Moment of Truth
By Cybra
A/N: This is the other that Trelawney saw. J Yes, I am evil for making you wait this long. Some things are changed from Trelawney's original prediction because…well…nobody can perfectly foresee the future, can they?
Disclaimer: I don't know how Harry Potter will really end because – Surprise! – I am not J.K. Rowling. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter.
Victory in Defeat
The red beam struck its intended target a split second before the green beam could strike, giving Voldemort time to escape. Harry Potter stumbled backwards, green eyes wide with agony and surprise.
He had lost.
His wand slipped free from his hand as the world faded from his vision. The laughter of his enemy dissolved into nothing.
'Damn you…'
The agonized scream of his owl pushed its way into his dimming senses, and he stared towards the sky as he fell onto his back. Hedwig – battered, bloody, but alive – swooped down and hovered in front of him.
'Hedwig…'
@~^~~
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.
Ron trembled. "We're dead. We are so dead."
Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was defeated. The one who was supposed to save them from the Dark Lord had just fallen. Now who would save them?
Voldemort, Tom Riddle, Slytherin's Heir, laughed and lifted his hand into the air, signaling his side to attack.
Ron and Hermione immediately looked to Dumbledore who stood with his jaw clenched. Their best hope had fallen, but their leader was still standing. Their headmaster was, hopefully, still a match for the Dark Lord.
A tormented, raptorial scream echoed from on high as white plummeted from the sky and hovered above Harry's body.
"Hedwig?" Hermione asked, staring at the owl.
The loyal owl hovered above her master for several seconds as if confirming that Harry was dead. Then she back-winged, aimed, swooped again, and grasped the dropped wand in her talons, launching herself into the air again. Dodging the black owl, she disappeared into the darkening sky.
But Hedwig was quickly forgotten as the dark forces fell upon them, and the battle began.
@~^~~
On this field of despair, death was reaped every second. Ron had managed to find Hagrid by chance after losing Hermione in the melee. Forbidden from using his magic even in this battle, the half-giant used his crossbow as best as he could.
But no matter what weapon the side of good used, they were still losing.
Voldemort – though weakened from his fight with Harry – still had more than enough power to continue fighting. Plus he managed to keep enough people between himself and Dumbledore, wearing down the older wizard. If the pair had an encounter, no one could be sure anymore if Dumbledore could win.
"There he is!" Ron hissed to Hagrid.
Sure enough, Voldemort was busy directing troops to their right. He hadn't seemed to have noticed them. Either that or he had passed them off as a minor threat.
"Get 'im, Ron!"
"I can't! He'll block a magic attack in a second!" Ron's eyes widened in realization. "But he'll never expect a crossbow bolt!"
"Can't! I'm…out?" Hagrid had reached into his quiver to discover one last bolt. "Strange. I thought I just used my last one."
Ron blocked another wizard's attack as he ground out between gritted teeth. "Just use it! We've got a shot!"
Hagrid didn't argue, loading the crossbow, aiming, and firing.
As if sensing their thoughts, Voldemort whirled and fired a wind blast to blow the bolt off-target. The evil wizard laughed at their pathetic attack.
His laugh died short-lived. His red eyes widened in horror.
Almost like a hand had grabbed onto the bolt, the shot suddenly jerked itself back on course. The sharp metal tip plunged itself into the soft flesh of Voldemort's chest.
Like an avenging angel, Hedwig dived from the sky and grasped the bolt with one taloned foot, staring the evil wizard in the eye.
And as Voldemort stared in terror at the snowy owl, Ron had to wonder what he saw.
@~^~~
Instead of golden raptorial eyes, bright green human eyes glared into Voldemort's red ones. In that instant, Voldemort realized he had made a mistake in letting the owl fly off. As he had once used his servants as vessels to hold his spirit before he could obtain a body of his own, Potter had used his own owl to hold his spirit. And it seemed almost as if the owl had been as willing as Voldemort's own Deatheaters.
"Did you really think that I would just lie down and let you kill all of these people?" Potter's voice snapped from nowhere and everywhere. "I win."
Those green eyes glowed as the bolt began to warp and mutate into Potter's missing wand.
"No…!" the Dark Lord hissed.
The snowy owl's small form – unable to contain all of the power that the vengeful spirit was using but large enough to conduct that energy briefly – burned away, but the wand now had all of the raw power that the spirit needed. It glowed with an otherworldly force as it awaited its master's command.
Voldemort reached for the wand, but it burned his touch. He had no escape.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" the spirit of Harry Potter sneered. "Avada Kedaver!"
With the wand directly in the wizard's heart, there was no way the green light of the spell could miss. The Dark Lord screamed in agony as his life was ripped forcefully away from his body. The spell destroyed his every chance of returning again.
The screams of the Dark Lord echoed over the battle, causing the combatants to freeze and turn to look. At the sight of their leader dying, the Deatheaters and all the dark creatures realized that their chances of winning the fight had just dropped to zero. The spirits of those on the side of good were bolstered, and they fought with renewed vigor.
Ron and Hagrid paused to stare at each other in shock.
Harry Potter had snatched victory even in defeat.