A/N oh my goodness guys I'm so sorry. I haven't posted in about 3 months and I know it's awful. My excuse (which isn't good enough) is I'm currently in exam year and have loads of revision, not enough spare time, and have been going through some 'stuff' lately. I don't think you missed it too much though; no one reviewed pestering me for an update anyway. No one reviewed at all in fact. I know this story has dragged on a lot and is probably quite crap now but I'm so thankful for those of you who've stuck around. Should have 1 more chapter after this and I will post it - once I've written it - at some point I promise. Anyway, enough about my excuses, on with the three month awaited update.
Chapter 43 - The Final Showdown
Hermione narrowly dodged the arrow which had zoomed in her direction, piercing the mask of a death eater mere metres away from her. Staring wildly around, she spotted the source and beamed. "They're here - Ron they're actually here!" She screamed with glee, hugging Ron round his middle in excitement as dozens of centaurs charged through the obliterated courtyard, bows drawn and hooves glinting. In front, glaring down at all of them with his glassy eyes was Firenze. Ron looked up through puffy eyes and nodded as if this was the least important thing in the world. "I knew Hagrid's would convince them. Where is Hagrid?" Asked Ginny from their side. Ron blanched, staring at Ginny, who none of them had realised was there. "Ron? You alright bro, looks like you've seen... Ron are you okay?" Ginny asked worriedly. Hermione swallowed, eyes widening. "Hermione?" The younger girl asked, looking between Ron and Hermione. Ron shook his head and turned away, unable to deal with the situation at hand. Hermione saw the confusion reflected in Ginny's eyes and wished she didn't have to be the one who broke the news. The news about her brave, brave brother.
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A mere thirty seconds later, Harry heard an agony filled scream behind him. Ginny. It wasn't a scream of physical pain, it was the scream of heartbreak, delivered from the gut. He could not look around, couldn't turn back to the castle. Not now. His words kept ringing in his ears. Voldemort's words. "Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. Come to the centre of the courtyard if you don't wish to watch anymore of your friends die. You have until midnight." He couldn't not go, not now that he knew he had to turn himself in. Not now that they were so close to ending this. He only hoped Ron and Hermione would understand, and that they broke the news to Ginny once the news of her brother had subsided. He couldn't bare the thought of causing her any more pain. But he knew that this was what he must do.
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"Hey, look who's come to help us," Theo grinned to Pansy, pointing at the hoard of centaurs. They'd heard Hagrid's angry shouts that they hadn't wanted to participate earlier, that they were too cowardly to join in. But now that Hagrid had been taken it seemed that the centaurs had had some sense kicked into them. "Yeah," Pansy breathed, smiling, "Guess we should get back to the fight then."
"Don't get hurt," Theo nodded.
"Same goes for you," Pansy laughed as they broke away from each other and watched as Peeves burst through a greenhouse roof with an armful of snargualuff pods and began pelting death eaters with them.
The pair of them strode into the chaos, easily able to blank out the thunderous and shrill voices around them. They passed Neville, who was emerging from the greenhouses, arms laden with what looked to be long, moving, green vines. "Alright Neville?" Theo called happily over to him. Neville nodded and beamed proudly.
"Thought this might come in handy!" Neville yelled, "Professor Sprout was using them but she left a load behind, thought I'd give the death eaters a little something to play with!" Upon closer inspection, Theo and Pansy unanimously realised that he was carrying a large armful of venomous tentacula. More of the spiky green lengths were trailing behind him, slithering along silently like snakes. Theo laughed and watched as Peeves let out a shriek of glee as he pelted masked figure after masked figure with the gooey, yellow pods. Death eaters let out horrified moans and noises of outrage as the slimy secretion burst in their hair and dripped down their robes, trickling down their necks and into their ears. "Bash 'em! Thrash 'em! Knock the old maskies off their feet!" Peeves squealed gleefully as he bombarded the death eaters with snargualuff pods.
"I never thought I'd say it, but look at Neville," Pansy whispered in shock. Neville was now charging straight through the mass of people, ordering the tentacula about, causing it to engulf people and drag them to the side. Meanwhile he was wielding the sword of Gryffindor, slashing and clashing at skin and robes, not caring if he scratched or fatally wounded the death eaters he struck. The blood streaked sword glinted in the fire light as he brought it down upon a particularly nasty looking villain and Pansy couldn't help but realise how much Neville had changed from the stuttering clumsy first year to... this. People around him actually stopped for entire seconds to stare at him, the determined look on his face, the set jaw, the power behind the sword - and the clothing. He was wearing a knitted jumper and honestly looked like he'd been dressed by his grandmother. But all the same, he looked awesome in it. "When we get out of here, I will pay Longbottom to start a 'wearing knitted jumper' craze," Theo muttered, grinning. Pansy burst into laughter as she too noticed the bloodstained, out of place garment.
"To be honest, I'd rather die in a knitted jumper than in these manky robes," she mused.
"Good thing you're not dying then isn't it," Theo heaved, brandishing his wand and stunning a nearby death eater.
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"Draco? Draco. Draco!" He felt someone grasp his shoulders and shake him. "Merlin no fuck Draco - DRACO!" Draco stirred and groggily raised his head. He had been lying across the rubble strewn cobblestone, unconscious and unmoving. He was grubby, sweaty and covered blood and by his feet lay another body; the crumpled, broken body of Scabior. He looked so relaxed, so peaceful. "Draco please for the love of fucking Merlin!" Draco suddenly realised that someone was shouting in his face, shaking his shoulders. He opened his eyes wearily and saw Blaise, face sweating and masked with terror. Draco simply stared at Blaise, his eyes unseeing. "You bastard," Blaise said shortly, dropping Draco and standing up, fuelled with anger. If he still had a care for the world, Draco would have been curious to know what had irked his friend so much but he simply looked at him, emotionlessly. "You twat! Merlin damn it Draco I thought you were fucking dead! What the hell? Stop lying around you prat and -!" Blaise yelled angrily, whirling around on the spot - but then he stopped and saw Draco. The boy in question hadn't moved from his slouched sitting position Blaise had hauled him into. His eyes were resting on the heap of leather and tangled locks of hair that was Scabior before him. Blaise' eyes slowly traveled over to Scabior's unmoving form. Realisation flooded into his eyes. "Merlin - Draco I... what happened?" He didn't even bother checking his pulse; he knew the snatcher was past saving.
"Scabior's dead," Draco stated flatly into the darkness. Blaise watched him, twiddling with his thumbs.
"Look come on, I know -"
"Snape's dead," Draco stated again in the same monotone voice.
"I - I know. But Draco we need to -"
"Father's dead," he said flatly. Emptily. Emotionlessly. Blaise turned to stare at him.
"Wh - what? How? Lucius is - what?" Blaise choked.
"I... I need... I can't. Please? I just..." and the blond boy trailed off into nothingness. A tear escaped Blaise's strong face as he sighed and sat down next to Draco in the middle of the war, which raged on around them on all sides. Any other day he'd think twice about sitting down in the middle of a danger zone. But today wasn't any other day. So he sat, silently. Unspeaking.
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"Neville behind you!" Luna screamed suddenly as a jet of light narrowly evaded Neville's left ear. He turned sharply and faced yet another death eater.
"Have you guys not had enough yet? It's a losing battle! Face it!" Neville roared through a throat parched with ashes and smoke at the masked figure.
"I wonder if that's what your parents said, Longbottom, when Bellatrix tortured them for information," a familiar voice smirked from within the mask. Neville froze, a sudden tremble passing through him. His eyes flitted around, but Luna had gone. No doubt caught up in another battle. "What did you just say?" Spat Neville, fury building up inside his bones.
"I said, Longbottom, I wonder if your loony parents told Bellatrix the same thing? Or maybe your loony girlfriend -"
"STUPIFEY!" Neville roared forcefully, abandoning the sword with a clatter. The large figure in front of him staggered sideways, clearly not expecting that.
"Crucio," spat the death eater and Neville, eyes widening in terror, attempted to deflect the curse. Surprisingly, shockingly, his wand deflected the torturous spell. A set of eyes widened beneath the mask. "Take it off you coward! Take off the mask! Go on! Or are you too ashamed to show your identity? Goyle!" Neville seethed furiously. Goyle snarled and ripped his mask off forcefully, brandishing his wand towards Neville.
"Happy now are you? Blood traitor!"
"You bet," Neville growled. They began to duel. Not tactfully not skilfully; the whole duel was aimed for offence, not defence. Neville groaned as he was faced suddenly with a heavy nosebleed caused by a nasty curse gone wrong, Goyle staggered and nearly fell over due to his robes catching alight. He removed his cloak, forgetting how to perform the simple charm to cast water to irradiate the flames.
Unsurprisingly, Neville came out top from the duel, covered in cuts and knowing the left side of his face would be heavily bruised if he made it to tomorrow. He walked over Goyle's unconscious body, feeling defiant and somewhat pleased he'd managed to stun the larger boy. He stooped down, fished out Goyle's wand from the pile of rubble below him, and snapped it in two with a satisfying crack. The people - they could be reawakened. But their ability to perform magic? Not a chance, unless they found a new wand. Neville grinned, a dull malice lighting his features before he picked up the sword and stormed off, a new found energy charging through his bones like an electric current.
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"My Lord," A masked figure said timidly from beside their master, "My Lord he isn't coming -"
"Silence, Alecto! The boy will come," Voldemort hissed. They were standing in the centre of the courtyard, surrounded by screams and vibrant colours of light. The darkness was descending down onto the crowd of witches and wizards threateningly, great clouds of smoke and fog forcing them to squint and stumble. The death eater Alecto bowed their face in embarrassment and shuffled back an inch.
"My Lord, I'd be most honoured to kill the boy. Just let me go and -"
"No! Bellatrix! The boy will come to me. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter," Voldemort spat.
"But if you allow me to -"
"Miss Lestrange if you do not hold your tongue -!" Voldemort began, enraged. Bellatrix fell silent and looked away, sullen faced and grouchy. Voldemort nodded in approval and continued looking out for the boy. He would come, he knew he would. If he didn't...
He let out an anguished sigh of impatience. It was a minute past midnight. And still he wasn't here? Didn't he hear him? He'd clearly said midnight! "Stupid boy," he thought impatiently. "Pity," he spoke aloud to his fellow death eaters, "I was hoping to do this in a clean manner. No worries, we'll just have to -"
"My Lord! My Lord he's here! The blood traitor is here!" Bellatrix squealed, interrupting Voldemort's dull monologue. Voldemort looked up sharply with hungry eyes, casting them around for the said boy. "Evening Tom, nice to see you this evening," the boy who lived spoke coolly, emerging out of the sea of fog and students. Voldemort pretended to ignore him, though he felt his blood boil at the mention of his filthy muggle father's name. Tom. What sort of a name was that anyway? And Marvolo! Honestly, if Potter wasn't to be the death of him then his own filthy name sure would be. "What am I talking about?" He thought moodily, "I'm not going to die, I made sure of that before the little brat was born!" With that Voldemort looked up at the boy and beamed a cold, mirthless grin.
"Harry Potter, how nice of you to come and join us. Come to die, Harry?" He hissed.
"Tell you what, Tom, how about -"
"You dare speak his - his... his birth name?!" Screeched Bellatrix furiously, pointing an accusing finger at Harry.
"Fine, let me rephrase that. Voldemort, how about I let you kill me, and then you and your army walk away and leave the school and it's people unharmed?" Harry proposed, knowing what the answer would be. Voldemort let out a high, cold laugh, eyes filling with glee at the boy's stupidity. Harry waited patiently for Voldemort to finish as Bellatrix glowered at Harry, eyes full of loathing. Voldemort's countenance suddenly grew cold and he snapped, "I'll tell you what, Potter, how about I kill you and then, once you're dead and out of the way I'll kill every last mudblood and blood traitor left on these filthy grounds, including your mudblood friend and the family of red headed blood traitors." Harry sighed internally, watching with dead eyes as Voldemort raised his wand arm. "Prepare to die, Harry Potter!" He spoke loud enough to attract the whole courtyard's attention. Everyone turned to watch, entranced. Duels were left disbanded and unfinished. Allies and enemies alike were all watching, waiting. "Harry," he heard a muffled female voice from ahead of him. "HARRY NO!" The voice screamed in horror. He saw a flash of red hair on top of the stone steps in the obliterated doorframe of the entrance hall and closed his eyes, apologising for everything. Ginny's face contorted with confused terror. "Are you ready?" Voldemort's gleeful hiss of a voice spoke to all. Harry grinned to death, and dropped his wand with a clatter. He was ready. All around him, he could hear stunned students and teachers roaring in uproar, yelling, screaming at him to pick up his wand and fight. "SILENCE!" Roared Voldemort as he flourished his wand, "The coward wishes to die," he added softly. The courtyard fell silent, as though a spell had muffled all noise. And then, with his words cracking through the air like a whip, Voldemort yelled the two very words Harry was ready to embrace: "Avada Kedavera!"
The green light shot out of the end of the elder wand like the fork of lightning which had shot across the sky at that very moment, only this was a deadly, electric emerald. The spell engulfed Harry within seconds and he felt the warm light licking his ears and caressing his head; he felt like he was falling into a warm bed with feather pillows and a soft blanket. Harry Potter closed his eyed and turned over and over in the sky, embracing death, knowing his time had come.
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"Harry, Harry NO! HARRY! Ron let GO OF ME! I - NO!"
"Silence! You silly little girl!" Voldemort roared to the night. Ginny did not fall silent.
"YOU MONSTER! You VILE, CRUEL, EVIL! YOU FOUL -" but Ron had dragged Ginny inside the castle, fearing for his sister's life. They heard Ginny's screams as she continued to put up a fight, but Voldemort took no notice.
"Is he dead?" Bellatrix asked quietly to her master. A rumour of whispers spread around the courtyard like a disease. "Is the boy dead?" She asked loudly to no one in particular, staring murderously down at the boy, her eyes full of pure excitement and venom. "Is he dead?! Check him! Someone check him!" No one moved. Neville and Luna stood near the front of the swarm of onlookers, clutching each other's arms fearfully. Hermione was still standing in the entrance hall door way, not too far from Ron and Ginny, eyes streaming. Pansy and Theo were breathing harshly, staring around in terror. Draco was no where to be seen, nor was Blaise or Narcissa. "Someone check the boy!" Bellatrix fumed angrily, pronouncing each word very carefully. Seamus and Dean edged closer to the front, Seamus gripping Dean's hand, horrorstruck and face very white. Dean looked shellshocked. Did he know his girlfriend was dead? Finally Dean stepped forward, shaking uncontrollably. All eyes were on him and Harry. He shouldered past some of the people in front, the ones who didn't part for him. Stumbling slightly, the young adult made his way over to the lifeless body, feeling every set of eyes on him.
Once he was next to Harry, he knelt and nudged him slightly with his hand, trying to check his pulse. Harry held his breath, slowing his pulse down until it was hopefully undetectable. He wasn't quite sure how or why he was alive still, only knowing that he had to end this. He had to. "He's dead," Dean whispered, shocked, hardly believing it.
"What's going on 'ere! What's going -" Hagrid, clothes ripped and covered in blood, was making his way through the crowd of people. "Harry? HARRY?!" He thundered, eyes widening at the sight of the boy on the cold, hard, stone floor. "You killed 'im!" Hagrid roared at Voldemort, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"That, I did," Voldemort smirked, turning to face as many people as he could. "HARRY POTTER, IS DEAD!" He thundered, beaming and laughing like a mad man. There was uproar, screams of horror and cheers of joy all mingled into one, loud anarchy.
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Hermione felt her feet begin to walk on their own accord. She was running, tears streaming down her face, confused and angry. This was not meant to be how it ended! Harry was meant to live! They were meant to defeat Voldemort. They were meant to win! She felt herself calling for the first person that came into her head. Falling into motionless people, tripping into bodies, slamming into pillars to dodge hoards of angry centaurs, Hermione searched for Draco. And Draco searched for her. "Draco you just -"
"Blaise, I'm going to find her and I swear to Merlin I'll stun her if she resists -"
"You can't just run away from this!" Blaise roared furiously.
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I INTEND ON DOING!" Draco screamed at him, lungs protesting painfully, "I'm going to get her and go. We'll live away from all this, on the run. Don't you see? We've lost! Potter's dead! It's all over! They're going to kill her!" He cried, fighting against the sea of bodies. "DRACO!" He heard a female voice shout.
"HERMIONE!" He screamed, fighting tooth and nail to get towards the mane of curls ahead of him.
"Draco I swear to Merlin you're not abandoning all this! We'll kill him, we just -"
But Draco wasn't listening. The only thought in his head was grab Hermione and run, no matter the cost.
And then she was there, in front of him, and the task was clear. But it wasn't that simple. Hermione flung herself at him, and all he knew then was that he had to protect her. Heck, she had to protect him too, they were both as broken as each other - although Draco would like to think that he had it worse. "We've got to go," Draco whispered to her. Hermione sprung apart from him.
"What do you mean go?" She asked, looking at him through swollen eyes.
"I mean," Draco said firmly, "We have to go. Leave. Now!"
"You know I won't do that," Hermione spat, her grief turning quickly into anger.
"This is not up for negotiation!" Draco yelled.
"I am not running away from this! You are not running away from this. Harry died so we could kill Voldemort. We've got to -"
"What do you mean he died so we could 'kill Voldemort'," Blaise asked suddenly from beside Draco.
"He was a horcrux, Snape knew and - and that's what the memory was," Hermione tried to explain. The words 'Harry's dead', still rang in her ears. Draco winced at the mention of Snape and tried to point out that this hardly made a difference, that the war was lost either way, but knew resistance against Hermione was futile.
"I guess we've got a dark wizard to kill then," Draco groaned darkly, voice still etched with grief. The empty voice of a man who'd given up.
They had a plain view of the circle in which Harry lay and Voldemort stood, with people of all morals standing around them, shouting and crying. Dean was back at Seamus' side, shaking silently with suppressed emotions. Hagrid stood with them, five foot taller than everyone around him and crying great, long belts of anguish.
"HARRY IS DEAD!" Voldemort repeated loudly, trying to hush everyone but in vain. "The boy who lived, is gone!" He laughed, "And now, you will all support me! Me! And no one else. You will follow me and ignore all of your other beliefs or... or you will die," he stuttered, not quite knowing what else to say.
"We will never follow you!" Someone shouted from the crowd, which parted slowly. People muttered in awe and shock as they stumbled and move back away from the man who'd spoke. Neville stood in the middle of the parted crowd, fists clenched, sword in hand, trembling.
"Excuse me?" Voldemort hissed.
"I said," Neville began more timidly, now face to face with Voldemort, "That we will never follow you!" There was a long, deadly pause. Then Voldemort spoke, a mild curiosity lacing his voice.
"What is your name boy?"
"Neville, Neville Longbottom," Neville trembled slightly. Someone suddenly burst into laughter and Neville saw Bellatrix, cackling madly.
"Aha, Longbottom, eh? I believe you are acquainted with young Bellatrix are you not?" Voldemort asked coolly, smirking.
"Yes," Neville nodded defiantly, "But my point still stands, we will never follow you!"
"And why is that?"
"Because it doesn't matter that Harry Potter's dead! He still lives, in here!" And with that he pointed dramatically to his heart, "And no matter what you think, we will always despise you, and will always carry on the fight against you. Just because we have Harry no longer, doesn't mean the rest of us will give up hope. You will never win. Never! And you know why? Because as long as we keep believing, you will become but a memory, a memory of evil and hatred. And your army? They'll be locked up along with the memory of your failure in the war!" Neville roared forcefully, standing his ground, shaking with emotion. And then something happened that plastered a look of utter disbelief on everyone's faces. Harry Potter stood up furiously and pointed his wand at Voldemort.
An uproar of cheers and whoops of joy followed this as everyone scurried backwards, allowing room for the final duel of the war to take place. Voldemort turned round, his eyes widening in horror and confusion. "I -" he stuttered.
"Goodbye Tom," Harry declared finally, "Expelliarmus!" He shouted, just as Voldemort cursed shrilly, "Avada Kerdavera!" The light met in the middle with an almighty crash, wisps of gold light ricocheting off in all directions. The light embraced both of them, creating a large gold net around them. Harry remembered this happening all those years ago in the graveyard of Great Hangleton, the day Lord Voldemort rose from the dead. He watched as Voldemort's face contorted into stress as he tried to keep a hold of his wand. Everyone stood silently with bated breath. Waiting. Hermione watched as the gold beam of light moved slowly towards Voldemort's wand. Draco took a sharp intake of breath as the beam suddenly jolted. The red sparks were now lessening as the green swam towards Harry's wand causing the thin strip of wood to shudder. And then, with one almighty push of energy, Harry forced the gold beam of light all the way back into Voldemort's wand. There was a tremendous bang. A flash of light. A scream. And Voldemort collapsed.
"My Lord?!" Bellatrix screamed as people watched with baited breath. Harry had almost begun to smile when Voldemort stood up abruptly, dusting off his robes. Ron, who'd joined Hermione and Draco with Ginny, swore loudly. "You've got to be fucking kidding me! There's another horcrux?!" The redhead yelled furiously.
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"No we destroyed them all Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed horrorstruck to Ron, confusion lacing the exhaustion marks on her face.
"Well we clearly haven't," Draco glowered mutinously.
"But you said -" Ginny began just as Pansy, Theo and Blaise rushed over to the four of them.
"What the hell just happened?!" Pansy shrieked shrilly.
"Yeah that wasn't meant to happen right?" Blaise clarified.
"No, no it was not meant to happen. I don't know what just happened! He's clearly - DUCK!" Hermione screamed as Charlie's dragon emitted a burst of flames mere inches away from them.
"We need to destroy that horcrux," Draco said fervently.
"But we don't know what it is!" Theo retorted.
"Harry Potter, what happened?" Luna asked with a hint of urgency in her voice. Harry had joined them, and didn't reply. "Harry!" Ron shouted exasperatedly, "This isn't the time for you to shut down, tell us what the fuck we need to do!"
"I don't know," the chosen one replied stonily after a moments hesitation, looking at the floor. He had sweat dripping down his forehead rapidly and his glasses were fogging up. Without warning, Ginny flung herself at the boy and slapped him across the face. "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" She screamed at him. Harry winced and stumbled back as Ron and Hermione both held the struggling feisty storm back. "You, you - I don't even have words to - !"
"Ginny - look I'm sorry -" Harry stuttered, suddenly snapping back into action.
"Sorry?!"
"Yes sorry! It had to be done, I'll - I'll explain later but can we please just get back to the topic at hand?!" Harry cried out frustratedly.
"Later when you're dead or later when you're not dead?!" She snarled. Everyone fell silent, excluding the screaming around them as the death eaters began killing with a new found motivation. Harry chose to ignore the question.
"Merlin Harry what happened down there?" Neville had just joined them and took his place beside Theo and Luna, panting and covered in spikes from the tentacula.
"Hmm, it would appear that he still has another horcrux that you've overlooked -"
"We know, Luna," Theo glowered.
"Well -" Luna began but Blaise held up a hand to silence her. Everyone looked at him, silently questioning why he'd stopped her from speaking. They then looked to where Blaise was pointing. To everyone's shock and to Draco's dismay, Narcissa was standing just behind the head boy and girl, chewing her lip anxiously and standing as rigid as a board. As one, the group of students, all apart from Draco, raised their wands.
"What are you doing here mother?" Draco sternly asked his mother after a few seconds of awkward silence in which Narcissa made eye contact with nobody.
"You're de - destroying horcruxes, aren't you," Narcissa spoke calmly, steadily, facing Draco alone and ignoring everyone else. Draco's face became more attentive as he fixed his mother with a hard stare.
"Go on," he encouraged. Narcissa looked behind her at the dark figure whose snake like face was enlightened by the green light emitted from his wand. "What do you know mother?" Draco persisted, raising his voice a little.
"Shh! Lower your voice you silly child!" She hissed. Draco stared at her, suddenly feeling very angry for unknown reasons. They were wasting time, they needed to get back to the war, to find the horcrux, to destroy - "It's the ring," she burst out quietly, breaking the tense silence, "The ring given to you when you started third year."
Biting her lip, Hermione felt a pang of pain. She remembered that ring, the ring Draco had in his bag on a chain and sometimes wore round his neck. He said it was the only thing he'd really been given by his parents. Kept it for sentimental value. Had he only known... "What do you mean 'it's the ring'? You can't be fucking serious?!" Draco exclaimed incredulously, snatching at the ring under his robes and tugging it over his head. Hermione could see the hurt flooding into his glassy eyes as he stared from his trinket to his mother in disbelief. "This was the only thing - the only thing you and father ever truly gave me! You said it was... was a family heirloom or something! You - what the fuck do you mean it's a horcrux?!" He spat. Narcissa actually let loose a sob as she tried to reach out for her boy but he stepped back, repulsed. "You - you - you gave your thirteen year old child a horcrux for a present? That's sick. That's messed up. Why would you do that?" Theo interjected, horror struck.
"I didn't know! Lucius told me it was cursed only last year. Even he wasn't supposed to know. He overheard -"
"You kept it from your son for over a year?!" Pansy fumed shrilly, staring daggers at Narcissa's pale body.
"With all he was going through -"
"Save it," Draco spat at his mother, whose eyes had widened in terror as he pointed his wand at her. Hermione's pupils dialated and she began to tell him that it wasn't worth it but he'd already began he spell. "Legilimens," he croaked, as he used the spell Snape had used on him so many times before.
He felt as though he'd just been hurled forwards, like a chair was tipping him towards the floor, sucking him down. He could see his mother's thoughts, recent, previous, ancient. Knowing what he had to look for, he flipped through his mother's memories like a diary, seeking out memories from last year, memories with his father, memories about the ring. He could feel the latter cool in his hand as he flicked through.
They all watched in silence. Harry felt somewhat uneasy; he'd been subject to this spell too many times either from Snape or Voldemort himself. Hermione had her hands clasped behind her back. Ron was staring at the perfectly innocent looking ring, almost positive that Narcissa was procrastinating and wasting their time.
Finally Draco staggered upright, breathing hard as Narcissa shook herself slightly. The head boy refused to make eye contact with anyone. "She's telling the truth," he hissed under his breath after mere seconds.
"You utter cow!" Someone roared and then the arguing kicked off. Harry and Ron were yelling that the ring had no relevance, that it shouldn't be a horcrux meanwhile Pansy and Theo were yelling at Narcissa about how evil she was. Hermione was trying to get to the ring to try and destroy it but in vain. Blaise said nothing, concentrating hard on something. Luna screamed. Neville was gone.
"Shut UP!" He roared, glaring at the witch who'd tortured his parents.
"Ooh touched a nerve did I? Is ickle Longbottom unhappy? Oh boo hoo. I say, shouldn't have got in the way. Crucio!" Bellatrix laughed manically, eyes glinting wildly.
"Neville! Leave him alone!" Luna screamed, abandoning the group of arguing teenagers, grabbing the sword and running towards Bellatrix and her boyfriend. Neville screamed an ear splitting scream as the blinding light injected knives into his body. "Funny, you look a lot like young daddy did before I made him loopy? How is mum and dad by the way? Remember me at all? Remember you?"
"Burn in hell," Neville choked as he coughed up blood. Then he saw, through his peripheral vision, a flash of blonde hair and a spark of metal.
Luna jumped, arms raised above her head, sword drawn to its fullest, a metre away from Bellatrix, and swung the blade straight through the death eater's neck. Blood spurted from the gaping hole and sprayed Luna across the face, arm and hand. The curse lifted, Neville straightened up, and Bellatrix's body crumpled to the floor in a heap. She was dead before she hit the ground. Red blood oozed from her skin, almost black. It clung to the sword as Luna withdrew it and staggered backwards, clutching the hilt for support, a look of complete and utter terror plastered upon her face. Neville stared up at her is disbelief, opened his mouth, and closed it again after realising he was lost for words.
Once the feeling had returned to his limbs, Neville stumbled upright, not taking his eyes off of his girlfriend. Luna was looking towards the ground, slightly horrified at what she'd just done, trembling like a leaf in a storm. "Luna," Neville rasped, voice hoarse from screaming. She couldn't look at him. "Luna," Neville repeated but this time her eyes travelled up from the ground to meet his gaze. "My God Luna you legend," Neville choked as he flung his arms around the petit, blood soaked form in front of him. The sword dropped to the ground with a clatter as Luna returned the gesture, tears of shock and trauma flooding her eyes. Neville wrapped his fingers around a lock of her blood-matted hair and cried for the end of the war, cried for his friends but most importantly he cried for the girl who'd just saved his life.
"Don't leave me," he mumbled vulnerably as Luna drew away. She smiled and answered with the single word, "Never." Picking up the sword, they both ran back to the huddle of squabbling teenagers, hand in hand. "I love you," Luna grinned crazily and pecked Neville on the cheek, who blushed bright crimson and beamed. "You just saved my life. Surely I should be saying that to you?" He replied once they'd pushed through the crowd to get to the bickering adults. "Hmm," was all she replied with.
"HE'S NOT TO BE TRUSTED HERMIONE! WHAT IF HIM AND HIS DEAR MOTHER ARE PLOTTING SOMETHING?!" Ron roared at the head girl who, fuelled with a sudden surge of anger, burst out, "You're such a HYPOCRITE! What has he EVER DONE TO YOU THIS YEAR?!"
"He broke my nose!"
"Because you stomped on my face!" Hermione screamed through clenched teeth.
"You're not still going on about that are you? I told you I'm -"
"RON JUST SHUT UP! That's NOT the point!"
"Harry don't do this again -" Ginny pleaded.
"Ginny -" Harry began.
"No I won't have it you don't have to be the chosen one you know!"
"You gave your son a horcrux?!" Pansy repeated in fury to Narcissa.
"Excuse me," Blaise snapped, tugging the ring from Draco's hand impatiently. "And that," he added, yanking the bloody sword from Luna's grip and dropping the ring on the floor. "Die!" He yelled, stabbing trinket with the sword. "Die! Die! Die! Die you mother fucking bastard!" Blaise yelled, driving the hilt down after every syllable. There was a horrendous screaming noise as black swirls squirted out of the ring and consumed them. Still, Blaise continued to stab the ring, coughing as the black smoke settled in his lungs. "Die!" He choked, stumbling yet still stabbing the ring with as much power as a bulldozer. Everyone around him was watching now, Hermione and Draco tensed, Pansy and Theo horrified, Ron, Harry, Luna and Neville with mouths agape. Even death eaters and teachers had stopped to stare at Blaise who was furiously stabbing the ring with every ounce of strength he could muster. "This is for my childhood!" Stab "This is for my friends!" Stab "And this one is for all the other people who've died today and every other day because of you and your followers!" Blaise roared. Stab. The already shattered ring exploded into blackness.
Everyone stood there, stunned and silent. Blaise, panting heavily after demonstrating his brief act of savagery, let loose a small chuckle and grimaced, clutching the sword for support. A sudden scream shattered the semi silence as the aftermath of the ring hit the tall, white, cloaked figure. It was a scream filled with such anguish and pain, that everyone froze and scarpered away from the centre of the courtyard. "You fool!" Voldemort cried, pointing a long, bony finger at Blaise, who'd began to back away with everyone else.
"Jokes on you bald man!" Blaise yelled furiously, brandishing the sword.
"Avada -" Voldemort begun.
"Stupifey!" Theo yelled from nowhere, causing Voldemort to backtrack and deflect the spell.
"Ah, Mr Nott, I believe? Your father's not very happy with you I must say, disappointed, I believe the word was. Or perhaps that was an understatement -"
"I don't give a damn what my father thinks!" Theo spat, surprising the people around him. Theo, usually calm and level headed, had lost all pragmatic thoughts.
"I will not be spoken to like tha-" Voldemort begun, enraged, but Draco had just stepped out into the middle of the courtyard.
"Draco no -" Hermione began shrilly.
"You never killed my mother. You never killed my father. Unlike Potter I had parents. Now I'd say Potter had it lucky. He didn't have to live with two parents, one a psycho murderer moulded into shape by you, one a terrified soul living in a shell of a body doing everything she can to protect her family without getting tortured. You ruined my childhood. You ruined every child here's childhood. I've seen more dead bodies in my life than years I've been alive. You caused that. You bring death everywhere you go. You speak of purity when there's nothing pure about you! You split your soul up and hid them in objects for fuck's sake. You're barely human! You call that purity? I call loving a person who loves you back with all their heart purity. And that's what I'm lucky to have with a woman who is of muggle descent. And you would have her and her parents dead. Well for once it isn't going to be famous Potter saving the day, it's gonna be the kid who grew up in a house where he was scared of stepping out of line, scared of being tortured by his father, the kid who was branded death eater by the age of sixteen by a tattoo on his forearm. I heard a prophecy, something about only one can live while the other survives? They thought that meant you or Potter but I think they're wrong. I think it really means you or the rest of civilisation because anyone here who thinks the world would live in peace with you around would be lying to themselves. So yeah. That's my little famous talk that the world will remember me by if this goes right. Expelliarmus!" Draco spoke loudly and clearly to the shocked silence for all to hear.
A jet of green light exploded from the tip of Voldemort's elder wand, a jet of red light from Draco's hawthorn wand. They collided with a bang like a shot gun, gold beams of light spindled out of the collision and across the sky, illuminating the blackening courtyard. The gold bead of light moved gradually from the middle of the two wands towards the tip of Voldemort's wand. Everyone watched as if in slow motion as Voldemort's face began to show a flicker of terror and panic. It was silent, silent apart from the interaction between the two wands, like a scratchy record. And then - "NOOOOO!" For a further time that evening, an ear piercing shriek burst into the air as Voldemort staggered backwards, wand pointing towards the sky with a thousand different sparks of colour shooting out of it in all directions. The dark lord was on his knees, as if he were begging for mercy or a second chance - but all his chances were up. And just like that, the overman of evil dispersed into black tendrils and mist.
Draco fell to his knees, shaking. He hadn't realised how cold it was despite the April warmth. He felt arms on him, heard voices, heard cheers, could hear pops of people disapperating, no doubt death eaters trying to make an escape. He wondered how they could be disapparating - no one could apparate or disapparate inside the grounds. Perhaps he was hearing things. He felt very faint. Perhaps if he just closed his eyes. Someone was embracing him. Who'd want to do that, he wondered briefly.
"Draco, Draco can you hear me? Draco! For Merlin's sake!" Hermione was yelling at him. Draco shook himself and stared at her. "I can't believe you did it! We won! Voldemort's dead! You did it! Draco you did it!" She squealed, tugging him up off the floor and pulling him into a tight hug. Now that was something he wouldn't forget. Other people were crowding around too, dozens of students, teachers and other wizarding folk were gathering around him and for once in his life, Draco felt like he belonged somewhere.
Soon the crowd had dispersed. Teachers and other adults had gone to look for stray death eaters to send them to Azkaban. It was no use, they'd be long gone by now. Others had gone to look for bodies. The great hall was being used as a temporary hospital and a space to store the dead. None of the newly found group of friends knew if they could face going in there right now.
All of a sudden, a tiny creature ran up to Draco and hugged his leg. Startled, Draco looked down to find none other than - "Dobby?!"
"Yes Sir, 'tis Dobby, Sir, and Master too!" The small elf beamed at both Draco and Harry, "and other Sirs and Misses! Dobby fought bravely, Sir, with the other house elves, Sir. We - we lost many good, loyal servants today Sir, but Dobby had knives sir and Dobby is stabbing the ankles and toes with knives and making the bad men hop and fall like corn Sir! But Dobby - Dobby must go Sir, Dobby must help Madam Pomfery in the great hall! Good luck Sirs and Misses! And - and Dobby is sorry for your losses," the small elf squeaked before running to catch up with Kreacher and Winky, who'd just entered what used to be the entrance hall.
From a distance they could see at least seven people trying to haul the three headed dog across the cobbles, whilst others were shifting the fallen acromantula. Charlie had landed his dragon and was with the other Weasleys, grieving for Percy. Hagrid and Grawp were limping their way into the entrance hall too, probably to stand in a long queue for medical attention. Hermione sighed. "This is going to take an awful lot of clearing up," she sighed.
"The sooner the better," Harry said fervently.
"Look, I've got to go see mum and dad. See you later in the hall?" Ron asked and, after a quick nod from Harry and Hermione, darted off the group of red heads.
Hermione, Draco, Harry, Pansy and Theo watched as Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson brought in a further body on a stretcher. Hermione's stomach dropped. Upon closer inspection, she saw it to be none other than Collin Creevey. She was sure he wasn't old enough to be up here. Wasn't he supposed to be safe down in the chamber? "Oh my God," she mumbled, aghast at the death of someone so young. Draco put an arm around her protectively as he thought about everything to come. His face still twinged from Fenrir's attack but he didn't even think about it. All that mattered now was that they helped with the bodies, the physical and mental healing of the living, and restoring the castle. He sniffed. Theo was gone. "Pansy where's Theo?" Draco asked croakily.
"Oh shit he's gone. Did he go with Ron?"
"No he's over there," Luna sighed, pointing to a figure who looked out of their mind with worry. And it was then that it struck Draco. It was then that it struck all of them. Something nearby exploded and let off a poof of smoke. More people were bringing more bodies in on stretchers. More flames seemed to be erupting around them. It was then that they realised that Theo wasn't the only person missing.
A/N so I'd written everything apart from the last 21 paragraphs before Christmas (btw hope you all had an amazing one if you celebrate it!) so I hope the end of the chapter wasn't too rushed. I realised I couldn't let you guys down and that I needed to update soon so I wrote this as best I could given my current circumstances. I'll try and make the finale chapter as good as possible, it'll be a long one.