Part IV: Revolution

Chapter XXIII: In Which the Battle of Hogwarts Ends

Corinna heard Voldemort's words. It was so clear that she couldn't even try to make up excuses that she must have misheard, missed keywords that would make sense of the situation. But the words seemed to bypass her ears and reverberated in her mind.

Harry Potter is dead.

As she automatically ran down the stairs with Ron, Hermione, and Terry, she could have sworn she walked past the ghosts that haunted her. The names and faces of the fallen joined in with Voldemort's speech. Uncle Ted, Fred, Dora, Remus, Lavender, Harry…

Harry…

Harry Potter is dead.

Harry…dead…

The group of them lead the way outside the entrance hall, in front of the group that were filing out of the Great Hall, only to stop at the steps as a wall of Death Eaters greeted them, all in various states of jubilee. But Corinna saw none of it. She only saw Hagrid with an impossibly small body in his hands.

"NO!"

Corinna never heard McGonagall cry out like that. The voice was choked and raw, a noise that seemed impossible that the unflappable McGonagall could utter. The woman who was strong in the face of her good friend's death seemed to collapse on herself as she came to a halt behind them.

A peel of laughter tore through the air and Corinna's head whipped around to see Bellatrix on the other side of Hagrid. She had never seen Bellatrix as happy as she was right then. Her already thin lips were impossibly thinner as the broad smile on her face threatened to split it in half. Her eyes were alight with mirth and madness, and she was practically bouncing with excitement. Anger tore through her as she made to step towards her, but someone held her back, gripping her arm in a vice. She whipped her head around, ready to attack whoever dared to do such a thing, only to see Draco glare at her in warning. He was hiding partially behind Terry, and no one was going to notice a snake in the grass, not when…

She looked back at the crumpled body in Hagrid's arms. He looked like he could be sleeping. Corinna tried to convince herself that he was sleeping. His glasses were askew, arm dangling and flailing about. His face was impossibly pale. She was almost relieved to see that his eyes were closed. She wasn't sure how she would handle it if she had to look into his empty green eyes.

Around her where cries of shock. Tears poured down Hermione's cheeks as she pleaded Harry's name. Ron stared, completely dumbfounded as he kept muttering and shaking his head. Others were protesting loudly, calling the Death Eaters everything under the sun except for nice people. Even if Corinna could find it within her to say anything, it would not be able to get past her burning throat. Tears burned her eyes but didn't fall. She was numb, only feeling the ghost of sadness and anger wanting to surface.

"SILENCE!" someone roared with a flash of light and a bang that reached the mountains.

Corinna finally noticed the man in the middle of the crowd. No, not a man. His skin was white, glowing in the weak sunrise. His pupils were blood red and narrowed into slits as they surveyed the crowd in front of him. Where a normal man would have a nose were simply two slits and with his bald head, gave him a snake-like appearance. He was tall and rail thin, his black robes hanging off him and swaying in the barely-there breeze. Much like a Dementor, she expected him to fly towards them.

She knew she had met Voldemort before, but thanks to the Memory Charm Crouch had put on her, she didn't remember any of the details of that night. But now she had wished he had killed her instead of showing mercy to the child of his most loyal Death Eaters.

He had cursed the crowd with a broad Silencing charm. People around her shifted, but nothing was uttered.

"It is over!" Voldemort continued, his voice high and clear, echoing across the grounds without the need to amplify his voice using spells. "Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Corinna struggled against Draco's hold as Hagrid moved stiffly to obey Voldemort's orders. As Hagrid stepped aside, a scream never left her chest as she fully saw Harry's limp form. She heard another cold laugh from Bellatrix, obviously enjoying watching their pain. When Corinna finally tore her eyes from Harry's body, she saw that Bellatrix was staring right at her.

A sick part of Corinna wondered if Bellatrix was almost relieved she had failed to kill Corinna. That way, Bellatrix got to witness her daughter fall apart.

Corinna wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

"You see?" said Voldemort as he began to pace, his eyes sweeping across the crowd as he did so, as if he was merely a politician at a rally. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" Ron yelled as the charm seemed to break. Others joined in the yelling and shouting and the unmistakable sound of a sob tore through Corinna. It had died just as quickly as with another flash, another bang, they were silenced again.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds. Killed while trying to save himself—"

Corinna managed to break away from Draco's grip and charged forward, her wand trained out in a blind rage. "No, Corinna!" Terry shouted behind her and there was a loud bang. Corinna found herself being thrown back, landing hard on her back. Her wand had been thrown out of her hand as well. She sat up just enough to see Voldemort toss the wand away like a used sweet wrapper.

"And who is this?" Voldemort demanded, the hiss in his voice more snake-like than human. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Corinna looked over at Bellatrix. The wide smile was now curled up into a snarl as she glared down. She was shaking with rage, Corinna's wand pointing at her as well.

"Carina Lestrange," said Corinna, turning her attention back to Voldemort as she said it. She shakily stood up from the grass, not caring that the people standing behind her were now aware of who she was unfortunately related to. She no longer gave a damn who knew. It was just as much of an embarrassment to Bellatrix as it was to Corinna.

"Ah, yes," said Voldemort, looking Corinna over as she stood between the Death Eaters and those who dared to defy them. His eyes seemed to bore right into her very soul. She wouldn't be surprised if he already knew everything about her, knowing her years of Occlumency were nothing compared to his power. "The bastard child of my two most loyal Death Eaters." Corinna's chest seized when he said it. It was one thing when she thought it, but a completely different beast to hear it from Voldemort himself. She dared a glance over at Bellatrix, who seemed to have paled when Voldemort had said that. Corinna could now guess that her little infidelity was not common knowledge, especially if the hurt and confusion Rudolphus was sporting was any indication. "You will make a very valuable Death Eater, in turn."

"Over my dead body," Corinna bellowed.

Behind her, Neville shouted, "Dumbledore's Army!" and everyone broke out into cheers. The Silencing Charms that Voldemort kept casting weren't having any affect, no matter how strong that casts were. That seemed impossible. He had won the Elder Wand. The Deathstick was at his command. He had killed Snape just as Snape had killed Dumbledore.

"We can make that happen," said Bellatrix with a shriek. "Let me do it, my Lord. This vermin is not worth your time."

"You had your chance, Bellatrix," said Voldemort, his voice causing a shiver to rent through the air with his tone alone. "Instead, you squandered your chance to rid of her by playing house." Bellatrix's mouth flopped open like a beached fish. If this were any other situation, Corinna would have found that hilarious. "If that is your choice, Lestrange, we revert to the original plan. On your head, be it."

Voldemort raised his wand and Corinna never shirked back. She expected something to hit her. Instead, a floppy, brown object flew through the air and he deftly caught it. As he held it aloft, she recognized it as the Sorting Hat in all its patchy and moldy glory.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," said Voldemort. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Carina Lestrange?"

She never got the chance to answer. Her limbs locked together and the Sorting Hat was forced onto her head. The hat slipped down over her eyes so she could only see everyone's feet and Harry's body. She thought she could hear movement behind her, but it was over as quickly as she strained to listen.

I must say, this is not an ideal situation we find ourselves in, the Sorting Hat said, his voice the only thing she could hear clearly as if he were in her mind.

"Carina here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort.

Then what do you suggest I do? Corinna asked, wondering how desperate she had become to ask for the ugly piece of clothing for help.

Let's just see how this plays out.

Before Corinna could even comprehend what the Hat meant by that, she was on fire. She screamed as she struggled to move against the Body-Bind Curse, but it was no use. The heat was overwhelming to the point of suffocation, and the flames hadn't even torn through the hat.

The ground beneath her shook, but she was unaware of what was going on outside of the hat. Through the small gap she could see, she saw the Death Eaters feet shuffle. She also saw the impossible. Taking advantage of whatever chaos was going on, Harry was moving. He had pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket and quickly put it over himself.

"What the fuck?" she demanded as she broke through the Body-Bind Curse. The first thing she did was pull the flaming hat off her head. As she did so, she noticed how it had suddenly became very heavy. Glanced inside and saw a glittering, ruby-studded hilt.

Not quite believing what she was seeing but deciding to see how this plays out, as per the Sorting Hat's suggestion, she gripped the hilt and pulled the sword out of the still-flaming hat. Its silver blade reflected the light from the fully risen sun.

There was a nearby hiss and Corinna noticed Nagini slithering through the grass towards her. Just as the snake jumped up with her mouth wide, she swung the blade down, a cry tearing from her throat as the body of the snake crumpled and twitched one last time before it stilled. The black, tar-like substance was pouring from the severed parts, intermingling with the blood the snake would normally have.

Ron was right. Oddly satisfying was a good way to describe it.

She looked up to see Voldemort's mouth wide as he screamed, and she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. Bright spells were thrown her way, but they never made it to her, blocked by an invisible barrier that she could only assume came from Harry as no one else was around.

Chaos was the only way to describe the scene before her. Hagrid's brother, Grawp, was fighting what remained of Voldemort's giants, looking large and foreboding even in comparison of the castle close by. Thestrals and a hippogriff were attacking the opposing giants to distract them while Grawp punched and pummeled them.

Centaurs were charging through the grounds, their hooves echoing through the din as they shot off arrow after arrow in deft charges. They drove the Death Eaters towards the castle, forcing everyone back inside the castle where the fighting restarted anew. Curses and jinxes were thrown every which way, and all Corinna had was a sword she did not know how to wield.

She watched as some spells had come from nowhere as Death Eaters crumpled to the ground to only be trampled by their fellows. She knew that it had to be Harry, but she did not dare cry out. He was safe as long as Voldemort thought that they had abandoned his body outside.

Corinna followed the others that were pouring into the Great Hall. Voldemort was still throwing around spells and giving orders to his followers. She knew she would be dead if she even attempted to go at him without a wand. There was no way he would allow her to get close to him with Gryffindor's sword.

Besides, the final honor of killing Voldemort, according to prophecy, should go to Harry, since he was somehow alive. How he had fooled Voldemort to thinking he was dead, Corinna had no idea.

It wasn't just the giants and other Forbidden Forest dwellers that joined in the fight. Corinna could see Charlie Weasley running alongside Horace Slughorn as well as many other friends and families of those who had stuck around to fight. She spotted Terry and Grace's parents, who seemed to be holding their own, but continued to ask the people around them if they had seen their children.

There were now more inhabitants of Hogsmeade as she spotted Madam Rosemerta as well as the elderly couple who owned Honeydukes. They were bypassed by some of the centaurs that made their way into the entrance hall, there hooves someone echoing through the Great Hall to the point that even Corinna could hear them.

What shocked Corinna the most, however, was when the entrance leading into the kitchens were burst open and there came an outpouring of house-elves, led by Kreacher and Dobby. They brandished kitchen knives of varying lengths, but they were effective at stabbing and slicing the ankles and shins of the Death Eaters, causing them to lose concentration and allow the opposing duelists to overpower them.

It came as a relief when she saw Winky among the house-elves, brandishing a large butcher's knife that did quite a bit of damage to their legs.

She spotted Bellatrix across the room, locked into a duel with Hermione, Ginny, and Luna. They were holding their own, but Bellatrix was equal to them. She watched as the green light of the Killing Curse came within inches of Hermione, her eyes wide as she realized just how close to death she had been.

Anger boiled within Corinna as she ducked and wove around the various battles, even getting close to where Voldemort was dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once. She did not give them a second thought, even as Voldemort was forced to retreat when he could not take them all at once. No, her eyes were locked onto only one.

Bellatrix's laugh cackled and echoed across the Great Hall, reaching up to the enchanted ceiling. Corinna turned to avoid a rogue spell from Thicknesse, but Percy and Mr. Weasley put him in his place. He was thrown back as two bright spells hit him squarely in the chest.

She overcame Narcissa and Lucius, neither of which were fighting. All they were doing were calling for Draco, and Corinna did not have the time to tell them that he was currently locked in a duel with a Death Eater, fighting alongside Terry.

She was just a few strides away from Bellatrix. Luna was the first to notice Corinna coming in from the side, the sword of Gryffindor tight in her grasp. Corinna was afraid that the momentary distraction might cause Luna's demise, but Ginny threw up a strong Shield Charm that deflected the spell.

"You think you little babies can take me?" Bellatrix shouted and another squealed laugh reverberated in Corinna's mind.

Corinna acted entirely on instinct. She held the sword parallel to the ground as she erased the distance between them. With all the anger and strength she could muster, she plunged the blade into Bellatrix's side.

The glee immediately melted into shock as Bellatrix's eyes bulged as she stared down at Corinna. At that moment, there was no one else in the Great Hall. The roars of battle were already fading. Even Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, standing just a few feet away, no longer existed.

There was just mother and daughter locked in a deadly embrace.

Bellatrix sputtered, blood already pooling on her lips. The blade had embedded itself in her stomach, the edge of the blade sticking out on the other side as Corinna had managed to drive it all the way to the hilt. Blood was already flowing from the wounds, covering both their robes and Corinna's hands with the sticky life substance.

"C-C-C-…" Bellatrix stuttered out, blood and saliva splattering Corinna's face. She didn't notice. Much like she didn't notice her own wand clank on the ground next to them as Bellatrix was quickly losing control of her own body.

"That's for Dora, you bitch!"

Corinna struggled to get the blade out of Bellatrix. Once she had lost the support, Bellatrix crumbled to the ground, blood flowing onto the stone as she moved no more.

A scream of agony rent through the air, causing Corinna to realize that reality still existed. She turned sharply to see Voldemort himself, with his wand trained out in front of him, running towards Corinna as she had just killed his last Lieutenant.

Before she could bend down to grab her wand, which was now in a pool of blood, she heard someone close by shout, "Protego," just as a flash of light came from the Elder Wand. Voldemort looked around wildly for the source of the Protection Spell when Harry finally pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and revealed himself.

This was met by yells of shock from those on both sides. But those had immediately died down when it seemed that everyone around the hall had stopped what they were doing to stare at Harry and Voldemort, who were now circling each other.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry shouted, and those who had their wands out and ready to fight alongside him took pause. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Corinna kneeled down to grab her wand anyway, the warmth it gave spreading out. She felt like she was reunited with a good friend. She was almost tempted to apologize to her wand for what Bellatrix made it do.

"Potter doesn't mean that," Voldemort hissed. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody. There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good."

"One of us? You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me? Accident, when I decided to fight in the graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" They continued to move about in a circle, neither one striking but prepared for the other to do so first. The crowd around them stood there, watching as if, just moments before, they weren't locked in their own duels. Nothing else seemed to matter but Harry and Voldemort.

Corinna was convinced it was the same way for them as well.

"Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight. You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people."

"But you did not!"

"I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare. I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

"Is it love again?" asked Voldemort, spitting out the word love like venom. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter—and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

"Just one thing..."

"If it is not love that will save you this time, you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both."

Voldemort laughed, high and cold, and it reached the enchanted ceiling and rent through the silent air. It was more terrifying than his screams earlier. They were the laughs of an insane man.

"You think you know more magic than I do? Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"

"Oh, he dreamed of it, but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."

"You mean he was weak! Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he was cleverer than you, a better wizard, a better man."

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did, but you were wrong."

It was as if someone had sucked all the air out of the Great Hall. There was a collective gasp from the crowd and there were a few murmurs that broke out.

"Dumbledore is dead! His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"

"Yes, Dumbledore's dead, but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."

"What childish dream is this?"

"Severus Snape wasn't yours. Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort was unnervingly silent, his eyes never leaving Harry's, and vice versa.

"Snape's Patronus was a doe, the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized, he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him-"

"Of course he told you that, but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"It matters not!" There was another cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand!

"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy—I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, it did. You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done. Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle..."

"What is this?"

Voldemort almost seemed confused at the idea of someone showing actual mercy. Corinna did not think he was worthy of it, but Harry was a better person than she was.

"It's your one last chance, it's all you've got left. I've seen what you'll be otherwise. Be a man. Try for some remorse..."

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare, because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle."

Corinna thought it might have been her imagination, but she thought she saw Voldemort's wand tremble as he mulled over Harry's words.

"That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed—"

"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"

"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand! I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against the last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"

"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard...The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance...

"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

"What?" Corinna said involuntarily, but it seemed like she wasn't the only one. She spied Terry and Draco on the outer fringes of the crowd. Draco had, somehow, paled even more than usual, and Terry was openly staring at him.

"But what does it matter?" Voldemort demanded softly, drawing Corinna's attention back to the verbal duel happening in front of her. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no different to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone...and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy..."

Corinna glanced back as Terry had leaned in to whisper something in Draco's ear. Terry looked around and caught Corinna's eyes. A quick and silent conversation happened between the two of them. If things did go south, they had to get Draco out of there. He had moved up in the pecking order.

"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance." For the briefest of moments, he glanced over to where Corinna was standing in the crowd. "Corinna Crouch got there first. She overpowered Draco weeks ago. She took his wand from him, only for me to do the same to him earlier this morning when Draco tried to take it back."

Hermione gave Corinna a wide-eyed look and all Corinna could do was shrug as she had no idea she even was the master of the Elder Wand only to lose it before she even got a chance to use it.

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it? Does the wand in your hand know its last masters were Disarmed? Because if it does...I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

There was a tense moment of silence as Harry and Voldemort continued to stare each other down. Red eyes and green eyes met as they both stopped their pacing around each other only for a split second later to each shout:

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

There was a loud bang as golden flames seemed to erupt between them. It encompassed the circle Harry and Voldemort had created, causing many of the close by onlookers to stumble back. Through the blinding light, Corinna saw as Voldemort's green spell met Harry's red one in the middle of the circle. Flying through the air was the Elder Wand, almost glowing black against the bright spells.

Harry deftly caught the Elder Wand in his outstretched hands as the green spell reflected back and hit Voldemort squarely in the chest. He was flown up, his loose robes billowed in the still air, and landed on the stone floor.