Harry Potter and the Final Battle

by werforpsu

My version of book 7. Harry and friends search for the Horcruxes, and get ready for the final battle. A look into the future at the end. As canon as possible. Supports HPGW RWHG RLNT NLLL ships, no slash. Some adult scenes. Edit in progress.

21. The Beginning of the End

this chapter has been edited

Chapter 21—The Beginning of the End

Everyone was excited about Ron and Hermione being engaged. Mrs. Weasley kept giving bone-crushing hugs to anyone who she saw. Unfortunately, the end was near, and plans and excitement for their engagement was going to have to wait until after the battle was over. Though the thought of not making a big deal about their engagement seemed like a sin to Mrs. Weasley, she understood the reasoning behind it. Everyone gathered early that morning at Godric's Hollow to go over last minute details regarding the mission to Riddle Manor. Harry was upset because it was decided that he would not get to go on this mission. He understood the reasoning behind it; it went back to how everyone else was dispensable. This mission would be in the closest proximity to Voldemort and they could not risk him getting caught. He didn't like thinking about how he was indispensable and no one else was, but everyone, including Ginny, had prohibited him from coming on this mission. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were going to remain behind on this mission as well.

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Riddle Manor was swarming with death eaters, though Nagini still roamed the grounds by herself. It was decided that Professor McGonagall was the right person to infiltrate the grounds and kill the snake. Her animagus form, though registered would still not raise the red flags that Harry's unregistered form would. The hope was that in her animagus form she would be able to be discrete and get close enough to kill Nagini and get away before being caught. Reinforcements were set, but could not get close without arousing suspicion.

McGonagall transformed and made her way along the wall of the grounds. She could see Nagini, but needed to get closer before alerting her presence. As she got closer, she saw the snake flick her tongue and come straight towards her. McGonagall froze…the snake could smell her, and taste her. Before it was too late, McGonagall remembered where the snake was and transformed. The second her transformation was complete she shot a silent stunner at the snake. She missed and the snake came at her. Before Nagini reached her though, a familiar green light erupted from her wand as the snake was stopped, dead. Minerva wiped her brow and transfigured the snake into a long stick, which blended nicely with the surrounding trees.

Looking up, Minerva realized that the death eaters were on their way towards her. They had seen the light from the spell and knew that someone was there. Transforming into her cat, Minerva was quickly over the wall and the Order had vanished from Little Hangleton. While searching the grounds a death eater walked over to the spot where the light had come from and stepped on a large stick breaking it cleanly in two.

As the Order returned to Godric's Hollow, Harry was brought to his knees in pain. He had blood coming from his scar and was screaming for almost five minutes before the pain let up. While coming to, Harry searched the concerned faces in the kitchen before coming to rest on Professor Snape's grim face. "Potter, were you able to hold up your occlumency shields during that?"

"I think so, sir. I did not feel him search my mind, just loose control of his own. He is extremely mad, and he knows that Nagini is dead."

"Then we better get started on destroying the rest of the horcruxes," Ginny said simply.

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Time was not wasted and every Order member who knew of the horcruxes was quickly in Ginny and Harry's bedroom. They shrunk the furniture and placed shields around the room, and silencing spells, hoping that whatever happened, nothing would leave the room. They all looked extremely nervous as Harry stood in front of them to speak. Madam Pomfrey had been brought into the loop, so that she could accurately heal if necessary.

"Okay everyone. According to Dumbledore, it is not that destroying a horcrux is hard; it is the curses, which come out of the horcrux that will kill you, if you are not careful. As you all remember, Dumbledore's hand looked different his last year. This was caused by one of the horcruxes, so please everyone be careful. You all know that the battle is coming. Whatever happens in this room, I thank you all for your support, and I hope that you all make it through. If all goes well with this, tonight Ron will be briefing us on his strategic ideas for the final battle, so that we are ready. As for right now, I am going to use the killing curse on the horcrux, your job is to use the strongest shield charm you can to protect yourself and the others around you. We want to make sure we overlap so that the shields are strong. Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded as Harry set the horcrux on the other side of the room. First up was the dagger, Harry felt that the locket was going to be the toughest to destroy without injury due to its personal nature to Riddle. He figured one of the other horcruxes would be the best to start with, so they knew what they were in store for. Harry backed up, gave hugs to everyone and a long kiss to Ginny, "I love you."

"I love you too Harry and you can say it again later."

Harry turned toward the horcrux wand raised, "Avada Kedavra!" Immediately after Harry said the spell, the shields went up all around them as black smoke started to fill the room. "Hold your shields!" Harry now had a shield up to and his was by far the most powerful in the room. Learning occlumency and wandless magic had almost given him a magical boost. He heard a woman scream, though he could not see anything. He could tell that it was not Ginny, because she was right beside him. It was coming from the left and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley were on his right. As the smoke lifted, Harry looked around. Tonks was lying down on the ground panting; she had been the one to scream. Lupin was holding his new wife, with a concerned look on his face, as Poppy checked Tonks for injuries.

"I can't find any internal injuries," she finally said.

"Tonks," said Ginny, "are you okay, what happened?"

"You didn't feel it?"

"Feel what, Dora?" Remus said quietly.

"It was like, a thousand dementors all at once, but it was not just about never feeling happy it made up things. Everyone I love was dying, and I lost my job, and lots of other bad stuff."

"Tonks," spoke Hermione, "what made you scream?"

Tonks shook her head refusing to say. Remus finally looked at her in the eyes, "honey, what did you see?"

"It showed you, biting our kids during the full moon." Remus looked stunned for a second before giving her a big hug. Harry knew that they both probably shared the same worst fear, and now Tonks had brought it to life. "I'll be okay; I just need a drink of water."

"Did anyone else feel that?" Harry asked.

"I did." Turning Harry saw Moody sitting down with his head in his hands. "It isn't important what I saw though. I think that it happened because we were on the end. We had less overlapping shields then everyone else. Potter your shield was so large that it almost reached me. If we all get closer together, we should hopefully keep everything out better."

"We should take a break," Lupin said.

"NO!" Tonks cried. "Not because of me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure," Harry questioned, "because they might get harder?"

"I am sure." Everyone gathered close together, as Harry put the cup across the room. The dagger had disintegrated and was now a pile of ash. When Harry returned to the group he saw that people had gotten extremely close together there was two rows. People in the second row were taller, and were going to shoot spells over the others shoulders. People in the first row were standing sideways to get closer together. Harry realized how much closer they could have been last time, and that maybe no one would have gotten affected by the curse if he had realized this. Once again, he was putting everyone he loved in danger. Harry found his place between Ginny and Hermione. Ron was behind Hermione, and Bill was behind Ginny. Harry couldn't think of two better people, other then himself to protect his two favorite girls. Lupin and Tonks were no longer on the end, and neither was Moody, for which Harry was grateful.

Harry raised his wand and yelled "Avada Kedavra!" Surprising to Harry, the same black smoke appeared; though this time, it lasted a bit longer and no one was affected by its power since everyone was standing closer together. After finishing with the cup, and seeing the second pile of ash, they all decided to take a short break to regain their strength. After Dobby had brought them some food and drinks, and everyone had used the bathroom, they got in position for the locket. Harry had warned everyone that he felt that this one might be the hardest of them all. Moody had reminded them of 'Constant Vigilance' as everyone got close together and prepared to fire their shield charm.

"Ready?" Harry asked, and again got a bunch of nods in return. "Avada Kedavra!" Just like last two times, the shields went up right after he said the spell. Instead of black smoke, this time a green image rose into the room. Harry knew the second he saw it start that it was the dark mark. "GET CLOSER TOGETHER AND DON'T RELAX!" Harry felt everyone tighten in around him and he focused all of his strength on his shield. After the dark mark hung for a few minutes, red beams of light erupted from it and came towards them. There had to be fifty beams of light, and while Harry did not know what they would do, he did not want to experience it. He mustered up his last bit of strength as the beams connected with the shields. His arm began shaking as his shield went under attack. Finally, all the beams ricocheted off after trying to get past the shields and at once, they all collided with the locket. Everyone fell to the floor panting as Poppy checked them all for health. Harry walked over to the locket, the last horcrux. The locket had been opened and was blackened with a large crack running through one half. The floor had a black scorch mark on it, which Harry figured would be there forever. Tom Riddle was mortal once more.

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Meanwhile at Riddle Manor, Voldemort was angry. Harry Potter had killed his snake, he knew it. They couldn't find Nagini anywhere, and he could sense that she was dead. He had already resisted killing a couple of his death eaters. He was going to need them, and it would not do him any good to kill allies right now, he needed to kill Harry Potter. Lestrange and Malfoy were in Azkaban and Snape had crossed him. They had been some of his best fighters, and he was not looking forward to doing the battle without them. Potter would inevitably have many Order members behind him, and Voldemort was smart. He knew that they had learned to fight. Lately, it had been impossible to find anyone with known connections to Harry Potter, a few days ago; they all seemed to vanish along with their families. Voldemort knew that Potter had them in hiding, preparing for the final battle. Voldemort refused to play Potter's game. This battle was not going to be on Potters terms, it was going to be on his. He had decided that the best battle plan was to lure the Order to Riddle Manor. This way, he would have the upper hand.

They would do it in two weeks, the night of a full moon. This would incapacitate Potter's friend Lupin, and allow his army of werewolves to attack freely. He had giants in wait and almost 100 dementors. He had wanted to wait for them to breed more however; Nagini's disappearance was making the schedule be rushed a little. Voldemort decided that he would break into Potter's mind as he had done in his fifth year and show him something worth fighting for. As Voldemort continued to plan, he felt a strange pull on his chest. It happened three times, though he just assumed that it had to do with Nagini's death. He felt weak and hoped that his planned two weeks would be enough to recuperate from her death.

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Everyone who would be fighting Voldemort was in the meeting room. Since there were so many people, everyone had to stand. They had at least two hundred people that Hermione could see. Lupin had convinced three or four werewolves to become part of the fight. Tonks and Kingsley were surrounded by some aurors from foreign countries. Charlie had a group of about twenty wizards who all looked like dragon trainers. Apparently, they were very good at their job, because they had gotten four dragons to be trained well enough to fight with them. Three of the dragons had been born in captivity and were able to be controlled quite easily, and the fourth was Norbert. The dragons were staying at Hogwarts right now and Norbert had been so happy to see Hagrid again. He apparently remembered 'his mummy' as Hagrid had put it. Bill had about fifty Goblins with him, which made some people nervous; however, Hermione had spoken to a few and was positive that they were dedicated to the cause. Hagrid and Madam Maxine were standing in the back. Madame Maxine was speaking to Fleur and a bunch of people who looked as if they had gone to Beauxbatons while Hagrid was in deep discussion with one of Charlie's friends. Viktor was off to the side with about three dozen boys from Durmstrang and the rest of the Bulgarian Quidditch team, while Hogwarts students were littered throughout.

The wizard parents of Hogwarts students were present as were the Hogwarts professors. About half of the room was filled with foreign wizards whom Hermione had not met, and did not know anything about. The whole Order was there as was Aberforth, Madam Rosmerta, and Ollivander who had turned up at Saint Mungo's a month ago. He did not remember anything that had happened to him; however, they were able to determine that he was not being controlled in any way, and that it was in fact him. After a long recovery, he now was determined to fight Voldemort. Neville, his grandmother, Luna and her father were all standing a couple feet behind Hermione while the rest of the Weasleys, Ginny and Harry were standing beside her.

Hermione was looking at Ron who was standing next to Professor McGonagall up front. He looked extremely nervous since he was going to be one of the people running the meeting. Ron had been working with some other Order members to help with the strategic planning and now since his ideas were being used, he was going to explain it to everyone else.

"Attention Everyone!" McGonagall's voice rang out. "This meeting is called to order; we are all here to listen to the plans for the final battle. Ron Weasley will be speaking to you all now from a strategic standpoint."

"Hi everyone," Ron spoke, "I got together with some other members of the Order to determine strategically the best way to attack. We have determined to have the battle in Hogsmeade. Since there are no muggles in Hogsmeade, it is the best chance we have of keeping our world secret from them. Most of the residents of the town are here in this room, and those who are not, were moved to safety earlier today. The buildings in the town have had charms placed on them in hopes that it will help them withstand the battle. Harry has an agreement with the minister that we will get ministry support. Most of us, will be fighting with everything we have, against anyone we can, however some of us, will have specific jobs, and we need to discuss that now. If I could have Charlie Weasley, Hagrid, Bill Weasley, Tonks, Remus Lupin, Katie Bell, Harry Potter, and Molly Weasley come up here. They will each discussing the group that they will be leading."

"I will start," said Charlie. "I will be leading the air attack. We have four captivity bred, trained dragons at our disposal. We have two Chinese Fireballs, and two Norwegian Ridgebacks. Five dragon trainers will be on each of the dragons. One trainer will be directing the dragon where to go, one will be shielding the dragon from unfriendly spells when needed, and three will be protecting the five trainers, as well as shooting spells if and when possible. Our first goal is to take out as many of the giants as possible. They will wreak havoc if we cannot get them defeated as close to the beginning as possible. The dragons will also be breathing fire at the opposition as they approach. I hope that we can diminish the numbers before they even reach you for wand to wand combat."

"I will go next," Bill spoke, as Charlie stepped back. "Many of the goblins have agreed to fight with us. They have their own type of magic as you know, and I think that that is enough explaining. Harpond who is one of the managers of Gringotts will be leading the goblins, and we thank them for their generosity and support."

"I can go now," Hagrid stated as patted Ron on the shoulder, making his knees buckle. "We 'ave one giant on our side, me brother Grawp. He is stayin' at 'ogwarts with me righ' now, thou' his home is a cave just outside of 'ogsmeade. I taugh' him sum English so you all can talk to him when you see him. We also 'ave the spiders tha' live in the forest. What are they called 'ermione?"

"Acromantula's…they are extremely large spiders which are poisonous. The forest at Hogwarts has a huge family of them."

"right, I knew tha'…anyway, they 'er on our side, as is me three headed dog, Fluffy. The Centaurs haven't made up ther' mind 'bout helpin' thou' they are thinking' on it. Thas' it for our help from the forest."

"Lupin, since we are on the subject of our supporting forces, why don't you go next," Ron commented.

"Okay, I am in charge of the werewolves who are fighting for the good side. There are only four of us so far, but we have been working on getting more on our side. The plan is to do this in a few days; therefore, the werewolves would fight like the rest of you. The full moon is not for two weeks so it should not be a problem. We do NOT want to fight Voldemort during the full moon due to the number of werewolves he has on his side. If possible, please let us fight the werewolves. Remember that if they bite you, it is a big problem. We all have already been bitten, so it is safer for us to fight them instead. There is only one case of a person being bitten by a non-transformed werewolf. While the person now has some wolfish tendencies, they are not a werewolf. Unfortunately, we believe that the werewolves will not be biting to create more werewolves, but rather biting to kill. I implore you all to be careful."

"I will go now, "Katie Bell said, "and finish this path of the discussion by talking to you about the dementors. I am looking for about 50 people whose purpose will be to fight the dementors. The dementors will be hindering those dueling with the death eaters. It will be the job of people who work with me to repel the dementors from others and ourselves while they duel. It will be your job to protect them from the dementors, and it will be their job to protect you from the death eaters. The best people to do this are those who have a good strong patronus that will stay strong once released. Everyone will need to keep their eyes open for death eaters, and everyone will need to keep their eyes open for spells, however, we feel that this is the best way to prevent many people from receiving the dementor kiss. With enough fighting, we may be able to get the dementors to retreat. They may be natural allies with you-know-who, but they are like Slytherins, they will save themselves if needed. If there is anyone in the room who does not have a corporeal patronus, you will need to see me, and possibly not participate on the Hogsmeade front of the fight. Dementors will be everywhere, if you cannot protect yourself from one, you may not be safe there."

"Tonks why don't you go, then mum and lastly Harry," Ron said quietly to the group.

"Okay all; I will be in charge of rounding up the opponent and taking them to Azkaban. I will be working with Aurors and other ministry officials to be doing this. As we have discussed before, the best way for you to leave your opponent after beating them is to stun then, bind them, and summon their wand. We will be walking around, gathering them up, and removing them from the area so that they can not begin to fight again."

"Hello everyone, my name is Molly Weasley, and I will be in charge of removing the wounded, bringing them here and letting them get tended to by healers and medi-wizards. I am looking for about ten people to help me. To help me you must be able to do apparation, side-along-apparation, and portkey activation. Those three methods will be used to get the wounded here, and get them help. We will have twenty healers and medi-wizards here to help. They will transport people to St. Mungo's if needed."

"Hi all, I guess I am last," Harry spoke quietly. "Voldemort, Tom Riddle, must be eliminated. Obviously, the fight with Riddle will be mine, because he would not have it any other way. I want to thank you all for being here, for me, in my fight. If we loose, his reign will become out of control and no one will be safe. WE MUST WIN!" Harry was getting fired up and began to yell. "If we defeat him, the death eaters will crumble beneath us! They will not hesitate to use the unforgivable curses! You all will find your battle robes upstairs in the living room. They are white with a red phoenix and the phrase 'Dumbledore's Army' across the back. Albus Dumbledore was the one of the greatest wizards ever to walk this earth. Tom Riddle feared him, and no other throughout his life. We are here in this organization started by Dumbledore and we will become victorious! The white robes will, hopefully, distinguish those fighting for good, and those fighting for evil. We are a team, an army, a family! We as humans have the capacity to love. Riddle does not believe in the power of love…you all know better! The battle will take place in three days, we are ready…they will loose!" Everyone cheered as Harry finished his speech and the crowd began to disperse and talk amongst themselves. Many people approached Katie about the dementor squad and a few Mrs. Weasley about helping with the wounded.

"Fawkes," Harry called. Seconds latter a flash was seen as Fawkes fly to Harry's shoulder. "I need you to take this to the Minister and wait to see if he has a response." Harry attached the parchment to Fawkes and he was gone in a flash.

"Hey you," Ginny called as she walked over. "Did you just send Fawkes to the ministry?"

"Yeah, I told the minister that we would be fighting in three days in Hogsmead. He should gather as many people as he can and meet us there at noon on Friday."

"Good. Hey Harry I forgot to ask you…how are you going to get Voldemort there?"

"I was thinking of just sending him a letter…I think that through some choice words it might get his attention. Fawkes could easily deliver it without it being risky."

"Still you think he will come?"

"Not coming would make him a coward. He doesn't want that…he will come." As Harry finished his statement, Fawkes flamed back to him and dropped a piece of parchment in Harry's outstretched hand. All it said was 'I will be there, and will hopefully have a hundred and fifty others with me. – R.S.' "looks like he is hoping on having the support of 150 people. I wonder what department he is planning on pulling people from."

"Well, that many people…my first guess, is that he is getting support from the Unspeakable's."

"Do you know if they are well trained to fight?"

"Harry, remember…no one knows anything about the Unspeakable's…but I don't think he would bring them if they were not prepared to fight."

"Right…well I better send my letter to Riddle." Harry handed the envelope to Fawkes who held it in his claw. "Remember Fawkes…this is Voldemort…you need to drop that off and flame away before he realizes that you were even there." Fawkes gave a trilled note and flamed away. Fawkes was back about fifteen seconds later and gave Harry another note to say that it had been done.

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Meanwhile at Riddle Manor, Voldemort was thinking to himself. He relished in how much he was going to enjoy killing Harry Potter. All of his followers knew to leave the boy for him. He was determined to finish Potter off himself. His train of thought was interrupted by a flicker of flame and a piece of parchment that was dropped in front of him. Before Voldemort could pull his wand, the flame was gone. A phoenix? What was a phoenix doing here?' Voldemort walked over to the envelope and picked it up. The outside read To Tom Riddle opening it he began to read.

Dear Tom,

The battle will occur at two in the afternoon in three days. If you are not there, you will be considered a coward. You say I cannot defeat you, but I say, you are wrong. I will defeat you as many times as I have to until you stay in that grave. I will always be here. Come alone, or bring your cronies, I really could care less, because I am going to defeat you. Kiss my arse, you better show up, or you really are a bigger coward then we all know you to be. You wouldn't want to get beaten by a teenager, now would you? Like I said…two in the afternoon…Hogsmeade.

Harry James Potter and Dumbledore's Army

Voldemort read the letter a couple times over. His anger began getting the better of him. "WORMTAIL!" Quickly Peter entered the chamber and kissed his masters robes, bowing low. He stayed down on the ground.

"Y-y-es…m-master, you summoned me."

"Get over here and pull up your sleeve, my supporters need to be summoned." Pettigrew nervously lifted his sleeve. He hated this part, where the Dark Lord would touch him and summon the others. It was painful, and he did not really want to. As the Dark Lord touched the dark mark, Peter had to use all his strength not to call out in pain, as the other death eaters appeared around him. "My followers, the battle plan has changed. We will be attacking in three days, at one in the afternoon…in Hogsmeade. At that time, Potter will be killed, and you all will get to truly show your loyalty, by fighting those dreadful blood traitors and mudbloods."

"M-master, how do we know that P-potter will be there?" Peter asked as he continued to prostrate himself onto the ground.

"CRUCIO!" The Dark Lord held Wormtail under the spell for a few minutes before lifting it. "It is not your place to ask questions. Now all of you…get out of my sight…call our teams of beasts…get them together, and tell them the plan."