At Bill and Fleur's, they devise a plan to break into Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts, believing another Horcrux to be hidden there. They break in, retrieve Hufflepuff's cup, and escape on a dragon. Harry has a vision of Voldemort being informed of the heist. Enraged, Voldemort decides to check on his Horcruxes, revealing the two remaining ones: Nagini, and an unidentified one at Hogwarts.
Voldemort and his death eaters attack Hogwarts, so the teachers mobilize the students to defend the school and buy Harry time. The order of the phoenix arrives to fight.
The battle continues, with spells flying in all directions. Debris falls to the ground as Hogwarts burns. Images blur as Ron and Hermione destroy Hufflepuff's cup with a basilisk fang taken from the Chamber of Secrets. Ravenclaw's diadem is seen in the room of requirement before also being destroyed. The bodies of Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Fred Weasley are shown amongst the debris.
Voldemort feels the Elder Wand is not performing as expected. Reasoning that Snape, having killed Dumbledore, is the true owner of the Elder Wand, Voldemort murders Snape. Harry arrives as Snape is dying, and Snape passes him memories to view in Dumbledore's Pensieve.
"The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does." Dumbledore is seen talking to a younger Severus Snape.
"Very well. Very well. But never, never tell, Dumbledore! This must be between us! Swear it! I cannot bear...especially Potter's son...I want your word!"
"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?" Dumbledore sighed, "If you insist..."
A whirl of color, and now everything darkened, and Snape and Dumbledore stood a little apart in the entrance hall.
"Well?" murmured Dumbledore.
" Karkaroff intends to flee if the mark burns."
"Does he?" said Dumbledore softly, "And are you tempted to join him?"
"No," said Snape, "I am not such a coward."
"No," agreed Dumbledore. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon..."
And now took place in the headmaster's office yet again. Snape was muttering incantations, pointing his wand at Dumbledore's hand, while he tipped a golden potion down his throat.
"You have done very well, Severus. How long do you think I have?"
Snape hesitated, and then said, "I cannot tell. Maybe a year. There is no halting such a spell forever.
"Well, really, this makes matters much more straightforward." Dumbledore smiled. "I refer to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the poor Malfoy boy murder me."
Scowling, Snape said, "The Dark Lord does not expect Draco to succeed. This is merely punishment for Lucius's recent failures."
"In short, the boy has had a death sentence pronounced upon him as surely as I have," said Dumbledore. "Now, I should have thought the natural successor to the job, once Draco fails, is yourself?"
There was a short pause.
"That, I think, is the Dark Lord's plan. Snape admitted.
"There is only one thing to be done if we are to save him from Lord Voldemort's wrath."
Snape was sardonic as he asked, "Are you intending to let him kill you?"
"Certainly not. You must kill me."
"Would you like me to do it now?" asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. "Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"
"Oh, not quite yet," said Dumbledore, smiling. "I daresay the moment will present itself in due course. Given what has happened tonight," he indicated his withered hand, "we can be sure that it will happen within a year."
"If you don't mind dying," said Snape roughly, "why not let Draco do it?"
"That boy's soul is not yet so damaged," said Dumbledore. "I would not have it ripped apart on my account."
"And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?"
"You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation," said Dumbledore. "I ask this one great favor of you, Severus, because death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year's league."
At last Snape gave another curt nod. Dumbledore seemed satisfied.
"Thank you, Severus..."
The memories shifted again. They were back in Dumbledore's office.
"Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?" Dumbledore said to Snape, "There will come a time when Lord Voldemort will seem to fear for the life of his snake. Then, I think, it will be safe to tell Harry."
"Tell him what?"
"Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemort's soul was blasted apart from the whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsed building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes, and a connection with Lord Voldemort's mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die."
"So the boy...the boy must die?" asked Snape quite calmly.
"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."
There was a moment of silence Then Snape said, "I thought...all those years...that we were protecting him."
Snape looked horrified.
"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"
"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"
"Lately, only those whom I could not save," said Snape. He stood up. "You have used me. "I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter. "
Harry is seen walking to his death but walks into Neville and tells him to kill Nagini. Harry opens the snitch Dumbledore gave him and finds the resurrection stone. He sees his lost loved ones. James, Lily, Sirius and Remus.
"You've been so brave." Lily said
"You are nearly there," said James. "Very close. We are... so proud of you."
"Does it hurt?"
The childish question had fallen from Harry's lips before he could stop it.
"Dying? Not at all," said Sirius. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."
"I didn't want you to die," Harry said. "Any of you. I'm sorry."
He addressed Lupin as he spoke. "Right after you'd had your son... Remus, I'm sorry."
"I am sorry too," said Lupin. "Sorry I will never know him... but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."
"You'll stay with me?"
"Until the very end," said James.
Harry walks towards Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort said. "The Boy Who Lived."
"Avada Kedavra."
A bright green light consumes the room. Then the room turns white.
Harry awakens in a dreamlike location resembling King's Cross station and is greeted by Dumbledore.
"But you're dead," said Harry.
"Oh yes," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly.
"Then... I'm dead too?"
"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. "That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not."
They looked at each other, the old man still beaming.
"Not?" repeated Harry.
"Not," said Dumbledore.
"I let him kill me," said Harry. "Didn't I?" "So the part of his soul that was in me..." Harry hesitated. "... has it gone?"
"Oh yes!" said Dumbledore. "Yes, he destroyed it. Your soul is whole, and completely your own, Harry."
"But if Voldemort used the Killing Curse," Harry started again, "and nobody died for me this time C how can I be alive?"
"He took my blood," said Harry.
"Precisely!" said Dumbledore. "He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily's protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives!"
"You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived." Dumbledore began and they walked through the station. "He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you when she died for you. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort's one last hope for himself."
"Can you forgive me?" he said. "Can you forgive me for not trusting you? For not telling you? Harry, I only feared that you would fail as I had failed. I only dreaded that you would make my mistakes. I crave your pardon, Harry. I have known, for some time now, that you are the better man."
"What are you talking about?" asked Harry, startled by Dumbledore's tone, by the sudden tears in his eyes.
"The Hallows, the Hallows," murmured Dumbledore. "A desperate man's dream!"
"But they're real!"
"Real, and dangerous, and a lure for fools," said Dumbledore. "And I was such a fool. But you know, don't you? I have no secrets from you anymore. You know."
"What do I know?"
Dumbledore turned his whole body to face Harry, and tears still sparkled in the brilliantly blue eyes.
"Master of death, Harry, master of Death! Was I better, ultimately, than Voldemort? Yet I too sought a way to conquer death, Harry."
"Not the way he did," said Harry. "Hallows, not Horcruxes."
"Hallows," murmured Dumbledore, "not Horcruxes. Precisely."
"I've got to go back, haven't I?"
"That is up to you."
"I've got a choice?"
"Oh yes," Dumbledore smiled at him. "We are in King's Cross you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to... let's say... board a train."
"And where would it take me?"
"On," said Dumbledore simply. "Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, then we say good-bye for the present."
"Tell me one last thing," said Harry, "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"
Harry chooses to return to life and feigns his death. Voldemort calls for a truce at Hogwarts and displays Harry's body, offering to spare the defenders if they surrender. Neville, however, pulls the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, rendering Voldemort mortal.
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again.
"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"
"You thought you did," said Harry, "but you were wrong. Yes, Dumbledore is dead," said Harry calmly, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."
"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.
"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore. Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die, undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"
"Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against the last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"
The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance..."
"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."
"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him."
"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does... I am the true master of the Elder Wand."
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry defeated Voldemort. His body lays discarded on the ground as everyone cheers as everyone gathers in celebration.
No one really knew what to say. They just watched the defeat of Voldemort, the monster of their constant nightmares, and yet so many revelations came about. Lies and secrets are revealed. It was always apparent that they would win, since being told by Severus Snape that they won. But watching how they did it, just doesn't seem real. It seemed like some far fetched story. Everything ending after months of searching for unknown objects with an unplanned final battle at a school where children attend.
"How many people died?" Kingsley asked.
"This battle alone, over 80," Severus responded. "During the second war, 253. That's not including those who were tortured or permanently hospitalized due to damage."
"What about me, what happens to me now. I'm a Horcrux. In order for Voldemort to be defeated, I also have to die." Harry asked? It looked like he was about to get up right at this moment and throw himself out of a window. However, Ron and Hermione were both holding on to him, whether because they were concerned over what he was about to do or because they were still experiencing aftershock from watching him walk to his death.
"Not necessarily. So before you do something idiotic, well more idiotic than you already have done, listen to what I have to say." Severus said sternly as he talked directly to Harry. 'You don't have to die, only a part inside of you has to. I'm sure if you all put your heads together for once, you might find a way around the whole dying thing and merrily destroy the Horcrux. If not just get yourself killed. At least you know you will survive it." Severus said indifferently with a shrug of his shoulders. Resulting in his wife hitting him on the arm giving him a pointed look.
"Did you know Dumbledore?" Sirius asked furiously. The man sighed wearily before answering honestly.
"I suspected but I wasn't positive." He admitted as he popped another lemon drop into his mouth.
"How could you keep something like this from us. From him?" Sirius asked, upset not only at the man in question but the whole situation his godson has found himself in. He was there when Harry was born and was the next person to hold him after his parents of course. He promised his mom; Dorea Potter on her deathbed that he would look after James for her. He failed, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't try his damndest to protect Harry. He was his nephew and the closest thing to a son he has. He loves him and will do anything for him, even if that means dying for him. But how do you save the one you love when they might have to die to save the entire wizarding world. Plus said person in the discussion has a hero complex and would willingly sacrifice himself.
"How do I tell someone they have to die," Dumbledore asked. A sob is heard across the room from Molly Weasley ever since watching her son's death on screen. She has been crying like most of her family but for the most part, it has been quiet until now.
"Fred's gone." She whimpered before looking at Hermione and Severus. "Thank you, the both of you. You saved him." She cried in relief.
George was holding onto his twin, his better half, not wanting to let him go. They have always done everything together. Their first steps, to their first prank. To imagine life without the other is a grey world without any laughter.
"Thanks, Snape because of you we can continue our favourite joke," Fred said laughing lightly trying to ease the serious tension. George on the other hand did the unthinkable. He stood up and threw himself at Severus. Hugging him so tightly one would wonder if Severus could even breathe. Severus on the other hand was in a transition state of shock and panic. He wasn't a fan of touching unless it involved his wife. But in his mind having one of the Weasley twins hugging him was like having a red-headed gremlin ripping out his soul. So he did the online thing he could do. He begged for his wife's assistance before he did something he knew she wouldn't have approved of.
"Hermione, get it off," Severus said in a panic. Then Fred joined in on the hug.
"Oh look they're hugging you," Hermione said completely amused. However, her husband seemed to be in quite a bit of distress so she pulled the twins off of him and received her own hug out of the deal.
"What happened to our son," Tonks asked. Her hair turned into a mousy brown. Even Lupin looked slightly dejected, as he held her in his arms.
"Teddy is a brilliant child," Hermione replied happily. "Really clumsy, but brilliant. He didn't inherit any wolfish traits if you were wondering. He does, however, tend to favour after his mother by sporting an outrageously bright blue hair." Making Tonks laugh happily. "He lives with Andromeda but he always stays with the Weasley's or Harry on alternating Sundays. He is loved and well provided for, considering not having his parents." She hesitated for a moment before asking; "Would you like to see a picture of him?"
Both Tonks and Lupin looked at one another for a moment before, Lupin shook his head and said; "No, I'd rather not. I think I'd prefer to see him for myself one day."
"I agree," Tonks said, brightening up immediately. "We better start practicing then."
"How are you alive, we also just watched you die," Fleur asked towards Severus.
"I've been a spy for almost two decades. My death was always evident. Do you really think that I would willingly walk to my death without a backup plan? I created an anti-venom that counteracts the effects of Nagini's venom. I took it before I was summoned. It was a 50/50 shot that I would survive. I didn't know that it worked until I woke up in the hospital a week later. "I admit I got lucky, others did not."
"Is no one gonna mention Neville telling You Know Who to suck it and him killing a giant snake," Ginny asked, looking at her clumsy friend in a new light. The boy who is terrified by Snape, just stood up to the devil incarnate. Where in the world did that come from?
"I know right, like damn Neville when did you turn into a badass." Ron joked.
"You three were too busy saving the school to notice." And with that everyone broke out into smiles and laughter.
"So what happens now?" Arthur asked, as no one quite knew what to do with themselves now.
Final chapter coming Monday.