Chapter 52
Harry awoke a few minutes later in the hidden stairway to the secret room underneath the living area of Malfoy Manor. Draco sat with his head laid back against the wall with his eyes closed. Harry didn't think he was asleep considering the noise from outside the hidden door. He still heard curses and spells being shot back and forth.
He quickly took inventory of his body to see if anything was broken or not there anymore from Bellatrix Lestrange's performance of the Cruciatus Curse. Everything seemed to be in order but achingly so.
"How long have I been out?" he asked.
Draco opened his eyes and blinked away the settling dust from his lids. "Just a few minutes."
Harry slowly got to his feet and patted his pockets for his wand. Malfoy handed it to him a second later.
"You dropped it after you passed out."
"Thanks." He looked at the door and back down to Malfoy. "Reckon we ought to get back out there?"
Malfoy shook his head. "I've done what I came here to do."
It was as Harry suspected. They both had had their revenge and Malfoy was true to his word about not caring what happened from here on out.
"I'll come back and get you when we're all done."
Malfoy nodded wearily, and Harry was off.
He opened the secret door, and took better care to check around before he stepped out and closed it behind them. After a quick look around the corner to the main hall he turned back and crossed the living room and went through the opposite direction, circling around. Large holes in and scorch marks littered the downstairs area everywhere he turned.
Harry followed the sound of battle to the back yard where something he hadn't expected was occurring. The sky was filled with Order of the Dog Star zooming around in a dazzling display of aerial acrobatics having it out with the remainder of the Death Eaters.
Dumbledore was on the ground in the middle of the yard facing the back of the house occasionally waving his wand , while fending off curses and hexes from an unknown assailant that Harry couldn't see.
Who ever it was, knew what they were doing if they were facing Dumbledore. That sent a chill down Harry's spine. Could it be Voldemort? His scar wasn't pounding and that was a good or bad sign depending on how you looked at the matter. Either way he had to see if he could take out whoever was firing upon Dumbledore and his Order.
He checked from room to room but couldn't get a decent bead on the attacker. Then he got an idea to use the same entrance that Malfoy and he used to gain access to the house in the first place. He dashed to the living area and grabbed his broom. In a second he was in the air and flying at a blur to the opposite side of the vast hall in the middle of a fight to the second floor and through Malfoy's room.
He took a pot shot at one of the Death Eaters still holding off the main strike in the main hall and distracted him enough for Applegate to get a good shot through and stun him.
Harry kicked open the door and approached the portrait. "Cephissus."
The portrait opened and he held his wand up. "Lumos!"
Once his eyes adjusted to the near darkness he made his way down the stairs and through the passageway as fast as he could and not bounce off walls at the same time. It only took a minute or two until he reached the blank wall at the other end and pushed it open.
The forest area on that side of the house was relatively quiet. Harry made his way along the side of the house and peered into the back yard. Nothing had changed except his view on the matter. The back yard was gigantic, an acre or more of open grass, not a tree in site except for the bordering forest.
Five figures flew around like angry hornets in the air, occasionally shooting a blast of red light at figures on the ground which were now very few.
Dumbledore's position had not changed and he had animated several pieces of lawn accessories that were flying in between him and his attacker acting as shields to fend off the more lethal shots.
Harry squinted his eyes against the brightness of the oncoming sun to get a better look only to find Dumbledore's enemy hooded. He thought he'd stayed out of the fray long enough and threw a disarming charm at the cloaked figure. As luck would have it he ducked in order to avoid one of Dumbledore's blasts and Harry missed.
He was further out of luck when a piece of the wall magically extended to block his view and subsequent attacks of the foe. That wasn't going to stop Harry. He mounted his broom and looked to the last of the Death Eaters falling to Hermione's stunning charm then he took off in their direction.
He waved them away. "Get out, now!"
They all slowed in the air and confirmed his order only to turn and whisk off over the tree line to relative safety. He knew he was no match with whoever was under that cloak if they could hold off Dumbledore so he stayed in the air with the only advantage he held.
Harry took a strafing run across the length of the back yard throwing hex after hex in area around the foe. He was hoping to distract him long enough to let Dumbledore get a clear shot off.
A large silver shield appeared in front of him and the hexes bounce off as well as a white blast of heat. Each hit resounded with a loud BONG! in response. Harry was very impressed with the strength of this opponent.
Something he had used twice before with great success was his only hope of bringing him down. He pulled up on his broom and shot straight into the sky high above the scene and then he turned and dove above the house directly over the hooded enemy. He took careful aim at the roof overhang and concentrated every ounce of his being into the spell.
"Explodere Utweard!"
He had always been too close to actually see this spell in action, but from this distance he watched as a burst of ice blue light shot from his wand and assumed an ever-increasing larger square shape until it was about fifteen feet across when it encountered the overhang.
The back center of the house flattened to the ground in a spill of stone and mortar. Harry started to pull up from his dive when it hit him; the searing pain of old across his forehead. The blinding explosion that made tears spring from eyes and sapped his strength until eventually he hit the ground at a hard roll.
The force of the landing jarred him out of the moment and let him focus on other things, like the realization that it was Voldemort under the overhang and he'd best get back in the air or he would likely be dead very soon.
"Hold still, Harry."
It was Dumbledore kneeling over him checking his legs and arms for injuries. Harry was certainly hurting, but from the number of times he had fallen off his broom he knew it wasn't anything major. Dumbledore seemed satisfied of his condition until he reached his head. He paused for a moment and Harry heard him gasp.
"Harry, your scar seems to be missing."
He had said it so matter-of-factly that Harry thought it was a joke at first. He reached up slowly with an often used gesture to feel the smooth lightening-shaped scar that had adorned his head for sixteen years only to find totally smooth skin.
"Do you feel well enough to stand?" asked Dumbledore.
Harry nodded in disbelief and was offered a hand up. They both took to their feet and neared the very large pile of rubble at the base of the house.
"Is it ... was it ..."
"Yes, Harry. We were battling Lord Voldemort, and I must say you performed admirably."
Inches away from the rubble, Dumbledore began charming the larger chunks out of the way with consistent waves of his wand. Harry joined in until he felt a feint vibration in the pocket of his robes. remembering the Order of the Dog Star he withdrew his pocket mirror and opened it up.
Hermione's face lit up the mirror with fear and worry. "Harry!"
He smiled softly at his fiancé. "It's over. You can come back. Voldemort's dead."
He heard screams of triumph issue forth from the mirror and off in the distance behind the tree line.
"We'll be right there!"
He closed his mirror and looked up at the weary face of Albus Dumbledore. "He is dead, isn't he? I mean, my scar ..."
The deeply wrinkled face of the headmaster stretched into a thin smile. "I believe so, Harry. Judging from the rather large pile of rocks laying atop his body and the absence of your scar I would assume that Lord Voldemort's reign has truly come to a close."
The sound of speeding brooms coming to a halt behind them made Harry turn around only to be almost knocked over by a profusely crying Hermione throwing herself into his arms.
"I thought ... I felt ... " she sobbed.
Harry knew what she was thinking. "It was Bellatrix Lestrange using the Cruciatus Curse on me."
She pulled back in horror and checked over his body and face for wounds. "Are you ... Harry! Your scar!"
He smiled back at her, and saw the rest of the Order behind her, coming to take a look. Harry lifted his messy hair out of the way and was greeted with everything from astonishment to yelps of joy.
"Come on, lets help the Professor."
They all whipped out their wands and started clearing the area when a large band of Aurors began Apparating all around them. Dumbledore paused in his clearing to give them instructions and returned a few minutes to find the area mostly clear except for a large amount of mortar and dust settled atop where Voldemort once stood.
The headmaster held his hands out for everyone to stand back then he started to twirl his wand in small circles. At the center of the pile a small dirt-devil appeared and became increasingly larger, arcing over to the pile of rocks that they had moved over. The dust and small fragments of rock were caught up in the whirlwind and deposited themselves out of the way.
they all watched on as more and more was cleared away until virtually nothing was left. Dumbledore stopped the whirlwind and strode forward kicking at what was left with his booted foot.
Hermione gasped, "He's gone."
The rest of them started looking around as if Voldemort were about to Apparate and begin attacking anew.
"Do not be alarmed. He is dead," confirmed Dumbledore as he picked up the broken remains of Voldemort's wand, while shaking off the dust. "It is as I suspected."
Everyone looked at the wand and back up to the headmaster for an explanation.
"You see, Lord Voldemort's return the year before last was by magical means in a potion consisting of Harry's blood, the hand of one of his Death Eaters and the remains of his father's body. Very dark Magic, Indeed."
Luna Lovegood nodded in acceptance. "Makes sense doesn't it. Once Voldemort died, the magic sustaining his body died along with him."
"Quite," said Dumbledore. "Now, I believe you are missing one of your ranks, Harry."
He looked around and counted up his Order, everyone was present but Malfoy. "I'll go get him."
Harry trudged through the large opening in the back of the house into the main hall where the Order of the Phoenix and what looked to be the rest of the Ministry's Aurors were mopping up the area of unconscious Death Eaters. He nodded at Mad-Eye Moody who smiled back his crooked, scarred grin. He waved at Remus Lupin who was pulling up one of the Death Eater's by the scruff of the neck. Applegate was being carted off on a stretcher with Tonks beside him, holding his hand along the way.
Harry continued across the hall to the living area and the very large hole where most of the floor once stood. He pushed up on the gas jet and the hidden door opened. Malfoy was still sitting where Harry left him with his eyes closed and tear trails rapidly drying on his face.
"It's over," said Harry as he looked somewhere else while Malfoy wiped his face rapidly and stood up.
Malfoy started to hand over his wand to Harry.
"What?"
Malfoy shook blonde strands out of his eyes. "I'm ready to be turned over to the Auror's."
Harry's brows knitted. "For what?"
"For using an Unforgivable Curse to kill my father."
Harry gave him a very fake look of shock. "Since when? I didn't see you do it?"
In fact Harry had not seen Draco Malfoy or Black, as the case my be, anywhere near his father. So there would be no way for him to testify to anything to the contrary.
"As far as I'm concerned, Lestrange killed him with her last dying words."
Malfoy looked at him, surprised. "This still doesn't mean I'm joining your little band of do-gooders, Potter."
Harry laughed. "Voldemort's dead, Draco. For good this time. So you're free to go back to hating me anytime."
Draco pushed past him. "Good, this cooperation thing we've had was starting to get on my nerves."