Harry Potter and the Prism of Light

Disclaimer: J.K.Rowling and Scholastic own the characters and settings and all that. I just own what I made up.

A/N: It's been almost a month, and I'm really sorry for the wait, especially with the whole cliffhanger thing. This chapter didn't really take long to write; once I got some ideas, the chapter just kind of took a life of its own and practically wrote itself! What took such a long time was finding enough time to write; I'm really busy with softball, dance, and everything else. Anyway, this chapter is back to normal size – no more writer's block! This chapter is also definitely the most action-packed of all the chapters. I changed the rating to PG-13 because of the violence and talk about death. Oh, yeah, and I use the word "arse". I don't know if it should be PG-13, but I'm not taking any chances. Okay… here's the chapter!

Harry Potter and the Prism of Light

Chapter Seven

"…that he had been put under the Odium Amo Populi Curse, but he doesn't know why."

"The Odium what?" Harry asked.

Hermione shot him a stern look. "You would know if you'd pay attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Dumbledore explained patiently. "It makes the person under the spell hate their loved ones."

"Oh!" Harry said. "I remember now."

Dumbledore continued with what he had been saying before Harry interrupted him. "Arthur went to bed one night. When he woke up, he was in a strange dungeon. He was alone, and was extremely puzzled. At first he screamed for help, but that was to no avail. Then, he began to think to pass the time, and his family was the first thing that came up. Instead of the usual warm, happy feeling that one usually gets thinking of his family," Dumbledore said, pausing for a moment as Harry snorted, thinking of the Dursleys, "he felt all sorts of negative things – jealousy, hate, and such. As he thought about them more and more, he detested them more and more. All the little things they had ever done that annoyed him - like Molly always putting more garlic than he liked on his garlic bread, and Percy letting his quill leak on the morning paper one day - filled his mind.

Soon, Voldemort came in, robed and followed by Wormtail. Voldemort reminded him of more things his family had done - like Fred and George always causing trouble, and the ghoul in the attic (who was very much considered part of the family) making a horrible racket at two o'clock in the morning when Arthur had work the next day. He convinced Arthur to join his side by telling him that they would just get a little revenge on his family to teach them a lesson. Arthur was seething at his family and he could hardly think straight, let alone make a rational decision. He agreed to help Voldemort.

He went with Voldemort and the Death Eaters when they performed the Glacialis Mundus spell on Hogwarts. When Wormtail left the castle and told the Death Eaters that he had not found Harry and Voldemort had been Stunned, most of them left. Arthur stayed, though, and he and Wormtail rescued Voldemort and escaped into the forest. You know what happened in the forest, obviously. After they escaped, Voldemort took Arthur back to his hideout and kept him in the dungeon.

Soon after, Professor Snape, who, as you know, is spying on Voldemort for us, found Arthur and quickly made the counter potion, curing Arthur. Arthur fled the hideout by Apparating to his home, where he contacted me and explained the entire story."

There was a short silence, but Aurora interrupted it. Quietly, she asked, "But why did you send the Weasleys home? Won't Voldemort come for Mr. Weasley?"

"I sent them home for two reasons. The first is that they need to regain a bit of their trust in one another and talk things out. The second deals with the latter of your questions. Yes, Voldemort will come for Mr. Weasley. Once someone works with Voldemort, he never forgets it. In fact, Mr. Weasley has the Dark Mark on his arm – Voldemort considers him a Death Eater. Now Voldemort knows that Mr. Weasley will never come back to him, so he will try to kill him."

"So why did you send them home if an evil, powerful, murderous, conscienceless, and most importantly furious Dark wizard will be coming for their father? If they're there, he'll kill them too!" Hermione shrieked, turning red in the face.

Dumbledore gave them one of his famous, mysterious half-smiles. "Not if you're there with them."

Suddenly everything clicked in Harry's mind. "If we're there, the entire Prism of Light will be together… we'll be prepared… and we'll be ready to fight him…" he said, thinking out loud. "We'll have an extreme advantage… Voldemort doesn't even know we're the Prism of Light!"

Draco nodded. "He'll be completely surprised."

There was another short silence, then all four members of the Prism of Light looked up, looking around at each other.

"Let's go," Harry said.

"Let's do this. Let's go get Voldemort," Draco said solemnly.

"Yes!" Aurora said.

Hermione just nodded.

Dramatically, they strode out of the room. A few seconds later, Hermione stopped and raised her eyebrows. "Um… what exactly do we do?"

They strode back into Dumbledore's office. "Headmaster," Hermione asked. "What do we do now?"

Harry could see that he was holding in his laughter. "I had a feeling you would come back. I have Floo powder and a fire going," he said, gesturing at the fireplace, where the flames flickered. "Go to the Burrow – that's the name of the Weasleys' home," he explained to Draco and Aurora, who didn't know. "Figure out an attack plan for when Voldemort comes. He should be arriving there within two hours. Perhaps you all should hide – Voldemort won't be expecting any of you, not even Ron and Ginny – and then surprise Voldemort. I'm sure he'll have several Death Eaters with him."

Harry bit his lip. "But… what's our goal? Are we trying to kill him?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "What else did you think we would do?"

Harry sighed. "Well I know that's what most people would want, but… do want to capture him instead? Because… I don't think I could… you know… kill anyone."

Draco raised his pale eyebrows. "Oh, please, don't get all ethical on me. He's not even a person, really, I don't think it's classified as even death for him. Plus… he killed your parents."

Harry's eyes widened.

Aurora, as insensitive as she was, jumped to defend Harry even before Hermione (who was rather used to snapping at Draco). "Draco, really! Did you have to mention that?"

Dumbledore spoke. "Don't kill him, even if you can. Capture him. Injure him so he can't get away. Don't kill him, though. That will make you just as bad as him. No matter how evil anyone is, I believe that, even if it is just a trace of it, in the center of the heart, they have good inside them. I think we can bring that good to the surface of Voldemort if given the chance."

"You think what?" Hermione asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "This is not the time to explain. You are too young to know, and you must get to the Burrow now, anyway."

"Right," Harry said. He stood up.

"Good luck," Dumbledore said as Harry grabbed a pinch of Floo powder.

"We'll need it," Aurora sighed.

* * *

Harry reached the Burrow first. Tumbling onto the hard kitchen floor, he stood up, brushed himself off, and looked around the room. All the Weasleys were seated at the kitchen table, anxious looks on their faces, wands in hand. All turned their wands toward Harry when he entered, but relaxed when they recognized him.

"Hello," Harry said. He quickly explained what Dumbledore had told them as the others arrived through the fire.

"So basically," Ron said. "We've got to kick his arse just enough so he's weak enough to bring him to Dumbledore?"

"Ron! Don't use that word!" Mrs. Weasley scolded, but Ron ignored her.

Harry grinned slightly. "Er, yeah, that's pretty much it."

Just then, Hermione arrived through the fire, followed by the two Malfoys. "Did you explain?" Hermione said.

"I told them everything Dumbledore told us," Harry said.

"Do they know about the Prism of Light?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Ron and Ginny had already told them before we got here."

"Well, then, we should start planning out what we're going to do," Draco said, his eyes darting around the Weasleys small but cozy home.

The other Weasleys left them to their planning. They sat around the kitchen table and began to brainstorm. After fifteen minutes, that had gotten nowhere, and all they were doing was arguing.

"We should try to outwit him," Hermione was saying. "We could all go in different out-of-reach places – I could hide on the balcony upstairs, and Harry and Draco are good flyers, they can go on broomsticks-"

"No, no, no, that's the worst idea we've come up with so far! Being higher off the ground doesn't make us any more difficult to reach. All he has to do is aim his wand a bit higher! I think speed is the key. If we're quick, he won't be able to catch us. Then we can use a few good, powerful spells – maybe we could each do a different one, that way we can see which works best – and, with a little luck, we'll knock him out!" Draco contested.

Harry and Ron both thought their idea was the best. "We should just fire spells at him non-stop. Whatever spell comes to the top of your head first, you know? He won't be able to endure more than a few minutes of that!" Ron said.

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"No!" Hermione said.

The arguing continued - endless chattering with no progress being made.

The entire time, Ginny had just been sitting, listening. But after nearly twenty minutes, she stood up. The legs of her chair squeaked against the floor as she abruptly pushed it back.

"Will you listen to yourselves?" she shouted. "Whatever happened to working together as the Prism of Light? You're not listening to each other, not compromising, and not making any progress whatsoever! Didn't Dumbledore say we have to work together? Together we can defeat Voldemort, and that's the only way! We have to use the same spells, and be together, and that's it!"

Draco began to protest, but Ginny shushed him. "Listen to me. I'm going to tell you what we have to do, and I want you all to listen. This is what we have to do," she said, leaning in to whisper. She whispered the plan to them, and they all agreed that it was the best one any of them had thought of. They went over a few things, and then got into their positions. They were ready – as ready as they'd ever be.

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Ginny whispered from her seat at the kitchen table.

"Yes," Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Aurora muttered from behind the Invisibility Cloak in the corner.

"Yes," the other Weasleys – every single one of them – said from their places with Ginny at the table.

"Good," Ginny said.

This first part of the plan was for the Weasleys to be "surprised" when Voldemort came for them. Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Aurora were hiding behind the Invisibility Cloak and would do a little surprising of their own (to Voldemort) once the plan began to take action.

They waited for Voldemort to come. It wasn't long, and it wasn't very shocking – when the front door burst into vivid green flames, they all knew who would be stepping through them. It was, of course, Voldemort, followed by just a single Death Eater – Lucius Malfoy. No one had expected this; Harry hoped Draco and Aurora wouldn't be too distracted by their father to fight.

"Hello, Arthur," Voldemort said coldly as he stalked into the kitchen.

The Weasley family, pretending to be shocked and terrified (the shocked part took a bit of acting, but the terrified part came naturally), screamed. All of them took the Floo powder they hid in their hands and used it to get to Diagon Alley, except for Ginny and Ron.

"Well, well, well," Lucius said as he slowly walked in circles around the two Weasleys. "What's wrong with you two? Aren't you afraid of us? Or are you too frightened to move?"

Neither Weasley answered.

"Answer me, you filthy brats!" he shouted, spitting at Ron.

Ron then gave the signal. "Well actually," he said. "I believe it's you that can't move."

Harry and Hermione had come out from the Invisibility Cloak and surrounded Voldemort and Lucius from the back. Ginny and Ron were blocking them from moving forward.

Voldemort and Lucius turned around and spotted the other four. Voldemort's cruel smile faded, but soon returned. He stared directly into Harry's eyes as he spoke, their red irises beaming like lasers straight into his soul. "Great thanks to all of you," he said, "for delivering the Potter boy directly into my hands. Funny, isn't it? All I was expecting to do here was a little murder and maybe some torturing to pass the time beforehand. Now all I do is knock off three little children and the only reason I don't have world domination will be in my grasp. Sounds like fun to me! Why don't we get started?"

"We already have," Draco said, smiling. Lucius was Stupefied and tied up in the corner; he and Aurora had come out from the cloak and Stupefied him when Voldemort was staring at Harry.

Voldemort's eyes widened and he grimaced. "All right, enough chatter. Let's just get this over with."

The battle began. The Prism had an order of spells they planned to use, so they could say them all at the same time.

The first spell they used was a spell that shot a stream of ice at Voldemort. "Amnisgelo!" they shouted at the same time. Voldemort tried to dodge the stream, but the edge of his shoulder caught against it, and he howled in pain. The rest of the stream rammed right through the wall behind Voldemort and lodged itself halfway in. Normally, it would be just a thin jet of ice, but because they were the Prism of Light, it was at least six inches across.

Voldemort recovered from the hit. He shouted a spell, and a purple swirl of sparks shot at them. They managed to dodge the spell and went on barraging Voldemort with some spells of their own – Flammaturbo, which shot out a twister of fire; Evincio, which sent out ropes to bind up Voldemort; and Impedimenta, which slowed Voldemort down. Voldemort was hit by the Flammaturbo spell and blasted back against the wall. He avoided Evincio, and just dodged Impedimenta. He also managed to fire a few spells of his own at the Prism, and they were partially effective.

After ten minutes of fighting, Voldemort's robe was torn and he was dirty and had wounds all over but, strangely, was not bleeding; Harry's hair was slightly charred and stood straight up; Draco's normally pale face was bright red from the fighting; Ron had a gash across his right cheek; Aurora's lip was bleeding all over her chin; Hermione's face was covered with soot (from being hit with a spell and falling into the fireplace, which was, thankfully, not on); and Ginny's thumb was sliced open.

"Enough!" Voldemort roared. "Posco Dementor!"

A Dementor stepped through the green fire (which was still blazing in the doorway) and glided slowly over to Voldemort.

"My dear Dementor," Voldemort said. "Will you please give these children over here a little… kiss?"

Aurora shrieked.

The Dementor glided towards them. Harry struggled to remain cheerful, but the Dementor was already sucking all the cheerfulness out of the room.

Trying to avoid the Dementor, they raced to the other side of the kitchen table. The Dementor, with one swift move of his cloaked arm, knocked the table to the side.

Harry shouted out directions to the rest of the Prism. "We've all got to use the Patronus spell," he said. "Think about something happy, the happiest thing that ever happened to you, and say 'Expecto Patronum'. It's the only thing that'll chase it away!"

They all murmured something in agreement, backing up as the Dementor moved closer.

"One, two, three!" Harry said.

"Expecto Patronum!" they all said at the same time. Immediately, something happened. An enormous shape formed from grey wispy-looking things that shot out of their wands. It was shaped like a prism – like the one on their necklaces. Instead of staying grey, like most Patronuses do, the grey wisps that had formed the prism turned all the colors of the rainbow. A blinding light flashed, and, when it faded, the Dementor was gone. All that remained was the black cloak, which lay in a heap on the floor.

The Prism's eyes quickly turned to Voldemort. He stood silently, no emotions showing on his face. "Well, of course it'll be more difficult for me than you. There's six of you and one of me. Let's make a little deal – just you and me, Potter. Then we'll be able to tell who is more powerful."

The Prism had expected this, and they had a plan for it. "Fine," Harry said. "Let's go." The other five backed up a bit.

Voldemort laughed, a look of victory on his face. "Now, now, Potter. Did you forget so easily? Did you forget the reason why you are not dead now? Did you forget that our wands cannot fight each other? Now what are you going to do?"

Harry pretended to be shocked. "Oh, no!" he said. "Er, well, I'm going to try anyway! Expelliarmus!"

The spell worked; Voldemort's wand flew out of his hand and landed at the feet of Ron. Harry had only mouthed the spell; the rest of the Prism had said it, and it worked.

"Don't you have any decorum, Potter? Why did you back out on a deal?" Voldemort said, frowning.

Harry shook his head, picking up Voldemort's wand. "Don't you know never to make a deal unless you shake on it?"

The members of the Prism began to smile; they could practically taste victory. As it turned out, it wasn't over yet.

Voldemort's cruel smile appeared back on his face. "Don't you know never to think you've won until your opponent has surrendered?" he said, mimicking Harry's voice. He pulled another wand out of his cloak. "You see, boy, that wand," he said, "is just a fake. I always plan ahead, try to be prepared, and I was. I stopped you from defeating me. Now I've lost my patience, though. I'm going to murder you all, except for Potter, of course, who I will kill last and torture most."

The members of the Prism backed up against the wall. Harry was on the end, clutching Ginny's hand, trying to calm her down (she was hysterically crying); Ginny held onto Ron's hand; Ron was holding on to Hermione's; Hermione was gripping Aurora's; and Aurora grasped Draco's, whose other hand was shaking with fear.

"Let's see… why don't we do it all at once, in one clean sweep, shall we?" Voldemort said. "Except for Potter, of course. Avada Kedavra!"

The green light Harry was becoming all too familiar with flashed, and no one even had a chance to scream. Harry felt Ginny's hand go limp, and she fell to the ground.

"No," Harry croaked. "No!"

Voldemort's vicious cackle cut through the air. "Now it's really just you and me, Potter," he said. "And, just in case you were wondering, I will use my faithful Death Eater Lucius's wand, so we can actually fight."

Harry wasn't listening. He was gazing at his five friends, cold and dead on the ground. Tears rolled down his face.

"Aw, the boy is crying. How touching," Voldemort said.

Harry turned to Voldemort. He couldn't let him get away with this. He couldn't let Voldemort just kill him effortlessly, without him putting up a fight. He had to do it for his friends; that was what they would have wanted. His mind churned; Voldemort using someone else's wand would definitely be to Harry's advantage, because he would be slightly weaker, but Voldemort was more a more powerful wizard. The only way he could defeat Voldemort was by surprising him.

An idea popped into his head, and, glancing at his friends one last time, he took a step forward. "Accio Gryffindor sword!" he shouted. He pictured the sword in his mind – silver, with enormous sparkling rubies and the name "Godric Gryffindor" encrusted on it – and hoped with all his heart that it would come. He knew it was coming when he heard a loud whooshing noise. The sword broke through the window, shattering it to pieces, and flew into Harry's outstretched hand.

"A sword?" Voldemort said. "Is that the best you can do, boy? A sword? Oh, come on, I thought you were more creative than that!"

Harry said nothing, but held the sword in front of him, the tip of the blade aimed directly at Voldemort. He had to use two hands it was so heavy, so he couldn't use his wand at all.

"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted. Harry dodged the curse somehow, miraculously. He avoided several more curses, and Voldemort paused for a moment, out of breath. Harry chose then to strike.

Harry charged at Voldemort, his sword aimed directly for Voldemort's heart. He didn't care what Dumbledore had said about not killing Voldemort, even if he could; he was so blinded by anger at Voldemort. He had killed his parents. He had killed his friends. Practically everyone Harry cared about and loved had been killed by Voldemort. "This is for my parents, and my friends, and all the other innocent people you've killed!" Harry shouted as the tip of the sword plunged into Voldemort's body. There was no noise, and no blood; it was almost like Harry had missed, but he hadn't.

Harry yanked out the sword. Voldemort screamed in agony, clutching the area where he had been stabbed. He fell to his knees, his red eyes shut tightly. He writhed on the ground for a minute as Harry stared at the sword, shocked at what he had done.

Suddenly, Voldemort began to stand up. He still clutched his heart, but he opened his eyes and looked at Harry. It was the scariest thing Harry had ever seen in his life; black flames danced in Voldemort's blood red eyes, which were filled with such hatred that it was unbearable to look at them anymore.

"Potter," Voldemort said quietly, his voice full of pain. "I don't have a heart. I am not a true person. Therefore, you cannot kill me by stabbing me in the heart."

Harry looked at him wide-eyed.

"I am weak," Voldemort muttered. He looked at Harry one last time. "I may not have killed you this time, boy," he said, "but I will. Someday." He took his wand, grabbed Lucius by the arm, aimed the wand at himself, and Apparated himself and Lucius out.

Harry surveyed the room quietly. It didn't resemble the Weasleys' kitchen as it had merely an hour before. There were gaping holes in the walls, and the jet of ice was melting, dripping into a large puddle that had gathered on the floor. A large chunk of the table was missing (it was lodged in the ceiling), and the chairs were strewn about, knocked over, and broken. Burn marks were on all the walls, and Mrs. Weasley's bookcase (which still contained Lockhart's books) was knocked over, the books all over the floor. A small fire burned in one corner. Most importantly, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Aurora lay on the floor, dead – or so Harry thought.

A moment later, Harry heard someone stirring, then another person – and another. Soon, Harry looked back at the Prism, and saw that – somehow – they weren't dead. In fact, they were waking up, rubbing their eyes, and looking around dazedly.

Harry rushed over to them, kneeling beside them on the ground. "You're all right!" he exclaimed. Draco was staring numbly straight ahead, Aurora was biting her nails, and Ron was comforting Ginny, who was crying.

Hermione squinted at Harry. "What?" she said. "What happened, Harry?" At that moment, though, her memory seemed to be coming back to her. "Oh! Voldemort… battling… Avada Kedavra," she whispered.

Harry nodded. "How… how are you not dead?"

Hermione gulped. "I – I don't know. Tell me exactly what happened at that part. My memory's a bit fuzzy."

"Well, he said he was going to kill you all, and we backed up against the wall holding hands, and then he said 'Avada Kedavra' and you all fell to the ground."

"We were all holding hands?" she said.

Harry nodded.

"You're sure?" she said.

Harry nodded again. "Positive."

"I think I know why, but I need to double-check when we get back to Hogwarts. What happened after he cursed us?"

Harry waited until everyone was listening, and then he explained everything that had happened.

"Oh, Harry! That's so brave!" Hermione said.

"Wow," was all Ginny said.

Aurora gave a dramatic gasp and said, "Good for you, Harry! You stood up to Voldemort!"

"Amazing, Harry! Wish I had been able to see it!" Ron said.

There was a short silence as everyone looked at Draco. Would he make a snide remark, or would he be kind?

"Well done," he said gruffly. From Draco, this was the greatest comment one could expect.

"Thanks," Harry said to all of them. "We should get back to Hogwarts, though, and tell Dumbledore everything."

They nodded and headed towards the fireplace, which Ron lit with a wave of his wand. They grabbed a pinch of Floo powder each and muttered a password before saying "Dumbledore's office". This had to be done because Hogwarts needed special safety precautions; it couldn't be open to everyone on the Floo Network.

* * *

Harry fell out of the fire and landed on the floor in Dumbledore's office. He sighed with relief; he felt safe at Hogwarts. He always had. The rest of the Prism of Light arrived right after him.

Harry looked up and saw Dumbledore, Professor Figg, Professor McGonagall, and the rest of the Weasleys staring at them. They were a truly interesting sight, bleeding and dirty.

"Are you all right?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

They stood up. "Yes," Ginny said. "Yes, Mum, we're fine. Don't worry."

"I'll explain everything that happened," Harry offered.

"Thank you, Harry," Dumbledore said. He waved his wand, and comfortable chairs appeared. They all sat down, and Harry began explaining. "It all started out with the Weasleys sitting at the kitchen table…" he began.

A/N: Okay, that's it! Next chapter: the epilogue! Yes… this story is ending. Don't be sad, though – I'm going to write a one or two chapter story about a minor character (whom I am keeping a surprise until I post the story) and then post the Harry Potter and the Prism of Light sequel! Anyway, in the epilogue, we'll find out how they survived Avada Kedavra, what they'll be doing next, and much more! Thanks for reading, and, if you review, thanks for that, too!