Harry pushed his hair out of face, feeling dried blood caked on his forehead, as he spun around to face the Death Eater he was dueling with. He forced all the anger and hate boiling in his blood into one corner of his mind, trying to concentrate on how he would get through this alive.

"Is wittle Potter getting scared?" Bellatrix Lestrange's voice called out from beneath her hood, mocking him, as she stood, leaning against a tree casually. Harry, Bellatrix, and the tree stood at the edge of the great plain that was home to what would go down in history as the greatest battle of their time.

"YOU KILLED SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed, letting his fury get the better of him. "I SWEAR, I'LL KILL YOU." He raised his wand, preparing to perform the Cruciatus curse on her; he didn't care if it didn't work, he would do anything at the moment to inflict some kind of pain on her - make her feel the same pain he was feeling...

"Come and get me, Potter," she screeched, laughing wildly. "Come avenge your godfather's death." With that, she muttered some spell and was gone.

Without thinking, Harry forced himself up off of the ground, wanting to run after her. "COWARD!" he yelled. He spun around when he felt a hand close around his arm. Looking down, he saw the pale, frightened face of Ginny Weasley staring up at him with tears in her eyes.

"No Harry," she whispered, "Don't do it. Don't let her bait you, she'll kill you too."

"I have to," he growled furiously, trying to wrench his arm out of her grip, "She killed Sirius. I'm not letting her get away with it."

Ginny's grip on his arm was too strong though, so he gave up trying to pull away and collapsed on the ground. The little hope that once remained slowly ebbed away as he looked around in the darkness and saw all the still, limp bodies lying on the ground. All these people - they were all innocent, but they had died for no reason. It was only the hate in the wizarding world that had arisen with Voldemort's return that had caused these deaths. Harry felt a little part of his heart collapse, the part that had once hoped for better days. The days when he would see sunshine and laughter again. He now knew they would never come.

He let his gaze fall on Ginny's face again. Her cheeks were streaked with dirt, blood, and tears. Her eyes had lost all the dancing light they had once held, and were now dull and filled with pain.

"Don't you understand, Harry?" she whispered, "Killing her will make no difference. Sirius is gone. We need to focus on what's important right now - killing Voldemort. All these people around us didn't give their lives just so you could go chasing the person who killed your godfather. They died to protect us, in hopes that we would save this world."

Harry knew she was right, and finally gave in. "Where's Ron?" he asked quietly.

Ginny suddenly looked frightened. "He's...he's..." she trailed off, staring at Harry with wide eyes, begging him to take the news calmly. He froze as understanding dawned over him.

"No..." he whispered, "No, it must be a mistake. Where is he? Take me to him, I won't let him die."

She shook her head. "I can't....he's gone. I don't know what happened to him, but Avery killed him then performed some curse that made him disappear completely." Tears streamed down her face, and her body shook with sobs. "He died trying to save his friends. In the end it didn't matter - Hermione ... Neville ... Luna ... they're all gone."

Harry felt his insides freeze up. He couldn't believe it. Everyone he had once loved, everyone except Ginny, they were all gone. "How can we go on?" he asked, his voice shaking. "

I don't know...but we have to. For everyone's sake."

Nodding, Harry stood up. The fury that was coursing through his body was unbelievably strong. Ginny was right, they had to keep going and never give up. He held out his hand so that she could use it to help herself up. The moment her fingers brushed his, a jolt of electricity traveled throughout his body. He jumped back in shock.

"What is it?" she asked, looking concerned.

"I-I-I...nothing," said Harry. He grabbed her hand again, and this time felt his whole body warm up as if some glow was traveling through his veins. He looked into Ginny's eyes and saw the same confusion in them. He sighed and took both her hands. "Whatever happens, I still love you Ginny."

The fact that the words actually came out of his mouth was nothing compared to what Harry did next. Leaning down, he brushed his lips gently across hers. Then, as if he had realized what he'd done, Harry backed away with a worried look in his eyes.

"It's ok," Ginny said, blushing slightly. If they had not been where they were at the moment, in the situation they were in, then she would have smiled. But Ginny Weasley had not smiled for 2 years, and was not going to start now.

Shaking his head, Harry ran off in the direction where he had just seen flashes of light and heard screams without another word.

"I love you too," Ginny called back. Her voice echoed in Harry's head and gave him a flicker of hope as he hurried towards the battle scene.

Harry arrived just in time to see the body of Minerva McGonagall fly into the air and land with a thump on the ground. He yelled in shock and whipped around to see Voldemort leaning against a tree, surrounded by 7 or 8 death eaters. The slits of red that were his eyes shone behind his hood and laughed at Harry silently.

"Why look who it is," he said mockingly.

His high, cold voice sent chills down Harry's back as he realized that he was alone. This is it, Harry thought as the death eaters surrounding him and his enemy laughed, I'm going to die. Another part of him awoke and began to scold him for giving up so easily, just like Mrs. Weasley would once have done. The thought of Mrs. Weasley suddenly gave him courage and he pulled out of his despair, raising his wand.

"Yeah it's me," he said quietly, waiting. When Voldemort did nothing, he laughed coldly. "What, you're too scared to fight me? Big, evil Voldemort ... too scared to fight little, innocent Harry Potter?" Harry knew that by saying this, he would make his enemy angry and that's what he wanted to do. Just like he'd thought, Voldemort's eyes flashed dangerously and he lowered his hood, revealing his flat, white face.

"If you insist that I kill you right now Potter, then I suppose I can't say no, can I?" The death eaters surrounding them laughed hysterically, then formed themselves into a circle, just like they had done on the night Harry witnessed Voldemort's return to his full body. Harry felt fear begin to creep into his mind, but he pushed it aside. He knew the Dark Lord could read minds, and the last thing he wanted at the moment was for Voldemort to know he was afraid.

"We bow," Voldemort said quietly, smiling.

Harry did so, keeping his eyes on his opponent at all times.

"On the count of three...one."

Harry held his wand vertically in front of his face, struggling to keep a calm expression on his face.

"...two..."

He raised his arm and pointed his wand towards Voldemort.

"...three."

There were flashes of light, a scream, and Harry felt himself being pulled down onto the ground. Looking to his side, he saw Ginny crouching on the ground beside him, holding the sleeve of his robes.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed angrily, glad that the cloud of smoke that was slowly beginning to dissipate was hiding them. "I'm in the middle of an effing duel Ginny, you can't just interrupt something like this."

Ginny gazed at Harry. "I can't lose you too," she said quietly. With that, she pulled him off of the ground to face Voldemort again.

"What's this, Potter? You have a girlfriend?"

"She's not my " Harry was cut off by the laughter of the death eaters, that was rising up and filling up the clearing they stood in.

"Well, well," Voldemort murmured, raising an eyebrow, "We can't have the little wench disturbing our duel can we? Finish her off, Macnair."

A hooded death eater eagerly replied, "Yes master!" and stepped out from the circle. Turning his head to look at Voldemort, the two exchanged silent words before Macnair turned back to Harry and Ginny with a smile which was noticeable, even though his cloak hid most of his face in shadows.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!"

The two voices mingled as Macnair's spell rebounded off of Harry's shield and hit him squarely in the chest. For a minute, he simply stared at Harry in shock. Then, as if in slow motion, he stumbled and fell backwards, falling and laying still. A shockwave rippled across the ring of death eaters that stood in the clearing. Each of them seemed to be surprised that their fellow death eater was dead. Suddenly, a deathly still silence covered the clearing.

"So," Voldemort sneered, his voice shattering the stillness like a hammer upon glass, "Potter knows how to fight. I see I'm going to teach him what a real wizard's duel is about."

Then, without warning, he nodded to two death eaters behind Harry and Ginny. They grabbed the two Gryffindors and pinned their arms behind their backs, grabbing a hold of their wands. Using all the strength he could muster, Harry turned around to see who was holding him down. With a start, he realized the cold slate-gray eyes belonged to none other than Lucius Malfoy. Shaking in anger, he turned back to Voldemort.

"Now, how shall we finish him off?" Voldemort asked, more to himself than anyone. "Shall we torture him by hurting his little girlfriend first..." Ginny growled deep in her throat at this, "...or shall we just kill him straight off, and make him end up like his dear friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

At these words, Harry felt a surge of white- hot hate he had never felt before in his life. It was so intense it nearly made him choke; he could feel it surging through his veins, it filled every bit of his body, it was his very soul....it cleared his head and told him to take this opportunity to kill Voldemort. Harry did as he was told, and stepped on Malfoy's foot forcefully. Lucius let out a strangled yell and released Harry, as well as his wand. Moving quickly, Harry grabbed his wand and stood up, panting and pointing his wand at Voldemort.

Voldemort had also dropped his wand in surprise, and when he saw Harry standing there with his wand raised and pointed at him, he hurried to pick it up. However, Harry was too quick.

Summoning 17 years of hatred, hurt, anger, and heartache, Harry forced it into his wand arm, ready to release it once he said the two words. Looking around, he thought, If I can do this...this one simple spell...all this death and pain will be ended. With this thought in mind, he forced all his feelings into his wand and at the same time, screamed the spell that would end all darkness and bring back the world of good.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The bright flash of green that resulted seemed to last forever in Harry's mind. He screwed his eyes up, trying to ignore the burning pain that had arisen in his scar. His eyes watered; the pain was so intense it felt like someone had cast the Cruciatus curse on him, but focused all the pain on just the lightening bolt shaped scar that ran down his forehead. A high pitched scream echoed in the clearing, again and again until Harry thought for sure he would die from the pain. He fell onto his knees and felt Ginny grab his hand. Then, all was still.

Forcing himself to look up, even though his eyes were blurred by tears of pain, Harry gasped at the sight. Voldemort lay still on the ground, obviously - but did he dare say it? Could he finally say for sure that Voldemort was dead? After all, the Dark Lord had survived an Avada Kedavra curse before, who was to say he wouldn't survive another?

However, the proof lay in the ring of death eaters that still surrounded Harry and Ginny. They were all lying on the ground, writhing in pain and moaning as if their lives depended on it. Each of them cradled their left arm and some of them were crying out, "Master! " as they rocked back and forth.

Knowledge dawned upon Harry instantly - the dark mark was burning, signaling that their master was gone. They were no longer bound to his service; they were all free.

Harry looked over at Ginny and saw that she had her face in her hands, and was sobbing freely.

"It's over Harry....it's over."