Chapter 17

"May I speak with you privately, Harry?"

"Sure."

Harry gave Ginny one last look as Sirius and Bill herded everyone out the door, leaving the office mostly empty. Just before they left, Sirius and Harry exchanged a look. Harry knew that Sirius understood.

He clapped Remus on the shoulder. "Moony, how do you feel about hunting for snake?"

Harry couldn't watch them go. He turned and looked at the darkness outside the window. The Order was holding off Voldemort's forces admirably, but it was only a matter of time.

"You think I'm a monster."

"You should have stopped him."

"Mr. Potter- I mean… I don't even know what to call him." Dumbledore sat on the edge of his desk, shaking his head. "He made his own decisions. I could not have stopped him, even if I had known…"

Harry swore and moved toward the window, looking out. "That's a lie. You had doubts before you told him about the prophecy."

"You know about the prophecy?"

He spun and stared at the Headmaster. "I know one exists. I don't know the exact wording."

"You could have stopped him, as well."

A fissure of guilt opened inside Harry and he knew that Dumbledore was right. He could have. He should have.

"Whatever's in that prophecy convinced him that he could face Voldemort."

"His interpretation of it, yes."

The wording was carefully chosen and Harry wanted to scream. He hated when Dumbledore did this to him. It gave him new insight into when he did it to others, and how infuriating it must be for them. He'd never looked at it that way.

"Tell me."

Dumbledore recited the wording and Harry took it in. "And how do the horcruxes play into all of this?"

"You've been destroying them."

"He knows. That's why he's here." Harry looked at the diadem that sat on Dumbledore's desk. "That's the last one, besides the snake."

"Then you've already proven his downfall."

"Why did I survive?"

"Love."

It was a simple answer, too simple. And yet, there was truth in it that Harry could understand. He was only just starting to see how love might be the answer.

"And how do I…" He couldn't finish the question.

"I think you may know."

Harry turned and looked out the window once more. "That's what the Hallows were about? Giving me a chance at surviving?"

"It was an idea." Dumbledore moved to the back of his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a shiny, silver fabric, resting it on the desk. From his finger-the one with a deadened, grey tip-he took the ring they'd retrieved together, and set it next to the cloak.

"The wand?"

Dumbledore held up his own.

"Why send Percy Weasley all over Europe to find it, if you already had it?" he asked.

The Headmaster seemed surprised. His eyebrows rose and he thought about it for a long minute.

"You have your spies," Harry said. "I have mine."

"There are always rumors and legends, Mr. Potter. Perhaps I wanted one last reassurance that the wand I had was the correct one."

"You can't just give it to me."

"No. It must be taken."

Harry swallowed thickly and looked out the window again. "I cannot kill you."

"Death doesn't have to be the answer," Dumbledore said. "Disarming will work just fine."

Harry tried to remember the story and legends about the wand. Was it enough just to take the wand? Would it's allegiance then pass to Harry?"

"I think you'll find that facing a wizard like Voldemort might be best done with a wand, and not relying only upon House Elf magic."

Harry almost smiled. Spies, indeed. He raised his hand and disarmed the Professor, watching as the wand flew into his hand. It didn't feel any different to him, but then again, he had never had a real wand, just a simple stick that Dobby had given him at age five when he began teaching Harry magic.

"It must be a sacrifice."

His heart pounded strongly and Harry wondered how many beats were left. "Then the snake is not the last…"

"No."

"How long have you known?"

"I suspected, nothing more."

"Then how can you be sure?"

Dumbledore's eyes flickered upward to the wound on Harry's head. "I am sure."

And so was Harry.

He was a horcrux, created the night that Voldemort had murdered his parents. Likely, not even realized by Voldemort.

"I don't know if I can do this," Harry said.

"We all have our choices, Mr. Potter. Your friends will continue to fight."

"And die." Harry tightened his grip on the Elder wand, his fingers going numb from the tension.

"Probably."

"You really are a bastard."

"Would you have done any differently?"

"I would have stopped that boy from dying," Harry said, even though he wasn't sure if it was true.

He clenched his jaw, shoved the wand into his pocket, slid the ring onto his finger, and wrapped his fingers into the demiguise fabric of the cloak.

"Goodbye, Dumbledore."

"Goodbye, Harry."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"No!"

Ron wrapped his arm around Ginny's middle, taking the blows of her hands and feet as she writhed against him. He watched, for a second time, as Harry Potter walked out the doors of Hogwarts castle to his death.

He didn't understand any of this, but there was something in it all that told him he had to have faith. That this was what needed to happen. If this was truly Harry Potter, then this was the Chosen One, not his friend. And maybe this time…

"Let me go, Ron, or I swear I will hex you until you never walk again."

"Ginny." He held her even tighter, burying his face in her hair as she screamed after Harry. The doors of the castle were thrown open wide. Flashes of light erupted above them on the shield of the castle, threatening to collapse it completely.

Somehow, Vol-Vol-You-Know-Who had discovered that he hadn't killed the right Harry Potter and had begun attacking once more. Either that or his supposed victory over the Chosen One had never been his complete goal. The submission of the entire Wizarding World, starting with Hogwarts was.

Ron felt arms wrap around him as George trapped Ginny between them. Bill was next. Ron looked up and realized that he and Bill were the same height, something he hadn't noticed before. Percy and Fred joined them, and Ron stopped looking up. He just held onto Ginny and hoped that they would all live through the day.

Sirius watched through Padfoot's eyes as Harry walked across the open ground toward the forest. He counted each step.

"What is he doing?"

Remus stepped forward, chest heaving as he saw Harry. He left the body of Severus Snape on the ground, dead from an attack by Nagini while trying to allow Remus and Sirius to kill her.

Padfoot looked down at the snake they'd just killed. He morphed back into himself and sat, spitting out the acrid blood in his mouth.

"Harry knows what he's doing."

Remus gaped at him. "What?"

"Trust him."

"You can't…" Remus took another step, determination filling his face. "We have to…"

"Trust him."

It tore Sirius' heart out to say it, but ever since Harry had begun having the dreams and visions, Sirius had suspected that there was some sort of connection there. When they'd discovered the horcruxes, he'd started digging, reading everything he could about them. Nothing could have prepared him for this moment, however, watching the man he loved like a son walk into the forest to sacrifice himself.

"We've done our part," he said as he stood and kicked the body of the snake. "It's his turn."

"And then what?"

"And then we finish the bastard."