The Fall of The Phoenix

by IfIOnlyWereAWeasley

Books 1-3. In the course of a single night, Phoenix Potter goes from leading as normal a life as the daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter can have to being a central figure in the brewing war. With gods, prophecies, and a whole new type of magic at play, Phoenix must learn to navigate exactly the sort of world that her parents have always fought to protect her from.

47. The Final Battle (Part Two)

Chapter Forty-Six: The Final Battle

Part Two

---

Third Person Point of View (Jay Wood):

~Half an hour ago~

(More or less)

---

Jay hadn't realized that falling down a flight of stairs would be as painful as it was.

Sure, in theory, he had expected it to hurt, but regaining consciousness after an unknown length of time (which was disconcerting on its own, for Jay was normally aware of every second that passed him by) to find his body aching and his shoulder dislocated had been more unpleasant than what he had been expecting. He glanced at his watch, hoping to afford himself even the smallest peace of mind by figuring out how long he had laid unmoving, but found the hands spinning wildly, apparently damaged by the fall.

Jay looked around, and was relieved to locate Fred about two meters to his left. His wand lay between them, and he could see Fred's wand just inches from the boy's fingertips. The two were surrounded by rubble, which Jay was currently grateful for, as it would give them a bit of time to recover and was probably the reason that no one else had stumbled across them yet.

The debris formed a very noticeable circle around them, making it clear that Phoenix's shield charm had been what saved their lives. It was also obvious to Jay which of the two of them she had actually cast the spell over from the way that the wreckage had settled, but he vowed never to say a word about it to his girlfriend. Most people, he had learned in his lifetime, tended to make split-second decisions and then promptly forget the finer details. He hoped that her shield charm had been one such action, for he knew that the knowledge that she had really only been protecting one of them (and that the other had simply been incredibly lucky) would cause his girlfriend to feel immense guilt if she ever knew about it.

Groaning in pain, Jay pulled himself to Fred's side, moving far less hastily than he would have had he not been able to see the slow rise and fall of the other boy's chest. A wave of his wand had the other boy shooting upright, looking ready to throw a punch before realizing that it was only Jay, and then sinking back to the ground with a faint whimper.

Once the two had done a quick inventory of themselves, Fred helped Jay reset his shoulder, which was also more painful than he would have expected. They took a moment to assess the collection of cuts that the two had amassed during their tumble, healing the more serious ones. Bits of metal framing and jagged shards of glass from a window that had been ruined were littered into the rubble around them, several twisted pieces of metal clearly dripping with blood. Fred, himself, had a deep gash behind his ear and another across his upper thigh. Jay had a cut that ran from his right collarbone down to his left hip. Though it wasn't especially deep, the sheer size of it made it impossible to leave unattended. Jay was immensely grateful that Lily and Alice had taught everyone so much about healing and that Phoenix had insisted that they carry their own supplies after the attack in Diagon Alley as he watched his skin sew itself back together.

Though the castle kept repairing the damage that was happening when Hastings' magic moved things around, the wreckage around them showed no sign of doing so. In an odd way, Jay sort of preferred it to remain ruined for the time being.

"That's going to scar, mate," Fred mumbled, eyes on the skin of Jay's chest as it knitted itself back together.

Jay shrugged, slightly dizzy with pain but unwilling to take a potion for it until he was sure that he had healed every injury that he could. "We'll all have scars after this. Better to have some that the world can see, so that they're forced to remember what we went through even when they try to will themselves to forget."

Fred stared at Jay for a long moment before nodding and getting to his feet. He then offered Jay a hand, his brow furrowed and eyes miles away. Jay strongly suspected that Fred was thinking about his father, so he held onto his friend's hand for a second longer than necessary before letting go. Once they stood before one another, Fred pointed his wand at Jay's chest.

Jay raised an eyebrow at his friend, who looked confused for a brief moment, before he realized what he had done. Fred chuckled dryly, waving his wand and repairing Jay's shirt. He removed the blood from it next, sighing as several sections of the garment remained slightly copper-colored.

It was only then that Jay realized that they were both still in their pajamas, for no one had stopped to change after his entire dorm had been awoken by the strangled yell that Jay had let out when he opened his eyes in the middle of the night to find Phoenix standing in the center of the room with glowing white eyes. The other boys had only seen her for a split-second before she turned on her heel and disapparated-despite apparation being supposedly impossible within Hogwarts grounds and Phoenix not having learned how to do so yet. Everything after that moment had been a blur of Patronuses and hysteria as the castle prepared for war.

"If Nix caught a glimpse of you with the entire front of your shirt torn open and covered in blood, she'd have lost her shit," Fred explained rather unnecessarily. "Come on, those stairs are a no-go. Even if you hadn't fucked up your arm, I don't think we could move all of the rubble without bringing this entire corridor down on our heads. Nix will be working her way back to the Great Hall. Let's go meet her."

Jay nodded, raising his wand and thanking all of Phoenix's gods that it was his right arm that had been dislocated. He couldn't imagine trying to fight if his wand arm were experiencing the odd combination of tenderness and discomfort that his right currently was.

As they moved through the halls, he ran through the muscles in his upper body, beginning with the ones that hurt and moving out from there. It was a grounding exercise that Dr. Lewis had taught him, for there were times-such as the current one that he found himself in-where too much stimulus made it so that his normally very active brain shut down completely. By focusing on one thing mentally, he found it easier to pay attention to what was going on around him.

Though he knew that they had made major ground in the war when they began immobilizing the Falx, Jay was still in a rush to get back to Phoenix. His gut was telling him that something was wrong, and he was relieved that Fred seemed just as determined to get back to the hall quickly as he was.

Jay was grateful that there were only a few Falx on their way back, and less than a dozen of Hastings's men to fight off. The feeling of unease in his chest only grew the longer that it took them to get to the hall, for he knew as well as anyone that the sands of time were running out on the war. He breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it back to the first floor, knowing that they should be meeting up with Phoenix shortly.

The tie on his wrist burned suddenly, the words "Great Hall" lighting up the dimly lit corridors and revealing a hundred things hidden in the shadows that Jay wished he could forget. Though she had tried to hide it, Jay was perfectly aware that Phoenix had harbored a fear of shadows for quite some time now. As the glow of his bracelet dimmed, he found very suddenly that he understood the sentiment.

It was not the darkness that he found himself unwilling to consider as he pried his eyes away from the horrors that had faded again from view. It was the unknown. Anything could be hidden beneath the shadows that stretched over the corners of the hallway, but Jay no longer wanted to be aware of it.

Swallowing hard, Jay looked at Fred, who was looking back at him with an expression of dread that he had little doubt was reflected on his own face. Unspeaking, the pair broke into an all-out sprint.

Jay froze in the doorway of the Great Hall, the sight before him all too familiar and yet completely foreign. It was nothing that he had ever experienced in person, but the sight of families clutching unresponsive loved ones with tears streaming down their faces was something that he had heard and read about from a young age. It was something he hadn't ever thought he would experience himself, and yet, there he was.

But the sound…

Jay didn't think he would ever get the sound out of his head. The sound was what sent him flying back into motion, darting across the Great Hall to the familiar group tucked away in the back corner.

Jay didn't think Phoenix knew she was screaming. Normally, the girl he loved wasn't at all the type to do something so disruptive in the midst of the dead and the grieving.

But Phoenix didn't really seem to be there with them. Even as Jay dropped to his knees in front of her, gripping her shoulders and ducking his head to stare into her big green eyes, Jay could see it. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her middle, her face pale, eyes blank and glossy. Ben held her tightly from behind, letting go only once Jay took ahold of Phoenix. It didn't seem like she had been aware of the contact at all. She was screaming hysterically, the look on her face one of pure shock. Jay had ducked in front of her in hopes of blocking her view of the horrible sight that lay just behind him, but now he wondered if she had really been seeing it at all.

Jay continued to hold Phoenix by the shoulders, talking to her in a desperate attempt to bring her back from wherever her head was at, but it was no use. Fred was knelt just to his left, clutching Phoenix's hand in one of his own and his sister's in the other. The boy was shaking slightly, tears pouring down his face and his lips pressed together so hard that they were white. Jay felt a pang of grief for the twins, who seemed to be losing their family at a rapid rate.

Jay tipped his forehead forward onto Phoenix's, trying to fight his tears for the sake of his girlfriend, whose screams were slowly subsiding into whimpers as her voice gave out.

"Shh," He whispered. "Shh. It's okay, Phoenix. It's okay."

Phoenix froze, falling silent for a moment. He felt his heart clench as her bottom lip wobbled, her body shuddering as she once again became aware of her surroundings.

"Jay," She sobbed, voice breaking in two on the one-syllable word.

Jay picked her up, pulling her into his lap. He was careful to keep her face covered as he cautiously turned them around, pressing his temple against hers and feeling her hot breath fan across his face as she wept silently. Jay shifted his lips to her brow, his words whispering against her skin as he attempted to soothe her. Ben sat at his side, their shoulders pressed together as Jay felt himself sway slightly with the force of his grief.

"Shh, you're alright. Breathe, my love," Jay continued to murmur thoughtlessly, but his focus was caught on something else.

Jay's gaze was locked with another familiar but alien thing.

The eyes that met his own were ones that he knew like the back of his hand, but the blankness that they held, devoid of any teasing, any friendliness, or even the usual hint of sadness, was something new and terrible.

The huge blue-grey eyes, so like that of her mother and siblings, were wide and vacant. The halo of white blonde hair about her pale, bruised face was stained scarlet with blood. He was half waiting for her to leap to her feet and begin bustling about in an attempt to cease Phoenix's crying, but he knew that it would not happen.

Dominique Weasley was dead.

---

Phoenix's Point of View:

---

There were only two options for me after Dom died, but one of them wasn't really an option at all.

I could leave the castle and the battle, returning home with my grief and dooming Jay to take my place.

Or I could throw myself back into the fray.

Minnie had rejoined the fighting after reconstructing the wards around the Great Hall, pausing just long enough to wrap her arms around me and promise that she was going to find a way around the prophecy. She whispered heartfelt condolences and promises that I could feel were empty as they passed her lips before straightening up again with a sniffle.

I stared into my cousin's empty eyes and said nothing at all in response.

Now, I found myself working my way through the hallways, trying to locate the woman again. I needed to ask her to help me find something, for, though Jay and I had written the object off what felt like a few hours ago, before we had gone to bed, it was now the only option that I had left.

Jay and Freddy were fighting with me, though I hadn't paused to fill them in on my train of thought as I plunged back into battle. In fact, I had not said a word besides casting spells since stuttering out Jay's name when I first realized that he was holding me beside Dom's body.

The combat was thick as we worked our way through the halls. Though the Falx were mostly immobilized by now, there were still Hastings' men to contend with, and they were not easing up in the absence of their Master's slaves and monsters.

One of the masked figures flew around the corner before us, a hex already on his lips as he came into view. The man threw the spell faster than I could counter it and Jay went flying, hitting the ground with a solid thud. Freddy dove to cover him as I stepped in front of them both.

Hastings' man blocked the first barrage of spells that I sent at him, but it soon became clear that I was the better duelist, not to mention my rage-fueled casting was very efficient. My arm swung continuously as I fired spell after spell, backing the man down the hallway at a steady rate. He soon found himself seated before me, staring down the length of my wand. The man's own wand, an ugly, gnarled thing, lay a few feet away.

"Bitch."

I waited until he twitched for his wand before laying him out on the floor. Resisting the urge to spit on the man, I whirled around to check on my boyfriend.

Jay appeared to be fine. He was still sitting on the ground, giving me a look of pure admiration. Freddy reached a hand down to him, tugging my boyfriend to his feet and slapping his wand into his fingers.

When I took a step towards him, Jay held out his arms for me. I allowed myself only a moment to squeeze him tightly before moving out of his embrace, knowing that I would lose it if I stayed for much longer, and that I would not be able to get ahold of myself again if I lost it now. Lightning quick, I pressed a kiss to his lips before stepping back completely. Freddy accepted a very quick hug as well before we all took defensive stances once again.

Glancing about to make sure that no one else was going to pop out and begin firing at us, I gestured in the direction that we had originally been travelling. We resumed running down the hallway, with each of us frequently glancing over our shoulders to watch our backs.

I threw myself back into the fight with a fierceness that surprised even me. Jay and Freddy matched my energy without question, defending my back as I defended theirs.

Though the castle had temporarily returned to behaving normally, Hastings was obviously experimenting with his magic once again, for the hallway suddenly shifted beneath our feet.

Freddy let out a sound of pure panic, and I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Jay lunge for him as my cousin staggered, seeming to forget about the battle as he struggled to remain present amidst what was undoubtedly a slew of memories of his father's final moments. I was struck suddenly by piercing guilt, for the two boys were constantly watching out for each other while I was distracted by other things.

The ground beneath Jay and I cracked horizontally, cutting the corridor in half. I had a split second to realize with dread that we were about to be separated once again, watching Jay visibly come to the same conclusion, before his half of the corridor was sliding left and mine was sliding right. The first few times that we had been split up, I had assumed it was simply terrible luck, but I was coming to understand that this might be fate's way of reminding me that I had to finish things on my own. Moments later, I was facing half of a completely different floor, the jagged crack in the ground and the crumbling ceiling the only indications of what had just happened.

My bracelet lit up with the message "Great Hall" from Jay.

The only one of Hastings' men who had remained in my half of the corridor was surveying the damaged structure.

"Weird," He mumbled, sounding far younger than I had expected. The man did not even have his wand lifted as he bent over slightly to examine the jagged floor.

"Quite," I agreed before hitting him with a stunning spell. After a moment's deliberation, I moved his prone body aside, and hit him with a very light sticking charm, so that he would not go flying when the hallway shifted again.

"Very nicely done."

I whirled around, relief filling me when I found Minnie standing behind me. She had a bruise on her forehead, but other than that she appeared unharmed.

"I'm so glad I found you. I need your help finding-"

The corridor began to shift oddly once again, causing Minnie to shake her head, looking exasperated as she grabbed me by the hand and tugged me into a run out of the hallway before it could shift again. I spared a moment to wonder if I might see Jay and Freddy again if we waited, but I knew that my boyfriend had sent me a meeting spot for a reason, and I was unwilling to risk being separated from McGonagall or finding ourselves facing new adversaries because we were trying to wait for the boys.

"I think the mark changed when the spell broke," I told Minnie as we ran, slightly out of breath by the fast pace and spells that we were occasionally hurling.

She nodded, a bit of grey hair slipping from her bun as she did so. I wished briefly that my hair was tied back in some manner, for it was in my face constantly. "Yes, I think it did as well."

Our conversation ended as a bright green spell flew past my ear so unexpectedly that I let out a squeal that would have been embarrassing under different circumstances. I hastily constructed a shield as the Headmistress transfigured a stone lion that began taking all of the killing curses. The spells that Minnie sent at our attackers were fairly dangerous, and I took my cues from her.

We fought until there was only one person remaining. Though the figure had stood behind our adversaries, they had not fired a single spell, and there was not a flat grey mask reflecting the glint of spells upon their face. I knew that Minnie was waiting until we knew for certain that the person was a foe before she fired, but I could feel in my bones that we were not facing a friend. The deeply wary feeling that had spread through me made sure of that.

Based on the way that every mental warning bell that I had was blaring, I was just hoping that we weren't facing the Minister himself. Though I wasready to end this war before more people got hurt, I did not yet have everything that I needed to do so.

We both gasped as the boy stepped into the light.

"Holland?" I asked, somehow shocked to see my brother's blonde roommate standing before me, though we had known that he was on Hastings' side.

Max Holland gave me an empty smile, the scars that crossed his face thrown into sharp contrast by the flickering torches that lined the walls.

"Hello, Phoenix. He's mad at me right now, but I'm going to fix it. We can be together when you take a seat at his table, you know. I just have to fix it," He rambled, no inflection at all in his voice as he stepped closer to us. His hands were shaking violently, I noticed.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Minnie asked him sternly, ignoring the warning noise that emerged from deep within my throat.

"Shut up!" Holland screamed at her, going from complete apathy to terrifying rage in the way that I recalled him doing back when I had done my rounds with him by my side. A part of me was belatedly shocked that I had ever walked around with the boy by myself, for he seemed truly unhinged now as he stood before us, shaking slightly as he panted furiously.

"I have to make the Master happy," He whispered frantically as he trembled in place, eyes darting back and forth as he seemingly tracked shadows from the flickering torches while he stared at the ground. His free hand clawed absently at his hair, tufts of blonde drifting through the air around him.

"Your Master?" I asked Holland, hoping to talk him down a bit so that we could immobilize him without completely setting him off. Something about him set my nerve-endings alight, all manners of bad feelings active.

"I have to make him happy," He whispered, lifting his head to meet my gaze and revealing that he could, in fact, feel one other emotion beyond rage and apathy. The fierce determination in his eyes made my stomach lurch.

"Max-" I began, using the boy's first name in an attempt to warm him to me. Every clairvoyant and regular instinct that I had told me that something very bad was about to happen, but I hadn't the foggiest idea how to stop it without harming Holland. Firing at him felt cruel when I knew that he was not entirely right in the head.

His wand flashed so quickly that there was little time for either of us to react. A flash of light cut through the air, and then Minnie flew to the ground, blood pooling beneath her as she lay very still where she had fallen.

"No!" I screamed, hand coming up to cover my mouth in horror, but Holland did not seem to hear me at all.

Time seemed to slow as he began tracing the notorious lightning-shaped spell through the air. Magic flared in my hands, uncontrollable under the force of my emotions as I realized that he was about to kill Minnie. Months of practice making sure that I knew how to keep my magic from flaring up in extreme circumstances went out the window as his mouth began to form the first syllable of the killing curse. There was a flash of blinding white light, a ball of fire punching straight through Holland's chest as he stared at me with an expression that held nothing at all. He crumpled to the ground slowly, his eyes never leaving mine.

Bile rose in my throat as I ripped my gaze away from the too-still body of Max Holland, rushing to McGonagall's side.

There was blood coming from too many places to keep track of them all, instantly and unpleasantly reminding me of finding Freddy outside of the shop. Willing myself desperately to remain in the present, I fumbled with the tie around my wrist, feeling a bit ill at what I was about to do.

My message went through even though the owner of the bracelet was no longer alive to read it. Freddy and I had once thought that we covered all bases when creating the ties, but I suppose there had been things that even we were unwilling to consider. Regardless of how deeply awful the entire situation was, so long as Luna saw the bracelet light up on Dom's wrist, our oversight would work in my favor.

A moment later, my wrist lit up. I resisted the inexplicable wave of nausea that overtook me when a message came through bearing Dominique's name, for I knew that I would never again receive any sort of note from my cousin again.

"Luna is coming," I told Minnie, trying to keep my voice from rising hysterically. This was not the time. I had to keep it together. The woman did not stir as I spoke, but I continued to whisper reassurances regardless, unsure as to whether I was doing so for her sake or my own.

Wracking my brain for anything that I thought could help, I began summoning various potions from my bag. Minnie remained motionless as I attempted to heal her as best I could, but her pulse continued weakly beating beneath my bloody fingertips. The awfulness of the day was rapidly catching up with me, making me hiccup under a wave of tears that was threatening to fall, and I prayed that no one would stumble across us before Luna got here, for I was in no state to defend myself.

"What happened?"

I let out a sigh of relief as Luna's voice spoke from just behind me, though I didn't cease my efforts to help Minnie. The healer's long fingers soon took over, gently moving me aside. As she worked, I stared at the blood that stained my glowing hands.

"I don't know what he did to her," I whispered, my voice hollow, "But he was going to cast the killing curse next. It was instinct, Luna, I didn't mean to. I would never mean to do it, you know that, right?"

My voice cracked as I pleaded with the bewildered healer, who was throwing me alarmed glances as she attempted to keep Minnie from bleeding out. I sucked in as deep a breath as I could manage, forcing myself to keep it together.

"I killed Max Holland," I told her once I regained control of myself, meeting her shocked gaze head on, desperate for the woman to make it better. It was an impossible task; nothing could make what I had done better, but I still longed for her to accomplish it somehow. "He was going to kill her, so I blew a hole in his chest. I didn't mean to."

Luna blinked, shook her head, and then met my gaze again. Her hands continued casting spell after spell as she spoke, but she kept her eyes locked on mine. "The world does not consist of strictly black and white, but rather of black within white and vice versa, as well as a thousand shades of grey. There are circumstances where the morally high ground does not exist. We are just animals, Phoenix, and you have to understand that sometimes we can either choose to survive or allow ourselves to die."

Tears dripped down my face as I shook my head at her, unrelentingly logical and therefore perfectly aware that there had been other options, had I simply been in control of myself in the moment. "I could have stunned him. The magic was out of my hands before I really thought about it, but I've been practicing to control it. I should have done anything else."

A stretcher appeared beneath the Headmistress, lifting her slowly into the air. Luna gave me a sympathetic look, pressing a bottle of calming drought into my hands.

"Don't get yourself killed," She whispered, her voice pleading, and I realized that, for once, she did not know what to say.

I gave her a look of slight pity, realizing suddenly that the adults did not truly know how to handle war any better than I did. Sure, they knew mechanically how to fight and heal amidst battle, but perhaps there was no way to truly understand and accept such things. Luna could plead with me to stay alive, but she knew as well as I did what my role in this war was.

"We were all created to die," I told her very softly, knowing that I would slip the calming draught into my bag, unopened, as soon as she was out of view. "Some of us are just meant to do so sooner than others. Please take care of Minnie."

I gave the two women one last look as I began to run down the corridor away from them, a sense of finality to the gesture, but I forced myself to avoid glancing in the direction of Max Holland. My footsteps were loud as I ran through the corridors, ducking around several squirmishes and feeling like a coward for it. At one point, a spell was blocked only inches from my face, green light fracturing as the spare bit of stone that had been levitated in front of me shattered under the killing curse. I lifted my head to see who had saved me, and recognized the boy who had bullied Jay on the train before his first year at Hogwarts. He nodded at me as I began to move back down the hallway, and I realized absently that I had never learned his name.

I ran through a tunnel, emerging on the grounds, near the lake.

The bad feeling that had been growing in my stomach all day reached an all-time high as I looked around. I knew that I was close to what I needed, but I suddenly wasn't sure that I would be able to get to it before disaster struck.

The gods had warned me that fate would work against me in this war, and I was quickly coming to understand that they had not been exaggerating.

"Phoenix!"

I knew at once that the man who had just stepped from the tunnel behind me was the cause of the ill feeling that was growing in my gut. Fingering my wand, I slowly stepped to the side, keeping my front to him and turning my back towards the lake.

"Ari," I greeted, trying to fake ignorance as to his alliances, though the cold eagerness in his voice when he had discussed murdering me mere hours ago was hard to forget.

Even with how prepared I was for it, I was barely able to block the blasting hex that the man sent at me. It was strong enough that it nearly fractured my shield charm, and I realized that, inexplicably, Ari Chang hated me.

"You killed him," Chang whispered, his voice quivering with poorly concealed rage, and I fought the urge to vomit at the words. "I heard you confessing to the fucking healer. You stupid bitch! He and I were supposed to make it out together!"

Diving sideways, I watched in slight disbelief as the killing curse Chang had sent sailed over my head and blew a hole in a tree behind me. It was, I realized, the willow tree that I had rested under for so many years. There was a distinct sense of loss within me as the tree collapsed sideways, though I had countless other things that I should have been mourning at that moment. I resisted the urge to pull my golden magic completely within myself, for I was unwilling to risk killing someone else, but I was also aware that I was in grave danger and to rid myself of my greatest asset would be deeply foolish.

"Holland was going to-"

"I DON'T CARE!" The furious man screamed at me, firing another vivid green curse at me. It struck the ground between my knees as I scrambled backwards on my hands and feet. "He was so fucking obsessed with you. Hastings needed him to help with some stupid ritual; I told him that it was a bad idea, but Max just wanted to be useful. You and your family made him feel like he was worthless, and he was so determined to prove you wrong. Hastings thought that he could bring back the dead, but instead he just made Max lose his mind. He came out all messed up, convinced that he was madly in love with you rather than hating you, like he had before the stupid ritual. I was going to kill you today, you know. Max was supposed to grieve over you for a few days and then remember that he loved me. It didn't matter to me what Hastings wants you for. I was only a part of the war because Max wanted us to be, and I wanted to make you and your family pay. The other soldiers made fun of him. They called him crazy, said that I should have left him for dead after Hastings used him, but I loved him. He was mine. You took him from me, and now you'll pay."

"I've never done anything to you," I whispered, too afraid of the look in his eyes to think about this logically. My hands were burning holes in the grass beside me, but I was still too afraid of killing him to try and fight him with my palms. Just out of my reach, visible amongst the bright green grass, lay my wand. I wasn't sure if it would even hold up against the fiery magic running through my hands currently.

"Never done anything?" He repeated the words softly, as though he couldn't believe them, and I could not blame him after what he had just said. "I just told you that you killed-no, fine. You want to know how this all started? I tried out for the Quidditch team three times. Did you know that Phoenix?"

I shook my head, trying to subtly inch towards my wand as a mocking laugh tore through him. He spotted the movement instantly, pointing his wand at me to keep me in place, so I instead began to try and get my bag to open magically, for I knew that it would not be able to withstand the flames licking up my wrists.

"No, I'm sure you wouldn't. Your brother turned me down all three times. The last time he rejected me, it was in favor of you. You were a fucking second year. I'm much better than you, and I was much better than everyone else he chose!"

I leapt backwards as he shot a slicing hex at me, the curse cutting a deep gash in the dirt where my leg had just been resting. My wand was now even further out of my grasp, but I could feel my bag open from where it rested within my pocket, shrunk down small enough to fit, but hopefully not so tiny that my cutlass could not fit through the opening.

"You know, I wrote to the Auror Department after my fifth year. I wanted to be an Auror. Your father was kind enough to personally reject me. He said that I hadn't earned a high enough score in Potions. That was it. No second chances or suggestions. He and your uncle never even took their fucking NEWTs, but I was out of consideration before I even finished school because I got one fucking Acceptable. I've had straight 'E's in Potions since I was in my first year, but I forgot one step during my OWL and that was enough for your father to refuse me completely."

The killing curse missed my head by inches, but a sharp pain shot through my wrist as it was struck by another spell that I hadn't seen as I dodged away from his first attack.

"I just keep getting fucked over by all of you. You know why I truly cannot wait for the demise of your wretched family, though?" Chang asked me, something sick and pleased gleaming in his eyes as he watched me cradle my wrist.

"Because you're crazy?" I spat at him through teeth gritted with pain, silently summoning my cutlass from within my bag.

A look of rage crossed his face, and I knew instantly that I had made a mistake. I tried to scramble to my feet, struggling to hold the sword aloft as I did so, but he crossed the short space between us before I could fully stand and struck me so hard across the face that I saw stars. As I lay on my back in the grass, reeling from the blow, I felt something solid connect with my shin. A scream of pure agony tore its way free of my throat as my leg broke under his boot, and I lost my grip on my blade.

"Your family ruined the life of the woman who helped raise me!" He shouted over my anguished cries, and I could see that he had well and truly snapped. "Hermione Granger-Weasley made sure that no one would ever trust my godmother or show her kindness again, and she never faced a damn consequence for it. My godmother is the best woman that I have ever known. My mother and I never would have made it after my father left without her. She should have been shown the same reverence that your stupid parents are for how kind she is alone, but instead, she walks down the street and people spit in her face."

Sobs wracked my body as I tried to back away from the deranged man, dragging my leg and whimpering in pain. Chang followed me, reaching a hand down and hauling me up by the front of my sweater.

"Say her name," He ordered softly, his tone steeped in hate like I had never known. "You'll die slowly because of Max, but I'm going to kill you because of her. Say her name. Do you even know it?"

He shook me violently when I didn't speak. The motion caused pain to shoot up my leg, making me dizzy.

"Marietta Edgecombe," I whispered, praying that he would somehow decide to take pity on me after hearing the woman's name pass my lips.

"Yes. I'm surprised to see that they told you about their cruelty," Chang snarled. "I suppose that it did little to dampen your heroes' worship for them."

He dropped me then. For a brief moment, I thought that he was going to let me go as he slipped his wand into his pocket. After tucking away his wand, however, he simply reached back down and picked me up by my throat.

Chang grinned at me, his eyes broken and completely mad.

There had been many points in my lifetime where I had known fear, but I had never known any fear like that which filled me as Chang carried me towards the lake.

Kicking my legs furiously despite the pain that shot through me at the action, I could feel bile rising in my throat as he never broke stride. My voice was strangled due to his vice-like grip on my neck and the hysterical sobs that had overtaken me, but I still pleaded with him as he began to wade out into the water. "Please, Ari, I'm so sorry. Please don't do this. Ari, please, PLEASE NO!"

Chang laughed as he shoved me into the swirling depths of the lake.

I fought to keep my mouth closed, but it was a losing battle. Chang would slap me into the water, hold me down until I thought I could take it no longer, and then pull me back out, letting me gasp for air for a brief second before doing it all over again. The third time that he slammed me down, my lungs could take no more. I gasped, desperately hoping that it would be air that entered my mouth.

I gagged, choking violently as water flooded my lungs. My mind was screaming at me to do something, but all I could think about was the liquid that surrounded me. I was living my worst nightmare.

Chang shouted something, and again I was plunged below the waves.

My hands were burning, but my magic didn't seem to affect him. I wasn't sure if it was because of the water that I was covered in and surrounded by, if he was affected but too far gone to care, or if I was simply too weak to have much of an effect on him.

Panic had overtaken me, sobs mixing with a horrible choking sensation as he continued to plunge me into the water repeatedly. My arms were heavy, so much so that I wasn't sure if I would be able to swim even if he let me go. My hair was plastered over my face, smothering me just as much as the water itself.

I realized that I was drowning.

Though I was exhausted, I continued to struggle feebly. Jay would have to finish this if I died. I had to fight. For him.

A flash of light blazed from somewhere above me, and then everything went dark.

---

The lake water was just as unpleasant coming up as it had been going down. There was so much emerging from my lungs that it ran out of my nose even as I coughed it up in great spurts. Tears streamed down my face as I choked.

"Oh, thank god. Thank god. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

My body was hauled into the air as someone clutched me close to them, another set of hands pushing my hair from my face. Through the haze that had settled over my mind, I was reminded distantly of another unexpected plunge into the lake, when Max Holland had been the one to throw me in and Levi and Victoire had been the ones to pull me out. That was, I realized, the beginning of the end for poor Max.

I was still choking, feeling too weak to open my eyes. The body against mine was shaking, great wracking sobs echoing through the oddly quiet air. A third set of hands had maneuvered their way between me and my savior, slapping me on the back in a manner that had more water spilling from my lips.

"D-drink this," Someone whispered over the cries once my lungs felt emptied out, and I felt my heart sink as I recognized my little sister's voice.

I couldn't protest as a potion was forced down my throat, although the last thing that I wanted was to take in any more liquid. As the pepper up potion coursed through me, I forced myself to pry open my eyes.

Freddy was sobbing, his hair plastered to his forehead with water. I realized that he had probably had to nearly dive into the water himself to fish me out. Lily looked similarly devastated, but she was not actively crying as she rummaged through my bag, which must have come free of my pocket at some point. At my back, Alice had settled her chin on my shoulder, one of her hands still rubbing soothing circles along my spine. I couldn't see her face, but I would know the wisps of curling blonde hair that floated at the peripheral of my vision anywhere.

"I'm so sorry, I should have been faster. I had the map, but there are so many people and your name was almost lost under his," Freddy wept, clearly inconsolable as he alternated between scrubbing at his eyes and gripping me so tightly that it was nearly painful. "If I hadn't been close enough-"

I shakily raised a hand to grab his as he broke off, choking on his tears. It was with great relief that I noticed he held my wand as well as his own. He must have stunned Chang. I felt the sudden need to check, to make sure that the boy was unconscious rather than sneaking up behind me to finish the job.

I glanced around, my muscles protesting as I turned my head, and froze as I took in Chang's wide, empty eyes staring back at me. My cutlass stood straight up in the air above his prone body, the fiery faux eyes of the kraken that was engraved in its handle seeming to hold more life than the man that it had slaughtered.

Freddy let out a strangled noise while Alice shuddered furiously at my side. "I had to get him off of you."

I turned to look at my cousin, trying to convey my apology and my sympathy with my eyes, as I knew that my throat was too destroyed for me to speak. Lily was still pulling things from my bag, but I understood suddenly that her single-minded focus was probably, in part, due to her determination not to look at the body that lay a few mere meters away from us.

Freddy shook his head, clearly grasping what I was trying to convey. "No. I would do it again. Fucker was killing you," He said lowly, making Alice shudder once again. I realized that there was something slightly unhinged in my cousin's golden eyes as he spoke the words, but then he blinked, and it was gone in a sudden torrent of tears. Though I expected concern or even fear to well up within me, I knew without having to think about it that I would also go right off of the deep end if anything were to happen to Freddy.

Still, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. My best friend had killed someone for me.

"Don't," He whispered. "Don't cry. It's war, Nix. It happens."

"I need to set your leg," Lily spoke before I could respond, her voice shaking furiously. "Hold still and I'll do it fast, okay?"

Both Freddy and Alice's arms tightened around me, clearly not trusting me to be able to follow my sister's instructions. With a resounding crack my leg healed itself, the blinding pain that accompanied the repair causing me to lean my head heavily against Alice as I fought to keep a scream from leaving my throat.

"I'm sorry," Lily whispered, tears evident in her voice.

"It's okay," I responded, my voice gravelly as it passed through my swollen throat. "You're doing so good, Sparky. I'm so proud of you."

She let out a soft sob, and one of Alice's hands left me. Moments later, another potion was pressed to my lips.

"For your throat," My sister's girlfriend told me, undoubtedly opting not to sign the words because she could see that my eyes were still squeezed tightly shut. I accepted the liquid immediately, relieved when a good deal of the pain faded. Someone then magically dried all of us.

Lily ran a diagnostic spell over me, tending to a few more wounds before beginning to put the medical supplies away. I stopped her with a hand to her wrist before she could, taking the dittany and a cloth from her fingers. She blinked away tears as I carefully dabbed the medicine on the cut that ran lengthwise up her arm, watching her skin knit itself back together and then, unthinkingly, leaning forward to press a ghost of a kiss to her arm the way that Grandma always used to do when we would come into the Burrow with cuts and bruises, though we were both too old for such gestures now.

"Phoenix," Lily's voice cracked, and I prayed that she wasn't about to beg me to stay alive, though she shouldn't have known to do so, as she did not know about the prophecy. When I glanced up at her, I found her instead staring off at something over her shoulder.

There was an odd ringing in my ears as my gaze finally fell on the man. In the back of my mind, I was aware that I had probably noticed him out of the corner of my eye the moment I had walked out onto the grounds. He was, after all, the biggest person in sight. Still, I hadn't let myself acknowledge him until this second.

"Oh. Tell me that that's not…" Freddy whispered, his voice trailing off as he stared at the man.

Blood filled my mouth as I bit my lip, trying to keep from sobbing. There was no time for grieving; I had already wasted too much time mourning the dead when I would be joining them soon.

Someone so large and full of life should never look so small. There was something hollow in the pit of my stomach. I remembered thinking once that Captain Hodge should have been the one to take on Hastings, because I had no doubt that he would have been able to do so. Now, he was dead, and I still had to face Hastings down.

I would never get to sail with him again. His laugh, his easy smile, and his bear hugs were gone from the world forever.

"He was protecting me," Lily whispered, her grief evident in her words.

I squeezed her hand in mine, though I had no words. I never even learned his first name.

"I'm going to stay with you," Freddy mumbled after a few silent seconds had passed.

"You're going to stay with them," I corrected, raising my voice over the protests that immediately began at the words. His statement was enough to propel me back into motion, quickly packing my bag up, shrinking it again, and shoving it back into my pocket. "Jay said to meet in the Great Hall. I don't know how you two got separated, but I need you to go there now. All three of you. Help Luna and-"

Alice was shaking again as I pressed a hand to my lips, struggling to keep control of my voice. Freddy opened his mouth to speak, but I shook my head at him, silently begging him to keep quiet until I could finish. It still should have been nighttime, but instead the brilliant blue sky had become an explosion of color, as though Hogwarts itself were gifting me one final sunset. I thought that it might, perhaps, be the most beautiful one yet.

"Please tell Jay that I love him," I whispered through tears, ignoring the much younger-feeling part of me that was wailing at not getting to say goodbye. "I have to go get something. If I don't, this can't end. You three can help me by getting yourselves somewhere safe in the meantime. Please."

"You're just going to go grab something?" Freddy asked, doubt in his voice.

I shook my head. "I don't know what I'll do after that. I won't lie to you. But I need you to do this for me. Please take them to the Great Hall. Luna will need more healers and…Professor Slughorn died, Freddy. If she needs more potions, you're the best bet that Hogwarts has right now for brewing them."

My cousin met my eyes, his expression as close to resentment as I had ever seen directed at me. Speaking over the bewildered noises that my younger sister was making, he said, "Fine. Just…you'd better fucking save yourself, Nix. Do you hear me? Stay alive."

"What does that mean?" Lily sobbed as Alice and Fred helped me to my feet. "Why can't you come with us? Phoenix, I don't like this. Please-"

Alice took her hand, shushing the other girl gently as I stepped forward to wrap my arms tightly around my best friend. I was aware, distantly, that people were still fighting just beyond the grove of trees that we had wound up in, but I could not deny myself a chance to say goodbye when I would not get any others.

"I love you, Freddy," I whispered softly. "Thank you for everything. You're my best friend and you mean the whole world to me."

Freddy stifled a sob. "You'd better come back, Nix. I love you too. You'd better come back."

I grabbed my sister in a tight hug after he let me go, ignoring how she fought against my hold and demanded answers.

"Lily, I love you. I know that I was mad at you for spying on me, but I take all of that back. Thank you for doing it. I couldn't have done this without you. You are the best sister in the whole world."

Her pleas rose to a wail that would undoubtedly attract attention as I pressed a kiss to Alice's forehead and spun on my heel, moving as quickly as I could away from them before something could convince me to stay. My cutlass made a sickening noise as I pulled it from Ari Chang's back, trying desperately not to look at him as I did so. Though I needed to make my way into the Forbidden Forest, I took a small diversion around the side of the castle in order to keep them from being able to follow me.

I wondered how long it would take Freddy to notice that I had swiped the map from him.

As I rounded the side of the castle, I caught sight of Hastings himself sitting calmly in the middle of the grounds, clearly setting up for a ritual. My golden magic flared furiously at once, but I stamped it down as I worked my way towards the edge of the trees, trying to avoid notice as I moved as quickly as I could.

My time had run out, but I was still missing one essential component. Death's tool had evaded me for years now. There were countless things listed as such throughout history, but none of them had felt just right. Truly, I had wondered for some time why the gods had asked me to procure such a thing at all, for surely it would simply be another tool for Hastings to wield once he caught sight of whatever I was meant to find.

It was not until my miniature epiphany just days ago about the Minister not knowing what sort of magic he had that I had realized why I needed Death's tool.

I pushed myself into the forest, calling the magic within me free in a giant burst. When it came to my fingertips, I shoved it outwards, letting it swirl in a haze before me. The effort made me dizzy.

"Please, show me where to go."

The answer was, as they all seemed to have been, right in front of my face all along. The gods had even told it to me, so directly that I cursed myself for failing to notice it.

As with all things associated with Magus, death was death, no matter what lens you looked at it through. Each culture and society might have different ideas about it and items associated with it, but, in the end, no matter how you spun it, it still remained death.

It has always been and always will be.

I had been searching for the tool that clicked, the way that the spell had, but none of them had jumped out at me. Though I had been assuming that it was because they were all wrong, I now understood that none of them had seemed more a correct solution than the others because any of them would work the same.

Luckily for me, Jay's final translation the night prior meant that I was aware that I had one of Death's tools within my grasp, now that I knew that it did not matter which object I chose to use.

The magic took me deep within the forest, but I couldn't find it in me to be afraid. Once it stopped, I began to scour the ground for what I needed, shoving my cutlass back into my bag so that I had two hands to search with. I was certain that I would find it, though it seemed impossible if I truly thought about it. Sure enough, after only a few minutes of searching, my fingers closed over the object. My magic rushed back into my body at once. It would not abandon me now, in what was surely my final hour on Earth, though I now knew that neither the power of life that flowed through me nor death, which I clenched tightly in my hand, had been the force that was truly instrumental in Hastings' undoing.

In my ear, the overlapping voices of the gods whispered. I had completed every task that they had set before me but that of defeating Corinth Hastings, and I now knew precisely how to do that as well.

Tucking the object into my pocket, I turned and began to run back towards the castle.

It was time.

---

Third Person Point of View (Jay Wood):

---

Everyone glanced up as Fred and Alice hauled Lily into the Great Hall, for the girl was fighting for all that she was worth. The hope that Jay had held of his girlfriend entering the room had been ebbing away with each passing minute, but now it left him in one great rush. He and Madame Scamander reached the trio at the same time.

There was quite a bit of chaos as everyone tried to speak over each other. Finally, Scamander managed to tell Fred that she needed him to brew potions over the sounds of Lily shouting for her sister. As Alice tried to drag the ginger further into the hall, the girl's hand closed around Jay's wrist.

"You have to find her," Lily sobbed, eyes large and pleading. "She wouldn't promise that she was coming back. Please bring her back, Jay."

Though he knew that he shouldn't-couldn't-promise it, doing anything else was unfathomable.

"I will, Lily. I promise. Go help heal people, and I'll bring Phoenix back."

Fred was giving Jay a look that was half-sympathetic and half-hopeful. There was no trace of brown in the golden ring that was the other boy's irises. "She said she loves you," He said, and then he followed the younger girls further into the hall.

"Jay-" Madame Scamander began, and he knew without having to truly think about it that the healer had never once called him by his first name within the halls of Hogwarts.

He took the much shorter woman's hands in his, trying to ignore the blood that stained her fingers. "I am going to do every single thing in my power to make that promise come true. They will weigh my heart right alongside hers before I accept that it is out of my hands. I don't care about the prophecy. I don't care what Phoenix thinks that the gods have told her. Her job has always been to end this war, but mine is to make sure that she comes home afterwards. You stay here, with some of the most important people in the world to her, and make sure that she has something worth coming home to. Leave the rest to me."

"The hand of fate can often be cruel, but there are also times when there is nothing more kind," Scamander whispered in response, tears building in her eyes. "In your mission to save her, please recall that the kindness that was the two of you meeting goes both ways."

"Make sure she has something worth coming home to," Jay repeated, the words an agreement that made the woman's shoulders drop with relief.

His search for Phoenix began the second that he stepped out of the Great Hall, though he had no idea where he was going. The castle was more volatile than ever as he raced through the halls, heading for the highest point that he could think of. At one point, a fragmenting corridor held a woman with bubblegum pink hair, familiar in the most impossible way before the floor shifted and her startled expression was completely lost from view.

Jay thought that he understood then, but there was no time to fully process the idea before he was engaged in another duel. With the best possible timing, Jay's parents emerged from a side corridor, with his mother blasting the man that Jay had just been fighting through the air. The three of them made quick work of their remaining foes.

"Where's Phoenix?" His parents asked in sync as soon as everyone stopped moving. They had considered his girlfriend their second child for years now, the daughter that Jay knew they had always secretly wanted. If he asked them to, they would tear the castle apart to help him stop her from attempting to complete her task. The idea was tempting for a split-second.

"I don't know," Jay shouted, ushering them into a run as the ceiling began to crumble, "I'm heading to the Astronomy Tower to see if I can figure that out."

They made it to the tower with no further issues, but their luck ran out as Jay turned to face the grounds. His mother yanked him to the floor as a slew of spells flew over their heads, the doorway suddenly overflowing with masked figures.

"Don't know how we're going to get out of this one, Ol," His mum shouted to his father, the dismal statement actually an inside joke between the two of them that Jay hadn't ever been let in on.

The brown-haired man turned to give his wife a fond smile, and Jay knew at once that his father had made a mistake. His world seemed to collapse in tandem with his dad as a spell struck the older man in the hip, sending him backwards over the half-wall that surrounded the top of the tower.

Jay's hands grasped his father's wrists just before the man fell out of reach, and he was forced to blink away the oddest feeling of déjà vu. It was strange, because Jay had always been able to overlay his memories with the present without ever having to wonder why something felt familiar, but there was nothing in his mind that matched up with his current predicament. Hastings' magic was dripping down his arms as he struggled to pull his dad up, and Jay wondered if the oozing grey was the cause of the inexplicable sensation.

Neither man spoke as Jay slowly lifted his old man through the air. There would be time for tears and gratitude later, of that Jay was determined, but for now all that there was to do was pull. After what felt like far longer a length of time than Jay should have been able to support his dad, Jay's mother sent a spell towards her husband that made him light enough for Jay to bring back onto solid ground.

Their masked adversaries were sprawled across the ground, unmoving. Jay allowed himself thirty seconds to catch his breath, before realizing that, perhaps, he ought to simply get moving as soon as he could.

"What took you so long?" Jay's dad joked once he had the air to do so. His expression was twisted in pain, his hands both pressed to his hip, but there was no mistaking the teasing look in his eyes.

Jay's mum, on the other hand, looked deeply confused. "What do you mean? I stunned those guys and turned around to help you as soon as I was done. It only took a few seconds."

"I know where Phoenix is," Jay interrupted, though the statement wasn't entirely true. Still, he was more than certain as to where she was going to be very soon, and that was good enough for him.

His parents nodded as they regained their footing, with his dad leaning very heavily on his mother as they began to limp from the tower. The sky was stained a brilliant array of reds and oranges behind them as they reentered the castle.

Though he was well aware that Phoenix was going to be heading towards whatever ritual Jay had been able to see Hastings setting up in the center of the grounds, he could not stop himself from searching for her as they moved through the halls. He knew that he wouldn't see the flash of red hair that he was looking for, but he could not keep himself from scanning the area all the same. He nearly took a curse straight to the face for it, his body reacting before his brain caught up and sending him staggering out of the way just in time.

"Reducto!" Jay yelled, taking out his opponent with a feeling of cold shock spreading through him at how close he had come to being hit. The warmth that spread over his face seconds later made him realize that he had not missed the curse entirely, for, when he pressed his fingers to his forehead, they came away stained red. Replaying the moment back over in his head, he could pinpoint the second that his skin split open, and he forced himself to refocus as nausea roiled in his gut. He looked over to see his mother fighting, his father propped up against the wall behind her. Jay cast a quick healing spell at his face before shouting to her. "Mum, take dad and just worry about getting him to the Great Hall!"

She faltered at the sight of his bloody face but then, glancing over at her husband, nodded, grabbing his dad and hauling him to his feet before setting off.

Jay turned around just in time to see a shield charm appear before his face, deflecting the spell that was flying towards it with seconds to spare.

"Jay, pay attention!" Nikki's voice screamed from his right, and he wondered absently when he had picked up his girlfriend's habit of tuning out the fighting when on a tangent.

Jay began working his way towards her, seeing that she was doing the same. They both turned and pressed their backs together as soon as they reached each other. He felt a surge of relief that he was no longer alone in the battle.

"Where's Phoenix?" She yelled in between spells.

"Had to-" Jay stopped, dragging her down into a crouch with him. They both watched as the killing curse sailed over their heads, nailing the guy that Nikki was fighting between the eyes. Jay retaliated against the man that cast it before finishing his sentence. "-do something. I'm on my way to get her now."

He could feel Nikki nod, the back of her head musing his hair as she did so. There was a sense of relief spreading through him as he adjusted to having his best friend at his back. Perhaps, between the two of them, they could find his girlfriend before it was too late.

The pair fought for a few more minutes before he yanked Nikki into a secret passage, needing a chance to catch his breath and knowing that it would take them very close to the front doors of the school. It was blissfully empty.

"Come on," Nikki said, glancing back at Jay as she marched ahead. She, unlike him, did not seem to need a moment to recover. He had always envied her for that, for she was extroverted and animated in every way that Jay was introverted and quiet. She had always claimed that it was why they got along so well. "We need to-"

What we needed to do; Jay would never know. Time seemed to move in slow motion as a figure strode out into the passage in front of her. He opened his mouth to yell, lifted his wand to fire, stepped forward to push her aside, but it was all too slow. Her eyes widened, her body swinging around to face the figure and crumpling as a flash of green light hit her square in the chest. He caught her as she fell, the green light from the spell that he fired in retaliation reflected in her empty stare.

Jay sank to the ground, clutching her limp body to his chest. She was his best friend. Even before Phoenix had been, Nikki was Jay's best friend. His world had been irreparably changed for the better when the girl had entered his life, and now he was careening aimlessly through space, knocked out of orbit by the crushing blow that he hadn't seen coming in the slightest.

Jay wasn't sure how long he would have sat there if it weren't for the person that flew into the passage so fast that they bounced off of the wall.

They both raised our wands, but Jay lowered his at once as he recognized Ben Nott. There was a brief moment where Jay knew that Ben hadn't seen her, his friend's gaze still trained on his face. Ben's left eye was covered in blood and looked funny, not quite seeming to focus, and Jay wondered if he could see out of it at all. Unable to stop himself, Jay's gaze flicked to her, Ben's undoubtedly following. He glanced back at his friend, watching as the Slytherin lowered his wand, his expression one of pure disbelief.

"Oh god. No," He whispered, his voice breaking under the force of his grief.

Ben moved forward, steps small and hesitant, two words that Jay had never before associated with the Slytherin. There were tears slipping down his face as he stared at Nikki, his sorrow silent but palpable. His hand closed around Jay's shoulder as he knelt down beside him, though Jay couldn't tell if the gesture was for his benefit or for Ben's. Jay could feel how hard his friend was trembling as they both leant into one another, each using the other to remain upright under the crushing anguish that had settled upon the passageway. A strangled sob left Ben's throat, and he raised a hand to cover his mouth as his gaze remained fixated on her.

With tears running down his own face, Jay reached a shaky hand out to close Nikki's deep brown eyes for the last time. It could have been hours that they sat together, two hollow boys and a girl who had been too full of life to now lay so still in Jay's arms.

"We need to go," Jay couldn't recognize his own voice as he forced the words past the lump in his throat. There was a steady throbbing beginning behind his eyes; the entire day had been more than he could take, and it was far from over. "Phoenix is…we're out of time."

Ben nodded, wiping his face with the back of a shaking hand. "What do…what do we do with her body?"

Jay closed his eyes briefly against the pain that shot through him at the words. Nikki had been his first friend. The pain of realizing that he would never again see her laughing with Phoenix and Roxy over breakfast, never again hear her teasing him across the table in the library, never again have her gripe at him when he told her we were having Quidditch practice before nine…it was unfathomable.

"I think we can put her in that alcove and put a notice-me-not on her," He finally said, the words coming out strangled and almost incomprehensible.

They did so in silence, the actions too painful for words.

Jay didn't speak again until they had exited the passageway completely. Nikki was dead. If he hadn't yanked her into that corridor, she might still be alive. Belatedly, Jay realized that he had killed someone in response to Nikki's death. The man's body had still been laying in the passageway when they left, unnoticed in the face of his grief, which was somehow almost worse than knowing that he was the one who had murdered him.

Ben looked surprised when the hand that he placed on Jay's shoulder caused him to jump.

"Jay?"

Jay shook his head to clear his thoughts, a habit that he had picked up from Phoenix. The corridor that they were in was suspiciously empty. His grip on his wand tightened as he looked around, waiting for something to step out of the blood-slick corners.

As though in response to his thought, two of the Falx stepped into the corridor. The two boys immediately moved so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder, their wands raised, but the creatures simply moved past them. The Falx left an eerie silence in their wake as they disappeared around a corner, far faster than Jay had ever seen them move before. Every bone in his body itched to follow them.

Jay looked at Ben and found his eyes already on him.

"They were moving really fast," Ben echoed his thoughts.

Jay nodded. Ben followed unquestioningly when he took off after them, trying to keep his footing on the slick stone floors, which were finally still beneath his feet.

The Falx moved straight out the front doors of the building, where it seemed the battle had gone as well. There were some spells being thrown, but most of the attention seemed to be on what looked to be an electric dome forming on the lawn. Jay knew what was going to happen, but his brain tried to keep the thought at bay. Every flash of red in his peripheral caught his attention, and repeatedly his eyes found grotesque scenes that he would never be able to forget as he hunted the crowd for his girlfriend, praying that she wouldn't be where he already knew in his heart that she was.

Ben swore. His hand closed around Jay's wrist to catch his attention, Jay's eyes falling closed for just a moment as he tried to brace himself.

"Jay," He said, pointing.

Jay's gaze followed his finger, something fraying in his chest as he did so.

"No!"

The scream tore itself from his throat, unbidden. It was pointless; she wouldn't hear him, but still he heard himself pleading as he watched the streak of crimson curls flying through the battle towards the dome. His heart was in his throat, shattering painfully, as his feet began to race across the ground in a fruitless attempt to reach her.

Ben was running behind Jay, swearing up a storm and blocking spells that the other boy was ignoring. In between charms, he too was pleading with Phoenix, his voice anguished. More voices joined the mix now, other people who loved Phoenix undoubtedly cluing into what was happening, but Jay could hardly hear them over the ringing in his ears.

To his horror, one of the bodies that he sprinted past jerked suddenly, half rising to its feet before collapsing back into a pile of mangled flesh. The horrified screams that echoed throughout the grounds clued Jay into the fact that the body beside him had not been the only one to partially come back to life. He knew that this was an indication that Hastings was getting close to his goal-that it was now or never-but Jay still could not accept what that meant. They had not found another means of ending the war, so the end of the war could not be upon them.

He had promised that he would save her. Phoenix could not die.

Jay pushed himself harder, his arm aching as he forced himself to run faster than he thought possible. If only he could fly to her.

As though she could read his mind, his girlfriend's body twisted, a phoenix appearing in its place. For a long second his brain struggled to grasp what had just happened. Finally, he realized that she must have mastered her Animagus training without telling him. As he attempted to comprehend that his girlfriend's Animagus form was a phoenix (though of course it was), the girl in question lifted up into the air and Jay unthinkingly screamed her name once, desperately.

Then she was gone. He realized belatedly that he hadn't even gotten to say goodbye.

They were out of time.

---

Phoenix's Point of View:

---

I tore through the battlefield as I saw the dome begin to form, the brilliant red glow of the ritual lighting up the grounds as the sun finally sank behind the horizon in a matter of seconds. Not reaching the dome before it closed would mean the end of all freedom, and that was simply unacceptable, so I pushed myself harder than I ever had before as I tried to make it in time.

I tried not to look at the faces of the bodies that I passed, but a few caught my eye. Friends, classmates, and even Aurors lay prone in the grass, but I couldn't let myself falter. If I didn't make it before the field of magic closed around Minister Hastings, I would see the bodies of everyone that I loved either rise again as soulless soldiers or be broken in slavery.

As though they could hear my thoughts, the woman in lime-green healer robes that had previously been lying prone suddenly rose halfway to her feet, seeming the compilation of all of my nightmares as her head twitched to the side to look briefly at me before she collapsed back into the grass.

He was so close. I was almost out of time.

With only seconds left before it closed, I found myself at the base of the dome. Taking in the small patch of open air at the very top of the magical field, I knew that there was only one way that I would be quick enough.

I twisted, feeling my body constrict as I transformed into my Animagus form for the second time in my life. Praying that I hadn't failed to fully form a wing or something equally as vital to flight, I launched myself into the air, dropping through the tiny opening at the top of the dome with not a second to spare and hearing the soft hiss as the magical field closed over my head before I had even hit the ground.

I transformed back as soon as my feet touched the grass, drawing my wand as I faced Hastings. People were yelling my name from outside of the dome, but I forced myself to block the sound out. I knew that if I listened hard enough, the voices would become familiar and I would be able to tell who was yelling-and who wasn't.

The man in question looked endlessly pleased to see me standing before him, his magic pooling around the both of us so thickly that I knew to try and step through it would be akin to wading through a bog.

"Phoenix Potter. The irony of it all; the daughter of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, named after the creature of life and rebirth…has come to witness death," He smirked, the look on his face so malicious that it sent chills to my core. "You still have time to join me, you know."

I glared at him, stepping forward and trying to ignore the way that the ground seemed to crumble under my feet. He understood little of irony, I thought, just as he failed to understand a good deal else. I opened my mouth to speak, but he had turned away from me and was waving his hand. Suddenly the wind began to pick up, throwing dirt and leaves about, and blood-red flashes of light began to spark in the air around us.

"You don't pay enough attention, Corinth," I said, the words scathing.

He glanced at me, his eyes a kaleidoscope of grey, so familiar to me. Finally, his expression twisted from the eerie look of longing that he normally sported when looking at me to one of contempt. "You know nothing, you silly little girl."

"You've made it this far because it's all connected," I stepped closer, tipping my head at him mockingly, if only to keep his focus on me rather than his spell for just a bit longer. "But you don't pay enough attention. You see the magic as a tool, rather than something that has a life of its own, and that's where your plan failed."

"It didn't fail!" He screamed, the deep grey magic swirling more quickly around him. "I am to become the new god of death! They will come back, and they will be proud of the world that their son has built for them. You'll see."

The laugh that left my mouth was bitter. "You never had control of death, Corinth. That's why you couldn't succeed when you tried to bring back the dead."

"What are you talking about?" He said, his voice growing soft as he realized that I wasn't throwing nonsense at him.

I looked at him then, at the salt-and-pepper hair that lined his face and his faintly trembling hands. The man before me had been the cause of my nightmares for so many years. He had called forth monsters, raised an army, attempted to claim the power of the gods, and plotted to wrest control of the entire world. I had thought that there would have been nothing more terrifying in the war than the moment in which I faced him, but I found suddenly that I was not scared at all. Corinth Hastings was not a god, but a man who had incorrectly assumed that he was worthy of more in the world than any man was to be allotted. As with any who sought more than they should have, he was to fail in the end. It had always been such-a pattern to be repeated perhaps until time ran out altogether. I was simply a means to the end, just as my father had been before me.

"The magic, Corinth," I told him, the words losing their mocking tone. "It's all about the magic. Gold is life. White is magic. But you forgot to pay attention to what you wanted and what you got. Did you not notice the sky changing above you, or the way that the whole castle moved throughout existence and crumbled under the force of trying to exist on top of itself? Death is black. What you have in your hands? It is time. It has always been and always will it would have served you, you know. All you had to do was use it properly. It's too late for that now, though. You are out of time, Corinth Hastings."

"No!" He screamed, turning to bargain with the swirling mass behind him. In what seemed like a few short moments the man had gone from supremely confident to pleading. "No, I can fix this! If I cannot bring the dead back, then I shall simply reverse time until their life belongs to me!"

"It's too late," I repeated, enunciating each word carefully. "Your focus was never on time. You've called forth death, Corinth, and now death shall come. Unfortunately for you, you have no control of death."

"And you do?" He asked, turning back to look at me again, the words a genuine question laced with mocking disdain.

In response, I held the object clutched in my fingers up. Hastings had been trying in vain to turn time into death, but I had cut straight to the chase and found a way to wield death itself, if only for a little while. It took him a moment to recognize the infamous stone, but I could see the blood drain out of his face when he did.

"You cannot wield death either," He warned, and I could no longer read the emotions that were flitting across the man's face in a rapid procession. "It will take you if you try."

I nodded, having finally accepted my fate in the forest, in what was likely the exact same spot that my father had many years ago. Time was, I had realized, funny like that. What had come to pass once would surely come to pass again. "Yes, death will take me today. That's okay, though. So long as it takes you, too."

Hasting shook his head, fear finally starting to set in as he realized that he had lost. He had never looked more human to me than he did in that moment, eyes scanning the area within the magical field frantically as the ground beneath us began to shift about in a way that had now become familiar to me. Ashen clouds had risen in the air around us, the magic flecked with something that felt as though it were stripping the skin from my cheeks as it whipped through the air around me.

Sand.

Time was here, but it was not the star of the show tonight.

I took another step forward as Hastings backed away, his eyes wild and panicked. The bracelet on my wrist felt as though it was on fire as my family undoubtedly sent message after message, but all I could think about was the name that wouldn't ever appear on my band again.

Dom.

Her name was on repeat in my mind.

No one else was supposed to die. That was the deal. If I had figured this out sooner, maybe the gods would have upheld their end of the bargain. Maybe her life was taken as punishment for my failure to end this war more quickly. I supposed I could ask them myself very soon.

In the haze of clouds, I could see the outline of a tall, powerfully built figure.

Mors.

Death had arrived.

I would have thought that my hands would shake as I lifted them, the item that I had retrieved from the Forbidden Forest held aloft, but they were steady. There was a strange sort of reassurance to be found in knowing that I had truly tried my best to find a different way to end things. Now, I would accept my fate and save those that I cared about.

"Salus," I whispered, turning the Resurrection Stone once.

Safety.

The stone had grown hot in my hand, so much so that I knew my skin was blistering beneath it. Still, I held on, thinking of my loved ones. Casting the spell would end my life, but save my mother's, my father's, my godmother's, my aunts', my uncles', my grandparents', and my cousins' lives. Ben, Arnold, Don, Coleen, Scorpius, Alice, Jack, Nikki, and Lana would live on because of my actions. Gabriel would get to grow up in a safe world because of my sacrifice, and he would get to do it with both of his parents at his side. It was all worth it, so I held on.

"Otium," I said, a bit louder, giving the stone another turn. It began to glow a fiery red.

Peace.

"Stop!" Hastings screamed, stepping towards me with a crazed expression. The ground was still shifting beneath our feet, but he struggled forward as best he could, hands clasped together before him in a pleading gesture. "You don't understand what you're doing!"

I know exactly what I'm doing.

I was doing it for my siblings.

For my baby brother and the memories I had of ruffing already messy hair against shouts of protest, teasingly clearing the air after a fight between our siblings, trusting looks and quiet confessions, the grin on his face as his best friend laughed, the feeling of looking at the kindest person in the world and knowing that they thought the same of me, the joyful look that he got when he won the trust of a new magical creature, and defending each other fiercely and without question.

For my twin and for memories of long nights lain in bed eagerly anticipating going to Hogwarts, my first time on a full sized broom with his encouraging voice in my ears, spinning around and around on the dance floor at one of Slughorn's parties, early morning tea in fuzzy socks and beanies as the sun rose over our icy yard, watching him fall in love for a second time with the only girl he had ever been in love with, and fights that ended in whipped cream all over the kitchen floor and laughter echoing around our home.

For my big brother and the fond memories that raced through my brain of creating stories for the stars above our heads while we laid out on the roof, advice given through owl after owl, silver eyes giving me a look of pure trust, a thousand bedtime stories and makeshift games when our parents worked late, and standing on his shoulders to put the star on top of the Christmas tree.

For the boy who never had to be my eldest brother, but chose to be a wonderful one. Because he chose to be my big brother, I had memories of laughing so hard at his truly horrible jokes that we both cried, always knowing who would win Quidditch matches before they were finished because he had a sixth sense for it, finding the courage to use floo powder for the first time with his encouragement even though it scared me, and watching him make cookies for everyone at two in the morning just because we couldn't sleep.

Especially for my sweet sister, who gave me memories of sister-secrets and pinky swears, brown eyes glinting as we watched our brothers walk into a prank that we had set up, tying ginger hair back while she smiled at me in the mirror, a bed full of books on healing, the sweet smell of our rooms when she hung her herbs to dry in our windows, matching scars on our knees from falling out of trees, a mischievous smile countering doe-like eyes, and unwavering love and support during the most horrible parts of war.

For my cousin and my best friend, and our memories of jokes and pranks designed to bring laughter when it was the last thing on our minds, secrets whispered late at night without a good solution in sight, quiet days spent tucked away in the Room of Requirement, motorcycle magazines and dragon books littered over messy bedspreads, a hazy grin through the smoke caused by a simmering potion, piggy-back rides and tight hugs, and the way that he always knew precisely how to make a bad situation better.

I was, of course, doing it for Jay. If there were a single word that could summarize his role in my life, it was unknown to me. Tears filled my eyes as I recalled hands gripping my shoulders tightly, eyes blazing as they looked into mine, a too-big sweater smelling of him easing me to sleep, the way he never failed to tell me was proud of me, listening to him rattle off facts with a broad grin on his face, the way that only he could pass the quaffle just right, the feeling of safety that I got with his arms around me, Circe purring in his lap in front of the fire, knowing that I could tell him anything and he would listen, the feeling of his mouth on mine, the way his eyes looked when he laughed, and the way that he looked at me when he thought my attention was elsewhere.

It was worth it. I could not stop the memories that raced through my mind as my mouth struggled to form the final word to the spell, for the sands of time were still stripping the top layer of skin from my face, and time was nothing if not memory.

Absently, I wondered if I was on fire. It would certainly explain the pain that gnawed at every part of my body.

Most of all, I was doing it for Dom.

At the end of the day it was all for her; so that they didn't end up like her. The words that her last letter had contained, her promise to finally come home and her eagerness to introduce our family to the love that she had been searching for, echoed in my ears. She had been so full of life, so in love with life, and it had been stolen from her. The world had been robbed of her voice, her laugh, her wit, and her brilliant soul.

She had been a masterful concerto, one that had only just completed the transition from a nocturne into something more lively-a tune that no one would ever hear now, because her life had been ended long before she had the chance to play her finale.

As I stared at Hastings through a haze of agony, the final measure that Dominique had played echoed in my head. I would never hear what came next.

He had wielded time, stolen hers and now mine, but I would give him what he had wanted all along. For I had been gifted life, and, in exchange for my own, I would give Corinth Hastings death before he could blur the lines between the two forever.

My head was spinning, my hands were shaking, and my voice was just barely there, but the final word of the spell was resolute as it passed my lips.

"Anima," I breathed. I gave the stone one final turn, the fierce golden magic that had been swirling around me surging into action as I did so.

Life.

A pale shade of Dom was standing before me, a smile upon her face. Her hair was more golden than it had been in life, her eyes more silver, but she was unmistakable.

The dome blinked once, creating a momentary discrepancy of energy in the air around us before it winked back into existence again, and I found myself wholly unsurprised when the crackling electric field subsequently burst into flames. Everything around me looked slightly off kilter, as though the edges of my reality were blurring into another one.

My wand arm was numb. For a brief second my eyes caught on the bracelet that my godmother had given me, mesmerized by the way that the gleaming stones reflected the flames that surrounded me. Golden magic drifted about lazily, still clinging to me but also filling the air around me. Both my wand and the stone had fallen to the ground at some point. I didn't bother to pick them up.

Hastings was screaming, a terrible sound that seemed to come from his very soul, and, if I looked at him closely enough, I could see his spirit fragmenting between our realm and the other one that had overtaken us.

Confusion gripped me, because the spell had called for the death of the one who cast it, yet I was still alive. I could see the figure of Mors, but they still did not reach for me.

I was named for the Order, but the Order of the Phoenix had been named for the hope that its members had for creating life from the ashes, just as the infamous creature notoriously did.

It's almost ironic that they had hoped their world to be a phoenix rising from the ashes and back into life without ever stopping to contemplate the inevitability of the fire to follow.

Furthermore, few people know that, while a phoenix's death is inevitable, there eventually comes a day when its return to life is no longer so. Phoenixes are not immortal, and so at some point they will simply fail to rise back into life from the ashes, burning instead to the fiery end.

Phoenixes are, perhaps, both the best analogy and the best warning for the world of men. No matter how many times man finds peace, war will come again. Eventually, there will come a war that man cannot win.

The phoenix will cease to be reborn.

Flames danced at the corners of my vision, and I realized that I was truly alight this time. The pain that I had been anticipating overtook me, so fierce that I could not even be sure that I managed to open my mouth to scream in my agony. Gold magic added a hazy hue to the world, protective as it clung to me desperately. My vision blurred, and Dominique's faint form reached out for me as my legs gave out completely. I crumpled to the ground, but the impact caused me no pain. In fact, my anguish seemed to be receding just as quickly as it had come, leaving a blissful numbness in its wake.

As I lay on my back, staring up at the night sky, my eyes found Sirius for the last time. I wondered if Jay would still think of me in the future when his eyes found the brightest star in the sky. One final flicker of pain shot through me at the thought, and I turned my head to the side as though to banish it. Then, the magic left me, curling slowly, reluctantly across the ground towards Mors. Sound ceased to exist, and I felt my heartbeat slow. I knew that life had left me, and death had come for me in its stead.

On the horizon, the faintest hints of pink were beginning to form, time returning to its proper point just in time for the sun to rise.

The first rays of sunshine mixed with the orange haze around me as fire overtook me, and I knew no more.

---

Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following.