Hi, me again! I know I've been awful, and I was even going to leave this chapter for… oh, maybe another month, but my friend came over and bribed me. See, she has Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I don't. So I don't get to watch any until I write. Meanie.
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Previously….
The beam of magic rippled and shivered before turning white – Harry felt its very substance become… not something to fear, not something to fight – it was part of him. Dropping his hand to his side he let the light envelop him. Suddenly he became aware of the presence of not just one bird, but four – Fawkes was at his rear while Hedwig and Mouxaile were flanking him. Before him, shrieking defiance at both Pettigrew and Voldemort, was Ron – Aureus Plumeus. Sliding down from around his wrist and neck, Sleeve and Zedik moved to face the Death Eaters, hissing defiance.
The Death Eaters turned to find that in the entrance to Great Hall were a thousand more snakes, all hissing and baring their fangs menacingly.
"Now who's got an army?" Harry found himself yelling, before he himself lifted off the floor and –
In his place was a black phoenix.
8888
Behind the diamond formation of the four birds, Albus Dumbledore clutched at the last reserves of energy he possessed. He was no longer young by any means, and Pettigrew had all but drained him when he had thrust his hand into the shield he had erected. But that shield could not be broken, not now, not until both Harry and Ron, or perhaps only one – were dead.
As he watched the formation gently rise higher into the air, the while halo of light surrounding the black phoenix in the centre, the prophecy came back to him.
This little babe, so few days old,
Has come to rifle Satan's fold…
Sirius Black lay on the floor beneath them, gazing upwards at the five pairs of softly beating wings, occasionally glancing behind the Death Eaters at the army of snakes blocking the doors to the Great Hall.
Pettigrew looked scared at last, but the dark figure behind him did not take its hand off his shoulder. "Birds, Potter?" Voldemort hissed. "You think you can defeat me with a couple of birds?" He did not seem surprised at Harry's sudden indiscretion towards his Animuchos ability, nor did he quaver at the army of snakes preventing his Death Eaters from retreating.
All hell doth at his presence quake
Though he himself for cold do shake
Harry looked inside his mind. Ron's barrier was down. Smiling inwardly, he ripped down the thin membrane that separated his mind from Lord Voldemort's.
There are snakes, too, he said. Do you see them?
"I see them, boy," Voldemort snapped, pushing back his hood to reveal the white, skeletal features that framed the glowing red eyes. Several students fainted, others screamed. "But they're mine. What twisted reason could you possibly have for thinking that any of my servants besides those two," he sneered slightly at Sleeve and Zedik "would protect you?"
For in this weak unarmed wise,
The gates of Hell he will surprise.
Simple, Harry replied. They work for me.
"The Little Black One is right," said Azrith, the largest, who was in the front. "You have no power over us anymore."
Voldemort's nostrils flared. "You stole my servants?"
No, said Harry, and somehow everyone in the hall could hear his words. I did not steal them. They came to me of their own free will, because I offered them something you would not give them. Choice. Freedom.
"You will PAY for this, boy! Kill him!" he yelled at Pettigrew. Wormtail raised his silver hand and yelled the killing curse.
Harry screeched. The sound was not human, neither was it phoenix song. It was the sound of vengeance, the sound of every man, woman and child that had ever been killed by the dark forces of Voldemort and those before him, screaming together.
Peter missed. In a blast of feathers, something white fell to the ground.
Behind the silver shield, Hermione clasped her hands to her mouth. "Oh – Hedwig!"
Harry screamed again, but this time it was mournful – it was phoenix song and it dropped ice into the stomach of all who heard it. Fawkes joined in – it was a melody that rose and fell as though stretched the to the counterpoint of it's ability, and it was a duet.
Small pearly tears ran down the beaks of both phoenixes, tears for the life that they could not save.
The sound became piercing to all who were in direct contact with it – thinking quickly, Ron threw a shield around Sarah, the teachers and the remaining students, with a separate one for Sirius, who had crawled over to Remus' body and was shaking it, as though trying to wake him up.
To the birds the sound was still haunting, yet muffled. The Death Eaters covered their ears – Peter did not dare to protect himself but his face was twisted up in pain.
His battering shots are babish cries
His arrows, looks of weeping eyes
"Stop them, you idiot!" Voldemort yelled at Pettigrew; just as Harry let out another, louder cry. Peter screamed at put his hands to his ears. "I am surrounded by incompetence! I'll do it myself!" said Voldemort, lifting one spidery hand without a wand – he obviously wasn't taking any chances on the Priori Incantatem charm coming back into effect.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The flash of green light hit the black phoenix in the breast.
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed.
The cry continued. The green light exploded into white as another bird came into collision with Harry and the room was suddenly blinded. When the light faded, both the phoenix and the eagle stood side by side.
With tears He fights and wins the field
His naked breast stands for a shield
Voldemort stood with his fists clenched. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL YOU, BOY?"
The phoenix transformed – slowly due to exhaustion and pain. Harry stood in its place. He felt light-headed and weak but still alive. "Just once more," he said. He took his wand from his pocket.
~What are you doing?~
I'm getting rid of him. For good. Thank you for helping me, Ron.
~Let me help you now! ~
No. This is my task.
~ No! It's ours now! We ARE each other! That white light isn't yours, and it isn't mine – it's ours. How else do you think we just survived the killing curse? Together we are stronger than any other wizard that has ever existed. We are not silver and we are not blue. We are… light. ~ The eagle flew to land on Harry's shoulder. ~We do this together. ~
"What are you waiting for?" Voldemort sneered. "Try to kill me. It won't work, boy. Light wizards cannot play with dark magic without becoming dark. If you kill me, you will only replace me."
"I'm not going to kill you with dark magic, Tom," said Harry, taking slight satisfaction in the way the Dark Lord flinched. "I'm going to kill you with… light."
He raised his wand into the air. "Cretus Cruor Duo Fraternis! Cretus Cruor Duo Fraternis!"
Ron spread his wings, still touching Harry but shrieking out his own defiance in the language of the birds. Cretus Cruor Duo Fraternis!
A light emitted from Harry's wand, and it was white. Not milky-white, not snow-white, but white light – the brightness of sun and stars and moon all mixed into one and lighting the Great Hall with such force that the stars on the ceiling were no longer visible.
Harry's wand whipped downwards. He said no words except these: "For the Light!" but the intent was there and the light went speeding towards Voldemort like a sunbeam.
Tom Riddle screamed. The room reverberated. Suddenly the light branched from out of Voldemort's head and upwards – and there was an enormous booming noise that revived even those who had fainted.
Wendy looked upwards. Springing suddenly into action, she picked Sarah up in both arms and screamed "GET BEHIND THE SHIELD!"
The teachers and students followed her. The silver shield Harry and Ron had created let them through without resistance, and the students already behind it made room for them. Hermione ran towards Wendy and took the petrified Sarah Pordell from her. Suddenly Snape looked back. "Black," he growled. Sirius was trying to drag Remus' body towards the nearest side of the shield.
"Leave him, Sirius!" Hermione screamed. "He's dead! Leave him!"
Sirius shook his head and lifted Remus' dead weight onto his shoulders. Suddenly Wendy ran out from the shield and together they bore the lifeless figure to safety and lay him on the ground.
The ceiling cracked. Sirius and Wendy whipped around in unison. Screams echoed around Great Hall as a large chunk of rock – falling from the exact place where the light had made impact, landed between Harry and Riddle.
"Harry, Ron, get out of there!" Sirius yelled.
Ron tugged at Harry's hair. ~Come on! We've got to run! ~ When he didn't respond Ron squawked at Mouxaile and Fawkes. FLY!
They flew straight at the shield and it let them through.
The last thing anyone saw before the centre of the ceiling collapsed was Harry, standing in the middle of a battlefield, facing over a hundred Death Eaters and the most evil wizard that had ever lived. Then, it all went dark.
His martial ensigns, Cold and Need
And feeble flesh, His warrior's steed
Well, you can thank Bronwyn for this, so you can go and kill her, not me! Except I am the cliffie queen and she is a BRIBER. Now, who is dead and who isn't? Find out in the next exciting instalment of… Fifth Year? I Haven't Done My Homework!
I'm going on holiday for a week and I will be writing, just don't expect me to update within the next week. If you get bored there's also my TWO new fics – Loving You and the parody on the second film, both of which can be found on my stories authored list.
Edit: Don't forget to visit my new livejournal at www . livejournal . com / users / annundelothiel (without the spaces)