They were all supposed to be dead. Malfoy, Weasley, what's her name scary girl, and that frizzy-haired mudblood. Sure, what's her name scary girl was a mudblood as well, but he was afraid of what she might do if he called her that. Voldemort thought over what had happened so far, his troubles had all started with him deciding to offer Weaselette a chance at joining him. 'I'll join you when hell freezes over.' Why did Lord Fish Head make him say that? He should have known that the proud girl would never join him, but how had she guessed his inner thoughts so precisely. And she had been at Hogwarts too long to have been able to do anything too rebellious. She wasn't working alone, it wasn't possible.
Then when he had made Lucius capture the girl two more people had jumped from the trees, Malfoy and Weasley, long time rivals. Weasley hadn't been seen for months, and he was last seen with death eaters, Lord Fish Head hadn't doubted his death had occurred along with Granger's. Never even thought to ask which of his death eaters had done it. More surprising was Malfoy, who he had seen dead with his own eyes long before Lord Fish Head even came into the picture. How the hell was he still alive? More than that, he had shifted his parents from being on the Dark side to being neutral bystanders that were leaning towards the Light. Damn Draco.
Then Vaughn had come along, the girl who loved Harry bloody Potter enough to kill herself after his death. But now she was alive, armed, pissed, and one of the scariest things he had ever seen. He could still win though.
Then that (censored) mudblood came in with that (censored) dragon and nearly landed on me. It might just be me, but that's (censored) rude.
Now I look over and there's Harry bloody Potter standing there with a smug little smile on face of his. Like he's won or something, but he's dead. Wait, why can everyone else see him now? Perhaps he's acting like a real ghost now instead of like some creepy stalker-ghost.
"I-it's Harry P-potter," Peter squeaked. Seriously, he squeaked. Peter is such a bad excuse for a grown man.
"Stupify!" Harry said whipping out his wand, stunning Peter who promptly fell to the ground. Harry rolled his eyes, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
"But you're… you're dead, you're a ghost, how the hell can you do magic?" I demanded, there was something unnatural going on here.
"Poor, poor, little Tom. Too insane to even realize that you've already been defeated. I won from the second you saw me and lied to Peter by saying you couldn't see me." Harry said having difficulty not laughing, "I only died once, and by doing that, I only made you more vulnerable. Then I helped Draco who was secretly on my side to fake his death and we both pretended to be dead. Then we go the other three together and went about planning your downfall."
I just stared, they faked their deaths. Everyone was fooled. They got Vaughn to fake her death. They even made everyone, including me, think that death eaters had killed Weasley and Granger. It was… Genius. Who would be looking for dead people?
"I can't believe that you believed that a real ghost could only be seen by one person. Of course, what coward would worry about the afterlife when he had made himself immortal. I tweaked legilemency a bit, all you could see was my soul, and since I was going through your mind, only you could see me. Meanwhile, my body was protected halfway around the world." Harry was now openly smirking, "And you trusted me, I became your friend, I made you kill your best duelists. I was your conscience. Of course, that was after I got rid of them, the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem, and last but not least, Nagini."
I followed his gaze to this dark line against the bright green grass, it was Nagini spread along the ground. Red separated her body and her head with the sword of Gryffindor embedded in the ground like a cross. How had this happened? Damn, Potter knew where she was and knew I wasn't there to protect her. He's won… No, I can still win, "Avada Kadavra!"
"Crucio!" Potter yelled as he side-stepped my spell. Then I felt the spell I had used so often hit me. The pain was incredible, before I had even registered what had happened I was collapsing on the ground screaming in pain. Just as suddenly as it began, it was over. Potter was now standing over me, with a strange look of pity on his face, "Do you still think you can win? Even if you managed to kill me, there's over a hundred people here that want you dead. You wouldn't make it out of here alive."
"He has us." Goyle Sr. said stepping forward with several other people.
The Slytherin students stepped forward, wands drawn and pointing at their parents. Other students began walking around and slowly surrounding the group, then the Order joined in. Small duels began, and the death eaters were dropping like flies. The most effective thing that happened was a quidditch player swooping down and dumping a dungbomb in the middle of the death eaters. Even though he was wearing goggles and formless quidditch robes, Ginny still recognized Nate Rivers as the perpetrators. The battle was keeping people distracted enough that very few people were watching Wolf and Voldemort duel. Okay, to be truthful, Voldemort was sending any and every spell he could think of at Wolf who was dodging them and tiring Voldemort out.
A green flash of light caught everyone's attention as it connected with Voldemort's chest.
Wolf watched Voldemort's eyes from the second that the spell came off the tip of his wand. Everything slowed as Voldemort recognized the spell and realized he was going to die in less than a second. He blinked once and suddenly his eyes were filled with understanding, he understood that when he had killed so many people, they had known for a mere second death was coming. He was sorry, for once in his pitiful life, Tom Riddle. He wasn't Voldemort anymore, Voldemort was evil, Voldemort never felt sorry for anything, but Tom Riddle did. He was understanding of victims and wouldn't be able to kill another being now that he had a conscience.
For the last millisecond of his life.
The life disappeared from his eyes and he fell backwards onto the ground. He was dead. Voldemort was dead. Tom Riddle was dead. Lord Fish Head was dead. Wolf had killed again, and he felt bad about it. Killing Bellatrix hadn't been so bad, she had just killed Remus and after that there was the hell hole of the misunderstanding that led him to destroying the horcrux within. But now… the only thing he could do was stare at the body. How could he feel bad about killing a dictator and mass murderer?
Voldemort was dead, he could live a normal life. Not in the magical world though, he would be able to propose to Vaughn, get married. He could get a job, work for a living, start a family. He could do anything he wanted to with his life. He was free.
The entire Hogwarts grounds erupted in cheers, family, friends, people that usually weren't fond of, teachers, students and even Firesong celebrated. Okay, Firesong was just happy because Charlie was promising to take her to live with other dragons. Wolf noticed that Vaughn was pulling herself out of a vision, afterwards she ran up to him and threw her arms around him without seeing a word. He hugged her back without a second thought, "What was your vision?"
"Can't tell."
"Why not?"
"You'll see."
"It's not morbid, I hope."
"No, it's actually the best vision I've ever had."
"Better than seeing Voldemort cry?"
"Yeah, ten times better." Vaughn said, reluctantly letting him go now that Sirius was walking up.
"Harry… you're alive. Why did you fake your death?" Sirius asked, with a look between sadness and happiness on his face.
"Sirius, I couldn't kill my friend and he couldn't kill me. I didn't have much of a choice. We both had to be assumed dead. I'm sorry." Sirius soon found himself being hugged by Wolf, who was sincerely sorry.
"You don't have to apologize for faking your death as long as you never do it again, that goes for you too, Vaughn," Sirius said, and Vaughn just joined the hug.
Meanwhile…
"Come on Severus, are you afraid of a little group hug?" McGonagall teased.
"First of all, there is nothing little about twenty-some people hugging each other," Severus shot back, "Secondly, I don't do hugs."
The small group of Slytherins behind him got wicked smiles on their faces and Pansy said, "But professor, I think we have to disagree with you on that."
"What is that supposed to-" Snape was interrupted by seven students plastering his arms to his sides. After a few seconds of shock he started to get free, "Let me go you conniving little miscreants!"
Somewhere else…(Warning: Fluff and death threats ahead)
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy finally let their son free, but he was still subject to their questions. Lucius asked, "How long have you been against You-know-who?"
"Dad, call him Voldemort, you can't be afraid of a dead guy," Draco said, "I joined the SET at the beginning of fifth year."
"And you didn't tell us because?" Narcissa prompted.
"You two were trying to get me to join Voldemort, you called yourselves his most faithful followers. What was I supposed to do? Chance that you would kill me or lock me in the dungeon?" Draco asked.
"Dungeon? We have a dungeon?" Narcissa asked.
"I think there's one somewhere, I've never spent time looking for it." Lucius shrugged.
"Besides Draco, we'd never lock you in a dungeon, we love you too much." Narcissa said running a hand through his ungelled hair.
Draco pulled away, "Comforting," he said sarcastically, "You love me too much to lock me in a dungeon, but you choose to say nothing about killing me."
"Oh, right, we wouldn't do that either, I guess." Lucius said, but one look at his face proved that he was joking around.
"Malfoy!" Ginny yelled, in a not entirely unfriendly way as she loped towards the group.
"Which one?" Draco asked.
"You Draco, get over here." She said stopping and waiting for him to come closer.
Draco sighed and excused himself from his parents and went to her. He knew that this was going to happen, and that didn't make him dread it any less, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Why did I do what?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I do?"
"Yes you do."
"Are you sure?"
"Stop playing dumb."
"What makes you think I'm playing dumb?"
"Stop it, just tell me why the hell you almost killed your own father to save me."
"Uh, pass?"
"There is no 'pass', just answer the question!"
"I plead the fifth?"
"What the hell is the 'fifth' and why would you want to plead it?"
"It's the fifth amendment in the United States, that pretty much says that I refuse to speak because if I do I might further incriminate myself."
"No."
"Yes it is, I researched it myself."
"No, I meant you aren't allowed to plead the fifth. Tell me why you were so set on saving me."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes, you have to, otherwise I will kill you with three toothpicks and a tube of toothpaste."
"How would you do that?"
"Do you want me to show you?"
"… I'd rather not."
"I didn't think so."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Why aren't you talking?"
"About what?"
"Draco!"
"What!"
"Do you want to die a slow and painful death?"
"Not really."
"Than answer my question."
"What question?"
"Why were you so intent on saving me?"
"Oh, that question…"
"Yes, that question."
"I'll tell you as long as you promise not to kill me after I answer it."
"I promise."
"Or get your parents to kill me."
"I won't."
"Or your brothers."
"I promise, I promise, just tell me why."
"WhileIwasgoneIheardaboutKrumandeverythingyouweredoingtodefeatVoldemortthenIrememberedhowcuteandsmartandstrongandbeautifulanddidImentionintelligentandprettyyouareandstartedtothinkaboutyouandrealizedthatIreallylikeyouasinreallyreallylikeyoubutwhatdoIknowaboutloveandthenRonyelledatmeforthenextmonthandthenfinallydecidedhewouldpreferittobemethansomeoldpedofilicBulgariansoheconsentedaslongasyouwerehappyandthenmyfatherwasthreateningtokillyouandIcan'timagineaworldwithoutyouandIcouldimaginelifewithoutmyfatherandIfreakedoutandwasjustabouttokillhimunnecessarilyanddidn'tbecausethenyou'dhatemeandnowI'mramblingandfeellikeaneffingidiotsoyoucanjustyellatmetogoawayandwallowinmyownbrokenheartedmiseryandthat'swhyIsavedyoudon'tkillme."
"… Uh, I'm sorry, that was probably a wonderful explanation, but I couldn't understand a single word of it."
"Okay, to put it simply," Draco sighed and closed his eyes, "I love you."
Draco didn't hear a word, and eventually chanced a look at Ginny with her flowing red hair and black halo. She was frozen as if unsure about what to do. Finally she shook the trance off, "So you… like me?"
"Yes."
"Really like me?"
"Yes."
"As in really, really like me?"
"Yes, I do."
"You love me?"
"Yes, I really do."
She was quiet for a second and then yelled, "Harry!"
Dammit, she hadn't promised that she wouldn't make Harry kill him.
"Yeah, Ginny?" Harry replied from quite a ways away.
"Nothing!" She called back and then hugged Draco, which completely caught him off guard, "Sorry, I just had to make you sweat with that. I like you too. Perhaps we could date?"
"I'd like that."
"I'm sure you would."
Elsewhere…
"So, uh, Nymmie?"
"Yeah, Naum?"
"Will you go out with me?"
"What the hell, sure."
"Yipee!"
"Okay, that's enough of that."
"Can I do this instead?"
…
"Naum?"
"What?"
"Did you just kiss me?"
"… Yeah, did you not want me to?"
"Just wait until we go on our first date to do that again, 'kay Skippy?"
"Sure, but why are you calling me Skippy?"
"Because you're skipping."
"Oh."
-
(A/N: See, I posted on time! Tada! By the way, if you think the name Nate Rivers is funny and know where I got it from, you will get a special mention in my next chapter's author's note. The official chapter count will be fifty-four. Hopefully I won't cry when I post the next chapter. Knowing me, I will. Next chapter will be really short, the one after is the epilogue that will take place thirteen years after Voldemort was defeated. Oh, and the remaining members of the Pack will have a cute and funny reunion that I have been planning since… March? Yeah, about March. Reviewers get virtual hugs whether they want them or not(I will send maliciously hugging Slytherins after you, they know where you live!). Lemonbomber out.)
