Chapter Nineteen

"I knew it. You would give eventually. They all do in the end, Draco." Lord Voldemort watched Draco writher on the table. His veins stood out on his appendages: arms, legs, neck from the torture Voldemort had just given.

Draco couldn't open his eyes. He was too ashamed. He'd given in. He'd lost. And now, it was all lost. All of it: Kate, him, their love. He'd lost it all.

"It seems the Guardianship has passed. I thought that with Diana dead it was all gone, all over. The old one, Helen, must have passed it. It takes a Guardian to show a Guardian the way," Voldemort mused aloud. He was pacing back and forth, the Box on the table where Draco could clearly see it. The boy had just given him the way to open the Box. It was merely a girl. Diana's daughter, it seemed. She would be joining them soon, if he knew Dumbledore. Which he did. To be ahead, one always knew their enemies. And Lord Voldemort was always one step ahead.

Kate and Harry stood in Dumbledore's office. It was dark so Dumbledore had lit candles. There would be no magic in the room to interfere with the spell they were about to perform. They would call up a portal to bring them to Draco and Voldemort. Harry took a deep breath. He and Kate would be going alone. Dumbledore needed to be present for the attack. Harry splashed the electric blue potion into the air. It stopped in midair as if hitting an invisible wall. Instantaneously, a portal of the same blue swirled in front of them like a storm where the potion dripped to the floor.

"Ready?"

Kate could feel Harry's clammy hand clenching hers. She swallowed. There was a spicy hot taste of blood on her lips where she'd bitten. "I think so. Yes. Yes."

"Now, when you get there, do you remember the plan? Do you know what to do?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes. Exactly."

"Good. And good luck."

Together, they stepped through the portal.

When Kate emerged, a drop of the swirling blue potion ran behind her ear and sent shivers down her arms. Harry's hand was wrapped tightly around hers. They had stepped into a dusty old room filled with furniture covered in white sheets. It was dim, except for the flickering light seeping from under the door directly in front of them.

"Where are we?" Kate whispered.

"The Riddle House."

"You've been here before?"

Harry nodded. "Last year." He nodded again pointedly to the door.

Kate shuddered. "Let's go."

Voldemort didn't even flinch when Kate and Harry burst through the door. Kate felt her knees almost collapse when she looked into those terrible red eyes.

"Welcome, esteemed Guardian." He smiled and Kate felt herself gag.

Kate saw Draco lying on the table, unconscious.

"He's breathing, don't worry. Go to him, if you'd like."

Kate ran to the table and pressed her ear to Draco's bloodied chest. He was breathing and awake, apparently.

"Kate? Kate! You have to get out of here! Run, now! It's a trap…"

"Not so fast, Draco," Voldemort said, closing his hand into a fist.

Draco flinched and clenched his fists, his eyes squeezing shut.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Kate screamed.

"Only if you open the Box for me, darling. You knew that, I'm sure," Voldemort said, but didn't unclench his fist. Draco continued to squirm.

"Stop! Listen, you have me. You've got who you wanted. Let them go." Harry turned to Voldemort.

He laughed. "I don't think so."

Harry fingered his wand. "Why not? You don't need them anymore. I walked right into your trap."

Voldemort smiled ruthlessly at him. "You did, didn't you? Walked in quite nicely…But you were not the one I wanted, Harry. And you are correct about one thing. This is a trap." He waved his arm and the door bolted shut with several Death Eaters appearing at the exits. "I wanted her. Obviously." He nodded at Kate.

"The other Guardian…" Harry breathed.

"I'm almost out of time, my dear. Won't you open the Box so I can get this messy business over with? I can make your friend's death easy and quick. Yours as well. But then, I wouldn't know. I've never died."

Kate glared. "Never."

The Dark Lord shrugged. "Fine. It was your choice. Goodnight." He pointed his wand to Kate.

A dark pink exploded behind Kate's eyelids and she dropped to the floor.

When Kate awoke, she was lying on the floor next to the table where Draco still lie, tied up. She appeared to be alone in the room, with the exception of the Death Eaters guarding the doors. Still wobbly, Kate stood. The pink bolt Voldemort had hit her with had only knocked her out. In the split second as she fell to the floor, Kate knew she would die. The bolt was clearly not meant to kill. Otherwise, it would have. Harry was tied to a couch across the room. He was watching her. They both were.

"Awake, are we?" the chillingly smooth voice asked. Voldemort stepped through his guards into the room.

Kate didn't answer.

"You have to choose, Kate. After you open the Box, of course. Which one will you choose?"

"You're letting us live?"

"No. Of course not. I have changed my mind. Two of you will receive a guilty, painless death. The other will suffer a slow, excruciating one, his memories and mind slowly burning up. Eventually, after a day or so, it will blow up."

Kate's head was swimming. She couldn't choose between them. Well, she could of course. But she couldn't. Choosing Draco would mean leaving Harry to die after she'd dragged him down with her. And choosing Harry would mean betraying Draco. What did it all matter, anyway? They would all die. Unless she could think of a new plan; and quick. What did it matter? It mattered horribly. What she needed was more time. "I'll open it."

A guard handed her the Box. The tinny metal box felt heavy in her hands.

"You can imagine how surprised I was when I found out this mere box is the weapon I've been searching for. However, it is Pandora's Box and could only be opened by a Guardian."

An idea came to Kate. A plan. With a wave of her hand, she feigned opening the Box. "Exertus!"

A slow moving golden current sifted around the Box, then flashed away. Immediately, filmy versions of Harry and Draco drifted from their solid bodies and moved to Kate. Voldemort didn't say anything, only crossed his arms impatiently. He couldn't see them.

"Kate! What happened?" whispered Draco's voice in Kate's left ear.

"I Astral Projected you," Kate mumbled.

"What?" the Draco-Projection asked.

"She made our minds separated from our bodies," the Harry-Projection said. He was glimmering in front of her.

The room began to shake suddenly and clouds of dust distorted the room. Bits of the house began to tumble onto them.

"My Lord, it's Dumbledore. We're under attack!" a hooded Death Eater rushed into the room. He was out of breath and his voice shook with genuine worry.

Voldemort cursed and ordered the man into some kind of action. The Death Eater turned on heel and ran out to carry out his orders.

"Get on with it! Open it!" Voldemort ordered.

The whole house shook and trembled. Inside the room, they could hear the wood and protection spells tearing apart at the seams. With a loud crash, everything was deathly silent.

"Repeat after me," Kate said. She closed her eyes and gripped the Box. "Touch it. Both of you."

They did.

"Spes! Ego solvo vos!" Kate yelled.

"Spes! Ego solvo vos!" the Draco- and Harry-Projections echoed.

They repeated it over and over and a golden-white light filled the room. It was coming from the Box. It was Hope.

The Hope seeped into Voldemort's eyes, nostrils, and ears. It filled him and he turned into a living X-Ray.

Draco, Harry, and Kate had collapsed to the floor and were shading their eyes from the brightness, watching. They could see the individual bones of Voldemort shift into a soundless scream. His mouth formed the deadly words Avada Kedavra.

With an even brighter blast of green light, Voldemort was gone. The white light seemed to be sucked back into the Box which snapped shut. The great Lord Voldemort had been driven to suicide. The Hope of the world had proved to be more than a match for him.