.setaicossa reh dna gnilwoR .K.J suolevram eht ot gnoleb yeht ,em ot gnoleb ton seod tser eht fo lla dna rettoP yrraH :remialcsiD
A/N: .....300 reviews. 300 of them.
I love you guys. tackles you with hugs
teh munchkin: ..... ::silence:: Ohhh I get it! ; P Down with cows!
MelissaAdams: ::squeals painfully:: My eyes! No hurting the Author! I can't write if I have a duck sword stuck in my retna, now can I?
JeanMarie: Ooh good guesses there. ::hums innocently::
Kennedy: ::chuckles:: Erm...I'll see what I can do.
Cassandra Thacker: Erm...right back at cha! Hehe.
June W: Agreed. No more new stories 'till HiO is complete. It's my first priority. And uh..yeah..there's gonna be lots of people dying. This is a war after all. Though I shall keep the major character deaths to a minimum. Erm...is 15 a minimum?(estimated number of deaths...)
BraeBee: I AM EVIL! Hehe...of course I love cliffes. ::snicker::
Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's: Cookies, eh? Hm..yeah I can see what you mean.
I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out to you. It just refused to be written...I dunno. I took a slight break from it, and when I sat down and looked at it again, I realized that I just was going about it in a completely impossible manner. There's just no way I could put all the details and side stories I wanted to into this story/chapter. And they were so cool too! ::wistful sigh:: Maybe I'll write a companion piece later on..who knows?
So (finally) here's chapter 24!
Hermione reappeared in the center of Hogsmeade, a normally scarcely populated area. She didn't want to start at the gates, as she didn't know exactly where the fighting was, and apparating into a curse wasn't her idea of an entrance.
There was a rather large flow of Hogsmeadians running up the path to Hogwarts, with wands at the ready.
From where she was, she could hear the battle going on. The screams of pain, the cries of jubilation. The very air around her cracked and fizzled with energy.
A stocky man with thinning hair jogged up to her. He seemed to have an air of authority about him, which led Hermione to believe that perhaps he was responsible for rounding up the people from Hogsmeade in the defense of Hogwarts.
"Miss, I must ask you to get back to your home." the man said, politely as possible. He seemed rushed, as if there were a million other things to do.
"I am." Hermione replied, starting up the path.
"Child, listen to me. Leave here, get somewhere safe. Please." while the plea did have tones of desperation, there were also some of impatience. His face was screwed up in an determined look.
Hermione turned to look at the man. "I am no child, and there is no way you are going to dissuade me from going," she said clearly, with a slight huffyness to it.
The man gave her a calculating look, then sighed loudly. "I can't just let you go."
"I'd like to see you stop me," Hermione turned and started walking again.
"No! Wait..." the man called. He started patting his chest and checking in pockets.
Slowly, Hermione turned around. "Yes?"
The man pulled out a thin silver chain, with a large egg shaped watermelon tourmaline hanging off of it. The stone itself reflected light iridescently off of its pink and green surface. "Take this. I can't have you go off without some protection," he said, holding out the chain to Hermione.
Hermione took the decievingly heavy chain from the man. "I...don't know what to say. Thank you."
"Thank me by staying safe," the sturdy man gave her a small smile.
"I'll do my best," Hermione promised, putting the chain on.
The ground was soaked, blood flowed in rivulets among the grass. The air was heavy with the stench of death and the distinct, coppery tang of blood. Corpses littered the ground. Faces of people she knew, and others she didn't, stared up at her with blank, vancant eyes.
Yes, she was frightened. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to put her baby in danger. But she was determined, and there was no way that she was letting any of her loved ones die tonight. Including Severus Snape. She wanted to kill him herself later for trying to lock her away at the mansion.
And when she got her hands on Albus Dumbledore...ohh there would be hell to pay.
The Great Hall was in shambles. Spells ricocheted off of the stone walls, which cracked and split into pieces, causing dust to filter through the air. Occasionally there were bursts of light, hues of green, red and other bright colors. The tables were in splinters on the floor, they had cracked and broken under the pressure of people dueling on them and miscast spells.
Avada Kedavra was not a common cry on the battlefield, as it took tremendous energy to rip someone's life from them in such a manner. Instead, slicing spells and similar ones were used to disable opponents. Which was perhaps the cause of all the blood that had accumulated.
Severus Snape, at this point in time, was still alive. He was trying to keep out of the main line of fire, as it would do no one any good if he were killed. Instead, he aimed discreet spells at his fellow Death Eaters when they had their back turned. He couldn't very well come out and join the side of his true allegience, it would be akin to painting a bullseye on his chest.
So he acted, something he was well aquainted with. He misaimed his spells intentionally at Order members and others on the side of the "light" as Dumbledore preferred to refer to their coalition as. He appeared to everyone who had no idea what he was up to, as a clumsy and incompetent caster, which would then inevitably lead to the amazement that he was still alive.
But he was anything but. Having successfully taken out many Death Eaters, he was perhaps one of the most efficient out there.
Dumbledore, of course was at the center of attention, as The Boy Wonder had been wisked off at the moment. He in all his brilliance, cast complicated and intricate spells which showed off his magical prowess and abilities. But what took more energy to do could have been substituted with simpler spells which he could have recast more often. One would think that the Great Dumbledore would realize this, but perhaps there was an alterior motive to his actions.
It was impossible to know how many had died. At this point, Severus was unable to even chance a guess. For all he knew, there was fighting throughout the castle. Dark creatures were everywhere, Dementors being some of the most populous.
His Slytherins were in attendence, which wasn't much of a surprise. He had hoped that they would come to their senses, but it was a lost cause. It would do them no good now.
They had been fighting for hours, and the signs of weariness were slowly creeping into the group. Then finally, Harry Potter arrived through the entrance to the Great Hall. The doors had been blasted through and only charred remains were left.
He stood proudly, and several people stopped to look at him. It really was a sight. He was dressed in all white. Probably Minerva's doing, she always had a flair for the overly dramatic. Ron Weasley stood at his heels, not directly in the spotlight but still standing by his best friend.
Harry raised his wand, and merely said, "This ends now."
The chilling cackle that responded was enough to give Severus goosebumps up and down his pale skin.
"I was wondering when your sorry self would show up." The Dark Lord said, malice and vague amusement lace in his tones.
"Cut the dialogue Voldemorte. I'm not afraid of you!" Harry said, standing up tall.
"You're not?" The Dark Lord smiled nastily. "Well then, why don't you come here and prove it."
Harry frowned gravely then enunciated clearly, "Cambiarspadius." His wand started to lengthen, and it was covered in a dull, hazy light.
When the haze had finally lifted, a magnificant sword stood in place of Harry's wand. It was pure silver, and it gleamed colorfully as the curses continued in the background.
He didn't hesitate. Harry launched himself at Voldemorte, who of course saw him coming. How could he miss a giant sword coming towards him?
Voldemorte sidestepped Harry's attack, but not completely. Harry had caught his side, and in doing so proved that even Voldemorte could bleed, just as any other man. A sharp hiss escaped him, and he swirled around to face Harry again, glaring nastily at him. "That is enough. I've had enough of these games, Potter!" he spat.
"Accio sword!" the Dark Lord called, outstretching his arm to recieve the item. Harry, who clearly did not think that Voldemorte would pull such a stunt, stood there defenseless. He had no wand, he had no sword.
The Dark Lord grinned. He pulled back his arm, then thrust forward, flicking his wrist as he did. The maginficent sword spun out of his hand, and into the chest of one Harry Potter.
Harry fell to his knees, his friend Ron right by his side trying to tend his wounds. But it was futile.
"I...I'm sorry." Harry half-whispered. Lying in a pool of his own blood, he knew the repercussions of his failure. It wasn't just his life that would be lost.
"No Harry...no. It wasn't your fault. You did your best." Ron tried to comfort his friend, but deep inside he knew there was nothing he could say.
"I failed, Ron." and with that, the Boy-Who-Lived, died.
A/N: Well...if you didn't see that coming...
Yeah, I do know that Harry's attempt to kill the Dark Lord was pitiful at best, which was the point. I was brainstorming stupid ways for Harry to kill him earlier, and believe me, I came up with far worse than this.
Next chapter'll be up soon. I'm really sorry this one took so long. I honestly didn't mean it too. Did I over simplify it? I'm still kinda iffy on it. I do plan on explaining the aftermath later, but I'm just wondering if the detail was enough.
Cambiarspadius - made it up, kinda means to change into a sword. I smushed together cambiare (which means to change in Italian) and spada (which means sword). Close enough really.
R/R.