Disclaimer: I don't own the passages that are from Deathly Hallows!
So this chapter is really long...I was going to cut it, but I decided I'd be nice! Enjoy!
The Golden Trio left shortly after eating a quick evening meal. Miranda stepped up to Draco, "I'm sorry about hitting you."
He laughed, "It's alright."
"No, it's not, I don't know what came over me." She said, feeling exhausted. She could hardly remember the last time she had slept. While Harry had slept, she had just sat and run her fingers through his hair, putting his features to memory.
Draco put a hand on her shoulder, "I just wish you would listen to me."
She shook her head, "I can't, Draco. I just don't have the luxury of thinking about stuff like that. When I was a child, I was hurt. Badly. I physically cannot have children. I should have explained that to you earlier instead of snapping at you, but it's not exactly something I enjoy talking about."
He sighed, "I still think you're wrong, Miranda, but I'm going to go watch your boy and make sure he doesn't get himself killed."
"Thank you." She said quietly, hugging him tightly.
He grunted, "Any time. You're going to have to let me go though if I'm ever supposed to catch up with Potter."
"You shouldn't say his name like that." She said with a smile. "I'm Mrs. Potter now."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Don't remind me. Be careful, don't do anything stupid before I can get the Boy-Who-Did-No-Wrong back."
"I'll try." She said, trying not to cry. "And please, Draco, keep him safe. That's all I want, is for everyone to be safe. That means you too."
"Well, if you ask some of the others, I'm too mean to die." Draco joked as he left, running after Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Miranda was a nervous wreck for the two hours that they were gone, pacing across the large room. When they came back, triumphant expressions on their ashy faces, Miranda through herself at Harry. "I was so worried about you!"
"We did it, Miranda. We got rid of the last Horcrux." He breathed in relief. Miranda didn't say anything, she just clung to him. "Professor McGonagall has summoned the Order. We can do this."
There was suddenly a loud bang, and a boy Miranda recognized as a sixth year Ravenclaw yelled, "Snape knows Harry's about, he's calling all students to the Great Hall. What do we do?"
All of the Hogwarts students looked to Neville, who nodded, "We need to go. I'll send word to the Order" Everyone started grabbing their cloaks and running out the door.
Harry clutched Miranda's hand. "We need to go with them. I need to confront Snape."
Miranda shook her head, "Why? Harry, we should stay here. Snape isn't our problem. The creature inside my brother is our problem. Please..."
"I just have too, Miranda, please understand." He looked into her eyes, begging for her to understand.
"Okay." She said, "We need to end this, don't we?"
"Exactly." He whispered kissing her gently.
There was suddenly a piece of dark fabric being shoved into Miranda's hand, "Here, you'll need this to blend in." Hermione said, smiling at her friend.
Miranda smiled back gratefully, and Harry helped her fasten it before he led her outside the Room of Requirement and into the subdued yet hysterical student body. They went with the flow of the students, their hoods pulled up. Miranda, unused to wearing such a hood, kept having to have Harry reach over and pull it back into place. Their hands never separated, even as they entered the Great Hall and were ushered into straight lines.
"I love you." Harry whispered, and when Miranda looked back at him, her face half covered by her troublesome hood, he could swear he had never seen her look more beautiful.
"I love you too." She replied, squeezing his hand and returning her attention to the front of the room.
Snape placed himself at the front of the room, and upon seeing him, Miranda could almost feel Harry's anger. "Many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you at this hour. It's came to my attention that earlier this evening Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmead. Now... should anyone, student or staff, attempt to aid Mr. Potter, they will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression. Furthermore, any person found to have knowledge of these events, who fails to come forward, will be treated as equally guilty. No one?"
Despite a great tension hanging in the air and the almost inaudible sounds escaping some of the remaining younger children, no one spoke a word. In an effort to elicit a response from someone, Snape began to walk down the center of the hall. "If anyone in here has any knowledge of Mr. Potter's movements this evening I invite them to step forward. Now."
Miranda felt the tug of Harry's hand in her own before he stepped forward, drawing her with him. "It seems, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster. How dare you stand where Dumbledore stood! Tell them how it happened that night. How you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him."
Miranda wanted to tell Harry not to keep going, but she didn't have to. After several seconds, Snape raised his wand and Professor McGonagall pushed them both aside. They exchanged spells, sending students cowering against the walls, before Snape flung himself out the great window, apperating back to The Dark Lord.
The Carrows were up against a wall with the wand of Pomona Sprout trained on them. Harry was shaking in anger. "He couldn't even give me an answer."
He sighed, reclaiming Miranda's hand. "Is anyone hurt?"
After several called to the negative and went about protecting the castle at Professor McGonagall's bequest, Miranda kissed his cheek. "You didn't curse him. I'm so proud of you."
He flashed a brilliant smile at her, casting the shadows from his eyes. "I feel better when I'm with you, stronger. But you also remind me that I need restraint."
She smiled, "Glad I can help."
Their blissful moment was shattered by a voice that had haunted Miranda's dreams. "I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. Return my sister to me and I will let you live. I want them both. You have until midnight."
Pansy Parkinson started screaming as soon as the ringing cleared from their ears. "They're right there! Get them!"
"Pansy, you are a heartless bint." Draco drawled. "Anyone who shares her opinion will have to go through me if they want to go blabbing to their parents. I think it best that those of you with those feelings retire to your rooms." The teachers concurred with the heir's plan and began taking the Slytherin's back to their dorms.
The darkly handsome Blaise Zabini, however, stayed, smiling softly at Draco, "Like I would leave my best mate with all these nutters."
Draco grinned, "I knew you'd have my back." Miranda watched the two boys, and the lingering looks they shared had her wondering why Draco had ever perceived to fancy her in the first place.
Harry's voice shouting, "Remus!", distracted her from the two boys. She felt her heart ache watching Harry embrace the only father he had ever really known, and she prayed that the werewolf never hurt Harry like Grindelwald had hurt her. Her new husband beckoned her over to where he was standing with Remus and the Weasley's.
Just before she reached them, Molly noticed the band around Harry's ring finger, "What is this?"
Harry laughed, and Miranda tried to ingrain the sound into her brain. "Randa and I got married."
The look on Molly Weasley's face was half way between being happy for them and being upset about being robbed of the chance to throw a party. "Congratulations, my boy." Remus said, looking harshly at Miranda as he hugged Harry again. Miranda just kept silent, trying to soak in every last moment.
The preparations were terrifying and furious, the air oppressive. A minute after midnight, the Death Eaters began to bombard the shell around the school with spells.
As the shell showed more signs of weakening, Harry made his own decision. "I need to go."
"What? Harry, you can't be serious!" Ron yelled.
Harry looked at his best friend, "I need to confront him, Ron. That's the only way I can end this battle, is to be face to face with him. That's what the prophecy says. You two take care of the snake for me?"
"Oh Harry!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around her best friend, and Miranda knew that the brilliant girl had figured Harry's plan out.
Harry grabbed Miranda, taking her face in his hands, kissing her hard, "I love you. Be safe." He looked to Draco, "Take care of her, Malfoy."
The blonde boy nodded, "I will, Potter."
Harry held out a hand, "Thank you."
Draco took it, shaking firmly, "Don't mention it."
The corner of Harry's mouth quirked up in a wry grin, "I would never dream of it." He turned back to Miranda, "Goodbye, love."
"I have to go with you, Harry." Miranda said, grabbing onto his sleeve.
Harry shook his head, pulling her in close, "I won't let you."
Miranda set her jaw in defiance, and said in a confident voice, "Harry, he won't hurt me. By delivering me to him, you'll be close enough to fight him. You might not get another chance."
"No, Miranda, you're all I really have. I want you to be safe." Harry said crossly.
"He's not going to bloody hurt me!" She yelled, trying to keep herself calm and failing miserably. She had spouted off all that nonsense about always telling the truth, and then here she was now trying to convince her husband that she wasn't about to go get herself killed. "I'm going, and that's final." Miranda said with an exhausted sigh, and Harry was surprised that he didn't have the heart to talk back to her.
After all, who would know Voldemort better than him? Miranda. If she thought she would be safe, than he would just have to trust her. "Okay, but only if you're sure he won't hurt you."
"He won't hurt me, Harry. He needs me." She urged, kissing his jawline, "You'll be right there."
"Only if you promise it will be alright."
Miranda smiled, and kissed him, "I promise."
"Be careful!" Hermione said, leaning against Ron.
Miranda broke from Harry to hug her friend, forcing Ron aside. "Thank you for being my friend, 'Mione." As she pulled back, she slipped a letter into the other girl's pocket. She returned to Harry. "Are you ready?"
He smiled grimly, "I'm going to have to be ready."
Suddenly, the covered bridge exploded and the three arsonists, Ginny, Seamus, and Neville, came running. In that instant, Harry and Miranda were consumed in fighting. They were separated, and it wasn't until Voldemort called his Death Eaters off to give an hour reprieve that Miranda was able to stand still long enough for the part of Tom that lived in her to find the part in Harry.
The hour was half over, and Harry was headed to Voldemort. She hadn't thought that after he had agreed for her to go with him that he would try to leave her behind. She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the voices that called to her.
She reached the edge of the forest just minutes after seeing Harry enter from afar, and rushed to the clearing where he had found Voldemort. Seeing Voldemort standing in the center of a herd of Death Eaters, holding the Elder Wand almost made Miranda want to run the other way. He grinned evilly when he saw her. "Oh my, I am lucky today. Harry Potter...The Boy Who Lived...Come To Die, and my beloved sister here to see me kill her lover."
Harry turned around to look at her, horrified, "Randa, what are you doing here? Run!"
Voldemort shot a spell at Harry's turned back that Miranda blocked. Unfortunatly, the next curse was directed at her, knocking her off the feet and sending her wand flying out of her hand.
Harry spared a look to see that she was uninjured before looking back at his enemy and lowering his wand.
In that same moment, Voldemort raised his wand. His head was still tilted to one side, like a curious child, wondering what would happen if he proceeded. Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, before he lost control, before he betrayed fear. Harry saw the mouth move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone.
Miranda screamed, and flung herself at Harry's still body, pulling his limp upper body into her arms. "Harry, no, no. No!" The tears fell from her eyes and ran down his face, making it appear that he was crying too. Hagrid let out a hollow bellow.
Her sobs shook her whole body, and she didn't understand how she could have misinterpreted the prophecy. She had been so certain. She held Harry, and then the whispers came from around them, "Is he dead?"
"I'll check, my Lord." Said a female voice. Miranda felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Dear, let me look." Miranda looked up at the woman, shocked through her tears to find Narcissa Malfoy. The older woman bent down. "Does my son live?" Miranda didn't have an answer, but the answer instead came from Harry.
"Yes." The word was hardly a whisper, but it made Miranda's body sag in relief.
Narcissa stood, "The boy is dead."
Miranda let loose a loud cry, only of relief, not in grief. "No need crying over him, sister. Potter was a fool to come here." Voldemort said as he wrapped a skeletal arm around her waist, pulling her from Harry, and motioned for one of his Death Eaters to force Hagrid to pick up Harry's supposed corpse.
It felt like they walked for hours, but it was really just a few minutes. Once they came upon the front of the castle where the Order members and majority of the Hogwarts students and staff had assembled there was a gut wrenching scream, "Harry!"
It was Hermione, and despite her hooded eyes, Miranda could see Ron holding her back. Voldemort's grip on her waist tightened and he hissed into her ear, "Don't fight me. You will only encourage more pain upon yourself. You will tell these people to surrender."
"Please don't." She whispered.
Voldemort ignored her, however, instead addressing the crowd, "I warned you all. Your savior is dead now. I hold all of the cards. You have lost." Into Miranda's ear he hissed, "Imperio."
"You have not won yet! Let her go!" A familiar voice yelled, but Miranda couldn't place the owner, her mind too focused on fighting the creature in front of her.
Voldemort looked to Miranda, "Sister, why don't you tell them all what you told me? I'm sure they are all interested to hear it." He let her go, but she fought every involuntary step he forced her to make, "Come now, sister, don't be shy." When she refused to speak he whispered, "Imperio.", again, reinforcing the spell.
Miranda hated this, she wished he would just get it over with. She still didn't understand why he hadn't killed her the instant she had come to him. "Everyone needs to stop fighting. Harry's dead. We don't all have to die. Those who surrender to their new Lord will be spared." She heard the words coming out of her mouth, and would have given anything to have been able to control herself and tell everyone to run, as far and as fast as they could.
Harry lunged from Hagrid's arms, his wand extended. "Let go of her! This ends now!" There were cheers from the steps of Hogwarts.
"This changes nothing!" He spat, shoving Miranda between Harry and himself. "Careful, Potter, you wouldn't want to hit her."
Harry hesitated.
Voldemort grabbed Miranda again, holding her against him as he spoke to the people gathered before him, "You all were so sure I wouldn't hurt her. You're wrong. She's better off to me dead now. I need her power. She must die by my hand, and yet I am unable to injure her with any wand. Pity." Harry watched in mute horror as Voldemort pulled a glinting silver knife from his cloak and thrust it into her chest, giving it a vicious twist, "Goodbye, little sister." He cackled, pulling out the blade and letting her fall to the ground. She landed on her back, gasping loudly for air as her lungs filled with blood, her arm stretched out towards Harry as she lay there.
She had the saddest look on her face, and Harry saw when she stopped fighting. He wanted to curse himself, he wanted to scream, to run and hold her. She had known she was going to die. She had tried to tell him, and he hadn't listened. There was a heartbreaking noise, half cry of pain, half yell of fury. It was a name perhaps.
The fight exploded around them, and Harry was sucked into it, forced to leave Miranda alone while she died. She wasn't alone, however, an emaciated old man knelt beside her, covered by a black cloak, "Pet, stay with me. It's not your time, not yet."
But she was dead, her blue eyes wide and glassy, her lips tinged blue with little specks of blood on them. She had suffocated on her own blood, and it broke Gellert Grindelwald's heart. It was a terribly muggle way to die, but Gellert could still feel her, she wasn't entirely gone yet.
He could also feel the child inside of her fighting for life, continuing the struggle it's mother had ended. Gellert was amazed that he could feel the child at all. It was strong, instinctually trying to vainly bring it's mother back to life with the astonishing amount of raw magic it had seemingly inherited from both parents. That didn't change the truth of the situation. Without Miranda, the tiny child had mere minutes left, possibly less if it exhausted its undeveloped magic while trying to save her.
"Hold on, little one. We've not lost her yet." He muttered, and Gellert looked around, searching for the one thing that could save both of them. Her wand was laying a few yards from where she had fallen, and he scrambled to get it. He held it over her wound, and ignored the slight sacrilegious feeling in his gut as he snapped it in half, allowing the phoenix tears contained within it to pour into her. The bloody, torn flesh knitted together almost instantly, leaving only the blood on her skin, but Miranda did not take a breath as he had expected.
He cursed violently, not about to let the girl he called his daughter die. He ripped the red eyes out of the silver snake lying limply on her throat, and placed the two shards of the Resurrection Stone under her tongue. This was the reason he had given her the shards all those years ago, so that if needed, he could save her life. Her soul hadn't moved on, and if he could start her heart, it would come back to her. Gellert took the muggle route, pressing rhythmically on her chest until she finally took a shallow breath on her own, coughing up the blood that had killed her, the bright red staining the pale skin of her mouth.
She didn't wake, but she didn't have to. It had worked, he knew it. Now he only had to wait until he passed on himself.
That had been their deal when he had surrendered. If Gellert remained inside Nurmenguard, than he could move freely about the hidden parts of the castle for the rest of his days, and Albus would visit whenever he could. If he left, however, the spell would end his life swiftly. As much as Albus had loved him, after the incident with Arianna, he had never trusted him. That was alright though.
He placed a kiss on Miranda's cool forehead, draping his warm cloak over her, and left her there. Swiftly returning to Nurmenguard, where he could spend his last few hours in peace, knowing that Miranda was safe and that he was going to be reunited with Albus soon.
Yay! Like it? Did I answer some of your questions? Sorry again about it being so long (the wait and the chapter)! The next chapter is mostly done. Let me know what you think!
Review!
-Jenn