Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 25 – Swordplay
As Harry, Ginny, and Ron raced on their Firebolts, Harry thought back to how Hermione had told them the address, admiring how brilliant she was.
"What's the address?" he'd asked her.
"I c-can't tell you b-because of the charm," Hermione shakily admitted.
"Damn!" muttered Harry.
"B-but Voldemort c-can," Hermione made it a point not to stutter on Tom's name as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a muggle tape recorder. "I t-taped our conversation."
Harry smiled broadly. "Ron, kiss Hermione for me! That's bloody brilliant!"
After Ron quickly kissed the blushing brunette, they started playing the tape, fast forwarding it until it got to the point where Voldemort said, "Number Seven Hope Drive." Hermione stuttered while explaining where that was at, and Harry realized he'd ridden nearby the location while Vernon was trying to escape Harry's first Hogwarts letter.
As they reached the destination, they all concentrated on the address, and the old house appeared in front of them. They shrunk their brooms and stored them in their pockets. Running forward, Harry used his staff to blast the door off its hinges once he was inside the property line (therefore invisible to the neighbors). He stepped in, followed closely by Ginny and Ron, and looked around. The house appeared ready to fall to pieces. There was no furniture in the living room at all. It was completely dusty, except for a set of footprints that led straight into a wall.
"Reducto!" shouted Harry as he blasted at the wall. It wasn't affected.
"I wonder if it needs blood," suggested Ron as he walked forward.
"Wait, I'll…" replied Harry, but Ron had already gotten a bit of his blood and was about to touch the wall. "Stop!" Harry insisted, "Let's do that test Hermione taught us!"
They performed a spell on the wall and learned that Ron would've died if he touched it. They also found out that nothing was hidden behind the door. "Tom must have faked the footprints," explained Ginny.
Both Harry and Ginny did the Horcrux detection spell with their staffs, taking opposite sides of the room. After five minutes, Ginny declared, "I've found it!" when she detected a hint of it and slowly approached another wall. She performed the other test on it and detected a staircase, and that it required blood to remove the wall. Ron touched his almost dry blood to that wall and they found a staircase that led downward.
"It feels hot in here," commented Ron.
"I know," agreed Ginny, and then smirked at Harry. "Maybe he does have a Horcrux hidden in Hell," remembering Harry's comment from when he first told her about Horcruxes. Harry took a step down and suddenly there was a blast at the staircase under Harry's feet, and the floor beneath him fell.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" shouted Ron, stopping Harry from falling to certain death. Ginny then quickly summoned Harry back to the floor that was still there.
"You'll never win, Potter! I've got the Horcrux safe, and you're going to die!" Voldemort hissed from below them.
Harry pointed his staff directly below them. Then he whispered, "Cushioning charm," to his companions as he jumped down. The siblings looked at each other and followed.
Harry landed on his feet right in front of Tom, who immediately shot him in the chest with the cruciatus curse. The snake held his wand in his right hand, which now had four silver fingers on it where Harry had wounded him earlier that day, and a quill in the other. The mithril armor blocked the curse, and Harry kicked Voldemort's left hand while the undead beast was startled. He let go of the quill, which Harry summoned and then handed to Ginny, who was now behind him.
"Crucio!" shouted Voldemort, this time aiming at Harry's head. He fell to the floor in agony.
Ginny handed Ravenclaw's quill to her brother, who had a basilisk tooth with him. He pulled it out and disillusioned himself, the tooth, and the quill. He prepared to destroy the Horcrux while Ginny conjured a similar-looking quill in her hand. "Stop it, Tom!" she shouted, "I've got your filthy soul fragment here!"
Harry's torture stopped as Voldemort looked at Ginny and grinned. "Ah yes, Ginny Weasley, or is it Potter now? What is it with Potter men and redheads, anyway?"
"We've got good taste!" growled Harry as he got up.
"Stay where you are, Harry, or watch me torture your wife!" Tom's wand was pointed at Ginny. Harry looked ready to kill, but didn't move. "I'm going to summon your staff, and you're going to let me have it," he instructed.
Harry thought, 'I sure am going to let you have it,' as he nodded. Voldemort summoned the staff and held it in his left hand.
He pointed the staff at Harry while his wand was pointed at Ginny. "Now, throw down your staff, Mrs. Potter." She did as Tom said. "Now, give me the quill."
"And you won't hurt Harry?"
He smiled, "And I won't hurt Harry."
"Fine, take it!" she spat as she opened her palm for him to summon it.
"I must ask, how ever did you get here? Surely your ally was in no shape to lead you here."
Ginny smirked. "A muggle tape recorder."
Riddle laughed. "I must admit, that was clever. I must check for those from now on. Now you may go, you silly girl!"
"What about Harry?" she asked angrily.
"I won't hurt him a bit," promised Tom, pointing Harry's own staff at him. "Avada Kedavra!"
A thick beam of green light shot out of the staff and hit Harry in the chest. He didn't move. Tom panicked, hoping that it wouldn't bounce back at him. "You can't kill me Riddle!" shouted Harry, bluffing as he felt the hole in his armor.
"There are other ways to kill," Tom replied smugly. "I'm afraid I'll have to break my word to your wife. This will hurt. Sectumsempra!"
As the curse hit Harry, he had to agree with Voldemort. It sure did hurt to be sliced like that. He was bleeding terribly, and he realized at that moment, he failed. Voldemort did kill him, and would kill Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and everybody else who didn't bow to him. Ginny ran to her husband, tears already flowing.
"Yes, cry for your pathetic husband! Mourn for him as all the world will when I display his body as my trophy." He then turned his attention to the quill he'd caught in his wand hand, since he didn't need to point two wands anymore. He put his own wand away and pointed Harry's staff at Ginny.
Suddenly Voldemort's face filled with rage. "THIS IS NOT RAVENCLAW'S QUILL!" He violently summoned Ginny away from her husband and into a wall, turning his back on Harry. "Crucio!" he shouted, causing her agony for a few seconds. He stopped and shouted, "Where is it!?"
At that moment a scream was heard as green smoke came from a corner that appeared unoccupied. Voldemort turned back to Ginny, picking her up, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
She spit in his face. "Destroyed your sixth Horcrux, Tom!"
"What!" He'd read from Hermione's mind that they were aware of the Horcruxes, but not that they all were gone.
She actually grinned in his terrifying face. "I killed Nagini! Dumbledore destroyed Slytherin's ring! Harry destroyed your diary, Slytherin's locket, and Hufflepuff's cup! They're all gone now, Tom!"
He slapped her face and let her fall to the ground. "Stop calling me ugg!" Tom fell to the ground as a fist made contact with his head.
Harry, healed from Ginny's tears, drew his sword.
"What!" shouted Voldemort. He pointed Harry's staff at Ginny and shouted, "Sectumsempra!" and turned his attention back to Harry, who was carefully advancing, remembering everything he'd been taught. "Reducto!" shouted Riddle.
Harry dodged the beam of light, still advancing. "I told you that you can't kill me! I'm the one who knows the full prophecy." Harry was bluffing, knowing that the prophecy didn't guarantee him the winner, but he wanted to scare Voldemort into doing something stupid.
Voldemort was now officially frightened as this man whom he'd failed killing now more times than he could count advanced at him with a sword. He was mortal now without his Horcruxes and he knew it. He conjured a sword and held it in his right hand while the staff was in his left. Harry reached him and they started fighting.
The swords clashed together as Riddle proved to Harry that he knew how to swordfight. Occasionally, Tom would clumsily hit Harry with the staff, but it was obvious that Riddle couldn't fight with his two hands, and Harry took advantage of that fact as he attacked with both a sword and a fist to the fingers of other hand, causing him to drop Harry's staff.
Now both were evenly armed, with both their hands gripping their blades as they clashed over and over. Riddle hissed, "Even if you beat me your beloved is dead by now!"
"I am not, Tom!" shouted Ginny from behind. He'd shot her armor, which had absorbed his curse.
"What?" shouted Voldemort, distracted enough for Harry to cut off his hands, and then bring the sword of Gryffindor up to chop off the Heir of Slytherin's head.
Riddle's body fell to the floor, writhing around in shock as Harry realized that his nemesis was finally dead. He stood there in amazement that he'd actually fulfilled the prophecy. He barely registered the fact that Ginny was now at his side with an arm around his shoulders. He felt another hand touch him and looked to his other side, seeing nothing. A few seconds later, Ron appeared in front of him as he made himself visible.
"I knew you could do it, mate," the red-headed man that had been his first friend said.
"So did I," agreed Harry's wife.
Harry smiled. "My life belongs to me, now."
"Don't you mean us," corrected Ginny happily.
They gathered up the wands, as well as Voldemort's remains (which they put in a box Harry conjured), and left on their brooms. Harry felt they should confirm Voldemort was indeed dead, so they apparated to St. Mungo's (Ron took Ginny, Harry took Voldemort). Truthfully, Harry didn't want to leave that corpse lying around, and he didn't know where else to bring a body.
Harry saw the line at the desk and decided to use his fame for a change. "I am Harry Potter, and I've brought Voldemort's body with me, and I'd like the best healer here to confirm that he's dead," he announced after performing a Sonorus charm. It got quiet there fast as everybody turned to look at him, most of whom moved their eyes up to his scar.
He and his companions were dirty and disheveled, but it was easy to see that Harry was who he said he was, and within thirty seconds a healer walked up to him and greeted him. "Hello, Mr. Potter, that's excellent news! I'm Healer Watson. Is the body in this crate?"
Harry smiled at the middle aged woman. "Yes. Is there a room we can go in? I don't think everyone needs to see it. Er, he's been decapitated." She looked at him strangely. "I know that's not very pretty, but we were fighting with swords at the end. It was kill or be killed, believe me."
"I'm not judging that. I'm just surprised you want his death confirmed if his head is separated from his body."
Ginny spoke up. "This isn't the first time he's been believed dead. We don't want him coming back."
"I see your point, Miss…"
"Mrs. Ginny Potter," answered Ginny, extending her hand to shake Healer Watson's, "and this is my brother, Ron Weasley. We have another brother here, who's…"
"Percy Weasley? Yes, I should've recognized you. Anyway, let's get to an examining room."
After spending an hour performing every test she could think of, Healer Watson left the room where Harry, Ginny, and Ron were guarding the body and proclaimed, "Voldemort is finally dead," to the press and everyone else who had gathered in the now crowded hall.
"Is it true that Harry Potter is the one who killed him, and he's in that room?" asked a reporter, thus beginning the new nightmare of Harry Potter, the Man Who Conquered, as the press started harassing him yet again.
When Harry got out of the room and past the press (to whom he insisted that the victory belonged to Ginny Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley as much as to himself), he found that all the Weasleys were at the hospital, and that the Grangers and Petunia had taken Hermione there as well after they'd left. According to the Healer in charge of Hermione's case, she'd stop stuttering in a few days, and would be back to normal in about a month, but she may have occasional muscle spasms every now and then for about a year. Percy's condition still hadn't changed.
The Weasleys and many from the Order of the Phoenix came to Potter Manor for the victory celebration. Hermione was even allowed to come home after the Healer was assured that a house elf would tend to her every need until she was recovered.
Minerva made it a point to congratulate the group on a job well done, and let them know that she was going to petition the board of governors to reopen the school in January. She also mentioned that Professor Dumbledore's portrait is most anxious to hear a first hand account of the battle. She also informed them that Draco Malfoy was found by aurors where Harry had said, still unconscious and disillusioned. The aurors were still trying to round up all the Death Eaters they could, and the Order was also helping.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the aurors would take you now, even without any N.E.W.T.s, although I certainly hope you'll return to Hogwarts and finish them," commented Minerva.
"Actually, after everything that's happened, I don't think I want to work for the Ministry of Magic anymore."
McGonagall smiled slightly. "I understand. Then, may I ask what your plans are?"
"Well," answered Harry, "As far as money goes, I don't really need to work, although life would probably get boring if I didn't do something. As I see it, there are three things I can think of. One is teaching, because I did enjoy the D.A. Another is professional Quidditch. The last is a private detective."
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed the final battle. By the way, I think if a parchment written by the Secret-Keeper will work, so will a cassette tape.