Disclaimers, etc, see part one.

Please accept our apologies for the massive delays.

Chapter Ten

This was not how he expected it to happen. Harry had always thought that when he returned to Godric's Hollow he would accompanied by his friends to visit his parents graves; something pensive and reverential. He hadn't expected to be sneaking up in what amounted to camouflage gear, ready to battle Death Eaters and Voldemort, with a couple of dozen of people he didn't know. Fate definitely had a well developed sense of irony.

Harry wasn't sure which team Buffy was supposed to be with. But he supposed it was possible that she wasn't with any team at all, and had simply come along for a bit of fun. Harry chose not to consider how going up against a megalomaniacal super villain who was not directly threatening her, and enjoyed throwing around killing curses like confetti, was fun. It made her ideas of what was not fun way too dark to contemplate.

Time stretched out as they were waiting for the signal to go in. Harry's thoughts were drawn naturally to his parents. This was the house that he had been born in, where he would have grown up, and crouching in the bushes across the lane from the front garden was not how he was suppose to have returned. He wondered how close his parents were buried.

Harry was forced back into the present but a sudden loud noise, like a gong. That was the signal that the first team had taken down the wards and it was time for Harry, with Ron and Hermione beside him, to get into the house.

They went through the front door, which opened into a hall. There were still cloaks on the stands, covered in dust and ash.

Harry did not pause to look around. Hermione pointed at the doors into what must be the living room and Ron stepped forward to show that he was going to going in front of her. Harry waved them both back. He blasted the doors open with his wand.

Voldemort had turned the living room into a war chamber. The furniture was still there, but Harry could not see how it might have been arranged. Snape was standing beside Voldemort, Lucius on his other side. Bellatrix was crouched at Voldemort's feet, wand brandished and a feral look in her eye. There were other Death Eaters in the room, but Harry didn't pay much attention to them, they were for the others to take care of, he had a different task.

Harry watched Voldemort. He was saw that the evil bastard would go for his friends first, like he had gone for Cedric. In the split second between Voldemort recognising Harry and raising his wand to cast the spell, Harry felt Voldemort's intent. Before he had had time to process the information, Harry threw himself between Voldemort's Avada Kedavra and Hermione.

Harry's wand was in his hand and aimed at Voldemort instinctively.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled.

The jet of red light from Harry's wand hit the green from Voldemort's. This time Harry was prepared for the effect; the golden light forming a cage and the beads of light between the wands. Harry concentrated on sending all of his energy and magic through the connection towards Voldemort.

Voldemort's fingers clenched tight around his wand. He was obviously struggling to break to break the connection, but Harry had caused it and Harry was in charge, at least for as long as he could hold on.

The sounds of the battle outside of the golden light filtered through dimly.

Harry saw Lucius Malfoy raise his wands and open his mouth to cast a spell at him. Before Lucius could speak the words, a flash of amber light hit him in the stomach and he fell. Ron's shout of triumph and the impediment jinx hit home and Lucius stumbled.

Harry focussed on his task, still vaguely aware of the fight around him. The light beads reached Voldemort's wand and the grey ghostly manifestations of Voldemort's spells began to emerge from the end of the wand: screaming followed by Peter's silver hand, then Frank Bryce and Bertha Jorkins.

They nodded to Harry, recognising him, but staying silent. Harry felt his heart leap knowing that his mother would be next and this would be the last time he could see her at all. Lily's form appeared, followed by James's.

They smiled warmly at him and came to stand beside him.

More and more quickly figures and shapes came from the wand. People who said nothing, and shapes and sounds that Harry didn't understand. This is where it had ended last time and Harry concentrated on finishing the job.

Outside the circle Hermione and Ron were facing Bellatrix and Lucius and beginning to falter. Snape was sending jinxes and curses around the room, seemingly to cause confusion rather than to actively fight both Lucius and Bellatrix. One of his spells hit Hermione, throwing into a couch with such force that it tipped over backwards. Lucius aimed a curse at her, but it struck the couch instead.

Ron turned in spluttering rage on Snape, but Harry heard nothing of what he shouted. Sweat dripped down his face, his glasses began to fall down his nose and his hair was falling in his eyes. Fast and faster the grey forms appeared, one no longer coalescing before the next started to emerge, until there was just a blur of fog spreading through the cage.

"What do you expect this to achieve, boy?" Voldemort demanded.

He was probably trying to sound arrogant and nonchalant, but he sounded stressed and he was still clenching his hands around his wand. He was sweating.

"To finished it," Harry said, his own voice strained.

Harry heard a scream behind him. Then he could smell burning. A spell from Bellatrix caught him in the shoulder. It seemed Hermione had set Bellatrix's robes on fire. Harry smiled at that. Voldemort smirked.

With concerted effort Harry visualised the beads travelling along the beam of light, into Voldemort's wand and then into Voldemort himself. Harry's legs began to shake. He could feel every muscle quivering and his heart pounding. He hoped Voldemort was weakening as well.

The grey fog continued to roll out of Voldemort's wand, but now it began to resolve itself again. The figure that emerged was familiar to Harry, although it was paler than even the other forms. A tall young man in Hogwarts robes blinked and looked around him.

"Harry Potter!" he said. "How glad I am of a chance to face you again."

His eyes suddenly settled on Voldemort and he recoiled.

"This is what becomes of me?" he demanded. "Broken by a little boy? After all I've done?"

"It's been undone, Tom," Harry told him.

Tom did not respond. He did not have a chance to. Harry watched, horrified, as the ghostly form of Tom tried to back away from Voldemort even as he was dragged towards him. Tom's shape stretched and broke apart, as though hit by a strong wind, all of it sucked into Voldemort's shaking body.

Voldemort screamed. Harry felt that the vicious pain Voldemort was experiencing was a fair payment for the pain he had inflicted. He had no thought to spare for guilt or revenge. He just wanted it over. Voldemort fell to his knees with a satisfying thud.

There was a sudden burst of noise from outside: Death Eaters trying to get in and Slayers fighting to keep them out. Lucius was out cold on the floor, and Bellatrix was toying with Ron, who was barely able to return a curse. The door finally burst open, Harry glanced sideways just long enough to see that it Buffy and Neville who came through, not more Death Eaters. They were carrying something between them, but Harry pushed it out of his mind.

The fog continued boiling out of Voldemort's wand, but the beads were slowing. Harry concentrated on the last, pushing it with all the mental energy he could muster.

"It's ending now, isn't it?" James said.

"Yes," Harry told him.

"Good."

"We love you," Lily said, "we're very proud."

The last beads disappeared into Voldemort's wand and the last of his spells erupted from his wand. Then all that was left was Voldemort himself, his wand stilled trained at Harry. Ron was on the floor gasping, Hermione leaning over him looking anxious and muttering charms. Buffy could not be seen anywhere. Neville had his wand trained on Bellatrix, but had given up deciding on appropriate curses in favour of kicking her repeatedly.

There was a moment of stillness. Even Neville looked up.

Neville turned his wand on Snape, but Voldemort was first to speak. "Severus."

Snape was quick with his wand. There was a flash that blinded the whole room. When Harry could see again, both Neville and Ron had been petrified. Neville was standing in a growing pool of Bellatrix's blood. Ron's mouth was open and his eyes were still wide with pain. His frozen body trapped Hermione on her knees. Hermione turned to Snape in shock.

Harry tried to muster his thoughts enough to say something to Snape.

"Come, Potter, you cannot expect we would have allowed you allies in this fight. I thought you would appreciate witnesses to this, Dark Lord," Snape added.

"Thank you, Severus. You have a deft touch with such torture. More so than Bellatrix."

Voldemort sneered at Bellatrix's broken body.

Voldemort raised his wand almost lazily. Harry raised his wand to face him, but the movement was automatic. He could hardly believe that it would so soon be over, however it happened.

Voldemort cast, "Avada Kedavra," again.

Harry said nothing. He did nothing. He simply watched at time slowed down and the flash of green flew towards him. He couldn't hear either Snape or Hermione shouting at him. There was a sudden flash of movement and the curse never reached him.

Buffy lay at Harry's feet. The invisibility cloak was crumpled next to the door where she had been watching the battle, waiting for an opening to join in. Well, she had.

No one else moved, except Snape, who stepped behind the Dark Lord and drew a small silver knife from his robe. Before either Harry or Voldemort could cast another spell, Snape drove the knife between Voldemort's shoulder blades.

Voldemort fell. His body slumped and fell to the ground with a thud that echoed through the room sickeningly.

Snape's voice was vicious, but cold. "The blade was coated in venom from the Basilisk. Sytherin's Basilisk. I thought it fitting. You have done more damage to the reputation of our House than anyone in the last one thousand years."

Harry breathed in and out once. It was over. There was just one more thing to do.

Harry aimed his wand at Voldemort's body.

"Reducto!"

Harry watched Voldemort's body disintegrate into dust. The spectacle was accompanied by an awful high pitched keening noise, driving into everyone's nervous system. Snape flicked his wand at Ron and Neville to release them, and then rushed so quickly from Voldemort's remains to Buffy, that Harry automatically stepped back. Suddenly, sickeningly aware that yet another person had died standing between him and Voldemort.

Snape fell to his knees beside Buffy and grabbed her shoulders.

"Wake up, you silly bint!" he choked.

Harry wanted to reach out a hand and lay it on Snape's shoulder. Prudence, and the weirdness of the idea of comforting Snape, stayed his hand.

"I haven't got a scar, have I?"

Harry almost leapt out of his skin; the voice was Buffy's.

"It's not anywhere obvious, is it?" Buffy continued, when Snape didn't answer her. "I mean, can you imagine how much make-up it would take to cover something like that everyday. No offence, Harry," she added, looking up at him.

A quiet voice Harry recognised as his own said, "None taken."

"Help me up," Buffy demanded gripping Snape's arms. "Getting killed can really take it out of a girl."

Snape pulled her to her feet, but didn't let go of her.

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that again."

"No, you agreed. I'm the Slayer, it's my job. Besides, Giles was pretty sure it wouldn't kill me. Slayer meets spell, Slayer wins. And I've never stayed dead for long."

"Because every time you've died, someone has brought you back."

"Exactly! No harm, no foul," she shrugged.

Snape was not mollified. "You're pregnant with my child!"

This declaration was met with a spluttering cough from Ron. Harry turned around to make sure Ron was okay. He looked pretty beaten up, and Hermione was still fussing over him, but Ron's horrified face was watching Snape.

"How are you extremities? Can you wriggle your toes?" Snape demanded.

"What, in public, Severus?" Buffy asked, with a coy shrug.

Snape let out a snarl between his teeth. He was torn between wanting to shake her and wanting to carry her to the infirmary.

"Do you remembering what you promised me six months ago?"

"What, to love, honour and cherish?"

"No! Not throwing yourself at certain death!"

"Hey," Buffy protested. "Not 'certain.' Not dead, therefore not certain death."

Harry knelt down beside Ron. Hermione was looking rather grim, but that might just have been tiredness. Before Harry could ask how Ron was or call for help, the doors burst open Moody strode into the room, followed by Kingsley.

Moody's crazy eye was spinning furiously, checking all the corners of the room for possible insurgents. He turned his wand on the dust that had been Voldemort and spelled it into a jar he had pulled from his robes.

"No coming back out of thin air again, you bastard. Let's how you like being trapped."

"He really is dead, Alastor," Dumbledore said from the doorway.

Harry spun around to look at him, pleased that Dumbledore was still here. Dumbledore smiled warmly at him. Kingsley finished patching Ron up enough to move him, and with Hermione's help had gotten Ron standing. Together the three of them and Harry walked out of the room and out of the house. Dumbledore stepped aside for them to pass and then went to Neville, who was still standing, staring at Bellatrix's body.

The front garden of the house was in complete shambles. There were wizards and slayers and others lying and sitting around the garden. Mediwizards, Madam Pomfrey and a couple of witches who had come with the Slayers were stepping over and around people, checking for injuries. There were Aurors in the crowd as well, asking questions and taking notes.

Ron was immediately set upon by two mediwizards and his mother, who had appeared beside them.

"So," Hermione said.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Buffy and Professor Snape."

Harry nodded serenely. Of course that was the most notable part of the last few hours. Dumbledore came out of the house behind them.

"Ah, young love," he said. "I must be honest, I had not expected Severus to settle down with one woman so quickly. He has always enjoyed an active social life; I wasn't certain he would marry at all."

Ron started coughing again, sending the adults around him into a flurry of activity. Ron tried to wave them off.

"But, but—" Ron stuttered.

"Of course, a child changes things. Although I understand she did not fall pregnant until the honeymoon."

"But, but— But it's Snape!"

"Professor, please," Molly said. "Ron is obviously distressed."

"He will be all right," Dumbledore said. "He was hit badly during the fight, but Severus was able to cast a Stasis Charm on him to prevent further bleeding. He is merely suffering from adolescence."

Dumbledore rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Well done," he said. "We are all very proud of you, Harry."

"Ah, thanks, sir," Harry said, intently embarrassed. "There aren't any more prophecies are there?"

Dumbledore smiled indulgently. "Not that I am aware of, Harry. Although, if you would like one, I'm sure we could make some arrangements."

"I'm sure I'll manage, sir."

"Good boy."

Buffy was next to come out of the house. She had one arm tucked through Snape's and it seemed that he wasn't going to let go of her anytime soon, either.

"Well done, Harry. You remembered the first rule, very good."

"You, too. Although I think you forgot that one."

"Hey, you didn't duck either."

She punched him lightly on the arm. Harry rubbed the bruise, but smiled at her teasing. Snape nodded gravely at Harry as he passed. Then he pulled Buffy away from the house.

Harry signed in relief and satisfaction. Voldemort and the Death Eaters were dead or captured, both Hermione and Ron were okay, Neville had exorcised his demons and he would never have to go back to the Dursleys' again. All Harry had to worry about now was Quidditch and Hermione's revision timetables. Life was looking up.