Chapter 18

Face paler than the moon and eyes red as blood, Voldemort stood before them. They couldn't speak and they were paralyzed by fear. They seemed to stand there for hours but it was only a few seconds before Harry finally found his voice and yelled, "RUN!"

He grabbed Pansy's hand and dragged her into the woods. A quick glance behind him and he saw that Ron had done the same with Hermione. He had started to work out a plan before they had run into Ron and Hermione but it most certainly wouldn't work if they were standing right in front of Voldemort himself. So they ran as fast as their legs would carry them.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry heard Voldemort's cold voice yell.

"Aaaahhhh!" An earth shattering scream filled the air. A girl's scream.

'Hermione,' Harry's mind registered. 'No! The bastard! I'll kill him!' He grabbed Pansy's hand harder and pulled her faster.

After what seemed like ages of running, Harry stopped dead in his tracks causing Pansy to crash into him with a small yell of surprise.

"Why are we stopping?" Pansy said breathlessly.

Harry turned around slowly and saw a pale faced Hermione with silent tears streaming down her face walking toward them.

'Wait, Hermione's alive? Then…Ron," he spoke his name out loud.

Hermione sunk down onto the floor of the forest and started sobbing silently. Harry walked over to her and enveloped her in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry. I should've-" he whispered but Hermione cut him off.

"Don't…it's already bad enough without you blaming yourself too."

"I swear I'll kill him," he said savagely.

Pansy sat down next to Hermione and began rubbing her back comfortingly.

"I'm really sorry Hermione." She couldn't and didn't want to imagine what it would be like if Harry died.

She looked up at Pansy with watery eyes and whispered, "Thank you."

Out of nowhere Harry said, "We need to go. I have a plan." When they got up he continued. "Hermione, I need you to think of the strongest shielding spell you know and be ready to cast it when I say." She nodded with out any questions. "Follow me," Harry said.

Harry seemed to know where he was going which was more than could be said for Hermione and Pansy. They walked for about fifteen minutes before they reached a small clearing that was unfamiliar at first. After all, they hadn't seen it since fifth year when Hagrid showed them the….

Harry stood in the middle of the clearing and without warning cast a severing charm on his arm. It was a mild one so his arm wasn't cut off, but there was a gash that was bleeding quite freely.

"Harry what are you doing?!" Pansy shrieked.

He said nothing for a moment and only lifted his finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet. Then he slowly pointed to one of the bushes in front of him. In the bushes, three pairs of milky white eyes were staring back at them. They emerged slowly and headed towards Harry and began licking the blood off of his arm. Hermione and Pansy could see them now…the thestrals.

Harry spoke in a rushed whisper. "Listen, get on quick and tell them to take you to the astronomy tower."

There was a rustling in the bushes. "Hermione quick, the spell," Harry said as he mounted his thestral. Hermione quickly said the spell and mounted her thestral as Pansy mounted hers. They whispered their destination just as Voldemort had apparated in front of some bushes. He got there just in time to see them take off into the night sky. He stumbled as he tried to cross the force field, then he settled for launching random killing curses into the air. Luckily, the dense canopy of the forest prevented him from being able to aim properly.

Pansy saw a jet of green light emerge from the tree tops and was able to dodge it. "Watch out!" she yelled as it headed for Hermione and Harry, but they were able to move out of the way too.

They landed on top of the astronomy tower with a small clatter. "Hopefully he thinks we've gone a long way," said Harry as he got off of his steed. He was nearly tackled as Hermione and Pansy came towards him and hugged him in a vice like grip. He gave hem a small smile when they finally let go and said, "Come on. Let's check out the rest of the castle."

They walked down the steps of the tower and into the main castle. There were no bodies on this floor but the air was filled with the reeking smell of death. A quick journey down the flight of stairs and they were standing at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. The portrait was blasted off of its hinges and it lay smashed a few feet away. They braved a look inside and saw one dead death eater, Nott.

"Where is everyone?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't know. Let's keep going," answered Harry.

They continued down the stairs and didn't stop until they reached the entrance hall. It looked like a true war zone, bodied were everywhere. Death eaters lay dead and unmasked, students, teachers and centaurs were also among the dead. There was even a mermaid near the front entrance with her tail cut off. They did not even want to think how she go there.

The hid behind a suit of armor when they saw someone people emerge from the Great Hall. All that they could tell was that they were three adults and that they were headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Once the people were out of sight, Harry, Hermione and Pansy came out from behind the suit and walked slowly towards the hall with their wands out. They cautiously peaked their heads around the doors, which were wide open, and saw the very last thing they expected. The hall looked as if it had been turned into a giant hospital wing. The four house tables were gone, only to be replaced by dozens of beds and chairs. Nearly all of the beds were occupied by the injured.

They sat there mouths gaping until a shrill shriek of delight brought them back to reality.

"Oh, thank Merlin! You're alive! But, where's Ron?" Molly Weasley had been the first to spot them, but her joy at seeing them alive had quickly been replaced by a worried face when she saw that Ron was not there.

"H-he's…" Hermione could not bring herself to say it; that would make it true.

"No, no, not Ron," Molly whispered shaking her head. "He has to be alright, he has to." She began to cry as Dumbledore came up beside her and tried to comfort her.

"Hermione, perhaps you could go with Molly and the rest of the Weasley's and explain what happened," Dumbledore said softly.

Hermione did something she had never done before. She looked at Dumbledore with pure anger on her face as if to say, "What could possibly make you believe that I could talk about it when it just happened less than an hour ago!"

Dumbledore understood her look exactly and said calmly, "I believe they deserve to know what happened.

Her face softened a little but she still walked away thinking, 'That doesn't make it any better.'

"Now Harry, tell me everything."

Harry told Dumbledore everything he could remember about what had happened that night. He left out the part about killing Maximus and Lucius because he still had trouble believing he had done it. He did tell him about the quick sand, the centaur, Ron and their escape on the thestrals.

What Harry left out was the most important part…his plan. He had never stopped thinking about it since before the attack had even happened. He had not told anyone because he didn't want anyone to discourage him. He was sure it would work, and if it didn't then at least it would hopefully weaken Him. The problem was getting away from everyone long enough to try it.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard from outside. Directly after, the entire castle shook. One glance out of the window and Hannah Abbot yelled, "It's Him! He sending spells straight at the castle! There's a huge hole in-" but Hannah never got to finish her sentence as a spell sent in her direction caused the entire wall to be obliterated talking poor Hannah with it. Everyone screamed and Harry knew it was time.

While everyone was distracted he tried to head for the doors but was spotted by Pansy before he could make it out.

"Harry where do you think you're going?" she asked afraid of the answer.

"I have to go. I have to do something. I can't just sit here and let more people die because of me." His voice was full of determination and anger but she didn't care.

"No, I won't let you go out there and be killed. You were right before…you are all I have, don't take that away from me," he eyes were shining with new tears and her face was pleading.

It broke his heart to see her like this but it was now or never. To distract her he did the only thing he could think of, he kissed her. It worked well enough. She wrapped her arms around him and held on with all of her might. He broke the kiss and still hugging her he whispered, "I promise I'll come back."

"What?" she said confused.

"Petrificus totalus," said Harry and Pansy fell to the floor in a full body bind. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead, "I'm sorry but I have to go."

All Dumbledore saw was Pansy on the ground and the back of someone's head with jet black hair leaving the hall. He quickly walked towards the doors but when he went to push them open he couldn't. "Good luck Harry," was all that he whispered before he went to Pansy. "Finite incantatum."

Pansy became un-petrified and looked at Dumbledore blankly before realizing what must have happened. "Where did he go?" she asked looking around.

"To fulfill his destiny," said Dumbledore to no one in particular.

"And you let him?!" asked Pansy unbelievingly.

She got up off of the floor ran towards the doors but she couldn't open them so instead she went to Hermione who was still sitting with the Weasley family.

"Can I talk to you?" she said urgently.

Hermione followed her and asked what was so important.

"Harry's gone. He went to go fight Him."

"WHAT!" Hermione yelled horrified.

"And he did something to the doors so that we couldn't follow."

"Let's go to the windows, maybe we'll be able to see him."

Harry knew it was now or never. He walked out into the hallway and slowly made his way outside. Once again the castle shook and Harry was sure that somewhere another wall was missing.

Before he stepped outside he put the first part of his plan into action. He took what was left of the invisibility potion that Hermione had modified. Now that he was fully invisible, he stepped outside.

Voldemort had finally lost it…not that he was ever sane. The castle wall that he was standing in front of had so many holes in it that it strongly resembles Swiss cheese.

He felt it rather than saw someone watching him and he turned around. "Ah, Harry. So glad you could make it."

For one wild second Harry thought Voldemort could see him, that was until he said, "Why don't you come out and join me?"

Harry apparated with a loud crack to the tallest tower and yelled, "Why don't you join me!" At the same time that Voldemort apparated up to the tower, Harry apparated back down to the grounds. "What's wrong? Can't find me?!" he yelled. He made sure to keep moving so that his voice wouldn't give him away.

He decided that Hagrid's hut would have to do as a place for him to hide. He needed to concentrate. Every now and then he would send a random spell in the opposite direction to keep Voldemort thinking he was outside and moving around.

He concentrated harder than he had ever done in his life. Even harder than when Snape was trying to teach him occlumency. He briefly wondered if Snape was still alive but quickly pushed the thought aside.

It was working. How could he tell? Because his scar was starting to burn. He could feel what Voldemort was thinking. He was in his mind, just like the time when he had seen Mr. Weasley get bitten.

Harry was immensely pleased to see that Voldemort was very angry. He had to be careful though, because the one risk was that Voldemort was also connected to him and if he wasn't careful his whole plan could backfire.

Voldemort started to feel the connection and stopped in his tracks. He was on the edge of the Forbidden Forest and was about to enter. He felt Harry's anxiousness and his worries and it was making him happy. However, something was starting to break through the worries and the fear. Voldemort couldn't quite place his long, bony white finger on it because he had never felt it before so he just tried to push it out of his mind unsuccessfully.

Meanwhile, Harry was in Hagrid's hut concentrating with all his might. He had felt Voldemort's confusion at this knew emotion that Harry was forcing into his mind and he knew his plan was working.