A/N: So I was finally able to finish this chapter. It has been vexing me for quite some time. Trying to get something that was substantially similar to the canon final battle without being too close to it was a chore. Thanks to my wife, Sage Defender who was my sounding board as I thought this out. (Go read her stuff!)
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Harry found himself in a clearing, the same clearing he had been in before. Looking down, he was shocked to see what appeared to be his body. It was missing its head. He looked at Sirius who smiled at him.
"I'll be with you, even if you can't see me." Sirius said. "Now, I believe you have a snake to kill."
Harry knelt beside the mortal remains of his counterpart. It felt wrong to rifle through the clothing of a corpse, but - since the corpse was his own, he reasoned that it must be acceptable. There, he found what he was seeking: the wand his counterpart had seized from Draco Malfoy's counterpart, his counterpart's own broken phoenix wand, and his counterpart's Invisibility Cloak. Harry quickly secreted away the other broken wand and added the duplicate of Malfoy's to his own.
"Here," said Sirius as he handed Harry another wand. It was the Elder Wand! "I nicked it in the other world. I figured it might be helpful."
"Thanks," said Harry, resolutely.
Throwing the Cloak over himself, Harry saw that it worked as well for him as his own did. Purposefully, Harry turned toward the castle and began striding towards it. He could feel Sirius' presence beside him.
"You're going to do fine, Harry," he heard Sirius say. "I can't help directly in the battle, but there are a few things I can do. I think Neville needs a new pair of snakeskin boots, don't you?" The two shared a grim chuckle.
As Harry approached the castle, he could hear Voldemort's sibilant voice taunting the assembled defenders: "I will give you one more chance to submit. Your champion, Harry Potter, is dead by my hand."
Harry emerged into the entrance hall in time to see Bellatrix Lestrange reach into a bag and remove the missing head of his counterpart's body. She callously tossed it towards the defenders with a mad cackle. Harry's heart broke when he saw Ginny's form weeping.
A grim determination seized Harry and he whipped the cloak off of himself. "I assure you, Tom, that's not my head."
"Impossible! I beheaded you myself! I saw you die!"
"Not me, Tom!"
As one, the two mortal enemies raised their wands and began slinging spells at each other. The entrance hall erupted with sound and motion as the two opposing forces again joined the battle.
Harry felt a renewed strength come upon him. The fatigue that had gripped him prior to Sirius' appearance was gone. His opponent, however seemed to be tiring. Unfortunately, Lord Voldemort was still quite a powerful wizard.
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When Harry had miraculously appeared, as though from the dead, the Death Eaters and the defenders alike froze for a moment, not able to believe their eyes.
Ron Weasley's sudden war cry snapped them out of their shock and the two armies met in battle once again.
Neville Longbottom looked around urgently. He had lost sight of Bellatrix Lestrange and he was going to kill the monster who had made his parents insane. Suddenly, he felt himself something land on his head. It was made from old grotty fabric, but before he could figure out what it was, he felt a sharp pain in the top of his head. He whipped the offending fabric off his head to discover it was the Sorting Hat. Neville reached inside it to discover a sword.
Neville drew the sword from the hat, as from a scabbard. The hilt was embedded with rubies and the blade was inscribed "Godric Gryffindor." Neville was shaken from his reverie, however when he felt himself being turned around bodily.
Approaching him from what had been a concealed angle was a huge snake. It was Nagini – the snake Harry had warned him to kill!
Though Neville had never used a sword before, it felt sure in his hands, as though the sword itself were guiding his motions. Neville dodged the snake's strike and quickly severed its head.
In the middle of his duel with Voldemort, Harry heard Sirius' voice shout: "Harry, now!"
Instinctively, Harry thrust the Elder Wand he possessed at Voldemort. Without even consciously uttering an incantation, Harry pushed his magic through the copy of the Elder Wand he possessed. Simultaneously, Voldemort saw Harry's guard seem to drop and cast the Killing Curse with his copy of the Elder Wand.
Though they were not brother wands in the usual sense, these two wands were identical down to the atomic level. Harry and Voldemort's wands locked in Priori Incantatem.
Just as Harry had seen at the end of his fourth year, a beam of golden light connected the two wands, which began shaking. Unlike the last time, however, there was no phoenix song. Instead, the eerie birdlike shriek of a thestral was heard.
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Sirius' voice in his ear. "Now, Harry. Dumbledore said your power is love. Use that: your love for your friends, your love for Ginny, your love for James and Lily. Think of their love for you. Focus on that love and push that feeling through to Riddle."
He thought of those he'd lost. He thought of those he would get to know again in this new world. He thought of Ginny and the kisses that they'd shared. He thought of the children that he would someday have and the desire to make the world safe for them.
Harry felt overwhelmed with the feelings of love. Parental love, friendship, romance, all of that and more he felt. Suddenly, Voldemort began to convulse. What had filled Harry with rapture, filled Tom Riddle with agony. He had dismissed the magic of love as weakness, but it was a stronger force than his fractured soul could handle.
With an unearthly scream, Voldemort's body was thrown backwards and landed lifeless on the ground.
"Now," said Sirius in his ear, "the wand, Harry. Get the wand before anyone sees it."
As Harry Potter walked forward and retrieved the other Elder Wand from Voldemort's lifeless grip, the remaining Death Eaters lost spirit. Some of them began to apparate away, others began fleeing on foot, still others dropped their wands and cried for mercy. With a shout, the defenders of Hogwarts began stunning as many of the Death Eaters as they could before they escaped.
Harry quickly hid both of the Elder Wands in his pocket before he turned and saw Ginny running to him. She collapsed into his arms and cried on his shoulder. "I thought you were dead! I thought you were dead! When Bellatrix threw that head..." Ginny's speech became incoherent in her weeping.
Ginny seemed to be on the verge of physical collapse and Harry felt not far behind, so he helped her to the ground and they sat there together. "Shhh...It's okay. I'm here. I'm here now. We have each other now. We can get through this together."
As he comforted Ginny, Harry heard a voice whisper in his ear: "Take care of her, Harry." The voice was his own.
Harry looked up, but didn't see anyone else nearby. He whispered back anyway. "I will. You take care of my Ginny."
At hearing his voice, Ginny stirred. "What did you say?"
Harry kissed her tenderly and looked into her tear-filled eyes. "I will take care of you, my Ginny."
For an instant, fire raged in Ginny's eyes. Even at her weakest, Ginny Weasley was still an independent soul. However, the relief at seeing Harry alive coupled with the look of grief mixed with longing in his eyes made her stop.
Ginny took his face into her hands and looked into the green eyes she adored. "From the look of you, Potter, I think I'll have to be taking care of you."
"I guess we'll have to take care of each other, then."
Harry was so caught up in every detail of Ginny's face that he almost missed Ron and Hermione arriving next to them. Harry turned and saw a throng of people approaching them and instantly wanted to get away. Suddenly, a voice cut through the noise of the crowd.
"Back, get back all of you," came the commanding voice of Molly Weasley. "Can't you see that he needs some space now?"
The crowd stopped and was quickly cowed by the intense glaring of Molly Weasley who soon found herself joined by Minerva McGonagall.
"Move along," came the stern voice of Professor McGonagall. "This is not a sightseeing tour. There are plenty of things that need to be done. Give Mr. Potter and his friends the privacy they deserve. Go, see to the wounded now."
Harry found himself flooded with relief as the crowd dispersed and began to see to the aftermath of the terrible battle.
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Sirius Black looked at Harry and smiled. This version of his godson now had a happy ending awaiting him. Slowly, he began walking back to the clearing. He had already clandestinely retrieved the severed head belonging to the Harry who was now deceased.
Sirius' help enabled Neville to more easily gain the sword and kill the snake horcrux. His whispered suggestion to Molly Weasley and Minerva McGonagall allowed Harry and his friends to rest and kept the crowd away.
Sirius arrived in the clearing to find the headless body exactly where he had left it. He quickly conjured a coffin and reverently placed both the body and the head in it. Sirius carefully shrank the coffin and placed it in his pocket. He then opened the door to the Place-Between-Places and walked through it.
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Sirius opened the door to the other universe from the Place-Between-Places and entered. He found himself in the clearing where he had first encountered the living Harry.
There he saw the insubstantial form of the deceased Harry, standing whole, if somewhat transparent. He was not silvery grey of a proper ghost, however. Next to him was the colossal form of the Entity that Sirius knew to be the embodiment of Fate.
Fate spoke: "You have brought his remains." It was not a question.
Sirius approached them and removed a small object from his pocket and placed it on the ground. With a tap from his wand, the shrinking charm was reversed, revealing the coffin Sirius had conjured for this Harry's mortal remains.
"What would you like done with them, Harry?"
"I don't know. It's not like I'm going to be using them anymore. I suppose it wouldn't be nice for someone to come across this as it is."
"Allow me," Fate said. With a wave of her hand, the bodies of the fallen heroes were placed in elegant coffins arranged before them neatly in rows. Behind them, the bodies of Riddle and his forces were arrayed in plain wooden boxes.
Harry walked over to Sirius and embraced him.
"Harry, you're about to see me, well, another me. Why the hug?"
"This one is for you. For what you've done for me and for the other Harry."
Sirius returned the hug whole-heartedly.
Harry let go then walked over to Fate. "I'm ready."
She took his hand and the world faded in a flash of white. When his eyes cleared, Harry was reminded of what he had seen in the Mirror of Erised years prior. However, there were more people in this vision. All of the Weasleys, Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his teachers, and countless others joined the Potters in welcoming him heartily.
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The remaining populace of Wizarding Britain, those who were unaware of the final battle – or too afraid to come – eventually learned what happened when one brave soul dared venture to Hogwarts to discover what had happened. Magical people the world over were simultaneously relieved to learn of Voldemort's defeat and saddened by the loss of the defenders, many of whom were still children. Many prominent families were completely obliterated in the battle.
The greatest shock for Wizarding Britain, was when several prominent members of society were discovered grouped with the Death Eaters. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge, Rita Skeeter, and even Minister Thicknesse were found there. However, of those, only the two male Malfoys bore the Dark Mark.
Harry Potter was buried next to his parents in Godric's Hollow.
Theories abounded, but nobody ever discovered who laid out the fallen.
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A/N: Rita Skeeter perished in the battle when her beetle form was trod upon by a minor Death Eater. She wasn't a marked Death Eater, but she wasn't fighting for the Light either.
Fate makes her debut here. Fate, along with Life, Death, Love, Inspiration, Wisdom, Faith, and probably others are Cosmic Entities. They represent their respective Cosmic Concepts. We will be seeing Fate again. Death will appear in an as-yet unposted story.
Harry still has to talk to Ginny and his friends. Meanwhile, before we saw the other Harry here (the deceased one), he had an adventure. There is more story yet to come.
By the way, if you want to read more of Sirius' adventures, go check out "The Further Adventures of Spacetime Sirius." Each chapter is a separate story of Sirius' adventures as an interdimensional troubleshooter. The first chapter is already up and I have more in the works, including a Marauders story and a Frank and Alice Longbottom story.