Chapter 32

The Prophecy

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A scream brought Harry back to reality.

"Hermione!"

He looked up the steps and found Cho and Hermione duelling. Hermione was walking backwards as Cho attacked. She was very close to the edge. The steps didn't go that high but they were made from marble and if she cracked her head off one of those, she could really hurt herself. Harry had to do something.

"Hermione move" he shouted while he ran up to her. He looked for his wand, he vaguely remembered seeing it resting on the marble alter earlier, still in one piece.

"Harry, catch" she said throwing his wand at him

"Thanks" he shouted and turning towards Cho he said, "Petrificus Totalus"

He missed and Cho jumped out of the way of the shot.

The two continued to duel Harry ducked and dodged the curses Cho threw at him and she hit back with stronger and faster curses.

"Protego" Harry shouted and his shield appeared.

Cho had sent a "Stupefy" in his direction at the same time he brought the shield up. Her spell bounced off the shield and rebounded back to Cho. She fell to the floor instantly but the spell had weakened so it wasn't the full impact. Dazed she picked herself up off the floor; Harry remained in the same position watching her, praying she would realise she had done wrong and would give herself up. As she swayed slightly Harry heard Lupin call him,

"Harry, watch out! Behind you"

He quickly looked behind and saw a Death Eater raise his wand.

"Avada Kedavara"

A jet of green light shot from the Death Eater's wand. Harry had to move quickly, he dived on to the ground and rolled away. He breathed a sigh of relief but then he heard the scream that broke his heart.

Cho had been hit in the chest. As the unforgivable curse went through her body she screamed one last time and fell to the floor. Harry couldn't believe it; he didn't want to believe it.

"NO!" he shouted

He cursed the Death Eater and ran up to Cho's frozen body. Tears stung his eyes; this was Cho, his Cho, the woman he loved. Even after everything she had done to him, he loved her, he always had. She had been his world. She was wonderful, perfect, everything he ever wanted in someone. He loved her jokes, her wittiness, her laughter and her smile that lit up the room when she entered it. He had been angry with her, he had even hated her, he had wanted to shout and roar at her so badly but he couldn't, it wasn't right. He just wanted to hold her and love her forever; he would have given her everything. The night she had told him about her betrayal; it was only a few meters away from where he knelt now, he had never felt such pain, such hurt. The words stood out in his mind "I never loved you Harry." The words crushed him deep to the core, his heart died there and then, but when he had looked into her eyes he had seen the softer Cho and he loved her all over again, but now she was gone. Gone to join Cedric, her beloved Cedric. He couldn't hate Cedric it wasn't his fault, in the end he didn't even hate Cho for loving Cedric so much. He knew she was finally happy and hopefully the couple was reunited for eternity.

As Harry closed her dark brown lifeless eyes, he said goodbye, kissed her on the forehead and turned to the direction of Voldemort. He was ready to bring the "great" Lord Voldemort down. He had lost too many people he loved because of him and he wasn't going to lose anymore.

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"This ends now Tom" Harry shouted across the room

Voldemort looked over to Harry with fire in his eyes. Harry had called him by his muggle name.

"Insolent brat, you will die bowing to me tonight"

"There's only one person dying tonight Tom and that's you."

"You think you can bring me down. Harry, Harry you bore me, you have said that a few times now and yet here I stand and thanks to you I'm more alive than ever. Have you told your friends how you helped me last year? No, didn't think so. What would your parents have thought?"

"Leave my parents out of this" Harry spat back but Voldemort ignored him.

"Why don't you show everybody in this room your new scar Harry?"

Harry cradled his elbow as if he was hiding the new scar on his arm

"Ashamed Harry" Voldemort laughed

"I gave you life. I can take it back just as fast. Come on Tom, what are you waiting for?" he answered with an evil grin

Harry was used to seeing people flinch when he said the name Voldemort but he found it comical to see Voldemort flinch at his own muggle name Tom. The two never took their eyes off of each other; Harry didn't even feel himself blink.

Voldemort shot the first spell, but Harry blocked it easily. The duel continued back and forth. Voldemort whispered a curse and a shot of blue light came from his wand. Harry tried to dodge the spell but he wasn't fast enough.

Hermione gasped as Harry fell to the ground.

"No one treats my best friend like that" Ron shouted not caring who heard him

"Ron, no you'll be killed" Hermione cried

"Hermione, Harry is dying out there, I have to do something."

"You can't, if anyone else hits Voldemort, Harry will feel it."

"Hermione is right" Lupin said. "Unfortunately it has to be Harry to finish this."

"But that's so unfair" Ron said looking at his best friend struggle to get his balance.

Voldemort stood and watched Harry fight consciousness. Harry kept telling himself to get up and fight, the wizarding world depended on him. He felt his raw magic tingle and he found the energy to stand once more.

"Ready for more Harry?" Voldemort laughed

Harry was bruised but he wasn't beaten.

"Join me Harry; we could rule the world together"

"Never" Harry replied

"I'll kill your friends one by one, starting with the Weasley"

Ron looked up and Hermione placed her hand on his arm reassuringly.

"You don't get it" Harry replied. "I know the prophecy."

Voldemort laughed, "You're lying boy, the prophecy was destroyed. You can't fool me."

"Really, is that a fact? Well listen to this, we have to battle because according to the prophecy either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. So it's just you and me Voldemort."

Dumbledore watched from the side, he was surprised that Harry had mentioned the prophecy, but he watched the boy turn into a man full of confidence and pride. He knew Harry had the power to finish the battle he just hoped Harry had faith in himself.

"Well if one of us has to go" Voldemort mocked, "I will make damn sure it's you Harry Potter. Crucio"

Harry felt the curse hit him once more and he fell to his knees. He gritted his teeth, he wanted it to end, he started to doubt himself that he was able to finish Voldemort and win the battle. He had felt enough suffering, witnessed enough death, felt the emotional and physical pain from Voldemort. Just when he thought he was ready to surrender he felt his magic once more deep down edging to come to the surface. Finding the strength he called his magic. Just like before he pictured in his minds eye what he wanted to do.

"Leave me" he called. "I said LEAVE ME" he shouted and the crucio curse stopped instantly.

Voldemort couldn't believe what he had seen, someone commanding a spell to leave them. Rising from the floor, Harry raised his wand to Voldemort. His raw magic was back to full power and his wand felt like normal, the magical energy flowing through his arm and down the wood. He channelled his magic by telling himself to remain focused at all times.

The two men fought on. Spells were hit back and forth. The Death Eaters lined one side of the room while Dumbledore and the others lined the other side. Both sides watching their heroes fight to the bitter end. There were gasps and cheers coming from either sides of the rooms and they watched on.

As Harry dodged the spells and sent curses towards Voldemort he pictured the stone alter splitting and falling over.

Pointing his wand Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus" but at the same time Voldemort shouted "Avada Kedavara."

The two spells hit each other and the light from their wands were blinding. No-one could tell if either of the spells had got through. There was a spark of bright light and both Harry and Voldemort were thrown across the room and they landed awkwardly on the ground. Harry kept thinking about the marble table, he raised his hand towards it and a bold of lightning came out of his fingers but he wasn't sure if he made contact because as soon as his head connected with the ground the connection was cut.

A crash was heard and the stone alter split in two and fell on the unconscious Voldemort. As the brightness died and the room returned to darkness it was then that both sides saw their fallen heroes.

"Harry" Hermione screamed and the remaining Death Eaters started to move towards Voldemort.

"Hermione, don't move" Dumbledore said

"The prophecy said that one of them has got to kill the other one, so why, why isn't one of them moving. He's not, is he?" Ron asked

"I don't know Ron" Dumbledore replied

"Look" Lupin called. "I think Voldemort is moving"

"But if Voldemort is moving, that means," Hermione couldn't finish the sentence

"Harry" Ron whispered taking Hermione's hand.

Snape appeared behind Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, it doesn't look good. The word is Potter's dead and the Dark Lord lives."

Dumbledore shook his head in disbelief but he was interrupted by loud screams from the other side of the room. Voldemort's body burst into flames and all that remained was black ash.

Hermione gasped when the Death Eaters turned their direction to Dumbledore and the Aurors.

"Remus" Dumbledore ordered. "Rescue Harry. Hermione, Ron follow Professor Lupin to safety. I'll meet you as soon as I can"

Lupin picked up Harry's body and the four ran to cover. It wasn't long before Dumbledore and Snape joined them. He had given his orders to the Aurors to finish and producing a metal coin and using it as a portkey they returned to Hogwarts.

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"His scar was bleeding heavily, but I don't feel an output." Lupin said to Madame Pomfrey.

"You will be able to help him" Hermione asked with tears in her eyes.

"What happened Professor?" Pomfrey asked Dumbledore

"Voldemort" he replied removing his glasses and cleaning them on his purple robes. "He cast the Death Curse, I'm not sure if it made contact. There was a blinding flash of light."

"He survived it before" Ron interrupted, "Is there a chance this time too?"

Pomfrey raised her hand she had heard enough.

"Place him down here Remus. Now everyone out I need space and time is not on our side."

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Over the next few days' classes for the younger students continued as normal, where as the older years and Harry's year waited for the news of their friend and school colleague. No one was informed of the battle that had occurred or the death of Voldemort until Dumbledore knew how Harry was. Madame Pomfrey had refused to comment; anyone that approached the hospital door was shooed away and told not to return.

The Gryffindor common room was quieter than the library. Students tried to keep themselves busy but eventually found themselves sighing with frustration and giving up whatever they had started. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, sat together in a corner. Ron held Hermione's hand. They hadn't said much about the previous few days as per Dumbledore's request but the other students knew that they were more worried for their best friend and they didn't want to disturb them.

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Lupin paced Dumbledore's office.

"If the worst has happened, I don't know what I'll do. Why is she taking so long? I should contact Sirius, he needs to know and he is Harry's Godfather. Should I prepare him for the worst?"

"Remus," Dumbledore spoke from behind his desk. "Please try to remain calm, I know it's difficult."

Lupin stopped pacing and took the chair opposite Dumbledore.

"I feel at this time" Dumbledore continued, "I'm afraid we should prepare ourselves for anything. I think Sirius needs to be contacted."

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The hours passed. Sirius had arrived as Padfoot and went straight to the hospital wing but he had received the same frosty response from Pomfrey.

"Sirius" Lupin's voice was heard down the corridor.

"Remus, my friend" Sirius replied hugging his old school friend. "What's the news? The old goat won't leave me in to see him or tell me how he is doing."

"Let's go for a walk" Lupin replied.

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The two men walked the grounds.

"Poisoned" Sirius said, "by his own girlfriend and where is she now?"

"Dead, one of Voldemort's own got her in the end."

"Good" Sirius said

"He loved her; you should have seen him when she fell down. He was so upset, but brave."

Lupin had stopped walking.

"What is it?" Sirius asked

"I didn't feel a pulse, Sirius. I didn't feel a pulse for ages and then there was a faint one but then it stopped again. I don't know if it was my own heart beat I was feeling," his voice broke with emotion. "We lost James and Lily to him, I don't know if I could handle losing Harry aswell."

Sirius placed a reassuring hand on Lupin's shoulder.

"It's ok, he'll pull through. I promise you, Harry is a fighter. If he saw us now he'd laugh and call us fools for worrying over him."

"He is as stubborn as his father was alright" Lupin replied and dried his eyes.

"Excuse me" a small voice came from behind the men. "Is one of you Professor Lupin?" a small boy in one of the younger years asked

"Yes, that would be me"

"Professor Dumbledore is looking for you; he wants you to come quickly. He said to meet him at the hospital wing."

Sirius and Lupin looked at each other, thanked the boy for passing on the message and headed back to the school.

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"Dumbledore"

"Sirius" he replied shaking Harry's godfather by the hand.

The door to the hospital wing opened and a hot and bothered Pomfrey walked out. She saw the expressions on the men's faces and moving a loose hair away from her face a smile appeared on her lips.

"Thank you for coming so promptly"

"What's the news Poppy?" Dumbledore asked.

"His pulse is stronger and he's out of the worst."

Lupin sighed and a smile appeared on his face.

"He's a very brave boy, others would have given up" she continued, "but he's going to be fine."

"That is excellent news," Dumbledore said smiling.

"Can we see him?" Sirius asked

"He's asleep now, but of course. Don't stay too long though; he needs rest he's been through a lot."

"Did you hear that Moony. He's going to be fine" Sirius said slapping his friend on the back as they walked through the hospital door. "He's going to be fine!"

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The End

Well that's it hope you enjoyed it

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