Harry knew Voldemort was had more energy than he did. He'd fight until his last breath, but he was afraid it wouldn't be enough. Then he heard something, Voldemort must have too. He saw figures darting in the shadows circling around them, but he couldn't get a good look at any of them. They were all cloaked it seemed. He was confused. Harry was in front of him almost spent. Then they stepped out. He wasn't sure what was going on. "Now!" The cloaks came off and Voldemort knew he was surrounded. Erin Black stood there behind Harry, not only her, but he saw Magorian there, a little redheaded House Elf stood to Erin's left. Louisa McCormack was there, Flitwick, Hagrid, Kaeli Monson, a merrow had come out of the Black Lake brandishing a spear, Fleur Delacour, Neville Longbottom with the sword of Gryffindor and…Regulus Black stood there. That was impossible… he looked down realizing where they were. In the courtyard, he had seen it so many times during his time here at Hogwarts. A circle of ancient stones, the circle—all at once he realized where they were, where they truly were. "United we stand," Erin said putting her hands out on either side of her, Kreacher and Magorian put their hands out, a circle had formed, "Against our foes. Apart we fall to utter ruin. We pledge our lives, our hearts, our souls to peace."
Voldemort tried sending spells at them, but the circle was strong, much stronger than the one that tried and failed to protect Camelot from the Viking invasion.
"It's just you and me, Tom." Harry said staggering to his feet. "Let's finish this."
The power from Harry's wand hit Voldemort and a piece of soft, wispy soul came off. It drifted into the stillness and Harry's heart beat hard in his chest as he watched it floating down. It seemed to be searching for something. Erin was behind him though…why wasn't it heading for her? There was a rumble and the stones of the courtyard bucked and it was all they could do to keep their feet, the power from the wands all but dissipated. A crack opened through the stones and a sepulcher was exposed coming up out of the ground. There was a shout from inside and soon students, teachers, even Death Eaters were peeking out to watch. The top opened and the body of a woman rose up from it. She had a short cap of red hair on her head, dark eyelashes framed her closed eyes, and beautiful plump lips framed her face. With a jolt Harry knew he knew her…He had seen her before…Xenia. The bit of soul lit up and looked…joyous…though how a little piece of soul could actually look joyous was…strange. The soul landed on the woman's chest and disappeared beneath it. Her whole body filled with light, fingers that were clasped tightly to a wand lying against her breast moved slightly and then her eyes flew open, a blinding green color that Harry knew so well.
"And the Phoenix shall rise again!" McGonagall yelled her voice finding power behind it. "And when she does the Dark Lord will be vanquished by the One who has been foretold! For one glorious moment the One Master of Death shall be!"
The quaking stopped and Xenia's feet touched the ground. She wore a simple white dress and her feet were bare as she moved to stand beside Harry a hand on his shoulder. Harry was surprised to see she was shorter than he was. He expected her to be about Erin's height, which was a good few inches taller than he was. She wasn't a tiny woman, but she wasn't tall either. She exuded a feeling of such power and he knew why Sirius loved her, why he said there was no one good enough for her. He felt the same about Erin…even Mira…damn, what a family of witches. If Dorcas had been anything like them he wasn't surprised Regulus had fallen for her.
Only a few seconds had gone by. 'Finish it,' Xenia's voice echoed in his mind. Without even thinking Harry's wand came up and Voldemort was almost a mirror to his as their wands met once more. The power met and Harry's raced towards Voldemort hitting the wand. The Elder wand glowed with dozens of cracks running from tip to base and it backfired on the man holding it. The wand flew from his hand and towards Harry who caught it. There was only One Master of Death and that was Harry Potter. The lines moved over Voldemort's white hand and under his robes appearing again on his chest and face for one moment before he disintegrated.
It was over. Harry fell to his knees as a cheer erupted from behind him. "Xenie!" Sirius yelled pushing through people and running across the courtyard heedless of wounds he had sustained. She turned to him and he gathered her up in his arms kissing her and holding her tightly swinging her around. "Oh Xenie! Xenie!" He thought he was dreaming…but he hurt too much for it to be that. He had wanted to die when Voldemort killed her knowing he'd never see her face again…and that fierce burning in his heart all those years in Azkaban wanting revenge for her murder. He had thought he'd die again when he found out that Remus was dead. He couldn't be alone. He couldn't be the last one. And now she was in his arms real and whole and alive.
"How?" he whispered not able to stop the thought from slipping from his mouth.
"Don't worry, Siri. I'll explain it later." She said before greeting her daughter with a big hug and then Harry.
Later they were out on the bridge, the six of them. There were so many questions to be answered. "What happened in the courtyard?" Ron asked. "Why didn't the elder wand work for him and why did the soul go to Xenia if it was Erin's?"
"The piece of soul Wormtail took from me was never my own." Erin said sitting on a piece of the broken bridge.
Xenia smiled standing beside her. "When Voldemort killed me he took a piece of my soul as a trophy…and then it was transferred to Erin when he tried to kill you that night in Godric's Hollow…it was the closest thing I could find that was home. Erin was carrying a part of my soul until Voldemort took it from her. Now that my soul has a home again, its rightful home, Erin will heal…because everything is how it's supposed to be."
"But why did Voldemort take it in the first place?" Sirius asked.
"The Unmentionable Curse, only Voldemort would want to try it. He was almost done with the Horcruxes, so he was onto something else. Keeping someone alive and unable to go on…we'll never know what bit of magic he was going to do with my soul…something even blacker than Horcruxes I'm betting."
"Best not to dwell too much on that then," Sirius agreed.
"But if you were still alive why were you in that tomb?" Hermione asked.
Xenia smiled a little. "It was Severus. He was with Voldemort the night he tried to kill me. Voldemort took a piece of my soul and then used the Avada Kedavra curse on me, only it didn't work how he thought it would. I think he thought that a bit of my soul would live, but not my body. Voldemort told Severus to get rid of my body, that's when he realized I was still alive. He took me to Dumbledore and they knew something had to be done. Dumbledore seemed to know something, but he wouldn't share it with me or Severus. He just said when the time was right I would be all right, until then it had to be as if I was dead. He had Severus make up the Draught of Living Death and gave it to me. I would sleep until my soul found me and woke me from my slumber."
"So, you were never really dead?" Ron asked.
"No, not really, but Voldemort was very surprised, now wasn't he?" She laughed. "I guess the prophecy did come true that Rowena had. I guess the Phoenix did rise again and Harry Potter is the only Master of Death, the only wizard truly able to bring the dead back to life." She said grinning. "No one will ever believe you that you didn't bring me back from the dead, you know that right?"
"It'll be headlined in the Daily Prophet by tomorrow." Ron nodded.
"What about the wand, Harry? Why didn't it work for him?" Sirius asked.
"Because the wand never belonged to Voldemort," Harry told them. "Voldemort killed Snape because he thought the wand belonged to him, but it was Draco that disarmed Dumbledore that night in the tower. The wand belonged to Draco, until the other night at Malfoy Manor when I disarmed Draco. The wand is mine."
"Why did Draco try to fight us though?" Ron asked. "I thought Erin said he was on our side."
"He was," Harry said. "But he had to make it look like he wasn't for Bellatrix and his father."
"What about the other Deathly Hollows?" Hermione asked. "McGonagall called you the Master of Death."
"Yes, I'm a descendant of Ignotus Peverell. The cloak…my cloak has been handed down since then. The ring which was in possession of the Gaunt family, Voldemort's mother's family, had the resurrection stone as the stone of the ring. Voldemort made it into a Horcrux, but the ring can't be destroyed, it was part of why Dumbledore died. And then the Elder Wand was in Dumbledore's possession after he defeated Grindelwald, the wizard that took it from Gregoravitch as a teenager. So they were all mine. There is only one Master of Death according to legend though." Harry said.
"So that's why Viktor was so mad at Xenophilius!" Erin said.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked curiously.
"At Bill and Fleur's wedding he was angry because Xenophilius was wearing the symbol of the Deathly Hallows and Viktor just knew it as Gregoravitch's symbol! Gregoravitch was searching for the Deathly Hallows! And he was proclaiming himself as the Master of Death before he even had them."
"What are you going to do with them?" Ron asked curiously.
Harry looked at the wand and then snapped it in half throwing it off the bridge and took the stone from his pocket and dropped it into the ravine as well. "I'm only keeping the cloak, it was my dad's. Whether or not he got it from Death or if any of them are from Death doesn't matter. There will always be only one Master of Death, and I don't choose to remain so."
"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever we want," Harry smiled. "Let come what comes, until then, the future looks bright."