Chapter 10

Harry was lying face-down in Diagon Alley. He could feel the cobblestones pressing against his skin and smell the fresh-spilled blood of the dead snake that was lying on top of him. His right arm was stretched out, holding the sword. His other arm was at his side, under the Invisibility Cloak but pinned down by the weight of the snake.

"Accio Elder Wand!" he heard Voldemort call out, and a swish of rapid movement told Harry that Voldemort had called the Elder Wand successfully,

"You almost had me, Harry Potter," the Dark Lord said in a cracked voice. "You managed to destroy my last two Horcruxes. If you had time for one more spell you could have killed me. But I have triumphed! My prophesied nemesis is dead, and I control the Elder Wand!"

Voldemort began to walk toward him, then paused.

"I need to make sure he's dead," said Voldemort, and Harry braced himself. "Crucio! Crucio!"

Harry managed avoid screaming and remain limp even though pain blasted through his nerves. It wasn't quite as bad as the last time, after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Dumbledore was right: Voldemort's attacks were being partially blocked by the magic of Harry's self-sacrifice.

"I can't feel any connection to Potter's mind, either," Voldemort muttered to himself. "Good... he's dead. But he could be carrying some sort of booby-trap. I'd better call in Death Eaters to deal with the body... but first I must clean up the evidence of what Potter did. Accio Cup! Accio Nagini!"

Freed of the weight of the snake, Harry reached for Draco's wand with his left hand. His left arm was still under the Invisibility Cloak but he had to move carefully to avoid making any sound.

Harry had never before tried to Disapperate from a prone position, using his off hand, but he tried desperately now. He had to get away before Death Eaters came and got a close look at him. Without the Elder Wand this was going to be difficult.

"It's a good thing I sent my two Gringotts door guards away," said Voldemort to himself. "I didn't want them to see me taking away the Cup. Now I can transfigure Nagini and the Cup to hide the evidence of Potter's attacks."

While Voldemort was distracted with this task, Harry completed the Disapperation Spell. As he turned into the blackness, he felt something going wrong.

"Shell Cottage! Shell Cottage!" Harry thought over and over. This Disapperation was taking too long. Was he going to get stuck in the blackness between places?

When he finally came through to the rocky beach there was a pain in his left leg. He looked down and saw blood soaking his pant leg. He had splinched himself.

At least he had gotten away, Harry thought. He grinned as he thought how angry Voldemort would be. There was no longer a mental link so he wouldn't be sharing that moment.

He managed to hobble into Bill and Fleur's backyard before he fainted.

----

When Harry woke he was in bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Ron and Hermione were sitting at the bedside.

"Harry, are you awake?" Ron was calling. "How do you feel, mate?"

"Better," said Harry.

"Hermione told me to tell you she doesn't want to talk to you after that Full-Body-Bind curse you did on us. When it broke we thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry I did that to you," said Harry, "I thought I had to use the Hallows and you wouldn't let me. It turned it would have been a horrible mistake. I took Dumbledore's way instead."

"Dumbledore's way? I heard Snape's ghost say that was to let You-Know-Who kill you," said Ron.

"I did, sort of," said Harry. "But I got better. I'll explain more later. Right now we're one step ahead of You-Know-Who and we have to act fast. He thinks he has no more Horcruxes but we know there's still one more."

"You're in no condition..." started Ron,

"In condition or not, we have to get into Hogwarts," said Harry.