Chapter 25

Bella's POV

Avada Kadava! The screaming…Hagrid…holding onto Harry…closing my eyes…the tree…

Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking a few times to get use to the bright light that seems to be shining directly onto my face. Once they were fully open and I could see something other than blinding white light, I found myself lying in a completely white room. It looked kind of like Kings Cross station…only cleaner?

Am I dead? Was this heaven? I have to have died, right? That would explain why everything was so…white.

"H-Harry?" I called out, my voice cracking from my dry voice. Rolling onto my stomach I climbed onto my knees, rubbing at my eyes with the balls of my hand until it burnt. Everything was so…disoriented.

"Bella?" His answer was immediate, appearing quickly beside me as he helped me to my feet. God, even the floor was white.

"What is this? Because if this is the afterlife I totally wasn't expecting it to look like Kings Cross." I leant on Harrys shoulder for some support, my head still reeling from where I'd hit it against the tree.

"And when did we change clothes…" Harry gestured between the both of us, bringing attention to the white dress I was now wearing. It was very un-Bella like, something I could imagine only Alice could force me into.

I could only shrug. Who understood anything right now. If this was death, it was surely strange; not to mention immensely empty.

"Oh my god Harry, what the hell is that!?" I gasped scrunching my face in disgust as I caught sight of a…some hunched over figure spotted in red curled underneath the bench. Falling onto my knees to get a better look, it turned its wrinkled face to meet mine. It had a face.

"Harry!"

"Holy shit" Harry cursed, his eyes focused in on the bloodied creature, "What is that?"

"You cannot help it." A familiar low toned voice spoke from behind us and we span to face them.

"Professor?"

What was he doing here? His presence was pretty good confirmation that we were dead, considering his death last year but…was he our guide or something? Taking shape of a person familiar to us?

Similarly, he was wearing all white, his floor length robe dance along the stone flooring. Other than the colour, this was exactly something I would see him wearing.

"What is it?" Harry asked, referring back to the hideous and unfamiliar creature.

"That, I will reveal to you later. Now will you be kind enough to take a walk with me?" We accepted his other, each standing on one side of him as we walked momentarily in silence. The only sound was the echo of our shoes off the wall. The silence was a pleasant contrast to the chaotic loudness we had left behind.

"This is what the call your party I assume." He explained, "I expect by now that you both know that yourselves and Voldemort are connected by more than just fate."

"You mean us being Horcrux's? Part of him living within us?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "Correction, the part of him that lived inside you both was destroy just moments ago. You two were the Horcrux's that were never meant to be made, not even Tom himself knew."

"And you Professor? How did you know?" I asked. Though part of me had hoped that he had been wrong, at least my death hadn't been meaningless.

"I had always had my suspicions, those only solidifying once we learnt of your ability to speak Parseltongue and read Voldemort's thoughts. Though, my guesses have usually been correct in the past."

I couldn't help but feel myself become annoyed. We had died based on an assumption, a considerably good guess?

"And the creature Sir?" Harry asked, "Is that-?"

"The piece of his soul that lived in you? Yes."

We carried on walking until we reached a bench just big enough for the three of us; of course, it was white.

"So, are we dead then?" I was both all caught up and desperately confused at the same time.

"You have the choice whether or not you go back."

"We have a choice?" My head snapped up.

"There's always a choice," Dumbledore told us. His eyes, hidden behind his half-moon spectacles, swimming with wisdom, his wrinkled mouth pulling into a smile.

I guess we were going back. There was still a war to win after all.

"Professor." Harry spoke once more, pausing as we headed back in the direction we had come from, "Is this real? Or is it just a dream happening inside our heads?

"Of course it's all happening inside your head, but who's to say it's not real" He winked suggestively before standing back on his feet, "And remember, help will be given at Hogwarts for those who ask for it."

And with that, Dumbledore slowly began to vanish and as did the white sheet that was clouding my vision. It faded until all I could see was a black abyss and suddenly, it was like my mind was back in my body; I could feel everything in my body.

As slowly and less conspicuously as I could, I peaked an eye open. No longer sure where I was anymore. The first thing I saw were trees, Okay so we're back in the forest.

My fingers were still entwined with Harry's, I could feel the ache forming in my arm from the awkward angle it had bended in from the fall.

"Are they dead? Someone, go check." I heard the quietest of footsteps head our way and I slammed my eye shut, stilling my body and slowing my breath. That aside, my still beating pulse would undoubtedly give my current liveliness away.

We had just used our one lifeline, we had no others to rely on.

"Draco, is he alive? Is he in the castle?" A cold hand gripped around my wrist. Despite clearly recognising me as alive, Narcissa Malfoy only had eyes for her son.

"Are they dead, Narcissa?" Voldemort asked after a long awkward pause, seeming worried. After everything, was he really doubting his abilities now?

I gave the tiniest of nods.

"Yes. They're dead" She declared and the delight from the crowd us unmistakable. Voldemort's amusement was the loudest of all, almost drowning out the sounds of Hagrid's distraught sobs

"Get up you big lump! You are going to carry these two to the castle so that I can show everyone where their precious heroes are now. I will tell them how they ran like cowards, leaving their so-called friends to fight for them. They ran to us when it got too hard, they begged for me to kill him." He bellowed causing the group around him to laugh and cheer him on.

Laugh all you like. It wouldn't last long.

"Lucius, I do believe that this belongs to you." I could only assume he was handing my- his wand back over, "Take hold of this one."

Eyes still locked in darkness, I felt my limp body being lifted from the ground, my head taking rest on Hagrid's wide shoulder. The journey in Hagrid's arms was short and after what felt like just a few minutes, we reached the grounds once more. Even with my eyes shut I could it was crowded, with the pounding footsteps and mummering voices, it was difficult to remain still. Especially once Ginny's concerned voice joined the crowd.

"Dad, who is that? Who is Hagrid holding?!" She screamed, her voice getting increasingly louder as she ran towards us, "No! Dad, let me go! Let me go!" A distraught voice tore through her.

As more voices joined I could only picture Hermione and Ron standing in the crowd, the only two people with any idea over what had happened.

"The Potter's are dead! I killed Harry and Bella Potter, and now you shall all bow down to me. If you accept then you will be spared, if not then I will kill you. If you wish to join me and relish in great power, then come forward now!" I heard nothing, no one moved, no one spoke. Everyone was deathly quiet.

"Draco! Draco, come here."

"Ah Draco" Voldemort spoke in a way I could only assume was his twisted version of a smile.

No…Not Draco…

"Now, anyone else?" Voldemort offered and after a moment, an audience of voices yelling at someone to step back was a confirmation that someone else had stepped forwards. But who?

"And you are?"

"Neville. Neville Longbottom."

Neville? What on earth was he doing?

A handful of people in the background snickered, no doubt at his name, "Ah well, Neville, I'm sure we can find a place for you somewhere." Voldemort laughed.

"I'm not here to join your crusade, I want to say something." He announced, sounding confident despite everything, "It doesn't matter that Harry and Bella are gone."

"Neville!"

Where was he going with this?

"No. People die every day; friends, family…but they're still with us. Fred, Lupin, Tonks and everyone else who has lost their lives. They didn't die in vain but you, you will. They fought everyday for us and we will continue to do the same for them!" There was a scare of something sharp against concrete before chaos followed.

Grabbing onto Harry to get his attention, this seemed like our window of opportunity. Our only window. Scrawling from Hagrid's arms the entire crowd fell into disruption. In those split few seconds, everyone stood frozen not knowing what to do. And of all people…Draco was the one to save us.

…Draco.

Ripping the two wands from his father he ran at us, throwing the wands back into arms. And then all hell broke loose.

"No!" Voldemort screamed. In his pure anger he aimed at a now defenceless Draco and in some miracle of luck, I managed to bounce the spell back; soaring past everyone and into the castle wall tearing a new hole. From the corner of my eye, Neville went flying backwards heading straight towards the castle and disappearing through a gap. But I couldn't give him too much thought, fatal green spells were flying in all directions and one skimmed right past me.

Pushing Draco back into the arms of his parents, hopefully safe after what could only be considered his betrayal, Harry and I dove for cover under the remains of a crumbled wall.

Ah, oh god! This was happening.

"Did you see? Neville had the sword." Harry explained quickly as he hid behind the rubble.

"What?!" I had to yell over the chaos, "Do you think he knows what he's doing with it?" Please don't get yourself killed.

Harry shrugged, "Anything's possible with Neville."

"Look out!" I screamed, rushing to Harry' side to shield him last minute from a spell spiralling towards him.

"Come on!" Harry instructed taking hold of my wrist, crouching against the wall slowly pulling us both towards the castle. Hopefully with most of the battle taking place outside, the corridors would be empty enough for us to go unseen. We managed to run into the school going unseen, deep enough into the corridors to feel safe. With great caution, we walked up the stairs back to back with our wands out ready to fire.

So far, so…okay.

At the top of the stairs was a narrow, wooden bridge that led from one set of stairs to the other and attentively we made our way across it.

"Crucio!"

The bridge collapsed under the weight of my feet and I found myself tumbling half way down a flight of stairs. Harry had gone MIA and the pain riveting through all parts of my body was way past the point of bearable, but I did what I had to and gritted through my teeth.

That hurt like a mother fucker.

"Ow!" I yelped in a quiet moan, scrambling back to my feet only be shot back down onto my front.

Getting up for the second time, on this occasion running for cover so that the same occurrence couldn't happen twice, I ordered the broken bricks into a stair-like position with a flick of my wand. Running along the floating remains I could see Harry defending off spells from Voldemort, lonesome. I had to get to him. Quickly.

"Yo, Voldemort!" I caught his attention, giving Harry a chance to escape unscratched; that way, we could regroup. Hopefully, come up with some scraps of a plan. Jumping down back onto the stairway before Voldemort could knock me down to my feet, I hurried to meet Harry.

Now it was just him and me in an empty corridor.

"Okay. If we each get to one side of him, he can't fight both of us off."

One minute all was quiet, the next, out of nowhere, a long black vine of sorts sheathed around Harry's neck. Whatever it was, it was difficult to explain.

His face turned red, it was choking him.

"No!" I tried to scream bit it came out as a gurgle once Voldemort appeared and pinned me against the wall.

He hurled us backwards, my head slammed against the brick wall and I sat there dazed a moment longer. Everything that hurt was now catching up to me. Forcing my eyes open, I saw that I was alone which meant…Harry was with Voldemort.

Springing to my feet, ignoring the headache pounding behind my eyes, I stumbled to the archway that lead to the outside balcony; leaning against the wall for support, everything felt off balance.

"You were right when you told Snape that your wand wasn't fulfilling its duty."

"Yes, and I killed Snape!" He bellowed, his body raving with power.

"But what if the wand never belonged to Snape," He said again with a sly grin.

What was he talking about? Even I had no idea.

"Come on Tom. Let's finish this the way we started, together!" Harry forced both hands on Voldemort's shoulder before jumping off into the unknown, a trail of black being left behind them.

"Fuck my life." I muttered, inhaling a deep breath just as I ran after them. Spinning as I jumped, I spiralled after them through the evening sky. Round the castle and towards the floor.

. (updated)