I don't think you're going to like this chapter much… but try to restrain your rage and your urge to kill me once you're done.

Chapter 49

Propero Luminarium

Gray streaks shot through the eastern sky. The night was fading.

When the brilliant flash of white light lit up the sky, everyone paused. Spells stopped flying, people stopped shouting. It was coming from the direction of the woods, and no one knew what it was.

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. Simultaneously, they mouthed one word at each other: "Harry."

They hadn't seen him, but they knew he was here. Without another word, they began weaving their way through the silent masses, Death Eaters, Ministry volunteers, and Order members alike staring in awe at the blinding light flashing up from the trees. The two friends broke away and started running towards its source.

It grew brighter as they drew nearer, and after a moment, it ceased entirely. It had begun to rain, and they couldn't see much in front of them. They climbed over a fence, swung down on the other side, and looked nervously at each other.

They were in a graveyard. Tombstones, some of them shattered, were scattered throughout the grassy expanse, and glistening rain gave them an eerie look. Hermione looked nervously at Ron. "What do you think happened?" she whispered.

He shrugged and took a few apprehensive steps forward, peering into the night around them. His eyes narrowed momentarily, and he gestured to a dark shape crouching beside a tombstone halfway through the cemetery. They broke into a run towards it.

Harry Potter crouched there, digging through a pile of ashes. He withdrew a golden hourglass and plunged his hands back in, emerging again with Hufflepuff's cup.

"Harry," Ron said hoarsely.

The figure looked up slowly. "Hello, Ron."

"What happened?" Hermione asked softly, kneeling beside him and picking up the cup. She turned it over in her hands.

"He's gone," he whispered. "It's over."

They exchanged another look. "He's… he's gone?" Hermione repeated, unable to believe what she had heard. "Voldemort's gone?"

"I killed him. I think."

"What happened?" Ron demanded. "How did…" His voice trailed off as he picked up the staff and ran his hands along it.

"The Evanescent Spell," Harry muttered, taking the Horcruxes from them and placing them in his lap. "Amoria. I used it against him."

"Love," Hermione whispered, and then she flung her arms around his neck. "Oh, Harry," she muttered, "you did it. You won."

"Not yet."

They looked at him sharply, and he gestured at the four items in his lap. "I have to take care of these."

Hermione looked worried. "You're too weak, Harry. Let me do it."

"No."

"Harry…"

"I said no." His words were calm, but they held a frightening power that neither of them could ever remember hearing in their friend's voice. They glanced at each other.

"I have to do this alone."

Ron sighed. "Then do it," he said softly. "Go to the world of Swift Light and come back as fast as you can. Do it now."

"I'm not coming back," Harry whispered.

There was a moment of silence, and then Hermione, feeling an empty abyss open in her heart, burst into tears. "Don't say that," she begged. "Please, Harry, don't say things like that."

He laid a hand on her shoulder and stood up. "My work is done. I'm going to destroy the Horcruxes, and I'm not coming back."

She pulled him back down. "No!" she said vehemently. "You're not doing it."

Ron looked frantically from Harry to the Horcruxes in his hands. "You're not… you're not serious?"

Harry met his eyes, and Ron read the answer in them. "No," he croaked hoarsely.

Harry glanced over his shoulder. There were people coming, wanting to investigate the source of the light. "I have to," he whispered. "I have to go now."

"Sirius and Lupin are coming," Hermione said hurriedly. "Wait until they get here, and they can do it. They're strong enough…."

"No," Harry said. "I don't want to have to say goodbye."

"Harry, stop talking like that!" she pleaded, her tears mingling with the rain. "You're not going to die!"

He silently held the Horcruxes up. "I love you," he said hoarsely, gazing at both of them with longing sort of acceptance and determination in his eyes. "Whatever happens, wherever I go, I'll never forget you."

"Harry—"

"Thank you," he whispered, laying a finger against her lips and gazing between her and Ron, "for everything, both of you. I love you."

"Harry!" Ron shouted, grasping his arm, but it was too late. His friend's lips were already forming the words.

"Propero Luminarium!"

Then there was a brilliant flash of pale yellow light, and Ron's hand was clutching at thin air.

Harry was gone.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sirius saw the flash of light as he reached the fence. He glanced at Remus, who gave him a worried look and grasped the top rail to pull himself over. Sirius followed suit, dropping down behind his friend, who was already running towards two dark shapes that were crouching beside a prism-shaped headstone, blurred by the rain.

"Harry!" he called.

They figures looked up, and neither of them was Harry. Ron and Hermione looked stricken, their faces pale in the dim light of the gray, dreary dawn. "What happened?" Lupin demanded, coming to a halt beside the tombstone. "Where's Harry?"

Ron and Hermione turned their heads to look at each other, and the latter started sobbing quietly.

"He's… he's gone," Ron finally said, the shock and grief evident in his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius snapped. "Gone?"

Ron swallowed. "He said he killed You-Know-Who," he whispered, the tears breaking into his voice. "And then he said he was going to destroy them and he wasn't coming back…"

Remus looked shocked. "What spell?" he asked hoarsely.

"Propero Luminarium. An Evanescent Spell."

Remus felt his knees buckle, and he sank against a smooth tombstone. "Propero Luminarium," he repeated softly. Ron nodded.

He put his head in his hands, and his shoulders began to shake. "He said he wasn't coming back?"

"I don't know why," Hermione sobbed, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. "Why wouldn't he come back? I don't understand!"

Sirius, for the first time Remus remembered, looked truly frightened. "What does that mean, Remus?" he asked quietly. "Why would he say he wasn't coming back?"

He shook his head, trying to fight the feeling of overwhelming grief that threatened to overcome him. "He was weary," he whispered. "He was tired of fighting, tired of pushing on. He wanted peace. He knew that once he got there, he wouldn't be able to make himself come back."

"Why?" Ron asked bitterly. "Why wouldn't he, if he had the strength?"

"Maybe he didn't," Sirius whispered, sinking to the ground. "Maybe he was… worn out. Maybe he had no strength left."

"But he loved us," Hermione said tearfully. "He would try to come back to us…"

For this Lupin had no answer. The rain had stopped, and the clouds were parting. He gazed up at the sky, which was steadily growing brighter with the coming sun.

"He said he killed Voldemort," Sirius whispered, running his hands through a small pile of ashes. "And now he's destroyed the Horcruxes. It's all over. We won…. We won."

Ron, his vision blurred, looked up sharply at Sirius. There was a hole, an empty, black abyss where Harry had once been, and it hurt more than any pain he could ever remember. "At too great a price," he whispered. "Too great a price."

"We have work to do," Remus muttered, forcing his emotions away. There would be time later to grieve. "Come on." He helped Sirius up and started back towards the battle scene, but he paused momentarily, turning back around. As though in a daze, he knelt beside the tombstone that Ron and Hermione stood beside. Everyone's eyes followed his gaze.

Hermione's breath caught in her throat. "His parents," she whispered.

"Lily and James," Sirius and Lupin breathed.

"Oh, Harry," Ron sobbed.

No one spoke for several long minutes. No one could speak. Each was alone with his or her own whirling, screaming, rushing thoughts. Harry Potter had battled the Dark Lord, as the prophecy said, and Harry Potter had come out victorious… and alive. But then he given his life to finish the job, to secure the rest of the world's safety against the most evil wizard in centuries.

"The world isn't worthy of his sacrifice," Sirius whispered.

Remus looked up and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Then let us endeavor to remedy that problem. Come on."

He led the way out, this time through the gate, and back to the battle, which had resumed when the flash of light had disappeared. They plunged into the fray, Remus fighting through the thick tangle of people to the center of the battleground. He leapt up onto a pile of rubble, pointed his wand at his throat, and muttered a spell.

"Stop!"

His voice ripped through the melee, shaking the very ground that they stood on.

"Death Eaters! Your master is dead! Voldemort no longer lives, and you are defeated! Surrender now and we will spare your lives!"

The fighting stopped, and a wave of shock seemed to spread from where Remus stood outward. The Death Eaters exchanged frightened glances, and they tossed down their wands and held their hands in the air. Some people began crying in relief and joy, other simply sank to their knees, unable to believe that it was all over. At first, many thought he was lying, but after ten minutes had passed and Voldemort still hadn't shown up to contradict the words, they were forced to face the truth. Some came to their senses sooner than others, and they started to help the wounded, move the dead, and round up the defeated Death Eaters.

It was over. They had won the battle.

But Harry was gone.

A/N: I told you that you weren't going to like it. I know, I'm malicious and heartless and downright cruel, but… this was how it had to happen. Remember Frodo? He couldn't keep going. He was too changed, and so he had to leave. Unfortunately, there's no Gray Havens for Harry to go to, so he had to be satisfied with the world of Swift Light.