Chapter 58: Malfoy Manor
June 14th, 1998
Draco Malfoy stumbled as he apparated into the entry hall of Malfoy Manor. Once the massive wave had hit the main body of the Dark Lord's forces, Draco had tried to find a place to hide. Failing to do that and hearing calls from Greengrass to concentrate on the Dark Lord, Draco had decided to apparate away.
So he was quite surprised when he turned around to see the Dark Lord standing there. Had he followed Draco? No, that was impossible, wasn't it?
And then the Dark Lord saw him. "You followed my lead with impressive speed," said the Dark Lord.
"I only wish to serve you, my Lord," said Draco. Other people were showing up now. Apparently the Dark Lord had sounded the retreat. Draco exhaled as he realized that his cowardice had not been exposed.
"If only your mother had your devotion," said the Dark Lord, "Instead, she betrayed me."
Draco winced. If his mother had betrayed the Dark Lord…
"Luckily for you, I believe that you are loyal," said the Dark Lord, "but when the day comes, you will have to prove your loyalty. You will have to kill Narcissa Malfoy."
Somehow Draco didn't think that day was going to be coming any time soon.
XXXXX
Harry was making his way back towards the school when he and Ginny ran into Blaise. Madame Pomfrey had set up a field hospital closer to the school and he was headed towards it. Hermione had stayed behind to organize moving the injured up to the field hospital. But Harry and Ginny were heading back to see how they could help.
"Ginny, Harry, I'm glad I ran into you," said Blaise, "I need to say goodbye to you."
"Where are you going?" asked Ginny, but Harry knew he wouldn't answer. He knew what Blaise was going to do. It was obvious.
So he walked over to Blaise and hugged him. "Good luck, mate," Harry said simply.
Ginny also gave Blaise a hug after Harry was finished. "So you're just going to fuck off then?" she asked.
"Something like that," said Blaise.
"Goodbye," said Harry.
"Goodbye," said Blaise. And he headed back towards the school. Harry thought he wouldn't see him again for a long time.
After a moment, Ginny spoke up. "Should we stop him?" she asked.
"I'm not going to," said Harry.
They continued on in silence.
Within moments they had reached the field hospital. And Harry realized that Madam Pomfrey needed immediate help. Injured people were everywhere, and Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were dealing with it alone.
"Can I help?" Harry asked, throwing off his robes and rolling up the sleeves of the shirt he had on underneath it.
"Yes," said Madam Pomfrey, "I need you doing triage on everyone. Then you can treat the less dangerous injuries so long as you get an assessment of everyone new who comes in. Badly injured people over here, less serious injuries over there. Hopeless cases… just make them comfortable. If someone needs emergency first aid, you should apply it of course."
"Understood," said Harry as he began to use his wand to scan various injuries. Most of the injuries were minor, but he sent two aurors, one of Harry's mercenaries, and one of Clarise's criminals over to Madam Pomfrey.
After that he began administering treatment for various broken bones and concussions. He realised that Ginny was gone at that point. Well, she could probably help better at other places.
The first patient he knew was Parvati. She was brought in by Lavender and Padma, who were careful not to touch her right arm. And Harry's examination immediately showed that she had been hit by a nasty bone breaking curse in that arm. Luckily it appeared to have been partially shielded against, so the bone hadn't completely shattered. Still she was badly bleeding internally. That was a problem that Harry could fix. With two spells he stopped the bleeding, but the damage to her bones was a bit complicated for him to fix.
"Madam Pomfrey will have to take a look at you," said Harry, "But you won't lose the arm. You'll probably have to have bones regrown though."
Parvati made a face about that. "Isn't that supposed to hurt?" she asked.
"It hurts like hell," said Harry, "but only for about twelve hours. After that it's bearable."
"That's right, you had your bones regrown," said Lavender.
"Harry!" said Ginny urgently. She had just arrived with Justin in tow and they were levitating someone. Harry realized that it was Narcissa Malfoy.
He quickly scanned her. Multiple contusions, consistent with an explosion sending shrapnel. Most were minor, but she had a significant head injury. A minor concussion. Harry cast a couple of spells on her.
"She'll be fine," said Harry, "She just got knocked out."
"Killing curse hit a big rock right next to her," said Justin.
"Then she's lucky," said Harry.
Suddenly Susan and Hannah ran in carrying a very bloody Ernie. The blood was mostly coming from his midsection. Not good.
Justin ran over alongside Harry.
"Ernie, please tell me you're all right!" said Justin.
Harry scanned Ernie. And he inhaled sharply. Massive damage to internal organs including the liver, stomach, intestines, and lower lungs. "I will be right back," said Harry.
He ran over to Madam Pomfrey. She was working on one of the Aurors. He was clearly badly injured and required immediate care. "When are more healers getting here? They should be here by now!"
"Some Umbridge loyalist was messing with the Floo Network back at the Ministry," said McGonagall, who was returning with Molly, carrying satchels full of potions, "They'll be here in fifteen minutes."
"That's too late!" snapped Harry angrily. He took a moment to calm himself.
"Sorry," said Harry, "I'm going to need a strong pain potion."
McGonagall and Molly both gave Harry a sad look. "Here you go Harry," said Molly, handing him the potion, "No need to be sorry. It's a tough situation."
Harry nodded his thanks and then ran back to the Hufflepuffs. Well, former Hufflepuffs he supposed. He handed the potion to Ernie.
"Drink this," said Harry.
"Will it fix that?" asked Susan dubiously.
"It will make him more comfortable," said Harry, wishing anyone but him had to do this.
"What does that mean!" snapped Hannah.
"It means I'm going to die," said Ernie right before he quaffed the potion, "That was fairly obvious."
"There's nothing you can do?" asked Justin.
"If he was at St. Mungo's, I'd say he had a fifty-fifty shot. If we had another healer here now, I'd say it was a ten percent chance. But…" Harry trailed off.
"We could take him there!" said Hannah.
"That would kill him," said Susan simply. Harry nodded curtly in agreement.
"That does feel better," said Ernie, "Thank you Harry."
Harry patted Ernie on the shoulder, then stood up. Fred and Angelina had just rushed in with George, who had one side of his head bleeding profusely. No time to waste, Harry jumped back to work.
XXXXX
Daphne walked down to the scene of the battle. Amelia hadn't let her come down here before now, she hadn't even been allowed to take part in the battle. Still, surely it was safe now.
Hermione walked over. The girl's hair was more messed up than usual. And she had a tired look on her eye.
"How bad was it?" asked Daphne
"Six or seven dead on our side down here " replied Hermione, "about twice that injured. At least fifteen dead up at the school, but less injured. Voldemort was responsible for most of that. On the other side we have twenty five dead Death Eaters and associates, plus about 44 prisoners. Most of them injured to some extent. From interrogating some of the prisoners I've managed to guess Voldemort had about 100 to 120 people. A lot of the people who fled probably jumped ship though. He has 20 people left I'd guess, 30 tops."
"Well, it could be a lot worse," admitted Daphne.
Hermione nodded in assent. "That security issue taken care of back at the Ministry?"
"Yes," said Amelia, "a lone Death Eater managed to sabotage the Floo Network. She was apparently the same woman who helped us set up the taboo."
"I should have remembered her," said Percy.
Daphne sighed. It would have been nice if he had done so, but they'd been so busy she could hardly blame him. So she just said, "Well, we'll have to do better next time. Hopefully this didn't delay the arrival of the Healers too much."
Percy nodded.
Suddenly, Daphne saw Tracey. She was sitting on a log near the edge of the forest with Ron. Daphne walked over to them.
Her entourage followed of course. That would take getting used to.
"Hey Tracey," said Daphne as she walked over and leaned down to hug her friend, "You okay?"
Tracey leaned into the hug. "I'm fine," said Tracey as the hug broke off, "Would you believe I sprained my ankle running down the hill?"
"Yes," said Daphne with a laugh.
Hermione leaned in and quickly scanned Tracey's ankle. "I can take care of that if you want," she offered.
Tracey nodded. Hermione cast a quick spell on her ankle. Tracey smiled as the spell took hold then slowly stood up.
"Much better," said Tracey.
"I know you've been through a lot Tracey," started Daphne, "I wish I had the time to help you…"
"Of course you don't right now," said Tracey, "we can catch up once Harry kills Voldemort."
Daphne gripped Tracey's shoulder for a moment then let go. It was good that they were friends again. She'd need that eventually. No time to dwell on it though. Next thing.
"Perhaps we should return to the Ministry?" Amelia suggested.
"After I visit the hospital," said Daphne in a tone that said she wasn't going to be dissuaded.
Amelia made a disapproving sound. She probably thought the field hospital was too dangerous, with all the injured Death Eaters and all. Well that was just too bad.
Daphne made her way to the field hospital. Hermione was still with them. Things were probably winding down here.
The field hospital was quiet chaos when Daphne arrived. Healers were everywhere. But Harry was sitting off to the side watching the chaos.
"Everything all right Harry?" asked Hermione. Now that she mentioned it, Daphne did think Harry looked a bit tired.
"Ernie's dead," said Harry, "So are a bunch of other people."
Daphne's heart fell. Ernie had been annoying at times, but he'd ultimately been a good friend.
"I'm sorry," said Daphne.
Suddenly Kingsley was marching into the field station.
"Clarise Zabini is gone!" shouted the Head Auror.
Harry grunted. This caused Amelia to fixate on him.
"Do you know something, Potter?" she asked.
"Blaise probably took her away," said Harry.
"Why didn't you warn us?" asked Kingsley.
"Doesn't matter," said Daphne, "If Blaise took her, rest assured, she's out of our hair, probably forever. All this means is that she is officially no longer our problem."
Kingsley looked upset at this, but Amelia seemed to understand. It would actually be better this way.
"Potter!" said a woman's voice suddenly, "I need to see Potter!"
"Is that Narcissa?" asked Daphne, recognizing the voice. Sure enough Harry and Daphne found Narcissa struggling to prevent being moved.
"Let us speak with her," said Daphne to the Healers who were taking her away. Hermione walked up behind them. Ginny, who had been fussing over her brother's injury, also came over.
"Nott and Parkinson have escape routes set up for Voldemort," said Narcissa, "I don't know what they are, but they will allow him to escape Britain. He is dangerous. Without his horcruxes, he is downright unstable."
Daphne looked at Ginny, and the start of a plan entered her head. "I can get Parkinson to talk. Ginny, will you talk to Nott Sr.?"
Ginny looked surprised, but nodded.
Daphne sighed. "Time to return to the Ministry then."
"There is something I need to ask of you, Potter…," said Narcissa as Ginny and Daphne began to walk away.
Daphne felt Amelia breathing a sigh of relief. She was going to have to do something about that. But later. Now it was time to consult with Parkinson.
XXXXX
Ginny felt a shiver go down her spine as she entered the DMLE cells. Just this morning she had been a prisoner here. Now, she was on the other side of the equation. It felt odd. Though she much preferred her role now.
Kingsley led her into the cell containing Theodore Nott Sr. He had been dressed in prison robes. Ginny knew first hand how uncomfortable they were. She didn't envy him.
Nott's eyes flashed as Ginny entered the room.
"Come to gloat?" he asked, his voice full of acid hate.
"Of course not," said Ginny, "I came because your son died trying to protect me."
Nott seemed to visibly reel at that statement, but quickly recovered. He seemed less hostile now though.
"Do you think this scores you some points with me?" asked Nott.
"No," said Ginny, "I know it doesn't. Your son had a crush on me since fourth year. He was trying to get over it, he really was. But he was also honestly attracted to me. He once told me that on the day he and the rest of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad were caught, he actually felt relieved that I had led him into a trap. He was glad I hadn't betrayed my friends. Mentally, I think that was the point when he betrayed you."
"What!?" demanded Nott, his face contorted in anger.
Ginny ignored him. "To do it he turned me into a perfect goddess on his mind," she continued, "It was weird and creepy, especially since I was still feeling very bad about killing Lucius and the other Death Eaters at the Ministry. But now I look back and realize that Nott needed to believe in someone else's perfection to break free of you. He needed a reason. But once he was committed to us, he slowly began to realize he had been wrong, that I was just another person."
"You're lying," said Nott, but he looked more scared than angry now.
"Towards the end we were friends again," Ginny continued again, "He still had a crush on me, he couldn't help that, but he made sure not to let it show. And I'll admit, I was touched by how badly he took Pansy's death, and by how he tried to free Narcissa on the day Riddle attacked the Ministry."
Nott's eyes went wide as he realized this was real.
"Narcissa didn't let it happen of course, she knew what would happen to him if he got caught," said Ginny, to the elder Nott's apparent relief, "But she did tell him all the plans from the Death Eater inner circle. Which he told us. Thanks to your son, we freed the Ministry and destroyed the forces of Tom Riddle in a single day."
"Why are you telling me this?" demanded Nott, "Do you just want me to think less of my son?"
"Your son was a hero who died trying to protect me from what he thought was a reckless mistake," said Ginny, "If I had been honest with him… if I had told him that I had Lord Voldemort's memories, he would have understood that I was in no danger. Secrets can kill. But let's be honest. We both know why I could trust a pureblood like Daphne, but not him."
"You didn't trust him because I was a Death Eater," said Nott.
"You weren't a Death Eater last time, were you?" asked Ginny.
Nott shook his head. "My father was, but it was felt that he was too old to effectively serve Voldemort now. So I took his place."
"Did he give you a choice? Or did he just expect you to do it?" asked Ginny.
Nott hesitated. "I see what you are trying to do," he said quietly.
"And?" asked Ginny.
Nott stayed silent for even longer. Finally he shook his head. "No, I was never given a choice," he said.
"There was never a muggleborn in Slytherin when you went to school, was there?" asked Ginny.
Nott shook his head.
"Well, Hermione was the best student in our year," said Ginny, "she's living proof that Pureblood Supremacism is wrong. Confronted with the proof that his father was supporting such a destructive ideology, and the fact that doing so would hurt people he cared about, I think the fact that he turned on Voldemort was very brave. And that will be the legacy of the Nott family, if you let it be."
"It was brave, wasn't it?" said Nott, his voice wistful.
Finally he sighed. "Fine, I know when I'm beaten. What do you want to know?"
And Ginny smiled. "I want to know about Voldemort's escape route," she said as she sat down on the bunk across from Nott's.
XXXXX
Draco watched as the man he had been ordered to contact was dragged away by aurors. That was a problem. He had tried to get the Dark Lord to move quickly. Hell, if the Dark Lord had been here now things might still have worked out. But he wasn't, and in moments their contact would be in the heart of the DMLE.
Meanwhile, the other contact had gone over to the other side. Parkinson's man had outright refused to help and had sicced aurors on Draco. Not a good night. Not for the first time, Draco considered just leaving. But where would he go? Daphne wasn't just going to forgive him for killing Pansy and the role he'd played in the torture and death of Potter's uncle, not to mention his role in the attacks on Diagon Alley and the Ministry.
So Draco had to return to the Dark Lord. And as he apparated into the mansion that he had once considered home, he realized that it no longer was his home. It had become a place he hated.
Marching to the Dark Lord's bedroom he knocked. The Dark Lord spent most of his time in there now. He didn't want to be around people.
"Enter," said the Dark Lord.
Draco entered. The Dark Lord was sitting on his bed, but he stood as soon as Draco entered. Just another sign of the Dark Lord losing control.
"I'm sorry, my Lord," said Draco, "Parkinson and Nott must have betrayed us. Both avenues of escape were blocked."
The Dark Lord began to pace angrily. "We cannot stay here," he said finally.
"If I may make a suggestion," said Draco, with strong reservations, "maybe we could use muggle transportation? There is a lot of Muggle transportation out of the country. Air vehicles, boats, even a tunnel beneath the channel. Though how they dug such a thing with only shovels and picks is beyond me.
The Dark Lord gave Draco a strange look, as if he was somehow stupid. "Of course they didn't use shovels! They used…" suddenly the Dark Lord cut out.
"I don't know why I'm even discussing this. I will not flee this country like a common rat," insisted the Dark Lord, "I am the rightful ruler of this nation!"
Draco had to admit this wasn't going well. He was now strongly regretting not leaving when he had the chance.
XXXXX
June 15th, 1998
Harry walked into the conference room in the Ministry of Magic. He had to admit that he had never been to this part of the Ministry before. Technically this room was called the War Room, but it had seldom seen use under Fudge. He'd preferred using memos to department heads over face to face meetings, or at least face to face meetings with all of his department heads at once. He hadn't wanted them ganging up on him.
Of course the only department head here today, the day after the battle, was Amelia. Kingsley was also present as head of the Aurors. Dumbledore was here in his capacity as Chief Warlock, but of the separate Wizard's Council and Wizard's Court, not the combined Wizengamot. Augusta Longbottom had been appointed the head of the Wizard's Council search committee. And Harry, Hermione and Ginny were there, mostly as advisors on Voldemort.
That was temporary of course. Daphne had offered all three of the Triumvirs a spot on the Council, but they had all turned it down. Still they had agreed to sit in on any meetings involving the war. The truth was that with Daphne in charge of the Ministry, Harry had disbanded the Army of the Triumvirate. Any one who still wanted to help had been signed on as a DMLE adjunct officer. So the Ministry was now calling all the shots in the war.
Finally Daphne entered the room, with Percy trailing behind her. She looked exhausted, but in an exasperated way. She sat down at the head of the table.
"Would you believe that my worst meeting today was with the Diagon Alley Merchant's Association?" asked Daphne with mild disbelief in her voice.
"Yes," said Amelia, Augusta and Dumbeldore at the same time.
"They're famously troublesome," said Kingsley.
"They wanted to set off a full fireworks display to celebrate the victory at Hogwarts DIRECTLY OVER Diagon Alley," said Daphne as she shook her head, "They just told me "Obliviate all the muggles. How many can there be after all?" And I told them that there were seven million people in the Greater London area. Which they refused to believe for fifteen minutes. We really need to make some form of muggle studies compulsory at Hogwarts."
"I agree," said Dumbledore, "I tried to do so for years. It would be easy to swap out first and second year astronomy for muggle studies."
"Oh, that is something that needs to happen," said Harry, "Unless you are doing Divination or advanced Arithmancy, Astronomy is worthless."
"Well, Lunar sequences are important," said Hermione, "but that could easily be covered separately."
"Or in a class on muggle astronomy," said Harry, "which is more advanced than wizarding Astronomy."
"Well, this is a bit off topic," said Amelia.
"Quite right," said Daphne, "First thing's first. Augusta, any progress on forming a Wizard's Council and Wizard Court?"
"I will be sending out notices to all magical households to reply with information for jury selection," said August, quite proudly, "I have also put together a list of 40 names for the Wizard's Council."
"Well, we'll have to narrow that down a bit," said Daphne thoughtfully. She suddenly shook her head. This wasn't the time for that.
"So, Voldemort is now contained. When do we move against him?" asked Daphne
"I am not sure there is a hurry," said Amelia.
"There is," said Kingsley, "He is a threat as long as he is alive."
"I agree with Kingsley, at least that there is a hurry," said Harry.
"Riddle's soul is probably more damaged than any other soul in human history," explained Ginny.
"Which means that his behavior is going to slowly grow more and more erratic until he loses control of his powers and kills himself by accident," expanded Hermione.
"According to Narcissa, he was already dangerously unstable when we reduced him to a single horcrux," finished Harry, "He's about to lose all control."
"But then he will probably kill many other people," said Dumbledore.
"Unless he heals his soul," said Harry.
"Is that possible?" asked Daphne.
Hermione nodded. "It is, and the process would render Riddle far less dangerous. But it probably won't happen. It would require Voldemort to show remorse for his actions."
Daphne seemed to continue that line of thought. "So it is advantageous to deal with him immediately."
"It is necessary to deal with him immediately," said Harry, "As he grows more and more unstable he is more likely to do something huge and dangerous, like a public attack on muggles."
Daphne nodded wearily. That was probably her worst nightmare right now. A massive violation of the Statute of Secrecy would bring on the ire of the ICW.
"So tactics," said Daphne, more as a conversation starter than anything else, "How do we deal with Malfoy Manor?"
"It's easily surrounded," said Kingsley, "And if we put people on the hill behind it we can cast spells down on top of the manor. We'll have to walk them up the hill though. It's inside the wards."
"You sound like you know the geography of the area well," observed Daphne.
"The DMLE has had a plan for taking Malfoy Manor by storm ready since mid 1996," said Amelia sourly, "Fudge just never let us use it. He was worried about mass casualties. Well there may be mass casualties now, but it won't be on our side."
"There is a secret exit," said Harry, "Narcissa told me about it yesterday. Riddle knows about it."
"What did she want from you anyway?" asked Daphne.
"She wanted to make sure we brought in Draco alive," said Harry immediately.
Daphne nodded. She knew Harry would try. He had to. Harry knew that she wouldn't put her own people at risk though.
"Can we trust Narcissa on this?" asked Kingsley.
"Dobby confirmed that the passage existed," said Harry, "He didn't know where it comes out though. Narcissa does. Riddle will flee through that passage. There is a perfect place, an old jail, where we can ambush him."
"So we send in our people, surround the estate, start bombarding the Manor, then the Triumvirate intercepts Riddle as he tries to flee," said Amelia.
"Sounds like a plan," said Daphne.
"We'll execute it tomorrow at seven in the morning," said Amelia.
Harry nodded his approval. It would be early enough that the Death Eaters would still be tired. But not so early that preparations would have to start so early to interfere with the sleep of the Ministry forces, provided they got to bed early.
"Then it's settled," said Daphne, "Tomorrow we will take down Lord Voldemort."
Harry stood along with everyone else. He was about to go over and speak with Amelia about when he should arrive tomorrow when Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder.
"May I have a word?" Dumbeldore asked.
Harry nodded. He followed Dumbeldore to the opposite side of the room.
"You intend to try to spare Draco I assume," said Dumbledore simply.
"Of course," said Harry.
"And Tom?" asked Dumbledore.
Harry paused for a long time.
"I have to try," he said finally. His voice was weary, as if he knew what was going to happen was a foregone conclusion.
Dumbledore nodded warmly. "Well I am grateful that you will. It is probably hopeless. But even if it is, it is worth it to try."
Harry nodded. "We have to be the change we want to see in the world," he said, before he returned to Hermione, who was talking to Amelia. Time to get home and rest. Tomorrow would be a difficult day.
XXXXX
June 16th, 1998
Draco woke with a start when the explosions began going off. There was no warning, no preface, just explosions as the Ministry forces began bombarding Malfoy Manor. And he immediately knew that it was all over. And he knew the only chance that he had to escape death was not going to be found here.
He leapt out of bed and threw on a robe over his pajamas. He ran towards the stairs, but was stopped when Amycus Carrow jumped out of his room right in front of Draco. Draco stopped, and it saved his life. An explosion shredded the wall into Amycus' room sending debris flying into the man. He was thrown across the hall and his head slammed into the far wall. Draco heard a snap as Amycus' neck suddenly twisted at an unnatural angle.
"No!" screamed Alecto Carrow, running out of her room.
"No time!" shouted Draco as he sprinted down the hall. The upper floors were death traps! He had to get to ground level. He leapt over the bannister of the main staircase and cast a cushioning charm as he fell. The landing was rough, but he was unhurt.
Alecto had followed him down. She was terrified. She should be. Draco had to assume from the way the upper stories had been hit first that the attacks were coming from the hilltop. There was no possible way to defend Malfoy Manor if enemies had taken the high ground. That was why Parliamentarian forces had destroyed the original castle during the English Civil War. The Malfoys had not rebuilt at the bottom of the hill by choice.
Two men who had been patrolling rushed in the front door and closed it behind them. But it wasn't enough. The Front door exploded and the men were sent flying.
"To the kitchen!" said Draco as the Dark Lord emerged from the first floor study.
Draco led the way into the kitchen and finally all the way down to the wine cellar. Draco opened the secret passage with one hand as the Dark Lord caught up.
"We'll close the door behind you, my Lord!" said Draco to Voldemort.
The Dark Lord nodded and entered the passage. And Draco sealed it. He'd never intended to go out that way. Potter would certainly be there, given that both Dobby and Draco's mother had defected to him. Voldemort was toast, and Draco was getting out of here.
"Let's not stand right next to the secret passage our Lord went through," said Draco.
Alecto nodded, and both of them headed up towards the kitchen. Once there Draco indicated towards the front of the building.
"You defend from that direction, I'll guard the back door," said Draco.
It had to seem to Alecto that Draco was taking the more dangerous job, so she nodded gratefully. Draco didn't care. As soon as she headed off, he headed to the back door. He threw open the broom closet next to the door and pulled out his Nimbus 2001.
The Nimbus 2001 had been a huge disappointment to Draco, but it had one advantage: acceleration. It accelerated fast. And as Draco flew the broom out of the back door, he needed every bit of that acceleration.
This was something he was used to though. Forbidden from flying too high, Draco had managed to get around that prohibition by flying up through the line of trees on the side of the hill where his parents couldn't see him. And that was what he did now. Curses flew towards him as he cleared the house, but once underneath the trees no one could get a shot on him. He rocketed out of the trees on top of the hill outside of the local wards.
And then Draco apparated away, leaving his former home behind in ruins.
XXXXX
Harry stood still in the old jail beneath Malfoy Manor. The explosions had started mere minutes ago. This was it. He readied his wand. He heard sound from down the passage in front of him. Harry had cast an illusion on the passage out, a skill Luna had taught him. Given time, Riddle would see through it. But not before he came in here.
Riddle entered the jail. He stopped as he saw Harry standing in front of him, alone.
"Hello, Tom," said Harry.
Riddle narrowed his eyes at the use of his muggle name. "I should have expected this," he said.
Harry nodded. It was, after all, an obvious move.
"I don't suppose you'd care to surrender to me?" asked Harry.
"It wouldn't be my first choice, no," said Riddle dryly.
"You can't hurt me," said Harry, "our wands share cores."
"This time I will be ready," said Riddle.
"Protego!" shouted Riddle as Harry roared "Expelliarmus!"
The Disarming spell did disarm Riddle, but Riddle was shielded. The shield didn't quite work against Harry because of the shared cores, but it did a little good. Because Riddle hadn't cast a spell directly at Harry, Riddle's wand hadn't actually refused to work. The result of that complex interaction of magic was that Riddle's wand fell out of his hand, but didn't quite fly into Harry's hand. It clattered to the floor between them.
Clever, thought Harry, He shielded himself by casting Protego. He was prepared for the fact that he wouldn't be able to cast properly against me.
It didn't matter though, because at that moment Hermione and Ginny popped into existence right beside Riddle and stunned him. The shield was quite powerful and took the edge off of their spells, but there were two of them. Riddle was driven to his knees. The girls stepped back, willing to let Harry finish things.
Riddle began to laugh. "You really were my match Potter," he said finally, "Well finish it. Kill me."
"Don't you want to fix your soul?" asked Harry.
"What?" demanded Riddle, his voice suddenly wary.
"Your soul was damaged from all the destruction you wrought, including the process of creating your horcruxes," said Harry, "But it can be repaired."
"I don't understand," said the now puzzled Riddle.
"All you have to do is feel remorse, real remorse, for what you've done. For the lives taken, for the people tortured, for the souls ruined," said Harry.
"Dumbledore put you up to this," said Riddle.
"He didn't," said Harry, "This is my idea. You have this one last chance. Make the right choice Tom. You will save yourself, and begin to atone for what you have done."
"And you would let me live?" laughed an unbelieving Riddle, "What sort of soldier lets his enemy live?"
"I am not now, nor have I ever been, a soldier," said Harry quietly, "I have turned my wand to dark and bloody deeds, but that was neither a mistake nor a moment that defines me. What defines me is what I am going to become. I am becoming a healer and a counselor, a shield against foes and a balm against evil. It just took me until now to understand it. I tried to make myself something I wasn't, and I paid the price."
"I thought I needed to become a general, that I needed to be a leader," continued Harry, "But the truth was, I was bad at it. Because I was a child. I wasn't ready for that weight. This struggle continued on because of my bad decisions."
"So one way or another, you won't harm another person ever again," said Harry, "This is ending today. I used to think I didn't have a choice. That prophecy bound me to you. But the only thing that bound us is your decision to kill me. So the only question is, do you actually feel any remorse? Any at all?"
"Remorse? For what?" laughed Riddle, "You know, I've killed a lot of wizards like you, who thought they could save me."
"You have," admitted Harry, "But that's the thing..."
Riddle shook his head. Then he lunged for his wand. But there was no chance. Harry's wand was trained right at him. Whatever arrogance had driven Riddle was badly misguided.
So Harry cast a single spell. This spell was not a curse, or designed to hurt people at all. It was the blood slowing spell, which worked by slowing the heart rate. Harry had cast it so that it would reduce Riddle's heart rate to 0. The spell hit Tom Riddle in the chest and his heart stopped. Riddle fell over, dead.
"...I never actually thought you could be saved."
Harry sighed with relief as he lowered his wand. It was over. It was finally over.
The sound of explosions had stopped above. Which meant that the aurors were now inside the Manor, or what was left of it.
"You all right?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harry quietly
Harry walked over to his friend and his girlfriend. Ginny gave Harry a quick hug. He could see in her eyes the relief that Riddle was finally dead. Then Hermione hugged him, for much longer. It felt good, and Hermione was also relieved, but that relief was less intense. Well, Hermione hadn't been possessed by Voldemort before, had she?
"Why was it so important you give him that chance?" asked Ginny, "You knew he couldn't be saved."
"He killed my parents," answered Harry, "I wanted him dead. But I couldn't allow myself to kill him for revenge."
"Harry, you don't have to apologize for wanting him dead," insisted Ginny.
"You're right," agreed Harry, "I don't. Because I didn't let him break me. I finished it on my terms, not his."
Harry led the girls out of the secret passage, out of the Malfoy's wine cellar. There were no signs of fighting. When Harry left the front door of Malfoy Manor he saw around ten Death Eaters tied up, including Alecto Carrow. He didn't see Draco.
"Draco?" he asked Kinsgsley, who was writing in a book as he looked at the prisoners, probably cataloging them.
"Escaped," said Kingsley, "Flew out on a broom."
Harry nodded as Amelia and Daphne suddenly appeared at the edge of the property.
"Harry?" asked Daphne.
"He's dead," said Harry, "Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, is dead."
A cheer went up from the various people who were present (aside from the Death Eaters, who were silent).
And that was when the celebrations began.
But Harry still had work to do. He still had to hunt down Draco and Snape.
Author's Note: This is the second to last chapter! After the last chapter there will be a sort of Appendix that I will add on to the end in lieu of an actual epilogue. It is not essential to the story but it will be a 'where are they now' for most of the characters. I know some people prefer closure for their characters, but the end of this story was always, by design, going to involve a lot of loose ends. So for those of you who want to know what happens after the story ends I have written a short piece to explain it as best as I could. I will also do a postmortem on the fic as a whole, so if you are interested to hear what I think about my own writing, well you'll be able to.
I rewrite stuff all the time in this story, but the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort was rewritten completely, and a lot. Harry, like in canon, starts monologuing, but it is toned down. A lot. The truth is, I got carried away initially. Still, the conversation he had with Voldemort is important. It finally allows Harry to be honest and show that he was never really comfortable being the leader of the Triumvirate.
Next Time: The final chapter. Harry and Ginny finally get some answers.