Chapter 56: Ready As I'll Ever Be

He could have gone "on," if he'd wanted to. The tiny voice in his head had given him that choice, as he had felt himself floating in that utterly peaceful space, all in white. Some halfway land between dreams and waking. Not quite of the world he had left, yet not quite of the world in which he could enter, should he choose to do so. Neville understood now, that when Voldemort had yelled Avada Kedavra and cast the Killing Curse on him for the second time, that the monster was merely foolishly killing one of his own Horcruxes. In essence, the part of Voldemort's soul that had lived inside Neville from the time he was a baby had been destroyed. But not his own soul. If anything, Neville's own soul had merely been purged clean.

Which meant he could go back to the land of the living, if that was what he wanted. True, the thought to stay here was just as tempting, it truly was beautiful, peaceful…. Indeed, more magical than the casting of any spell could claim.

Yet, several things gave him pause: the task was not yet done. People were still fighting and dying, for him, up at the castle. There were too many people whom he didn't want to leave behind. Ron and Hermione – someday they would be married, and he wanted to be there when they did. Good old Harry. His Gran, a battleaxe if there ever was one and would be heartbroken if her raising him essentially amounted to nothing, if she were to lose the only family she had left.

Luna….

From somewhere seemingly off at a great distance, he heard a frantic whispering: "Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?"

Neville thought of those he loved. He thought of what was left to do.

He chose.

"Yessssssss…"

Voldemort paced the main courtyard of the school he and his Death Eaters had now marched on, triumphant. The body of his defeated sworn enemy was cradled in the giant slave's arms. For all the deluded who believed Mudbloods and half-breeds were as good as any wizard, all was surely lost.

So why in Salazar's name was absolutely no one crossing the divide to join him? Surrender in defeat? It incensed him!

Believe me, I know, I've sunk pretty low, but whatever I've done, they've deserved….

"My Lord…" The timid squeak seemed to come from Narcissa!

"QUIET!" he bellowed almost randomly into the stillness, the hem of his robes now swishing as his pacing carried him up and down the line of his faithful.

I'm the bad guy, that's fine, it's no fault of mine, and some justice at last will be served…. Now it's time to step up, or it's time to back down, and there's only one answer for me. And I'll stand up and fight, cause I know that I'm right, and I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready…. Ready as I'll ever be!

All at once, a gangly bloke of average height came hobbling out of the crowd of Hogwarts defenders, clearly injured. Glasses were hanging askew along the bridge of his nose; on the whole, it made for a rather pathetic sight.

"Well, I must say, I'd hoped for better…." Voldemort drolled, causing laughter to ripple through his Death Eaters. "And what is your name, my boy?"

"…. Harry Potter," the lad rumbled out. Voldemort noted how Bellatrix seemed to be watching the exchange with particular interest, but he let it be.

"Very well, come, come, Harry Potter, you may reclaim your…"

"I got something to say!"

Voldemort froze, teeth setting and grinding, yet he managed to hold his impatience in check. "Well, Harry, I'm sure we would all love to hear what you have to say…" His voice was barely mild, as though he was a teacher singling out a student in class.

"It isn't over…"

"Stand down, Harry boy…." A rather thick Irish brogue called out from somewhere in the crowd.

"People die every day!" Harry's shout nearly overlapped with the wise plea to hold his tongue. The entire courtyard seemed to hold its breath. "Friends…. Family…" Harry didn't seem to be fumbling for words exactly; rather, it was almost as though he was finding his own, finding his voice, at long last. "Yeah. It doesn't matter that Neville's gone. We may have lost him tonight, same as anyone else: Tonks. Remus. But they're still with us. They didn't die in vain!" He lifted his head to actually stare the Dark Lord down. "But you will! Because you're wrong! Neville's heart beat for us! For all of us!" And quite suddenly, Harry yanked a silver blade from the piece of fabric which had been clenched in his fist: the Sorting Hat.

Inspired, Ginny damn near swooned listening to Harry's speech: "Godric's Bollocks, I think I love him…" As the Death Eaters began to surge towards the Hogwartsians that were beginning to become unruly, she noticed as Neville's seemingly lifeless body suddenly twisted out of Hagrid's grasp and dropped to the ground.

Voldemort screamed, and as fighting began to fall back into the castle, Ginny rallied the troops, dashing to her lover's side:

"Now it's time to rise up or it's time to stand down, and the answer is easy to see! And I swear, by this sword, if you're in, get on board! Are you ready?"

"We're ready! We're ready!" Voices answered the call.

"Ready as we'll ever be!" Pulling Harry to her, Ginny took his face in her hands and gave him the sweetest, most passionate kiss she could muster. When they broke apart, she held his eyes. "Go."

In the confusion, Neville scrambled around the periphery, trying to find a way to get close to Nagini, Voldemort's snake. His eyes narrowed in determination. I'll make them hear me…..

Voldemort stalked forward ready to put down this insurrection once and for all, eyes scanning for his resurrected prey. I'll make them fear me…..

Ginny shouted the order for everyone to fall back, and the desperate duels melted back into the castle, DA members and Order members alike listening to her the way they would a general. I'll make them trust me….

Down on the rocky slopes below the castle, Lily Potter could hear the battle reignite and she moved, climbed faster, ignoring Severus's calls for her to slow up, wait for him. Only one person was on her mind at the moment, and that was her beloved son. I'll save my home and family….

Hogwartsians, now joined by house elves and all manners of creatures descended like a demon from Hell upon the Death Eaters, swarming them and beginning to cut them down in the Great Hall without mercy: Now it's time to redeem, or it's time to resolve, and the outcome will hardly come free. Now the land's in the sand and our moment's at hand! And we're ready, we're ready, we're ready as we'll ever be!

Severus tore through the violent battle like a whirlwind, his eyes frantically searching in the melee for that pair of hazel green eyes, that beautiful auburn hair that could frame her lovely face like tongues of flame…

He finally tracked Lily down in the midst of a ruthless battle with one Death Eater; as he watched, almost in awe, she dispatched him easily. Dashing forward, he grabbed her arm, heart in his mouth. He had no idea what she would say to this. In spite of all that had recently developed, past between them, she would still likely think it ludicrous, mad.

"Lily! Lillian…" She spun to him, green orbs wide and wild from the thrill of the fight. He took a breath to steady himself and leapt: "… Will you marry me?"

She gazed at him, gawped at him, speechless and in the lulling interim, a hooded figure came dashing out of the fray behind them and the pair had to leap back so the Death Eater's curse went short between them.

Lily blocked with Protego, eyes still only for Severus. She appeared quite stunned. "I don't think now's the best time!" she squeaked.

To Severus's shock and barely contained, hopeful delight, it wasn't an automatic No. It was more like a Maybe to his rather rash proposal of marriage. This, even though, until recently he and Lily had been nothing more than friends since they were children. At best, they had been friends with benefits in recent months. But after all the dancing around each other, all the moments of deeper subtext and foreplay, even when often obfuscated in the fog of Lily's recovering mind, Severus had to believe there could be something more between them. Or maybe he was mad and just reading into things that weren't there.

Let it be. He was in love with this beautiful, maddening woman, damnit, and he wanted to have her as his wife… even if it was only for minutes, maybe hours, if they were fortunate. "Well, it may be the only time!" he bellowed, sweeping up with his wand and blasting an attacker back. He grabbed for Lily and they huddled behind a pillar, ignoring the chinks of stone being blasted apart by hexes. "I love you," he confessed.

He couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard her hitch, suck in a breath, gasping with astonishment. They ducked and hustled over to another alcove. "I've made my choice: What's yours?"

Lily gazed at him. Really, truly looked at him for a long moment before suddenly turning her head. "ALBUS! …. MARRY US!" Though her tone was urgent, Severus was elated to sense that Lillian seemed almost at peace with her decision, to accept her best friend's hand in marriage, even in the middle of a war.

Dueling fiercely halfway up some steps, Albus Dumbledore almost absently turned his head. "Respectfully, Lily, my dear, I'm a tad bit preoccupied at the moment…."

"HEADMASTER, NOW!" Severus bellowed, not caring how rude he sounded as he shielded Lily from an incoming barrage of curses.

Dumbledore let out an almost put-upon sigh. "Very well." He twirled his wand with the wild control of a cowboy with a lasso, hurling multiple adversaries at once back several hundred feet. Turning grandly, he took off his cap and picked out Severus and Lily, holding each other in the throng below. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony."

The sermon was interrupted almost naturally, bizarrely, Dumbledore turning back to engage more fighters as Severus and Lily duck and wove through the chaos, once again taking shelter behind a pillar. Hands joined, fingers laced through each others, Severus went into it with his heart:

"Lillian Potter, do you take me to be your husband?"

"Yes, I do!" And Lily just about squealed it, as though she were amazed and giddy with herself that she would, in fact, have him.

"Great," Severus's face collapsed into a strained relief as a growl went up and they were on the defensive again.

He and Lily fought back to back now, their duelmanship complementing each other until it became something like a flowing, romantic dance. Ever the multi-tasker, Lily cut down dark wizard after dark wizard even as she proceeded to breathlessly give her own vows.

"Severus Snape, do you take me…. to be your wife?" She let Severus spin her, throwing herself in front of him to block and overhead jet of red light. "…. In sickness and in health – health being the less likely?" Her magic flung their attacker back.

Severus tugged her into his side, smirking down at her. "I do."

She stared at him, almost enraptured by his ardor, how sure he sounded. Not letting each other out of their arms, Severus and Lily continued to blast magic from their wands until Severus sent his bride into a dip.

Lily felt her eyelids droop heavily, her one hand curling around the back of her…. her fiancé's neck. As the Potions Master and Harry's mother embraced, just as they were about to kiss, a battle yell made Lily hold off pushing her lips against his as she twisted to shoot a curse in their assailant's direction.

"As Headmaster, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss!" Dumbledore managed to holler over the ruckus.

Lifting Lily out of the dip, pulling her flush against him, Severus let his lips crash down onto hers in a fiery kiss.

He groaned as he heard Lily gasp prettily into his mouth before she was shoving her lips with equal, desperate passion against his, kissing him back as her body swooned and melted against his. And as Lily Potter…. Snape and her…. her husband embraced and kissed, jets of magical light flew past all around them and even went peeling off into the nighttime sky….. It was like they were lost in their own world, it seemed, and their love, bursting into full bloom, was better than any Protego charm, shielding them from danger. As Lily sank dreamily into her wedding kiss, she wondered, though did not care, whether anyone saw what would at first glance appear to be two enemies embracing and snogging on the field of battle.

Though one person, staggering into the thick of the fight, the Sword of Gryffindor now dripping with snake's blood, did see his mother kissing her new husband. Harry Potter stopped and stared at his mother wrapped in the arms of Severus Snape, her lips snogging the living daylights out of the man. From the way Severus was kissing his mother back, holding her gently in a kind of dip, it was clear the man returned her affections.

Oddly, even in the midst of all this chaos, Harry had to admit, though he certainly didn't understand it... he felt happy for them, and wished them well. He hoped his mum could survive with her new lover and have someone at her side to care for her.

Suddenly, a Death Eater leapt – really was expectorated – out of the cluster of brawls and charged for him. Sword in one hand and wand in the other, Harry was left no choice but to engage him, the fierce duel driving him out of the castle and down into the grounds, isolating him and his adversary away from much of the main fighting.

Gryffindor's blade managed to actually block a curse with its steel, but even as Harry vollied back in kind with his own magic, a second spell came barreling his way, and he couldn't parry it with Protego in time. He felt his body flying backwards and in a last-ditch effort, he hurled the Sword of Gryffindor away from himself. He watched as the blade spun in a high arc, until – much as it had with Nagini, the steel went cutting right through the Death Eater's neck as though it was paper, nearly decapitating him.

That was the last thing Harry saw or remembered before he plowed into the earth, landing hard on his back, and everything went dark.

A/N: Once again, song credit goes to Tangled the Series and the unmatchable Alan Menken.