A/N: OK, Ladies and Gentlemen and South American Bullfrogs, this is chappy 29, re-done and made good by ODMonkey. She is a brilliant writer, you should cheek out her hilarious Lord of the Rings/Redwall story and there's a brilliant Jack/Will Pirates of the Caribbean song fic she did that's great too, I love it, and she has some Zelda and Aliens fics, and well, they all rock, and if you are looking for something to make you laugh your ass off, or just some really well written storeys, you should check out her work.
While I'm at it, you should go look at fodmonkey too, she is a really good writer as well, she has this really good Harry/Ginny story that she needs to finish! And go read and review a-broken-heart-still-beats, she is brill, her new story A Decision Of The Heart rox, it's a Ginny/Draco with Bad!Harry in it, much goodness. You can find them all on my favourites and are well worth the read.
Any way, on with the show, and once again, HUGE thank you, to OD Monkey for making this readable, you kick ass.
Chapter twenty nine: Please Don't Be Mad
"I'm not your anything Tom." Harry turned to face the snake figure, feeling his skin crawl at the sight of familiar emotionless red eyes.
"Aw, but I think Lightning suites you." Voldemort mocked cackling softly. "Ah, but alas, for the first time in your pathetic life you are right. You are nothing to me. You're not my downfall, you're not my rival, and you're certainly not my equal. So why bother with this charade? Join me. I will give you one last chance." Harry couldn't place the look on the serpentine features. He was certain it was not emotion. He doubted The Great Dark Lord could feel any thing but pissed off, yet there was a sort of dull curiosity in the features?
"Oh hey! Wadda you know, I'm not your equal. Something we both agree on. I'm stronger than you will ever be." Harry planted his feet firmer on the ground holding his sword out in front of him. Rain poured down his back, obscured his vision and froze him to the core, but he made no sign of noticing it, for in honesty, he hadn't. He was far more interested in the drenched enigma in front of him.
"So brave Harry. But you didn't answer my question."
"That's because it is nothing but a mockery Riddle. No. Your answer is no. I would never lower myself to that level."
"It's a pity. We would have done well together." Oh yes, Harry thought with quiet sarcasm, you do sound ever so sorry about it.
"Put that sword away. I will not fight a self respecting wizard with muggle weapons." Harry raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly as he dropped the sword, storing a fragment of a thought in the back of his mind for later use. He pulled his wand from out of his sleeve, holly, eleven inches, containing a single feather from the tail of a phoenix, a most… curious wand indeed.
Harry was beyond felling scared. He was beyond the searing pain that sliced through his forehead from his scar. He was sick of it all. Too much had happened in his life. Too many people had died. Riddle had taken to many lives.
He almost felt indestructible, like the fact that he didn't care whether he lived or died gave him a sort of impenetrable shield. Whether he lived or died, he would still win.
Voldemort looked at him with cold eyes, tuning out the background noise, the screams and the curses and the cackles and everything in-between. Now or never.
They bowed and took up their stances, Harry with cold fury running in his veins, Voldemort with cold indifference. Voldemort blinked; Harry struggled to stay standing as pain lanced up his leg where the spell hit. He threw back a curse that left Voldemort with lacerations all over his body. The battle dragged on inside the short time, sometimes Harry dodged or could throw up a shield, but not always, and he was getting worn down. Despite the agony, despite the weariness pervading his body, he fought on. Voldemort, though supposedly the better wizard, was in a no better state.
Harry heard a shout come form behind him. However so did Voldemort. They both turned to look round and Harry gasped. Severus, his Severus was standing surrounded by a group of Dumbledore's Vampires who were currently defending him from the onslaught of Death Eaters that were surrounding them.
His gaze locked on Severus' obsidian eyes, they looked like they were willing him to pay attention as they so often had in his lessons. Harry felt the hot rush of tears, but these were happy tears. Even though Draco had said he was ok, Harry wouldn't have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes, his lover was alive, and relatively un-harmed.
Time seemed to slow down, in truth it must have been no more than a blink of an eye. Severus reached into his robes and pulled out one of the two bottles he had left, that nice little explosion inducing liquid. At the same moment Harry heard an inhuman cackling come from the mouth of his almost forgotten enemy.
Severus threw the potion at his Lord. The bottle sailed in a graceful arc as did his Lord's wand. A blinding flash of white light knocked Severus to the ground, he lay motionless, defeated. For a second the scene was mirrored out in emerald eyes.
Harry turned abruptly to the laughing form of his opponent. The tiny bottle landed with a crash at Voldemort's feet before discharging with a blast that rocked the air, throwing Tom Riddle to the ground. The flash was like lightning, loud and bright.
Harry was the first to regain his wits. He reached to draw Gryffindor's sword and cursed when he saw it lying of the floor out of reach.
Shit Shit Shit, Harry mentally swore, he reached down to where the daggers were hidden in his boots, with the sword beyond him they would have to do. Voldemort had seemed reluctant to go up against a sword, as if he was vulnerable to physical harm more than magical. By now Voldemort was stirring, trying to pull himself upright. Blood dripped from every gash on Riddle's body.
Harry stood over him, pained but determined, he raised the daggers. The blades mirrored his slight, triumphant smile. Deep into the heart of the one who harmed his lover the blades fell. Voldemort coughed, claret spilling from his half open mouth.
"Congratulations Harry, you lived. Again. Pity your whore won't." With that Voldemort's eyes clouded over and his body fell limp.
"No!" Harry screamed, "No, not dead, not dead, he's not dead you bastard, he's not!" Blood slicked Harry's palms as he shook the prone body. He pulled out the daggers and launched into a volley of kicks and blows that pulled him down a path toward where Severus was lying, protected by vampires.
"Severus." Harry dropped to his knees whispering to the body on the ground. His eyes were closed and his hair was matted with dirt and blood. "Love, please, open your eyes, it's me. It's Harry. Severus please. Don't be mad, we won. Everything's ok, you can wake up now." Severus didn't move his pale face looked almost peaceful in the surrounding chaos. Harry cradled Severus' head rocking back and forth talking incessantly. "The last time I saw you, you were mad at me. Have you forgiven me? Please don't be mad Sev, I didn't do anything. Please, stop being mad at me, wake up. I promise I'll do what ever you want me to if you'll just open your eyes, I'll even train in potions Sev, I'll do anything, just please open your eyes and forgive me."
~*~*~*~Tbc~*~*~*~
Oh don't kill me, please don't kill me!
