Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye – as if that wasn't already obvious since I swapped a few genders), angst, drama, some mild character bashing, and who knows what else.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Prophecy x in x Motion
Azalea stood on the porch of No. Twelve Grimmauld Place and watched the hoards of costumed children travel from the doorstep of No. Eleven to the doorstep of No. Thirteen without any idea that they'd skipped the doorstep upon which she stood. She envied their ignorance and their happiness as they laughed and skipped gleefully about collecting candy from the people that had been her neighbors for nearly three months now. She almost hated them for their ability to go on with their lives as if the world couldn't come crashing down around their ears any second now.
At the same time, she couldn't help but pray that her babies would have a chance to be just like those innocents laughing out on the streets when they were old enough to dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating about the neighborhood.
"You are going to catch your death of cold if you stay out here much longer, mon cher," Fleur declared as she opened the door behind Azalea and stepped out behind the shorter, younger witch. "It is not good for you to be standing in ze cold for hours on end and it is nearly time for us to go."
Sighing, Azalea turned away from the trick-or-treating children and complied with the subtle order despite the fact that they both knew the cold could not affect her through the charms on the dueling cloak she wore. Inside, the small handful of people that knew the full details of the prophecy and of the existence of Voldemort's horcruxes waited for her. They would be going with her to Hogwarts that night to search for another horcrux in the handful of places Azalea had not yet managed to search through the previous months (the castle was huge, after all, and she'd started the search from the ground up).
Tonight offered a perfect opportunity to search the school due to the fact that all of the students would be attending the Halloween Feast; as would the school's staff.
All seven men and two women turned to study her critically in the dim light of the candles burning in the wall sconces; taking in the dark circles under her eyes, the paleness of her complexion, and the gauntness of her frame (the seventeen year old had lost close to a stone and a half over the past two months). Azalea ignored the looks; she knew she looked like crap and truth be told she felt like crap. The past three months had been hell on her.
Her bouts of morning sickness had spread to include her afternoons and evenings as well as the mornings and she was lucky if she managed to keep dry toast and soda crackers down long enough to digest them; let alone an actual meal. If not for the nutritional potions that her elves diligently provided her with she probably would have lost even more weight. Fleur and Remus tried to bully her into seeing a healer but Azalea told them she already knew exactly what was wrong with her; she was pregnant with twins but she was hardly going to tell them that.
Instead, she blamed her failing health on the fact that her soul was swimming neck deep in the blood of the lives she'd taken over the past three months. It wasn't exactly a lie; after all, she'd killed hundreds of men, women, and teenagers and not all of them had worn the Dark Mark upon their bodies. Only the fact that all of them had been associated with the Dark Lord in some way or with the magical black market assuaged a small fraction of the guilt that stained her soul black; as did the conversations she'd held with the spirit of her great-grandfather two months earlier.
It also didn't hurt that she knew she had saved far more lives than she'd taken.
Over the past two months, Azalea had raided an additional seventeen manors and mansions belonging to high ranked Death Eaters. She had also helped to rescue a more than a few hostages with the help of the Order; most of them muggleborns and muggles that had been kidnapped from their homes. And they had stopped the Snatchers altogether; the taboo on Voldemort's name rescinded due to the high number of Snatchers that had been taken out when the Order of the Phoenix had used the taboo against them.
That was on top of inciting a rebellion that saw the Ministry employees taking the Ministry back from the pureblood bigots and Death Eaters in order to repair their relationship with Gringotts. The Order of the Phoenix had gladly helped in that endeavor as they'd dealt with the marked followers of the Dark Lord and more dangerous individuals while the employees dealt with cowards.
Delores Umbridge fell to Azalea's swords during the sixteen hour long battle to retake the Ministry; the petite witch had ruthlessly crushed the witch's throat with heavy handed backswing. The witch hadn't been a marked Death Eater but her views on non-humans and non-purebloods saw her being treated as one by both her [Delores's] co-workers and the goblins. Azalea took great pleasure in seizing that woman's vaults (which contained quite a bit of gold) and redistributed a pittance of the funds into her own vaults before the rest was set aside to pay restitution to all of those the witch had harmed with her bigotry (a list that included goblins, centaurs, elves, mermaids, werewolves, vampires, and countless muggleborns).
The magical artifacts (which would be returned to their rightful owners if at all possible) in Umbridge's vaults had included close to two million galleons worth of goblin made jewelry that had been obtained through trickery, blackmail, and outright theft. All of those items were turned over to the goblins without a second thought. The goblins would also handle the return of the other items to their rightful owners or simply auction them off to the highest bidder if no one stepped forward to claim them with the money made from the sales going into the restitution vaults (of which there were now six or seven).
The seventeen pairs of tragically beautiful Scarlet Eyes preserved and protected in an oaken case she'd purchased to keep them safe also helped her hold her head up high despite the guilt that weighed her down; she was helping Kurapika find justice, even if he didn't yet know it. There were only three more confirmed pairs of Scarlet Eyes left in the wizarding world and she knew exactly right where they were. The only thing that stopped her from collecting them already was the knowledge that the owner of the house they resided in was related to four of the men currently standing in the room with her.
Muriel Prewitt had either purchased or inherited the Scarlet Eyes and she'd held onto them with the same tenacity she'd held onto the goblin wrought diadem that Fleur had worn on her wedding day. Bill and Charlie had promised to confront the woman fairly soon in order to attempt to retrieve the three pairs of eyes without any bloodshed (though she had not told them why she was gathering those particular items). Azalea could have attempted to purchase the eyes from the woman but she refused to pay for something that didn't rightly belong to any witch or wizard.
In her mind, paying for the eyes would imply that she condoned the Human Trophy trade and that was the last thing she would ever do.
All in all, the only problem that really remained was dealing with roughly fifty Death Eaters (only five of them members of what remained of Voldemort's inner circle – the two Carrows, Avery, Snape, and Pettigrew), destroying the last two potential horcruxes (the unknown one and Nagini), and dealing with Voldemort.
Pulling her thoughts out of the past, Azalea glanced around to see that the others were waiting on her and she sighed before summoning her book bag to her so that they could leave. Her four house elves and Fawkes then shifted everyone into the tunnel beneath Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe. No words were said as they traveled swiftly in the direction of the One-Eyed Witch's statue that stood guard over the castle-side entrance of the tunnel. In no time at all, they had reached the exit and Azalea activated the Marauder's Map to make certain all of the residents were in the Great Hall; they were.
Fred and George disillusioned themselves at that point and climbed out of the tunnel first, Remus and Tonks left next under a pair of Moody's invisibility cloaks, Bill and Charlie followed under a pair of Disillusionment Charms, and then Moody and Krum headed up under another cloak and a Disillusionment Charm respectively; leaving Fleur and Azalea alone in the tunnel. Azalea watched the four pairs split up and head to their assigned sections to start searching; making certain that they wouldn't be heading into trouble.
Azalea then dug into her book bag for her father's old invisibility cloak and passed it to Fleur as she checked the map one last time; the young witch ignoring the chill of the death magic that always enveloped her whenever all three Hallows were touching her skin. With nothing else to be done and no reason to put off the inevitable; Azalea climbed up out of the tunnel and transformed into Pixie before trotting a short way down the hall to wait for Fleur. The moment she heard the older witch walking up behind her, she led the way towards the secret passageway that would dump them both up on the seventh floor where they would resume the search.
On the seventh floor, they turned to the left and split up; Fleur dealing with the rooms, closets, and broom cupboards on the left and Azalea taking those on the right. After searching each room, they'd let each other know whether or not the room was clear or let the other know they'd found something (Azalea remaining in her animagus form in order to not draw the attention of any portraits in the area). In that way, they worked their ways down the west wing before moving onto the northern wing.
It was when they were passing by the Tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and his dancing trolls that Azalea recalled the Room of Requirement. She stopped and stared at the blank stretch of wall for a long minute as she considered the mysterious room that could be anything the user desired.
I wonder… if it can become a defense classroom, a room filled with chamber pots, a supply cupboard, and a broom closet; could it also become a room in which to hide a horcrux? Azalea silently thought to herself as she sat down on her furry behind and stared intently at the wall.
"Is zere something wrong, chaton?" Fleur inquired softly as the unseen witch crouched down beside the cat a couple of minutes later when she finally noticed that Azalea had stopped searching.
Azalea shook her head before climbing back to her feet. She then began pacing back and forth in front of the blank stretch of wall as she repeated to herself; I need to find the room that Tom Riddle hid his horcrux in.
It took a little longer than normal but eventually a door shimmered into view and Azalea paused in mid-step as she stared hard at the door for a long minute. She then looked at the spot where she could hear Fleur breathing and mewed at the older witch before she walked up to the door and stretched herself up to bat at the door handle that was just out of her reach. She glanced back in Fleur's direction again and mewed a second time; hoping to convey to the French witch that she wanted the older woman to open the door. Sure, she could have done it herself using a thread of Nen (as she had the other four or five dozen rooms she'd opened) but she didn't want to search the room beyond by herself.
Fleur quickly got the message and the door soon opened under her hidden hand. The two of them walked into the room together and both of them cussed and cursed under their breath as they took in just how much junk was piled up throughout the far larger than expected room that had appeared. Once Azalea finished yowling, hissing, spitting, and growling out a string of feline invectives; she reverted to her human form and scowled at the room.
"We're going to need help to sort through all of this junk," Azalea stated needlessly.
"How did you know zis room was here?"
"I didn't; this room is called the Room of Requirement or, as the elves call it, the Come and Go Room. It becomes whatever you need it to be when you first call it into being by walking up and down the hallway in front of the wall. I asked it for the room that Tom Riddle hid his horcrux in and this is what it gave me. So, logically, there is a higher chance of the horcrux being in here than somewhere else in the castle. Wish I'd thought to check here sooner but I'd forgotten all about the room until I saw the tapestry across the way."
"Shall we send for everyone else?"
"Might as well," Azalea sighed as she scowled out at the towering piles of junk. "Kreacher, Dobby, Tanker, and Minky; I need all four of you." The four elves immediately appeared and glanced up at her waiting for orders. Azalea brought out the Marauder's Map and activated it so she could show the elves where everyone was currently searching.
"Kreacher, please go collect Moody and Viktor; make certain that you warn Moody before you grab him otherwise he's liable to hex you. Dobby, you're to grab the twins; I'll give you five galleons for more yarn if you prank them before you bring them here. Tanker, I want you to fetch Remus and Tonks; make certain you drop Tonks in a large clear space or she'll knock everything over the moment she arrives. And Minky, that leaves Bill and Charlie for you to collect; make certain you warn them both."
Ten minutes later, Azalea was having a hard time keeping a straight face as she stared at the twins. The moment the two of them turned away from her, she slipped Dobby the promised five galleons; it was worth it to see the troublesome twins with green hair, purple freckles, pale orange skin, and bright pink clothes. The other wizards and witches present were more than a little amused by the twins' new looks as well. As a bonus, having Dobby prank them had satisfied the need her inner child felt to play around a bit; something she'd had precious little time to do since she'd returned.
Her good mood didn't last much longer though as all ten magicals turned their attention to the collection of junk and spread out to begin searching for anything that held even a hint of dark magic in it. All four of the elves remained with them; each of them carefully cleaning up and restacking the various items that had been searched already (the industrious little creatures unable to stand the disorder). Those items that were useful or worth something (such as the jewelry, books, clothes, serviceable furniture, or working invisibility cloaks they found) were loaded into boxes or trunks and whisked away to an empty vault for temporary storage.
Everything would be sold off and the money given to Hogwarts once the war was over in order to pay for any repairs needed or to cover the fees to keep the school running while the wizarding world recovered (the school had lost a significant portion of its funding with the loss of muggleborns this year). Anything that was dangerous was packed up separately and tucked into a different vault where it could be dealt with later while the rest of the junk was simply shifted out of the way.
Eight and a half hours later, Azalea was standing in front of the Vanishing Cabinet that Montague (Chaser and Quidditch Captain for Slytherin's Quidditch team in Azalea's fifth year) had once been stuffed into and that she knew had been used to bring the Death Eaters into the castle at the end of what would have been her sixth year thanks to what she had gleaned from Malfoy's memories. The cabinet was ignored for the moment; her gaze trained instead on the wig covered bust of some long-dead wizard sitting up on top of the cabinet or more specifically the tarnished diadem perched upon the bust.
She'd recognized the diadem the moment she'd laid eyes on it and even before she'd scanned it with her wand, she'd known it was one of Riddle's horcruxes. Ravenclaw's long lost Diadem was apparently one of the Founders' precious treasures that Voldemort had inevitably sought out after he'd left Hogwarts (the other two objects being Hufflepuff's Cup and Slytherin's Locket). The corrupt wizard was an egotistical pack rat and owning important treasures appealed to his nature and in the British magical society, there were few magicals more important than the Founders of Hogwarts.
"So that's it then, eh?" Moody growled out as he stomped up behind the petite witch after she'd whistled to gain everyone's attention just five minutes earlier. "What are ya waiting for lass? Get it down and let's get the hell out of here. The Feast has been over for hours now and it won't be long before someone comes along patrolling the corridor outside and they're bound to notice the extra door."
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little short and levitating it won't work; the magic just slips right off of it," Azalea retorted with no small amount of exasperation as she tried to hide her unease over the thought of touching the horcrux out of fear that it might do something to the babes growing in her stomach.
"Don't you have a broom in that bag of yours?"
"Oh that would have been a brilliant idea; yes, let's go ahead and use a professional racing broom in a room full of junk that could easily be knocked over."
"I've seen you on that broom, lass; you know exactly what you're doing and you could have easily raced through this room at full speed five feet above the ground without touching a damn thing. Or you could have just used it to lift the damn diadem off of its perch since it is more than long enough to reach, It's not that you can't get it… you just don't want to touch the blasted crown. Why?"
"Does she need a reason why?" Remus asked dryly as he walked up beside the pair. "She's dealt with more than one of the horcruxes already and I for one don't blame her for not wanting to deal with another."
"Hmpf, kid's run head first into far worse things and never hesitated."
"Like you're one to speak," Tonks tossed out as she joined them next. "Shall I bring the bugger down then?"
"No; we don't want it to get lost amidst the rubbish again when you inevitably trip over a splinter and drop it," Moody snarked as he grabbed a broken coat rack from the nearest pile of junk and used it to lift the crown down off the bust it rested upon.
"That was low, Mad-Eye."
"Quit your bellyaching and open that silk lined graphorn bag so I can toss this in it and we can leave."
Azalea didn't take her eyes off of the diadem or the bag it went into until the bag was tucked inside of Moody's cloak and then she sighed and rubbed at her face as she silently thought, only one more of the stupid things left now.
"Call your elves and that blasted bird and let's get out of here now."
Azalea glanced up at the grumpy ex-auror over her fingers and rolled her eyes before she summoned the elves and her phoenix. Five minutes later, the door to the room they were inside of melted back into the wall as if it had never been there in the first place and no trace remained of them or the room they'd found the horcrux in. Azalea only waited long enough to make certain everyone had made it back before she headed upstairs to take a bath; needing to wash away the filth clinging to her skin from searching through the room of junk.
She had barely gone ten steps before an argument broke out between Bill and Moody about who should be the one to destroy the latest horcrux; both men insisting that they each had more experience in dealing with dark artifacts.
The witch snorted and shook her head as she called back over her shoulder, "If the two of you are going to squabble like children, I'm going to stand you both in the corner and send you to bed without supper. It doesn't matter who swings the bloody sword just so long as the damn thing is destroyed."
The guffaws coming from the other men and the two older witches followed Azalea up the stairs but she ignored them as a bone deep weariness stole over her. She reached up and played with the painfully silent and lukewarm earring on her left ear as she made her way to her room. The petite witch wasn't surprised to find a change of clothes already laid out on her bed and a warm bath filled with scented oils already prepared in the bathroom that Kreacher had attached to her chosen bedroom to give her more privacy; Minky had become an expert at reading Azalea over the last two months and the diligent little elf always seemed to know what she wanted almost before Azalea herself knew.
After stripping out of her dirty clothes and pulling her near shoulder length hair out of the messy braid she had started keeping the wild locks in to keep them out of her face (the witch had continued to let her hair grow out in memory of Kurapika's earlier suggestion), Azalea rinsed most of the dirt and sweat from her body using the shower before she slipped into the tub to relax. As she lounged in the lavender scented water, her thoughts turned to her absent lover and she wondered what he was doing.
She knew he was still alive but she also knew that something had happened as she'd not felt anything from her earring in over a week now. Sometimes she feared that he had learned about the eyes she'd been collecting. Other times she feared he'd guessed about the babies she was carrying; babies she had never told him she was carrying. And then there were the times she feared that he'd forgotten all about her. Feelings of discontent drove her from the water a few minutes later and Azalea dried off and changed into the sleep wear that Minky had set out for her before she curled up beneath the covers and cried herself to sleep.
With all but one of the horcruxes destroyed, Azalea spent the next month and a half resting and recouping as she waited for Voldemort to make his next move so that she could catch him out in the open in order to destroy him and his pet snake. She also spent quite a bit of time studying the seventh year material, digging through the information Dumbledore had left her for information on the final Potter Ability, securing copies of her memories of every single important event that had taken place since she'd returned (to document the war and her part in it), and lightly exercising in order to keep her mind occupied and her body in shape as best she could.
The young mother-to-be also researched ways to hide her pregnancy as she had already developed a noticeable (if still small) baby bump due to the fact that she so thin and because she was carrying twins.
She ended up charming two sheath style, strapless corsets made from dragon hide with Protective Wards, Shield Charms, weak Warming Charms, Privacy Wards (to block Moody's charmed eye), charms to provide extra comfort and support (for her breasts), and specialized Undetectable Expansion Charms to provide room for her growing stomach and breasts. One corset would hide just her growing belly and the other one would hide both her stomach and her breasts for when she needed to disguise herself as a man (her breasts now large enough that binding them with bandages wasn't practical after gaining yet another half of cup in size due to her pregnancy).
Both corsets went from armpit to the top of her thighs, snugly fit over her entire torso without being too tight and unlike normal corsets did not give her an over exaggerated hourglass form, and zipped up on the left side with the one designed to hide her breasts lacking any form along the bust line. The shifts would also double as an additional layer of protection beneath her dueling cloak and dragon hide vest in order to add an extra layer of security if she ended up in a fight (one of the reasons why they'd been made from dragon hide and not from linen or lace). The shift that hid both her abdomen and her breasts saw far more use as she felt more confident fighting without her growing breasts getting in the way.
Some of her tension and stress faded once she had a secure and safe way of hiding her condition from her allies and enemies alike; Madam Pomfrey still the only witch that was aware of her pregnancy. She still hadn't decided on whether or not she was going to inform Chairman Netero or Dr. Mackle about the babies (the former because he was technically her boss and the latter because she was leaning towards giving birth outside of the wizarding world in order to protect her children from the prejudices of the wizarding world). Whether she did or not though would depend greatly upon if she could find the courage to tell Kurapika that he'd be a father in roughly five months.
Azalea still hated keeping her pregnancy from her lover but she didn't want him to feel obligated to turn his back on his vow of vengeance just because of her or the babies. She also was afraid that he'd be angry with her for getting pregnant in the first place and she still had no idea how he felt about children in general let alone having children of his own. The fact that her earring had still not given her any indication as to what he was feeling and that he hadn't thought of her in so long only made it harder to find the courage to tell him (the witch completely forgetting to take into consideration the time differences between their current locations and the possibility that his sleeping schedule had changed).
She only knew he was alive because she still wore the Nen ring he'd given her on her finger.
On the fifteenth of December, when there had still been no sign of Voldemort or Nagini, Remus and Viktor escorted Azalea to Godric's Hallow to visit her parents' graves for the first time after she learned of their final resting place from Dumbledore's journals. She spent a half an hour just staring down at the shared gravestone recalling the conversation she'd held with her parents and Sirius several months earlier before she left a half dozen enchanted lilies in a Nen vase nestled between the two graves (both the flowers and the vase enchanted and protected like the one she'd left beside Dumbledore's tomb).
The trio had then spent time wandering around Godric's Hallow so that Azalea could see the memorials that had been built for her and her parents; one of which was the remains of the cottage where Voldemort had attacked her and her parents all those years ago.
It was while they were standing in front of the ruins of the cottage that they were approached by a strange old woman that smelled strongly of snake. Remus recognized her as Bathilda Bagshot and the werewolf had begun to suspect that something was wrong when the woman (who was well known for her sharp memory and biting wit) failed to recognize him in return despite the fact that he'd met with her several times through the years since he finished Hogwarts. Ten minutes after being approached by the woman, they discovered that Bathilda was dead and her body was being used as a flesh suit by Nagini when the snake attacked them the moment it became apparent that they didn't trust 'Bathilda'.
The two wizards didn't hesitate to hold the snake off while Azalea summoned Dobby and Fawkes and ordered the elf to bring her Gryffindor's Sword. Fawkes joined in the fight with the two wizards the moment he flashed to Azalea's side; the phoenix immediately attacking the Nagini's head and eyes much as he'd attacked the basilisk in Azalea's second year. As soon as Dobby returned with the sword, Azalea waded into the fight and cleaved Nagini's head from his body; the witch destroying the final horcrux at the same time.
Unfortunately, it had taken far too many precious seconds for Dobby to bring her the sword and she'd not been fast enough to stop the snake before it had bitten Remus. She tried to get Fawkes to cry on the bite but Remus stopped her as he revealed that undiluted phoenix tears were poisonous to werewolves. Not willing to lose her self-adopted uncle, Azalea bagged Nagini's severed head and told Viktor to let everyone back at Headquarters know what had happened while she had Fawkes transport Remus and herself directly to Dr. Mackle.
If the older Hunter slash doctor was shocked by her unexpected appearance, he gave no indication he calmly listened to her explanation on why she was there and what she needed. That mostly involved her dumping Remus onto the nearest bed, shoving Nagini's severed head at the good doctor, and imperiously ordering him to save the wizard's life while threatening bodily harm if Remus should die. She also warned the doctor that he only had until the next full moon due to Remus's condition (thankfully, that gave Dr. Mackle a full month as the last full moon had been just the night before).
Azalea had then called Tanker to come watch over Remus and help the doctor by obtaining any potions needed to treat the werewolf before she had Fawkes take her home. A frantic Tonks practically tackled the witch the moment she reappeared inside of Grimmauld Place. Once Azalea had assured the older witch that Remus was in good hands and that he was both alive and being watched over by Tanker, she learned that Remus and Tonks had married in secret nearly five months earlier (just two weeks before Azalea's seventeenth birthday) and that Tonks was pregnant.
Azalea nearly broke into hysterical laughter when she learned that Tonks was due right about the same time that she was due (the older witch also hiding her condition for much the same reasons as Azalea – though she used different methods to do so).
Remus returned to them on Christmas Eve, the werewolf still weak but undeniably alive thanks to Azalea's quick thinking and a little muggle medicine. The entire Order celebrated long into the night over Remus's happy return, the unveiling of the couple's long hidden status (due to the current werewolf laws), and the announcement that Tonks was expecting. Remus panicked a bit as the news that Tonks was several months pregnant had been kept from him as well and the only reason he didn't bolt in a panic was because Ted and Andromeda were present and giving him warning glares.
Fleur announced her pregnancy the same night to Bill's shock and everlasting joy; the partial veela due in early May.
Azalea had been tempted to confess her own pregnancy as she listened to everyone in the Order celebrating the happy announcements but chickened out so as not to take away attention from the older two witches. Minky was ecstatic that she was given even more duties as she took over monitoring the health of the two witches whenever they were in Headquarters (Fleur and Bill actually lived in a small warded cottage they'd purchased on the coast). All three male elves were pleased too as they were given the task of helping Fleur keep her house clean.
The rest of the year passed by in the blink of an eye and Azalea was hard pressed to recall what she'd done during that time due to her struggles against the despair she felt over the continued separation from Kurapika and the guilt she felt over keeping her pregnancy a secret from pretty much everyone. And even though she was surrounded by friends and family she felt utterly and completely alone.
She would be snapped out of her downward spiral on the day after New Year's when Bill and Charlie brought her the last three pairs of Scarlet Eyes that they'd collected from their maternal aunt. She'd spent the rest of the day composing a rather difficult letter to Kurapika, explaining how she'd gotten a hold of the eyes and why she'd not told him that she'd been collecting them sooner. She apologized for withholding the information from him and told him that she'd understand if he was upset with her before stating she'd only done what she had felt was best in order to protect him.
Azalea had also tried a hundred different ways of telling him about the babies but gave up in the end because she figured revealing one long kept secret was enough of a blow to deliver at the moment.
The short thank you note she received early the next morning left her with mixed feelings as she couldn't tell whether or not her lover was angry with her or not. She was not quite brave enough to send him another note to ask him either; since confirmation of his anger would have been far worse than the not knowing.
Seven days later, almost the entire Order of the Phoenix (a total of forty-one men and women – not including the two openly pregnant witches that were securely tucked behind the wards at Grimmauld Place) were back at Hogwarts facing off against the remaining Death Eaters and Voldemort. The Dark Lord had gone to the school in order to raid Dumbledore's tomb for Dumbledore's wand; the Dark Lord unaware that Azalea had already claimed it and that a fake had been placed inside of the tomb.
Professor McGonagall had been the one to see the wizard appear on the grounds and she'd sent word to the Order via her Patronus. Voldemort had called his remaining Death Eaters to him (of which there were now only three dozen, including the five inner circle members) the moment Azalea and the Order had shown up while he was in the middle of trying to crack open Dumbledore's tomb.
The Order's main job was to take out the Death Eaters while Azalea, half hidden beneath the Cloak of Invisibility (to make it harder for her to be targeted from behind by the Death Eaters), dealt with the Dark Lord.
Azalea held nothing back as she used bokken, wand, Nen, and magic in her efforts to destroy the man turned monster now that they were certain they'd taken care of all his horcruxes. She only prayed that the battle didn't draw out too long because she knew she wouldn't last long due to how much of her strength her pregnancy had sapped from her. She also couldn't allow the Dark Lord to slip away because there was no guarantee that she'd be able to find him again if he escaped. She also knew that if he ever suspected all of his horcruxes had been destroyed, he'd go to ground for years to rebuild his strength and potentially create more of the blasted soul fragment receptacles.
So Azalea forced the older wizard to dance to her tune as she used every trick Kurapika, Mizuken, and her allies had taught her in addition to everything she'd taught herself over the past year and a half. She ignored the man's taunts and taunted him right back by throwing each and every one of his failure's back in his face along with those that had been made by his former servants as she continuously countered and blocked his attacks in between her attacks.
Flash-Step, slash of the sword, Nen bullet, block, curse, sword thrust, hex, Flash-Step, block, Nen conjured whip attack, sword swing, dodge, hex, Flash-Step, stab, hex, Flash-Step, block, Flash-Step, sword swing followed by a slash, dodge, and another Nen bullet. Her body bending, twisting, ducking, and jumping smoothly as she wielded her swords with her left hand, her wand with her right, her Nen and wandless abilities with a mere thought and a flick of her hands, and her ability to Flash-Step to evade the worst of the Dark Lord's curses. Each step she took brought her closer as she fought with everything she had.
Getting closer to the Dark Lord was not without risks though and Azalea was hit with a dark cutting hex that was thankfully deflected by her dueling cloak, vest, corset, and aura shroud she wrapped around her at the start of the battle; otherwise she'd have been cut nearly in half and lost both babies in the same instant. Angered at how close Voldemort had come to harming her unborn children, Azalea flashed stepped right in front of the man and she caught her free bokken blade in her wand hand at the same time as he cast the Killing Curse.
The green light brushed against the Wand of Destiny and her right hand sword before it struck the Stone of Resurrection through the Cloak of Invisibility as it swirled in front of her with the momentum of her final step. The moment the wretched curse slammed into the Resurrection Stone, it brushed up against the death magic that currently enshrouded Azalea through her connection to all three of the Hallows and was reflected back at the Dark Lord.
At the same time as Voldemort's own curse washed over him for the second time (the first time being when he attacked Azalea as a baby), Azalea plunged one Nen enhanced wooden blade through the dark wizard's heart while the other blade stabbed up through the soft tissue below his chin and up into his brain. It would never be determined whether Azalea killed the Dark Lord with her bokken or if he'd died by his reflected curse; no one particularly cared though, they were just happy that he was dead.
Azalea staggered backwards and collapsed to her knees in exhaustion a heartbeat later as the dead weight of the Dark Lord's dead body fell against her. She shoved the body away from her in disgust before she dropped her hands onto the ground; her entire body aching as she struggled just to breath properly through the exhaustion that was both physical and magical.
Emotionally, the young witch just felt numb and empty as she stared blankly at the corpse of the man that had haunted her nightmares since she was a baby.
A man that had made himself into a monster that had terrorized an entire society for more than three decades.
The weary witch could hear a chorus of cheers sounding as if from a distance and a small part of her realized that the rest of the Order must have already dealt with the Death Eaters that were present but the rest of her didn't really care. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she'd fought Voldemort and won. Another long minute passed and Azalea found herself laying on her side still staring the sightless and bloody corpse of Voldemort as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
Just before her vision went black completely, Azalea felt Fawkes drop down onto her shoulder before the warmth of the phoenix's flames engulfed her before the phoenix transported her away from Hogwarts.
11-01-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.