Ron cowered in fear as he watched him go by. It wasn't like he had a lot of strength left anyways. He had a huge gash on his forehead, not to mention just about every other place on his body. Every spell invented must have been used on him within the last 5 hours. That's how long he been fighting for. That how long all of them had been fighting for.
But surprisingly, as he walked by, he looked completely fine. His emerald green eyes flashed in constant anger, and the grip he had on his wand was making his knuckles bleed.
"Harry? Are you ok?" Ron croaked. He looked happy. He felt insanely gleeful, there was no other way to describe it. His anger had consumed him since that day, with sorrow and now, he was finally getting what he had wanted. Sweet revenge. And now the idea of seeing that bastard cower in fear of him, of screaming as he felt only a fraction of the pain Harry had felt.
The halls were lined with bodies. Some alive, some dead. Some his, some theirs. He didn't see them though, he only saw his destination. That door.
This is why he didn't answer Ron. He didn't hear him; all he could hear was the pounding of his heart; of his own insane happiness. He didn't see Remus' unconscious body, or Hermione's nearly lifeless form on the ground, or Mad-Eye, exhausted and near death, or Ron, who was bent over Hermione. But all of them regarded him with worried eyes. He walked forward slowly, before closing the door with a sort of insane calm.
"This is it. It's either him or," Ron gulped, looking at Mad Eye, and then at Remus, who was crouched over Tonks' dead body. "Him." he finished.
"Harry will win Ron." Ron jumped as Hermione spoke. He rushed to her side and held her hand, she looked up at him with honey colored eyes that made him melt. "I just know he will. I know it." there was a silence.
"You know it? What-?"
"I can't explain it. I just know." Hermione interrupted. Ron nodded and leaned down and kissed her, taking everyone, including himself and Hermione, by surprise.
"I love you." he whispered in her ear.
"I love you too." she whispered back.
"He'll come out Ron. Harry's the most powerful person I know. I knew it the moment I saw him." said Mad Eye from his corner. Their conversation was interrupted when there was a bang and a body went flying across the room and landed with a sickening crunch against the wall.
"Oh my god Harry!" Hermione squealed, and struggled to get up.
"Yes?" Hermione, Ron, Remus and Mad Eye jumped and looked at the door that was now completely broken. There, looking extremely gleefully and entirely insane, was Harry. There was a groan, and the group looked back and watched as a beaten and bruised Tom Riddle rose from the rubbage.
"Always come back, don't you Tommy boy? Like a fruit fly that just keeps coming back." said Harry, grinning madly at Voldemort.
"Don't call me Tommy Boy." he said, gritting his teeth. He stood awkwardly, using the wall to help keep him up.
"I seem to remember a similar situation like this. Only I was the one, who was going to die. This time it's you."
"Yes, but I've never managed to kill you, have I?" Voldemort said, chuckling slightly.
"But you also never had the friends I do. In fact, I know for a fact your four most loyal Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange Serverus Snape and Peter Pettigrew are dead."
"How would you know that?"
"I killed them myself. And I made it a point to torture them and watch them twitch and cower in pain, just like you'll be doing in a few moments." Harry had advanced towards him slowly, but now he picked him up by the collar and threw him into the room he had blasted away in.
"You shouldn't see this." Harry said, looking around at his friends.
"If you kill me Harry, you become exactly what I am. You become a heartless, ruthless murderer. But, you're already there, aren't you Harry? You killed Snape. You killed Malfoy. You killed Peter. You killed Bella. You're so heartless, you brutally murdered your own girlfriend. The one you claim to love." Harry lunged at him, and with Voldemort's already weak frame he went tumbling to the ground.
"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled, punching Voldemort repeatedly in the face. "SHUT UP YOU SICK BASTARD!" suddenly the door reformed, and Harry and Tom suddenly disappeared from view.
"Harry! Harry? Where'd he go Ron where'd he go!"
"I don't know Her-" he was interrupted when a scream, that would forever haunt the dreams of whoever heard it ran throughout the countryside.
"HARRY!" you could feel the scream rip Hermione's throat. She, Ron, Remus and Mad Eye stumbled to the door. They wrenched it open and stared at the ashes that were ten feet in front of them.
"Oh my god!" Hermione started to sob uncontrollably. "Ha-ha-ha-harry!"
"Uh!" there was groaning and a black head appeared from the rumble.
"Harry!" they rushed over to him and threw off all the debris on top of him. He smiled at them and whispered:
"He's gone." Hermione nodded, still sobbing accastionally. "I'm going to see Maille again."
"You can't leave us Harry! Not yet! Please!"
"You have to know! I didn't want to kill her! He made me!" He seemed frantic now, desperate to get his point across.
"I know Harry! You loved her! We know Harry, we know. You didn't kill her!"
"I did it! I had to Mione! She was the last Horcrux! She said she'd forgive me. She told me...she told me..." they watched in awe as he slowly and painfully pulled the memory from his head.
"Look..." they leaned down but he stopped them and said, "Thank you. For everything."
"You're not going anywhere Harry! You'll be here when we get back!"
They saw Harry sitting in his apartment in New York. He sat, looking at his wand in a way they'd never seen before.
"Hey Harry! I'm back! Work was positively swamped. I-what's wrong?" he looked at her.
"We found it Maille." Harry said shortly. "I-found it." She blue eyes sparkled.
"Really? Oh my god Harry this is wonderful! This is it! After you destroy this we can go after Voldemort! We'll have the life we wanted! Harry! We can get married!" Maille's eyes shined with excitement. "What is it Harry? What's the Horcrux?" he gave a small cough, before looking up. He quickly looked down again though. When he looked up she was sitting on couch across of them.
"Maybe I made a mistake." Harry said desperately. "I mean, just because the signs kept leading back here-one big mistake and it would do that-"
"It's no mistake." Maille said, her voice quiet. "It makes sense. He killed my parents. And then..." she trailed off.
"There's got to be another way. Maybe, like, a potion, or something." Maille looked at the ground, before getting up and coming to sit next to Harry.
"Mal, look-" she leaned forward, and put her lips firmly against his. He kissed her back, deepening the kiss. His hand cupped her cheek and stroked it gently as they kissed again.
"You have to do it Harry." Maille whispered.
"No. I could never-" she kissed him again, and again. His kisses moves from her lips, to her cheek, to her neck. She let out a small moan.
"Harry, you have to." She pulled away from him, looking into his eyes. He looked down. "It's your destiny Harry."
"Screw my destiny! Screw the prophecy! My destiny is to be with you! I have to be with you Mal! I love you!"
"What if you're destiny isn't to be with me Harry?" there was silence.
"What are you saying? Are you saying you don't want to be with me? Mal, I love you. Don't you love me?"
"No Harry! I don't love you! Is that what you wanna hear? Is that what it's going to take? Harry you have to do this! And if it means telling you a load of bullshit! A load of crap that I don't love you! Than so be it Harry! I don't love you Harry!" she stood, looking out the window-out into Central Park. He came, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She pulled away.
"Mal. Please don't do this. I love you too much! I couldn't-no I wouldn't and I won't sacrifice you! He's already taken so much from me, I won't let him take the love of my life." Maille turned around, stifling sobs. She took his hands in hers.
"You have to. I know you love me, but you have to do this. For everyone else. For Ron and Hermione. For Remus and Phoebe. For Fred and Angelina. For Bill and Fleur. For Neville and Luna. For Ginny and Ryan. For everyone, so everyone can be happy."
"But it's not fair! I have to sacrifice my happiness for everyone else's!" he shook his head.
She took his wand off the table, and handed it to him, the tip pointing towards her. He took it, but leaned forward and kissed her passionately again and again. He kissed her neck, her collar bone, taking in her scent, her very essence. His wand in his pocket, his hands found their way around her waist. He nipped her neck and she moaned as his hands snuck up her shirt, caressing her stomach. When they found her bra strap, she pulled away, pulling his wand out of his pocket. She handed it to him again.
"You have to do this Harry. For the greater good." Harry looked into her blue eyes. He let out a short sob.
"I love you Maille Mathers. Never forget that." Maille smiled and kissed him gently on the lips.
"I won't. I love you too. Forever and for always."
They were yanked out of the memory by Hermione, who was sobbing. They turned to Harry, ready to comfort him. But when they turned, he was already gone.
This is the second one shot in a series. The first one was called 'For the Greater Good'