Chapter 26

Alice's POV

Christmas had passed. Esme had tried her best to get us to celebrate but the mood in the house had been down for months; Edward had even refused to come down from his room that day. Christmas had marked Bella's fourth month since disappearing and though we had all hoped she would return soon, the more days that passed the more that hope dwindled. The first day of the new year was spent in the same sombre mood.

Esme had done what she could do to keep the family together but having to witness Edward in such a depressed was a toll for anyone to witness, you couldn't not feel awful for him. Not to mention, we all spent our days incredibly worried about Bella…

'I guess they not coming, and I really thought…'

Bella and Harry emerged from within the trees, the open forest area filled with numerous people all stood silently and dressed in black. The man who had just spoken, his face more snake than human, his face filled with glee as he turned to face the two teenagers. Grasped between his long, bony fingers was a long-pointed wand.

'Harry and Bella, you came! I knew my offer was too good to pass up.' His eyes gleamed red with psychotic happiness.

'What are yer doin here?' A large man in more ways than one screamed in despair thrashing against the chains that kept him imprisoned to the tree behind him; the bloody lip and swollen eyes a clear indication to how poorly he had been treated.

'Go back! Yer aint safe here!'

'I hate to hurry this along, after all this time, a moment like this deserves my full attention. Are you ready to die?' Neither teenager answer, despite that the man continued to grin.

'I love you, Harry.' Bella cried, taking hold of the boy's hand who took it more than willingly.

'Me to. Close your eyes, it will be over in a minute.'

'Avada kerdava!' The two went soaring back, smashing into the trees and falling unconscious to the ground. A minute passed, and they still hadn't moved.

'Are they dead?'

"Jasper, Emmett! Grab Edward! Don't let him leave the house!" I screamed knowing he would have seen my vision. Knowing that he would have seen…Bella die.

No. She couldn't- she couldn't be dead.

Only a second was wasted giving me a confused look before Edward ran down the stairs, a hysterical look on his face. He was unhinged, his messy fighting made it easy for Emmett to hold him down. Nevertheless, he continued to struggle.

"Edward, please don't! You can't, you can't go to the Volturi." I pleaded desperately.

"Why does it matter? She's dead! She isn't coming back!" He cried, still thrashing against Emmett's tight hold.

"You don't know that. Edward my visions aren't always correct, there might be more that we haven't seen yet. Please wait, Bella wouldn't want this."

"What she wants no longer matters, she's gone." His voice went quiet, his body going limp against the floor.

Jasper had calmed him.

As Edward's struggle lessened, the room went deathly silent.

"Alice, what's going on?" Esme asked falling to the floor to cradle Edward who groaned painfully in response.

"It's Bella. She- I…I saw her. I think she may be dead."

Edward's POV

I instantly fell limp in Emmett's arms as Jasper's influence soon took hold of me. Not even my body relaxing against the strain could stop my mind from screaming. Every thought from my family was screaming a. My Bella. Gone.

Dead.

No, no, no, no…

"It's Bella. She- I…I saw her. I think she may be dead."

No. No. NO! She couldn't be…I couldn't let her be.

"Alice, what-what exactly did you see?" Esme's voice was the first to break the silence, "I don't-"

"She was with the boy again and there was this man surrounded by people in black. It's so hard to explain, everything there was nothing I had ever seen; the man…"

"He slammed them both into a tree and asked if they were dead." I spat. The image of her falling to the ground, so still, so lost…it played over in my head.

I had never been a religious man, but I could only pray to whatever God might exist, that they would spare her life.

Bella's POV

Somewhere in the distance I could make out two darkened figures hurdling around the castle. With the wind burning my face and my hair tangled around over my eyes it was difficult to see where I was or even how far off the ground I was soaring.

After a long second more I slammed into the ground, pain crippling up my shoulder. And as my entire right arm cramped into a spasm, my wand fell from my grasp. Disoriented, I didn't even notice Harry land beside me, his wand landing somewhere near my own.

The ground felt as though it was spinning, ignoring my own pain I crawled forwards hooking my fingers around the foreign wand in a tight hold. I didn't know where Voldemort was, whether or not he had his wand, but we had to be faster. We had to be first.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Avada kerdava!"

Red lights flew from the tips of our wands just as a green one came towards us, meeting us in the middle. Digging my feet into the floor I put all my strength into the spell; with the concussion I could only assume I had I felt on the brink of exhaustion, like I would pass out at any minute. It felt like an eternity where the reality was only a few moments.

Students and teachers alike had rallied on the grounds to watch the final fight take place.

Either Harry and I would walk out of this alive or not at all.

Amongst the crowd of people, I saw Neville most of all. Unlike the others his eyes were focused elsewhere. Focused on the snake.

Both hands holding onto the sword of Gryffindor once more he swung once, decapitating the snake by the neck and watching as fell off in one clean swipe.

The last Horcrux was gone.

The instant it happened Voldemort's opposing spell weakened and ceased to exist. The destruction of the last part of his remaining soul taking its toll.

This was over, we could win this.

We could go home.

"Avada Kadava!" Fury and exhaustion took over as I screamed for the unforgivable curse. He was on his death bed and I would not let him get away. He was going to die today.

The spell hit him square in the chest causing him to stumble back. He was no longer immortal and with death running through his veins, he fell limp to the floor, his body flaking away until there was nothing left of him that remained.

.(updated)