Harry Potter #7
Chapter #?
Voldemort's
Final Downfall
Part 4:
The Great Battle
Everyone froze; even Moody, who had been ready to settle the fight, was looking around for the source of the voice with his magical eye. He seemed to have found it, because both eyes turned to look straight at the billowing mass of blackness that had touched down in front of Harry. There was a crack, and Moody appeared no more than two feet from Harry, pushing Malfoy to the pavement. Shouting back, Moody said, "Just sit tight, Harry." He then turned to the mass of cloud and roared, "What do you think you're gonna do now, Riddle?"
Harry's fears were confirmed. Voldemort was here – more powerful and strong than ever before. Even the Slytherins were shaking, but Harry got the sense that it was not out of fear, but excitement.
There was a hissing noise and just as an enormous snake leaped out of the cloud, Moody blasted it with a lightening bolt from his wand. The snake fell limply to the ground, and Moody got right back into attack position.
Voldemort's high pitched voice emanated from within the cloud, "Avada—"
One of the solid brick barriers from inside the Station crashed down between Moody and the cloud, drowning out the last of the curse which caused the barrier to explode, sending bricks flying in every direction. Tonks, who had summoned the brick pillar, instantly created a dome-like shield around the students to protect them from the debris. Moody, however, had been too close. One brick caught him hard in the stomach and a small shard flew imbedded itself into his magical eye. Because he couldn't feel his eye, Moody only knew of the wind getting knocked out of him. But now his magical eye had been rendered completely useless.
At this moment chaos erupted through the Students that weren't members of the D.A. Harry spun around and instantly saw why. The black clouds had surrounded them on all sides and dementors were spilling out of the clouds from behind. Two already had students in their arms and were ready to Kiss them.
As fast as he could, Harry fantasized Dudley sitting miserably in Azkaban and Dumbledore here to chase Voldemort away. Then he bellowed, "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag flew from the end of his wand and sprinted through the students like a ghost and galloped right into the swarm of dementors. It rammed into the ones closest to Kissing a student first, before running over the rest. His patronus was quickly joined by Ron and Hermione's. Harry heard a crack from behind him as Moody, still wheezing, apparated to the other end of the group.
Remembering Voldemort, Harry turned quickly, expecting to see the dark cloud in front of him. But at that moment, the cloud vanished before his eyes. Now Harry could see nearly a thousand witches and wizards, each masked and in a black cloak with a brilliant green symbol of the Dark Mark on their chests. Also with them were hundreds of giants and even more dementors.
"Behold!" announced Voldemort in his coldest voice, the only unmasked figure though his hood was up, "Harry Potter! 'The Boy Who Lived'!" All of his followers laughed hysterically. Harry felt particularly uncomfortable with Voldemort's emphasis on the 'ed'. Voldemort brought his wand to point strait at Harry's heart and called out to his Death Eaters, "You are free to treat them as you wish, but Potter is mine!" The Death Eaters let out a cheer and rushed the group, some spells beginning to fly through the air. But they all stopped short as they encountered Tonks' shield, which was still up. Harry looked deep into Voldemort's empty red eyes and wanted to raise his wand too, but it was like his mind wasn't working! He just couldn't muster the strength to lift it and fight Voldemort!
Many of the Death Eaters exchanged looks of frustration, and looked to their Master for instruction.
"No matter…" Voldemort said coolly with a small nod to a nearby Death Eater. The Death Eater gave the shield a blast with their wand and it vanished into a thousand tiny sparkles. Voldemort raised his wand above his head, a triumphant smile spread across his face. "At last, Harry Potter… AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry was blinded by a flash of green light, and he closed his eyes, waiting for death to fall over him. Voldemort stood there, his wand held out, waiting for Harry to fall to the ground. He won. Harry thought, the blasts from the other duels growing faint, I'm dead. Harry slowly opened one eye to see what death was like.
Suddenly Voldemort's face contorted with rage. Instead of Harry, a Death Eater that had been in the midst of fighting Neville had fallen to the ground motionless. Voldemort lifted his wand once more. Harry finally found the strength to raise his own wand.
"STUPIFY!"
Voldemort froze with his mouth open for only an instant. Blinked, and let out a piecing laugh. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Again there was a flash of light, and another Death Eater fell. As Voldemort's red eyes bulged, Harry's scar burned with pain.
"Don't just stand there!" Voldemort screamed at the Death Eaters who had taken the time to watch the duel, "Kill them!" Spells erupted from the remaining students as the Slytherins joined with the Death Eaters. Objects of all sorts exploded as they blocked various incantations. The commotion became a bee's nest of war.
"You are not getting out of this one, Potter!" Voldemort hissed loudly. "You will go the same way as your dear parents and God Father!"
Harry clenched his wand tightly. If Dumbledore hadn't told him that Avada Kedavra was not the wisest course of action, Harry would have cast it already. But oh, how he wanted to see Voldemort fall…
But Harry knew that somehow, for some reason Voldemort could not kill him. Every safety Harry had previously had was gone, yet Voldemort was still powerless to defeat him! Harry tried to exploit this failure of Voldemort's – it was risky, but it could still work well for him.
"Do you really think so?" Harry replied cockily amidst the explosions and colorful flashes of light, "It looks to me like you can't even kill me!" Then he added, just rub the pain in some more, "Just look at who's achieved invincibility!"
Voldemort's lip curled and Harry's scar throbbed with pain, though he did everything he could not to show it. Then Voldemort lifted his wand into the air and brought it down hard. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" he screamed. But this time Voldemort's wand did not point at Harry. Nevertheless, with the flash of green light, Harry felt his heart stop.
Harry wheeled around to see who Voldemort had hit just in time to see Padma Patil fall limply to the ground. "No!" shrieked Parvati, who had been dueling with the same Death Eater as Padma. Harry couldn't believe it; he didn't want to believe that Padma had just been killed.
Parvati leaped over her sister and held her head up. "Please…please, no…" she cried. The Death Eater's wand was raised high as Parvati had rendered herself completely defenseless.
"Crucio!"
"CLAUDERE!" Harry bellowed, his wand pointed at the Death Eater's. Instantly the Cruciatus Curse exploded in mid-air between Parvati and the Death Eater, throwing the cloaked figure to the asphalt and knocking their mask off.
Parvati had tensed up and was huddled over her sister's body. Harry grabbed her arm. "Come on! Let's go!" he shouted.
"No!" Parvati wailed, completely oblivious to the turmoil around her, "Not without Padma!"
"You—! You can't—!" Harry yelled as he yanked on Parvati's arm. Then he stopped. Voldemort was gone – absolutely nowhere to be seen. Harry hadn't even heard him apparate!
"Wee, little Potter…" said a creepy, girlish voice from beneath the cloak's hood of the Death Eater that had been dueling Padma and Parvati. In a million years, Harry would never forget that voice…
"Bellatrix…" Harry seethed, his eyes narrowing, standing up in attack position toward her. Harry wished the loathsome expression on his face was bad enough alone to kill.
"Why Potter," Bellatrix began in mock disappointment, "you sound like you might actually try to hurt me." She laughed hysterically and rose from the ground. "Like Dumbledore always said," she added as if imitating a tutor or a nurse, "'Don't do anything rash'. Oh, no; that was Siriu—"
Harry never heard the incantation he cast. The next thing he knew, his hatred was only somewhat satisfied by blasting Bellatrix ten feet into the air. She collided into a small group of Death Eaters trying to make their way to the excitement of the battle ground.
Harry wanted so much to destroy her as soon as possible, but as the group of Death Eaters collapsed, his eyes went to something Bellatrix had dropped when she got blasted. Without wasting a moment, Harry whispered, "Accio wand!" and Bellatrix's wand zipped up from the asphalt and into Harry's left hand.
Bellatrix had some trouble standing again and pushed herself off the others roughly before giving Harry a lethal stare. Then her expression became one of horror when Harry held up her wand. He placed his thumb under it and the rest of his fingers on top of it. Bellatrix, who had taken a step toward Harry, now froze in her tracks as she figured exactly what Harry was threatening to do. A few of the Death Eaters she had landed on stood and were drawing their wands.
"Take one more step, and I snap her wand in half!" Harry heard himself shouting over the crowd. This brought all battles to a halt and was met by mingled looks of terror and anger, and even some scattered laughter. Bellatrix, however, looked more furious than Harry could have imagined anyone being.
A Death Eater stepped up from behind Bellatrix. In a deep, piercing voice, he said, "Do you really think you could snap her wand in half with just your fingers?" A few of the others laughed, but Harry knew they were very nervous and that they were trying to get him to disarm himself by attempting to break the wand in both his hands.
As quick as he could, Harry brought one end of Bellatrix's wand to his waist and held the other end in a fist. A few of the Death Eaters raised their wands to strike, but no spells were cast.
"Give the wand back, Harry Potter." Bellatrix said in a sickening sweet voice. "You shouldn't take things that aren't yours… Didn't your parents ever teach you that?" she added nastily.
Harry pressed the wand to his waist and heard a few small clicks from it. He knew that once he broke it, the Death Eaters would kill him instantly – Bellatrix would be powerless, but he'd be dead. So he played it out very carefully.
"Bellatrix," Harry hissed at her, "Get out of here now. And never poison us with your presence again, or I will snap your wand in half!"
Nobody spoke. Bellatrix's mouth had become a small line from her fury and her hands began to shake violently. "Harry Potter…" she seethed breathlessly, "You give that back to me now, or you won't live another day!"
"First you leave!" Harry bellowed, and not knowing what he was saying, added, "And I'll mail it to you!"
This was met by a few scattered sniggers, but they quickly went silent again.
"Very well, Potter," Bellatrix chuckled, "you can mail it to me. But until then…" She jerked her head and a few of the Death Eaters behind her raised their wands to point at the students.
"I'll break it if one spell is cast!" Harry threatened and the Death Eaters closed their moths and lowered their wands. "Now get out of here!" Harry finished.
Each of the cloaked figures looked to Bellatrix, their Second in Command, for an order. Her eyes still boring into Harry's, she nodded. Like several firecrackers, each Death Eater apparated from the scene. Even the dementors and giants that had been fighting with them disappeared in their various manners.
Bellatrix seethed, "This isn't over, Potter…"
"Yeah, you bet it isn't!" Came Ron's voice from behind Harry. Bellatrix just glared at him.
A tall Death Eater walked over to Bellatrix, dropped a small rock in front of her and muttered, "Portus," in a voice Harry knew belonged to Mr. Malfoy. The stone glowed blue for a moment before returning to look like a regular stone. Bellatrix didn't pick it up; instead she whispered something to Malfoy, who smiled broadly.
Harry heard Professor McGonagall, Moody, and several others rushing up from within the group of students that were still standing. Moody and Tonks came along either side of Harry and lifted their wands toward Bellatrix and Mr. Malfoy. Bellatrix just let out a resounding laugh.
"Avada Kedavra!"
To everyone's surprise, there was a flash of green light as Moody was blasted to the ground, knocking over both Harry and Tonks and sending Bellatrix's wand out of Harry's hand. Heads immediately swung around to Draco, who had a fascinated look on his face; his wand held high. Harry, half-way sandwiched between Moody and Tonks, saw Moody's magical eye (still with a small brick shard in it) roll away.
Draco sweared loudly, "I missed!" Suddenly explosions started all over again, as students from the other three houses attacked Malfoy at once. Harry heaved on Moody, who grunted loudly and brought his hands to his face.
"Aaarrgh!" he bellowed. Then muttered, "Weak…" Moody then got swiftly to his feet and as Harry struggled to get up, he noticed that Moody had a set of brand-new scars across his face. Without the slightest pause, Moody began casting spells to separate the fight, much to the surprise of the Slytherin students. That's when someone grabbed Harry's wrist tightly.
"You'll be wanting this, Potter!" Mr. Malfoy said coldly from behind his mask as Bellatrix stood slowly from retrieving her wand. Harry felt Tonks scrambling for her wand and Malfoy kicked her hard in the mouth. The next thing Harry knew, something small and hard fell into his hand, and he felt a lifting feeling from his navel.
Various scenes and areas rushed passed Harry in a fantastic blur before he hit a cold marble floor. Everything was black, save for the blue candles along the circular wall. Oh, no... Harry thought frantically, what am I doing here?
"Lumos!" Harry whispered. The light from his wand created a glare off the floor and ceiling, but otherwise illuminated the room lined with doors for Harry to see. Harry, finding he was alone, prepared to apparate back to the Kings Cross Station.
He whipped his wand through the air and across his body while concentrating hard on a certain position in the parking lot back at the Station. But nothing happened! He might as well have been trying to apparate in Hogwarts. He tried it again with the same outcome.
"Great," Harry breathed sarcastically to himself, "Now which door should I choose?"
Instantly a door behind Harry opened by itself. Upon gazing in, Harry's mind was consumed with a flood of memories: the battle two years before, Dumbledore coming to the rescue, Harry chasing Bellatrix from the room, Sirius… They had all happened here, in this room with nothing but an archway on a pedestal with a black veil, surrounded by a circle of steps leading down to it. Harry stepped into the room and heard the familiar whispers of those that stood beyond the veil. Harry even wondered if Sirius might be one of the whisperers…
Harry soon heard other noises aside from the whispering: the sounds of many people walking nearer as they spoke quietly to each other. Harry darted into the room and closed it just as he saw a door across the room open. Harry's scar burned painfully as he made brief eye contact with the red-eyed leader of the group entering the room of doors.
Thinking fast, Harry locked the door with his wand and darted down the stone steps to hide behind the pedestal. He hid for what seemed an eternity. Had Voldemort seen him? Of course he did, Harry thought to himself, that's what made my scar burn.
Harry wanted to peak around to see if anyone had entered the room silently, but he forced himself not to. At that moment, Harry heard a fizzling sound and the door swung open with a bang. A short while after that, it closed slowly, squeaking loudly as it went.
When at last the door was closed Harry heard Voldemort's high, hissing voice call out, "Why even try to hide from Lord Voldemort? You're only making the same mistake as your parents…" Harry could hear him moving down the steps toward him. But what Harry couldn't figure out, was why Voldemort was alone.
He knew Voldemort was going to find him, as he was in the only possible place to hide. So he called out, "You didn't find them! Pettigrew did!"
"Yes, Potter," Voldemort said with a slight chuckle and stopped walking down the stairs, "but I killed them; just as I am going to kill you today."
"But you can't!" said Harry triumphantly, though his nerves were on end, "You tried and failed, Lord Voldemort!"
Voldemort descended another step. "Oh yes, Potter, you are quite right. Avada Kedavra will no longer work against someone of my own flesh and blood; a price any caster of the Ghost Mist must pay. But there are so many more ways to kill you…"
Harry's scar flashed with pain and he couldn't help but issue a small yelp. Voldemort was level with him now, on the other side of the pedestal. Strangely enough, Harry thought the whispers from the veil above him grew louder, almost to the point that he could understand them.
"…Like oh, say…this!" Voldemort shouted. Without warning, a solid stone brink the size of a city bus appeared hovering in the air. Harry leaped away as fast as he could despite his stinging forehead. The stone crashed and shattered only inches from the soles of Harry's shoes. The pain in his scar increased as Harry used all of his strength to stand.
He was now facing Voldemort directly, with the pedestal slightly off to his left. Voldemort's eyes were flashing and Harry gripped his wand tightly, looking Voldemort straight into his red eyes. Oh, how I want to kill him, Harry thought.
"Then why don't you?" Voldemort said as he held his hands away from his body, a broad smile across his ugly face. He had been using Legilimency and Harry quickly rubbed his eyes shut, cursing at himself as he did so. Voldemort let out a piercing laugh and brought his wand down to point at Harry. "Crucio!" he bellowed.
Harry had not been ready. The spell hit him harder than a freight train and intense needles of pain spread inside and out through his body. Harry screamed and fell to the stone floor. When the pain was finally relieved, it seemed to Harry to remain on his forehead.
Harry could barely hear Voldemort through his ringing ears. "Now that you are submissive enough to corroborate," Voldemort said, "I shall finish you properly."
"EXPELLIARMUS!" an all too familiar voice shouted.
Voldemort's wand flew into the air and over Harry's head. Squinting his eyes through the new serge of pain in his scar, Harry could make out the images of Ron, Hermione, and Luna, each with their wands drawn. Ron, who had successfully disarmed the Dark Lord, raised his wand for another attack.
Voldemort only had the time to turn around before Ron and Hermione yelled, "STUPIFY!" in unison. Voldemort swatted his hand at the spells and they ricocheted, both catching Ron square in the chest.
"RON!" Hermione shouted. Luna hurdled several steps at once, dropping Hermione's Arithmancy textbook in the process, which for an instant had been glowing slightly blue. She stopped fearlessly in front of the wandless Voldemort and raised her wand.
"Petrificus—" she was cut off by Voldemort as he snatched her wand from her hand and spun around her to put her into a headlock.
"Raise one wand and I break her neck this instant!" Voldemort seethed. Luna's eyes were wide with surprise: she had not expected such strength from the Dark Lord. Then, with his left arm on Luna, Voldemort waved her wand, "Accio wand!"
His wand zipped up to his hand, despite having used another person's. Upon retrieving it, he tossed Luna's aside and tightened his arm's grip on her neck. Strangely, Luna wasn't struggling to get free, but was looking Harry in the eye, trying to tell him something. Harry, standing frozen, gazed deep into her misty, hazel eyes in an attempt to decipher what she was trying to tell him. Then her thoughts hit him.
"Don't you hear them?"
And then Harry did. The whispers behind the veil were almost to a speaking volume. Their speech wasn't as much words as it was a specific feeling being instantly put into words within Harry's mind. Nonetheless, Harry could even make out various voices. One voice in particular caught Harry's attention.
"Heed not his words, Harry," Cedric Diggory's voice seemed to half whisper, "Be brave as Gryffindor himself…or else… all will be lost…"
Luna seemed to send Harry a discreet nod. She had heard every word of it. She even smiled, and perhaps, Harry wondered, she knew exactly the maneuver Harry was about to attempt.
Voldemort had only raised his wand in the time it took for these thoughts to pass. He thrust Luna away from him and she collided into the stone platform. Wand still raised, he yelled, "AVADA—"
"STUPIFY!"
Harry and Hermione had cast the same spell at the same time and hit Voldemort with it on the right and the left. Voldemort froze.
"K—K—K—" was all the Dark Lord was able to say before he collapsed on the floor.
Harry stared dumbfounded and the horrible figure sprawled on the ground and had some difficulty taking in the scene. Ron was lying on a step unconscious and Voldemort likewise in front of the pedestal with the veil. Hermione was still holding her wand out stiffly, and Luna was breathing hard, slouched on the stairs leading up the pedestal. It was a short while before Harry realized his wand was also up where it was when it cast the spell.
It wasn't long before Luna got a hold of herself and turned to Harry, smiling. Harry swore he would never forget that smile for as long as he lived. It was finished. They had defeated Voldemort.
"Fortunate we came and helped you out, huh…?" Luna asked breathlessly.
"How did you get here anyway?" Harry asked, finally lowering his wand.
"Portkey." Hermione said with equal tiredness as Harry helped Luna to stand, "We tried to apparate but it didn't work…and Luna can't apparate anyway…she insisted to come along…"
Harry nodded and, holding onto Luna's waist to support her, asked, "How did you know to come here?"
Hermione looked to Luna with a lost expression. Luna just gave a wide smile and in a more misty voice than ever said, "Oh, I have my ways of knowing…Just a little instinct, that's—" She stopped and Harry gave her a strange look.
Suddenly Luna's eyes went wide and Harry's scar seemed to split the skin once again. He crouched down from the pain as Voldemort leaped up. He raised his wand to point at the high ceiling, and there was an orange flash that blasted all four of the students back. Harry felt himself being lifted off his feet and his wand leaving his hand before crumpling to the ground at the base of the black veil.
Voldemort charged into Harry's stomach and nearly threw him through the curtain. Harry pushed back with all his strength. His scar hurt too badly to be adequately described, and he felt a trickle of blood meet his eyebrow from where the scar had actually reopened.
Harry's pushing back had spun the two of them around. Voldemort now had his back to the veil and Harry was on him; facing him nose to nose. Their hands had clasped together as they tried to push the other away.
Voldemort's wand was in his right hand; Harry's left. Harry could hardly feel the tip as it pressed against his left temple through the pain and blood that was now running into his eye. Voldemort pushed the tip of his wand to Harry's head as hard as he could. Then, through clenched teeth, seethed, "This…cannot miss…WILL NOT miss…"
Harry pushed as hard as he could back on Voldemort. Be brave, he thought, Godric Gryffindor…Godric Gryffindor…
Still through clenched teeth, Voldemort raged, "Avada…"
What was he going to do? No matter what Harry could do, he saw that he would end up dead. He could either wait for Voldemort to kill him at point-blank range, he could let Voldemort push him down the stone steps and then kill him, or (if only he could) Harry could push Voldemort through the veil and wherever one went the other would go. Maybe then he'd see those whispering people. And Sirius…
"…Ked—"
Be brave! Be brave!
"—av—"
At that moment, Harry released his grasp of Voldemort's left hand. Turning his right shoulder, he barreled into Voldemort's chest.
"—ra – ra – a – AAAH!"
Harry and Voldemort toppled through the veil. But Voldemort gave one last try to life: reaching up, he snatched the curtain near its top. There was a horrible ripping, like the very fabric of space and time was being torn, and Harry and Voldemort fell into the endless blackness.
And Harry's scar hurt no more.
* * *
Author's Note: This is NOT the end! Whew! THAT would be terrible! I'm not that bad! :P One more part to go. Don't worry, it'll be awesome…