Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Twenty-Seven
By Lily in a Pond
Disclaimer: Ehh…losing sleep, so no funnies. HP ain't mine.
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"Harry, what's really going on? The Harry I know wouldn't hesitate to kill Voldemort."
Harry avoided Ron's eyes. "Nothing," he replied. "Nothing at all."
"Just tell me. I know this isn't how you normally act or anything, but – " He was cut off when a small brown-haired girl collided with them.
"Harry – take – take this potion – now – " she wheezed, thrusting a minute vial in Harry's hands.
"Why? Are you going to poison me?" Harry growled, looking suspiciously at Jenna Marie Rose. Jenna Marie shook her head furiously. But Harry cut her off before she could open her mouth. "You can forget about it because I don't take things from strangers," he stubbornly said.
Ron coughed, "Riddle's diary!" More coughing and "Firebolt!" and "Invisibility Cloak!" were heard.
"Those were brief lapses of judgment," Harry muttered.
"TAKE IT!" Jenna Marie screamed hysterically.
"WHY?" Harry yelled back.
"YOU'RE WASTING PRECIOUS TIME, JUST DO IT, YOU GREAT GIT!"
"I DON'T WANT TO, SHORTY!"
Jenna Marie gasped dramatically. "TOO BAD, SCARHEAD, JUST DRINK THE BLOODY THING!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ron roared, making all birdlike creatures in a ten-mile radius fly away in fear and surprise. "While you two are wasting time arguing like children, Voldemort and his followers could be anywhere right now!"
Harry wiped a bit of spittle off his nose. "I will not drink the potion, thank you very much," he said primly.
Jenna Marie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alrighty, plan B," she sighed. She looked at Ron. "You might want to sit down for this……………….because you two are about to become……"
"FATHERS!"
Harry and Ron fell off the tree stump comically. Jenna Marie giggled, and then immediately stopped as Harry and Ron glared at her.
"I really have no idea why I thought that'd be funny," she mumbled. "Anyway, Harry, you're under the effects of the Possession Potion. Because the Possession Potion gives the brewer complete control over the drinker, something inside you has stopped you every single time you even think of killing Voldemort. You must drink this antidote very quickly because even though Professor Snape and I made it, it is the weaker version as we brewed it fairly quickly. The estimated time you have to move on your free will is about an hour. After that, you're under de Vellofides' control again."
Harry's eyes widened. "Professor de Vellofides? No, he can't be doing this!"
"He is, Harry," Jenna Marie said quietly. "He's been fooling you all along. He's one of Voldemort's top Death Eaters. Mallini de Vellofides is a Dark Potions specialist; not even Professor Snape's potion making skills are up to his level."
Harry stood up shakily. "N-no," he faltered. "This – this – this isn't true! You and Snape are just trying to get me to drink that potion, which will probably kill me!" he stammered, raising a shaking finger at Jenna Marie. As she opened her mouth, Harry pushed her away. "Don't come near me! You – you – you can't be trusted!"
Jenna Marie looked helplessly at the retreating figure of Harry, who was sprinting furiously towards the castle.
"Well," she said sadly. "I tried. And, at this rate, he's going to run onto the Quidditch Pitch, where Voldemort will be waiting with a group of Death Eaters."
"I thought he was still crying," Ron commented.
"Oh, no, he's recovered and is now alive and kicking."
"I see," Ron replied.
Then there was silence. A few leaves rustled. The pitter-patter of rain increased. A rabbit darted out from a tree stump and quickly scurried away a moment later. Then Ron looked towards the sky.
"Oi! Corona! Are we supposed to wait for you to do something about the situation or what?"
The rain ceased for a moment. Then a box labeled, "Go," dropped onto Ron's head. Ron groaned, rubbed his head, and opened the box. Inside were little game tiles, an instruction packet, and a piece of parchment bearing the words, "Go after Harry, you idiot," printed on it.
"Whoa," Ron breathed. "I always knew the time guys were God."
The words changed to "I'm not God, just an innocent little Timekeeper with no intention of helping mere mortals. Seriously, I don't. Why are you still looking at me like that? I don't!"
Ron grinned and stuffed the note in his pocket. "This is the night!" he yelled, shattering the window of a random man in Antarctica. "This is the night where I prove that Ron Weasley is not just a sidekick!" Jenna Marie snorted. "I will prevail!" Ron continued, ignoring Jenna Marie. "For ye from above has sent me, Ronald Bilius Weasley, the divine message of yonder past! Forsooth, I shall be the hero who triumphs over evil! I am the chosen one! The one with the power! Thy might and thy brain shall prevail over all! I, Ronald Bilius Weasley will stand up and crush the mighty Lord Voldemort!"
Jenna Marie stared at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief. "…I think Ernie pulls off Shakespeare better."
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Blaise Zabini groggily rolled over on his back and gingerly sat up a moment later, rubbing his head and looking around at the rugged landscape, trying to figure out how much time had elapsed and what had happened to him. All he remembered was seeing a bright flash of light, and then descending into darkness. Of course, it was still relatively dark now, but there was a tad of moonlight shining through the thick pine trees.
Someone next to him stirred and Blaise stifled a scream. Not only would the scream wake him/her/it up, it would be extremely undignified and more importantly, unmanly. Blaise settled for a classic look of surprise. After a moment of silent debate within his head, he reached over and poked the person.
"Urg…" he/she/it groaned, rolling over. Blaise poked him/her/it again. He/she/it swatted at his head angrily. Blaise shrugged.
"Tough luck, mate. I'm leaving you." He placed his wand in the center of his palm. "I'm guessing Harry'll need reinforcements in the castle. Point me."
After walking with his eyes glued on his palm for five minutes and miraculously, not bumping into anything, Blaise finally collided with a solid figure and immediately stumbled on the ground and fell. Looking up, he saw the pale, peaky, frightened face of Ginny Weasley.
"Weaselette! What are you doing here?"
Ginny sighed in relief as she realized the person she had run into wasn't a Death Eatert. "Harry told me to scout for survivors and to take them back to the castle to heal their injuries. I've already found two; you're my third."
"Not exactly…I don't have any injuries, so I guess that doesn't count. Anyway, can I go with you to the castle? It's probably better if we go together, for safety reasons and because there's some serious butt-kicking I need to do up there…"
"Sure," Ginny smiled. "But I think Hermione and Malfoy are already on the job."
"Aw, Malfoy's alive? Well, that stinks," Blaise grumbled. "I was really hoping he'd die and I'd get his money."
"Did it ever occur to you that out of all the people who would get the money, it would be his mother and father? And then it'll be Bellatrix Lestrange? And then Tonks?" Ginny asked, levitating the unconscious bodies of Ernie Macmillan and Terry Boot.
"Who's that?"
"Just some crazy witch who can probably hex anyone's arse to next year and back in the blink of an eye while tripping over her own feet, but still managing to cast it perfectly."
"Tonks, what a funny name…" Blaise mused. "Ow!"
Ginny peered down at the shadowy thing Blaise had tripped over. "I think…this is a body!" Getting down on her hands and knees, Ginny quickly cleansed the mud off of the person's features. Turning the body over, she saw the familiar face of Colin Creevey. Only now, the eyes that had once shone with hope and determination were dull and empty. Colin Creevey was…
"Dead," Blaise breathed. Ginny straightened up and set her jaw.
"Search the area," she commanded sharply. "If you see any signs of Death Eaters, report immediately back to me. Colin…I never thought you would be one of the first to die."
A few minutes later, Blaise and Ginny had unearthed two Death Eaters from the mud. From a quick medical diagnosis Ginny performed, it was clear that Colin had not died in vain. He had taken two others down with him.
Ginny sighed and looked at Colin's body. "We'll need to have a funeral for him when this is over. But for now, we'll just levitate him and bring him back to the castle for some more cleaning up. Come on, let's go."
As Ginny left the area with three bodies floating behind her, Blaise turned back to the dead Death Eaters and looked emotionlessly at them. He then dropped down to his knees before the body of the female Death Eater. Whispering a soft prayer, he took off his family amulet and laid it delicately on her chest. The diamond falcon seemed to twinkle like the brightest star in the sky as the moonlight shone on it.
As Blaise stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants, he looked back once more on the body. Emerald green eyes met identical emerald green eyes, and he whispered,
"Goodbye."
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"Get him!" Jenna Marie yelled as Ron tackled Harry to the ground.
"Now!" Ron bellowed, and Jenna Marie poured the potion in his mouth as Ron tipped Harry's head back and pinched his nose shut.
The effects were immediate. Harry's eyes lost the dullness to them and gained the green fire Ron was used. While Jenna Marie sighed happily and closed the empty glass vial, Ron stared suspiciously at Harry.
His doubts were washed away when Harry straightened up and announced loudly that he was ready to kill an old, pale, pasty, bald maniac with no nose and an ugly, outdated tattoo.
"Yeah!" Ron punched the air with his tightly clenched fist. "Harry James Potter is back!"
Harry paid no attention to him and instead marched determinedly to the Quidditch Pitch, where Ron and Jenna Marie could already see flocks of black appearing.
With a jolt, Ron realized he was meant to follow Harry. Biding a quick farewell to Jenna Marie, he took off after Harry. Jenna Marie clutched the vial to her chest and watched as two men, not boys, took the risk of a lifetime.
They'll survive, she assured herself. The hero will always survive.
But as she convinced herself that good will always prevail over evil, she bade a silent farewell to the men she had known for less than an hour.
Just in case they didn't come back.
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Ginny and Blaise gasped in unison as an electrical bolt rushed through their bodies. After the shock, Blaise looked at Ginny and in one glance, he realized she was thinking the same thing he was. The only thought running through their minds was: Go to the Quidditch Pitch.
Without another glance at the castle, they took off as fast as they could.
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Pansy slumped against the stone wall as she felt a notion jerk though her body. Go to the Quidditch Pitch, she thought. Go to the Quidditch Pitch.
"Pansy? Are you all right?" Mandy asked worriedly. Pansy nodded, clutching her heart. The jolt had somehow triggered a reaction there.
"I'm fine," Pansy managed out. "I just need to rest for a little bit."
Leave Mandy, she thought. Then she shook her head furiously. Leave Mandy? What kind of an idea was that? She couldn't just leave her here in the castle!
"Seriously, what's wrong?" Mandy demanded, placing her hands on Pansy's shoulders. Pansy wrenched herself free from Mandy's iron grip.
"Nothing, nothing, I just have to go to the Quidditch Pitch!"
An undecipherable look crossed Mandy's features, and in an instant, Pansy knew Mandy was well informed of the Death Eaters gathering there. "If you think I'm just going to stand back and watch my best friend get slaughtered by a bunch of outdated, perverted, and just plain pretentious freaks, you're wrong! If we get slaughtered, we get slaughtered together," she finished firmly. Pansy stared at her a moment, her mind screaming, No! Leave her! Don't let her go to the Quidditch Pitch! Then, a smile broke out between the two girls' features as Pansy shoved that nagging little voice back into her head, and nodded determinedly.
"We're going together." As soon as she said that, an ominous feeling passed through Pansy's body and she shuddered. "Come on, let's go."
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"Potter…who gave you the antidote?" Voldemort hissed, fury evident in his red eyes. Harry stood tall, staring back at him. Ron looked between the two.
"Er, Harry? You know that he asked you a question, right?"
"I know, Ron," Harry said, between clenched teeth. "But there's no point – I'm not answering it."
Voldemort's eyes narrowed even more. "Was it Snape? I'd been suspecting there was a traitor in my midst."
"It wasn't Snape. As a matter of fact," Harry smiled, "it was a very talented teenager." From behind the bushes, Jenna Marie blushed.
"A teenager," Voldemort repeated skeptically. "A teenager made the antidote for the Possession Potion in less than a day. A teenager." Harry nodded, and smirked at him.
"My followers just pwned yours."
As Voldemort shook with fury, Mandy and Pansy arrived, panting heavily. "Where – is – he?" Mandy choked out.
"Voldemort?" Harry asked. "He's having a panic attack at the thought of a mere fifteen-year-old making an antidote to a potion that would usually take a great amount of skill and knowledge to make."
Pansy nodded, and motioned for Harry and Mandy to come closer. "Alright, Harry, what battle formations do you have?"
Harry looked confused. "Battle formations?"
Pansy blinked. "You don't have any battle formations?" she hissed, eyes widening. Harry shook his head. "You idiot!" she shrieked. "You can't just run in there and attack Voldemort head-on, you need a strategy!"
"Pansy's the best at making strategies," Mandy announced proudly.
"Actually, I am," Ron interjected. Mandy rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Two great minds are better than one."
"Silence!" Voldemort yelled, his robes flowing from behind him dramatically. "I have waited so long for this day, Potter. I've waited sixteen damn years! But now, here you are…just standing there, waiting for me to kill you. Tell me your last words, Potter…"
Harry clenched his jaw and held his wand so tightly in his hand, he thought it would snap in two.
"Very well. I bid you farewell, Harry Potter."
Harry saw in slow motion the eerie green curse come at him, and before he had a chance to dodge, someone pulled him down and a multitude of curses and hexes exploded in the air.
As Harry got up, his left leg aching from the sudden drop to the ground, he saw that one by one, his friends were appearing from the trees, the bushes, and the air.
Hermione, Malfoy, Neville, Parvati, Justin, Hannah, Anthony, Lisa, Morag, and Theo. They were all there. Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, and another half a dozen Aurors had appeared out of nowhere, on brooms. Younger students, Dennis Creevey, Melody Brocklehurst, and Diana Greengrass, were there as well, though looking as if they had gone through Hell and back. And best of all, Hagrid was there.
Harry's face stretched out into a smile and inside him, something swelled. His heart was filled with love, with happiness, with joy, and with hope.
"Alright, people, we're forgetting tactics," Pansy announced. Ron nodded.
"Let's just go in there, and curse the crap out of them!" he yelled, and everyone cheered. Raising a loud cry, the group of Aurors and Hogwarts students rushed to the crowd of Death Eaters, and the battle began.
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"Stupefy!" Theodore Nott roared, stunning a Death Eater. A well-placed kick to the ribs sent another one flying.
Blaise rushed into the clearing, gasping for breath. "Stupefy!" he choked out, his wand shaking horribly. The weakly colored beam of light shuddered in the air, then died.
"Blaise! Are you alright?" Theo asked worriedly. "Stupefy!" he yelled at the man creeping up behind him. Blaise's body moved and his face twisted.
"Save – yourself – more – coming – " he wheezed. He was right. Only a second after this registered in Theo's mind, footsteps could be heard thudding through the ground, approaching the circle of trees.
So this is how it ends, Theo thought blankly. As the footsteps came closer and closer, Theo closed his eyes and prepared for the blow.
Then, a shriek of "Imitari!" and "Stupefy!" pierced Theo's mind.
"What the - ?"
No less than twenty copies of Mandy Brocklehurst were striding towards him and Blaise.
"Brocklehurst? Is that really you?"
The Mandys sighed in unison. "Of course. Finite Incantatem," one of them muttered, and the others reverted back into her body. "Who did you think I was? Gilderoy Lockhart?" she snorted. "Come on, let's get you to Ginny," she said to Blaise, flicking her wand and levitating him into the air. "And you – " she scrunched up her nose and scrutinized Theo. " – Well, you………you just keep on doing your thing – whatever that little show of cowardice was."
Theo sniffed. "I'll have you know I could've taken those Death Eaters out any time I wanted."
"Really? So when were you planning on 'taking them out'? While you were nearly peeing your trousers in fear?" Mandy sneered. "Face it, Theo, you couldn't stand a chance against them. It was thirty against one. Even my twenty-four replicas had some trouble getting all of them down." She sighed. "I don't mean to sound condescending or anything – "
"Too late," Theo interrupted. Mandy glared at him.
"As I was saying, I mean to sound condescending. You need to get over your superiority complex, Nott, and actually open your eyes to see that no one is perfect! Get over it, and get over yourself." And with that, Mandy stalked off, Blaise trailing behind her in the air.
Theo threw his hands up. "I try to be friendly, and I get told off! What a witch…"
"I heard that!" Mandy yelled
"I don't care!" Theo yelled back, his voice echoing slightly. A Jelly-Legs Jinx came flying out of nowhere; Theo dodged it just in time.
"We're on the same team, you deranged lunatic!"
There was silence. Then another hex came hurtling at top speed. Theo sighed as he flattened himself to the ground.
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"A requiem for the dead," Melody Brocklehurst announced. "By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes…"
"…Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond," Diana Greengrass joined in, their smooth voices harmonizing nicely.
"Where me and my true love were ever want to gae…on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond."
"Oh, ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road…and I'll be in Scotland afore ye…but me and my true love will never meet again…on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond."
"Oh, ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road…and I'll be in Scotland afore ye…but me and my true love will never meet again…on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond," they finished in unison.
Dennis Creevey, Anthony Goldstein, Hannah Abbott, and Parvati Patil stared at the duo. "What the hell?"
"We're fighting a battle here – "
" – And you're just sitting there – "
" – Without any regard to our surroundings – "
" – While singing Loch Lomond!" Parvati finished. Melody shot her a glare. But before she could open her mouth, a loud crackling noise made her go immediately on alert.
Snap.
Crunch.
Rustle.
"Shh…" someone whispered. The seventh years looked at each other and smirked in unison. Diana, Melody, and Dennis, younger and retaining less experience than the others, shivered as they saw the purely evil looks.
"Transterrania!" Hannah Abbott yelled, pointing her wand at the ground, and the earth underneath them shuddered and broke into deep chasms, stretching a long distance. The earth was, literally, moving across. While the Death Eaters emitted yells of surprise, Parvati took this opportunity to show off her favorite technique.
"Arturbo!" she cried, and a strong gust of wind nearly swept everyone off their feet. Craning their necks, they could see the wind increasing speeds in an unbelievably short time. Four loud thumps on wood were heard a moment later, and slight moaning could be detected.
Anthony's eyes blazed with fire. "I will not stand back and let a pair of girls finish this off!" Dennis Creevey stared at him.
"You are so sexist," he muttered. Anthony shot him a blinding grin.
"That may be, oh-so-young-one, but I will lay the finishing blow!" Then, all humor and foolishness gone, he bellowed, "Incendio maxima!" A huge burst of flame shot out of his wand, and by guiding the wand in a tight circle, the roar of fire spreading on ground was heard. Anthony stepped back, looking satisfied.
"Hey…" Parvati started slowly, "isn't that Mandy's trademark spell?"
Anthony snorted. "Anyone with half a brain could see that her trademark spell is 'Oppugno'."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "You must have half a brain, then. Her trademark spell is obviously the Conjunction Counter."
"Where the hell did you come up with that? The Conjunction Counter was only mentioned once in passing in our Transfiguration textbooks, and we've never even seen her do it!" Anthony sneered. Hannah simply looked at him. Anthony stared back.
"Imitari," Melody said loudly, before the two could engage in an all-out catfight.
Anthony and Hannah stopped their staring contest. "What?"
"That's her trademark spell, douche bags. Imitari – the Imitation Charm," Diana sneered, folding her arms across her chest and giving an arrogant sniff.
"Imitari?" Anthony repeated. "But – but – but – but how can that be?!"
Diana and Melody sighed in unison.
"It just is," Dennis Creevey supplied, and Diana and Melody nodded.
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"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry ducked and covered his head and the green jet of light flew over him, barely missing his head by an inch.
"Still hiding, Potter? You can't hide forever! Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort cackled. As Harry crouched down behind a tree, he couldn't help but think Voldemort had some serious problems with his sanity. Wincing as the tree branches were whipped off by another Killing Curse, Harry stood up shakily and held his wand in front of him defensively.
"Come on, Harry! You can do it!" Ron bellowed, as he dueled with a masked Death Eater. Hearing Ron's voice broke the mental barrier in Harry's mind and the little ray of warmth in his heart exploded to a burning flame. I can do this, he thought. I've been waiting all my life for this moment, and I'm not to give it up so easily. I can do it!
Pushing all his strength into the spell, Harry darted out from behind the tree and roared, "Avada Kedavra!" Seeing Voldemort's eyes widen in shock, Harry grinned triumphantly, and for one moment, he felt as though all his dreams were coming true. But a second later, and Voldemort was still standing. Harry blinked in surprise and rubbed his eyes. How did Voldemort survive the Killing Curse?
Voldemort, seeing Harry's shock on his face, smirked. "There's such a word in the English language called 'jump'," he said, his amusement undisguised in his voice.
Harry was shaking all over with fury, and his hands were clenched into fists. His head felt numb. The one time he had really wanted to do it, Voldemort had dodged it. Voldemort had f-ing dodged it! he screamed mentally.
In fact, he was so caught up in fury, he failed to notice Voldemort smirking and holding his wand up. Only when Hermione's scream pierced his ears did he realize it was too late. Voldemort had cast the Killing Curse. And someone else had taken it for Harry. Someone, who, in the direst of situations, had thought nothing of herself and thoughtlessly jumped in front of Harry, protecting him and sacrificing her life.
As Harry looked down into the now lifeless blue eyes of Mandy Brocklehurst, her blonde hair spread around her like an angel's, he felt a pain he had never experienced before. The pain of knowing that someone, who Harry did not even know very well, had willingly sacrificed her life for him – to protect him, and to make sure he survived.
This was the final blow. Turning an impassive, but icy cold gaze on Voldemort, Harry reached for his wand. Harry noted that it was possibly the first time he'd seen Voldemotr look cautious of a mere seventeen-year-old boy.
Channeling all his magic, and all his leftover strength, Harry gripped his wand with both hands and yelled,
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
OoOoOoO
A/N – And so, after at least five excruciating chapters you guys had to sit through, the Final Battle is finally over. Whew! I think if I postponed it on longer, someone would've tracked me down and killed me!
There wasn't a lot of DMHG in this chapter, but now that the battle's finally over, I can start writing some seriously fluffy stuff. However, there're still some loose ends to tie up, so there will probably be three chapters after this. But the story's almost finished! Don't forget the last chapter's going to be the epilogue!
Also, about the whole "Death will Live" thing that was at the end of Chapter 26, it will be explained in the next chapter because...well, let's just say Voldemort isn't entirely dead and the only person who can truly kill him is dead...or is he? (HINT HINT!)
Sad, painful, weep-your-hearts-out deaths in this chapter…Mandy, Colin, a certain female Death Eater that has absolutely no relation to Blaise Zabini…
Anyway, moving on…
Thanks to all my reviewers, I know I should be typing up responses to you guys or at least putting your names here, instead of the general term 'reviewers', but I am absolutely dead after typing two thousand words in two hours. If I ever have time, I'll make sure to do it.
Thanks for reading!
- Lily in a Pond