((Author's note: This is the final chapter of the story. I must admit, my strength does not lie in battle scenes. It is the journey through the story that matters to me. I hope you all feel the same way as I know you have been with me through the whole thing. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and keep them coming! I will be doing up three different epilogues. Just a few peeks into Rhyann's possible futures! Enjoy.))
The sun had long set by the time the first warning was sent around the school that robed figures were approaching the gates. Professor Sinistra along with a few of the younger students were positioned on top of the Astronomy tower watching the land around for any sign of their enemy. The enchanted telescopes were usually saved for peering up at the stars and planets, but they had been altered to focus in on intruders on the ground.
Triple the number that had first come to Hogwarts were now gathering at the gates. There was movement in the Forbidden Forest as well. Snape guessed that the biggest attack, the one at the Ministry, was probably over and the Death Eaters not needed to hold it were coming to secure the school now. It was too valuable of a place to Voldemort to just let go. More importantly at the moment, a traitor sat within its walls and he would not let such a wizard live.
Harry had duplicated a half dozen incredible maps of Hogwarts and the grounds. It showed every room and secret passage. It also had dots indicating the people about with their names to identify. There was a huge black splotch of dots at the gates and the names all jumbled together. The Headmistress and Deputy Headmaster were each given their own map, but Snape's refused to work for him. He grudgingly had to look at other people's maps to find out what he needed to know.
Rhyann had tried to pick out her family name amongst the mess, but she could not do so. She did manage to see Lucius Malfoy pacing impatiently along the front of the line. Even the dot that represented him looked agitated. Draco gave no reaction to his father's presence and went about his job of setting wards for traps throughout the castle with a purpose as intense as Potter's.
Not including the younger children, their numbers were fewer than the Death Eaters now. Professor Sprout and Argus Filch were injured when the first thirty entered the entrance hall. Madame Pomfrey tended to them in the hospital wing. The resident ghosts brought reports between groups and the portraits kept watch for any unusual activity as well.
The group of Death Eaters grew by at least a dozen more before the gates were forced open. The great black mass of dots moved towards the school and at the rear of them, the one they had been waiting for: Voldemort. If possible, his dot seemed blacker than all the rest.
"He'll be looking for two people in particular." McGonagall looked pointedly at Potter and Snape. "We do not expect you to fight him, Harry. In fact, it would be unwise of you to try. He will not expect the welcome we have for him and his followers. He will be distracted, but do not under-estimate him just because of that. Severus will keep his attention while... you, Harry, do what you must do." She was usually a very calm and collected witch, but there was fear in her eyes. Not for herself, but for the children. For Harry.
"He will expect us to have you hidden, Potter. Take your chance when you can and try not have anyone else see you beforehand." Snape added, voice cold and hard.
"I know." Harry replied, his lips set in a thin line.
"Your presence will be a bit distracting as well, Miss Rookwood. Do make sure to use that to your advantage when helping Potter." Snape's dark eyes drilled into her.
Nodding, Rhyann said nothing. They had been over the plan a hundred times it seemed. Yet she guessed it brought some of them a tiny bit of comfort to review it and make sure everything was in order just before it started.
The sound of the large doors blasting open ended the conversation. McGonagall looked at them all, taking out her wand. "I am afraid I do not have anything wise or meaningful to say as Professor Dumbledore might have. Just be careful and never give up hope. We do this not only for him and the school, but for all the world. I have faith that we will win." She ended with her eyes upon Harry.
Everyone quickly went the direction they were suppose to go in. Draco snuck in one last kiss with his lover before following off Professor Flitwick and a half dozen other students. Rhyann, in her projected form, was to stay with Harry. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Blaise went on ahead of them to make sure the halls were clear as they used the map to attempt to get behind Voldemort without needing to go through a wall of Death Eaters first.
"How are you doing, Rhyann?" Harry asked softly as they slunk along the hall in the shadows.
"I'm... alright, I suppose. It all seems so surreal to me." Her footsteps made not a sound compared to his. "You?"
"Yeah, it is kinda like a dream..." Harry sighed, pausing as he waited for the signal that it was alright to go down the next hall. He turned his head to her, looking very much like a lost boy. "I don't know quite what to feel and I think I shouldn't be feeling anything at all because it might make me mess it up. I'm scared, I'm angry... I just want it to be over with one way or another. It's like I've lived all my life for this one moment... or so everyone else seems to think so..."
"I don't think that." The dreamer wanted to give him a smile but it didn't seem quite right. "I don't really know much about these things... Yet I find I'm stronger when I'm feeling everything. Emotion seems to heighten energy. If you tried to go in there, all cold and unfeeling, you'd be like... him."
"That almost sounds like something Dumbledore would have said." Harry looked down, a sad little smile turning up his lips. He didn't notice the bit of a cringe she gave at being compared to the former Headmaster. "He always said we have something that Voldemort doesn't and that's love. He said it was more powerful than anything else."
Rhyann did not think such a thing would help them in any way. It sounded like some gibberish the old wizard would spout. Love wouldn't win anything here. Only power, cleverness and surprise. Before she could say anything, there was the sound of spells being fired where the group had gone. Shouts and screams.
Harry and Rhyann had been instructed not to engage anyone else in battle before they met up with the Dark Lord. Harry had to get there in tact and she needed to save her energy. Yet once there was the sound of fighting, the scarred teen was running around the corner and firing a stunning spell. Rhyann tried to grab his robes but missed, cursing under her breath.
She stayed where she was. She needed to conserve her energy for what really needed to be done. It didn't matter what happened to the rest of them. Clenching her jaw, she picked up the map that Harry had dropped and peered at the darting dots that were around the corner from her in the hall. Hermione was beside an unmoving Ron while the dots of the others were clashing with four Death Eaters. Harry was tearing down the center of the corridor and two of their enemies were unmoving. One of the still ones was her uncle Edgar and another of the ones tearing out to meet Potter was Tristian.
Dropping the map, she didn't even think. Rhyann projected herself in between Harry and Tristian. "STOP!"
Harry skidded to stop, stunned at what she was doing. Tristian stopped as well, gaping at the fact that his supposedly dead niece was now standing in front of him. Earlier, his brother had whispered to him, in a cracked voice, that he had seen Rhyann's ghost. That she had tried to help him. Yet it was no spectre that had suddenly appeared in the hall.
"Rhyann!" Tristian carefully approached her, wary of the other students in the hall.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" The other Death Eater that had been with him jumped out at the same moment and fired the Killing Curse at her. Harry swifted dived in, tackling the dreamer and taking her down out of the way of the spell. Tristian shot back the same curse and did not miss his target.
Rhyann stared up at the scarred teen from the floor, knowing she should not be stunned that he saved her. Or thought to save her. "I wouldn't have been harmed by it, you know."
Tristian kept his wand pointed at Potter and inched closer. "Rhyann. Rhyann, what's going on? You're suppose to be..."
The petite teen disappeared from under Harry and reappeared beside her uncle. "I'm suppose to be dead, I know. And you weren't suppose to be here, uncle Tristian." She had to resist the urge to hug him. It had seemed like so long since she last saw him even though she frequented her family's sleeping minds.
Blaise limped out from where he was hidden off to the side. "He's your... uncle?"
"Yes." It wasn't truly a secret. It was known that some of the Rookwoods were Death Eaters. Rhyann blinked out again and appeared beside her fallen uncle. She reached out to gingerly touch Edgar's head. There was already a large pool of blood beneath it. "He shouldn't have been here..."
"Is he dead?" Harry asked, wand still in hand and his eyes on Tristian.
"Yes. Uncle Edgar is dead." Rhyann hoped her voice did not feel as strained as it felt.
Hermione's choked cry sounded loud in the hall. "I'm sorry, Rhyann! I had only petrified him! He... he had hit Ron with a curse... a-and I petrified him. He fell and I-I guess he hit his head... I didn't mean to..." She bent forward, crying into the red hair of her boyfriend who lay on the floor with his head on her lap.
Ginny sat beside them, Ron's hand in her own. "He's just barely holding on."
"You have to step away from them, Rhyann. Step away and let me finish my business. Then I'll get you to a safe place." Tristian spoke in a eerily calm tone.
"You let her be!" Harry growled at him, pointing his wand threateningly.
Rhyann stood up from where she was kneeling beside her deceased uncle. A wand was suddenly in her hand and she cast a sleeping charm upon Tristian. He toppled over onto the floor with his hand landing softly upon his arms. "We'll put him in a closet or empty classroom, out of the way. I don't think he'll wake up for a long while."
"That was your uncle..." Hermione sniffled.
"I know!" Rhyann didn't mean to bark at her and gave the Head Girl an apologetic look. "I know. I just didn't expect them to be part of... this. You and Ginny have to get Ron to the hospital wing. It should be clear back that way."
Ginny nodded, not arguing with that. She stood up and levitated her unconscious brother. Hermione wiped at her face, following the Weasleys hurriedly down the corridor.
"Blaise, Harry. Do you think you could help me?" The dreamer motioned to her sleeping uncle. Tristian would forgive her. He could never stay angry with her for anything. She pointed to a small classroom. "Levitate him in there. We'll lock the door."
Blaise limped over obediently and levitated Tristian onto a table in the classroom. Harry came over, not sure how to react to it. "Hermione didn't mean to kill him. She's not that type. She wouldn't..."
"I know she wouldn't. Edgar was a Death Eater. He would have killed them. She had to do it." The words seemed to stick to her tongue. She hated saying them. "Tristian would have done so too. Now he won't be in anyone's way. It know it has to be this way..."
"You love them?" Harry's question hung in the air strangely.
Rhyann glanced up at him as Blaise was locking the door to the classroom. "I do. That's why I have to do this. I don't want Voldemort ruling..." She almost said 'me' but caught herself. "Them. Ruling anyone. I'm helping you because that would be the worst possible thing to happen."
The fiery look was coming back to Harry's eyes. "Agreed. Let's get on with it then. Accio map." The map that he had dropped before came floating back into his hand.
Blaise came to look over his shoulder at it. "Seems our traps are working. There are less Death Eaters moving about. A few are even fleeing!" He gave a little whoop and pointed to the dots that were retreating from Hogwarts.
"Where's Voldemort then...?" Harry opened the map further, trying to find one dot in the dozens upon dozens that were scurrying about the castle.
"There!" Rhyann spotted the blackest dot in the Great Hall. "And Snape is with him!"
"Dammit! Let's go!" Harry took off running down the hall without waiting to see what might lay ahead. Rhyann and Blaise came right behind him almost running into a second group that was coming from another hall. All of them pointed wands at one another, spells on the tips of their tongues before lowering them.
"Where's Ginny and the others!" Drucinda squeaked, her hands shaking. Millicent gave her a narrowed eyed look, but was wanted to hear the answer as well. The third student with them, Neville Longbottom, looked as pale as Dru but at least he was not trembling as much.
"Ron was hurt and they took him to the hospital wing." Harry did not even wait to finish off his sentence before taking off again towards the Great Hall.
Millicent wrapped an arm around Blaise to help him run. "Where's he going!"
"To the Great Hall! That's where HE is!" Rhyann informed them as she headed off after The-Boy-That-Lived as well.
They ran into no Death Eaters except unconscious, petrified or dead ones along the way. There was a pile of a few students too. Professor Vector's mangled body lay in front of their corpses, obviously having died trying to defend them.
There was a sound like distant thunder outside as well. The ground under their feet began to shake slightly.
"VOLDEMORT!" Harry bellowed as he came to a stop just inside the Great Hall, wand raised. His chest heaved and his hair plastered against the scar on his forehead.
The Dark Lord was in a thick black robe with the hood drawn up. His face could not be seen in the shadows but the light caught up in his serpentine eyes. He and Snape were facing off, wands pointed at one another. He did not turn his head as the students entered. "Aah, Harry Potter. I did wonder how long it would be before you came to me."
"Get out, Potter!" Snape snarled, not taking his eyes off of Voldemort either.
"We don't want the boy to leave so quickly, Severus Snape." The Dark Lord hissed. "I want to show him what I do to traitors before I finish off what I started sixteen years ago."
"Give up, Voldemort! You can't win." Harry shouted defiantly.
"Oooh, how little you know. I have already won. Just a few loose ends to tie up." Voldemort finally tilted his head ever so slightly so that his eyes could slither over to where the teens all stood. "All traitors will die, Rhyann Rookwood. A death spell. I have always said you were a clever girl."
Chills went through her, the same terror always there. Then much to her own surprise, a shrill scream escaped from her lips. Her dream self convulsed and pain raced throughout her. All eyes were on her, wondering, and then she disappeared.
It wasn't her projected self but her physical body that was crying out with pain. Rhyann slammed back into it, eyes snapping open, as he body writhed on the floor having fallen out of the chair. It took a few seconds to understand fully what was happening.
Lucius Malfoy stood above her with a smug smile. "It did take a little more than I expected to wake you from your nap. The whole school is down there fighting a losing battle and yet you are hiding away up here. What are you up to, hmm?"
She could barely breathe. It felt as every single one of her ribs were broken. He must have been using the Cruciatus Curse upon her. "I... How did you...?" How did he find her in the Room of Requirement! She had been sure it would be impossible.
With his wand still pointed at her, Lucius carefully removed something from his robes. One of the sleeves was tattered and singed as if someone had tried to set him on fire. It was one of the maps that Harry had duplicated. "It was actually a simple task to find you. It was more surprising to find you alive though. We will very soon remedy that fact."
How had he gotten that map! Rhyann tried to push herself back away from him, tried to sit up. She was granted a swift kick to the side. She groaned, crimson spots dotting her vision, sure that at least one rib was really broken now.
"You fooled us all, girl. Our Lord even went into the minds of Draco and your family to make sure. All of us thought that he had done the deed. Yet you are still here. He is not the wizard I had hoped him to be though." Lucius bent forward and yanked the dreamer up by her long hair, depositing her roughly into the chair.
"He is... the wizard... I had hoped him to be..." Rhyann wheezed with each breath.
Her words were answered by another blast with the Cruciatus Curse. Her screams bounced off the walls over and over again. Her mouth filled with blood as she had bit her tongue and it trickled down her chin. She did not know if she could stay conscious if he did that again. She could not even concentrate properly to project herself.
"You could have been a Malfoy. But I see you are not worthy of the name." Lucius gave a little disgusted sniff and back-handed her across the face. "You are a traitor like that bastard, Snape. The Dark Lord will reward me when I bring him your ruined remains."
Rhyann was dizzy from the pain. She feebly tried to bat his wand out of his hand but was only successful in getting him to whack it across her own tiny hand.
"I was never fond of you and yours. The Rookwoods are a taint to purebloods everywhere." Lucius' lips curled up with his hate and he began to say the words for the Killing Curse.
"STUPEFY!" A spell rocketed across the room, hitting the Death Eater and sending him flying against the far wall. Draco ran over to his lover's side, kissing her even with the blood dribbling from her mouth. "Rhyann, are you alright? What did he do to you!"
"I'm... fi... watch out!" She whimpered, trying to gesture towards Lucius who had groped for his wand and found it.
Draco stood up, glaring at his father. "Crucio!" The curse came out with great force. It was such a shock to his system that Lucius could not even scream.
Rhyann pulled herself carefully up further in the chair. She did not think she could stand if she wanted to. Her dark eyes were focused upon Lucius' quivering body though.
Releasing the spell, Draco knelt down beside her against, brushing back her hair from her face. "Is it all over now? Is the Dark Lord dead?"
"No..." She shook her head, giving a little whimper. "Your father... he brought me back to my body... too soon. I don't know..." Voldemort could have all of them dead in the Great Hall already and she would not know. She hugged her sides, coughing a little as she tried to catch her breath.
"Go back and see. You have to be there to help." Draco did not raise his voice but it was firm. He kissed her again and then stood up. "I'll be here with you, protecting you as I should have been. Don't worry about my father. I'll take care of him." His lip curled up in the exact manner Lucius' had only moments before. "You have to go make sure Potter does what he's suppose to do."
"I don't know... if I can project..." Rhyann moaned, tears mingling with the blood on her face.
Stunning his father again, Draco reached over to cup her face in his hand. "I know you can do it, love. You can do it. For us." His pale eyes shimmered as he looked at her, fully devoted. "Just relax. You're safe with me here."
Tipping her head, she kissed his hand and nodded. It would not matter if his father was dead, if Voldemort still lived, they would not be free. They would be hunted and killed. Rhyann closed her eyes and tried to block out the raging pain in her body. She slowed her breathing and heart rate. She pictured the Great Hall in her mind, willing herself to astral project there. She thought that as she left her physical body she heard Draco uttering another Cruciatus Curse upon his father.
Without the pop of apparition, Rhyann appeared in the entrance of the Great Hall. Right near her feet lay the lifeless body of Severus Snape. His eyes were wide open and his flesh colorless. A scorch mark from the Killing Curse marked his chest.
Not too far away, Blaise lay face down and motionless. She could not tell if he were alive or not. There was no sign whatsoever of Millicent.
At some point, Ginny had caught up with the group and now hung limply with Neville supporting her. She was conscious though and Neville appeared unharmed except for a bloody nose. Harry stood in front of them, barely keeping on his feet. His robes were tattered and ruined. The clothes he had on underneath were blacked but something other than fire. Voldemort was marching towards him, but not a sound came from Potter's moving mouth.
Rhyann realised immediately that the Dark Lord must have silenced them. She flicked her wand in their direction. "Finite Incantatem!"
Voldemort whipped around, hissing at her. "How are you doing that! Where did you come from!"
Harry and Neville took the chance to move Ginny back to safety, all of them stumbling and weak. Rhyann made a rising motion with one of her hands and transformed the bottom half of the Dark Lord's robes into stone so that he could not move. "I am a dreamer and I can now dream awake."
He swiftly dissolved the rock around him and started towards her, intent on the secrets in her head now. She could feel him trying to pry into her mind. She could feel his hate and rage, the desire to know and kill. This time, Rhyann turned his legs to rock. She felt herself waver as she did so. Her energy had been taxed when Lucius had used the Cruciatus Curse upon her. Turning living matter to nonliving matter was difficult even when she was at her full strength.
"You are mine, Rhyann Rookwood! You will not escape!" Voldemort bellowed, trying to undo what she had done to his legs. His eyes were full of insane fury. The rock began to crack and with a determined grunt, he managed to somehow break a leg free. It was like a snake shedding its old skin. He began to laugh, yanking on his other leg to free it as well. "I am like no other wizard! You cannot hope to defeat me!"
Rhyann stood there, shocked, and feeling herself waver again. She could not understand how he was managing to do what he was doing. She knew he was powerful, but she did not think anyone could do as he was doing. She sent out another wave of energy hoping to transform him entirely to stone, but she did not have the strength at the moment. The floor around him turned grey and climbed up his freed foot, but it went no further.
Laughing, he raised his arm and pointed his wand at her. She did not flee for a spell could not harm her projected self, but what was she to do now! He could not be let to live.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" A blast of pinkish-purple rammed into Voldemort's back. His unnatural features went wide with surprise as death came for him. He did not fall over, stuck to the floor as he was. Yet his upper half folded over as if he were top heavy tree.
Rhyann could see Harry sitting with Ginny and Neville. His arm shook as he continued to hold his wand out, one of their hands each on his, as if he did not fully believe that the Dark Lord was finally dead. The youngest Weasley eased his arm down, leaning her head on his shoulder. Neville put an arm around them both as if the three of them were about to suddenly topple over.
"What was that?" She heard her voice but it seemed like so far away.
"What... what do you mean?" Harry's throat was dry and scratchy.
Rhyann took a few steps forward. "It was the Killing Curse... but not the same... not the same as his." She gestured towards the Dark Lord.
Harry looked a bit baffled himself. He pushed up his glasses, licking his lips. "It was the Killing Curse, but... I couldn't put into it what he did. I meant it, but for entirely different reasons than why he killed people. I didn't do it because I wanted to kill anyone, I did it... We did it," he corrected himself glancing at Ginny and Neville. "We did it to save people instead."
She frowned slightly. It was absurd. The Killing Curse did not work in that way. You had to mean it. You had to want to kill. Rhyann had no doubt that they wanted him dead.
"Help us up, Rhyann... We have to get to hospital wing..." Ginny said weakly, lifting her head from her friend's shoulder.
She turned away from them, going over to make sure that Voldemort was dead. It might be a trick with that faux curse. The Dark Lord was dead though. There was no pulse.
"Let him be, Rhyann." Harry called out to her softly. "We won... We can have back our lives now."
Rhyann stared at him coolly, addressing him with something he would only understand. "We can finally start our lives, you mean."
"Start them." Harry nodded once, getting up to his knees but wobbly even then. He held out his hand to her to help them. "Everyone together."
She did not move towards him. "Not everyone together, Harry. I've been waiting to long to be free of this all. You helped serve my purpose. I hope you make good use of the life you just won."
"Rhyann!" He shouted her name before she vanished. "Don't leave. We're all in this together. We all helped each other..."
"No, I just did what I had to get what I wanted. Do not think it meant anything for everything was just a means to this end." Rhyann glanced around the room at the lifeless bodies. All were sacrifices to gain her freedom. "Do not think to contact me or anything, Harry. I said I was done with all of this, all of you. I do not want to waste my energy making the life you just won unpleasant." But she knew she would if she had to.
The dreamer vanished from the Great Hall and painfully entered her battered body. Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself in Draco's strong arms. "It's done, isn't it, love!" He showed her his left forearm. "Look! The Dark Mark just vanished!"
"It's done..." Rhyann coughed, catching a glimpse of Lucius' bloody corpse against the wall. She turned her head, burying it against his chest. "Get us out of here. Far from here... I don't ever want to see this miserable place again..."
Kissing her forehead, Draco stood up with her cradled in his arms. "Whatever you wish. We're free now. We can do whatever we want. Together."
Rhyann sighed, unable to find the strength to talk any more. He would do what she wanted anyway. He was hers. Just like her uncles would forgive her for what was done because they were hers as well. No fear or desire for power bound them to her as it had been with Voldemort. She knew they were hers because they loved her. Perhaps when Harry was rambling on about what Dumbledore had told him about love was not so wrong after all. It was simple to get what she wanted through those that loved her and would do anything for her. Oh, she knew that the old wizard had not meant such a thing, but he was handicapped by his own ridiculous notions of good just like Harry Potter was. They would always be burdened, tied down, by those beliefs, but she was the one truly free for nothing kept her bound. She could wander free as she was in the dreaming realm. Exhausted and weak as she was, Rhyann felt truly awake.