Hey, y'all. Amazingly short chapter, but the next one should be longer (and, consequently, take longer to write). Two more after this, in case anyone's keeping track, so please review!

And we're going to take this opportunity to say that Hope Solo and Greg Ryan are both idiots; congrats to The Greatest Team You've Never Heard Of for winning third place; and a big cheer for Deustchland and Birgit Prinz, who really looks like a man. :)

By the way, we've edited and reuploaded the previous chapter. For this one, excuse the pun in the third paragraph. Really didn't mean it.


Darkness and Light Darkness cannot run out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot run out hate, only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr.

Remus' mind went completely blank. For several blissful seconds, he lost his sense of feeling, his hearing, his thoughts. He could only see, with a vague detachment, and so he uncomprehendingly watched the jet of green light hit Harry in the chest.

His hearing must have returned after that moment, because he could hear himself breathe. There was nothing else in that room; just the sound of his breathing. And, very distantly, the sound of someone's heart beating wildly. He couldn't imagine whose it was. All he knew was that it wasn't his, because his had just died.

It was quiet otherwise. Deathly quiet. He wished something would happen, wished someone would say something, because the silence was hurting his ears. It pressed into him, sort of made it harder to keep breathing.

And then, into that strange, thick silence, someone whispered his name.

"…Harry?"

He turned toward the voice – only dimly aware that he could move again – to see that Ginny had stood up.

There was no answer. Of course there was no answer. There couldn't be any answer, because –

Because what?

He frowned.

The jet of green light had hit Harry in the chest, right? And that meant – but who was he to say what that meant? It had happened before, hadn't it? The same exact thing –

No, it hadn't been the same. No one had seen it the first time, no one could say for sure whether that first curse had really hit Harry, or whether –

"Harry," the voice said, a little louder this time, more insistent. Ginny had climbed over the bed that separated her from Harry and was kneeling beside him. Hermione and Ron were beside her, both of them looking stricken, disbelieving. "Harry."

A note of desperation – a hint of hysteria – had crept into her voice.

There was still no answer. No reaction.

Ginny gave up trying to say his name, and it was silent again.

Remus didn't dare move. He was afraid he would fall apart if he did, simply crumble into little pieces on the floor right then and there.

And it was, strangely enough, Wormtail who cracked first. Then again, as Remus saw, it wasn't really Wormtail, was it? His eyes are still red – Voldemort had taken over now, taken over completely. Wormtail was gone. It was only his body, his shape, his voice.

Spells were crackling again, rocketing past him, dangerously close to his head. Wormtail was laughing madly, firing curses and hexes off with abandon, not caring who they were aimed at and what they hit. The room fell into chaos once more, and Remus was almost glad. It gave him something to think about, something to focus on other than – other than what had happened – and he thought it wouldn't be so terrible to die here, because then he wouldn't have to face the truth…


She felt the tears flood her soul, drowning her heart, choking her. But they never made it to her eyes. She fought back calmly.

Because it felt like a part of her had died, and you didn't cry when you died. You didn't mourn, you didn't grieve.

You simply weren't there anymore.

But she couldn't stop herself from thinking – How could this happen? There was supposed to be a miracle – he was Harry Potter, for Merlin's sake – there had to be a miracle.

But many things that were supposed to happen in this war hadn't. And she knew, as a plain, cold fact, that there wasn't going to be any miracle this time.

She avoided looking at him. She would falter if she did, and that was the last thing she needed. She had to focus now – find an anchor, something to hold onto before she succumbed to shock and grief.

And she found it beside the tears in her soul. Found a spark of hatred and revenge and anger so powerful that it blew everything else away.

So she fought with a clear mind, a flawless clarity that should have disturbed her, if just a little bit. She easily dodged the curses rebounding off the walls and ricocheting from the ceiling. She came to Ron and Hermione's aid more than once, pulling them out of harm's way or swiftly deflecting curses headed towards them.

But she soon saw that evading Wormtail's spells wasn't enough. Despite the aimlessness of his attacks, there was a controlled mania to his movements that made him all the more dangerous. Although most of his curses were fairly easy to evade, they came quickly and relentlessly, making any effective counter-attacks nearly impossible to pull off. Merlin knew how long Wormtail could keep this up, but it was clear that fatigue was beginning to affect the others. At this rate, there would just be more casualties.

He needs to be distracted, she realized as she ducked a shower of debris from overhead. He has to focus on one thing – one person – for a moment so that the others can attack him.

And she saw it clearly, saw what she had to do, and she knew it must have been the same way for Harry. Knowing what you had to do, accepting it because it was right; nothing more.

She grabbed Ron's arm to get his attention. He still seemed dazed, but he was holding his own against Wormtail's spells. "I'm going to create a diversion," she said quietly. "When I give you the signal, attack Wormtail with everything you've got. Tell the others."

"What diversion?" he asked, furrowing his brows, but she shook her head.

"There's no time. Just do it, okay?"

"Ginny – "

She had already moved away from him, already started muttering shield charms under her breath. She stoked her fury as she worked, channeling the emotion and using the energy to enhance her spells. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ron reluctantly move toward Hermione.

When she was satisfied that the shields would hold, she shifted so that she had a clear shot at Wormtail.

"Voldemort!" she shouted, blasting him with a Reductor Curse so powerful it finally got his attention. He turned on her, his eyes gleaming and a snarl twisting his face.

Raising her wand, she charged forward. His first attack didn't penetrate her shields, or the second or the third. She looked straight ahead as she plowed on, and fear began flickering across Wormtail's face as she drew closer.

"Ginny!" someone yelled. "Ginny, get "

She let her momentum carry her, and she flung herself at him. Spells tore through her being, welling up from her soul and bursting from her wand – she felt her shield finally tear, disintegrate – she saw the lights, cast from Ron and Hermione's wands, slam into his body – she heard his scream – she looked up into his face, the frightened red eyes, and grinned.

This is for Harry, Voldemort. This is his message. You can never kill him, as you could never kill Dumbledore. He lives on in the world he fought to protect from your tyranny, and so long as we're here, you will never win.

Voldemort's eyes locked on hers, and she could feel his rage, his power.

The wand flashed.

Green light lanced through the room.

Wormtail's mouth opened in a scream of pain and horror.


Ron saw the man before him, screaming, saw his sister's body sprawled on the floor.

Golden light leapt from his wand toward Voldemort. Shields flared around the Dark Lord as he countered the attack.

But Ron did not falter.

Other beams of light joined his – Hermione's, Lupin's, Snape's, Kingsley's. Their magic formed a vibrant golden bubble around Voldemort, whose red shield pulsed beneath the attack.


The room was filled with light. Light everywhere, and Hermione was filled with a rush of power so great it made her scream, ripping the sound raw from her throat. It was power like she'd never felt before, never imagined. It filled her, filled the wand in her hands, filled Ron, filled everything she could sense save for the writhing black form before her.

She struck, plunging the radiance in her hands into the darkness that thrashed before them. She felt the light fountain through her, filling the darkness, filling the man, obliterating it as utterly as sunlight destroyed shadow.

Blinding her.

There was a final scream. She heard it with more than her ears. She seemed to hear it with every fiber of her body. It echoed and reverberated through her being.

It seemed to stop her breath, just for a moment.


Up next: The battle is over. The scars remain.

Like we said, the next one might take a while, so bear with us. In the meantime...please review!