I don't own the Harry Potter characters.

Chapter 34, The Final Horcrux

The overcast night was pitch-black; the-dark mark had faded over the Hogwarts Castle, which had lay quiet for the past few weeks. Hogsmeade Village had become deserted and the entire countryside for miles had been completely silent. Tonight however, the lights had been re-illuminated throughout the castle.

The stench of the decaying bodies was absolutely overpowering to Harry and Reverend Ewls who searched the castle together with swords and wands drawn, moving slowly down a corridor which led to the great hall. Harry hadsomehow known that he would one day return to Hogwarts which had been his home for so long; as he searched hallways which were traversed with decaying bodies and hundreds of buzzing flies circling above their morbid feast, he wished that this would not have been the context of his reunion. The bodies were unrecognizable but the robes they wore still bore their house colors, still looked as though they could be worn by young, excited students busily hurrying through their day.

The expressions on the faces of both Harry and Reverend Ewls were sad and solemn astears fell from their eyes freely. The smells and sights physically affected them as well as both of them had vomited a number of times since they had arrived.

"It smells awful," came Harry's voice barely above a whisper, trying to be as respectful as possible.

"They have been here for weeks," said Ewls as they now came upon the entrance leading to the great hall, which was opened, revealingmore decaying bodies strewn about the floor and tables. "I knew it would be painful returning here."

"I'm sorry."

"If you're right, we had to come," Ewls reassured. "Have your weapons ready as we enter the great hall, it could be a trap.

The two of them stood in front of the opened door; moving slowly, they inched their way into the Great hall. Ewls was the first to enter, upon seeing the coast clear, he motioned for Harry to enter the room, who did so at a much faster pace.

"I can see you Thomas," came Robert Bates' voice. "Can you see me?"

Expressions of both fear and anger came upon the faces of both Harry and Reverend Ewls, who now stopped in their tracks and waited for the ex-Father Bates to reveal himself. From behind a door leading to the great hall aside the faculty seating area—the same door through which Harry traveled during his fourth year to join his fellow tri-wizard champions after having seen and heard his name emanate from the Goblet of Fire—came Robert Bates whose expression was much more relaxed, much less painful than had been while he was inside the temple.

"Hello Thomas."

"Robert Bates, I should have known, with as little time as you were spending at the temple," Ewls's expression of fear could not give way to one of power, no matter how hard he fought to make it so. "The pain you must have felt in that building…"

"The headaches were becoming unbearable Thomas."

"So this is how the ministry was tipped off about Hermione's pregnancy," came Harry's voice, much more angrily, much more powerfully than his mentor. "You knew all along about Voldemort's plan."

"In fact I suggested it," said Bates with a smug, arrogance in his voice. "Yes, I tipped off the ministry that she was pregnant. Do you honestly think they would have viewed her as a greater threat than the Dark Lord unless a Nasserite advised them so?And Rufus Scrimgeour, who was an expert at Occlumency and would have been perfectly capable of resisting the legilimency of the Dark Lord,never expected a mental attack fromthe very Nasserite he had been taking advice from; he was an easy target, it was not difficult to get him to agree to the alliance withVoldemort.I alsoprovided Voldemort with a means to escape the BWLA, I tried to keep the Nasserites out of the fight, without which the BWLA wouldn't exist anymore, I even trained Voldemort in the Nephesite arts; knowledge which he passed to several of his deatheaters."

"Traitor!" shouted Harry.

"Don't turn this into Vengeance Harry," said Ewls who was trying to appear calm; his face however,twitched with anger and fear.

"Your point of view Harry," said Bates. "From mine, God put forth a plan that caused most of his children to burn in agony for eternity…"

"That's not true Robert and you know it!" Ewls exclaimed.

"It iswhat the scriptures say," Bates retorted. "It all makes so much sense; Satan, the righteous rebel against an unjust God."

"If that was true, then why do you take your power from hate?" asked Ewls.

"You assume that hatred is evil, the scriptures tell us to hate that which is Evil; Jesus himself says that the evil ones love those who love them. My old apprentice, your faith is so shallow, you see good and evil as the difference between love and hate, but both sides possess both love and hate; righteousness lies not in the emotion that you feel but the justice of your cause."

"How can Voldemort's cause at all be just?" came Harry with an expression of rage now appearing in his face and his voice.

"Oh Voldemort's cause was not just until I gave his life, his fight, his quest to conquer death new meaning. Now, through me he stands for the freedom of the human race from the sting of death; something which your God, your Christ, denies the vast majority of his children."

"But Voldemort conquers death through the murder of the very humans you allege to be saving, Robert," said Ewls.

"You refer to the unfortunate use of horcruxes which have made the Dark Lord invincible; such means were unfortunate but he had already used them when I first approached him with this plot. Today they keep him invincible; when I obtain horcruxes of my own, it shall be through the deaths of those unworthy to have eternal life, I was thinking I'd start with my old apprentice and Harry."

"There's still a horcrux isn't there?" said Harry. "You said that Voldemort today is made invincible with the use of horcruxes, but the last horcrux was destroyed by…

"Severus Snape is a fool," said Bates. "The recovery of the artifact which was supposed to represent the final horcrux should have been recognized--even by him--as being too easy to recover. Though I must admit it is indeed to his credit as a powerful wizard that he was able to hoodwink the spell which was supposed to kill whomever tried to destroy the artifact. The last horcrux remains safe in my confidence."

"Where is the horcrux Robert?" demanded Ewls, trying to appear as powerful as he could, still twitching rather nervously.

"You honestly think that I would tell you? Not even the Dark Lord himself knows, a fact which keeps me alive," said Bates who was smiling at the obvious attempts of his former apprentice to hide his nervousness. "Funny isn't it, no one suspected me, the old loyal leader of the Nasserites, a member ofthe holy order's inner-circle. Even when I spent so much time outside of the temple, even when being inside the temple made me cringe in pain, no one even bothered to notice. How is it possible that the ever-faithful Robert Athanasius Bates could betray his God?"

At that moment something dawned in Harry's mind, the revelation of a new truth which he thought should have been plainly obvious from the beginning. His more powerful stare and expression of understanding looked directly into Bates's eyes.

"Robert Athenasius Bates," said Harry. "R.A.B."

"Very Good young apprentice," said Bates. "Truly you are the finest Nasserite of your generation, perhaps the best apprentice in the history of the order."

"The message of R.A.B. said that by the time the note was recovered he would be dead," said Ewls in a voice of inquiry.

"Come now Thomas," said Bates in a smug voice of superiority. "I thought I taught you better than that, surelyyou should recognize code-talk. I am dead Thomas, dead to my old ways; and as the hope of the note expresses,the Dark Lord is once again—in an manner of speaking—mortal."

"Then he does know where the last horcrux is," came back Harry. "Or better still, who the last horcrux is."

"Very Good, boy," Bates scoffed.

"If Voldemort didn't know," Harry continued. "He would have just killed you, that way the last person in the world who had any knowledge whatsoever of where the final horcrux is would be dead, and the horcrux would be safewithout trace, but the fact that he does know keeps you alive."

"Ingenious Robert," said Reverend Ewls with a look of realization upon his face. "Lord Voldemort's immortality depends upon the life of a single person, you. In that regard he not only must keep you alive but yield to your every command, thus you have an invincible servant with no choice but to do your bidding."

"There is still one flaw Bates," said Harry. "You are mortal."

"An unfortunate fact which will be rectified immediately," said Bates as he drew his sword.

"You'd face both of us while you're mortal, Bates?" asked Ewls. "That takes courage, Lord Voldemort must have protested forif you die, he once again becomes mortal."

"Come now Thomas," retorted Bates. "When was the last time you ever defeated me in a dual, this fight will be short."

"You have betrayed your faith Robert," said Ewls. "But you can still repent, come back to us, turn back to Christ it's not too late."

"I will never worship that bastard!"

"Please Robert, I don't want to kill you."

"Well Thomas guess what! You don't have to, I'll kill you."

"How sad to see what you have become," came back Ewls as he and Harry assumed defensive posture with their swords in front of their torsos. "We will do what we must."

"You will die trying," said Bates, after which he leapt into the air with a loud shout, jumping clear across the great hall. After landing directly in front of Reverend Ewls, he made stabbing motion with his sword which was deflected quickly by Ewls. Harry then made a lunge for Bates's torso which was blocked; with a lightning-like substance from his hands,Bates sent Harry flying back several feet, landing upon the Slytherin table, while Ewls continued to duel withBates intensely. Ewls swung for Bates lower torso, in response to which Bates leapt into the air, performing a front-flip over Ewls' head. Ewls turned around at the right moment to where Bates landed directly in front of him. Bates then swung for Ewls right leg, Ewls's successful deflection landed a small cut in Bates's side.

After Harry had recovered, he returned to the fight which, lead by Bates, now moved from the Great Hall into the entrance hall, and from the entrance hall into the room with moving staircases. Bates made sure to maintain the high ground at all times during the course of this battle; whenever Harry—who was proving to be quicker than his mentor—attempted to leap over Bates's head in order to both secure a higher position and a surround him, he merely leapt to another moving staircase, or leapt above Harry's position denying him the attempt. Age, with Robert Bates, had not depleted his agility.

After Batesjumped away from Ewls and Harry onto another moving staircase, both Ewls and Harry countered with a jump of their own, landing directly in front of him; this time the only direction for Bates to go was down, they had finally secured the high-ground. Harry however, had hesitateda split secondbefore beginning his attack, which allowed Bates precious time. Bates kicked Harry in the chest which sent him falling from the staircase, eventually hitting hardanother moving staircase a few stories down, leaving Ewls againto duel Bates alone.

Whether or not Harry had sustained any injuries in the fall which was easily two-stories, he did not know. With the amount of adrenaline he was experiencing, he could have dislocated his shoulders and not felt anything. Harry quickly got to his feet and took note of his mentor who was dueling Bates alone. He then took notice of the staircase upon which he stood and noticed that it's movement had now created a perfect, indirect alignment with the one on which Bates and Ewls were dueling, he quickly shot up the stairway toward the two ex-friends.

Reverend Ewls, making a slash for Bates's right side finally managed to secure a decent cut in his torso. Bates, as if to clutch his right-side wound, knelt to the floor of the stairs and brought both his free hand and his sword hand to his right side. When Ewls noticed this, he lifted his sword for the fatal blow; as he brought his sword down toward Bates in an uppercut motion, Bates's sword suddenly lifted from its position near its holder's woundand directly into Reverend Ewls's rib-cage.

"NO!" cried Harry as he finally made it to the stair-case upon which the two had been dueling

Reverend Ewls's sword fell out of his hands. Bates took his own sword out of Ewls's ribcage and took a defensive position at Harry, whose expression was one of rage. Ewls fell to the railing of the staircase, of which his arms took hold in order to prevent him from falling down the staircase any further; he was still alive, his eyes caught a hold of Harry's. Harry did not notice this, his rage was fixed upon Robert Bates as he gave a shout of fury and charged up the stairs toward the man who had critically wounded his mentor.

Discarding Reverend Ewls, Bates charged down the stairs, meeting the enraged Harry directly in between the two landings of the staircase. Harry's anger had suddenly made him extraordinarily powerful, a match even for Robert Bates who was struggling even to keep up with the quick-paced apprentice.

"Harry!" came a struggling voice just above the two fighters' position.

Harry ignored this voice as he continued his fight with Robert Bates.

"Impressive boy," said Bates, taunting Harry. "I can feel your anger, use it!"

As if almost in affirmation, Harry grit his teeth and leapt high into the air above Bates's head. Bates clearly did not, for some reason, anticipate this as he did not make a leap of his own as he had previously done whenever Harry attempted to gain a higher position. Bates did however, manage to turn and face his opponent, but not in time to deflect the stabbing sword aimed directly at his heart.

The last thing Robert Bates felt was the cold steel of the Sword of Godric Gryffindor entering his heart before it stopped. Harry quickly removed his sword from Bates's chest and with a shove sent the dead ex-priest falling the long distance to the bottom of the room with moving staircases.

"NO!" came a high-pitched voice which resided at the top-floor of the room, near the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower. This voice was immediately recognizable to Harry, who turned to face it with a look of rage even more powerful than the one with which he had previously employed in his duel with Bates.

For the first time since having met him, Harry noticed on the face of Lord Voldemort a look of concern, even fear.

"Your horcruxes can't save you now Voldemort!"

"Clearly one of us will die tonight Potter," said Voldemort. "I assure you it will be you."

"Harry!" again came the struggling voice of Reverend Ewls who was resting on the staircase just above Harry's position. As Harry turned his head to look at his mentor—whose expression was instructional yet grave, clearly struggling to breathe—Lord Voldemort suddenly landed directly in front of him, having leapt some six stories to his current position. Voldemort lunged at Harry with his sword. Harry was slightly unprepared but responded with a quick deflection

Voldemort was at least twice as powerful as Harry's previous opponent as he forced Harry down the staircase, justas the landing which connected the staircase below the one upon which he currently dueled, moved away from himas he arrivedat the second-to-the-last step. Harry tried to hold his ground for a few seconds, but realized quite soon that this was impossible in the face of a much more powerful Lord Voldemort. Harry quickly leapt high, performing a back-flip in order to land on a stair-case just a story above his previous position which moved to catch him at the right second.

Voldemort leapt up toward the staircase which had caught him, landing perfectly upon it, continuing their duel.

"Release your hatred boy, it and it alone can destroy me," shouted Voldemort (A/N if you haven't noticed by now that this story is partially inspired by Star Wars… well… it's pretty obvious).

As if in affirmation, Harry lunged at Voldemort with a stabbing motion. Although able to deflect Harry's attack, Voldemort was forced to walk backwards up the staircase upon which the two currently dueled.

"Very impressive," came Voldemort's taunting voice.

With a slicing lunge of his sword at Harry's right arm, Voldemort sent Harry to the ground crying out in immense pain. In the same motion, with his hand not grasping his sword, Voldemort reached into his robe pocket anddrew his wand, bringing it to aim for Harry who was still wreathing upon the floor of the staircase.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

At the last split-instant when the green light began to appear from Voldemort's wand, Harry brought his sword to his chest which deflected the killing curse at the final instance before fatally reaching Harry's body. After deflecting Voldemort's curse, Harry managed to control his pain in order to leap to his feet and make a stabbing motion for Voldemort's chest. With the hand clutching his sword, Voldemort managed to deflect Harry's attack. Voldemort again pocketed his wand and resumed the full intensity of his sword duel with Harry.

It seemed for a moment that the two were nearly evenly matched as neither was giving any ground amidst the intensity of the duel, when Voldemort suddenly leapt in the air and with a back-flip in mid-air descended--feet-first--several stories. With a renewed expression of Rage, Harry quickly charged after his opponent. After reaching the staircase a story below the one upon which he and Voldemort had been previously dueling, he felt a hand grab his ankle causing him to fall forward into the railing of the staircase. He dropped his sword to the stairs and caught himself with his hands grasping the railing as is sword slid to the landing below the staircase.

"Let go of me!"

"Harry listen for God's sake!" came the struggling voice of Reverend Ewls, refusing to relinquish Harry's ankle. At the Phrase, 'for God's Sake,' Harry managed to calm down enough to turn and face his mentor in the eyes.

Reverend Ewls' expression was grave and penitent, an odd combination of fear and resignation as the hand which did not have a hold on Harry's ankle clutched the wound in his rib cage. He struggled to speak but his eyes fixed directly into Harry's, penetrating his very soul.

"Harry, Don't give into hate," Ewls struggled to say, but his message rang loud an clear in Harry's heart, a look of penance came into Harry's eyes. A counter-look of forgiveness grazed Ewls's expression. "You must have the love and spirit of God which will not dwell in you if you give into negative emotion Harry, if you use your hate you will lose this battle, do you understand?"

Harry gave a penitent nod, and a look of near shame.

"Yes Reverend."

Upon Harry's eyes also came a look of worry as he realized for the first time since he had lunged for Robert Bates with the anger of vengeance, that his mentor might very-well be dying. Ewls's expression became aspowerful as Harry remembered it from the very first time he had ever had him in class, it served to remind him without words of his duty. Harry's expression then became resolved, Voldemort would be defeated one way or another; his desires were no longer motivated by vengeance but by defense, everything was at stake and could still be lost. With this resolve, he recovered and ran down to retrieve his sword. From there he began a quick-paced run for exactly where he knew from his dreams and meditations Voldemort would be.

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The night was still pitch-black, covered by an overcast sky. With his wand, Voldemort had lit various torches to illuminate the Astronomy tower for the duel which he awaited. He gazed, staring into the night sky, leaning on the ramparts upon which Dumbledore had leaned the night he was killed. This occurred just as the door leading to the inside of the tower burst open and through it came Harry who was now breathing heavily as he beheld the Dark Lord who was looking away from him, barely noticing him.

"I assumed you would have known where to find me," said Voldemort. "The power of the one you call God must have lead you here. How fitting, as this is where Dumbledore made his final plunge, so shall you."

"So you do believe?" said Harry Calmly.

"Since Robert Bates's training, I have believed the truth about the one you call Yahweh, that he is an evil, sadistic creator being opposed by a good and righteous, yet misunderstood rebel," Voldemort professed. "This belief gives purpose to my once unrighteous, idealistically void quest for immortality. Now I seek to oppose death for the entirety of the human race," Voldemort paused for a second before continuing. "Well for those who are truly human anyways."

"Pureblood wizards," said Harry, understanding to whom Voldemort was assigning the quality of worth. "I'm actually glad that you have found a since of ideology, though I do not share it."

At this Voldemort turned to face the one he had marked as his equal, his expression was one of curiosity and even… fear. Voldemort was somehow afraid; for the first time since he had met Harry, he now faced him completely without the protection offered to him by his horcruxes.

"Why is that?"

In Harry's eyes came a gleam of hope which confused the Dark Lord. "Because it means that you are not completely lost."

At this Voldemort gave a chuckle.

"When I ponder into the mysteries of God," continued Harry. "I feel a divine sense of peace, hope, and joy. I feel your presence here tonight, and all I sense is hatred, violence, revenge, and confusion... how sad. There is peace in Christ Jesus it's not too late."

Voldemort walked several steps from the rampart and drew his sword, holding it in a defensive posture in front of him.

"How naïve you are Potter," sneered Voldemort. "Just like all Christians, so narrow-minded, so unwilling to see the truth, you can never understand."

"I understand what I see, what I sense, what I feel," retorted Harry. "There is some good in you, it is only in confusion, give in to the confusion, let it bring about God's love in your heart; you can be forgiven."

Without batting an eye at the message Harry was trying to deliver, Voldemort gave a chuckle.

"Nice try Potter," the Dark Lord said, taunting his opponent. "As Dumbledore met his end here, so shall you."

As he stood at the other side of the tower, just as in his dreams and meditations, Harrygave a sigh of resignation, drawing his sword.

"I'm very sorry to hear you say that."

Without another instant of hesitation, Voldemort began the charge, Harry responded in kind. The two met each other for the fateful instant at the center of the Astronomy tower floor.