Disclaimer: I never created Harry Potter. That would be JK Rowling's forte.
A/N: A lot of people didn't understand how Harry could have defeated Voldemort. For reference, it happened at the end of chapter 19. Dumbledore will explain everything to Harry in this chapter. If you don't remember chapter 19, I have put an excerpt from it below.
End of chapter 19:
Harry could feel Voldemort's frustration at not being able to bring Harry towards him. As Harry concentrated on his feelings of love and caring, he closed his eyes. He wasn't able to see when the green glow began to move away from his body and towards the dark void at the other end of the room.
The string started to become thinner. Harry's list of friends and family grew as he thought about his parents, Remus, and his dorm mates. Harry didn't remember his parents very well, but he had heard some stories about them, and he still cared about them in a way. Voldemort's shrieking filled the room as the green glow vanished into the void, and the string began to become dimmer. Harry ignored Voldemort as he threw every ounce of his being into feeling love. As those feelings began to peak, Harry felt the string break, and Voldemort's screams were immediately silenced.
Now, here's chapter 21.
After Harry had rested, Sirius walked with him to Dumbledore's office. Sirius made sure that Harry was settled comfortably in a chair before turning around and leaving Harry alone with the Headmaster. Harry was finally going to hear Dumbledore's explanation for everything that had happened lately.
Dumbledore walked out from behind his desk and conjured a chair so that he could sit beside Harry. Before sitting in the chair, Dumbledore gently pulled Harry into a hug which Harry quickly returned. After holding each other for a few moments, Dumbledore broke away and sat down. He scanned Harry's body with his eyes trying to decide whether Harry was better or not.
"How are you feeling, Harry?"
"I'm doing much better, sir. I'll be glad when I can leave the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey and Sirius are driving me crazy," explained Harry.
Dumbledore let out a soft chuckle before his face turned serious. "I believe you know why I have called you here. I want to tell you and show you about these past few days. I have put some of my memories in my Pensieve. After we get done watching them, I will explain everything and make it clearer for you."
Harry glanced over at Dumbledore's desk and realized that the Pensieve was sitting there innocently. He stood up when he noticed the Headmaster moving over to the desk. Dumbledore motioned for Harry to go first, so Harry took a deep breath before plunging his face into the silvery liquid.
The first thing that Harry saw was the quick Order meeting that was held at Grimmauld Place. After the meeting had ended, the scene rapidly shifted to the fight at the Ministry. Harry saw how bravely the Order members and Aurors fought. He was awed by the amount of power that the Headmaster displayed, even though he was getting older. Harry paid particular attention once the Death Eaters had Disapparated, and the Order members were somehow able to realize he was missing and locate Voldemort's hiding spot. Harry made a mental note to ask Dumbledore later how they had been able to find him.
The Order members Apparated in front of a dilapidated, old building. Harry hadn't seen the outside of the building that he had been held prisoner in; however, he realized that this was the place where Voldemort had been residing. The Order members hurriedly tried to dismantle the wards that covered the building, but they weren't able to even make a dent in them. Even with Dumbledore's strong displays of power, the wards still held.
A few hours passed before the wards suddenly disappeared in an instant. The Order members dropped their wands in surprise for a few moments and carefully listened, but the only thing that they could hear was silence. They quickly raised their wands and cautiously entered the building.
Once inside the building, frantic shouts could be heard. Something major seemed to be going on in the center of the building. The Order slowly made their way towards the sounds until they were standing in front of a set of huge double doors which were shut. Dumbledore turned around, making sure that everyone was ready for another fight, before throwing the doors open with a bang.
The Order was met with pandemonium. Death Eaters were running around the room trying to escape the Order members. A few of the Death Eaters looked up once the doors had opened, but most were too busy trying to leave the building. Dumbledore gave the signal for everyone to attack, so they quickly went into action battling the Death Eaters which remained.
While Dumbledore was fighting with the Death Eaters, he worriedly looked around for Harry, Sirius, and Snape. He hoped that they were alive and wouldn't be hurt in the chaos. The Headmaster was finally able to spot a tuft of messy black hair lying on the floor while glancing between the mass of fighting bodies.
The Order was quickly able to stun the few remaining Death Eaters that hadn't managed to escape. Once the last Death Eater had fallen, Dumbledore hurriedly ran over to Harry's still body. He gasped upon seeing the motionless form.
"Hey, get us down from here."
Dumbledore's head shot up and looked over at the two people stuck to the wall with chains. He waved his wand in their direction, and they unceremoniously fell to the floor. Snape took a moment to pull himself together, but Sirius was up in a heartbeat and rushed over to check on his godson. His eyes misted upon seeing Harry.
"Harry, I can't believe that this happened. I was supposed to help protect you. That's part of my job as being your godfather. I failed you."
The Headmaster looked away from the touching scene in order to give Sirius some privacy. His eyes widened when his gaze fell upon the form of Lord Voldemort lying on the floor a few feet from Harry. Dumbledore slowly walked over to the body and bent down to examine it. He put two fingers against the neck of Voldemort's body, and after a few painstaking moments, he was able to feel a very faint pulse. Dumbledore quickly bound the body before heading back to Harry.
Snape was currently standing silently beside Sirius while Sirius was kneeling on the floor cradling Harry's limp body in his arms. Dumbledore put his hand on Sirius's shoulder causing Sirius to glance mournfully upwards.
"Sirius, I need you to lay Harry down for a second, all right?" Dumbledore gently asked.
Sirius, too stunned to process what the Headmaster had said, turned his gaze back to Harry. Dumbledore tenderly grabbed Harry's body and tried to easily remove him from Sirius's arms. Sirius resisted for a few seconds, but he felt too weak to put up much of a fight. The Headmaster slowly lowered Harry back to the floor. He put his fingers to Harry's neck and was able to again feel a weak pulse. His heart soared as he pulled out his wand and cast a few spells over the body.
When Dumbledore looked back over at Snape's puzzled expression, a smile broke out on his face.
"Albus, what is going on?" questioned Snape.
"It seems that Harry is still alive."
Sirius jumped up and grabbed the front of the Headmaster's robes and searched his eyes desperately.
"How is that possible? He was hit by the Killing Curse. Surviving it once was a miracle enough."
"I have a few theories, but there isn't enough time to go into it now. We need to take Harry to the Hospital Wing."
Sirius picked up Harry's body and carried it out of the building before Disapparating. Dumbledore stayed for a few more moments in order to oversee the removal of the Death Eaters. Apparently someone in the Order had contacted the Ministry already because several Aurors had shown up.
The next few scenes that Harry saw were himself in the Hospital Wing. Sirius stayed by his side for most of the time while Dumbledore and Snape irregularly marched in and out. Madam Pomfrey kept giving him potions and performing spells over his body.
Harry felt himself being pulled out of the Pensieve by his elbow. Dumbledore carefully led him back to the chairs and lightly pushed him back down onto one of them.
"I'm sure that you have a lot of questions regarding what you just saw. I will try to answer all of them to the best of my ability," Dumbledore said.
"I guess that I'll start at the beginning. How did you know that I was in danger?" asked Harry. "You told the Order members after the Death Eaters left the Ministry that you had to find me."
"I had put a charm on the mirror that Sirius gave you. The charm would inform me when you would leave my house. The charm would not go off if I had given you permission to be in a certain area; however, if you left that area, I would have become aware of it. When the Death Eaters kidnapped you from my house, the stone that I had in my pocket grew hot warning me that you were missing. I had also put a locator spell on the mirror. I was able to find out where you had been taken, but we were unable to get to you because of the wards."
"Why didn't you tell me about all of this?" Harry asked, a little bit upset that Dumbledore hadn't told him about the spells.
"I figured that you wouldn't want me to do the spells because you might see it as an invasion of privacy. I'm sorry that I didn't say anything about it before, but it did save your life. We were able to find you and be there once the wards fell," explained Dumbledore.
Harry could see the Headmaster's point, but he was still slightly miffed about not knowing all of this earlier. He decided that he should just continue asking questions. "How was I able to survive the Killing Curse?"
"You and I have always known that you had a connection to Voldemort, but I never guessed how deep that connection ran. When you were hit with the Killing Curse, it tried to kill Voldemort as well through the connection. Since he wasn't the one hit and he didn't receive the full blast of it from you, he continued to live. Because he didn't die and you were connected to him, you continued to live as well. You were both barely hanging onto life, though. The Curse was slowly draining you both. If you hadn't broken the connection, you and Voldemort would have eventually died."
Harry looked startled at the revelation. He slowly began to speak. "While I was unconscious, I remember a dream I was having. I guess that it wasn't really a dream, however. I was wandering through Hogwarts following a black thread that took me to the Chamber of Secrets. There was a green glow on the thread. Voldemort tried to get me to come towards him, but I was able to use my love of my friends and family in order to send the green light towards him and break the thread."
Dumbledore appeared thoughtful for a moment before answering. "The thread must have been your connection to Voldemort. The green glow was the Killing Curse. Voldemort cannot stand emotions like love. When you thought about love, it sent all of the Curse towards Voldemort and was able to break the connection between the two of you. Since the connection was broken and the Killing Curse was no longer in your body, you were able to wake up and get stronger again. Voldemort, however, was killed."
"Where is Voldemort's body now? Where was it while he was still alive but unconscious?"
"Voldemort was taken to a secure Ministry holding area. The people that guarded him were somewhat aware of the situation. They knew enough to tell me everything that was going on with Voldemort's body such as whether he was getting better or worse. When you woke up, we found out that Voldemort had died. His body has been destroyed since then. He will no longer be able to return to his body or anyone else's."
Harry took a few minutes to close his eyes and revel in his new freedom. Snape had told him that Voldemort was gone, but hearing Dumbledore fully explain everything made believing it a lot easier.
"Why did the wards fall and allow you to come into the building?" Harry finally asked.
"The wards had been partially tied to Voldemort. Once he had been knocked unconscious, he wasn't strong enough to keep the wards intact," responded Dumbledore.
"I can't believe that this has finally happened," Harry dazedly said. "Voldemort has been a big part of my life for the past few years. I don't have to worry about him anymore."
Dumbledore silently put his hand on Harry's knee offering comfort and support. They were content to just quietly rest in each other's presence for a little while and enjoy this moment of peace.
A/N: I hope that everything was sufficiently explained in this chapter. If you are still confused about something or if I have forgotten to explain something, please send me a review and ask. The next chapter will most likely be the last one (I think that I've said that for the last couple of chapters, but I'm almost 100 percentsure this time). Thanks to all of my reviewers.
