Their entrance did not go unnoticed. Professor Snape pounced on Lucius Malfoy the second he saw him. "Father," Harry heard Draco call out. The Death Eaters spread forth to take on other teachers; those not engaged in battle picked a fight with a student or stood back and enjoyed the show.
And it was a show. A mad house's entertainment. Chaos as Voldemort called it reigned around him. Harry could hear the grunts and curses of his fellow students as they fought each other. Brother against sister, friend against friend, boyfriend against girlfriend, professor against professor until the Death Eaters arrived. This was hell, Harry thought. His home, the place he felt safest was under attack, and crumbling against the weight of Voldemort.
Harry's gazed locked with Voldemort's narrowed red eyes as he picked himself up off the floor. He was alone in this he realized. Voldemort obviously wanted it that way, made it that way, he thought bitterly, as he gripped his wand tight.
"You're all alone Harry," the voice taunted from inside his head.
For a terrifying moment Harry let his eyes scan the room. All of the professors, including Dumbledore, were engaged in battle – wands out and voices raised. Most of the students were physically beating on each other, though a few a pulled out their wands as well. It was nightmare come to life.
His green eyes focused on Voldemort again. He used his time wisely, he was closer now, wand at the ready.
Harry knew he had to concentrate. Since hearing the prophecy he had know that this moment would come down between him and Voldemort alone. But alone in a room full of pandemonium was not how he pictured it – he certainly couldn't picture winning here amongst the madness. Voldemort probably counted on that too and it gave Harry all that more reason not to let it happen.
Voldemort's first curse came at him so swiftly that Harry didn't know how he countered it.
Like a snake Voldemort moved in closer, curses flying at him. Some hit him, knocking him off balance. When one of his own curses hit Voldemort Harry let out a victorious cry. He wasn't going down without a fight.
Around him everything was a blur of color and sound, a pair of fierce red eyes kept coming closer. Harry felt his palms go sweaty. How to stop Voldemort without using an unforgivable curse? Was that even possible?
He saw Voldemort raise his wand high. He heard the words, "Avada Kedavra," and blinked unable to react instinctually.
Harry watched eyes wide as a form swept in front of him. The robes were unmistakable. "Head Master," he cried as fear swept through his heart. Dumbledore stumbled backwards into Harry. Seeing him fall the other professors raced to take on Voldemort, their love for Dumbledore stronger then the spell Voldemort put them under. Death Eaters surround him as his howl of rage filled the room.
Cushioning Dumbledore's fall Harry did his best to help the laboring old man. "Harry … my boy," he breathed out, his voice strained.
"Fawkes!" Harry called, his own tears falling on Dumbledore's face.
"Too late … listen … " Dumbledore coughed. "Love … in you … remember," he instructed Harry with his last breath.
"No!" Harry cried. "Please don't leave. We need," he moaned hugging Dumbledore's still frame.
Dumbledore's words swarmed in his mind along with his grief. Suddenly Harry knew what he had to do. With purposed he pushed up off the ground and strode forward, wiping the blood from his mouth. He knew how to defeat Voldemort, Dumbledore had given him the key. Using a spell to clear the way Harry smirked at Voldemort, "You lose," he shouted before pushing his bloodstained hand into Voldemort's face.
Voldemort cried out in pain as if the Crucio Curse was being applied. Harry forced his blood-encrusted fingers into Voldemort's mouth. His blood pumped through Voldemort like poison.
Harry watched as Voldemort's skin turned ashy and finally burst into flame. Drained, he dropped to the floor as the chaos continued around him.
~*~
"Harry?" Ginny asked again but he didn't respond. Though she'd been sure she'd cried all she could, fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. Around them were the last remnants of the battle that had taken place; the death toll was high, and wounding. Cho and even Pansy, but most painfully of all, Dumbledore.
Looking past Harry, Ginny spied Draco crying over his father and aunt's body. For the first time she truly felt for him.
Many of their fellow students had been bruised but a few, including Neville and Hermione, needed to be taken to the Hospital Wing. It appeared the Bellatrix had used the Crucio Curse on Neville and until he woke up they wouldn't know how badly it affected him.
"He needs to be taken to the Hospital Wing," Professor McGonagall said hold her broken arm. "I can't carry him Severus. Will you take him?"
"Of course," he nodded.
"Good, I'll stay with Draco," she said. She looked worriedly down at Harry before making her way to stand vigil with Draco over his family.
"What about the other Death Eaters?" Ginny asked as Professor Snape picked Harry up.
"The Aurors will catch those who fled," Snape assured her. "None will protect them now that The Dark Lord is gone."