Chapter 25

Through the haze that filled the Great Hall, Harry Potter and the Dark Lord, Voldemort, continued their duel. Harry attempted to surprise Voldemort by summoning a trio of serpents to poison the Dark Lord using the Serpentsortia Venenosa spell but found the Dark Lord was invulnerable to snake venom. One of the snakes managed to bite him and promptly burst into smoke. Voldemort was able to use trace the magic that Harry had used to create the other snakes, since they had been made with the same spell, and dispatched them in a similar manner.

Voldemort counterattacked by firing the Relámpago curse at Harry and forcing the boy onto the defensive. Neither combatant had been able to land a decisive hit on the other, consequently Voldemort found himself in the longest battle that he had been a part of in almost twenty years. He had expected this duel to be similar to the one-sided battles that he and Harry had in the past and could not believe that Harry Potter was doing something that only Albus Dumbledore had been able to do. Their battle was at a standstill; despite the advantage in experience, Voldemort could not keep up with Harry's youthful agility. However, his skill compensated for this denying Harry an opportunity to sneak a spell past his guard.

During the duel Voldemort was surprised that Harry's magic had grown to such an extent that the boy's magic was clearly visible to those who knew how to look for it. This allowed Voldemort to cast accurately regardless of the magical smoke in the air. However, Voldemort realized that since the magical smoke had been made as a result of his and Harry's combined magic it would reduce the strength of any magic cast against either of them. This was unacceptable to Voldemort; he didn't have the time to figure out how to remove the smoke magically so he decided that he would force Harry out of the Great Hall and confront him at a location that offered the Dark Lord a greater advantage.

Harry was contemplating how he could break through his opponents guard when something happened that he hadn't been expecting. He felt magic begin to rotate around Voldemort like a tornado before the Dark Lord used the magic to propel himself into the air and through the roof of the Great Hall. "No!" Harry yelled as Voldemort appeared to make an escape. One side-effect of the way Voldemort left is that the smoke that he and Harry created was absorbed into the magical trail that Voldemort left and followed his form out of the castle. Harry spared a glance to see that the Death Eaters had been defeated as he ran to the window to try and see if he could pick up Voldemort's trail. What he saw horrified him, Voldemort was attempting to make Hogwarts Towers fall by destroying flying through, and consequently destroying, their foundations.

"Professor McGonagall, he's trying to take down the towers! If we don't do something then everyone in them will die!" screamed Harry.

Instead of responding, Minerva McGonagall had raced to the doors of the Great Hall and was running as fast as her aged legs would carry her out of the castle. Her battles against Voldemort's army had taken its toll on her but she could not allow her students to be killed by that deranged lunatic. She reached deep within herself and was shocked by the amount of magical energy that she had at her disposal. As a master of Transfiguration, one had to be keenly aware of their own power in order to achieve the desired result of their craft. Minerva was certain that she never had this amount of power before but it felt extremely familiar to her. She rushed out to the courtyard and harnessed her new power as she cast the Arresto Momentum charm to prevent Ravenclaw tower from crashing into the ground. She had no doubt that the students, inside, would be incredibly shaken by the event but at least they were alive. Looking up, she saw the plume of smoke that followed Voldemort's flight path crashing through Gryffindor tower as if he wanted it to meet the same fate as Ravenclaw tower.

It felt like Minerva McGonagall's world went into slow motion as her beloved tower began to fall. She reached for the magic that had allowed her to save Ravenclaw tower but was forced to reach much deeper in order to find the magic. She cast the Arresto Momentum charm but was horrified to feel the magic slip from her fingers and see Gryffindor tower begin to fall despite her attempt to hold it steady. She reached deeper still and did something that she knew she would regret, she began channeling magic from her magical core into the spell. As familiar as she was with the ways of magic, Minerva knew that if she drained her magical core while holding a spell of this magnitude she would die. In spite of this knowledge, she could not allow the tower to fall.

Harry had been able to catch up with McGonagall pretty quickly despite her head start and proximity to the entrance to the Great Hall. He had just reached the courtyard and saw her wand directed to where Ravenclaw tower once stood. He saw the drain on the Professor's face as she set Ravenclaw tower gently on the ground and was momentarily transfixed when she attempted to do the same thing with Gryffindor tower. Harry saw her spell waver and knew that she would fail if she didn't receive support soon. Harry raised his wand and bellowed "Arresto Momentum." The tower held but McGonagall's power reached its limits and she fell to the ground. Without the professor's support Harry immediately noticed how draining the task was. He focused on lowering the tower the last 30 feet as quickly as he could without causing an impact that would kill his fellow students. The energy needed to do so was extreme and Harry worried that he would not have the magical reserves required to face Voldemort again if the Dark Lord chose to engage him again instead of retreating.

Voldemort had been frustrated when McGonagall had managed to save those in the tower. His consolation was that there was no way that one person would be able to do that twice within such a short time span. He knew that she would attempt, but was equally certain that she would fail and that the attempt would kill her. To his immense surprise and displeasure, the task of saving Gryffindor tower had been taken up by Harry Potter and the young wizard had succeeded. After a quick calculation, Voldemort verified that the amount of power that would have been required to catch then lower a tower of that size was much greater than the amount of power needed to allow one to fly and destroy that tower. If such a thing was possible, Voldemort would have smiled; the boy had once again fallen victim to his need to save others and now would pay the ultimate price. Voldemort flew down to stand opposite his rival in the courtyard.

"I admit, I have been impressed with how you have improved magically. However, surely you must realize that by saving those people you have sealed your fate. You proved yourself capable of battling on equal footing with me in the Great Hall, something that not many have been able to do; but now you have are exhausted and won't be able to defend yourself," taunted Voldemort.

Harry responded by flinging a cutting curse that succeeded in opening a gash on Voldemort's left cheek. "I still have enough to take care of you," he yelled as he began to exchange spells with Voldemort again.

In the Great Hall, Fleur Weasley and Hestia Jones were attempting to revive those who had fought on the side of light and fallen during the fight. The group that arrived with Harry was able to turn the tables on the Death Eaters but, while they were doing so, several of them were struck by spells that they were not able to detect due to the smoke that filled the room. Although none of them appeared to be hurt beyond what magic could heal, George Weasley, Alicia Spinnet, Padma Patil, Ernie McMillan, and Hannah Abbot were incapacitated and would require a stay in the hospital wing before they were back at 100%; Tracy Davis had also fallen during the battle and would require a stay in the hospital wing. Hestia had initially been amazed that the Death Eaters had not struck the children with lethal spells before she realized that the debris that had been falling because of Harry and Voldemort's duel had been responsible for their injuries.

Kingsley Shacklebolt led the witches and wizards who were still standing from the Great Hall, through the entrance hall, and into the Courtyard. Hermione, Ron, Fred, and Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Katie Bell, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, and Daphne Greengrass were anxious to help Harry. The group had been delayed as Fleur and Hestia had diagnosed their fallen comrades, they had held their collective breath when the two witches had diagnosed each of their friends. The collapsing room had caused many broken bones and several concussions but that was a much more favorable outcome than what would have happened if they had fallen due to the spells that the Death Eaters had been firing. The group arrived in the courtyard just in time to see Harry and Voldemort renew their battle.

Harry had used a lot of energy to save Ravenclaw tower and was much more sluggish than he was when he faced Voldemort in the Great Hall. This allowed Voldemort to fall back on his experience to work on breaking Harry's guard without worrying about Harry being able to slip anything past his own guard. Harry's defense was becoming more and more desperate as the battle waged on. Eventually the Dark Lord was able to break through one of Harry's shields. This gave him the opportunity he needed to hit Harry with a Cruciatus Maxima curse. Voldemort had prided himself on the ability to cast that curse, although the incantation was well known it required so much power that it was simply beyond the capabilities of most wizards. Voldemort knew that he, himself, would feel a severe power drain after launching the attack. However, the drain would be worth it if the spell allowed him to finally rid himself of his adversary.

Harry fell to his knees when he was hit by Voldemort's spell. There seemed to be no limit to the pain he was feeling. Each second that he was held under the spell felt like an eternity he could not help but cry out in pain as each of his nerves screamed for release. Voldemort had Harry at his mercy and was closer to killing the boy than he had ever been before but something was off. Voldemort had expected to experience a feeling of elation when he could finally rid himself of his nemesis, to his surprise he still just felt hollow. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something and this caused him to release Harry from the torture spell.

Harry was still writhing from the variation of the Cruciatus that was rumored to be at least ten times more powerful than its counterpart. While he had been subjected to the curse he had almost given up all hope, nothing could be worth that much pain. Voldemort had done it; he had broken Harry's will to fight and would shortly end Harry's life. Harry could not bring himself to resist his inevitable fate. He knew that he would be killed if he did not rise but after everything that he had been through he didn't know where to find the strength to continue fighting.

"Harry, get up! We're all behind you, don't let him win. I love you!" screamed Hermione. She saw Voldemort land hit Harry with the torture curse and had her heart ripped asunder by Harry's agonized screams. Even when Voldemort freed Harry from the curse, Harry's face was frozen in a silent scream of agony. Hermione knew that Harry needed to be reminded of what was at stake and why he was fighting. "I love you!"

Voldemort looked at the boy who was still on his knees with a far-off look in his eyes. "This is the fate of those who defy me. Some foolishly deluded themselves into thinking that this boy was some kind of savior. He was declared to be the boy-who-lived and the Chosen One. Like so many others in the past he was judged and he was found insufficient. There are two things left in the world for this boy; first he will hear all of your screams as I kill you then he will die," Voldemort declared as he scanned the group that had assembled as the last thing stopping him from taking the castle and obtaining troops to rebuild his army. As his gaze passed from one face to the next, he found his gaze linger on Potter's mudblood whore. For reasons that he could not understand the feeling of hollowness inside of him grew. "I'll start with you, you filthy mudblood."

Voldemort's robes were lifted by the breeze as began to advance upon Hermione and the group assembled on the steps of Hogwarts. As he drew closer, the breeze began to gain intensity as it approached the power of a gale force wind. Voldemort's power allowed him to stay on his feet, but only just. Those on the steps of Hogwarts were buffeted by the wind, but were far enough away that they were not stricken quite as harshly as Voldemort.

"I told you that the only way that you were touching my friends was over my dead body, Riddle. I'm not dead yet, but you will be," declared Harry with a new found strength in his voice. "Come on, it's time to finish what we started."

Voldemort abruptly turned to face Harry. He was amazed that the boy had been able to make it through the pain in order to continue fighting. It was really too bad, Voldemort could have used someone like Harry as a lieutenant in his army. If Voldemort had managed to convert him to the dark-side there is no doubt that the world would fall at the feet of the dark Lord and his dark prodigy. Unfortunately, that was not how events played out and his potential ally had, instead, allied himself with his most dangerous enemy. Speculation would do nothing for the Dark Lord except distract him from his goal of killing Harry Potter.

"Well, well, well. It appears that you are more persistent than you have shown in our past encounters. Worry not, young Harry, you will meet your death at my wand. Even the Chosen one is no match for the Deathstick! Avada Kedavra!"

Harry was ready and, at the same time not pausing to consider the possible ramifications of his action, summoned all of his happiest memories before yelling, "Expecto Patronus!"

The green jet of the killing curse was intercepted by the pulsating white stag that erupted from Harry's wand. Voldemort's blast was not the simple beam that most wizards cast when they fired the killing curse but, then again, Voldemort was no ordinary wizard. He had expunged all of the emotions that could make one weak from his body as he made his horcruxes; all that remained was the hatred and ambition that combined to fuel the rise of one of the most powerful wizards that the world had ever seen. Consequently, Voldemort's Avada Kedavra was much more powerful than the average dark wizards.

His over powered Avada Kedavra curse had been matched by Harry's overpowered Patronus charm. Harry's life had been marred with the blood of those who sought to keep him safe. He would not allow anyone else to die for him; he would protect them and, for once, those who he cared about would be able to live a life free from fear. As a third year, Harry had been able to protect himself and his godfather, Sirius Black, from a host of over 100 Dementors. In the years that followed, Harry had gained much more strength and had made connections with people who he would not hesitate to give his life to protect. This allowed him to cast a Patronus that was far outside the capabilities most of those who supported of the light.

The two spells pushed against each other at an impasse. Harry's stag bucked as it tried to push against the stream of power that Voldemort was using to hold it back but no matter how hard it tried it could not gain any ground. Harry thought of all of those that he sought to protect. He looked over at those who had gathered to support him as he battled for his life against the Dark Lord and saw Hermione's shimmering eyes; he would not make her shed her tears over his dead body. Harry began concentrating on the future that he could share with Hermione and the happy thoughts fueled his Patronus causing the stag to almost double in size while giving it the strength it needed to overwhelm the hate that Voldemort was pouring into the killing curse.

On the other side of the exchange Voldemort poured more hate into his curse. How dare Harry attempt such a direct confrontation with him; he had gone further than any other wizard in history while on his quest to achieve immortality. He would not allow a petulant child to stop him from acquiring what he had earned long ago. He saw the Stag advancing upon him and poured all of his frustration and all of his wrath into his wand and was able to stop the creature from coming closer. The two were once again locked in a stalemate. Voldemort could not understand how anyone, let alone a child, could be able to resist him so fiercely.

A string of memories flashed before the Dark Lord's eyes. He remembered hearing the news that Albus Dumbledore had been killed, dueling Dumbledore at the Department of Mysteries, using the ritual to return to human form, possessing Quirinus Quirrell, being ripped from his body when the curse rebounded all of those years ago, being denied the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, making his horcruxes, graduating as Head Boy from Hogwarts, opening the Chamber of Secrets, avenging himself upon the bastard who fathered him, meeting Dumbledore and learning that he was a wizard, and he remembered how important she was to him.

His conviction wavered as he thought how disappointed in him she would have been in what he had become and how stupid he was to not have realized it when he first met her. The resemblance was there, even though it was obscured by different hair and eye colors. Her insatiable thirst for knowledge made perfect sense as did her unwavering loyalty. Voldemort realized what he was missing and, as Grindelwald predicted, it was too late. She was gone forever and it was because of him. In that moment, Voldemort's hatred gave way to another emotion that Voldemort believed he had purged from his body many years ago. Regret tempered his hatred and the stag was able to overcome his curse.

The stag careened forward and impaled the Dark Lord on its mighty antlers. When the prongs made contact with the Dark Lord the amount of Light inherent in the spell caused all of the evil associated with Voldemort's soul to be purged; this caused the fragment of soul that resided in Voldemort's body to be released into the world as the ashes of his body were carried off by the wind. In one of Voldemort's safe houses, Voldemort's familiar turned horcrux had been sleeping and biding its time until its master returned. When Harry's Patronus came into contact with Voldemort's soul the fragment that had been stowed within Nagini was released in a similar manner reducing the snake to a pile of ash.

AN: I hope that you enjoyed the story up to this point. I have put in a lot of time writing and polishing in the hopes of giving my audience something that is worth reading. Please take some time to leave me a review. It would really mean a lot to me.

AN2: So that's the end of the non-stop action sequences for now. There will be a couple more chapters to wrap up the first part of this story before a time jump that will occur after the conclusion of this part and the beginning of the second part.