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Ch 12: A Reason To Live

OKAAAYYYY…Merlin! Someone save me…No. No. No. Oh my freaking God. What the hell was I thinking…? Taunting that…that…thing. Stupid Harry. Stupid, stupid, Harry. He was alright with killing you with one damn spell, but NOoooo, you have to open your goddamn fucking mouth. Harry shivered. It's definitely going to be torture now.

As Pettigrew came nearer, step by step, Harry sweated. Literally. He was intimately aware of that one single bead of perspiration that was currently somewhere around his mid-spine and the one that was just about to drop off his right cheek.

Avert your eyes. Don't look at him. Don't you dare look at him, Harry Potter.

That voice felt suspiciously like Hermione.

God, he was missing his friends now. Were they going to miss him when he was gone? Or they very well might not even think that they were so good friends with someone named Harry Potter. Three years of friendship soured over something so inconsequential. Jealousy. What were they thinking?! Idiots.

And me too.

Yeah, you bloody well too. You should have stopped us somehow, mate. Even slapped some sense into us. But no, hell would freeze over before great fucking Potter would stoop so low.

Oh Ron, how I hate you sometimes! And how I love you at others. Missing you, mate. I wish we had parted on good wil-.

Don't think like that Harry. Hermione interrupted. Don't lose hope now. You can fight him, and win.

He wanted to tell her that it wasn't so easy. Maybe Hermione could have done this, or, he could have fought if they both were alongside him, but he had absolutely zero chance alone. This was a dark lord for Dobby's sake.

I have faith in you Harry. Always.

Me too, mate. And sorry for everything.

Shut up, Ronald. He is NOT dying…

Harry tried not to show it but it was getting increasingly difficult to remain upbeat or look indifferent when Voldemort was eying him with that scary smirk, rolling his wand in his hands. Bloody scary, that nose.

Why is it getting so cold? Why am I shivering? His teeth started chattering and Harry crunched them together. Bloody hell, I had already decided dying can't be that bad.

Harry was a little surprised when he felt something creep into his mind. It felt something like when he was at Potions, glaring at Snape, but a little different…And he wasn't even looking at Voldemort now. Er…what-

'ave you forgotten EVERYTHING I taught you?

Harry cringed and shook his head dazedly. It felt as if she was shouting in his ear.

Uh huh…Fleur, you are here too?

Yezzzz…iz zere someone else as well?

Ron and Hermione…I think I am imagining all my loved ones giving me a farewell. You are the loudest by far. By the way, what happened to your 'oui'?

I zought your miniscule mind cannot 'andle your own thoughts, let alone some ozher language. And stop being so gloomy.

I can't help it. I am going to die…D dot I dot E.

Snape says you are an attention seeking –

I am NOT.

Then prove it. You are NOT going to die…'arry.

Harry took a deep breath.

Fleur…

Hmmm…

Since you aren't actually in front of me, and I can't actually say all this to you, but in fact I can say this to you in my heart and speak my thoughts in the hope that you might actually one day understand what it actually meant when I said all these things-

Just say it 'Arry.

I love you.

Fleur remained silent and Harry sighed. He couldn't even imagine her saying-

I love you too.

Voldemort watched as Harry's lips parted to form an 'O' and wondered what the boy was thinking. He was stubbornly refusing to meet eyes with him. He thought of forcing the boy to reveal his mind, but no, not before the duel. He too was honorable, whatever lies Dumbledore spreads around!

"Cut the ropes faster Wormtail." he ordered instead.

Wormtail whimpered, looked at his stump, and started sawing the ropes faster…well, as fast as he could with one hand. Never mind. He will give the fool his due..a silver hand…or death…Hmmm…he'll decide as soon as he gets rid of the boy. The boy was first.

Harry knew that however much he consoled himself with imaginary voices, he was scared shitless in his mind. Voldemort had a way of doing that to people. He just couldn't imagine this would feel so real, though. As if Fleur was really here.

He closed his eyes.

It felt surprising real Fleur, as if you were here with me…not only a figment of my imagination.

Fleur was silent again.

I am real, 'arry.

Yeah, I know…but only in my mind.

He felt as if Fleur sighed and muttered something akin to 'idiot'. Whatever… just come back to me, 'Arry.

Harry took another deep breath to keep from hyperventilating and crying his eyes out like a baby. This was ridiculous…getting too emotional. God, he didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to die. Not without at least kissing her once. If only it really was Fleur…

I really thought YOU would come for me.

I may…let's see. Dumbledore is taking too much time.

His eyes snapped open? What is Dumbledore doing in his subconscious? God, he was missing the old man as well! He never knew he respected him that much…

Pettigrew finally managed to cut off the ropes and Harry fell forward. Sometimes, he couldn't help but pity the man as he heard his whimpering. How could he even live with himself? All he did in the name of fear, betraying the best friends anyone could hope for, betraying their memories, what for? This? He shook his head and threw that particular train of thoughts out of the window for now. He quickly got up on his two feet and was mostly unsurprised when a sudden pain spiked in his left leg just as he put his weight on the torn tissue.

Wormtail thrust his precious wand in his hands and moved aside. As soon as his fingers clasped around the wood, an inadvertent sigh of pleasure escaped him as its familiar power flooded through his nerves and urged him to move forward. To fight with all he had. He had been given a chance to prove something, to take some amount of revenge. All due to Voldemort's bubbling overconfidence and he was damned if he let it go.

Voldemort smiled.

"You have been taught how to duel Harry Potter, I presume?" Voldemort taunted.

In for a knut, in for a galleon.

"You'll see." said Harry, covering a decidedly fake yawn with his hands.

"Ah! Still not afraid of dying, are you? In so much hurry to meet mummy and daddy…" Harry did not reply. "Well, well, well…let's not make them wait, but first, bow!"

Harry stood up straighter. "Bow? To you? Are you still dreaming Tom? New body, new brain, same idiocy-"

But before he could finish, a cry escaped him as his back automatically arched in a bow in front of the monster, as if someone was forcefully pushing him from behind and bending his spine. Harry cursed himself inwardly. Should have seen that coming.

"When I say bow, you bow." hissed Voldemort as Harry grunted and erected himself slowly. "Now. Are there any last words like, say…Crucio."

The pain was entirely encompassing. There wasn't a tissue, bone or cell in his body that wasn't urging some deity to kill him at that very moment. His own screams echoed in his ears and all rational thought fled his mind. He wasn't aware if it was blood or tears that dripped from his eyes. He wasn't aware that he was rolling on the ground begging for this to stop. Stop it just once. It seemed like years and years before his misery was lifted off him and sound returned to his ears.

It was the sound of laughter.

The fuckers were laughing at him. He was trembling, crying blood. And they were laughing. They were all monsters. Humanity was no more a trait in those human shaped bodies. They had no right to live.

They bloody had no right to live. This one fact gave him the determination to overcome the tremors throughout his body and push himself to stand up once more. It was time to show them. Harry Potter was not someone to trifle with. He would show them…it would be their last laugh. He would not run. Oh, he wouldn't. He would fight…till his last breath…like a man…like his father did.

"You know Tom…" Harry wheezed "someone great said once upon a time, if you can't fuck the one who has fucked you time and again, then it's just better not to let yourself get more fucked from that same fucker."

Harry smiled as Voldemort's non-existent brows came together and his face showed absolute confusion.

"Tom, all these pureblood servants of yours, do they all know that your father was a muggle? A stupid muggle who was raped by your slutty mother and who then kicked you out before you were even born?"

Voldemort's eyes widened.

"Do they all know that you grew up in a muggle orphanage, were regularly beaten by muggle children, bullied and assaulted by nannies there? Were you also raped, Tom?"

Rage clouded Voldemort's features as he shook with fury.

"Is that why that you are no longer interested in girls Tom? Is that why you did this to yourself? Look at yourself Tom. Is it because you like getting ramrodded from behind? Is that why you keep pigs like Malfoy-"

Harry smirked as the wand went up in air and Voldemort positively screamed, "Avada Kedavra".

And Harry twisted.

And Harry disappeared.

And Voldemort's eyes widened before an unholy cry of absolute madness escaped him as all death eaters cowered before him. He howled in his rage and fury and in his inability to kill Harry Potter once again. A storm began brewing up in the sky as the lightning flashed once, twice and again.

"Hey Tom, why are you screaming like a baby?"

Voldemort turned and looked at the now smirking face of Harry Potter. Not a sound emanated from anywhere or anyone for one moment. As usual, Harry broke the silence. "What, you thought I escaped? No, no, no. I was talking about you, Tommy boy. After all, I have fucked you time and again, haven't I?"

No one noticed the raging storm above in the clouds as Harry met Voldemort's fiery eyes head on this time, and challenged him. Go for it, you fucker.

He knew the exact second when Voldemort lost all self control and he twisted, only to appear a few feet away.

"Avada Kedavra"

And Avery fell. Harry twisted again.

"Avada Kedavra"

Crabbe Died. Harry twisted again.

"Avada Kedavra"

Macnair gone. And Harry twisted once more.

But didn't reappear this time. Voldemort glanced at the three dead bodies lying nearby dispassionately and looked around himself, trying to find his nemesis. His rage clouded the rational part of his mind and he wanted to inflict such great pain on Harry Potter that the world would remember Potter and Pain as synonyms to each other. But where was he? Where had he gone? The boy couldn't run like this. No, no, no, after all he had said…he just couldn't run.

"Killing your own people now Tom?"

Voldemort looked around himself, trying to find the voice which was taunting him. But the boy wasn't anywhere. Though, he was still speaking. How? Where? "Trying to find me, Tom? Look around yourself, O Great Dark Lord."

Voldemort turned around and then again. His features twisted in rage and confusion. Potter wasn't anywhere.

"Tom, you really are going round the bend."

Where was the voice coming from? It was nearer this time and a lot more louder. "Move aside" he shouted at his followers. "Where is he? Find him. I want the boy."

And they all scattered in all directions.

A spell from his wand blasted apart the grave and the statue where Harry Potter had been tied but he wasn't there. Where was the boy? Where was he speaking from? Where was he hiding?

Lightning flashed once more and rain started.

"I am here, you asshole. Look up."

Voldemort's eyes widened once more as he finally understood where the boy was hiding all this time. He looked up, only to find a grinning Harry Potter free falling towards him with his wand forward with the speed of a rocket. And Voldemort suddenly knew what was about to happen.

"Incendio Maxima"

He was a second too late though as a torrent of hot flame scorched his newly formed skin on his brand new face and another shriek, of pain this time, escaped from his throat.

Before he could even think to douse water on himself, a large weight collided with him head first and he saw stars.

Harry was seeing stars too. He hadn't thought this part of the plan clearly. Landing was pretty important, he reminded himself. Oh God, my head. Ow, ow, ow…

He grunted when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders dragging him away. Slowly, vision came back as someone kicked him in the ribs. But frankly, hearing Voldemort scream was all worth it. Harry was internally laughing as someone was finally able to control the flames on Voldemort's face and the shrieking stopped.

He felt another kick to his ribs.

Voldemort himself got up and glared at the chuckling boy in front of him. He pushed away whoever was trying to help him on his feet and quickly threw anti apparition jinxes around the graveyard. He touched the blisters on his face and hissed as pain arced through his nerves.

"I must confess this was a surprise, Harry Potter."

Harry thought of getting up but decided to be comfortable on the ground for a while. His time was coming. Why bother doing more effort when he could snap and wave his wand from here just fine? For a moment, he thought of Fleur and how she was rubbing off on him. A sad smile broke on his face for a moment…she would never know. He just shook his head and sat up, tucking in his legs beneath him.

"Ah, I am so tired." Harry murmured from his sitting position, as he tried to massage his shoulders for some degree of comfort. He was pretty proud he hadn't lost his consciousness after all the madness.

Voldemort eyed him as Harry waited patiently for the curse. The very fresh burns and pain on his face were urging him to kill the boy with a snap. But he was curious. For some unfathomable reason, Harry Potter interested him far more than he let on.

"What now, Harry? Any more tricks you can show us."

Harry shrugged. "I am waiting for my luck to kick."

Voldemort just stared. "Curious. But no more. This ends here Harry Potter. No more apparition. Only wands."

A memory flittered through his thoughts at the mention of wands.

"…I think we must expect great things from you Mr. Potter…After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, but great."

"As you wish." he answered.

They both eyed each other, luminous green met fiery red. Both could see the hate reflected in the other's eyes. Both were surprised by the similarities in their stories and differences in themselves. Both knew they were equals and only one would live in the end.

Harry wasn't surprised when he heard a voice in his head. Hmmm…Voldemort wants private conversation.

"This is foolishness."

"Ah, you finally understand." he replied sarcastically. "Let's go back and finally surrender, shall we?"

"You could be great. I can give you all the power in the world. Join me and redefine your destiny. This is your final chance."

Harry's eyes widened as he stared at Voldemort incredulously. "I still hate you Riddle. How can you even expect me to accept your offer after I refused you when I was Eleven? Get out of my head by the way. It feels creepy."

"Why exactly do you hate me Potter?" Voldemort asked instead. "I have genuine reasons to hate you. You keep foiling my plans at every step. You killed me, stopped me from coming back, degraded my reputation. What have I done to gain your hatred?"

"You killed my family, you bastard. Forgotten already?" Harry couldn't believe he was hissing in his own mind.

Voldemort scoffed. "What family? The one you never once met? You can't even remember your parents Potter. Pathetic father and fool of a mother. They could only have been an inconvenience in your way. It's better that they are dead. You are alone, your own master, free to choose. They are gone. They are dead. Why cry for them now? Why punish yourself for them? Let them die from your heart as well. Albus Dumbledore has put fantastical notions of love in your head. It is NOTHING. Let me mentor you Harry Potter. You will be second only to me. You have the power. I will give you the secrets of immortality. Be great and powerful. Rise above all."

Harry clenched his fists in anger and glared. This man was far far gone. "That's what you don't understand Tom. Love doesn't die. It keeps on going. Always. And Always." Before Voldemort could reply, he continued, verbally this time and not only in his mind. "And yes, I remember them, you bloody asshole. I remember my mother crying, begging you to spare me. I remember my father asking my mother to run with me. I remember her last screams. My father was an honorable man I am proud of and she was the best mother I could have asked for. I will never, ever in my life do anything that can even remotely insult their memory. So yes, I remember them quite clearly. As for accepting you as my mentor, hahaha, I can only say that you are the most delusional idiotic nobody on the face of earth. No one wants you. No one cares for you, Tom Riddle. You are shit. Worth less than shit. And you know what, the truth is that you know this one fact. That's why you are trying to convert every-bloody-thing into your potty hole, but I won't let you. You understand, YOU FUCKER. I WON'T LET YOU…"

By the end, Harry was spitting mad and all death eaters were gaping at him. Voldemort too oozed coldness now as his eyes radiated fury. He gave his servants one long look and turned to Harry.

"Very well, Harry Potter. You will die now."

"I won't FUCK YOU."

"Avada Kedavra"

"Avada Kedavra"

Harry did not care that he had just cast an unforgivable. Voldemort was an animal, less than a pig in his eyes. Yes. Moody has taught us. Hate. Hate. Hate.

He poured every ounce of hate he had for any-bloody-thing in that one spell. From Dursleys and Marge and kipper to Snape and Pettigrew and Voldemort himself blasted away from his wand.

He saw as Voldemort's eyes widened at his spell usage. He saw as a green light issued from his wand just as an identical green light blasted from Voldemort's – they met in midair – and suddenly Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge was surging through it. He realized with a snap that both of their wands were now connected with a narrow beam of golden light. He saw the same look of confusion reflected in Voldemort's eyes and knew that this was something unexpected.

Something told Harry that he must not break the connection if he were to live. He tried with everything he had – he didn't know why but he did – to force that bead of light in the middle towards Voldemort's wand. Slowly, inch by inch, it moved. He saw as Voldemort's eyes widened further with shock as a ghost floated out from his own wand.

Macnair.

"You killed us." The ghost shouted at Voldemort, and Harry was able to witness something he was sure no one ever had. Voldemort was afraid. Very, very afraid.

Harry willed the blob to move towards his enemy. He had a feeling that Voldemort wouldn't live through two Avada's. Soon enough, Crabbe and Avery too were firing obscenities at Voldemort in their ghostly form. And his nemesis was quivering in fear. But he could not break the connection.

A hope started bubbling in his heart when an old man, the one he had seen being killed in his dreams, came out of the wand and floated towards him, "Do not break the connection boy. They are coming."

And Harry's prayers were answered when he finally saw his mother's face. She looked at him and he knew he would never forget what her eyes were saying. She was proud of him.

"Your Dad is coming too Harry. We love you, baby."

He wasn't aware that he was crying. Tears fell from his eyes as he just gathered his mothers' face in his eyes, never to forget her again. He burnt her in his memories. She was beautiful and her smile infectious. He did not want her to go way. Not ever. "Please, don't leave me." he whispered, but he knew she heard for she came to him.

His mother floated nearer and pressed a cold kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry love. I am always with you. Here." She said, touching his heart.

Harry just wanted to weep in her arms. Voldemort shouted at his followers to not come closer but Harry didn't hear him. His wand wasn't even vibrating much anymore. It was easy to keep it up as he met them.

And then, his father came. And he was struck speechless. He really looked identical to him. Same glasses. Same hair. Same grin. "Hey buddy, doing pretty great these days. What with all the Veelas!"

More tears escaped. "I miss you, Dad."

James smiled. "We miss you too son. But we always keep an eye on you, don't you worry there. And kiss her already."

Harry laughed at the first advice he got from his father. "It's not so easy, Dad."

"I know. But I got your mother, see? And she hated me at first, believe me. Just start once and keep it up. Girls love Potter men. And that one-"

"Shut up, James." Lily snapped.

"Ask Sirius. He is pretty-"

"Shut UP, James."

His father winked at him.

"Harry, we both are proud of you." his mother said. "Remember that."

"I will." he answered. "Always."

The three looked at each other one final time while Voldemort shouted obscenities at them.

"They are coming. Stun Wormtail as soon as you break the connection." his father said at last.

And his wand suddenly felt a lot more heavier.

"What?" he asked. "Who is coming?"

His father winked again at him. Even his mother smiled. "Your Veela, of course." said Lily Potter, grinning.

"And that old coot too." reminded his father, before finally jumping at Voldemort to torment him for a little longer.

"Remember Harry, we love you." said his mother one final time. "Break the connection. NOW."

And Harry did. He pulled his wand upward with an almighty wrench and the connection broke. He watched as all the ghostly shadowy figures, included his mum and dad, closed upon Voldemort and he screamed.

Harry turned around hurriedly and stunned the cowering Pettigrew with one swish from his wand.

"STUN HIM!" Voldemort shouted and Harry turned to find more than twenty wands trained on him.

Before one could make a move though, a sudden large cracking noise, as if someone simultaneously broke hundreds of pieces of glass, filled his ears. And then, he saw her.

Fleur.

Wreathed in flame.

Rage twisted her features into an ugly mockery of her beauty as she glared at her surroundings. She was terrifying and deadly all at the same time and the collected group of death eaters cowered away from her. Even Harry was struck speechless.

For a moment, her eyes met his, and a softness appeared on her face. Harry could only stare.

"We meet at last, Tom. Alas! I was more favorable to your old look."

Harry looked at her right side and met Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes. It seemed he was somehow looking at both Voldemort and him at the same time and giving them jovial expressions. Harry wondered how he could look in two directions without even turning his head.

"Dumbledore," Voldemort glared. "Come to save your little boy with…with…what is sh-"

Before Voldemort could finish, a dozen balls of fire were thrown at him and the battle started anew.

He dodged, obviously. Took his lesson from last time.

Before Harry could even blink, spells of all colors were being thrown in the duo's direction. Fleur lifted herself to the sky and started poring death from above, in the form of fire. Screams filled the air as some death eaters who got the full brunt of the attack collapsed while others shielded themselves and apparated away to a nearby location, attacking Dumbledore.

Dumbledore shielded himself from the dozen or so spells and reacted with one single blizzard of his own, not even mildly impressed.

He had to dodge though when a jet of green light raced towards him from an entirely expected source.

"That's cheating, Tom. I see you haven't learned the rules of dueling in your thirteen years of holiday."

While Voldemort unfreezed his death eaters, Dumbledore transfigured the nearby graves into something identical to Hogwarts suits of armour and sent them off to fight.

"I see you are as cocky as you ever, you old fossil. When are you planning to die?"

The suits of armour marched towards the death eaters as swords warred with wands. Hastily conjured they might be, but they knew their technique.

"Not for some more time, I am afraid."

Someone's body dropped to the ground as Fleur smashed him down head-first.

"I'll see to it that you pass away soon enough."

Dumbledore's eyes widened as a large basilisk made entirely of cursed fire erupted from Voldemort's wand and lunged for him. He quickly countered this attack with a huge aqueous phoenix of his own that dived through the basilisk.

"Avada Kedara" Harry shouted at Voldemort's back, trying to take the advantage of the situation but Voldemort side-stepped and threw a spell towards him.

Harry dodged narrowly and released a sigh of relief when a nearby grave exploded to ash from the sheer force of the spell.

"I haven't forgotten you Potter." Voldemort shouted, throwing spell after spell at Dumbledore in earnest, who dodged and shielded as if he did this on a daily basis. "Stay out of this."

Harry did not listen.

"Avada Kedavra. Avada Kedavra. Avada Kedavra."

Voldemort twisted, turned, dodged, waved but did not get hit and somehow kept his attack on Dumbledore.

"Die you asshole." Harry hissed, snapping his wand again and again. "Why. Won't. You. Just. Die. Back?"

Suddenly, he felt coldness creep into him from behind and he knew this would hurt. He turned to find Voldemort standing before him, not one step away.

"NO, TOM," He heard Dumbledore's frightened voice before Voldemort grabbed his head and tore into his brain.

And then, Harry's scar burst open. He knew he was dead; pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance-

He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't feel…he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes he could not recognize. They were fused together. He did not know where his body ended and the creature's began…only pain was his world.

Fleur saw as Voldemort disappeared and Harry screamed as his scar burst open, adding to the blood and grime on his face.

She halted in her tracks with wide eyes as Dumbledore ran towards him. A death eater got her with a cutting curse and she turned him into ash a second later without even glancing at her wound.

She gently flew down towards Harry and dispersed her fire. She heard his words and pain gripped her heart.

"Kill me now, Dumbledore."

Blinded and dying, every part of Harry Potter screamed for release. Memories old and new, long forgotten and painful, filled his senses as he relived all of them. Some real, some not so much. His parents weren't proud of him anymore. They hated him. His friends were never his friends. They used him. And there was someone else too. He could not remember her. She would never be there for him again. She was slipping away…

He knew the creature was using him somehow, he knew his very being was being warped and violated but he was helpless. So very helpless.

Hate filled his features and clouded his brain.

"If death is the next great adventure, kill the boy now Albus. And spare him this agony…"

"Don't do this Tom. He is just a boy…"

"Then kill him yourself. He is in so much pain…"

Dumbledore looked at Fleur helplessly, like a broken man. He couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't remember being so afraid except one other instance in his life. And that hadn't resulted well.

No.

It wasn't supposed to be like this…this cannot happen.

"Save him." he whispered.

How? She wanted to ask, but words weren't coming to her as easily now. She had prepared Harry to bear pain but she hadn't thought he would have to face this…this unimaginable agony.

"Save him." Dumbledore repeated.

Fleur did what she could. She remembered her sister and the times she would cry in her childhood. She remembered how she consoled her and sometimes even cried herself with her.

She then remembered every second, good or bad, she had spent with Harry. They had practically been living together all this time, even sleeping next to each other on some occasions. She hadn't thought she could ever be so comfortable with any stranger, let alone a younger boy, who obviously fancied her. They had cried, laughed and generally did everything to drive the other up the wall.

And then there were times when one of them wasn't as sane as they liked to pretend and the other had consoled that one. Fleur remembered that one time when she had soundly slapped Harry when he was whining too much for her comfort and unwittingly, a chuckle escaped her throat.

With something prickling in her eyes, Fleur knelt down and took Harry's head in her lap. She looked at his face with tenderness she seldom showed anyone and traced a finger on his damp cheek. She touched his forehead and pressed a soft kiss there.

Harry felt something soft somewhere touch him and memories stirred as his thought processes returned to him in a snap.

I want to live…he realized.

"Listen to me, 'arry" someone was saying. "I am 'ere for you. Listen to me, my amour. It will be alright."

Fleur.

She was there for him.

"Don't think of ze pain you 'ave endured, my love. Think of ze love, the blessings, and the faith you have been awarded with. Think of everything pure you 'ave every known."

He did as she said because he knew she was always right. She always did what was best for him, even if it meant breaking certain parts of his body in order to do so. He thought of his parents and their love, their proud figures that very night. He thought of his friends who weren't happy with him at the moment but were worried sick for his happiness in their hearts. He thought of Sirius Black, his own Godfather, who has suffered so very much for him through no fault of his own.

Slowly, the pain receded.

And lastly, he thought of the girl who was still caring for him and because of whom, he was still alive. He thought how much he had come to love and respect her in such a short period of time and how he wouldn't ever want to be apart from her.

He had to live.

With a final roar of fury of his own, Harry pushed all he had in him towards the creature and threw the monster out of his head.

Voldemort suddenly reappeared with wide eyes, gasping for breath and looked at Harry Potter with disbelief written clearly all over his face.

He looked at the broken old man who was suddenly energized again and the teary eyed girl who was throwing fireballs at his followers mere minutes ago.

He couldn't believe they had defeated him.

Then one voice spoke: "I will kill you." Harry Potter promised.

And for once, Voldemort had no answer.

He retreated with barely a scowl on his burned face. New plans were to be made. Old ones to be amended.

Harry looked at the face hovering above him and smiled. "I thought I heard you in my mind."

It was Fleur's laughter he heard before darkness enveloped him and he finally surrendered to blissful oblivion. With a smile on his face, this time.

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