The edge of the Forbidden Forest wasn't very forgiving to Lia's eyesight as she peered through the thickness of trees and brush hoping that she might catch a glimpse of Harry. There was nothing but misty tree leaves to be seen where Lia soon made the decision to back away from the forest. There was a tiny courtyard the Lia stumbled upon, remembering the moonflowers that Harry had picked for her the year prior just before the two had become completely enveloped in each other. Even amongst the destruction, the wall supported against the castle still held fruitful white flowers, which were now in full bloom in the last moments of the dawn. Lia sat among them, staring off at the blackened treetops where the navy blue sky met the tiptops of the forest. Moments later the entire forest was illuminated with a blinding green emerald light, where Lia felt like a knife had jabbed her directly in the stomach, knowing the deed had been done. The only emotion she felt was pain, but urged herself from allowing tears to leave her eyes; she had to keep her promise to Harry.

The light began to suffocate the night, and Lia knew that she had to reunited with her friends because although Harry had given his life, the battle wasn't over. All who was left had gathered in the Great Hall, where now amongst the rows of the dead, Ron and Hermione had brought Severus's body back from the Shack, which meant a great deal to her. The minute that Hermione's eyes met Lia's, the worst reality had been confirmed; Her friend had truly fulfilled the prophecy.

Everyone was covered in ash and blood, completely exhausted and mostly huddled together waiting for word back from the Forbidden forest. Commotion had come fast from the entrance of Hogwarts, where everyone knew that their judgment day had now come. Lia grabbed Remus Lupin's hand in one and Neville Longbottom's in the other, seeing that Hermione had been brave to accompany the Weasley family out to the courtyard. A wall of Death Eaters had blocked the entire exit allowing for all defenders of Hogwarts to pool outside the entrance. Before Lia and her company completely exited, she noticed that Neville had been particularly tense.

"Kill the snake, Neville. Then we can take care of him. At all costs kill that snake." She affirmed him.

Lia, Draco, Ginny, Hermione, Neville and Ron took the front line directly facing the Death Eaters, where Bellatrix Lestrange looked exceedingly disturbed by Lia's presence amongst them. Voldemort had not taken a second glance at her, due to the fact his grin was larger than the morning sun as he peered over to Hagrid carrying Harry's dead body. Lia could feel her insides sink as she saw Harry's two feet dangle over Hagrid's massive arm.

It was eerily silent, for many had never seen Lord Voldemort's face in the flesh, and it was utterly terrifying seeing the man able to take lives almost as quickly as some are born. Bellatrix danced and cackled in the background, letting her wild black hair dangle about in the stale air. Voldemort upstaged the rest of the group, pointing his wand at Hagrid with a twisted grin on his face.

"Harry Potter is dead…." He laughed, now encouraging the rest of his crowd to join in.

"The boy who lived, is no longer, and is now the boy who BETRAYED!" He boomed, pacing the length of the courtyard.

"Although the traitor is dead, the ranks of you will be placed accordingly amongst ourselves! If you do not wish to comply, then you will die along with him." Tom snarled.

"I'll have you know, I am sure you're all curious of how traitor Potter was vanquished. After he squirmed his way into the forest like a coward, he dropped to his knees, claiming to only care about himself. He said he no longer want to fight for you all, that in his heart, he could only care for himself, which meant death. As a merciful lord that I am, I granted it to him. One blow, straight to the heart." He teeth ground together as he grinned once more.

"YOU'RE A LIAR!" Ron shouted standing atop a pile of rubble.

"Don't worry Weasleys, we will see how long your alliance will stand once I start torturing you. Starting with the little one." He chuckled, directing his wand toward Ginny.

The crimson light left his wand, where Lia moved quickly deflecting the attack, sending the bolt of evil spiraling toward the sky.

"Let's not get hasty, Tom. " Lia spat at him.

Lia felt a reckless vibe inside of her as she made no reservation about challenging the Dark Lord. With Harry's death, she felt as if there was nothing stopping her from attacking full force to stop evil at any cost.

"And you are?" Seeming impressed by her quick spellwork.

"Ophelia Bloom."

"And with that kind of talent, it would be a shame to waste it. Will you be the first to join my ranks?" He seduced.

"I would rather di-"

"No Draco will be!" Narcissa yelled from behind the cloaked man.

Draco stood strong, clearly making it obvious that he had always been in alliance with Hogwarts.

"Come on, Draco. Come." Narcissa urged.

Draco felt a gently jab into his back, where then he felt the smoothness of his wand drop into the free hand he had dangling behind his back.

"Go Draco…." He heard his dearest friend discreetly whisper from behind him.

Hesitantly, Draco stumbled through the ruins, avoided being pulled in the by the Dark Lord and darted straight to his mother.

"Is this all who wants to live through the morning?" Voldemort said scanning the crowd.

Neville charged toward the center of the courtyard pointing his wand in Voldemort's direction, connecting a spell with the Dark Lord's chest, causing him to falter back. With quick rebound, Voldemort casted about a dozen spells in Neville's direction, causing him to lose hit footing, and his wand to soar across the courtyard.

"I recognize that face…. Neville Longbottom, isn't it? How's your parents?" The Dark Lord mocked.

With intense pain and injury, Neville stood to his feet, now clutching a ragged clump of thick musty material, which appeared to him as the sorting hat. Neville did not falter, just bravely intersected Voldemort from the rest of the crowd.

"A pureblood wizard, if I can remember. With courage to challenge such a great Lord sure as me, as well. Although I had hoped for better, I am sure I can find somewhere for you, Neville." Voldemort sneered.

"I would join you if HELL freezes over!" Neville screamed.

Voldemort attempted to use silencing charms on the cheers in the crowd, but the words Dumbeldore's Army were somehow able to overpower the curse.

"You may have killed Harry, but you haven't killed what we all stand for. Because people, they die every single day, but Harry….. his heart stopped beating for all of us. And believe me you coward, Harry didn't die in vain, but YOU WILL!" Neville screamed and lunged straight for Nagini with the sword of Gryffindor that he pulled from the tattered hat.

With no less than a dozen gasps, Harry leapt from Hagrid's arms, where Draco dashed a few yards in his direction and tossed over his wand.

"KILL HIM POTTER!" Draco screamed, right before his father yanked him from the battlefield and headed toward the bridge away from the castle.

Voldemort stood in utter shock along with Lia as she watched Harry take cover from behind the courtyard as he shot wild killing curses at Nagini. Voldemort became irrational and began cursing anybody in his way, where Lia confronted him head on.

"Diffindo!" Lia calmly projected toward the Dark Lord, concentrating a single flow of a spell that connected against his pale cheek, causing a deep red gash to form.

This gave her only a moment before Neville and Harry came sprinting toward the duel, where Harry was quick to deflect a killing curse whirling right at his girlfriend.

"Harry Potter…." were the words that barely left her lips before Harry directed her away from the courtyard, and Neville forcefully snatched her hand pulling her away from the Dark Lord.

Once inside of the castle with the doors shut tightly, Lia began tugging on Harry's flannel shirt despite a raging battle now bursting through the front doors.

"Harry fucking Potter….." She ran her fingers through his dark brown hair.

"How many lives do you have?" She chuckled, quickly kissing him.

"As many as you do." He mildly joked, completely enveloped in the touch of her cold, dirty hand against his face.

Centaurs galloped around the grounds, stomping on any Death Eaters not fast enough to outrun them in what was left of the halls of Hogwarts. A hoard of recognizable screams was coming from the heart of the Great Hall, where Lia was eager to jump back in to action.

"Just the snake…" She assured, disconnecting from Harry and sprinting toward the major commotion.

Ginny, Luna and Hermione were holding off a crowd of Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange in between two massive severed pieces of one of the long great oak tables. House elves were led by Kreacher, taking kitchen knives and the few spells they were able to perform, stabbing Death Eater's ankles and cursing them as well as they could. Molly had her keen eye on the lot as she defended off the South end of the Great Hall alongside her husband and sons. Once Lia was clearly in eyesight, Bellatrix's laugh became deafeningly thunderous, where she shoved aside the three prior defenders and concentrated all of energy directly on Lia.

"Well, well, well.. .musta been pretty excited to see that Potter scum was still alive, eh? You two must be made for each other seeing as that YOU NEVER FUCKING DIE!" She boomed with her curved wand pointed straight at Lia.

"Let's finish this, Bellatrix. Me and you… girl to girl…." She mocked the haggard woman.

Bellatrix wasted no time sending multiple killing curses in Lia's direction, causing Lia to be on the highest defense she's ever been. Her intensity shook Lia to the bone, knowing that truly one of them wasn't going to have a pulse at the end of this duel. Lia attempted a few disarming spells, but soon realizing that anything of non-spectacular level wasn't going to cut it. Bellatrix attempted to cast a few curses toward the other women who were now preoccupied in their own duels, but Lia deflected each one.

"Not fair, Bella." Lia yelled, casting a confringo spell at her opponent who was ready for it.

Lia knew that she needed an advantage, so she dipped under Belltrix's wand and aimed a closed fist punch right into her pointed nose. Bellatrix was quick to react with a new dagger she had acquired jabbing it straight toward Lia's neck. Bellatrix cackled violently as she wiped the crimson blood from her crooked nose, preparing herself for battle once more.

Without even a second to gather herself, Bellatrix casted the cruciatus curse at Lia, where immediately she dropped to her knees and convulsed, feeling excruciating electricity running through her muscles. Lia's screams nearly curdled the blood of all those within earshot for a few minutes, until Lia was able to gather herself and wearily push herself to her feet. Lia casted two more disarming spells at Bellatrix, throwing her off guard, and then for the third blow all she could imagine was the killing curse, but didn't have the courage to actually say the unforgivable act. Without muttering a word, a black lightning strike whirled from Lia's wand and connected with Bellatrix's chest, where she froze and then disintegrated like an hourglass into a pile of dust on the floor.

At the end of the long duel, the entire Great Hall was cleared of all enemies, where Hermione had to run quickly before Lia collapsed again. Bellatrix's last crutiatus curse had some sort of boost intertwined with it, for there was a literal burn through Lia's shirt and her pale skin was singed in black soot. Blood poured from her pink lips, and she was barely able to breathe from the gargling of it pooling in her throat.

The remaining group followed the noise of what sounded like intense lightning, only just outside of the Great Hall. Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Horace Slughorn stood in a tight trio as they battled with the Dark Lord fiercely which slowly started inching toward them, just in the center. There was an eerie intensity watching the citadels of magic battle each other with grace and poise that none of the younger witches or wizards possessed just yet.

Voldemort casted any spell he knew in rapid fire against the three, attempting at all costs to cause casualties on the sidelines. Lia buckled into cold pile of Hogwart's cinder, not being able to handle the residual pain of Bellatrix's curse, and unable to locate her blue enchanted bag with her potions inside. Hermione tried her best to search for one of Lia's potions in her own bags, but it became increasingly difficult during the battle of her lifetime. Voldemort seemed to have a head on the three as he cast his powerful evil spells as powerfully as he could muster until it seemed as if an invisible pain caused him to nearly fall to his knees.

"They did it… the killed the snake…." Hermione whispered to Lia as she poured a tiny bit left in one of the phials she was able to find in her purple bag.

The room went silent as Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom reentered the Great Hall, allowing for the three valiantly battling to move aside and let Harry take the center stage with his equal.

"Tom… Tom Riddle…. Here we are. Here it ends…." Harry calmly spoke, keeping level although just witnessing Lia barely in consciousness.

"You're a fool, Harry Potter…." Voldemort hissed.

"Am I though, Tom? You're holding a wand that can never kill me…. A wand that answers to me, and me alone. You killed the wrong man, Tom. Draco is the one who disarmed Dumbledore in the tower that night, and….." Harry dangled Draco's wand in front of Voldemort's face.

"Everyone is gone, Tom. Even your most trusted companions, although Severus Snape was never yours. Dumbledore is the one who instructed Severus to murder him that night in the astronomy tower. That is the only way you would trust him. His love for my mother was stronger than any bond the two of you had." Harry admitted.

This was the first time Harry had actually witnessed any amount of fear in the monster's eye, so he knew it was getting to him. Harry felt even more confident that toward the end of the monologue, he could see Lia smile from amidst the rubble at the mention of Snape and Lily.

"Just feel any remorse for what you did. You nearly wiped everyone I love from me. You killed more people than we can count. Just feel an ounce of guilt, Tom." Harry demanded.

Voldemort's face twisted in utter disgust as he thrust his wand at Harry one last time with a long stringy bolt of emerald light, which was quickly turned around on him at the wand disconnected from him and landed into Harry's hand. The spell had rebounded and the real master of the Elder wand had been revealed while Harry held the powerful object between his fingers. Tom Riddle's body dropped like with an intense force, bouncing off of the silt and rubble castle ruins for everyone to see. His eyes shut, as somehow maybe moments before his heart stopped, he was able to retreat into his mind for a moment of penitence.

His white feeble body was shrunken on the ground, while his snakelike face was void of any evilness that dwelled behind it. He had done it, Harry Potter had killed Lord Voldemort and it was finally over. Cheers burst throughout the campus as Harry stood with two wands clutched in his hands, enveloping him in a circle of wild rejoice and celebration. The crowd was deafening as the screams echoed over the ruins, which the twinkling sun seemed to overpower in the moments of victory. Arms nearly strangled Harry, where he quickly noticed Hermione and Ron with their bodies slammed against him. His body was being pulled in all directions, where nearly every single surviving witch or wizard was trying to hug him, praise him or shout some celebratory phrase in his face. Every single hand that touched him after his friends released him weren't the chilled frail hands he had hoped for.

Once the celebration died down, Harry stumbled through the Great Hall which now bore emotions of light at dark, as those who had the capacity to rejoiced, while others mourned over the bodies of those loved lost. A group of them moved Voldemort's body from those who valiantly lost their lives and placed it in a free chamber away from the Great Hall. McGonagall had already mended the House tables and had them places in their usual places, where not one witch or wizard separated themselves accordingly at the seats. All peoples were mixed in, house elves, centaurs, giants, ghosts, lovers, parents, but among them Harry still couldn't see the one faced he longed to find most. Harry attempted to sift through the crowd, but it came increasingly difficult at the amount of people who were stopping him for praise. Luna Lovegood intercepted Harry in between the normal Slytherin and Hufflepuff table, pulling him away from Katie Bell and her group of friends.

"Harry Potter, although your mission has ended, it seems as if you have another task occupying your mind." She said.

Harry nodded now noticing a mass of more admirers heading in his direction.

"Use the cloak, Harry. I hear she's with friends just past the Great Hall, where no more voices can be heard. "

Harry covered his shoulders and head with the cloak, and strode from the Great Hall, passing many images that warmed him to the core. Families were reunited, and even the Malfoy family had made their way back to the castle after Narcissa insisted on yanking Draco from the battle. Out in the hall, there was a calming silence, and even in the moment of recollection of loss and pain, Harry felt a cooling relief. The calmest exhale left his chest as he recognized golden curls pouring out from a head sitting with her back toward the soiled hall. Ginny Weasley sat alongside the battered body, and Ron and Hermione's silhouettes appeared through the gleaming sun before Harry immersed from the cloak.

Harry leaped from the cloak, and joined his girlfriend without much commotion, mostly just burying his face into her dense thick hair, reserving a slight smell of singed floral arrangements.

"Harry…"The voice exhaled.

Harry noticed now that Lia's face had been scratched in multiple places, her arms were bloody and her left knee had a deep dirty gash with had subsided from bleeding. Her shirt was torn where there was a semi-healed wound, which was nearly a half a foot wide, sullied in dirt and ashes.

"You're okay, you made it!" Harry exulted.

"It came close. Bella blasted me with some kind of tainted crutiatus curse. Fired straight through me and almost took every organ I have. But here I am." She smiled, with her eyes barely open.

Harry recalled all of the information that his friends had missed from the moment he connected with the pensieve to the moment when Voldemort's emerald light stole the breath from his lips. Hermione had now had a glazed look of amazement over her face, which Lia was now justified in her constant fight to save face for Severus. While the lot of them seemed content with resting for a bit, Harry still felt uneasy for there were still things he had to accomplish.

"I still have to go see one more person, if you'd like to join me?" Harry extended the offer.

Hermione and Ron were eager to follow Harry into the dark, but Lia and Ginny remained unmoved on the ground.

"I can't walk just yet, love. Been trying to regain feeling with some spellwork. You three deserve the peace." Lia urged.

"And I'm going to help mum get Percy's body ready for transport. Go." Ginny somberly admitted.

Harry and his friends navigated through what was left of the castle, where the same gargoyle that had protected Dumbledore's office had been propped up against the wall. It allowed them to enter without a password, where the same jolt of magic sent them spiraling up the staircase, leaving them motionless in the openness of Dumbledore's office. The former headmasters and headmistresses cheered Harry almost to a shriller level than the immediate celebration of the demise of the Dark Lord. There was only one portrait that Harry was interested in, which stood regally and enthusiastic for Harry to approach him. Dumbledore was delighted to see that his golden trio had survived and that good had prevailed as if he had always predicted.

Harry had revealed his plan to leave the resurrection stone amongst the rubble in the Forbidden Forest. Harry decided that the best way for the world to be kept at peace would be if he followed the path of Ignatius Peverell and decided to greet his friend death much later on in life as an old friend.

"Your choices all just a valiantly as I could expect from you, Harry Potter." Dumbledore softly smiled, glancing over to Ron and Hermione who were now bent over with their faces dipped into the cool pensieve.

"Harry, I assume your plans to become an auror are in full effect now after seeing what true pure evil has in store?" He inquired, nearly leaning from the painting.

"I'm not quite sure what the future holds for me, sir." Harry admitted.

"I hope miss Lia will continue her path that we had so carefully chosen for her in the next years. Once the castle is restored, that is. I was very humbled to see that she also survived this atrocious battle. She's quite the warrior, Harry. "

"She's astonishing, sir. Much braver than I think I could ever be." Harry recalled only the few moments he had seen his girlfriend take action.

"Don't sell yourself short, Harry. You are indeed the wizard who sacrificed himself for the greater good." Dumbledore nodded graciously.

The couple had finished reviewing the memories of Severus Snape, when once joined with Harry, there was heaviness about the truth revealing inside of that airy substance. The three tracked through their home, taking mental notes of the amount of repairs it needed, where somehow the castle looked as if it had already been repairing itself. The courtyard was now free of all inhabitants, as it was clear now than many of the dead and injured had been removed from the castle. Survivors who were well enough were gathered in the Great Hall in some sort of after battle celebration. Anyone who was unscathed brought warm wash clothes to cleans the minor wounds of those who hadn't needed to be rushed to the hospital. There was a rumor spreading that Madame Pomfrey had reopened what was left of the hospital wing in the castle and was treating some patients. Dean, Neville, Luna and Draco were gathered around a small fire burning drinking cups of fire whiskey and smoking rather large cigars that smelled like cherries.

"Potter." Draco said, extending his hand in Harry's direction.

The two embraced and Draco quickly noticed Harry's worried eyes as he could not pick out his girlfriend among the others who were injured in the Great Hall.

"She's with Madame, Harry. They were going to take her to the hospital, but Pomfrey was afraid she wasn't going to make it." Draco explained.

"But don't worry, Harry. I visited her and she was fine. Pomfrey told me that as Lia was propped up in her hospital bed, maybe only moments away from death she saw the brightest blue light sink into her abdomen. She told me to tell you to visit her when you're finished with your business. Whatever that means." Luna said in her usual singsong voice.

Harry felt burning in his back pocked as the power of the Elder wand made itself perfectly clear.

"I do have some unfinished business." Harry gestured toward Hermione.

"Me?" Hermione defensively exclaimed.

"Your bag, Hermione." Harry chuckled.

Harry fished through her bag, and plucked his wand from the many of items she had stowed away. The pieces of his holly wand were still perfectly split in two still resonating an awfully strong power nearly shaking in the phoenix feather core. Harry pulled the Elder wand and nearly the entire room went silent as the powerful object pointed at Harry's prized possession.

"All broken things can be mended, right?" Harry assured as a gentle white beam flowed from the tip of the Elder wand. The lights seeped into the wood, pulling it together with tiny stiches until the object was whole again.

No sooner did Harry firmly grip the Elder wand and snap it in two, watching the supremacy float to the skies as the wand slowly died. There was a collective gasp as Harry tossed the wand amongst the rubble and set it afire, while the flames only lasted a few minutes as it burned to ashes.

"Only one more thing to do before this is all over…." Harry trailed off, with his two best friends puzzled by what other task Harry Potter had in mind.

His singed fingers reached into a buttoned pocket on his shirt where he pulled out a rustic, elemental ring that twinkled in the dawn that poured in from the busted Great Hall windows.

"You said she was in the hospital wing, Draco?" Harry called across the way.

He nodded, which was easily looked over by Hermione gasping and clawing at Harry's arm to see the ring.

"You've had that ring throughout the battle?!" Hermione nearly screamed as she saw Harry's entire face light up brighter than the morning sky.

"If we both survived this war, I made myself a promise-"

"You were going to propose to her this entire time?" Hermione cried.

"Always."