Chapter 57 The One He'd Miss the Most

Harry and Ron set off through the woods toward the castle on foot. There was ample force available to meet the remaining enemy fighters. It was about 5 p.m. Enough light filtered through the trees that they only needed to keep the sun at about 10-11 o'clock to guide toward the Hogwarts' side of the forest. They were wary, but able to maintain something of a stroll. Then as they crested one hill, Harry caught sight of something that made him pull Ron down with him in a crouch.

"LeStrange!" he whispered.

"Bellatrix?" hissed Ron, and Harry nodded. "Why isn't she with the rest of the vipers?"

"I don't know, unless she's hunting me. I'm about the only quarry here that Voldemort really worries about."

"Well, let's just apparate away then," whispered Ron.

"Nope, I'm going to go try and get myself killed," said Harry.

"Oh, okay, then," said Ron.

"Aren't you going to argue with me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"In the seven years I've known you, how many times have you put yourself in a position to get killed?"

"I've lost count."

"And yet you've failed every time. It's the one thing you can't do. You couldn't get yourself killed if you were a hog animagus in an abattoir."

"Very funny," said Harry. "Well, do you want to know the plan?"

"Should I?"

"Yes," replied Harry.

"Okay, then – what's the plan?"

"I'm going to face her and force her to try to kill me. I'll ward off anything that won't kill. If she tries to kill me, Voldemort will have to arrive to stop it, because if she kills me, she destroys his power, too."

"Well, of course! And you were trying to make me think you were going to do something stupid – you're just challenging the deadliest dark wizard in history to a duel."

"Exactly."

"Are you ready for him?"

"Well, I know what's in his mind, so I can react before he even acts. I'm fast. My stamina is good. I haven't really tired myself out all day. And Dumbledore says I can do this. After all everyone else has done, I reckon it's time for me to step up to my destiny."

"You need me to do anything?'

"Yeah, if she actually succeeds in killing me, fight her; I'm pretty sure you can take her. If Voldemort shows up, same thing – you take her on so I don't have to fight both. No holding back – if he shows up, we'll be setting to immediately because we both know what each other are thinking. If I can't get her to try to kill me, I'll eventually just disable her."

"Okey-dokey."

Harry smiled inwardly. Only Ron could understand him well enough to be flippant about something as insanely dangerous as this. Taking a deep breath, Harry stepped over the crest of the hill.

"Hello, Bella!" Harry called.

She wheeled around and yelled "Stupefy," but Harry had disapparated before she had finished pronouncing the spell. With a crack, he appeared behind her and as she wheeled around, he kicked her feet out from under her.

"Potter!" she spat, as she jumped up, "How did you do that – I've been fighting this anti-apparation spell all day."

Harry smiled calmly. "Only the strongest sorcerers can overcome it – you just don't measure up, Bella."

"So you think you're better than me, little baby Potter?"

"Oh, I am," said Harry, disapparating again and appearing again behind her, knocking her off her feet again, this time stepping on her hair when she fell and kicking her hard in the head with the other foot. He wanted her to lose all sense of judgment. She screeched like a banshee, as she tried to get up. "Expelliarmus!" yelled Harry, and her wand flew to him as she was thrown against a tree with an audible thud.

"Hmm!" said Harry. "What a position we're in now, Bella. How shall I make you suffer before I kill you?"

"Hah, Potter, we both know you haven't the stomach for the Unforgiveables."

"I can live with that, Bella, but there are other ways to cause suffering as you so richly deserve. DEBRIDO!" Harry waved his wand at her left hand as he pronounced the spell and all of the skin was stripped from it, leaving raw exposed flesh and nerves. She gasped with the pain of the air hitting the exposed nerves. Then Harry waved his wand at the forest floor, causing dozens of rough sticks to attack her exposed flesh. She could no longer hold back the scream this time.

"So what do you want, Potter, to torture me for killing the animagus?"

"Not really – I want you to kill me."

"It would be my pleasure!"

"No doubt, but I know you're under orders not to."

"What makes you think that?"

Harry laughed in a very annoyingly superior way. "Because I saw it happen, Bella! I can see anything your master sees and he can see what I see. Don't you understand? His failed killing curse when I was a baby linked us forever. Our minds are as one."

"I don't believe you!"

"You're lying, Bella, you know it's so," said Harry in the same tone Voldemort used when he caught someone in a lie. "You see, I have his powers, too. We share them, we both draw from them. He is a legilemens, so I am a legilemens; he is a parseltongue, so I am a parseltongue. He is watching you through my eyes right now. He sees you for the weak and pitiful failure you are. But there's something else you should know, something he never wanted any of his pets to know. If one of us dies, except at the hand of the other, the one left alive would lose all his powers. He'd be left at best a squib and probably dead if you killed me. And after today's battle, even as pitiful as you are, you would probably be the most powerful dark sorcerer in the world."

Harry let that sink in for a few seconds, and then went on with a knowing smile, "Ah, yes, I can see how that tempts you. After all, Dumbledore can't live forever, and he's too noble to take the steps that would allow him to. Once he's gone, who could stop you doing whatever you wanted? And after all, why would you want to go on serving that deformed half-blood for eternity."

"Liar!" she screamed.

"No, Bella, and I warn you not to talk to me that way again. I have been patient thus far. DEBRIDO!" said Harry, ripping the skin off her right hand. "Things can get much, much worse. I see what he knows – I know his origins. Not only was his father a muggle, but his father rejected him as unworthy of the family name. And he was and so he remains. And so you pass your time – house-elf for a half-blood! Where's your tea towel? No wonder he requires you to wear real clothes – your exposed body would make any man vomit. So here you go, servile little house elf: here's your wand! You can continue as a slave, or kill me and have unchallenged power."

He threw the wand to her and she caught it, wincing with the pain as it struck her exposed flesh. And the battle was on as she tried to disable him. Harry defended and defended to ward off her attacks, taunting her all the while. Finally he shot steam at her exposed, raw flesh. Then even as she screamed, she began to pronounce "Avada Kedavra!" As she did however, Voldemort appeared between her and Harry and the spell instead struck Nagini, which Voldemort had carried with him as the only sort of shield available to stop the killing curse.

Ron leapt out from behind the hill, yelling "Expelliarmus!" The spell threw LeStrange back, but she was able to hold onto her wand. She and Ron immediately set in to dueling.

"You wanted to call out Lord Voldemort, Potter?" said Voldemort, "Be careful what you wish for."

"Talk, talk, talk," taunted Harry to try to rankle him, "You are too much enamored of your own voice, Tom."

Harry apparated three times in succession, firing stunners in between each. Voldemort had dodged the first two before they had even been cast and tried to reflect the third back at Harry with a Protego before Harry could disapparate, but Harry already knew Voldemort's intentions, so he had disapparsted before the stunner could even be reflected.

Harry paused a few yards from Voldemort, both unfazed by the exchange. Harry knew as well as Voldemort had that it would take much more than that to catch Voldemort out. Voldemort teased Harry with the formal wizard duel salute. In reply, Harry wrote the name "Tom Riddle" in the air and sent them circling Voldemort. Voldemort disapparated and Harry, knowing where he was going, went right with him. The battle raged across the forest, hither and yon, both sets of opponents evenly matched and trading spell for spell, defense for defense. At some point, the anti-apparation spell was lifted, either because it had finally become unstable or because the decision had been made at the castle because the rest of the battle was over. Both pairs of fighters apparated about, neither pair ever too far from each other, trading spells at blinding speed. The ferocity of the exchange kept others from coming too close. The forest was lit with the glow of the fight as the day waned.

Eventually they reached the north end of the lake. Several members of the squadrons were trying to evacuate fallen comrades from the area, but upon the appearance of this foursome, all had apparated or flown away. This was not a safe place to be. All had left, that is, except for Ginny, who could not bear to leave and watched from behind a boulder. The battle was moving too fast for her to even get involved – she would be as likely to strike Harry or Ron as Voldemort or LeStrange if she tried to jump in.

Voldemort apparated in position that he could disable Ron and Harry could not block it. As the strangling spell was cast, Harry levitated Bellatrix into the path of the spell. At the same time she was casting a cutting spell at Ron – the same one Harry had used on the polyjuice-Hermione - while Ron was distracted by Voldemort's spell. The cutter caught Ron squarely in the chest. LeStrange collapsed on the spot, barely alive, trying to gasp for breath. Ron's chest was cut open through the ribs and into the lower part of the lungs and he tumbled down a steep slope. Harry heard a sickening unmistakable hollow crack of skull against rock as Ron reached the bottom.

Filled with the overwhelming desire to attend to the friend he loved the very best, Harry started fighting twice as intensely as before. Voldemort was completely unable to return any spells, but could only fend off the attacks coming from both of Harry's wands like machine gun fire. At some point, it barely registered in Harry's mind the crack when Ginny apparated away. Overwhelmed, Voldemort apparated to LeStrange's side, grabbed her hand and disapparated away to escape to his headquarters.