DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, he belongs to J.K Rowling and if you are reading this and think any different then St. Mungo's should be your next port of call.

Quick A/N: I've gone back and updated chapter 2 especially the incantation where I forgot to change it to Latin but nothing major.

Chapter 3: Defiant to the Last

Lord Voldemort had arrived.

The air seemed to thicken with magic as the Dark Lord walked the length of the room to where the action was happening. Upon his entrance, all of the Death Eaters dropped to the floor, Remus included, drawing an inhuman smirk from the demonic looking Dark Lord.

Looking intently at the Boy-Who-Had-Lived-At-His-Expense, drawing a muffled shout of pain from the small child, the Dark Lords smirk grew. Then he swept his gaze to the other prisoner, Sirius Black. A man who had been a very large thorn in his side during the First War. The man had once taking out four high ranking Death Eaters on his own and then even escaped from Voldemort himself. Even when he planned for Wormtail and the thirteen Muggle mercenaries to finish the job on the Potters and their friends by killing Black it had failed. He had resorted to hiring the scum of the Earth Muggles as he did not want to risk anymore of his Death Eaters being taken out of commission. He had been shocked and surprised to learn last year when Wormtail came to him that Black had killed all the mercenaries with one burst of magic and that Wormtail himself had barely escaped in time.

"A great asset Black would have been." Voldemort thought bitterly, "Pity the muggle-loving fool wasn't like his family; his brother was a loyal servant."

Turning his full attention back to the situation at hand, the Dark Lord quickly ordered his Death Eaters, who were thinly numbered but that would soon change, to form a semi circle around him so that he was directly facing the prisoners and they were effectively blocked from escaping. Looking into the defiant eyes of the chained pair, Voldemort addressed the two for the first time since entering the room.

"Well it seems like our young hero has returned and brought another fool with him. Tell me Potter, will this one die as quick or shall I have some fun first." Voldemort's maniacal grin grew wider at the guilty look that now consumed the silent boy's face, his Gryffindor bravado failing him at that present moment as he wallowed within his guilt.

This didn't stop Sirius from replying though, Dark Lord holding him captive in a room full of Death Eaters or not:

"Big words my Lord," Sirius spat the mocking words at the man as if he was scum and seeing that his insult hit home he continued, "Killing schoolboys now are we and your still doing a bad job. You'll be attacking babies next. Oh wait you've already done that and failed too. How about you remove these chains and let's see how you fare against a trained wizard." Sirius insulted the Dark Lord, all the while thinking how he could get Harry to safety.

Voldemort visibly shook with anger at Sirius's words and the air seemed to crackle before he addressed the man again with a furious look on his face.

"Not a good idea to insult me you muggle-loving fool. You wouldn't last a minute against me just like your precious best friend. Now how about we see how long you can last under the Cruciatus." Voldemort raised his wand and Sirius, still furious at the reference to Prongs tensed but the curse didn't come. Instead the Dark Lord pointed his wand at Harry instead and said to Sirius, "Actually how about you watch your precious Boy-Who-Lived receive it first."

Raising his wand, Voldemort spoke cruelly "Cruc…"

That was as far as he got though as a magical explosion rocked the room as Sirius used every ounce of power he possessed to break the binds in the process unsteadying everyone in the room. Whipping his arm he sent a wave of magic knocking the still surprised Voldemort twenty-foot off his feet. Feeling the drain on his magic already Sirius drew his second wand in a flash and immediately began defending against curses from the rising Death Eaters.

Quickly finding the Death Eater who had his and Harry's wands, Sirius cast a powerful complex wandless shield that would protect him against the majority of curses. The only downside was that it was magically taxing but he thought that he would be able to hold itfor a minute at most plus the Unforgivables would shatter it upon contact. Grabbing his opportunity, Sirius ignored the barrage of lights that hit his shield and cried:

"Iuguolo"

A powerful Throat Slitting curse powered its way through the Death Eaters flimsy shield, sending the man to the ground screaming and thrashing before he became deadly still just seconds after the curse had hit him. Constantly moving to dodge the majority of curses, Sirius quickly summoned his original wand along with Harry's. Then in one smooth motion Sirius flicked his left wrist that was holdings Harry's wand, wandlessly banishing the wand to the boy while at the same time slashing his wand in a motion that cut all the bindings that were previously holding his godson while pocketing the second wand.

Turning to face the Death Eaters, Sirius saw Harry rising to his feet in his peripheral vision and immeadiatly start blocking and dodging curses from the nearest four Death Eaters that had turned their attention to him. Raising his wand, Sirius dropped his shield and sent an Explosion Hex followed quickly by an Earthquake Curse into the midst of the Death Eaters hopefully buying himself some more time to think of a plan. Unfortunately it didn't as Sirius failed to take into account an enraged Voldemort who now back on his feet, his hands glowing with pure Dark Magic. Raising his hands in a circular motion the Dark Lord hissed:

"Detrium Explodus Asano"

The biggest bolt of Dark Magic Sirius had seen in his life came flowing out of Voldemort's hands in waves and cascaded its way towards him with speed unrivalled by any creature in existence. It hit Sirius before he was able to raise anything more than a weak shield and the Magic smashed into him, with only one tenth of the Dark Magic absorbed by the shield.

Sirius feel to the floor, wand rolling far from his reach as he screamed himself hoarse as pain racked every nerve in his body while it felt as though the Dark Magic was trying to overwhelm his whole being. It went on for what seemed an eternity as pain that far surpassed that of the Cruciatus assaulted him again and again.

Finally the pain ceased and looking up from his position face down on the floor, Sirius saw through blurred vision that Voldemort was looking slightly out of breath and had conjured himself a throne to sit on. His ears were still ringing and convulsions racked his body but Sirius tried in vain to get to his feet.

A sharp boot to the ribs sent the rising form of Sirius to the floor once more and when the escaped convict looked up once more, he saw a wave of Death Eaters begin to close in on him, led by none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"Pitiful Black, now your going to die the same way as that mudblood loving Potter friend of yours but first, how about I let you sample a little bit of my favourite curse." Malfoy hissed while raising his wand swiftly and pointing it straight at the barely moving prone figure of Sirius.

"Crucio"

The curse flew towards the animagus with speed but as Sirius prepared himself for pain beyond imagination a blur intercepted the curse at the last moment.

Sirius then watched with horror as his godson began to scream himself hoarse as his skin felt like white-hot knives were attacking every inch of him and his bones felt like pools of molten lava. Being unable to help Harry made Sirius feel like he was the biggest failure ever. Pushing himself up for a futile attempt to reach his godson, Sirius was struck by the fist of a Death Eater and fell to the floor hard. The next thing Sirius knew, Harry had stop screaming though he was whimpering softly like a hurt puppy and this time Remus, the traitor, had his wand trained right between Sirius's eyes, a cold detached look on his face.

"How the mighty have fallen Padfoot. You battled well but it was in vain. Say hello to James and Lily for me and tell them that their son shall be coming shortly too." Remus mocked the tone of his voice suggesting he loved every minute of putting an end to his former best-friends life.

"Avada Ked…"

Remus never got to finish the incantation he started however as seemingly out of nowhere a vial connected hard with the side of Remus's head, shattering blue smoke over the werewolf who hit the ground immeadiatly. Then an Explosion Hex sent four Death Eaters flying as Sirius watched with morbid fascination at the scene that was unfolding before him and he thought to himself "I must have just been killed if I'm seeing this!"

Severus Snape dressed in full Death Eater clothing was duelling his way through his supposed comrades with great proficiency, blowing the spy cover he had maintained for two decades to save the two people Sirius was sure he hated most in the world: himself and Harry Potter.

As another Death Eater fell under Snape's curses, Sirius for a moment believed that maybe Snape would reach the pair of them and at least get Harry to safety. Voldemort however, livid at the revelation that Snape was indeed a traitor all along and loyal to Dumbledore rose to his feet and stalking his way across the room, engaging himself in a duel with Snape.

A duel was not really a valid word to describe the beating that Voldemort gave Snape. The man who knew more Dark Arts than many seventh years upon entering Hogwarts lasted just four spells against an enraged Voldemort before being disarmed. From there Voldemort tortured Snape for a few minutes using various methods including a Dark Mark torture that judging the screams was far worse than the Cruciatus.

Finally getting bored, Snape was suspended in mid-air while Voldemort addressed his former servant for the last time.

"Ah Severus I always knew that there was something you weren't telling me but I could never find out what it was. Pity really, you were once one of my best servants but look at you now, a mudblood loving fool who is about to die for nothing." Voldemort hissed to the suspended Snape who had a resolute and determined look on his face that told everyone present that he was prepared to die rather than beg for mercy. Voldemort raised his wand while making one more proclamation to his Death Eaters making sure that they would never betray him.

"Let this be a lesson to you all. AVADA KEDAVRA"

Sirius watched with fascination as the curse rocketed towards Snape with lightning speed. The sickly green colour was only a foot from the mans face, that was now showing the realisation that he was going to die when a chair appeared out of the middle of nowhere and shattered to a million pieces as it took the curse for Snape. Voldemort spun round looking murderous when he came face to face with the only wizard he had ever feared.

"Not today Tom."

The voice of Albus Dumbledore echoed around the room bringing fear to all those Dark and courage to all his allies.

Dumbledore was not alone though; he had brought what Sirius thought were most odd-looking bunch of wizards he had ever seen. On his right stood Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick, to his right stood Mundungus Fletcher, a shady wizard who was incredibly loyal to Dumbledore. To his left stood a pair of Ministry Aurors that Sirius didn't recognise at all, not even from the First War. Also in the group were a few people that Sirius had seen during the First War but couldn't quite remember their names. He though that one might have been Hestia Jones while another looked remarkably like a decade and a half older version of Sturgis Podmore.

"So Albus, come to save the boy and these worthless excuses for Purebloods. You've brought some Mudblood loving fools too, how interesting. The mighty Dumbledore and his rag tag group of friends come to save the boy-who-lived, his worthless Godfather and your precious spy." Voldemort hissed at Dumbledore who looked unfazed and simply turned his gaze to the struggling form of Sirius who was desperately trying to rise to his feet.

"Get Harry out of here."

This simple statement was like a muggle-starting siren; as if on cue everyone started firing curses and hexes towards the opposite group. Dumbledore went straight for Voldemort after freeing Snape who fell to the floor, body limp and they began duelling expertly, wandless and silent magic being exchanged as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. McGonagall had started duelling who Sirius could make out as Nott while Flitwick began to duel Remus in earnest, spells flying back and forth in rapid movements without break.

Sirius made it to his feet and whipping his second wand out hissed "Brevisalvum Mali" .He breathed a quick sigh of relief as his limbs began responding to his commands once more. Sirius now made his way to Harry quickly. Harry was huddled up in the corner of the room, shaking badly and looking fearful and overwhelmed at the duelling going on around him what with him being wandless and with multiple Cruciatus exposure. Harry looked up briefly and met Sirius's gaze proceeding to attempt to rise to his feet in a desperate bid to get to his Godfather.

Only twenty-five foot away now, Sirius dodged a Killing Curse while blocking two spells and swiftly countered with two bone-breaking curses that struck their targets perfectly drawing screams of pain from the Death Eaters in question. Rolling away from another Killing Curse Sirius fired off several Earthquake Curses at his nearest advisories to buy himself a few seconds that he needed to reach Harry.

Sirius reached his godson and saw that he was not in good shape physically. Sirius immediately knew that Harry wouldn't be able to walk without aid let alone duel so Sirius did the only thing he could. Pointing his wand at Harry with a heavy heart, Sirius muttered:

"Brevisalvum Mali"

Harry straightened up to his feet within seconds and after Sirius had stunned an incoming Death Eater, Harry gave Sirius a look that said he wanted to know what Sirius just did to him.

"Later Harry!" Sirius told the young boy as they started to move towards the exit where hopefully Sirius could find enough time to Portkey Harry to Hogwarts where he would be safe before he followed himself. Sirius was actually dreading when Madame Pomfrey found out that he cast the Quick Heal charm not just on himself but on a minor too especially when it is said to only use the curse in the direst of circumstances as it can cause long term damage easily.

None of that mattered right now as Sirius entered the mass of duelling that all the occupants bar Voldemort and Dumbledore had engaged in while avoiding all the fallen bodies. The Light and Dark Wizards alike were using any advantage necessary to get the upper hand in the ever-violent battle. Sirius, who wouldn't go further than arms distance away from Harry, would have rubbed his eyes with disbelief and laughed himself silly at the sight of Minerva McGonagall punching a Death Eater who had came too close to her had the severity of the situation been different.

As it was Sirius was using what felt like all the power he possessed keeping him and Harry defended whilst still making progress in their quest to the exit and subsequent safety. Looking around briefly, Sirius saw that many of the lesser members of both the Light and Dark sides were fallen quickly and in around a minute about seven or eight fighters had fallen as the duels got more intense. Sadly the thing Sirius was sure of was that more than one would never rise again. There were actually only 8 people still duelling if you excluded Voldemort, Dumbledore, Sirius and Harry. Unfortunately it was five on three for the Death Eaters as Remus, Nott, Avery, Macnair and one unknown to Sirius fought Flitwick, McGonagall and a large black man who wore Ministry robes.

Sirius felt guilty as he made his way closer to the exit that he was not helping the Light side but Harry had to come first and Dumbledore had ordered him to get Harry to safety above all else.

The only problem that remained now was getting to the doors when it meant going through the area where Dumbledore and Voldemort were currently duelling furiously, each one not willing to give an inch to the other as they used everything in their own power to fell the other. Cautiously Sirius tried to stay the furthest distance away from the pair while keeping Harry closest to the wall. The pair where only forty feet away from the door when a women's scream made Sirius cease walking and turned round praying that he wouldn't see what he dreaded but once again God went over his head.

Minerva McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor House lay flat on the floor, screaming herself hoarse as she was held under the Cruciatus Curse at the hands of Remus Lupin. Sirius heard Harry take a gasp of breath beside him as Flitwick and the other Auror were trying desperately to reach her. Sirius himself was too far away to help and Dumbledore was engaged with Voldemort. McGonagall lay there twitching and screaming though it sounded as though her vocal cords had been already damaged. By now she was foaming at the mouth and looking like that with every second more she was held under the curse that she was losing her sanity. Suddenly Flitwick, in a burst of power that reminded Sirius of the duelling champion stories he had heard about in his youth, blast Avery thirty-foot across the floor. Then before anyone in the vicinity could react, he raised his wand and in an enraged tone that nobody had ever heard screamed:

"Flabraorum"

Gusts of winds came out of nowhere and lifted Lupin far off the ground and flung him across the room where from a fifty foot drop he landed with a sickening but somewhat satisfying thud.

The other three Death Eaters whom Flitwick and the Auror were duelling took advantage of Flitwick's offensive streak and lack of defence and within seconds the Death Eaters were three against one with Filius Flitwick now out of the game so to speak.

Sirius saw this and knew that he would have to get out of there now if he were to escape successfully. Grabbing Harry tightly, the pair moved as quickly as possible to the exit and was within seconds of escaping when Sirius suddenly raised off the ground slightly as an unknown spell struck him. His head hit the stone wall hard and he found himself momentarily dazed and only vaguely heard Harry shouting his name and trying to drag him to the door.

This however had the unfortunate reaction of causing Dumbledore to look in the direction of the boy-who-lived shouts and seeing three Death Eaters approach him; he turned and sent a blast of magic that managed to fell one of them. This gave the weakening Voldemort the chance he so badly needed to get ahead in the duel and the next thing Dumbledore knew was that he had been banished across the room, landed hard on the stone floor and was now around 100 feet away from the action.

Voldemort capitalised on this straight away and seeing Sirius unguarded and dazed on the floor he quickly raised his wand and hissed the two words that instilled fear in even the greatest of wizards:

"Avada Kedavra"

It was if the world slowed down for the next few moments and for everyone still conscious it would be a moment that changed the future and effect more people than anyone could possibly imagine.

Sirius still dazed and confused tried his hardest to move out of the path of the sickly green Unforgivable but was unable to. His life flashed before his eyes. "His childhood horrors…Being sorted into Gryffindor…His family disowning him…The Marauders…James…Lily…Harry…Remus…"Sirius closed his eyes and waited for the green light to overwhelm him, he had accepted his fate but it never came.

Albus Dumbledore had seen some sights in his life, seen horrors beyond the human imagination, and experienced what he thought was every single emotion in the spectrum but at that moment in time he had never felt so hopeless. Even with power greater than but a handful of wizards in history, knowledge that could fill a library, he could still do nothing to help. Summoning his power in vain, he smashed through the anti-apparation wards that the Voldemort had erected forcing Dumbledore and his allies to enter through Portkeys, like they were made of paper. Yet he was still too late but what was worse was that someone else had got there before him and what he was seeing would be forever etched into his very soul.

In the ultimate act of selflessness, Harry had managed to get away from the two Death Eaters that he was holding off and had flung himself in front of his Godfather and by extension the Killing Curse before anyone could stop him.

Sirius opened his eyes and was ready to face death like a man when suddenly Harry jumped in front of him. It felt like his world was being torn in two.

"HARRY, NOOOOOOO!" Sirius screamed as he heard Albus shout a similar message in vain, all thoughts of injuries and pain gone as he watched the Killing Curse strike his godson in the chest. Then something happened that no one could have foreseen.

An explosion of golden light from Harry cut off all laughter from Voldemort as the Killing Curse hit him, shaking the room to its very foundations. All spectators were frozen in position as Harry let out an inhuman scream of pain as the ever-brightening golden light intersected with the green light of the Killing Curse. To them it looked like Harry was actually fighting the Killing Curse and was winning. Then out of nowhere Pheonix song appeared and Harry started to float in mid-air, his normal bright green eyes had turned a bright gold and unrivalled power radiated off his small frame in waves.

Suddenly Harry raised his right hand and a bolt of golden light shot from his palm and struck one of the two still standing Death Eaters sending him crashing into the nearest wall with so much power that he was literally imbedded in it. Raising his hands again Harry was about to shoot another golden bolt of power when Voldemort and the last Death Eater both raised their wands and shouted:

"AVADA KEDAVRA"

This time two Killing Curses sped their way towards the floating form of Harry, who seemed unable to move and under complete control of the golden light that was now part of him. This time however Dumbledore was prepared and again a chair appeared in mid-air and intercepted one of the beams of green light. Even Dumbledore wasn't quick enough though and Sirius's futile effort to conjure an obstacle failed miserably.

Once again the unblockable Killing Curse hit Harry but instead of falling to the floor dead as every other person who had been hit by the curse did, Harry simply floated back down towards the ground. Then with a sad, regretful look on his face, he leisurely shot another golden beam of light off that imbedded the last remaining Death Eater, Macnair into the wall next to where his comrade lay.

Then as Voldemort raised his wand once more, Harry turned his back on the Dark Lord and looked a shocked Sirius in the eyes. What Harry saw was anger, pain, failure, sadness, regret and love. Putting his hands on either side of his Godfather's head as if he had been doing it all his life, Harry muttered a few words and Sirius felt all the pain leave his body as his injuries healed and his depleted power replenished and astonishingly he felt more powerful than ever,. Then looking Sirius in the eyes Harry said his final words before the green light enveloped him for the third and last time:

"I love you Padfoot"

With that, Harry James Potter fell to the ground, never to rise again.

Sirius just sat there for a second not comprehending what had just transpired. Then it all hit him at once. Harry, his Harry was dead and he wasn't coming back. His reason for living had gone. But as he cradled the body of his beloved godson, Sirius heard the mocking laugh of Voldemort as he taunted Dumbledore who was pulsating with rage and was filled with hate greater than you could imagine.

Gently putting Harry down, Sirius jumped to his feet and screamed:

"AVADA KEDAVRA"

Out of his hands came a beam of green light bigger than that of which any had seen before. Voldemort apparated away quickly, the look upon his face telling everyone that their was now two wizards in the world that he feared and he had just killed the person dearest to them:

Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore were fuming and as Sirius dropped to the floor, tears wetting his dead godson's body, Sirius swore that he would kill Voldemort if it were the last thing he ever did.

AN

Don't fear people, this is not the end, still a massive chapter to go, then the Epilouge.

Araidel: My ideas? Do you know until you asked I had never really thought about it. I think they come from the fact that I like to be original plus looking at events from different aspects can give you great ideas. I have just started a story in draft called Unconditional, the Third Story in the Black Saga and its shaping up to be even better than this. If you like a twisted idea read my one shot, Twisted!

Geminia: I'm touched by you review, now that you've broken the habit do you reckon that you could do a third maybe, no pressure!

Cheers

Halstead