Three chapters today since they are pretty short. The whole battle of Hogwarts sequence, from the point Harry had his vision about Voldy with Grindelwald, has been exceptionally difficult to write.
Hagrid had been forced to carry Harry's body back to the castle. As they approached, Harry could see a crowd gathering in the courtyard. Through his barely open eyelids, he couldn't make out who was in the front.
Voldemort forced Hagrid to lay Harry on the ground.
"Harry Potter is dead!" He declared.
"No!" Sirius let out a strangled cry as those behind him screamed and sobbed. Bill Weasley had to hold Sirius back physically as he screamed profanity at the Dark Lord.
"Silence!" Voldemort ordered, and the crowd became silent instantly as he cast a Silencing Charm. "I found Harry Potter as he ran away in the forest. Like the coward he is, he abandoned you all!"
"Liar!" shouted Sirius, the Silencing Charm breaking.
"That's right!" Neville yelled. He was holding the Sorting Hat in one hand. "Harry would never abandon us. He's not like you. He's brave and loyal. And as long as we believe in him, and his cause, he'll never be gone. We'll keep fighting. We'll always keep fighting."
"How touching." Voldemort mocked him. "I will give you all one last chance to join me or be destroyed."
Nobody moved.
"Very well, then I will begin with you." Voldemort raised his wand to Sirius.
Sirius raised his back. When Voldemort fired the first curse, the battle began again. In the chaos, Neville drew Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and slashed Nagini's head off. Voldemort screamed and aimed a curse at Neville, but it was blocked by Isidor Vale, who joined Sirius and McGonagall in a three-on-one duel with Voldemort.
Harry took the opportunity to throw on his Cloak again.
Nearby, Bellatrix was dueling Ginny, Hermione and Luna all at once.
The battles were so intense that everyone else on both sides stepped back and watched.
A killing curse flew just past Ginny. Molly Weasley pushed Ginny behind her.
"Not my daughter, you bitch!" She raised her wand and fired off curses at Bellatrix, who cackled for a moment, obviously believing that Molly would be a pushover.
Then, one of Molly's curses struck Bellatrix square in the chest and she froze in horror before her body shattered into dust.
Voldemort screamed again in outrage as his first lieutenant was destroyed. A blast of magic knocked Sirius, Isidor and McGonagall over, but they stood right back over, ready to fight. But Harry ripped off his Cloak and stood between him and them.
"Hello, Tom." He said, ignoring his friends and family for the moment.
"Impossible." spat Voldemort, shock evident on his face. "I killed you!"
"No, Tom. You can't kill me." said Harry. "I willingly gave my life to protect everyone. And that made all the difference. They're protected by ancient magic."
"Love? You think love is powerful enough to defeat me?"
"Yes, I do."
Voldemort shot a curse at Harry, which he blocked easily.
"Is that all you've got, Tom? That wand isn't doing you any good, is it?"
"This is the most powerful wand in existence! No other can challenge it!"
"You're right. It is the most powerful wand in existence, in the hands of its true master."
"I am it's true master. I killed Snape, who killed Dumbledore."
"Snape was never the master." said Harry, blocking another curse from Riddle. "Draco disarmed Dumbledore in the Astronomy tower."
"Then I will take care of him." Riddle aimed his wand at Draco, who was standing with his mother.
"It's too late for that, Riddle. Draco was defeated a few hours ago by someone else."
Voldemort scowled at him.
"It does not matter! Die, Harry Potter! Avada Kedavra!" A stream of green light shot towards him.
"Expelliarmus!"
Red light met the green and for a moment they seemed to be evenly matched. Then the red moved forward, towards its target, and overtook the green.
As soon as Harry's spell met the Elder wand, it seemed to recognize its true master and flew from Voldemort's hand. Harry snatched it out of the air and watched as Voldemort's killing curse rebounded on him one last time.
Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality.
Nobody moved for a moment, as though disbelief had frozen them. Then, quite suddenly, cheers and roars broke the silence. Harry was bear-hugged from behind.
"Harry! You're okay! You did it!" Sirius cried, almost refusing to let go as Hermione and Ron approached at breakneck speed to hug him.
Then Ginny, Neville, Luna, were there, the Weasleys, Hagrid, Kingsley, McGonagall and all of the professors. Harry couldn't hear a single word, the shouts and cries deafening him. He was led through the crowd and into the castle. He only realized it was Sirius leading him when they reached the quiet of the Great Hall.
Sirius had him sit down for a moment. Harry was mentally and physically exhausted.
"It's alright, Prongslet. Everything's gonna be okay." Sirius assured him.
Harry was about to agree with him when he remembered something. "No… people still died… Remus-"
"Remus will be fine." Sirius said. He took Harry's hand and led him to a nearby cot. "He's alive. He's just in a curse-induced sleep. Poppy's already given him a potion that is healing him. He'll wake up soon."
"And the people on the train?"
"We received word from Tonks that the train was left alone. Everybody there is safe."
Harry looked around the Great Hall at the people lying there. Madam Pomfrey was moving from one patient to the next. There were seven bodies lying in a row, white sheets covering them.
"Who died?" Harry asked.
"Lavender Brown - she was ravaged by Greyback; and I saw an Auror named Howie Gosling, but I didn't recognize the others." Sirius told him. "Harry , it's not your fault. You were fighting for them and they were fighting for you."
Harry did not answer him. Instead he sat down next to Remus and laid his head on the cot. Sirius sat next to him and massaged his back.
"Rest, Prongslet. You deserve it."
And that's the end.
*cough cough*
Of the Battle of Hogwarts.
Not the story. Still have several chapters left. No worries.
Also, I'm sorry if you thought Remus was dead. He's not. But Lav-Lav is. Sorry I'm not sorry.
Seriously though, battle scenes are very hard to write.
EDIT: Some of you saw Isidor's real surname. Sorry, that was a mistake and I didn't mean to reveal it so early. Those of you who didn't notice it... well, you'll just have to wait for the next couple chapters.
