CHAPTER TEN
THE FINAL HORCRUXES

Snape was standing there, his wand and eyes fixed on Voldemort.

"Severus" said Voldemort, "you are an amusing man, but that has gone a bit too far."

"This is no amusement, my Lord" said Snape, his voice trembling slightly. This shocked Harry; he had never heard Snape frightened before.

Voldemort smiled.

"You are a fool, Severus" he said, clicking his fingers as his wand flew from the floor to his hand. "Surely you know that no one can block my Legilimency."

"Indeed, my Lord, I thought so" said Snape, clenching his teeth, trying to keep himself from trembling too hard.

"You thought so?" said Voldemort inquisitively. "Ah… I see. Am I to take it, then, that you question my skill? Do you really think that there is anyone more powerful than me in the entire universe; I, the one who has achieved more than anyone will ever accomplish."

"I do not deny that you have indeed achieved more than anyone, my Lord" said Snape, bowing. "I do deny, however, that no one else is as powerful as you."

"Do you really? Pray, my friend, tell us all of whom you might be speaking of?"

"Do you not know, my Lord?" said Snape, his voice casual.

Voldemort smiled.

"You are a fool" he said, raising his wand. "You have gone too far."

Snape kept his wand ready.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Snape narrowly avoided the jet of green light that blasted the wall behind apart.

Voldemort had already fired a second spell, which Snape deflected with ease.

"Brilliant, Snape" said Voldemort lazily. "Now, again, shall we?"

Two jets of brilliant scarlet light burst from Snape and Voldemort's wands, bouncing off the other. One knocked Ginny to the ground, her eyes wide open. The other sent McGonagall into the wall, from which she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Hermione let out a wail of fright as she, Neville, and Luna ran to Ginny's side. Lupin and Tonks knelt by McGonagall, narrowly dodging a jet of green light. Harry noticed all of them looked exhausted. Their robes were torn, their foreheads shimmering, their eyes bloodshot. Harry was too full of hatred to notice, however, as he raised his wand. He was about to shout a curse, when suddenly there was a scream of pain. Harry turned around; his heart plummeted to his stomach. Hermione was the on the ground, holding her leg, right next to an enormous snake, who, it seemed, had appeared out of thin air while Harry was looking away.

Lupin, Tonks and McGonagall were firing spells at it, but they were merely glancing off it. It was Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini. She had nearly attacked Neville when Harry distracted her.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" he bellowed.

Nagini twisted her head round, and looked at him.

"Ah, you must be Harry Potter; Parseltongue is quite a difficult art to achieve, boy."

Harry said nothing, but continued to stare right into her eyes.

"Did you hear what I said? I said to leave them alone!"

And why should I, you foolish boy?" she said. "I suppose you will kill me? It won't matter, you know. He will not die if you kill me."

"But" said Harry confidently, "He will be closer to dying. Did you know that all the horcruxes are destroyed except for you and him?"

Nagini smirked. Luna and Ginny had their arms around Hermione, trying to keep her awake; it seemed to be taking all their nerve. Lupin, Neville, McGonagall and Tonks stood in front of them, guarding them from the snake. Voldemort and Snape were still going at it. Lucius Malfoy was stunned. He didn't know whether to attack Snape, who had recently just exited a ferocious battle with Malfoy himself, or Voldemort, who had nearly killed his son.

Draco was standing next to Dobby still, looking from Harry to Nagini as they hissed and spat at the other in what was unmistakably Parseltongue.

"Don't lie" she said. "I know. Did you know he even taught me Legilimency?"

"Well, I've nothing to hide" said Harry truthfully. "It's Snape who's got something to hide."

Nagini's eyes widened slightly.

"Severus Snape could not hide anything from the Dark Lord even if he performed the highest level of Occlumency possible."

"Well, there must be an impossible level, then, because he's certainly fooled Voldemort this time."

"Do not speak his name!" hissed Nagini.

I've no need to fear it now" said Harry, raising his wand. "And I've an even lesser need to fear you, Nagini."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Shockingly, he was not the only one who shouted it. Three jets of green light burst from Harry, Draco, and Snape's wands, striking the snake. The three spells did what one couldn't have. With a shriek that pierced Harry's ears, the snake shriveled up and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Harry looked at Draco in astonishment. Draco was still staring at the place where the snake had been, his wand hand shaking furiously. After a moment, he turned to Snape, who was doing exactly what Draco was doing, except his wand hand was steady. Harry stared at him in amazement.

"Sir, what"
Before he could even thank Snape, there was a blinding flash of green light that emanated from behind him. Snape's eyes met with Harry's. For a split-second, Harry thought he saw a flicker of mourning in them. Harry knew in that moment that Snape regretted never knowing him as he really was. Then, the green light struck him. It was more frightening than anything. It seemed that the light had possessed Snape. His eyes were wide open. His entire body was letting off a greenish glow as he was blasted into the air, landing with a crash on the floor beside Lupin and McGonagall.

"NO!!" Harry had fallen to the ground by Snape, whose black eyes were still wide open. "Professor!" he cried. "PROFESSOR, WAKE UP!"

"He will not wake, you idiot!" spat Voldemort. "I'm going to kill you, Harry Potter… Say hello to death, just as he did, once and for all!"

Harry raised his wand at the same moment.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Two jets of green light burst from their wands. Harry had almost thought it worked, but then… The jets connected, making Harry's wand shake harder than ever. Voldemort was using both his hands to force the sparkling beads in the center to Harry's wand. Harry knew it was no use. He would never be able to kill Voldemort. Their wands shared cores. They would not work properly. Why hadn't he remembered Dumbledore and Sirius talking about it? He struggled with all his might to hold the connection, unsure of whether or not he would be killed if he broke it. The connection was broken, however, as a jet of red light flashed from Harry's left. Lupin had fired an Immobilizing spell, and it seemed to have worked, at least half-heartedly. Voldemort was dazed.

"HARRY!" moaned Hermione, still slumped against the wall. Using all the strength she could muster, she tossed her wand through the air towards Harry.

It was a second that seemed to take forever. As Hermione's wand spun through the air, Harry realized: Hermione's wand would work properly against Voldemort. It would do Avada Kedavra and it would work. Harry didn't think of anything else as he caught the wand, and raised it. Voldemort had come to himself, but didn't even have time to register what had happened as Harry was shouting the words "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Voldemort's eyes widened with horror as a jet of green light burst from Harry's wand. For a moment, Harry's eyes met Voldemort's, and there was a sudden understanding between them, Harry thought. It seemed that Voldemort had finally accepted the fact that he would be the one to be killed by Harry, not the other way around. Harry and Voldemort had both acted on the prophecy: 'neither can live while the other survives…' A second later, it was all over. Voldemort was blasted through the air, and hit the ground on his back, his fathomless red eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling, his black cloak sprawled about. A trickle of blood was running out his mouth and onto his white chin. Voldemort was dead. Voldemort was finally destroyed, and Harry... had avenged his parents.