Chapter 20:

Author's Note: Here I am again! I just want to say, before you all start pelting me with things preferably not rotten or extremely hard, that this chapter was extremely difficult to write. So appreciate it, you whipper-snappers! No, I kid you at that, I am rather a bit of a "whipper-snapper" myself. Anyway, I prithee, please read and enjoy my chapter, and if thou hast anything to say, please leave a review or email me at lisechka@aol.com. Thanks! By the way, if I have left you out of my review responses, please send me an email and I will be sure to respond. Now, for all the faithful reviewers out there in fanfiction wonderland:

Sela- Yes, just a bit abrupt, wasn't it? Hehe, well, I hope you enjoy this next installment, there is a bit of a conclusion to another romance in here, I guess. Thanks for the awesome review!

Sylvia Malfoy- My dear friend! My next chapter has arrived! Your suggestion for plot expansion was wonderful, but unfortunately it would not function for the rest of the story *makes pouty face* however, this is the chapter where Voldemort is finally des-, ahem, fought. You'll see what happens, I daresay. I've decided to lengthen my story though. Be happy! Hopefully…we'll see how it goes. The old man, Harold, is an invention of my own. He is not Voldemort, though he's secretly very powerful, he is just a tortured servant of Wormtail that actually belongs to Dumbledore's side, if he was freed. I love Draco, and I'm planning many more stories with him, don't worry.  I'm so glad you like my chapters, they were difficult transitions to this. Hope you like it!

amangius-mooneyes-wolfspell- Cool name, dude…Thanks for the review, I hope you continue to like my story!

jessica- thanks for the review! I've finally uploaded again, and I hope you like this next chapter, it took me forever to put together…but I'm happy.

exlibris- wow! Thank you for the great review, I'm so glad that you like my story! I put a lot of work into these plots, and I hope you like the conclusion of this next chapter, cause I definitely did. What am I saying, I'm the author. Sheesh, Evyfleur has to get a hold of herself. Any way, have fun reading, I hope you like it!

leigh-hey buddy! Only 20 days, and it's my twentieth chapter! Rejoice! I'm so happy, can't wait for OotP. I hope you will find enlightenment and fuzzy feelings inside by reading my next chapter…yay! I love H/G…but then again, I can be easily converted to Ginny/ Draco, terrible of me, isn't it? Oh well, see you on the 20th! Cheers!

Cariel- Here's my next chapter! Sorry for the delay, but it was all for the good of the story, I promise! I love polyjuice potion, isn't it a wonderfully convenient plot device? I think so…thanks for the review!

Gigaku- Hello, amigo! I'm glad you're so excited! I am too, this chapter has been torture for me to write, but it's all worth it, ain't it? Please read and enjoy very much, thank you!

Disclaimer: I have nothing to say more than: J.K. Rowling owns this and I intend to make no money off of it, unlike some others around here…*gives evil Ronnish glare at WB* Anyway, this isn't mine, it's hers.

The Battle of Long-Awaited Revelations

            So there they stood, waiting for the Dark Lord's followers to arrive, to pick them off one by one. Hermione felt a raw pain in her chest at this thought. It wasn't supposed to end this way, she wanted it to end differently. The end didn't belong with the Death Eaters; it belonged with her friends, with Ginny and Harry, and Ron. Still, there was no way to escape the attack, it was inevitable. Soon, a line of black robed people appeared in the distance through the window. One horrible, dark creature was leading them; he was also dressed in black, but it seemed his white, snakish face stood out vibrantly from everything else. Hermione felt cold at the sight of his cruel, pitiless face. She lost all of her courage at that point and half turned, half fell back, into Ron's arms. She buried her face in his robes and held on to him earnestly.

            "Ron," she cried, "I'm scared. I really am. We're going to die, and we won't even be able to start being true friends again. I don't want to die this way," she whispered to him. She didn't want Ginny and Harry to hear her in such a childish fit.

            Ron put his arms around her protectively and said, quite calmly, though he couldn't tear his eyes from the sight of the figures outside, approaching quickly: "Are you kidding? We're the best out there, 'Mione! We're better than all of them out there, put together." he gestured violently towards the Death Eaters.

            "Especially you, 'Mione. We would still be at Hogwarts if it wasn't for you. Don't you worry. And what's this about 'true' friends? What else did we do as friends? This is our friendship, it's helping Harry out and that's what it has been since the beginning. Why should it change now? Anyway, I'd rather fight off a load of Death Eaters as true friends than hang out at the Three Broomsticks! We'll be together to the end in everything we do. We've always been real friends, even when we weren't speaking. It was just another Classic-Ron-and-Hermione-Row, as everyone tells me now. It was just a bit longer than the others, wasn't it?"

Hermione nodded faintly, lost in what he was saying to her. He finally looked down from the sight out the window to stare at Hermione, and it happened. He knew what was going on and why he had "rows" with her all of the time, why he hated Viktor, and why he was about to do something. He had known it before, of course, but something about her eyes and her desperate need to be there, with him and no one else, to need his true friendship, to live, made it inescapable and perfect at the same time in his heart.

Suddenly, he pulled Hermione in and kissed her roughly. He was about to say "for luck" to cover up for what he had just done, but that kiss was much too honest to excuse. He had to say something, she was looking at him for some word, and he was just acting like a goldfish. Well, it was now or never.

"Hermione, I-"

"No," she exclaimed, stopping him, "wait until this battle's over. Don't ruin a good moment." She smiled at him, and he couldn't help but grin back at her.

They joined Harry and Ginny and stepped out of the old house to face the enemies outside quickly making their way towards the four people. Draco soon appeared, too, looking even paler than he usually was.

"I hope that owl gets there on time. I body-binded the butler, too. I don't think he'll be any harm, but it's only a precaution. He'll have company with the owls."

He stood next to them and took out his wand along with the rest of them, taking a fearful gulp. "Here we go," he muttered, and, taking a gold ring out of his pocket, put it on his left ring finger and stood ready to fight.

            The Death Eaters had finally gotten within range, and the air was shot immediately with hexes and curses from the friends' side, "Impedimenta! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!"

They shouted anything and everything they knew to keep them from cursing them. But as for the Death Eaters, they seemed more serious about the situation, throwing Unforgivable Curses toward them. The more cowardly ones sent Cruciatus Curses, but many were shouting "Avada Kedavra!" with evil glee. Quickly, the five friends realized that to be successful they would need to form teams. Ron and Hermione stood back to back. "I'll block!" Hermione yelled to him.

            "Uh, alright! I'll curse, then!" Ron replied anxiously. And so they continued as thus, struggling, but their plan was working relatively well, considering the circumstances.

            At one point, Draco was hit with a Cruciatus curse. When the rest heard his painful bellow, they all turned around and cursed the Death Eater who had hit him. He looked rather stunned, and simply fell over, an unfortunate amount and combination of curses taking effect on him. This caused a lapse in blocking curses, however, and Ron was hit by a "Crucio!" also. He fell to the brittle ground in the sting of the curse, writhing and trying to point his wand at the one who did it. Hermione didn't hesitate to give Macnair, who did it, a swift right hook, forgetting her wand in the moment.

"That's for Ron and Buckbeak," she said fiercely. He looked as though the breath had been knocked out of him, but hastily regained his bearings and pulled out a newly sharpened dagger. She backed away in shock, but was shoved to the side as Ron attacked him. He managed to get the blade away, but only after Macnair had stabbed him in his wand arm. Ron threw the dagger as far as he could, hit another Death Eater with it in the process, stunned Macnair and disarmed him.

There happened to be a good side to Ron not having his wand arm functioning. It was a bit like their second year in Hogwarts, when Ron's wand had broken, except now the magic was more powerful. All of the Death Eaters Ron cursed started retching slugs everywhere, this causing other somber black-robed followers to slip on them. Still more Death Eaters were now trapped above them in amazingly strong, gigantic lavender bubbles.

"Hmm, that seems to be working, keep it up, Ron" Draco said, suppressing a laugh. Ron gave him a half-smile and wrapped his robe tightly around his bleeding arm.

Though they fought both in the literal sense and to keep an optimistic view about the battle, it was obvious that they were too greatly outnumbered, and the followers of Voldemort continued to close in on them. Ginny and Harry were concentrating their efforts quite efficiently, picking off each Death Eater together, double cursing. Draco and Hermione left it to them and to Ron to curse. Instead, they started to block and shield wherever they could, directing their blocks at visible, traveling spells.

Then, everything seemed to slow for a moment, and finally stopped. No one sent a spell or cursed or blocked. Everyone stood still, as a majestic, surreal sound swam lightly through the air, catching everyone's ear to call for peace, and everyone's eye as they searched for the origin of the enthralling song. Ron looked up sharply. He recalled that quality and tune, that comforting, secure sound. His eyes met Harry's bright green ones, and he remembered who it was.

The bird with red and gold plumage glided gracefully through the air. It was the perfect adult form of Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, who also provided a tail feather for both Harry and Voldemort's wands. Ron smiled and turned to Hermione.

"Keep fighting, 'Mione, the help is here," he muttered to her, and they turned back to stun the shocked Death Eaters mercilessly. With the same expression of awe on each of their faces at Fawkes, many more began to fall. Snapping out of their reverie, they reacted ferociously, only this time it wasn't so easy, as a number of more people had turned up with Dumbledore to fight.  

Among these were Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley and his three sons Bill, Charlie, and Percy, along with many others who had joined Dumbledore's band of "radicals" after the wizarding world split. Out of the crowd, a young woman exclaimed in fear and joy, and ran towards Hermione. Except she wasn't running for Hermione at all; she didn't care that there were Death Eaters everywhere, she immediately glued herself to Draco's side and asked him if he was alright. He became softer than Hermione had ever seen him before. He actually acted like a human being with her: Genevieve, she surmised. She smiled at Draco, tenderly telling her that he was fine and that he was more worried for her, and they started to join together to get rid of the black-robed men. Hermione quietly slinked off and sidled up to Ron who was still struggling to control his wand, which was now sending huge clouds of orange smoke and quite a putrid smell in front of him, making it impossible for the Death Eaters to see. Hermione took advantage and started to stun wherever she heard coughing sounds.

            Sirius and Remus hardly used their wands at all; they used mostly hand to hand combat, after they disarmed all of their opponents, of course. Arthur and the boys looked like they were thrilled to be in something like an old western muggle movie and cursed left and right to stop the Death Eaters. Dumbledore and Snape very modestly stayed to what was essential in fighting. For a moment, it seemed the tide had turned and they were finally gaining a fair advantage over the scores of fallen wizards who blindly followed the Dark Lord, when he himself, usually staying back to only prod his pawns into action for him, decided it was necessary to enter the battle.

            Most of the people were too busy in blocking and cursing others to notice that he had arrived, but Harry and his friends felt it, along with a few others who had had enough experience to know when this happened. Dumbledore and Sirius paused abruptly and scanned the battlefield that used to be the yard of a house for Voldemort. Voldemort, the man, if he could still possibly be called that, who wanted to steal death and be immortal. Sirius hastily fought his way through the swarms of people fighting to Harry; when he got to his side, he smiled and said,

            "Fawkes wouldn't let us leave without this, think you might need it?"

He pulled Godric Gryffindor's magnificent sword out from his robes and handed to Harry very carefully. Harry took it, the handle of the sword fitting his fingers perfectly. Harry smiled back at Sirius and thanked him for bringing him the sword. Just holding the sword of his old house at Hogwarts, Harry felt strong and confident, and secure, or was it something else? He hid it in his robes, though, and continued to duel with his wand, as it was much more practical, and he didn't want to kill people, he wanted to stop them from killing him.

            Death Eaters fell now, right and left, and Voldemort joined in the battle energetically, as though anxious that he would lose some of his oh-so-loyal, invaluable followers.

Ron and Hermione were back to back once again, blasting (or strangely cursing or charming in Ron's case) any and every obstacle out of their way as they made a path over to aid the other Weasleys. A painful wail resonated in the air, and Arthur Weasley fell to the ground from a Cruciatus curse sent to him by Voldemort.

"Imperio!" he yelled again in a cold voice, pointing his wand at Bill. A glazed look took over Bill's eyes, and he started to attack Charlie and Percy, who fought to keep him off. Two more Imperius curses went flying at them, and all of the Weasley brothers except for Ron (who was cursing Voldemort with every colorful word he knew, under his breath so as not to offend Hermione, even though she could her it and supported him in everything he said) started attacking their own allies.

Ron, looking positively terrified and angry at the same time, shouted at them desperately, "No! Stop! You're on our side! Don't listen to the voice! Don't listen to him! You're on our side, stop it!"

This didn't happen to help however, and his brothers turned to attack him with a far off look in their eyes. He and Hermione had to resort to disarming them, hoping it would stop them only long enough to let Ron and Hermione actually get rid of the people they needed to get rid of. Voldemort tried to send an "Imperio!" at Ron also, to complete the brothers' fate, but Ron had not spent a year practicing with Moody and having his ears twitch for hours to not know how to block an Imperius curse. He laughed as the spell hit him right on his long, freckled nose.

"Maybe if one of your 'most loyal' servants hadn't taught me how to resist that curse it would work. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of experience." He grinned in victory at the Dark Lord, who became infuriated, and instead sent an Imperius curse to Draco, whom he knew it would work on. Draco was hit on the back by it, and sank to his knees at the impact of the curse, a look in his eye saying he was absent. A dangerous flash in his eye told them he was fighting it, though, and finally, he stood again, taking a determined glint and none of the effects of Voldemort's curse with him. The Dark Lord almost looked afraid now, but soon the cries of Remus and Sirius in pain were heard over the clamor of voices. Ron and Hermione gave each other a troubled expression, but continued to fight as steadily as they could.

The Death Eaters, taking an upward turn at the arrival of their leader, had now unarmed and captured Arthur, Lupin, and (with some difficulty: ex. Biting, scratching, etc.) had Sirius tied up. He struggled in his cords that were similar to the ones the trio remembered Snape had used to restrain him back in their third year, in the Shrieking Shack.

Speaking of Snape, he had also been caught when he left Dumbledore's side to attend to another comrade, and they were torturing him endlessly. Even if he was the most hated teacher Hogwarts had ever seen, the cries of Snape did not give the sweet feeling of revenge to those who despised him. It bred pity for Snape, the brave one who broke away from being a Death Eater but continued to risk his life for the sake of his fellow wizards. It wasn't all that different than what Draco had experienced on his mental journey from Waterloo station to Wormtail's unwelcoming house.

Only a few people were left. Voldemort was now nearing Harry and Ginny and looked prepared to curse him. Ron, Hermione and Draco (who told Genevieve to stay behind to protect herself) all ran to his and Ginny's side, while Dumbledore struggled to keep the Death Eaters away from them. Voldemort sneered at Harry, ignoring his friends, and spoke to him alone.

"Harry Potter." There was an ambiguity of hate and proud amusement in his voice. "We meet again, and for the last time, I'm sure," he said, gesturing around them with his long, pale fingers.

"I'm sure," repeated Harry boldly.

"We should get this over soon then, shouldn't we? Crucio!" He yelled, but he wasn't aiming for Harry, he was aiming at Draco, who fell in agony to the hard ground again because of the Dark Lord's spite. "Or maybe we should talk about this. My old friend, your new friend; I don't appreciate it when people betray me," he said, smiling horribly and watching with insatiable thirst as Draco twitched and lost all of his strength rapidly. He gave a small chuckle at the helpless creature and turned his slit-like eyes upon Ginny, who stood in front of him, feeling naked in his sight.

She had spilled every thought and feeling and turn, every change of her soul into Tom Riddle's diary. He knew everything about her character from when she was a little eleven year-old, falling in love with her brother's best friend. She trembled, but held her ground and stared in fear and shock at the deceptive snake who had stolen into her innocent mind with cunning charm.

"What a sweet girl. A sweet, beautiful, misled, annoying little girl. I listened to you and all of your petty troubles for months to have you finally realize what was happening…it took every benefit away from the whole ordeal. You cost me every shred of my effort to preserve myself. You caused my memories a lot of pain, you idiotic child! And now you finally have Potter smitten with you. It doesn't surprise me."

Harry glared menacingly at Voldemort, who only ignored him and sent a shower of curses at Ginny that none of them had ever heard before, but she stumbled back.

"Ginny!" Ron cried, catching her in his arms as she collapsed with an unearthly scream that hollowed through and tore their hearts. She shuddered and shook uncontrollably.

"It's okay, sis, you'll be okay," Ron tried to tell her. He tried to look into her eyes, but they were unfocused, remembering in their curse along with pain the many trials she'd endured in her second year…what Voldemort had forced her to do. She continued to tremble as if caught in an inescapable nightmare.

Voldemort cackled at this. It was a high-pitched, cold, mirthless, obnoxious laugh that made the air stale and dry with the sound of death and evil intentions. Ron looked up at Voldemort with passionate hate in his fierce cerulean eyes. He gently laid Ginny on the ground behind him, and stood to face the black-robed demon.

"You'll never win, Voldemort," he said, pronouncing each syllable of his name with a firm voice, "you know that, don't you? You won't win, because We. Won't. Let. You." He was so sure of every word; Hermione felt a surge of pride and love for him and an unwavering loyalty, not as usual towards Harry or Dumbledore, but towards Ron.

"Silly boy," Voldemort spat back at him, a strange look in his reddened eyes, "You're only a sidekick to my worst enemy. Why, that's almost worse than being the enemy itself. So dull, so…insignificant you are to me. But then again, one step lower-"

Hermione saw the Dark Lord's wand as it turned to her. She felt a burning, stabbing sensation of some curse. It was similar to what Ron had described when they were at Malfoy Manor. A stabbing, tearing pain raced up her arms, eating her apart from inside. But she didn't feel it either. What she could really feel was someone holding on to her hand tightly, shaking her as gently as they could.

"Go," she managed to say. "Fine. Go."

The hand let go.

Ron let go of Hermione's hand reluctantly, but he was relieved she could still say something, anything, really. Voldemort was going to die, Ron would be sure of that even if he had to do it the muggle way. That wasn't a requirement yet, though.

"Expelliarmus," he shouted, and amazingly, it worked. It didn't matter that his wand arm was broken; he had sent the spell perfectly as Hermione usually did. Voldemort's wand flew from his hand, but he instantaneously summoned it back with a mere "Accio wand" and a wave of his long hand.

"I'm not that easy to fool, Weasley. On the contrary, Expelliarmus," he said calmly, and both Harry and Ron's wands left their hands and were caught, not by Voldemort, but by a man behind them. They turned to around to see Wormtail smirking rodently at them.

Voldemort narrowed his eyes till they could hardly be distinguished in his face, and jubiliantly aimed his wand at Harry. Ron ran and stood in front of his best friend, arms outstretched in complete protection.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill me first," he said determinedly, holding his position.

Ron words echoed inside Harry's head, and suddenly he remembered their first year, with the giant chess set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yes…" said Ron softly, "it's the only way…I've got to be taken."

"NO!" Harry and Hermione shouted.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me- that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"

Harry remembered the clang of the King's sword as it hit the surface of the chess board when he finally won. Sacrifices? The sword?

"Oh, you exasperate me!" Voldemort said, greatly angered by him.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A bolt of green light shot vividly across the air. Half of it reached its goal of Ron's chest, but the other half bounced off, reflected by the sword Harry was now holding in front of Ron. He fell completely limp onto Harry, who set him on the ground. Was he dead? There was no life left in him, it seemed. His hands were cold, his eyes looked forward with no emotion, expressionless, and a pale gloom hung over him like a cloud.

But only for a moment. Suddenly he convulsed with an explosion of pain, his eyes rolled back into his head and Harry could hear several of his bones snapping grotesquely, but he never screamed. Finally the convulsions stopped, and Ron let out a breath with such weariness as Harry had never heard. But he was alive. He turned back with triumph to Voldemort who looked completely astounded by this event.  But Voldemort turned his ugly head to Harry with more hate and desire to kill him than ever before.

He came closer and closer to Harry, a silent curse pounding in his head. "Crucio," he said, pointing the wand at him suddenly. Harry fought to stand as the pain coursed through his body with a foul strength. But Voldemort was saying something else…somehow he moved his attention from the curse to what Voldemort was saying. He held his sword up with all the effort he had to shield himself from the curse, but his sword missed. The green light hit him straight on…and reflected off, making his scar burn hot for a moment, but then it faded, and he stood there, shocked, wondering why it hadn't killed him. The effects of Cruciatus Curse had worn off also. If it wasn't for the awe and terror on Voldemort's face, he would have thought he was dead. This total survival of the curse gave him courage, and he decided to approach the Dark Lord.

"Voldemort. Do you know what you have done? To me...and to everyone else?" Harry asked him this and he could feel the bitter tears well up when he remembered…everything.

"You killed my parents. That has caused me twenty-one years of misery and regret that I was too young to help them. You framed an old friend of my parents for what this pathetic rat did," he said, holding his hand out to gesture at him. The wands in Wormtail's grubby paws came flying to Harry, as if he had summoned them. Harry somehow didn't feel surprised that that happened. He merely dropped them beside his feet as though they weren't necessary.

"You corrupted the hearts and minds of innocent people, and set fear in those of others" he continued, glancing at the other Death Eaters, and then down at Ginny. "You killed Cedric Diggory, one of my true friends. You have caused an insurmountable amount of pain. Pain and torment and horrible darkness for so many people, and not just wizards. This has been my duty ever since I found out what you were, not are, because you no longer can cause any of us the torture you did before. Finally, I can finish it. This is for everyone whom you've ruined with your evil purposes."

Harry charged toward Voldemort, who tried to curse him, but found that yet again, the curse shattered as it reached him, like a mirror. Harry lifted the sword, and with a mighty blow, plunged it into Voldemort's heart.

An icy, high-pitched shriek erupted from him, and with blinding flash of green flames, Voldemort burst into fire and burned up, taking a vacuum of other screams of pain, sobbing, fear, and all other hurt he caused in with him. There was an ear splitting roar as the green fire consumed itself in unquenchable thirst and vanished, leaving no trace of the wizard behind it. Harry drew breaths quickly and tore the sword from the ground where it had stayed in the fire. But there were no marks upon it at all. It was not sullied, and the bright name of Godric Gryffindor shone in gold, bright and radiant in glory.

~Evyfleur