This is it guys, .:sniff, sniff:. You've been great really, it's not you…it's me.

Chapter 21: An End

PHANTOM (looking after her)
You alone
can make my song take flight -
it's over now, the music of the night . . .

-Track Down This Murderer,The Phantom of the Opera

Like most things in the Wizarding world, the Headquarters bent to Voldemort's will. The serpentine pathways were gone, replaced by a straightforward tunnel. They hurried down it eager to keep the small element of surprise they may've had. In time they came to a door in the middle of the corridor, one with two snakes intercrossed surrounded by a ring of silver and green.

"You stay here," Harry said to Ron as he reached for the door. "We need someone on the outside, and I'd rather it not be him," Harry jerked his thumb towards Lucius. Together he and Malfoy opened the door and went through, firmly closing it behind them.

"You didn't bring him with you." The Dark Lord's voice sounded throughout the passage. Apparently they hadn't retained their anonymity as well as they'd hoped.

Though Harry had no patience to make small talk with Voldemort, he attempted to buy himself time. "Draco was otherwise engaged." He took a moment to survey his surroundings. "No swarm of Death Eaters? I feel insulted."

"I have one next to you, but I already know his loyalties have been…tainted. And I have no use for such."

Harry heard a thump next to him. Malfoy was on the floor twitching slightly. "Nonverbal spells can be such an asset, don't you think?" Voldemort chuckled. "Though, I'm sure they teach you those in your seventh year. Pity."

Harry tried his best not to sputter with disbelief. He was ready for this, he'd been born for this. Though he wouldn't have thought the Final Battle would occur in a corridor.

"And now that your only cohort present is dead, I think that about wraps it up for small talk."

LHSLHSLHS
"Severus, we're losing her!" Draco yelled as Hermione's scream pierced the stagnant air.

"Quis eram iunctus, iam tribuo," Severus chanted on as if he had not heard Draco. The fear in his eyes however, told that not only had he heard but he felt it as well. The minutes were slipping away and Snape couldn't help but wonder how well Harry was doing with holding the Dark Lord off.

LHSLHSLHS

"Did you really think that you could beat me?" Voldemort taunted Harry, holding him up to the wall by his magic. He was showing off for Harry, showing him just how insignificant he was. "Your emotions have made you soft and now you don't have a silly spell protecting you." Coming closer, he ran his fingertips over Harry's cheek. "Now I can touch you all I want," he scraped his nails down Harry's face, leaving trails of blood in his wake.

"I-" Harry struggled with his words for a moment. "I pity…you…" His voice was weak and soft but at the same time menacing.

"What was that?" Voldemort leaned closer to Harry's mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I Pity You," this time Harry's voice was not weak, not soft, not his own. He ripped himself from the wall, like a bug liberating itself from a spider's web and began to advance on Voldemort.

Despite himself, the Dark Lord was properly shocked at this feat. "How…?" He reached for his wand, "Avada Kedavra!"

A burst of green light emitted from the wand, but Harry still remained standing. "Don't you remember?" He asked Voldemort, a smile playing on his lips. "You didn't succeed the first time either."

LHSLHSLHS

"Faster, dammit, faster!" Sweat was beading at Draco's brow as he yelled to Snape. Returning his attentions to Hermione, he tried to comfort her, to give her hope. "Hermione, you can do this, I know you can, just hold on!"

A very thin smile broke through her features. "I don't think I can Draco."

"Yes," he said forcefully. "You can! You have to. We all need you!"

"It's almost as if I'm giving birth," she said wearily. "Funny, isn't it? Us here?" She was nodding off, trying to escape from the pain of living. The melodic mantra was soothing her to sleep, begging her to close her eyes and not try to open them again.

"Quis eram iunctus

iam tribuo…
Quis eram iunctus
iam tribuo…"

Draco tried to remind himself that it was a normal part of the process, the person had to be unconscious before one of the souls could vacate her body. But part of him whispered that she may never wake again.

A scream rocked the room though Hermione was clearly still comatose. Gripping her hand tighter, Draco smoothed her hair down with his free hand. Another scream was ripped from her as Snape droned on. Softly, Draco translated the words for himself and Hermione.

"What was joined
now divide…
What was joined
now divide…"

LHSLHSLHS

Panic began to show in a very thin layer upon Voldemort's features. "You don't have your wand. There's nothing you can do."

"You know as well as I do that if I wanted I could summon my wand with a snap of my fingers. But I don't have to," Harry reached behind his back and pulled out the dagger he'd concealed there earlier. The tiny part of him that was actually still aware of his actions hoped to Merlin that one way or another, this would work. With a heave of emotion, he thrust it into Voldemort jiggling it back and forth.

Shocked, Voldemort staggered backwards. "What?" He asked, the blood black as it left his body in sheets. "What power is this?"

"I'd explain it to you, but I haven't the time," Harry nonchalantly wiped the blade as he spoke. "Let's just say that I have power you know not."

LHSLHSLHS

The scream had been the last straw for Ron, he was running through the door.

Lying in a pool of blood was Voldemort and Harry, together in death. Ron rushed to his friend's side and flung himself on top of his motionless body, sobbing into it.

"Ron," a voice came from Harry's corpse. Except, it wasn't his corpse as Ron realized at last. "Ron, he's dead."

"What happened?" Ron looked at the partly clean dagger and Voldemort's mangled body.

"I…I stabbed him," Harry looked down at his hands in shock. "After all that, trying to use the Killing curse before, all the magical ways to kill a person and I stabbed him."

"And it worked?" Ron eyed the corpse suspiciously. "You're sure?"

"He's dead isn't he?" Harry asked a little harshly. With a sigh, he spoke again, "I could feel the life ebbing out of him. He's dead."

"But if he's dead, than that means his soul was destroyed." Question marks shone in Ron's eyes.

"We have to go back," Harry breathed.

LHSLHSLHS

The room was silent as the dead, already returning to its haunted state. The screams that had bounced off the walls were gone now.

Severus cocked his head as if hearing voices. "It's over," he said.

Draco looked down at Hermione's face. "Yes," he ran his fingers over her skin. "It is."

A/N The latin used in this chapter is as follows:

cast out this demoniacio sicco is everto
evict this inhabitantevict is cultor
leave only her soullicentia tantum suus animus
what was joinedquis eram iunctus
now divideiam tribuo

Well, that's it. Thanks for joining us for this special presentation of:

Dark Desires

My Desires are Dark. Are Yours?

4