Disclaimer: This story is provided by the author 'as is' and does not contain or represent any expressed or implied ownership of any fictional characters and/or creatures created by J.K.Rowling.

Harry bid his goodbye to McGonagall – there was no need to spend any more time at Hogwarts.  Instead, he spent his time sitting on a large hill a few miles east of his house, trying to figure out the second portion of his task.  However, he didn't seem to make any headway, and was glad when Ginny stopped by after she got back from work and brought a wicker basket.

"A picnic?" Harry asked, grinning.

"Of course," Ginny replied.  "So you're finally done reading?"  She opened the basket and spread a blanket across the wild grass.

"Yeah," Harry replied, a bit cautiously.  He didn't want to tell Ginny that he now had to come up with a way to defeat Voldemort for good, as well as the fact that it would be less than 2 weeks away.  He knew that she would worry about him, and probably want to come along as well.

"So what did you find out?" Ginny asked, and Harry was able to discern a probing tone to it.  Apparently the picnic wasn't going to be free, and Harry tried not to sigh.

"Voldemort's going to go back two months from now."  Harry was a little guilty about his lie, but he knew that if Ginny knew the correct date, she'd insist on coming along.  He knew what fighting Voldemort was like – after all, he had done it enough times before – but he wasn't about put his wife in the same position.

"I guess we'll both be busy then?" Ginny asked, although it was only partly a question – she obviously intended to stop Voldemort as well.

"Of course," Harry replied.  This drew a curious gaze from Ginny – she apparently expected him to argue with her about this, and Harry felt another twinge of guilt about his lie.

Harry was again sitting on the knoll, and he was again trying to figure out how to kill Voldemort – permanently.  Why kill?  Harry asked himself.  Chances are, the key to defeating Voldemort wouldn't lie in death.  After all, he was hit by a rebounding Avada Kedavra when he tried to kill me as a baby, but his spirit still lived.  Same thing my 5th year at Hogwarts – and he escaped again.  The banishing worked two years later, except it was possible to bring him back.  Well… how do I banish him for good?

Harry thought for awhile, but wasn't able to come up with anything.  Ok, forget about that?  Wait a minute!  Before I trapped him in the sphere, I created that barrier he couldn't escape from.  What would happen if I shrunk the barrier's size to nothing – with Voldemort inside?  What if I trapped him, and then shrunk the inside until it didn't exist?

Harry considered this, realizing that he was on to something.  Ok, he couldn't get out of my barrier.  But if there was no space on the inside, wouldn't that mean he wouldn't take up any space himself?  And if that's true, he couldn't interact with the environment – he couldn't hold a wand, he couldn't be nursed to health, and he couldn't possess people.  Harry grinned excitedly – it appeared as though the pieces were falling into place.

The next eleven days were stressful.  Harry spent his time practicing his barrier, making sure it was strong enough – he didn't want Voldemort to escape.  Ginny kept shooting him furtive glances, as if worrying that he'd come up with an excuse to leave her behind on the second month.  She was right, although in the wrong way.

Finally, the day arrived – Harry was going to finally fulfill destiny.  He made sure he woke up early; he didn't want his wife spotting him leaving.  After quietly slipping out of bed, he silently pulled out some parchment and a quill.

Honey,

I'm sorry I had to lie to you about the specific date, and I know you're going to be furious at me.  But I have to face him – alone.  I'll probably be back even before you read this, but I'll be back before lunch at the latest.  Please don't worry – I'll be back soon.

Love,

Harry

Harry pulled out his wand and quickly apparated to the Riddle Manor.  Harry took a deep breath of the dark musty air of the house and looked around.  The walls were covered in a thin layer of dust and the carpet had faded to reddish-gray.  Still, it was quiet apparent that the house used to be quite regal.

Harry heard the gentle crackling of a fire and made his way through the house towards it.  He entered a large room with the same faded carpet, although there was a large cushioned chair facing the small flickering flames in a large fireplace.  Suddenly, Harry realized he had seen this room before – it was in his dream where the old man was killed during his fourth year!  Gathering his courage, Harry pointed his wand and rotated the chair slowly to face him.

"Voldemort," Harry whispered.

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Ok, ok, I know I ended on a small Cliffhanger.  Well, the final chapter should be up on Thursday or Friday…

Also, I think I owe an apology for the puzzle – I made it too hard.  Several of you got really close – it's a representation of a chess board.  The Green represents the black side; the orange runes are the white side.  It's white's move, and can mate in 6 (1. Rh1 d4 2.Ra1 d3 3.Ra3 b2xa3+ 4.Ka1 a2 5.Ba3 Kxf6 6.Bb2++)

Kaelli: Uh, the Irish Drinking song isn't making a reappearance.  I mean, it's the last chapter.  I somehow don't think it'd fit…

MicroChick: Well, close.  You just didn't see the chess connection.  About Voldemort freeing himself – I can't see how he'd do it more than once.  After all, if he was released once – how did he get locked back up?

Lakergurl13: Yeah, the History of Magic classroom is an odd choice.  I did it because the Book's title in the Restricted section.  There are two little jokes with it.  I was just wondering if anyone would pick up on them.

Dragonlord: Haha, yeah right – me spend a lot of time researching Viking Runes.  You've got me mistaken for a bushy-haired Gryffindor.  No, I went to Yahoo.com, searched for 'Rune pictures' or something similar and found a 'Spell your own name in Viking Runes' webpage.  I pretended my name was KRBNP and copied the picture.  After some modification (to get two different colors) I rearranged the pieces to fit the chess puzzle (one of John Nunn's)  The entire thing took less than 30 minutes. 

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