Chapter Fifty: Last Ride of the Day

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" and "The Heart of Everything: Shallow Bay" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.

Time: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship

Rating: PG-13

Woosh...

Marcus looked up as wand sparks raced over his head, barely missing him. A number of people around him had found themselves forced the ground, as the Dark Lord screamed.

Death Eaters were disappearing, while those who were either brave or stupid enough to remain raced forward. The front lines were already clashing in a greater fury than ever. The screams made him want to cover his ears and run for cover.

Katie looked at him. "Well, this is it."

Marcus nodded. "I guess so."

They charged into the masses. Marcus ducked as a killing curse was sent toward him, he didn't even bother looking behind him to see if anyone had been hit. Really, he didn't want to know.

"Get back!" someone screamed. "We're going into the Great Hall!"
Marcus's sent a curse toward the Death Eaters. "What?!"
"The Great Hall," the boy panted. Already he was bleeding several places. "The Great Hall, we're supposed to get inside."

"That doesn't make any sense. Are they trying to get us all killed?" Marcus snapped.

The boy looked up at him with terrified eyes. "I'm just telling you what I was told." He took off running, disappearing from sight.

Marcus looked around. The Death Eaters were driving them back, even with their weakened numbers. He took off, running back towards the castle. This didn't make any sense to him. He did a quick scan of the battle, no sign of Potter. Was he actually dead or was Marcus's mind just playing tricks on him? He could have swore that Hagrid's arms had been empty.

Inside the Great Hall, people were battling in close quarters. Marcus could see several people duelling Voldemort at once and, by the looks of it, they were losing. How could one wizard be so powerful?

"You!"

Marcus make the stupid mistake of turning to see who was talking to him.

Bellatrix had her wand pulled out and was pointing it right at Marcus's heart. "I killed you."

Marcus raised his own wand and pointed it at her. "Did you ever think to check for a body or are you really that stupid, bitch?"

Bellatrix snarled at him. "Crucio!"

Marcus gasped as pain soared through his body. Unable to keep himself upright, he feel to his knees, eyes watering.

"You deserve to die!" Bellatrix screamed.

The curse ended, Marcus scrambled to his feet, pointing his wand at her. "Confringo!"

With a quick wave of her wand, the curse disappeared, leaving her standing, unharmed. Her shrill laughter filled his ears. "Do you really think you can best me?" She started charging toward him, wand still pointed at him. "Do you really think you, little boy? You're nothing more than a child. Expelliarmus!"

Marcus watched hopelessly as his wand soared out of his hand and landed several metres away from him. He backed up, stumbling over one of the benches lining the walls. If he could get high enough, he could probably jump down and get away from her. He looked at the benches, there was no way he could, because he would have to put his back to her and there was no way in God's little creation that he was going to do that.

"Stupefy!"

Bellatrix froze as the spell struck her square in the book.

Marcus looked over at his saviour. "Thanks."

Hermione bent down, picked up his wand, and walked over to him. "No problem."

Marcus took his wand from her, just as Bellatrix regained movement. Ginny and another girl, who Marcus didn't know, rushed over to them. Bellatrix and Voldemort, who was fighting about fifty yards away, were duelling multiple people and besting them.

A Killing Curse shot close to Ginny, missing her by centimetes.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

Mrs. Weasley threw off her cloak as she ran, freeing her arms. Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of her new challenger.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, and with a swipe of her wand she began to duel. They watched with terror and elation as Molly Weasley's wand slashed and twirled, and Bellatrix Lestrange's smile faltered and become a snarl. Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the witches' feet became hot and cracked; both women were fighting to kill. (Rowling 736)

Marcus looked at Hermione. Both of them had confused looks on their faces. He tightened the grip on his wand. Jasmine came rushing over to aid them.

"No!" Mrs. Weasley cried. "Get back! Get back! She is mine!" (Rowling 736)

Marcus found himself being forced back against the wall by his mother. "What do we do?"

Jasmine had her eyes forced on the two remaining fights: Voldemort and his three opponents and Molly and Bellatrix. Voldemort's was filled with cold hatred. "Stay out of the way and stay alive," she hissed in a way that he had never heard before. She was standing in front of Marcus, shielding him.

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunted Bellatrix, mad as her master, capering as Molly's curses danced around her. "When Mummy's gone in the save as Freddie?"
"You-will-never-touch-our-children-again!" screamed Mrs. Weasley.

Bellatrix laughed.

Molly's curse soared beneath Bellatrix's outstretched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart.

Bellatrix's gloating smile froze, her eyes seemed to budge: for the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed. (Rowling 737)

Marcus watched in horror as McGonagall, Kingsley, and a teacher who he didn't know where blasted backwards, no longer in control of their own bodies. Voldemort turned, his face filled with fury as the last of his loyal friends fell, exploded into nothing more than a pile of dust. He raised his wand, pointing it at all Molly Weasley.

"Protego!" someone screamed.

Marcus's dark eyes looked through his mother's bushy hair, but could see nothing. The Shield Charm expanded in the middle of Hall. Voldemort's eyes scanned the Hall, as Harry Potter pulled off an Invisibility Cloak.

"He's alive," Katie whispered.

Marcus jumped. He hadn't even noticed that she was now standing next to him.

"Are you okay? I saw was happened," she whispered again.

Marcus nodded. "Yeah, what about you?"

"Never better."

Voldemort and Potter were staring at each other, appearing as if they were daring one another to move. Then, they began to circle each other, in a match to the death.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry said, loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to me."

Voldemort hissed.

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and of us is about to leave for good."
"One of us," jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taut and his read eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" Voldemort screamed. (Rowling 737-738)

Marcus looked on frozen. His head felt heavy, almost as if he was underwater and unable to breath. He slide his hand into Katie's. There was still time to pull this off. Even though it looked like it was over, there was still time for one final ride of the day.

Katie's blue eyes locked onto his. "Whatever happens, I love you."
Marcus nodded. "Love you too."
The pair in the centre of the Hall were circling each other with greater intensity, still jeering at each other. A part of Marcus wished that they would hurry up and get this over with, while another part didn't want to see how it ended.

He tuned out their bantering. He didn't want to listen to them go on about love, the dead, and figuring out who owned some stupid wand. The Elder Wand was just a fairy tale, everyone knew that, everyone but these two.

A red glow burst suddenly over Marcus's head. He looked up at the enchanted ceiling, but saw nothing. Turning his attention elsewhere, he saw something that he had been longing. There it was! The edge of the early morning sun appeared over the sill of a widow. The light struck both Potter and Voldemort, causing them both to appear as a flaming blur.

Marcus winced at the shriek of two very, very different spells.

"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
 The boom of the cannon blast sent Marcus's ears ringing. Golden flames erupted from the pair, ending in the dead centre of their death circle. Marcus stared at the green light, saw something, maybe a wand, go flying through the air toward Potter, who reached out and caught the wand. Voldemort fell backward, his arms splayed as if he were giving himself up to the heavens, the eyes nothing more than rolling slits. He hit the floor, feeble and shrunken, with his hands empty and soul long gone. The Dark Lord was no more and the Boy Who Lived stood over him like the gods of Mount Olympus.

Marcus and Katie looked at each other stunned. Was the Dark Lord really gone? Did what they just saw actually happen?
"HE'S DEAD!" a boy screamed to the right of Marcus, his voice filled with joy. "HE'S DEAD! WE'VE WON!"
Cheers erupted in the Hall as the masses charged forward into the sunlight, eager to get a closer look at the man they feared and to touch Potter.

Katie threw her arms around Marcus's neck. "We did it!"

Marcus leaned in and kissed. Yes, they had done it. They had made it to the end of another day. Damon caught Marcus's eye and smiled, something he hadn't done in such a long time.

Everything was just happening to fast. There were celebrations of grief and joy, chanting and crying. A new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was named, the Death Eaters were either on the run or being captured, and the innocents were finally being let go. Voldemort's body was carried off to someplace that Marcus didn't know.

Food appeared from nowhere as Marcus settled down at the Slytherin table with his friends and family. Katie, still glowering, leaned into him. "What next?"

Marcus shrugged. All he wanted was a hot meal and a good night's sleep.

Katie bit into a piece of chicken. "We could always figure that out tomorrow."

Tomorrow was a new day, one that could be filled with who knows what, but, for today, he just wanted to relax and get off of this ride. There was just something good about returning to normalcy, especially when things haven't been normal for so long.

Oh my gosh, guys, there's just the epilogue left. Wow, I can't believe that this is almost over. I've been working on this for four years now and it's almost gone. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Thanks for reading!