A/N: Harry Potter and his world belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers and anyone that has received licensing rights. I am grateful she gives us the privilege of playing in her world.

A/N2: As always, a huge thanks to my beta Ravenclaw Midnight Blue. There are some good stories at his page that I recommend.

-oOo-

Chapter 72

-oOo-

Night of the New Moon

Ritual Room

Harry felt the magic arc and crackle around him. Someone - no a few people - were screaming in deathly pain. As the magic danced around him he pulled on it. Astoria had screamed just a few seconds ago... or was it hours...? He really couldn't tell. All he knew was that he felt himself pulling on the magic. As he did, the cuffs on his wrists started to burn.

He groaned as he forced his body to move. It protested.

There was someone saying something in a truly angry voice. Harry caught the blur of what looked like someone holding a wand. Feeling the magic surging through the wand, he willed his magic to respond like it had in the courtroom. It caught the spell and drove it into the ground.

The resulting light and surge of magic had him gasping for a second before he rolled over and forced himself to stand. He could see the blurry white man lying on the ground. He felt Astoria to his right, Luna almost straight before him.

The white figure radiated an ill magic. A magic he didn't want touching his girls. "Custodi intra foveam extra circulum," a soft voice called out. It took a second for him to realize it was his own voice. It was not as strong as he was used to. The magic that was infusing the room responded to his command though, making a semi-white dome that caught him and the white man inside while leaving Astoria and Luna outside.

Neither Harry or the man would be able to leave until Harry was dead and the magic in the room ran out.

The white figure groaned as it rolled over. "I see my mistake now. I was going to let you all accept me of your own free will. The ritual would take better that way. Now you will all pay before I get what I want."

Harry pulled on the magic of the circle, the power sapping cuffs growing unbearably hot. Harry brushed it aside. His whole body hurt. What was one more pain at the moment?

"Over my dead body," Harry said, his voice sounding stronger.

Voldemort pushed himself to his feet. "I only need your soul to die, not your body. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry swiped his hand up. "Turres," he just about whispered. The stone of the floor responded instantly, making a solid looking barrier that was about six feet tall and three wide. The deadly green spell hit the wall, just barely chipping it. The cuffs were starting to burn.

"Frango," Harry muttered, clamping his right hand over his left wrist cuff. There was the sound of snapping metal and it fell off. Angry red welts, cuts, scabs and bubbly skin marked where the cuff had been.

"Avada Kedavra!" the voice of Voldemort cried out again.

"Turres," Harry said almost casually and another wall came up with the same effect. Four more times this was repeated before he was surrounded by a rough semi-circle of stone wall panels.

"How are you doing that!?" the man roared in exasperation.

"Frango," he repeated on his other wrist before conjuring one more panel as the man tried to flank him.

As it fell off, Harry could really feel the true power of the room and even some of his own magic start to return. He had no clue how much his magic had almost been drained from him.

He caught the white figure out of the corner of his eye. Ducking, a green light flew over his head and hit one of the wall panels, finally cracking it. "No one should be that strong," the bone white man growled.

Harry jumped as two more spells came at him. He stumbled and rolled as he landed, his body not really responding to his needs. It did let him avoid a few more spells. "Serpensortia," Harry called out. A large deadly viper came out. Kill, Harry rasped to it.

The man laughed. "You forget who I am," the man called out. Kill the bastard, Voldemort commanded the snake.

The snake didn't turn, instead struck out at Voldemort. There was a burst of fire and Harry didn't wait. His mind and body were starting to kick in. Moving his hand over his body, five more serpents evolved out of the ground. Kill, he hissed.

That was the catalyst for the real action to start. Harry realized he was facing Voldemort now. It was blurry without his glasses, but he caught the fire whip heading towards his snakes. Harry reached into the magic around him. "Hastam ignis!"

The tip of Voldemort's fire whip suddenly took a turn, missing the snakes and turned back on its caster, a deadly looking white hot spear tip on the end of the fire whip. A shield was up, and it resounded with a solid gong.

Jamming his hand into the ground he conjured spears, silver tipped and long, like the ones used on the nundu. Ropes sprang up everywhere. Voldemort, seeming caught off guard at the sudden onslaught from someone he thought close to death, was now on the defensive. Voldemort's shields were fast and quick. Another fire whip came out and Harry was sure the snakes were all cut in half. Cutting curses left Harry's hands, flying around the man before Harry found himself dodging one of his own spears and then pulling up a wall to block two more.

He was thrown backwards, the wall exploding and one of the spears nicking his side. He cried out in pain and called up another wall as spells started to come in fast and furious. He responded by banishing the bits of the first wall at Voldemort and then conjuring a few more spears.

By the cry of pain, Harry knew something had hit the wanker. "Aquis," Harry commanded and a large section of the circle, inches deep, turned to water and he willed it around the wall like a rushing river. "Spears glaciei."

He knew that the edge of the water would now be made of spears of ice.

His magic blindly sought out Voldemort. Without his glasses and still feeling weak and in pain, he wasn't sure about his aim or where things really were. His magic felt something. He rolled and avoided a green curse, followed by a few of other colours. He rolled into the puddle of water and was about to do something else when he felt the water freezing around him. "Ignis qui," he cried out. All the water and ice around him flashed into steam. He cried out as his body was burned by his own spell. In his panic he hadn't thought of the consequences.

It was the distraction Voldemort had been waiting for and Harry was suddenly bound in ropes. They were tight and he felt the air being squeezed out of him. He hit the floor and his head whacked hard against the stone.

His head was swimming and the magic around him was starting to seep away. It was there, he just couldn't pull in more magic. His body was reaching its limit after days of being exposed to the elements, the potions, the magic that had started to take over his body, and just plain exhaustion.

He was struggling to breathe as the visage of a bone white face with red eyes and almost no nose came before him. Harry noticed some dark blood seeping down a few scratches on Voldemort's face and the man holding his side, with more blood seeping out.

Voldemort looked to be breathing a little heavy as well. "I never expected a fight like that from you," the man said. When he spat, some blood was mixed in. "How do you command snakes as though you were their master? I am the only one that can claim that."

Harry chuckled, feeling lightheaded. "Didn't you know? We are related," Harry told him.

The man snarled. "I am the only descendant of the House of Peverell. You are just some mudblood whore's spawn."

There was an explosion and the whole room shook. Voldemort looked up. "Impossible," the man said, standing. There was another explosion and Harry felt like the floor bucked below him.

Harry spoke up, hoping if he kept the Dark Wanker distracted then his girls and mother and sister would be rescued. The man was stuck in the dome still. "Kill me or take my soul, you will never find out. You already tempted fate with your father's bones. What do you think may happen if you were to ignite the old blood feud between our two sides of our families?"

"Crucio!"

Harry screamed and tried to wriggle, finding the ropes tightening and his screams growing weaker as his chest felt like it was about to break under the pressure of the ropes.

There was another explosion, the floor shook violently enough Voldemort stumbled a little and the pain stopped. Harry felt tears on his cheeks and all he could do was try to gasp for breath.

"Crucio!"

Harry screamed again. The pain was unbearable. His screams quickly dying as the ropes tightened more. Then the spell suddenly stopped.

There was a quick exchange of spell fire, Voldemort stepping back, a shield coming up before he returned a killing curse and something else. It was a nasty looking orange spell. A second later there was a gong that reverberated through the chamber. One of the spells from the newcomer cut down the front of the ropes and he felt like he could breathe again.

"Leave Harry alone," a very familiar voice spoke as the gong sound stopped.

"Neville Longbottom. You escaped me last year. You will not do so again," Voldemort snarled.

"I didn't come to escape. I came to get my friends."

-oOo-

Ritual Chamber

Harry and You-Know-Who were going back and forth with intent to kill each other. Harry wasn't as fast as normal, even so, he was still going toe-to-toe with the insane Wanker. Astoria had to get in to help Harry. First, she had to get off this Alter.

Pulling on more magic she didn't think she had, she whispered, "Libera me."

The straps suddenly let go. She moved and a spell flew past her head.

She ducked and gave out a cry as she reeled from a bolt of pain up her broken arm.

"It's Longbottom," someone yelled behind them.

There was a rainbow of colours behind her. She rolled off the other side to see four people in black robes at the door they had come through.

Behind her she heard someone cry out. She didn't think it was Harry.

Raising her good arm, she channeled magic from the room. It was thick in the air. "Globus igneus."

A giant ball of fire leapt from her hand. It hit the ground just behind the men. She willed all her energy into it. When it hit the floor, it exploded. A visible wave of air preceded the wave of fire. She was thrown and wasn't sure if she passed out from landing on her bad arm or not. All she knew was that Hermione was suddenly at her side. "You have to get up. Come on."

"I have her," a man with long black hair and black robes told Hermione. It took her a second to realize it was Sirius. "You are all getting out of here. I can't believe you and Neville snuck in with the team. NEVILLE, NO!"

Astoria had a blanket wrapped around her as Remus and Sirius tried to shuffle her and the inconsolable Pansy out of the room. Shards of pain lanced through her broken arm and shoulder as she was shuffled. To anyone it was apparent her shoulder had been dislocated and her arm broke in at least two spots. She was jammed into someone's arms as her legs refused to walk for a moment. "Get them out of here!" Sirius yelled over the fight in the hall and the one starting behind them.

"We have to get Harry out of there!" Remus yelled back.

"We can't leave Neville!" Hermione cried out.

"Hermione, you have to go with the other girls. Protect them. I will do what I can for Neville," Sirius commanded. "Remus, if you don't go with them, I swear I will stun you and have someone levitate you out of here."

"That is Harry and Neville in there!" Remus responded angrily.

"And that is your wife dueling Bellatrix and a few others! Get the girls out of here, and then help Lily. Get to your daughter. I have Harry and Neville."

Astoria was suddenly moving. She stopped. "Harry!" she called out.

Luna was being carried by a burly redhead. Hermione moved to her side to support her. "They got him. Time to go," the big man with red hair ordered. She was being shuffled away again.

She looked up to see Lily. Standing in the centre of the hall, she was flinging magic back and forth with a cackling woman. Two other bodies were at the woman's feet. Neither was talking. A spell clipped Lily and she spun around, just missing getting hit by a killing curse.

As tired as Astoria was, as painful her arm and shoulder were, she was not leaving without Harry at her side or anyone else she cared for. The Dark Lord and his minions were going to kill Harry and she could not have that. The words of protection were on her lips when shields and parts of the wall suddenly sprang before them, blocking spells that made it look like a rainbow had just exploded. A dozen or more people in black robes were suddenly attacking them from a side corridor.

Luna was put on her feet, her eyes unfocused, but looking as though she was coming back. The man that had been carrying her turned to protect them with a shield. Hermione let her go to put her own spells into the mix. Stumbling, Astoria reached out her good hand to a wall as the people before them started a desperate battle of survival. The blanket fell as she instinctively pulled on the magic that was thrumming through the ground from the ritual circle. "Sagitta lapis de hostibus meis quaerere!"

Dozens of stone tipped arrows leapt from the floor and walls around them. Her intent was to cause as much havoc as she could, and then go back for Harry. The sounds from the fight with Lily and Bellatrix suddenly stopped as her arrows raced down the hall. Many being destroyed in the spell fire. As she pulled on the magic around them, more kept coming. A scream echoed down the hall. Then another. Then two more.

Lily stumbled among them, blood on her arm and a cut on her head. "Get them out of here," she ordered. It was a surreal scene as a blue light surrounded her and every spell deflected off or around her. "I am going to get my son."

The tenor of the fight changed after Lily walked by. Astoria was pushed down the other hall. As her hand left the wall, the arrows stopped forming. Two of the people that had been with them were on the floor. One had a few arrows in them. The other looking up with lifeless eyes, probably from a killing curse as she saw no other signs of damage.

"Harry," she called out before crying out in pain as her left side of her body was jostled. She fell to the floor at the pain, her knees meeting the floor hard.

"Don't hurt her," Luna yelled, moving to her right side and wrapping some of the blanket around her. "Harry will follow us," Luna comforted her.

"Get a bloody move on," Moody called out as the fighting intensified again.

Luna cried out as though in deep agony. Astoria caught her. "Harry," the girl got out after she stopped screaming. Luna shook and then screamed again. Luna arched her back. It hit Astoria that Harry was in pain. There was a need to stop this, to save Harry. The need pulled on the magic around them again. With a scream, she let out a burst of energy. Her only intent to stop Harry and Luna from hurting, getting revenge and stop those that had brought them here.

It came out as a burst of lavender magic. It cracked and arced lurid white lightening as it barreled down the hall in all directions. No one was spared the destructive nature of her rage and anguish.

Allies were toppled over or thrown into walls as the magic rushed over them. It did nothing else to those helping them. Down the hall, ragged screams filled the air as the magic crashed through or went around shields. It smashed through solid walls of conjured stone. The lightening magnified and arced over the Death Eaters and their allies bodies whenever it struck one. Any wand the lightening touched exploded, sending splinters everywhere and the cores burning like fireworks, scorching the hands holding them. Any in a holster did the same.

She slumped, only Luna keeping her from falling face first. A few of those with them were quick to recover and she saw them get up as she leaned heavily against Luna.

"Dear Merlin," a tall woman said looking down the hall.

Astoria gasped out, "Harry," before her eyes fluttered back into her head.

-oOo-

Ritual Room

Voldemort laughed. "Once my Death Eaters kill your rescue party, you will be mine."

"You have to get me first," Neville growled.

Harry could make out the forms of the people. He never wished more that he had good vision instead of his damned glasses. Not that he could do much with the way he was just lying on the floor, panting and watching spells race back and forth between his best mate and the Dark Wanker.

"Vinea incrementum," Neville called out. It was the spell he liked to use to make vines. Harry saw part of the circle start to crawl.

As he lay there, Harry felt some of the magic seeping back into him. He had almost pushed himself to breaking his core. He felt it. Harry didn't have much time to let it register before Neville yelled, "HARRY!"

He looked back to see a green light. A thick vine suddenly whipped before him, blowing up into a splash of green gook and causing him to roll over.

There was a mirthless chuckle. "Oh, I haven't had this much of a challenge in a long time. I was starting to think Potter might be the child, not you, Longbottom. Some of the things Potter has done are impressive. He seems rather lack luster today though, but you are good."

"I had some good teachers," Neville shot back.

Harry forced himself up on one arm. It shook from all the abuse he had taken and the aftereffects of the Cruciatus curse. He groaned as his body protested the movement. Red marks covered him where the ropes had dug in or dragged across his skin. He couldn't stop panting, as though he just couldn't get a full breath. "Specula."

Part of the floor transfigured below his hand, and he had glasses now. The small amount of power it took had his arms shaking enough he almost fell over.

"Let's see how well you learned," Voldemort snarled and the duel continued.

Harry was able to get the glasses to his face. They weren't perfect, but he could mostly see. Slightly blurred figures moved. Green. Red. Blue. Orange. More green, all leapt from Voldemort's wand. Neville was caught by the ferocity and speed of the spells and stepped back. Rocks, plants, shields of all types came up to block things. Suddenly Voldemort yelled out. Harry turned back to the man. Vines had come around his back and grabbed his ankles. Harry watched as Voldemort fell face first.

Neville flicked his wand and then arced it. "Premo!"

The vines shot out and started to wrap around Voldemort. Harry thought Neville might have the bastard until the vines suddenly caught fire. It was like what Harry had done a few times. Neville was fast. He spun, sending a spell down the vines that froze them. When the two spells hit there was an explosion.

Harry was thrown again and rolled into the barrier he had made. His head was resting on his arm. Neville was faster at stumbling onto his feet. Voldemort was kneeling, taking in deep breaths. "I am going to kill you," Voldemort snarled, his wand coming up. It was a strange green light that left his wand. It was darker, with black whisps in it.

Neville put up a shield. Something told Harry that wouldn't stop it. "TURRES," Harry said with as much force as he could. His magic raced to Neville, throwing up a wall just as the spell reached his friend. He felt the strain on his core as a sharp pain down his spine. He yelled in pain. The magic around him responded, adding its own strength. The wall exploded when the spell impacted it.

Neville went flying and Voldemort cried out. "POTTER! Avada Kedavra!"

He didn't feel like he had any more strength and just fell limp. His eyes watched the spell speed towards him. He had a stray thought that he would have liked to tell everyone one more time he loved them. Closing his eyes, he waited for the impact. Instead, there was the sound of breaking stone. He opened his eyes to see the dust cloud of a stone filtering through the air.

-oOo-

The Hallway...

Lily Potter-Lupin was known to have a temper. That temper came with a breath of spells and esoteric magical knowledge that could rival many of the greatest wizards and witches of the past millennia.

It was this temper, the temper of her ancestors, that saw her rise to her feet when Remus broke the cuffs. The little magic she had been able to preserve in herself was finally free and flared as she pulled on the magic around them.

Harry was an extremely powerful person. Her son had an inherent grasp of how magic worked, how it flowed and like every mage had an area that was his greatest strength. There was little doubt her son was on a path to become one of the greatest rune masters ever known.

On the other hand, his theory was lacking somewhat in the last few years. He just hadn't had the time to delve into what she had been waiting to teach him. He was mature for his age, brilliant beyond belief, but he just wasn't ready for what knowledge Lily had amassed since she realized she was a mage in her sixth year at Hogwarts.

It was this knowledge she used to pull on the magic around them. When the surge occurred nearby, she felt it. It was the sacrifice of souls that poured and summoned more magic than she thought she had ever felt in one place.

Harry had experienced some of this. She had felt it when he had fought the dragons. He was doing some of that all the time to build his core, and do some of the things that would burn out any normal wizard. He did not know how to do it consciously yet. It was a dangerous technique that was better left for a mage to either figure out on their own as they grew into their powers and could handle the influx, or to be trained in it once the mage understood their true powers.

Her son was close, but not ready yet.

A fully matured and realized mage, like she was, had no trouble channeling the immense reserve of magic around them. She took in a few breaths as Calla was taken away. Her daughter would be safe now, even if the cries pulled at her heart.

Her adoptive daughters and son needed her more at that moment.

As she breathed, she felt the rush of ecstasy as the magic swirled around her core and she felt her power return. She had been taken down at the Burrow because she had tried to save those two Aurors that were still standing with her. If she had lashed out instead of conjuring a shield, they may still be alive, and she would not have been here.

"Lily, we have to get to them," Remus snapped at her.

She opened her eyes, and most around her took a step back. Many had seen the few times her son's eyes had glowed with his power. Only Remus and Sirius had really seen a truly pissed Lily Potter-Lupin.

"Get anyone out you can. I am going after Voldemort."

Her husband nodded and she rushed out of the room, feeling the magic being slung nearby.

The first group with Calla had been able to quickly get out. Now, the Death Eaters were fully aware of what was going on, and a battle was already starting as she walked out of the cell. Her fingers moved just enough to deflect spells or block them with a bit of conjured stone. She reached an intersection and heard the cackling of a woman she had grown to hate even more in the last few days.

A killing curse took an Auror in red robes straight to the face. Turning, she saw Bellatrix. Lily conjured a few more stones to stop the spells coming from the two Death Eaters by her side. "Bellatrix Lestrange," Lily croaked. Her throat was dry from how little water she had drunk recently.

The woman laughed. "Lily Potter," the woman said in a sickly-sweet voice. "I can't wait to get your daughter. The screams of ones that small always make the parents weep."

Lily let out a cry of rage. Her hands moved and the air was full of cutting curses. She watched Bellatrix's eyes grow wide at the dozen or more curses. All three threw up shields. The ones besides the crazed woman had typical Protego shields. Bellatrix put up some silver shield Lily was not familiar with. It deflected the cutters into the shields beside her. With each shield assaulted by four or more cutters they collapsed, and the figures were each hit by at least two of her cutters. A head rolled off one and the other fell, cut clean in half.

Lily panted. She had not been able to pull enough magic into her yet.

The silver shield dropped, the smile looking strained on Bellatrix's face. "So, no playing today?"

Lily stepped forward and started to fling any debris she could see. The rocks transfigured in midair into long spears. Bellatrix moved, conjuring the silver shield again. It made a solid clang as the spears hit the shield. A second later the shield dropped, and the crazy woman dodged a few spears as she started to fling spells back. Lily wasn't sure if she was quite conscious of everything they threw at each other. Another Auror fell that had run to help her. Lily let out a roar. "Cuspides acus caligo!"

A mist of sparkling silver raced before her. It swallowed the spells Bellatrix cast at her. Lily pushed it down the hall. In a few seconds Bellatrix screamed in pain. Lily thought she had her before the cloud of needles suddenly turned into water and fell like rain around Bellatrix. The woman was bleeding from pricks all over any exposed skin surface. She was laughing. "I didn't think you would stoop to such dark magic."

"Magic is only dark with the intent. My only intent is to save my son and my daughters." Lily swung her arm up and more spears formed and shot down the hall as Bellatrix snarled and started to duel again. It was fast. It was furious. Lily pulled in more magic and thought she might have the duel won before something suddenly hit her side and she screamed as she was tossed to the side. It was the only thing that saved her from a green killing curse.

When she landed she rolled, fighting through the pain. The floor exploded where her head had just been. Without thinking she slapped her hand on the stone floor. It was as though the entire hall was a wave of rock running down a tube. The stone floor rolled and crested just before Bellatrix. The woman tried her silver shield again. The rock wave crashed into the barrier from all sides, shattering it and sending Bellatrix to the floor. The woman brought her wand up before the wave crashed into her. There was the disgusting squelching sound of her body being crushed below the rock.

Lily lay on the floor for a moment, breathing hard. She used the time to pull in more magic. She had to get to her son.

After a moment, she forced herself up, pulling in more magic. She needed all she could to get to Harry. Turning around, she could see a room with a semi-white dome. Neville was fighting Voldemort behind the dome. Spells, stone arrows and other debris was flying across her path to get to the room. Lily knew she had to get there. She took a step and then another, willing the magic around her to let her get to the boys.

"Get them out of here," she ordered to Remus and the others as she walked past the hallway. "I am going to get my son."

Her attention was on the dome. When she got there, Neville was just barely holding his own. She wanted to step in and save her son and his friend. They both had a skill that no one their age should but it wasn't enough to overcome Voldemort. Stepping up to the barrier, she knew she would not be able to pass through. She wasn't sure how Neville would have managed it. The barrier was an intent magic, like most mages, meant to keep everyone out. Harry was trying to protect everyone again.

Moving to put a hand on the barrier, she just nodded when Sirius stepped to her side.

Neville was putting up a good fight until there was a huge explosion in the dome. Neville and Voldemort said something to each other she couldn't make out.

Her anger flared that the two boys were in there. Her eye caught Harry laying on the floor, his body shaking and breathing heavily. He was also naked as the day she had brought him into this world and covered in runes. It was a scene that almost broke her heart.

Her magic pulsed, finally understanding what Harry had done. His intent was to protect his girls, sister and her. He must not have known anyone else was here. It was why she was not allowed to pass, but Neville was. She quickly tried to force her magic to allow her entry. It took far longer to change what her son had done before her hand suddenly pushed through the changed ward.

She stepped in to see a green spell racing towards Harry. She used her magic to rip up a stone from the floor and it exploded just a few feet from his face.

"Leave my son and Neville alone, Tom!" she spat at the man.

The naked man, whose skin was bone white, had ragged burn marks on his chest. He showed signs that the two boys had landed some good hits. His malevolent red eyes dilated. The man did not look pleased to see her.

"Lily Potter. We finally meet. I had the pleasure of meeting your husband three times," the man said casually. "I am going to have the pleasure of using your son now too. Longbottom will die first."

"You touch either of them and I will make you suffer for a hundred years before I finally end you. As for James, he escaped or beat your Death Eaters each time," she spat at the man again.

Voldemort laughed. "He was not as lucky the fourth time. Of course, the justice of having one of his best friends kill him while his back was turned was quite nice."

Her rage broke and she stepped forward, not uttering a sound and letting her will just guide her magic. Long lances of red light leapt out of her hand. The man moved and had to shield as they arced to follow him.

She didn't wait for another chance as she summoned chains from the floor, cast more of the red lances and then pulled on the stone around her, willing it into three large stags. More red lances thrown at Voldemort had the man back peddling and blocking them. Her chains were transfigured into nasty looking snakes by Voldemort that were banished at her.

Her hand swiped down, and the snakes were turned into just mist.

With a yell, Voldemort managed to vanish her lances.

"I admit, I only ever thought Dumbledore would be able to meet my wand," Voldemort commented, eyeing her.

"I suppose you find you can't run? My son is talented, but he has not yet learned what his true power can be. He is close. I, on the other hand, know far more. If you want to give me back my wand, you can find out what I can really do," Lily told him. Before she stopped speaking, she was launching more of the red lances.

They were a construct of her imagination that would pierce any barrier and cause the blood to congeal inside the body. It was a dark and dangerous spell, but she was not willing to let this insane man get any of her children or others again.

Voldemort got off a killing curse before he was back peddling again. One of her stags stepped before it and blew up into stone. She banished the pieces and with a howl of rage, the man started to attack her.

It was a flurry of motion between them. Voldemort was one to prefer attack, so he came after her with every nasty spell he could. Her body was still feeling weak, so she was forced now to defend herself for every spell she got off.

Neither opponent managed to land a thing.

Voldemort used spells that she mostly recognized. Blood-boiling curses. Bone breakers. Blasting hexes. A really nasty brain crusher. Bone dissolving hexes. These were all spread between the much more numerous killing curses. The man was not able to use some of the more impressive summoning and transfiguration she knew the man liked to show off with. She was keeping up a fast pace between his spells, allowing both to only react and cast quickly.

She responded with more of her own creations. Rock Arrows. Her stags. More of the red lances. Cutting and impaling curses. Ropes and chains with nasty barbs all flung towards him.

Voldemort turned her last stag into rubble and then just stood there for a moment. They were both breathing hard and she was about to start again when she felt a surge of magic racing towards them.

Voldemort must have thought her attention turning towards the lavender light bursting out of the doorway was enough to get her. He launched a few spells, including a green killing curse.

She fell to the floor, her hand moving up and making a stone barrier on either side of her. When the burst of lavender magic hit the barrier, it broke through it and the world exploded into a cacophony of sound, gale force winds and light. She heard the man scream in agony.

After a moment, she found herself staggering to her feet. The magic around them was dissipating. The potential of the circle now spent. As it ebbed, she found herself doing the same.

Looking around, the chamber was a wreck of rubble and damage from spells. She turned to look for Voldemort, her hand coming up and her magic at the ready.

Not far away, the man was lying on the floor. His body was dirty, bloody and had small spots of burnt skin here and there. The man was holding his wand hand up. It was blackened, shards of wood were embedded in his hand.

She walked over, stumbling on some of the debris.

"You Potters ruin everything!"

Lily snorted. "James once told me there was a Potter at the core of every major conflict with a dark wizard in England for the last eight hundred years," Lily informed the man. The red eyes of the man turned to her. "There is a reason that we used to be called the 'Defenders of the Light' or the 'Lances of the Light'."

The man's eyes grew wide. "Those were just legends. I did my research. There is no prophecy about anything like that."

She shook her head. It was obvious the man was fading. Without any soul anchors and his body obviously at a point of magical exhaustion, she felt the darkest dark wizard of their time was just about snuffed out.

"That is where you are wrong, Tom. For someone who believes in prophecy and fairy tales like the Deathly Hallows, why is it so impossible there may be other prophecies out there, or ones you know are misinterpreted?"

The man looked at her. "There is only one prophecy that is keeping me from achieving my goals. You will not defeat me this day."

She chuckled. "Again, so self-centered. I have news for you. Albus was closer to understanding it than he thought, but he was blinded by his own belief in his own intelligence, like you."

Voldemort turned his head and spat. A splattering of blood tainted spit landed at her feet. "And a mere girl like you understands more and is more powerful than the greatest wizards of the millennia!"

"Of the century, yes. You, Albus and Grindelwald were the strongest in our century. Probably in the last few centuries. Two of them because of the wand they once held. The last because of the perversion he did with his soul," she conceded. "Of the millennia, hardly. Without your enhancements and the elder wand, I am not sure if you or Albus would even rank in the last two thousand years if we were to look at everyone. My son, on the other hand, I have a feeling he may give the likes of Merlin a run for his money if he wanted. His power is naturally gained and is blessed by magic herself. All mages are. We are the champions that keep the balance. We arise when needed. But, again, that brings us into the nature of prophecy."

"The prophecy said Longbottom and I were destined to finish this. You interfere in things you don't understand and will reap the consequences!" Voldemort angrily retorted.

"You see, that is where some of the prophecies contradict each other. I think that you and Dumbledore got the wrong prophecies. I am not sure you - the Dark Lord- or Neville to be concerned with the prophecy. There are other, older prophecies that must be fulfilled first. One of the most important ones involves my son, his family and his friends, and the destruction of a Dark Lord. If you had completed this ceremony, things might have gone differently. Instead, my son and his friends will usher in an age where the likes of you will have a hard time rising to power," she informed him.

"Not if I kill you first, you mudblood creature!" Voldemort screamed, casting some wandless magic. She moved her hand and the nasty-looking electric blue spell sailed by her, pushed by her magic. A nasty looking cutting curse raced past her. It just barely missed her. When she looked back, dark blood was pooling around Voldemort. He was cut in half across his belly. The man looked like he was struggling to get up with the distraction, not realizing he was going to be dead in a moment. All he managed to do was pull his torso away from his lower section, increasing the blood flow. "Why can't I move my legs?" Voldemort asked, suddenly losing focus on her.

She looked to her right to see Neville standing. His wand was out as he steadied himself with a wide stance. The boy's lip was split, and his left hand dripped some blood. She turned back to Tom Riddle.

"You are nothing more than an animal, Tom. One that should be put out of their misery." Her tone was hard.

The man turned his eyes back to her. They were not as sharp or red as a moment ago, already taking on some of the lifelessness of death. The man's constructed body fought against the fact it was dying. She pointed a finger at him and willed a simple piercing hex. It struck one of his eyes and continued on out through the back of his head. Voldemort slumped to the ground, not moving.

She looked at the body.

The man that had led the people to kill her James and so many others, the man who tried to cheat death by making some of the foulest pieces of magic and the man who tried to kill her son, Neville and daughters, was now dead himself.

"Lily, is he finished!?" a voice came to her.

"Yes. Where is Harry?" she asked, turning and stumbling. Remus moved to catch her.

"Sirius has him. They are rushing him to Andi," Remus informed her.

Lily let out a breath. She had to get to him. "Take me to Calla and Harry," she said before feeling her body slump in her husband's arms.

-oOo-

libera me = free me

hastam ignis = fire spear

Aquis = raging water

spears glaciei = spears of ice

ignis qui = the flash of fire

Sagitta lapis de hostibus meis quaerere = arrows of stone seek out my enemies

globus igneus = ball of fire

Vinea incrementum = vine growth (assume this a plant spell, the one Neville used against the dragon and other times)

specula = glasses

premo = constrict

cuspides acus caligo = mist of needles