Disclaimers: Please refer to chapter one for full disclaimer write-up.
When Living is No Longer EnoughChapter Thirty-Five
Harry observed the scene playing out before him in absolute horror. He had heard the low murmur of voices from somewhere close by and had been making his way to that particular location when an agonized scream pierced the otherwise silent corridor. The thing that startled him most was that the woman sounded like Hermione. The shrieking continued to assault his ears and he quickened his pace toward the room in question. Cautiously stepping underneath the frame of the doorway, he observed the figures of Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. And there in the midst of it all, having just entered the room to stand behind the potions master, although Harry thought that 'stagger' might have been a more appropriate word, was Voldemort himself.
The Boy-Who-Lived took a hard look at the creature that had plagued him for most of his life. 'The potion really worked' he thought noticing the pallor of the Dark Lord's skin and the slow, jerky movements as he walked into the room. Voldemort looked, for all intent purposes, as if he was knocking on death's door and the Gryffindor in Harry almost reproached himself for feeling nothing more than a churlish sort of relief.
"Finish him off Lucius," he heard the Dark Lord rasp, indicating that Snape was to be disposed of immediately. "I will allow you to amuse yourself with the mudblood in whatever way you wish but the traitor dies now!"
"Not this time," Harry muttered softly through clenched teeth, remembering how so many of his friends and colleagues had suffered and died at the hands of the Death Eaters in the past. Glancing at Hermione who was still under the effects of the Cruciatus, he pointed his wand at the blond haired wizard and angrily whispered "Avada Kedavra." A deadly green light burst forth from its tip at precisely the same time Malfoy cast his own killing curse at Snape.
Everything from that point forward seemed to play out in slow motion as Harry observed, with horrified reluctance, the scene that was to follow. Try as he might, there was just not enough time to alter the course of the events to come. Hermione's petite form, still quivering from the effects of the Cruciatus, leaped into the air to land in the arms of the startled potions master. Her headlong dive had delivered her straight into the path of the killing curse and The Boy-Who-Lived saw the glow of the deadly green light shine eerily upon her back as it moved within inches of its new target. At what seemed to be the last possible moment, he saw her lips move for what could have been nothing more than a fraction of a second and the couple vanished into nothingness.
Simultaneous yells of anger emanated from both Lucius and Voldemort as the couple disappeared from the room. The cries ended when the deadly green light of Harry's killing curse squarely struck Lucius in the back sending the man lurching face forward to the floor, his gray eyes glazed and unseeing during his final descent.
The Dark Lord's eyes widened in fear as his mind registered the death of his second-in-command and he had barely had time to move in order to avoid being hit with Lucius' killing curse. A curse that had been intended for Snape but now passed through empty air to collide with the grand piano. The shattering of wood was heard by all present as the curse met its unintended mark and the once grandiose instrument was reduced to a pile of splinters and rubble.
"Harry Potter," the Dark Lord spat and quickly aimed a stunning spell at an unsuspecting Ron. "We meet again."
"For the last time," Harry told the creature that faced him from across the room. Lifting his wand, he hurled a disarming hex at the Dark Lord who had simultaneously cast his own hex toward the young man.
With a flash of light, the curses connected causing a rainbow of light to shine throughout the room like sunlight through a prism. Their wands, both sharing a connection of phoenix feather cores, began to draw together crossing the space of the room until they once again reunited. A burst of energy shot forth from the magical instruments knocking both Harry and Voldemort to the ground before the spectrum of light ceased and the wands fell to the floor, welded together and useless to either wizard.
"You are just as troublesome as your parents Potter," the Dark Lord rasped. "Just as much of a Good Samaritan."
A 'pop' was heard and the men looked over to see the dark clad figure of Severus Snape apparate into the room, his expression thunderous. Taking but a mere second to evaluate the situation, he pointed his wand at an unconscious Ron Weasley and murmured one solitary word. "Enervate."
The red haired man awoke from his magically induced stupor and hesitantly stood, his wand poised in front of him, as he surveyed the situation.
A softer 'pop' was heard and the assembly looked over to see Voldemort attempting to apparate from the room in an effort to withdraw to safety.
"I do not think that you'll find apparition a possibility Tom," the voice of Albus Dumbledore rang out from the doorway.
"What have you done you meddling old fool?" he hissed, retreating towards the door he had entered through only moments before.
"I saw Severus apparate in and realized that the apparition wards were still down," the headmaster replied solemnly. "I suspected that, given the unevenness of the odds and the lack of a wand, that you might try to…how do the muggles say it…ah yes, you might try to 'make a break' for it. Therefore, I reinstated the wards."
Voldemort's face became a picture of intense fury as he realized the futility of his position. Turning to make a run for the door, he was aghast to find that Ron had taken advantage of his momentary preoccupation with Dumbledore to quietly sneak to the entrance and effectively bar his only means of escape.
"And now, I think this has been allowed to continue for long enough," the headmaster said and raised his wand. "Gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to assist me?"
Snape aimed his wand directly at Voldemort's heart, as did Ron and the headmaster. Harry remembered the wand he had taken off of one of the death eaters earlier that evening and pulled it from his robes, mimicking the other men's stances.
"Avada Kedavra," they called in unison as if acknowledging some unspoken cue.
Voldemort screamed in agony as the four strands of green light connected with his body and he writhed and twisted much the same way in which a serpent slithers along the ground. A final hellish sound emanated from deep within the creature's throat and suddenly, the light vanished and the form of the Dark Lord crumpled to the ground.
A silence blanketed the room as each of the wizards momentarily lost themselves within their own thoughts.
"Is he…dead?" Ron finally asked, a look of suspicion on his face as if he suspected Voldemort of playing a prank.
"Yes Mr. Weasley," the headmaster answered as he lowered his wand and walked toward the corpse, "I think it is finally safe to say that he is…dead."
A sharp cry pierced the room and the wizards looked over to see Snape grasp his forearm, his bodied doubled over in pain.
"Professor," Harry called and ran over to kneel beside him.
The pain ended just as suddenly as it began and Snape looked down to examine his arm. "It's gone," he whispered in shock and looked toward Dumbledore in askance of an explanation. "How?"
"I am not completely certain but I would theorize that the Dark Mark was a direct link to Voldemort himself; a link to both his magical energy and his emotions," the aged wizard explained. "When Voldemort's life came to an end, so did any type of magical link he maintained, including the link to his Death Eaters."
"Are you alright professor?" Harry asked quietly.
"It felt as if someone had cast a freezing charm on the Mark," he said in wonder not fully hearing Harry's words.
"The Mark was embedded into your skin through a process of great heat," the headmaster explained, "therefore it is only appropriate that the opposite would be necessary to remove any remaining vestiges of it from your body. I would imagine that we should see a similar occurrence amongst the rest of Voldemort's followers as well."
"That's going to make it difficult to capture and convict the remaining Death Eaters," Harry said, his Auror instincts already kicking in and formulating alternative methods they might pursue.
"I think," Snape answered, "you'll find that with the Dark Lord finally dead, they will all too willingly turn on one another as a means of procuring a lighter sentence for themselves. And if that doesn't work then Veritaserum will."
"Hey, where's Hermione?" Ron asked, just realizing that she hadn't apparated back to the Manor with Snape.
"Merlin!" Snape swore and looked to Dumbledore as if he were a child seeking permission to do something. "Hermione is in the infirmary under Poppy's care. I need to get back to her Albus."
"Will she be alright?" both Harry and Ron asked at the same time.
"When we arrived at the gates of the castle she wasn't breathing," Snape explained, realizing that the men standing in front of him had every right to question her current condition. "Poppy managed to revive her but her condition, at least when I left, was still tentative at best."
"She couldn't have been hit with the killing curse," Harry mused. "It continued on toward Voldemort after the two of you disappeared."
"No, Poppy feels that it was a combination of events that caused too much strain on her body and weakened her magical energies," the potions master answered.
"I think that we can finish things up here," the headmaster said, hearing evidence of the Ministry's arrival from down the hall. "However, before you return to Hogwarts, there is just one thing I would ask of you."
Severus turned to look at the lifeless body of Voldemort and nodded his head in agreement. The two wizards stood on opposite sides of the figure and pointed their wands directly at it. Together, they began muttering the words to a very dark, ancient curse that would bind the soul of a being to its own body for eternity. A flash of red light glowed around the carcass of the Dark Lord and ebbed into his skin as the incantation came to an end. Dumbledore then pointed his wand at the shell that once was Lord Voldemort and muttered "incendio" sending the body into a burst of flames. Snape performed a similar spell on the joined wands ensuring that they would never be utilized again.
"It looks like you're going to need a new wand Harry," Ron told his friend with an audible gulp after witnessing such displays of power from the other two wizards.
"I think Mr. Ollivander will understand," the Boy-Who-Lived assured his red haired young friend.
"Severus," the headmaster said, pulling his attention from the pile of ash that once was the Dark Lord, "I think it is time for you to return to Hogwarts where I am sure that you will find a young witch that will be very relieved to see you."
Snape stood back and waited expectantly as the older wizard lowered the apparition wards on Malfoy Manor. A moment later a definitive 'pop' echoed throughout the room and the darkly clad figure of Severus Snape vanished from sight.
"Albus," the tense voice of Minerva McGonagall called just before the witch appeared at the doorway flanked by two Aurors from the Ministry. "There you are. Ministry officials are making a final sweep of the Manor now but it looks like we have found everyone except Lucius Malfoy and the Dark Lord."
"Not to worry Minerva," the headmaster answered popping his only remaining lemon drop into his mouth. "I believe you will find Mr. Malfoy over there and Voldemort is right over here."
Looking in the directions indicated by the headmaster, the transfiguration professor gasped when she saw the lifeless body of Lucius Malfoy that had been propped on the sofa by Ron and Harry just moments before. However, that reaction was completely overshadowed by her response to the simmering pile of ashes that once comprised the being of Voldemort.
"Oh my," she said in a shaky voice. "That means that it's really over?"
"It would appear so," Dumbledore answered, his eyes twinkling like an overdone fireworks display. Turning his attention to the Boy-Who-Lived-Yet-Again he merely said, "Harry, seeing that you are one of the Ministry's senior Aurors, why don't you coordinate the remainder of the final clean-up while I have a talk with the Minister of Magic."
"Yes sir," he answered, happy to finally be finished with the whole Voldemort business once and for all. Of course the Ministry would still be charged with rounding up the remaining Death Eaters as Harry was certain they weren't all present at the Manor, but that was minor in comparison with finally being finished with the Dark Lord.
Seeing Harry and Ron exit the room with the two Ministry Aurors in tow, the headmaster turned to his deputy headmistress. "Minerva, did our side suffer any casualties this evening?"
"All of the members of the strike teams have been accounted for with the exception of Severus and Hermione. We had a few people hit with minor hexes including Neville Longbottom, Fred Weasley and Oliver Wood however I am certain that they will be fine," she answered. "We have not yet heard from our perimeter teams so I cannot speak as to their status."
"Very good," he replied, brow furrowing in concentration. "Concentrate on bringing the perimeters teams in. The Ministry officials should be able to handle the situation from here and I have no doubt that they will call on us for debriefing. Send anyone that is in need of medical attention back to Hogwarts where Poppy can treat them. Everyone else should report to the Ministry's main offices. As for Severus and Hermione, they have already returned to Hogwarts. Miss Granger was injured and is currently under Poppy's care. She is not to be bothered by Ministry Officials until her condition has drastically improved."
"What of Severus? The Ministry will insist on taking a statement from him this evening."
"He is not to be disturbed either," the headmaster answered in a tone of voice that allowed for no objections. "He has done enough for this evening and his place is at Hogwarts with Hermione. Tell the Ministry that he will answer their questions at a later time."
"Yes Albus," she answered, her gaze returning to the pile of ashes that lay next to them.
"Do not dwell on it Minerva," Dumbledore told the astonished witch. "It is enough that we have finally won and that peace will be prevalent in the wizarding community once again."
"I just can't believe that after all that has happened over the last several years that it has come down to this," she told him, motioning to the ashes. "I can't believe that it is really over and that he is actually gone for good this time."
"It will take time for the reality to set in but one day, in the not so distant future, you will believe," he answered with a smile and a comforting pat on the back. "And now if you will excuse me, I have to speak with Cornelius Fudge before he manages to embroider the facts to his advantage once again."
Before she could respond, a small 'pop' sounded as Dumbledore apparated from the Manor leaving the still stunned transfigurations professor to gather together the last of their troops.
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"Are you certain that you are up to this?" Severus asked the witch for the fourth time in as many minutes as he helped her zip her dress robes.
"Stop worrying," Hermione admonished the potions master who had hovered over her non-stop since she had been released from the infirmary earlier that morning. "Poppy said that I was practically back to normal and I really haven't done that much today."
"Precisely my point," he answered crossly, worried that she was back to her usual stubborn self and overdoing things yet again. "I distinctly remember Poppy mentioning that you were not to overtax yourself lest you end up back in the infirmary."
"Severus," she argued lightly, "The only things that I have done so far today are attend the graduation ceremony earlier this afternoon and argue with you. You know as well as I do that tonight's leaving feast is not only a celebration of the end of the school year but also a celebration of the end of Voldemort's reign. You also know that we are both expected to be there. I promise that I will rest as soon as it's over."
"Merlin save us from Gryffindor stubbornness," he muttered irritably, handing her a pair of high-heeled shoes. "Might I remind you professor, that it has only been a week since the attack at Malfoy Manor? Thanks to your foolish stunt, that nearly killed you I might add, your magical stores have yet to be fully restored. Tonight's festivities will do nothing more than serve to drain your energies further and tire you out. It is not bad enough that Potter and Weasley will be there but now I have to contend with making certain that you follow orders for once in your troublesome life. A feat that, to the best of my knowledge, no one has been able to accomplish in all your years at Hogwarts."
"I'll be a good little Gryffindor and sit meekly and quietly all night long professor," she laughed, reaching up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking to the door.
"That will definitely be a first," he answered sarcastically, holding the door open and following her into the corridor toward the Great Hall.
"And you're welcome by the way," she told him flippantly with a mischievous grin. Seeing the questioning look on his face she clarified, "for saving your neck with my 'foolish stunt.'"
He merely glowered at her in response as they continued to make their way to join the rest of the school for the Leaving Feast. She never saw the laughter in his eyes or the slight quirk at the corner of his mouth as he followed her into the Great Hall for what promised to be a very long evening.
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TBC
Author's Note: And so the final battle has taken place (yes I know it took three chapters to complete but Argh! My muse just wouldn't stop!) The only thing remaining is to wrap up some loose ends. Yes, that means an EPILOGUE will be coming next and that will end this particular tale. As always, thank you for your reviews and please leave a review before clicking out of this story G
~Jules