Author's Note: I, quite obviously, do not own the characters featured in this story. I wrote this merely for entertainment, and seek no profit from it. I only hope that you all like what you read and will submit a review - whether you like the story or not.

This is a one shot and contains spoilers from HBP.

Doing What's Necessary

Harsh, cold, relentless laughter echoed throughout the room as it bounced from wall to wall in the dark, cavernous chamber. The laughter belonged to Lord Voldemort, and was intended to frighten The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. It was pointless, however, as Harry was not afraid. For once in his life he knew exactly what to do, and he knew that he could succeed.

"So, we've destroyed them all now?" asked Ron with a hesitant smile.

"All but one," Harry replied. And he knew what that one was, but he didn't want to tell them.

"Well then, Harry, today is not the day. You know full well that you can't kill Voldemort – oh quiet Ron – without destroying the final Horcrux, or he will just return again."

"I know where it is," Harry said, cutting her off.

"So, let's go destroy it!" said Ron, wanting only to help. He didn't really enjoy risking his life all the time but he would do anything for Harry, and Hermione, and they were both dead set on fulfilling the prophecy and ridding the worlds, both magical and muggle, of He Who Must Not Be Named. Not that he wasn't set himself of course, it was just…dangerous.

Hermione nodded in agreement but Harry only shook his head.

"No, you've both done quite enough. I have to do the rest alone. It's my prophecy, only I can defeat him, and if I'm going to do it now then I'm going to do it – there's no point of you both risking your lives yet again." Harry stated, unwilling to budge.

Hermione tried again and again to sway Harry, eventually announcing that she was going whether he liked it or not, as was Ron, and there was nothing he could do about it. After hearing her, there was only one thing Harry could do. He knocked them both unconscious with a sleeping spell and laid them on their beds with an envelope marked 'To Hermone and Ron' between them.

It had been a trial in itself for Harry to get to Voldemort's hiding place deep below the mountains of France. As he moved from chamber to chamber he was met with threat after threat. There were Dementors, Death Eaters, snakes (one of which was Nagini who'd turned out not to be a Horcrux at all) and even a large Acromantula spider that looked a lot like Aragog. He managed to defeat them all, but it left him tired and weary by the time he finally reached the inner chamber in which Voldemort, or the Dark Lord as his followers called him, resided.

"So, Harry," Voldemort hissed, shifting in and out of the shadows, "you made it past my welcoming committee. Good. I wouldn't have expected any less."

"Shut up, Voldemort," Harry spat, punctuating the Dark Lord's name with as much venom in his voice as he could muster. For a moment Voldemort looked taken aback, but Harry didn't see as the dark wizard was concealed in darkness. "You know why I'm here; it's time to finish it."

"Yes, Potter, I know why you're here but the question you need to be asking is: do you?" Voldemort replied, his face entering the light for long enough that Harry saw a sick grin plastered on his vile face.

"What? I…Yes, I do," Harry said, pausing for a moment, "I'm here to kill the monster who murdered my parents."

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Because it looks to me like you've been here for a few minutes now and you haven't done anything of the sort."

Harry felt his neck flush, he was growing angry. It took a moment for him to compose himself, but he did; he wasn't going to let Voldemort dictate how their final encounter would go, wasn't going to let him anger him and throw him off. The Dark Lord would not get to him. Harry was in control, even if Voldemort didn't know it.

"I thought I'd just talk to you first," Harry said.

"Oh really? What about?" replied Voldemort, slightly amused.

"Well… I don't know. How about Horcruxes? Your Horcruxes to be precise." Harry smiled as he saw a flash of fear cross Voldemort's face, although it was gone within a second.

Harry entered the room quietly, and tiptoed over to a bed in the left corner of the room, where a beautiful red headed girl slept peacefully, unaware of what was to follow that night. "I love you, Ginny, and I'm sorry I have to do this. I hope you'll understand. This isn't just for my parents; this is for you, for Ron and Hermione, for Sirius, for Dumbledore and…well, everyone. Goodbye, my love." Harry performed the same spell on the sleeping Ginny Weasley as he had on his two best friends, to ensure that she wouldn't wake up and follow him, and left a similar envelope beside her on her pillow entitled 'To Ginny'.

"And what would you know about Horcruxes, Potter?" Voldemort asked.

"Oh, quite a lot actually. In fact, I've destroyed each and every one of yours. All except for one that is, but there's plenty of time for me to get rid of that one as well."

Voldemort suddenly turned – it looked to Harry as if he was attempting to flee. Harry heard the beginning of a spell, however, and quickly pulled out his wand, ready to throw a jinx to stop Voldemort from attacking. "Impedimenta!" Harry yelled, and the jinx hit Voldemort in the middle of his back. He was sent reeling into one of the caverns' rough walls, which he hit with a thud. He was on his feet in an instant, however, with his own wand in his hand. "Cruci-"

"No. Protego!" Harry said, as he deflected the unforgivable curse.

"Well, well. You're much stronger than last time we met. Impressive," said Voldemort, trying to get Harry off of his guard by engaging him in further conversation. "Stupefy!"

Harry dived out of the way just in time, barely missing the red bolt of light, and tried to use the momentum to his advantage. "Sectumsempra!" he shouted, and almost instantly Voldemort was struck in his midsection and staggered back a few steps. He reached a hand down to his stomach and found bloody gashes in his robes.

"Ah, so you're like us now? There's something you should know, Potter. Those curses only pack real power when they're really meant to maim and kill." Voldemort merely shouted 'Crucio!' in his mind and with a flick of his wand he had Harry contorted in pain on the floor with his eyes rolling in his head. "See, Potter. I wonder if you'll scream as much as your father did."

Voldemort made a crucial mistake in saying those words, for Harry knew his father was brave and was not going to let Voldemort get away with saying such a thing. Besides, he hadn't been able to do what he came for yet. Harry cleared his mind and with a great surge of energy shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" The pain left him immediately and he looked up to see Voldemort on the floor. He too, however, was able to release himself and get up, once again ready for battle. It seemed like it was going to be a long and exhausting fight to the death, the type of which Harry had expected.

"Reducto!" hissed Voldemort. Harry dived out of the way just in time; the place where he'd just been standing had been turned into a crater by the blast. That, however, had only been a distraction. Immediately after sending the blast, Voldemort uttered the word, "Incarcerous!"When Harry landed on the ground he felt ropes whip around his wrists and ankles, binding him in place.

" Go on then, kill me!" shouted Harry, spitting the words at Voldemort.

" No, I have a much better idea," replied Voldemort, "Serpensortia."

A snake slowly emerged from the tip of Voldemort's wand and dropped to the floor with a light slap. It then grew, and doubled in size until its height rivalled that of Harry's own, as did its width. Its fangs glinted in the light, and Harry could see drops of venom hanging perilously, ready to drop. The Dark Lord spoke to it in the soft hisses of parsletongue - told it to bite Harry, but not to kill him.

Harry rolled his eyes as Voldemort spoke to the snake. Didn't he know by then that Harry could speak parseltongue too?

" No," harry hissed.

The snake stopped, looking at Harry with its unblinking eyes. It was shocked that Harry could speak to it – a fact that made it hesitant to attack him.

" That's right; you don't want to bite me. You want him," he continued, indicating towards Voldemort with a nod of his head. "He's trying to control you. What right does he have to do that? He thinks he's above you, he thinks he owns you. You should bite him and show him what it feels like to be at your mercy."

The snake darted its tongue out a couple of times as it stood perfectly still, listening to Harry's words. One he'd finished it suddenly turned and almost pounced on Voldemort, but it wasn't quick enough. With a flick of his wand, Voldemort dismissed the snake, which dissolved into nothing. The distraction was long enough that Harry was able to free his wand hand – Voldemort had been so sure of himself that he'd forget to disarm Harry – and take down the large, venomous wizard with a leg-locking curse. Harry had placed himself in the perfect position to disarm Voldemort a number of times by that point, but he didn't want to do that– his plan required the Dark Lord to be armed.

" Untrustworthy creatures, aren't they?" said Harry, watching Voldemort attempt to free himself.

Voldemort used a non-verbal version of the Finite Incantatem spell and quickly got to his feet. He then waved his wand at Harry – who almost instantly shouted, "Protego!" – and shouted, "Diffindo!"

Harry had been too quick, and although his spell blocked Voldermort's, it wasn't with the same force as it could have. As a result, Harry was left with a deep gash in his right cheek where Voldemort had literally tried to rip his head in two.

Harry stood in total silence, with his heart pumping in his chest, for no shorter than five minutes before he took his first, hesitant step towards the veil in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. Once he reached it, he paused and listened. The last time he had heard voices, but this time there was nothing but silence. "Sirius, it's me, Harry," said Harry, getting as close to the veil as he could without passing through. "I don't know if you can hear me and I'm sorry I didn't come sooner but…well, I'll be with you soon. I just have something to take care of first." When he received no answer, not that he'd overly expected he would, Harry disapparated with a 'pop'. When he apparated, it was at the entrance of a giant cave, located in the Alps. Harry could sense Lord Voldemort with in and so took a step, and then another, towards fulfilling his destiny.

Both men stood heaving and bloody, with their wands drawn high, ready to strike. Their bodies mirrored each other perfectly; they were truly equals. Simultaneously, they both shouted 'Avada Kedavra!' and green light leapt forth from the ends of their wands, heading straight towards the other. The impact came with one loud thump and a great flash of light, and of blood. When the light and smoke cleared, two bodies lay side by side, their chests no longer rising. The face of one was contorted in shock and in pain – a look of defeat. The face of the other was quite a different picture. Despite the fact that he had known he was going to die, he had died with a smile on his face – a smile that was a stark contrast to the smashed, round glasses only a matter of inches above his mouth. The room seemed to stand still, cast in an eerie green glow until the sound of running echoed throughout as two figures burst into the inner chamber.

"Harry! Harry, no!" Hermione screamed, and dropped to her knees beside Harry's limp body. She burst into tears as she held his head in her arms, and she could feel that he was still warm, although definitely dead. "Ron, we're too late!" she exclaimed, the tears running down her face. Ron didn't reply; he just stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape. A tear slid down his own face, and then another, and then more until he was weeping just as much as Hermione. He sat down beside her and held her close. "We told him Ron, we told him we would come. Why didn't he listen to us? We could have stopped this!"

"Maybe, maybe not. We don't know that Hermione, and we never will. Now come on, let's go, you don't need to see this."

Hermione nodded but then turned to Harry and silently exclaimed, "Oh, look, he broke his glasses." She fixed them with a tap of her wand, too weary to even speak the spell out loud. Then she turned suddenly to look at Voldemort's still body. "At least you're dead you son of a bitch! At least he took you with him!"

"Hermione, come on."

"I hope you rot in hell!" she screamed before finally giving in and collapsing into Ron's open arms.

They left slowly, filled with sorrow to inform everyone that Voldemort was dead, and so was The Boy Who Lived.

With everyone informed and in need of rest – at least, according to Mrs Weasley – Hermione and Ron returned to their room, where they found a white envelope on the floor. In the commotion, with Ginny screaming at them to wake up as Harry had gone after Voldemort alone, they'd missed it. It was in Harry's handwriting. They quickly tore it open, although cautiously enough to keep it in tact, and begun to read together.

To Hermione and Ron,

I hope you will forgive me for what I have done. After reading this, you'll at least understand why I had to do it. You see; Voldemort did mark me as his equal the night he killed my parents, not just by leaving me scarred, but in ways that I couldn't have even imagined until last July. My parents, my mother especially, died to save me. Sirius died to save me. Dumbledore died to save me. They were all heroes, but did you ever wonder why they did what they did? No, because they did it out of love. But you see, there was another reason Dumbledore died that night, another reason why he allowed himself to be killed – I see that now. He died to show me that sometimes sacrifice is necessary. He knew something that I know now and that you will in a moment. I told you both that I knew what the final Horcrux was, and I did.

"Oh my god," Hermione said, as a tear slid from her cheek and onto the parchment.

Me. I was the final Horcrux. Voldemort did mark me as his equal that night, by fusing me with part of his own soul. Not intentionally of course, but he had intended to create a Horcrux with my death that night. When it backfired, I became the Horcrux. That's why I could speak parseltongue; that's why we had a strong mental link, why I could see through his eyes in my sleep. That is the reason why only I could destroy him, I held the very key to his destruction within myself.

I'm sorry that I didn't let you come with me, but I knew you wouldn't let me do what I needed to do – what was necessary. I love you both like family – hell, even more than family – and I just hope that you can forgive me. I want you both to be strong, and to help everyone understand.

Forever grateful,

Harry.

Hermione burst into tears when the two finished reading the letter, and Ron followed suit. The young woman then laid her head on Ron's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Ron held Hermione and gently rocked back and forth with her. He then kissed her on top of her head before resting his own on her. They stayed like that – grieving in each other's arms – for a long while, remembering their courageous best friend, and true Gryffindor, Harry James Potter.