Chapter 23: Final Battle

Lilly Evans House

James, Lilly, and Severus stood stunned as Sofia suddenly began bleeding all over the carpet.

"I'll call an ambulance," Lilly said.

Lilly turned and picked up the phone.

"No, wait! I got a faster way. Grab her feet. Help me take her outside." James said.

"What are you doing Potter? Moving her will make it worse." Severus objected.

"I know what I'm doing!" James told Lilly.

She nodded, her face was as pale as Sofia's. Together they moved her to the curb.

"How are you going to...?" Lilly started to ask.

James threw a smile at Lilly and stuck out his thumb. "Knight Bus."

Suddenly a bus appeared within seconds, a gust of wind nearly knocking them over. "Does anyone need a ride?"

A shrunken head dangling from the dashboard took one look at the injured girl and shook his head. "She doesn't look good. Probably gonna die."

"Shut up!" Lilly, James, and Severus all shouted.

"Get us to Saint Mungo's Hospital as fast as you can!" James ordered.

Hogwarts
Riddle's Office

Riddle heard a knock at his door. "Come."

A student poked his head in. "Sir? You said to inform you the second Professor Dumbledore left Hogwarts. She's gone."

"Thank you, Mr. Brown," Riddle said.

The student left as Riddle leaned back in his chair. Riddle put his palms together in thought. So, Ariana Dumbledore finally made her move.

It was time.

An owl flew in dropping a letter on his desk. It was a letter from Severus. Riddle read it as his face paled. "Sofia."

Saint Mungos Hospital

James, Lilly, and Severus were in the waiting room when a nurse finally came out. They rushed over to her as the nurse held out a hand.

"She's going to be okay. She lost a lot of blood, but she'll recover. If she arrived any later, we would have lost her. She needs some rest. You can go in, but only for a moment." The nurse said.

They all went in as Sofia was asleep. She still looked pale from the blood loss.

Riddle came rushing in, startling everyone.

"Mr. Riddle? We're not even sure how she was injured." James said.

Riddle held out a hand. "Leave us alone for a moment."

They all left, closing the door so they could have privacy.

Riddle leaned in, whispering in Sofia's ear. "Take care Sofia."

With that, Riddle kissed her gently on the side of her face and walked out. He gestured to James who rushed over.

"There's something I need to do. Can you look after Sofia for me Potter?" Riddle asked.

James frowned but nodded. "Of course, sir."

Sirus Black and Remus Lupin arrived at the hospital, looking a bit dirty. "Hey, guys. How is Sofia?"

"How'd you guys find out so fast?" James asked.

"The Hospital has an emergency contact system and let us know what happened. They opened a floo network in the hospital so we could visit." Remus said.

Lilly stuck her head out of Sofia's room. "She just woke up."

"Great, we'll be there in a second," James said.

Remus joined Lilly and went inside.

"Who's the redhead?" Sirus whispered at his friend.

"My future wife," James said.

"Oh ok," Sirius said as they followed their friends.

Department of Mysteries
The Veil Room

Ariana waited as she was told. Merrick walked out of the Veil towards her and down the steps. He no longer wore his mask. Newt's pale face sneered down at the woman. With a click, Merrick sealed the doors shut.

"I'm done working for you. Free my brother as you promised." Ariana demanded.

"One last thing and he's free. Kill Tom Riddle." Merrick demanded.

"If you can." Riddle's voice came out of nowhere.

Ariana looked around as Riddle slid off the invisibility cloak. The Elder wand was in his hand.

She raised her wand but Riddle was faster. With one flick she was thrown across the room and knocked unconscious.

"I heard you've been looking for me. Are you going to kill me again?" Newt smiled.

"There are other ways to stop you," Riddle said.

Merrick laughed heartily. "The self-sacrifice spell? We both know you think way too highly of yourself to pull that off. You think that wand can hurt me?"

"Let's find out," Riddle said raising the elder wand.

Saint Mungo's Hospital

Sofia wiped her face, red from crying. She told them everything about Merrick, how she was from another timeline and what she discovered about Ariana Dumbledore. "Riddle was trying to protect me the entire time."

Lilly leaned on the edge of her bed. James handed her a glass of water.

Sofia groaned in pain trying to sit up.

"Hey, easy," Lilly said, helping her.

"Thanks for visiting guys." Sofia gave a weak smile.

"Yeah, even Riddle came. He only stayed for a moment though." Sirius said.

"What? When?" Sofia asked.

"You were asleep," James said.

"Did he say anything?" Sofia said.

"He asked me to look after you," James said.

Sofia looked troubled.

"Maybe you should get some more rest," Lilly said.

"Actually that's a great idea. Can one of you get me a sleeping potion from the nurse? Please hurry." Sofia said.

Lupin vanished out of the room and came back with a small vial of liquid. "Here ya go."

Severus looked suspiciously at Sofia.

"Thanks for everything guys," Sofia said. She drank it down quickly, falling asleep right away.

"Guess we should come back later," Sirus said.

Sofia's body vanished in front of everyone.

Dream World

Sofia called out to Ignotus. He appeared with a grim smile. He already knew what she was going to ask.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked.

Sofia nodded. "I can't do this without you."

Department of Mysteries
Veil Room

Merrick was circling the Veil. "These spells are so amusing. I can't wait to see what's next."

Riddle threw a fire spell at Merrick. A living flame in the shape of a snake seemed to come to life to engulf him. Merrick raised his hand and the snake flame froze in midair. He threw it back at Riddle, who barely got out of the way.

Another spell Merrick blocked. Riddle threw on his invisibility cloak. He had to catch him by surprise if this was going to work.

"Then again Riddle," Merrick smiled and lifted his hand. The Elder Wand flew out of Riddle's hand, the invisibility cloak slipped and fell off, revealing Riddle's location.

"I made this wand. It doesn't work against me." Newt grinned happily. He snapped the elder wand in half.

Ariana came to and quickly got to her feet. She pointed a wand at Riddle's back. "It's over."

Newt chuckled, backing up against the Veil so he nearly touched it. "So close, but so far. You put up a good fight Riddle, but you lost."

"Any last words?" Ariana asked.

Sofia appeared from the veil just behind Newt.

Riddle's eyes widened as he knew what she was about to do. It had happened so fast, he didn't have time to call out to her.

Sofia grabbed Merrick from behind, her lips were close to his ear., "Families should stick together big brother. Forever."

She pulled Merrick inside, a look of surprise on his face, and they were both gone.

Once again Death had been sealed away.

Riddle took that moment and grabbed Ariana, flinging her wand to the floor. He picked it back up the wand, grabbed her by the hair, and forced her to her knees.

"Go ahead, Riddle. Kill me. You just killed my only chance to save Albus." Ariana said.

Riddle pulled her head backward. "Albus Dumbledore was dead the moment Merrick took him. He was always dead, just like the 18 people you killed to use in your experiments. Two of whom were my parents."

"They were necessary!" Ariana said. "I just wanted my brother back. If I found a way to understand the Veil better, I could have used it against Merrick!"

"Don't you know how Merrick got to your brother in the first place? The substance you gathered from inside the Veil is what helped free that creature! When Sofia's brother came in contact with it, Death attached himself to his mind and thus created the events you tried to stop. A bit of a paradox you can say. You have no one to blame but yourself." Riddle said.

Riddle let her go and Ariana fell to the floor crying. "Kill me. Just kill me."

Riddle sneered at her. "Oh, your death would be too merciful. I will make sure you go to Azkaban for the rest of your miserable life though."

Riddle hit her over the head, knocking her unconscious. He walked over and released the spell Merrick had cast over the doors. Two guards rushed in and arrested Ariana.

One Year Later...
Hogwarts

Riddle had just finished dinner in the Great Hall. Several students chatted amongst themselves. He looked over and spotted James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Lilly Evans sitting at their usual table. Potter spotted him and thew him a weak smile.

Riddle nodded back. He got up to leave when a flash of light filled the room causing everyone to pause. A body appeared out of nowhere, dropping just in front of his table.

Riddle stood there a moment in shock. "Sofia!"

Riddle ran to her as James, Sirius, Remus, and Lilly joined him.

"Is she alive?" James asked.

Riddle looked Sofia over, feeling equally confused. He noticed her hand was curled into a fist. He carefully uncurled it as the Resurrection Stone fell onto the floor.

Sofia gasped, clutching her side in pain. She still had the wounds from that day in the hospital.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you all," Sofia said.

She looked around noticing everyone was staring at her in quiet awe.

"How long did it take me to get back? A day or two? Wait, are we at Hogwarts?" Sofia asked.

Everyone broke into a smile.

"Let's get you to a nurse," Riddle said. He picked her up and carried her to the hospital wing.

James walked into the Gryffindor common room later that night and sat down by Lilly who was reading.

"Things sure have changed a lot haven't around here haven't they?" James said.

"I'm trying to read," Lilly said.

James sighed, grabbed the book, and threw it across the room. Lilly was about to protest when James got down on the floor, kneeling in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Lilly asked.

"Lilly?..." James pulled out a box with a diamond ring.

"Get up!" Lilly ordered.

"Be my wife," James said.

"I have to finish school." Lilly protested.

James shrugged, "Okay, I'll wait."

Lilly was still looking at him in shock. James wouldn't get off the floor.

"What you are literally going to kneel there and wait for me to finish school?" Lilly asked.

James bowed his head in a fit of giggles. "If I have to."

"Don't mess with me like this. Are you serious?" She asked.

"No, I'm James. I'll wait forever for you Lilly." He said.

Lilly grabbed James by the chin and forced him to look at her. "I don't know, can you do as your told?"

James laughed, grabbed Lilly's face, and kissed her on the mouth.

"Yes." She replied.

It took a few days for Sofia to fully recover. Riddle came in and visited her. The hospital wing was empty except for Sofia.

"How are you feeling?" Riddle asked.

"I'm feeling better. The nurse wants me to stay one more day before she releases me." Sofia said.

Sofia noticed Riddle was staring at her strangely. "Are you okay?"

"Just in shock. Everyone thought you were dead Sofia. I should let you rest." He said. Riddle turned to leave.

"Don't go," Sofia whispered.

Riddle turned and lay beside her on the bed and put an arm around her. She leaned in, putting her head on his shoulder.

"I can't believe I was gone for an entire year. What happened when I was gone? Everything looks like it did before the timeline changed." Sofia asked.

"Well, Emperor Grindelwald promised anything I wanted as a reward for stopping Merrick. He was pretty upset that Ariana was involved, but he had suspected it. I asked him to allow anyone who can do magic to be able to study at Hogwarts, even muggle-borns. Some of the pure-bloods weren't happy, most were thrilled." Riddle said.

Sofia looked up at Riddle in shock.

"I figured that would make you happy," Riddle said.

Sofia broke into a grin. "Wow. I'm so proud of you Riddle."

Riddle let out an embarrassed laugh. "Thanks."

They lay in silence for a few minutes. "I'm really sorry for suspecting you. All that time we knew each other I..."

"Don't." Riddle cut her off. "Don't worry about it."

She snuggled closer, burying her face in his shoulder. "I want to stay by your side forever."

"I'm not going anywhere," Riddle promised.

Sofia fell asleep in his arms.