Hey guys!
I've been working on this chapter for a long time, I hope you like the result! This is the last chapter of this story…but no fear! A sequel will soon be here! R&R!
Chapter 10
Victory Blends with Defeat
Harry looked up at Dumbledore, and immediately knew what this meant; he silently got his invisibility cloak and his wand, and side-along Apparated with Dumbledore to wherever Dumbledore was taking him.
They reappeared at the Ministry; it was the same room with the veil, the one where Sirius had died…how Harry hated that room…
Dumbledore turned to Harry with concerned eyes, his eyes watery and full of sadness.
"Harry…I'm afraid this is it. I will be there with you to assist you, I won't let you die. Just be strong, don't give up. Think about your parents; think about Sirius, the Wizarding World; you are fighting for everything and everyone that suffered because of Voldemort," Dumbledore tried to encourage him.
Harry just smiled weakly at Dumbledore, fearing whatever was awaiting him.
Dumbledore was just embracing Harry in a big, comforting, fatherly hug when suddenly strong wind forces were felt. A tornado was formed at the entrance of the room, and soon it turned into one black blur; Voldemort then appeared out of nowhere.
"Ah, Harry Potter…we meet again…and, what more, for the last time!" Voldemort scorned, but then froze when he saw Dumbledore. "What have we here? Dumbledore, eh? Alive and well? I knew Potter was alive, but I must admit I did not suspect you… Here to protect his favorite boy from getting killed? Not going to work this time, Professor," Voldemort continued. "In fact, why don't we make this entertaining?"
He cast a spell around himself and Harry, leaving Dumbledore on his own. Harry and Voldemort were now in an unbreakable glass bubble; no one and nothing could break or interfere with the bubble; what went on inside was only to be determined by the two people inside it. The people outside the bubble could only hear whatever went on inside.
"Hmm…why don't we make this a bigger gathering?" he asked mockingly. Harry made to cast a spell on him, but Voldemort simply flicked his wand and Harry's wand flew right into his hands. "Not yet, Potter…more people need to come. No, not my loyal Death Eaters…none of them tonight…but I was thinking of inviting your dear friends, so they can watch your death," he smiled his evil smile at Harry, his snakelike face expressing pure hatred. "Let's see…the werewolf and his lover…the two Weasleys, those blood-traitors… of course, your Mudblood friend…perhaps Professor McGonagall, too…anyone in particular you want to invite?" he said in his sweetest voice, sounding almost like Umbridge. Dumbledore was now so close to the bubble his nose was touching it, desperately trying to think of ways he could get Harry out of there; though Harry is the one who is supposed to kill Voldemort, if there's no one else to help him it might be more complicated than he anticipated.
With a snap of Voldemort's fingers, everyone he summoned appeared in the room. They didn't know how they got there or how someone managed to summon them from Hogwarts, but they immediately spotted Harry in the bubble, Voldemort smiling at all them. How they got there didn't matter anymore. They all ran towards the bubble, but immediately froze when they saw Dumbledore. McGonagall fell down to the floor and started crying, muttering, "No, this can't be happening to me…go away, leave me alone…" Dumbledore saw her, ran over to her, and picked her up, hugging her and showered her with kisses.
"My love…I am here now," he said comfortingly.
"But…how…when…where?" she asked weakly.
"No time to explain," he said sadly, pointing over to Harry. Everyone else, who had been staring at the couple re-uniting, shocked, turned their attention to Harry.
"He's alive!" everyone cried almost in unison.
Dumbledore's twinkle was gone from his eyes. "Yes…he is…I will explain later."
Everyone, still shocked and speechless, turned once again to face Harry and Voldemort.
"How nice it is to encounter all of you on these very unfortunate circumstances. You will soon find that it was a foolish mistake to rise against me. The bubble surrounding me and dear Mr. Potter is an unbreakable glass bubble, shielding us from any outside spells. If any of you try to break the glass using some sort of spell, the spell will simply rebound itself onto yourselves. I wouldn't try that if I were you, but be my guest."
Voldemort then turned to Harry and smiled at him. Harry looked like he was about to explode out of anger.
"Ah, but you can't blame me for doing this. You and I both know that I was bound to kill you sooner or later…sooner rather than later, the way I see it."
"You're not going to win, Tom. Your horcruxes are destroyed." Harry knew he was provoking Voldemort, and Voldemort could kill him any second. But he didn't care.
"WHAT? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" Voldemort raged. "HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT THEM?"
"Oh, I'm smarter than I seem," Harry mocked, using Occlumency all the same. "They're destroyed, whether you believe it or not. If you let me have my wand back and fight like the true "pure blood" that you are, I might be able to prove it to you," Harry winked at Voldemort. He knew Voldemort was getting more and more upset by the minute, but all he could think of was delaying his death.
Everyone started at the two. Ginny started sobbing, along with Hermione. Ron stood there, shocked and terrified. Lupin, Tonks, McGonagall, and Dumbledore all looked at Harry, saddened and hopeless for not being able to help him.
"So you find this funny? Amusing? Oh, I'm afraid I'm going to have to prove you wrong, my dear friend. CRUCIO!" Voldemort bellowed.
Harry twitched on the floor, screaming with pain. It seemed to last for the longest time; it was never going to end, he wanted to die…and then the pain went away.
"That was nothing, Potter. I'm just warming up. Crucio Capout!" Voldemort yelled. Harry screamed with every bit of energy that he had left in him. The pain was worse, unbearable, he can't take it anymore!
"Crucio Capout is a spell cast when intending on killing someone. It drains out all the energy out of the person, for it is a form of the Cruciatus that is ten times worse," Dumbledore explained gravely, before anyone could ask. McGonagall buried her face in Dumbledore's chest, not wanting to watch Harry suffer. Lupin stared blankly, tears streaming down his cheeks. Dumbledore stood there, comforting McGonagall, while praying for Harry at the same time. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny stood there, tears in their eyes, trying hard not to watch the "duel", yet not succeeding.
Harry could not move. His body felt limp, like he had lost any muscle or limbs he ever had. Almost losing hope, Harry gathered himself together; focusing with all his might on the nonverbal summoning spell, he thought Accio wand as hard as he could. To his surprise, his wand flew right into his hands.
Voldemort looked bemused and entertained. "Ah, I see you have been training. Very well. Crucio!" Voldemort bellowed once more. Harry barely had time to regain his energies before he felt that excruciating pain again.
"Harry, Harry…Remember in your fourth year, the nice little duel we had? Shall we show your friends exactly what happened? I think a little demonstration is in order."
"Once again, Harry…we bow to each other," said Voldemort, bending, though still keeping eye contact with Harry. "I'm sure Dumbledore has taught you your manners since your fourth year."
Harry looked at Dumbledore, then at McGonagall, Lupin, Tonks…his friends…Ginny…and he decided that he will not surrender. Voldemort will have to force him to bow, just like he did last time.
"It's not going to work Tom. I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of controlling me."
"I said, BOW!" Voldemort said, and Harry felt his spine struggle to curve once again, just like it had in his fourth year. But now, Harry pushed against that force. He would give away soon, he knew he would, but he wouldn't let Voldemort take over him. He couldn't. He had to fight, not for his own sake, but for everyone else. His back was giving away under pressure, he was sweating, and he felt like he would scream any moment…and then, the force were gone. Harry looked up at Voldemort, a smirk on his face.
"So you want to play it tough…I see. Well here's another flashback for you, Potter..." Harry felt a surge of anger going through him, but before he could do anything, he had been hit again by the Cruciatus. The pain was so intense, so nauseating; he was screaming louder and louder with every second, more and more blazing hot knives were cutting through his skin…and all of a sudden, the pain subsided again.
Voldemort kicked Harry, took his wand away from him, and turned to face the crowd.
"We are gathered here today…to celebrate the death of a well-respected wizard. I'm sure we will all miss him greatly."
"You won't win this war, Tom. Harry is a much more powerful wizard than you will ever be," Dumbledore said calmly. "Concentrate on your love, Harry….focus on your love."
Harry looked at Dumbledore, astonished. 'Love? He was standing there, almost defeated, and the only advice Dumbledore could come up with was to concentrate on love?' Seeing as Harry really had no other choice, he did was he was told to. Using Occlumency all the while, he thought about Ginny…how he wanted to hold her, to feel safe with her, like nothing in the world could ever come between them…about Ron and Hermione, how they make a great couple, how much he missed them during the time they were apart….Lupin and Tonks, how he appreciated their love and concern for him…he thought of Dumbledore and McGonagall…how close he felt to them, almost as if they were his grandparents…
"Love? Yes, please do, Harry. Think about love," Voldemort sneered.
Harry though of Sirius and his parents, how they died to save his life; 'And they didn't die in vain,' he thought. 'I will finish him if it's the last thing I do.'
And as Voldemort began mocking Harry for his silly attempt to demolish him, a door in the Department of Mystery flew open. A bright white glow emanated from it, surrounded and bubble that contained Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort looked as thought he had been slapped in the face; he stood there, staring at the bright light in disbelief.
It got warmer and warmer inside. Harry felt his heart fill in with a sort of warm feeling; a feeling that rushes through your body every time one sees a loved one. And then he remembered…the room that Dumbledore had talked about at the end of his fifth year…the room with the force of love, the one Voldemort detested. He now understood everything that Dumbledore had tried to teach him. Everything he said about love, and hatred, and Voldemort's weakness. Harry now understood it.
"I finally defeat you Tom…you deserve to die, for everything that I've suffered; for everything that my family and friends suffered; for causing me so much pain. Not the Cruciatus type of pain—pain of losing my loved ones. And now…you get to either live with love and harmony, or die of love and harmony."
Voldemort stared, realization taking over him. "Love is a foolish thing, Potter," he said.
"Maybe…but death isn't," was his reply. And with that being said, Voldemort's soul burst. Voldemort screamed with pain and agony. "NOOOOOOOOO, YOU DIDN'T DESTROY MY HORCURXES! IT CAN'T BE; YOU'RE LYING!"
"Really, am I?" Harry smiled at him weakly. He felt his legs shaking, and soon his knees could not bear the weight of his body. He fell to the ground, face flat on the glass floor. He shakily gathered every bit of energy he had left in him and looked Voldemort in the eye.
"I despise you Tom Marvolo Riddle; I despise every bit of your half-blood flesh."
Voldemort finally burst into flames, and Harry collapsed. The glass bubble disappeared, and Dumbledore ran towards Harry. Everyone else took a little longer to react.
Dumbledore turned Harry over and began crying.
"Harry…Harry, please be alive…you have to be alive….Enervate!" Nothing worked. "Enervate!" Dumbledore tried once again. Nothing happened. But he felt a pulse…Dumbledore felt a weak pulse. He was relieved, a small smile on his face. He picked Harry up and turned to the rest of the group looking grave.
"Albus…is he alive? Is he breathing? He must be unconscious with all that he had endured back there…wake him up!" McGonagall implored.
"It is hard for me to estimate the severity of the situation…but I do know that Harry is badly injured and he needs medical help immediately. We can't take him to St. Mungo's or people will suspect something; I assume everyone still thinks he is dead?"
Everyone nodded silently, and McGonagall added, "They all think you're dead too." Dumbledore smiled at her and said, "We will clear things up later; I will explain everything that happened to myself and Harry when we are safe at Hogwarts once more."
Dumbledore mumbled Latin incantations, but then remembered that somehow the Anti-Apparition spells had already been lifted. They arrived at Hogwarts shortly after that; Dumbledore put Harry on one of the beds and called Madame Pomfrey to examine him. The rest of the group started at Dumbledore, awaiting his explanation.
Madame Pomfrey's examination took quite a long while; there was a lot of mending and healing to do. Half an hour later, she was finally done with her work. Harry was to wake up within a few hours of rest.
"I owe you all an explanation; where I have been for the past six months, how I escaped, why I had Severus fake my death. I'm sure you also want to know how come Harry is alive if the Daily Prophet reported him dead." They all nodded.
So he told them everything; every bit of the story; how he transfigured a rock to look like him so that he could escape; how Snape used a non-verbal spell to cancel the Avada Kedavra he said; how he met Harry; everything about the horcruxes. He shared with them everything he could possibly think to share. He told them why Harry went into disguise and did not bother to correct anyone about his death; he felt he owed them at least the minimum of explaining everything.
No one said a word; they listened silently to Dumbledore's story, trying to let everything sink in. Dumbledore was almost done when Harry stirred and opened his eyes. The light stung and he cried in pain. Lupin dimmed the light, and Harry opened his eyes again.
"Harry, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"Weird…I don't feel myself…I feel numb," he answered.
"Quite natural considering what you've been through," Dumbledore smiled at him kindly.
"You did it, Harry! You killed Voldemort!" Ron blurted.
"Ron! You're so insensitive!" Hermione scolded him.
"I…what?" Harry asked, looking confused.
"You destroyed Voldemort; with your love," Dumbledore explained the obvious.
Harry still looked as though he doubted what they were saying, but didn't say anything.
Finally, Harry asked, "Erm…Sir…where am I?"
There was an awkward silence. "Harry, you are at the Hogwarts infirmary. Are you sure you're feeling quite alright?" McGonagall asked concernedly.
"Yes, I'm fine…I just have one question."
"Ask away, Harry," Dumbledore grinned at him.
"Erm…Well…Who exactly are you?"
Muahahahaha…and the sequel will come:) I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. As soon as I finish my other story, One Heck of a Year (which is coming very close to an end), I will start the sequel to this story. Please Review!
