Enough for a Lifetime

by SaintEverton

In the years to come, they would often ask: "How did it feel to strike that final blow, to end the war?" He knew they would never understand. Later, they would ask: "Isn't your life boring now, don't you miss the excitement?" He would say, "I've had enough for a lifetime." Another look at Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort.

He reached up, watching the wand spinning through the air, and grabbed it with his left hand. Dropping his phoenix feather wand, the stick of holly that had taken him so far, he switched the Elder Wand to his right hand.

Voldemort fell to his knees, his final horcrux destroyed, defenseless.

Harry levelled the wand at Voldemort's heart, and spoke the words he had dreamed of saying for years.

"Avada Kedavra."

It wasn't a shout, or a scream. He simply spoke the words; the gravity of the moment conveying all the hatred the spell needed. For the Killing Curse required true hatred; whether it be aimed at the spell's target, or the world around it, it didn't matter. Looking back, which was something Harry rarely did, he couldn't say which provided the power necessary to cast the final spell. The world in which his friends died for him, or their executioner, he hated them equally.

He had no memory of the next few moments. The next thing he knew, he was standing over Voldemort's corpse. The man responsible for so much suffering, so much death. A man whose lust for power had turned him into a soulless demon capable only of sowing destruction and reaping its misery.

And yet, as the embers of the burning castle settled to the ground, and the body of the most powerful wizard in living memory cooled on the floor in front of him, Harry felt no joy.

He sank to his knees, and he wept.