earn my respect get to use my given names. You will refer to me as Lord Voldemort as you do not have my respect and you never will."

"Ah," Dumbledore breathed out. Marvolo turned his eyes back to me and tapped the back of my hand before gently tugging on my little finger. I tilted my head in thought, before nodding to his unvoiced question. Honestly, spending so much time with him since I changed sides two years ago has had the unsurprising effect of us knowing the other too well. What is surprising is the turn our personal relationship took. "Very well then, Voldemort. I must ask you not to harm any of those with me. I also wish to recover Harry from whatever dungeon you have him in and will trade my life for his."

I blinked before opening my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Marvolo turned and stared at Dumbledore for several minutes before shaking his head. I heard the Death Eaters behind my back shifting slightly before low whispering started flickering through the ranks. Turning my head to see if Remus had heard the same thing, I saw he turned his back slightly to the room. His amber eyes were dancing beneath his silver mask and his shoulders were shaking. I narrowed my eyes at him.

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

"And what, pray tell, makes you believe I have Harry Potter in my dungeons?" Marvolo's voice portrayed nothing. I felt a push on my arm and turned to see his hand resting on it. Looking at him, I saw he was watching me. He tilted his head to my throne and I nodded. He removed his hand as I turned and took the step back towards my throne. Turning, I sat down and faced the room again. My gaze flickered over the group of bound Dumbledore minions, idly recognizing Weasley the sixth, Weasley the girl, Granger, and Shacklebolt only besides Dumbledore. I raised my eyes to look over the Death Eaters and saw they were watching Marvolo and myself closely.

"He disappeared with his relatives after you attacked the family." Dumbledore drew my gaze back to him as he talked. The two years I've been co-ruler of the Dark seem to have made him age more then he looked the last time I saw him. His blue eyes weren't twinkling like usual, but neither did they seem defeated. I frowned as he shifted in his bounds slightly. "He has not died, therefore you must be holding him in your dungeons."

"And how do you know Potter isn't dead?" I turned my head to give Marvolo a look of disbelief. His blood red eyes flickered to my glasses-free Avada green before he smirked at me. "After all, I could have easily tortured and killed him with those wastes of air. Or, I could have offered him a quick, painless death if he surrendered to me."

"Harry Potter would never surrender to you." I closed my eyes and leaned forward to place my elbows on my knees and covered my face with my hands to try and stifle my laughter. My legs were jostled, so peaking through my fingers, I saw Remus had collapsed at my feet shaking. It's not that funny! I nudge him with my foot, but he shakes his head without meeting my gaze. I take a deep breathe and raise my head. Bill, Fred and George are all leaning against each other shaking as well. Tonks is shaking her head and keeps raising her hands to her masked face before lowering them. Neville and Luna have stopped attending to the minor injuries and have actually removed their masks so that anyone looking could see the complete disbelief pictured on their faces. Most of the Death Eaters are just staring at Dumbledore through their own masks, still as a statue. Severus caught my eyes as he moved his mask up momentarily to roll his eyes at me before smirking and lowering his mask again. Lucius keeps looking from Dumbledore to me and back to Dumbledore.

"Oh?" I couldn't help smirking. I leaned back in my throne, sprawling elegantly, as Dumbledore turned to look at me for the first time. "And what makes you think he wouldn't surrender?"

"Harry would fight for his family, friends and the Light. He has always been a paragon of the Light and would never surrender to the man that murdered his family." Dumbledore drew himself up as much as he could, frowning at me. "And who are you, my boy?"

"I told you, Dumbledore, no one here is your boy." Marvolo hissed out, leaning forward tensely. I reached the small distance between our thrones and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. He relaxed minutely and took a deep breathe. I removed my hand, only for him to grab it. He turned, smirking at me, and brought my hand up to place a kiss on the back of it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bill straighten quickly. I raised an eyebrow at Marvolo, who chuckled and turned back to Dumbledore smirking. "And this, is my co-ruler. My partner. Lord Thanatos."

One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how
I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so (far)
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me
In the end

"Wh-what?" Dumbledore's eyes widen in shock. I smirk and wave my hand at him after Marvolo lets it go. Flicking my gaze over his minions, I see the same look of shock on all their faces. I shift my weight slightly in my throne, and stretch my legs out to cross them in front of me. I know exactly what they are seeing, and it's not the scrawny boy of 17 that I was when I left Hogwarts. I've put on weight and I've actually been training and working out. Thanks to Severus and his brilliant mind with potions, I've gained some height as well. And with those small changes, the Black features started showing through. Add in an vision correction potion, longer hair and a confidence in myself, well I'm not the same Harry Potter they know and expect. Mind you, by the look on their faces, they aren't expecting me to be anything more then a blabbering mess shoved in a dark cell somewhere in the dungeons. I meet Dumbledore's gaze again and raise an eyebrow when he casts me a saddened, disheartened look. "Oh you poor boy, I don't know how you got involved in this."

"I got involved because it was my choice and the first choice I ever had." I looked over at Marvolo and smiled. "Voldemort did not care who I was. He did not care what I was suppose to believe. He did not care that I had been indoctrined in the beliefs of the Light. All Voldemort cared about was the fact that I started thinking for myself and that when I was questioning all I ever knew that I came to him. I came to several members of his Death Eaters and questioned them, debated with them. And when I felt I had enough information to make a decision, all he cared about was that I choose his side."

"Yes, and in choosing my side, Thanatos proved that he was his own person." Marvolo took over. I drew my gaze from Dumbledore to look over the Death Eaters. They all stood tall and proud, unmoving while they witnessed this scene. I glanced at my Inner Circle, my seven who have stood by me through everything the last three years have thrown at us. They all stood straight, stood proud and gave little nods as I caught their eyes. Bill kept flicking his eyes between Marvolo and me, but he shrugged when I narrowed my eyes at him. Remus' eyes crinkled in pride and he subtly patted my leg as he straightened to a standing position at the bottom of the couple of steps to the thrones.

"Enough about me, I am curious to know why you think Harry Potter is still alive." I shift my weight again so I'm leaning on the right arm rest causally. Tilting my head, I send an appraising gaze at Dumbledore.

"Because none of the monitoring devices linked to Harry have stopped working." Dumbledore stated. I froze slightly at that, staring at him. He monitored me? For how long? Marvolo's hand appeared on my shoulder this time and rests there. I throw a glance at him and see his eyes narrow at me. I swallow slightly harder and dip my head minutely. Turning back to the group in front of us, I watch as Weasley the sixth and Granger start ranting on how they needed to keep tabs on their best friend because he always lead people into danger. How they had the right to know what he was doing, because it was for the good of the Light. Dumbledore turned his head and gave them that disappointed look and they managed to shut up. He looked back at Marvolo and me and sighed. "Harry was always wandering off by himself and at times that proved to be a danger to him. I placed the monitors on him so that I knew where he was and if he was in danger. While he did damage some of them at the end of his Fifth year, they still work in the effect that they tell me he is alive and in some danger. And it's this knowledge that I request the trade. Knowing he is out of your hands and back where he belongs to recover then lead the fight against you is what gives me piece of mind to request it."

You kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when ...

I couldn't help it, I threw my head back and broke out laughing. The Death Eaters collectively shivered and leaned away, even though they were not that close. Marvolo's hand tightened on my shoulder and he let a few chuckles escape. It took a few minutes before I lowered my head and wiped a few tears from the corner of my eye. Looking over the group, I found their faces in various displays of astonishment and disgust. Grinning widely, I turned toward Marvolo and leaned closer. Marvolo raised and eyebrow and leaned closer to me. I know from overhearing Severus, Lucius and several other Death Eaters that it sent chills down their spines just from the visual alone. Never mind that they never know if we are actually whispering lowly or hissing as it sounds the same them. Shall we let all their hopes and dreams come crumbling down around them, Marvolo?

I believe we shall, Hadrian. Do you wish for me to lead into it or do you want to? Marvolo moved his hand from my shoulder to my arm. I narrowed my eyes over his shoulder in thought for a moment.

I do believe that you should lead into it, Marvolo. Then I will be the one to destroy their spirits. Marvolo nodded at me and we drifted apart. Turning back towards the assembly, I stole a quick glance at Remus then Bill. Both returned the glance and nodded at me, signalling they were behind whatever Marvolo and I were about to do. I looked away as Bill nudged Fred, more then likely to convey whatever else he saw in the quick glance. Marvolo stood from the throne and walked down the steps to stand in front of Dumbledore and his group of fledgling disciples.

"I assure you, Dumbledore, it is true that Harry Potter is still alive." Marvolo looked down at Dumbledore and started to pace in front of him. I turned slightly and leaned back to brace my arm on the right arm rest. Throwing my left leg over the left arm rest, I withdrew my wand and started twirling it between the fingers of my left hand. "In fact, it is also true that I do have Harry Potter within my grasp in this very manor."

"I knew it!" Dumbledore straightened and smiled at Marvolo. "Will you honour the trade I requested then?"

"I don't think we will. I'm actually quite happy with being within Voldemort's grasp." I answered in a bored drawl. The startled gasps from the simpletons in front of me was music to my ears.

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

"H-harry?" Dumbledore stuttered. I smirked as he paled. "What are you doing?"

"Thanatos, Dumbledore, is the only name you will be calling me." I leaned my head to the side and smirked. Still twirling my wand, I enjoyed the shock still in everyone but the Death Eaters faces. "Simply put, I'm doing what I want. I'm doing what I chose to do. After being nothing but your pawn, I decided I had enough. I went to Voldemort through a Death Eater I knew of and talked to him. I shared my thoughts with him and in turn, he shared his with me. Which is more then you ever did for me! I had enough of your lies and manipulations. Did you think I was joking when I told you that before leaving Hogwarts two years ago? Did you think I was just going to do what ever you wanted me to that last time we met? If you did, you were wrong old man!"

I snarled as I stood in a smooth motion. Stepping down the steps I walked towards Marvolo, who had stopped pacing. I placed my arm around his waist and curled into him as he drew an arm around my shoulders. Looking back at Dumbledore, I smirked at him. "Voldemort ... No, Marvolo, was able to put everything he knew about me behind him and accepted me as I was. He never expected more from me then what I was willing to give. In return, I put everything he tried to do to me behind me and accepted him as himself. That started us on a mutual respect and that has blossomed into what it is today. And that lack of expectation and respect was what you never gave to me."

"Poor Dumbledore." Marvolo mocked as he drew me closer. He moved his hand to brush a strand of hair behind my ear. "And you were so sure that Hadrian would not surrender to me. I gather you never even contemplated he would join me. And I have you to thank for that. Without the lies and manipulations from you, he might not have ever joined me."

"No." Dumbledore looked as his world just ended. Well, I guess it did in a way. The rest of the prisoners hadn't even moved from gaping at the throne during all this. I don't even think they were paying any attention to anything after the revelation. Pity, I was kind of hoping both Weasley's would have said something so Bill, Fred and George could have had some fun. Oh well, maybe they can provide entertainment later then. "No, this isn't possible ... No ..."

"Oh, I assure you it is very possible. And very real." I bring my wand up and tap it against my lips. "I was tired of everything you wanted me to be. I was tired of being put up on a pedestal only to be continuously knocked off. I was tired of being mocked both to my face and behind my back. I was tired of being thought of nothing but your property. I was tired of trying so hard and yet nothing I did mattered because it was just all apart of the grand plan anyway. I hated the fact that I had put my trust in you, but you never did anything with it. That you used that trust against me every chance you got. Well, no more Dumbledore. No more."

I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know

"And this is how it ends, Dumbledore. Knowing that your pawn, your Golden Boy, isn't yours. He's mine." Marvolo turned his head smirked at me. I smirked back at him and nodded. As one, we brought our wands up.

"Avada Kedavra." Green light flashed as Dumbledore crumpled at our feet with the look of disbelief locked on his face. Looking down I contemplated this moment. I felt the victory and relief that I had guessed that I would feel. But I also felt content, happy and glad that it was over. Marvolo squeezed slightly and I looked back up at him. He had a small frown creasing his face and I smiled.

"If you don't mind, Marvolo, I think I'll leave you to deal with the rest." Marvolo relaxed and nodded. He removed his arm and turned back to his throne.

"Very well Hadrian. Why don't you and your Circle leave and celebrate?" Marvolo sat back down on his throne regally and gestured to my Circle. "After all, it was you and yours that suffered under Dumbledore even worse then me and mine."

"Yes, I do believe we will." I nodded. I started towards where Bill, Fred, George and Tonks were standing as Dumbledore's group slowly started to overcome their shock. Remus joined me as I passed by him and he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed before quickly taking it off. I heard the lost sheep start to bleat, but paid them no mind. Reaching the others just as Neville and Luna joined I nodded. Turning, Bill falling into place on my left with Remus on my right, we headed to the doors. The Death Eaters parted like the Red Sea before us, bowing their heads. Flicking my wand that I still had in my hand, I opened the doors. Once we were through, I flicked it again and they slammed shut behind us.

"Well, that was certainly anti-climatic." Remus commented as he took his mask off. I shook my head at him with a small smile on my face.

"Now, I don't think anti-climatic describes it Moony." Another mask removed showed Fred's grinning face.

"I agree, dear brother, we need another description." George spoke up after removing his mask. He gave me a quick little hug and turned to Fred before they threw their arms around each other smiling like the lunatics they are.

"How about it was a feeble attempt on Dumbledore's part?" Neville suggested, his mask resting on the top of his head as he lightly punched my shoulder.

"The Light will be neutralized by the demise of their great leader. The crumpled-horn snorkacks will be happy as well." Luna smiled dreamily as she reached up to kiss my check, mask in hand. She turned back to Neville and linked arms with him.

"Whatever. It's not our problem that Dumbledore was an ineffectual leader." Tonks snorted as she put her mask in a hidden pocket in her robes. She smiled and ruffled my hair before turning and kissing Remus.

"Can we just agree that it's a relief Dumbledore has been dealt with and celebrate the fact we never have to worry about him again?" Bill sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I smiled and tilted my head to kiss him.

"I agree with you." I hum as we break apart. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Harry." Bill smiled at me. He moved to walk beside me with me tucked against his side. "I know you and Voldemort consider yourselves brothers at the least because of your similar history. Besides, I like how Dumbledore died thinking you two were lovers."

I laugh up at Bill. Snuggling a little closer, I watched my friends all happy and relaxed. It was nice finally having Dumbledore gone, and I was glad to be a part of it. Now, the focus could shift on finally getting a Minister of Magic that would be a Dark supporter and continue the battle. Bill squeezed my waist, before he shouted something at Fred or George.

In the end, Dumbledore didn't matter. All that mattered, are these seven that have stuck by me through whatever they could. All that mattered, was that Marvolo and I had the mutual trust and respect that allowed us to be as close as we are. All that mattered, is that I am living my life as I want to and not how a manipulative old man decided I was going to.

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter.

A/N: Well, about time, eh?