Chapter Fifty-One: Holly and Elder
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Cedric Diggory and most of the other students fifth year and above stood on the ramparts of the castle casting down at the Death Eater army below them.
From their height, the army did not actually look that large. Without the monsters there, it was rather just five groups of sixty wizards and witches in a loose semblance of order marching toward the castle.
The problem is, it didn't look like there were that many defenders either.
So the students cast whatever spells they did best. The sixth and seventh years proved to be more original in their casting. Rather than cast spells, they conjured cannon balls, or in the case of one muggle-born seventh year, ACME anvils.
The cannon balls and anvils proved to be much more deadly than the spells, and so right there in the middle of the battle Dilia Hoppenstance held an impromptu tutoring session to teach everyone how to conjure anvils.
Hermione mastered the spell first, of course. Luna, however, somehow managed to twist the spell around until she conjured an upright piano.
Not to be outdone, Cedric conjured a full sized concert grand piano. The piano made a satisfactory jangling noise as if fell. Most of the Death Eaters got away save one unfortunate soul who, though few would realize it, happened to be a former Slytherin seeker that Cedric played against during his first year on the Hufflepuff team.
Harry and Ginny tried to outdo them all by conjuring a house, but though they had plenty of power, they just didn't have their conjuration down to the same level the others did, so instead it looked as if a massive cannon began shooting larger, ornately decorated dog houses at the enemy.
For a moment in the excitement, the students forgot a battle was going on, until a pair of blasting curses hit the battlements right in front of them. The explosion threw all of them off their feet and left their ears ringing. Harry regained his feet first, and stared in horror at his friends lying in bloody heaps. Ginny rose on her knees beside him, staring in shock.
Cedric rolled on his side as other students rushed to help. Ron groaned, while Hermione lay still. Without conscious thought Harry viewed their auras, and cried out when he saw one body did not have one. He ran to Neville's side and fell to his knees beside the boy who had been a quiet part of his life for the past five years.
It was only as he got closer that he saw the small hole under Neville's chin and the much larger one in the crown of his skull. A piece of shrapnel went all the way through his head, killing him instantly.
Ginny knelt across from Harry, weeping. Nearby, Lavendar brown sobbed. "Is he…?"
"He's gone," Harry said. Even to his own ears, his voice sounded hollow.
Cedric knelt down beside them, bloodied but awake. "The rest will be okay, but we need to get them to Madam Pomfrey."
"We'll take them with the fifth years," Harry said.
"Go on then, we'll keep them busy up here."
By then, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas arrived, staring down at Neville with expressions of disbelief and horror. Slowly the fifth year Gryffindor girls came too. "We need to get Ron, Hermione and Luna to the hospital wing," Harry said. "I'll take Neville."
Without a word, Hermione's roommates levitated her, Ron and Luna off the dusty battlements while Harry and his two other roommates conjured a stretcher to carry their friend. Somehow, it just didn't seem right to levitate him. Another blasting curse struck further down the battlements, but this time the sixth and seventh years were ready and shielded against it, while other students answered in kind. There were no more pianos and doghouses. There were cannonballs and blasting curses instead.
"There's so much blood," Dean stammered as they picked Neville up. Indeed, blood poured from the back of the boy's head.
Seamus looked green, but managed to hold in his stomach as he, Dean and Harry carried their friend down from the battlements. In the castle, townspeople rushed back and fourth through the halls, ferrying potions supplies and weapons as best they could to help. Most were older wizards and witches, since those who remained of age were in uniform fighting.
More than one of the townspeople saw the sad little parade of fifth years and shook their heads. Rosemerta Black, there helping her husband where she could, actually cried and ran over to look at Neville, touching his cheek once. "Oh Merlin," she whispered before someone called her name for potions. "Take care of yourselves, kids. It will be no victory if we lose you."
They reached the hospital wing and found it was already full with men and women in blue robes. One corner had several…bodies lying under black blankets. Madam Pomfrey was just one of several healers and mediwitches. She looked up when she saw them enter and her eyes immediately traveled to Neville. Because of her angle, she saw that the top of the boy's skull cap was gone and paled.
"Take the injured to whatever bed you can find," she said, struggling to maintain professionalism as she went to meet them. "Lads, let's place Mr. Longbottom there, with the other…" Her voice cracked and she could not continue, but Harry understood.
"With the rest of the defenders," he finished for her. Wordlessly, she nodded.
While the others levitated Ron, Hermione and Luna to available beds, doubling up Luna and Hermione on a single bed to save room, Harry and his roommates gently placed Neville on the floor with the deceased fighters. Once again Harry wished he could feel something, anything, but it felt as if his emotions were simply switched off. Through his bond, he could tell that Ginny was just as numb as he was.
They backed away and stared down at their friend for a moment, and it was in that moment they both felt a surge through their bond they never thought to feel again.
They turned to their fellow Gryffs. "We have to go," Harry said.
"Please stay here with the others," Ginny added.
Lavendar, Parvati, Kellah Johnson and Faye Dunbar—Hermione's roommates—and Dean and Seamus, all nodded in quiet acceptance. Harry and Ginny both turned and ran out of the room, too scared to even feel hope.
The pulse in their bonds seemed to lead them away from the fighting, which reverberated through the castle as a cacophony of explosions and shouted spell casting, toward the First Year entrance on the other side of the castle. It occurred to them that a small force of Death Eaters could infiltrate the castle from that side, but as they turned a corner they saw that Sirius had accounted for that.
The defenders were townspeople, for the most part. Wizards in their sixties and above, witches of equal age. They turned as Harry and Ginny rounded the corner in their light blue robes and visibly relaxed.
"Scared us you did, kids. Why are you in fightin' robes?" The speaker was a man who looked old enough to have spanked Dumbledore as a child.
"That's Harry Potter, you old nitwit," an equally ancient witch said from beside him. "Goodness, Arnold, have your eyes checked."
"What, Peasance?"
"And your ears too, you old fool. Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter, any word from the front?"
"The monsters are gone," Harry said.
"Has anyone come this way?" Ginny asked.
"Why, no, not since the fighting started. But we're keeping a close eye, rest assured."
"Not so very close, now, are you?" The hateful, silky voice of Severus Snape caused every one of the older witches and wizards to spin about and point their wand.
Harry and Ginny ignored them when they saw the bundle in his arms. "You did it," Harry finally said.
"I did," Snape said. He walked right through the startled wizards and handled the bundle over. "All debts have been paid, Potter. Paid in blood twice over."
Harry, though, had no words for the hated potions professor. He accepted his son back and he and Ginny stared down into a pair of hazel eyes. But what they saw—perhaps the only thing they saw—was the lightning-shaped scar on the baby's forehead.
"Do you think Richter's way will work?" Ginny whispered.
"It's our only hope."
"Then it's my turn."
"Ginny…." You can't. I can't. You know that.
And you think I can? It's the only way, and it has to be one of us. You've taken your turn, now it's mine.
"What's wrong with them?" asked the old wizard named Arnold asked in a shockingly loud voice.
"They are talking," Snape said.
"Aren't you supposed to be one of the bad guys?" the witch named Peasance said.
"Yes, I am," Snape said, though he made no move to lift his wand or threaten him. "I am a terrible excuse for a human being. I have murdered women and children just today. And I would kill every single one of you if it meant Voldemort's death."
"Eh, what did you say?" Arnold asked, a moment before his chest exploded in a shower of gore.
"Arnold!" Peasance said, before she dropped dead in a flash of green light.
Snape, Harry and Ginny all brandished their wands as they saw a nightmare floating in over the water of the First Year's entrance.
Voldemort hovered over the water like an angel of death, employing some type of self-levitating magic none of them could even imagine. His snake-like face was warped in a grimace of rage as he flicked his wand with terrifying speed, picking off the dozen aged defenders as easily as a boy knocking over rocks in a playground.
When the last fell dead, he alit to the stone of the castle itself and glared with blood-red eyes. "And so your betrayal is complete, Severus. I was disheartened to find Fenrir and Narcissa. And Pansy Parkinson. Even killing innocent little girls, Severus?"
"There are no innocents around you, Tom Riddle," Snape said, eyes flashing. He spoke as a man facing his own death as bravely as he could. "You corrupt everything you touch. Even babies."
"True. Avada Kedavra!"
The spell was cast almost as a single syllable and the power of the curse was stronger than anything Harry and Ginny had seen before. Snape desperately transfigured the floor into a barricade, which exploded with the force of a bomb.
It bought time for them, though. Harry, Ginny and Snape did not hesitate to turn and run. They were barely able to reach the First Year's antechamber before an unbelievably powerful blasting curse shattered the roof over their heads.
"Ulciscor!" Harry and Ginny each yelled, pooling their own great power to employ the dragon warding charm in a way never intended. Just as the charm created a barrier that stopped ten Death Eaters dead in the air, the charm caused the air to compress so tightly it created a near unbreakable physical barrier stronger than any normal protego shield. The barrier caught the rubble and forced it to the side of them, leaving Harry, Ginny and Snape whole and unharmed. Only when Snape cleared the air with a flick of his own wand did they see it also completely blocked them in.
"Ah, your infamous dragon charm," Voldemort said as he walked toward them, clapping slowly. "Are you ready to die now?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Harry declared. "Our son is your last horcrux. If you kill him, you kill yourself."
Voldemort's smile looked chilling. "Foolish child. The horcrux is not linked to his life. It is embedded in his skull. Just like your own scar was burned into your skull. I should have known about you, Harry. The link we shared should have told me you carried a part of my soul in you. And when I killed you, it was my own soul I destroyed. But you see, if I had simply removed your head from your body, the horcrux would have remained. Only you would be dead. So it is with your precious babe. I will not kill you first, Harry. Nor your precious little whore. No, I will kill your baby slowly. I shall carefully cut open his stomach and make you watch as I remove his entrails. I'll force him to stay alive while I do so, just so you can hear his screams…."
Voldemort's words beat again Harry and Ginny like their own little killing curses. The Dark Lord's obvious delight in pain burned like acid, but if he was hoping to elicit terror, he was mistaken. A lifetime of suffering burned into one crystallized moment of pure rage. There was no spell to cast that could capture his anger, and so Harry raised his Elder Wand and simply shouted.
Red eyes widened a moment before Voldemort popped away. The mass of white magic flew by and vaporized a support column over the First Year's entrance, causing the roof to crumble and effectively trapping them all.
The potions master spun about as a soft pop warned him of danger, but he never had a chance. A conjured spear thrust deeply into his gut, and a moment later Voldemort popped away.
Harry and Ginny, recognizing their own danger, each disapparated to separate sides of the room and fired simultaneously at their old spot. Voldemort appeared a split second before the spells hit and ducked with inhuman agility as the blasting curses collided. "Nice try," he snarled. "Now try this!"
The magic that poured out of his wand took the form of a thin circle that quickly shot out across the entire room. Ginny dropped to the floor under it, while Harry, still cradling a strangely quiet James, pushed a banishing charm against the floor that sent him flying over the spell. Around the room, the curse left a uniform gouge in the walls.
In mid-air, Harry send a wordless blasting curse at Voldemort, who disapparated away. Ginny cast a cushioning charm right where Harry landed before banishing the shrapnel at Voldemort new position. The dark lord swept his wand arm and with it the shrapnel into a wall. "Impressive," he snarled. "Perhaps then a change of direction…."
Ginny sent a bone-breaking curse, but Voldemort was so much faster. His killing curse was already en route. Harry raised his wand to summon her out of the path of the curse when her bone-breaking curse and the killing curse struck in mid-air.
In Harry's mind, he heard a voice whisper, "Aha!"
Somehow, the two wands formed a single chain of magic—all color drained away before a strand of pure white power that threw sparks to the floor. Through the hallows, Harry heard his old headmaster sat, "Brother wands, Harry. Remember what Ollivander told you so long ago? Your old wand and Tom's share a common core. Fawkes' own feathers. It is priori incatatem, Harry. Ginny must maintain the connection so you can finish it!"
Suddenly everything became clear. This is what you always intended, wasn't it? You always intended me to use the Hallows!
I hoped, dear boy. I hoped to Magic that you would have opportunity. The Elder Wand is very powerful, but only obeys a master who takes it with violence. I did not know for sure, but I always knew it would be a factor in your battle. Use it now, Harry! Use it now!
Other voices joined the chorus of Dumbledore. Harry heard his parents calling for him, and a new voice. "Don't forget me, Harry," Neville whispered.
"Never," Harry said, crying now. "Voldemort!"
Evil red eyes turned toward him even while the dark lord's wand remained trapped in the connection with Ginny. He tried to move, but with a cry of determination and pain Ginny held firm, holding him.
Harry raised the Elder Wand and screamed. No curse, no words, just a lifetime of rage. The magic that emerged was as colorless as the stream that kept Voldemort trapped. The Dark Lord shouted his rage until the mass of colorless magic slammed into the middle of his body. With a flash of vapor, his torso disappeared.
Arms, legs and a bald head bearing a surprised expression fell to the floor with fleshy thumps. Ginny collapsed to her knees, drenched in sweat from the effort of maintaining the connection. It was over. The dark lord was dead.
Suddenly James started crying, and it was a cry of pain. Harry looked down and moaned when he saw blood flowing from the baby's scar, and his eyes reddening in the corner. "Ginny!" he screamed.
"Bring him!" Ginny cried.
They met in the middle of the floor and placed the baby down. "Ginny!" Harry said. "Please let me…."
"Not this time." She closed her eyes and placed both hands on their baby's forehead, while Harry leaned back and watched in worry. With his aura sight, he saw her reaching out with their combined soul toward the expanding web of black that was growing like a rapidly spreading cancer on the otherwise pure white soul of their son.
Ginny grasped onto the blackness with all of her might, and the darkness seemed to recognize her. From the depths of her own soul came a memory she had tried her best to forget—a memory of the day she and Harry became one. She pulled at the darkness with her very essence, releasing her memories of possession, and the darkness of Voldermort's last shred of soul saw her as an easier path—like water choosing the path of least resistance.
James' crying lessened in intensity as the pain left him, but Ginny stiffened and then began thrumming as the darkness began to spread through her. She looked up at Harry, who could feel Voldemort's essence beating now at him through their bond, and said, "Do it, Harry!"
He stood, trembling, as he pointed the wand at her. "Avada kedavra!"
Nothing happened, nothing at all. "Harry!" Ginny cried in agony. "Hurry!"
"Avada Kedavra! AVADA KEDAVRA! Ginny, it's not working. I can't!" He cried, terrified. He could not kill her, even to save their soul. "I can't!" he wailed.
A shadow fell over them and Harry looked up to see a sallow-faced Snape swaying on his feat. Blood ran down his chin, and from the wound in his gut pooled at his feet, leaving a trail from where he walked. "For Lily," he muttered. He raised his wand at Ginny, who looked back at him in agony, but also with hope.
"Thank you," she said in a small voice as Snape expended the very last of his life and magic to send the killing curse.
The green flash struck her and sent her slamming into the stone floor, even as Snape himself collapsed backward, already dead after exhausting everything he had left.
Without hesitation, Harry crawled to Ginny and removed the philosopher's stone he carried. He placed it between her breasts even while banishing her clothes. He then quickly stripped himself, knowing that the faster he was, the less pain they would feel. He climbed on top of her body, while inside him her presence began to make itself felt, until the his chest touched the stone as well.
With the contact of the magical stone, it felt as if a doorway opened in his mind. I love you! Ginny's mind whispered to him as her life flowed through him and into the stone. From the stone it gained unbelievable power, tapping into the magical energy stored with the stone's creation, and through the stone it flowed back into Ginny's body.
Blue sparks surrounded her, flashing just under her skin, until one green and one brown eye opened. Almost immediately the need struck, fully as powerful as it did right after Harry's first death. This time, they were ready. As he slipped into her, magic coalesced around them like a throbbing beacon of white light.
Unfortunately, there was no Dumbledore there to shield the room when they consummated. The magical release blew out like a bomb, shattering walls and blasting debris through doors and halls.
They heard voices calling for them as Harry sagged onto her. They did not speak, but rather just stared at each, communicating so deeply not even thoughts were needed. A wandless levitation charm brought their son to their side, and with silent disapparations, the family returned to their room in Hogwarts.
In the silence that followed, two ghosts emerged from the walls. Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of the maddened witch Rowena, and her beloved Baron, floated through the air until they reached the broken, discarded philosopher's stone that saw Ginny's rebirth.
"I feel whole now," Helena whispered. "Seeing them makes me feel hope."
"For me as well, my love."
They reached with translucent fingers toward the stone, and when they touched it, the two ghosts smiled brilliantly at each other as they faded away, moving on at last to a heaven their own guilt would never allow.
The stone itself, exhausting what residual magic it had in the release of the ghosts, crumbled into fine red mist, lost in the debris of the battle.
