Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dawn

The attack is immediate. The Killing curse hits Harry mid-center just as Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Draco find the cavern. He hears Ginny scream and thinks that it is just a dream. She can't be here in this darkness he thinks. How can she be here? he wonders.

The force of the curse spins him around and he is in time to see the Doppelganger drop to his knees, arms spread out as if in supplication, his mouth open but not emitting any sound. Harry has seen this before. The green light, then immediate death. Harry knows the Double is dead. The curse has struck them both. Harry feels something spin out from his center, like an umbilical cord after birth. It is a lifeline that breaks and vaporizes. Harry only feels it but it doesn't register in his brain.

He steps over to the prostrate Doppelganger and kneels at his side only to look up to see the real Snape step into view. Lucius Malfoy is behind him. Seeing them both is a surprise. But there is no time to feel anything, to wonder, to question. The curse hits Harry but it doesn't kill him. It causes him pain. SO much that he is almost helpless. All he can do is kneel beside the dead Doppelganger and watch what is going on around him.

At the same time a large wolf leaps into the circle of stone, and stands between the group on one side and Voldemort on the other. He turns to the humans. The expression on his face is surprisingly human. The wizard-snake moves very fast, much faster than Harry thinks is possible. Before anyone can react the real Snape throws a spell at the werewolf just before the snake reaches it . Snape's spell hits the mark. And because Voldemort has forgotten he is a wizard and who carries a wand, his reptilian instincts take over and his rather large, glistening fangs sink into the wolf, lifting him high in the air and then dropping almost Harry's feet. The wolf shudders in his death throes.

Harry has his hand on the wolf, shaking his head, mouthing the words, No! No! His hand is up trying to stop it all. But he is helpless. Everything is in motion.

From behind them all Neville runs directly at the snake.

"Neville, no!" Hermione screams. Neville swings the sword, its' metal glimmers in the light as if it is set afire by some preternatural source. He advances on the snake, fearlessly pushing it back; and back further. Away from the others.

"Snape!" Lucius pulls on Snape's arm as he watches the boy advance on the snake. "Kill me now! Do it! Do it now before he can take me."

Harry is stunned and speechless. It is all happening so fast. Lupin is dead. Why is he dead? Why is Lucius Malfoy here? he wonders. Where did Ginny come from? Is Snape dead, or is he alive? He looks between the dead Doppelganger and the living man. Why am I still alive? Why does Malfoy want Snape to kill him? What is Neville doing? He is going to get himself killed! Stop, everyone stop! I can't think.

"What? What are you doing?" he gasps as Snape draws his wand and points it at Lucius Malfoy.

"Father!" Draco cries out, pushing Ron aside. "Snape stop!"

Ron grabs his arm and takes him in a strangle-hold, while Ginny disarms him.

Harry looks back at Voldemort. The fangs are dripping with venom and his wand is up.

Neville is directly in front of the snake and the yellow-slit eyes of the reptile are upon him.

Harry rises to his feet and aims his wand. Snape shouts the Killing curse at the same time Harry throws his. "Avada Kedavra!" They shout in unison. Green light explodes throughout the cavern ricocheting off the walls, spiraling up into the darkness and illuminating the stone faces on the wall. It looks like the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Sytherin are watching.

Malfoy crumples to the ground a second before the second curse thrown by Harry hits Voldemort. Neville swings the blade at the snake midsection, cutting the snake in half just as the fangs reach him. Then with grace and fluidity he chops the head off and avoids being bitten.

There is an eerie shriek that echoed around inside the chamber. It's deafening to the survivors. It has escaped from the snake.

Harry kneels beside Lupin who has transformed at the dawn of the new day. He is dead but he is inhuman form.

A hand reaches down and squeezes his shoulder. He looks up and it is Snape. The real Snape's eyes are alive and filled with sadness.

"It is done," Snape says.

"But...but there was a part of a Horcrux inside of me," Harry explains very calmly, almost childlike.

"I transferred it to Lupin," Snape answers and then turns and walks into the dark. His words- "He was dying anyway"-echo behind him.

There is a wail that emanates from Draco as he breaks free and stumbles to his dead father. "Father! Father!" He has yet to understand that he has just become an orphan.

Harry hears a voice. It's Hermione. "They are gone, Harry. All the Horcruxes are destroyed and Voldemort is dead." He is staring at Lupin and feeling nothing. Hands come down to ease him to his feet. It is Ron and Neville. Hermione is before him, teary-eyed. Harry wonders why she is crying. A soft hand reaches for his. He turns and sees Ginny.

"You are here," he says.

"Yes, I'm here, Harry."