oOoOoOo
The Bodyguard
Chapter 35: The Final Battle
Draco opened his eyes and stared up at the soot-stained ceiling. The warm, stone floor pressed against his back. His head hurt.
"Harry?" he muttered. The last thing remembered was kissing the Gryffindor, because he'd decided not to remove his Horcrux.
Smoke tickled Draco's nostrils.
He snapped into horrified wakefulness. Hermione and Ron were lying, stirring and muttering, but not fully conscious, by his side. But where was Harry?
The Slytherin sat up so fast that the world tilted around him and he nearly blacked out again. His head stabbed with pain and his eyes blurred. He could just make out the tall, thin figure of Snape, his robes rippling as he sent a vortex around the room, to pick up the smoke and ashes that heralded the destruction of a Dementor.
Snape looked down at him solemnly. "It's done," he said.
oOoOoOo
Harry didn't know where he was, but he wasn't alone.
Under blue skies, away from the river's edge, where the willows waved but didn't womp, he ran with a stick in his hand, playing with a black dog, as big as a bear. He waved the stick near the dog's muzzle, and the dog snapped and barked excitedly.
They ran past a picnic blanket, where a red-haired woman, and man with messy black hair leaned casually on their stomachs, watching them and smiling, and a white-haired wizard, humming like a bumblebee, his magnificent robes brushing the dewy grass, winked cheerfully at them.
But Harry wasn't entirely happy. As he puzzled over what was missing, a change came over the day.
Dark clouds swept over the sky, blocking out the light. A warm rain started to fall. Strong winds buffeted and shook him. He ran for the tree, where the picnic blanket lay, and took refuge in the deepening twilight, but the rain grew heavier.
He pressed up against the trunk. The raindrops trickled down his face, and into his mouth...
...they tasted salty.
An ache started in his head. He realised he was lying down, not standing up, and it was dark.
But the gale still buffeted his shoulders and roared in his ears. It sounded like words...
"Harry, please wake up!"
"He's breathing. The Dementor can't have taken his soul."
"Kissed bodies still breath."
"Oh no!"
"This is all your fault, Severus! I'll kill you!"
"You and who's army?"
"I hate you! Just you wait! Harry, wake up! How could you do this to me?"
Harry's forehead ached and burned. Someone was gripping his shoulders and shaking him. He wanted them to stop. He didn't want the ones he loved to be unhappy. Painfully, he cracked open his eyes.
Draco's face, brick red with emotion, hovered above his own. Their eyes met and Draco's eyes widened.
"Harry, speak to me! Are you in there?" Tears dripped off his face, and into Harry's mouth.
"Draco?" Harry couldn't recognise his own voice. His throat felt full of sandpaper, and he could taste smoke.
But Draco's face lit up in ecstasy, as though that croaked name was the best sound he'd ever heard "You're alive! The Dementor didn't suck out your soul!" He flung his arms around Harry.
Weakly, Harry raised a hand and patted Draco's back. He tried to say, 'I love you', but it came out as a wheeze.
Draco looked him urgently in the face. "How do you feel?" he demanded.
"Okay," Harry lied valiantly.
"Rubbish!" snapped Hermione, crouching down. Like Draco, her face was flushed with crying.
"Tell us the truth, so we know how to fix you," said Ron, crouching down too. His face was stricken with grief and fury.
Harry winced under their glare. "My throat's closing up, and I feel like I've had a tooth pulled, without anaesthetic," he croaked. "But not out of my jaw. Out of my head." His hand went up his forehead and came away bloody.
"Your scar has broken open," said Snape. "You may also have breathed some of the hot smoke, when I destroyed the Dementor." He crouched down gracefully beside Harry and pointed his wand.
Harry saw several spells flash, and to his relief, the pain in his head and throat vanished. Even his forehead no longer felt warm and sticky. "Thank you. That's much better."
"You're thanking him? He set a Dementor on you!" cried Draco.
"We woke up, and found you lying there, covered in blood and unconscious. You wouldn't wake up, Harry. Not even Enervate worked!" Hermione wiped her eyes.
"I wanted to take you to St Mungo's right away, but Severus forced us to wait and see if you'd wake up naturally." Draco glared at his ex-teacher. "We've been waiting a full FIVE MINUTES!"
Snape rolled his eyes.
"Five minutes? Is that all?" Harry was amused. His friends and boyfriend were reacting as if he'd been in a coma for days.
"It felt like years," said Draco. He glared furiously at Snape. "This is all your fault!"
"Don't blame Severus," said Harry. "It was my idea. I used Legilimency and asked him for help stunning all of you, so I could get my Horcrux removed."
The others looked shocked, and not only because Harry had used Snape's first name.
"It was YOUR idea to stun us, Harry?" asked Draco. There was a dangerous growl to his voice, like the first rumble before a volcanic eruption.
"I'm afraid Harry is correct. Even six years in Gryffindor House couldn't stamp out his natural Slytherin tendencies. What a pity I didn't get a chance to take you in hand earlier, Harry. I might have made something of you," Snape said dryly.
Harry groaned.
"There is one more test I must make before I'm satisfied your Horcrux is gone. Can you speak in Parselmouth, Harry?" Snape asked.
"I'll need to see a snake-"
"Serpensortia!" said Snape immediately, and a tiny, black snake appeared and coiled over his hand.
Harry knew immediately something had changed. Whenever he'd seen a snake before, even a picture, he'd felt a discernable click, as though gears were shifting in his head. But not now. He tried to greet the snake in Parselmouth. "Uh, hullo?"
"That was English," said Snape.
"Hullo snake?" Harry tried again. The snake didn't respond.
"Still English," said Snape. "That will do." He made the snake vanish. "You can no longer speak in Parselmouth, Harry. Voldemort's soul has truly left you."
Harry found he wasn't entirely glad. "I'm going to miss chatting to snakes at the zoo," he said.
"But Voldemort will miss his soul fragment more," said Snape smoothly. He eyed Harry. "Can you sit up now?"
Harry did. He looked down at his body, hunting for dead, withered areas, like Dumbledore's hand. But he couldn't find any. "That's strange. I didn't burn. Why didn't I burn? All the other Horcruxes did." He looked up at Snape. "Did you stop the burning spell?"
"There WAS no burning spell. I suspect Voldemort intended to implant one after he'd killed you. But after his Killing Curse backfired, he was incapable of further magic."
"Wonderful!" said Harry joyfully, and got to his feet. The rest of the quartet stood up around him. He grabbed Draco's shoulder for support, but then caught sight of his face and froze. Draco had never looked angrier. Even Hermione and Ron looked furious.
"Is Harry cured?" Draco asked Snape coldly, not taking his pale eyes off his boyfriend.
Snape gave a curt nod.
"Absolutely sure?" Draco's eyes narrowed into slits.
"I'm fine," said Harry.
Draco's face suddenly became stormy and he yelled at the top of his voice. "WELL, WE'RE NOT FINE! YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO US? WE'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK!"
Harry took a step backwards. "Sorry."
"USING STUPEFY WHILE I WAS KISSING YOU! HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME LIKE THAT?"
"You lied to us, Harry!" shouted Ron.
"You might have died having that Horcrux removed! You might have suffered brain damage!" shouted Hermione.
"HOW WOULD WE TELL IF HE HAD BRAIN DAMAGE? STUPID, NOBLE BLOODY GRYFFINDOR!" Draco yelled.
"A Gryffindor with Slytherin tendencies," Snape pointed out silkily. He seemed vastly amused by the shouting. "Your friends actually tried to attack me, just now, when they thought I'd killed you, Harry."
"But we couldn't even get near him," said Ron.
"So it's HARRY now, is it?" Draco snarled at Snape.
Snape smirked. "It IS a change, isn't it? But I'm far more inclined to be friendly to someone who should have been in my House. A Slytherin Gryffindor, so to speak."
"But that's even worse than a plain Gryffindor!" Draco spluttered. "Harry's not only stupidly brave and noble but he's SNEAKY about it."
"I had to get rid of that Horcrux," said Harry. "Sorry, I scared you but it had to be done."
"HAD to be done, did it?" sneered Draco. "Is that so? YOU BASTARD! You overly heroic, smart-arsed, two-faced, tricky BASTARD!"
Harry grabbed him and silenced him with a kiss. When he broke the kiss, Draco's eyes were closed and he was breathless.
"That shut him up," said Snape to Harry. "Nearly as effectively as the magic word."
"You mean sorry?" asked Harry. "Hermione's already told me that one."
Snape smirked. "No, Silencio! Far more effective than sorry!"
Harry laughed.
"You wouldn't dare use Silencio on me!" said Draco, opening his eyes.
Snape raised his wand and Harry hastily put himself in front of his boyfriend. "Enough! Please! Let's put it all behind us now."
"It IS behind us." Snape stared at Harry's forehead. Harry had never seen him look happier. "Your scar has completely gone, Harry. Do you know what this means?"
Harry raised a hand to his forehead again, but his fingers trailed over smooth, clean skin. He grinned. "It means Voldemort is mortal, thanks to you!" Snape beamed at the thanks, and Harry had an urge to keep going. "Congratulations, Severus, and thank you! This is your victory. Using Dementors to destroy the Horcruxes was a work of genius."
Snape looked even happier; so happy that Harry guessed he rarely heard thanks or congratulations. It occurred to Harry that there was something else Snape hadn't heard.
"Did you know my Aunt Petunia never told my mother of your visit, to apologize and explain about the Love Potion?"
Snape froze. His face fell, and he seemed incapable of speech for a moment, then he said huskily, "No. I thought Lily had chosen not to have anything more to do with me."
"She didn't know," said Harry.
Turning away abruptly, Snape said, "I see..."
Harry didn't know what to say. He wondered what would have happened, if his mother had been given the choice of Snape or his father. Would he be standing here today?
There was silence for a while.
Then Ron spoke. "Mortal..." he appeared to be tasting the word. "So we've won then."
"Not quite," said Snape delicately, turning back around, his eyes now shielded with Occlumency. Harry didn't begrudge him that. "There is the fact that Voldemort is still the most powerful dueller alive. Coupled with the fact he is at Hogwarts now, surrounded by all five hundred of his Death Eaters."
"Hagrid will fight them!" Hermione clapped her hand to her mouth. "He'll be killed!"
"Hagrid is not at Hogwarts," said Snape.
"We saw him there, just a few hours ago," said Ron.
"I made sure he received an urgent message to visit his brother in the Forbidden Forest at seven o'clock. That will keep him away for hours," Snape explained. "I also told my mother and step-father to flee. Headmaster McGonagall is visiting relatives on Skye, and it's summer, so there are no other teachers present, and no students."
"What about the house elves?" asked Hermione.
"All hundred and ten of them are at Hogwarts. They wouldn't have missed this for the world."
"How can you joke about house elves being in danger?" said Hermione. But Snape ignored her.
"What about the hostages from the Ministry of Magic, and St Mungo's?" asked Harry.
"I tried to talk Voldemort out of that side of his plan. But, at least, the point of hostages is that they will be kept alive. As long as they don't cause trouble."
Harry bristled. "Even if I'm not the Chosen One, we've got to go to Hogwarts and stop Voldemort," he said.
"Indeed," said Snape.
"We can fit under my cloak. But Voldemort can see through cloaks."
Snape sighed. "Allow me to provide a disguise that he hasn't managed to see through yet."
"What disguise is that?" Harry's interest was piqued.
"I am the Dementor Master. Over the years, I've been expected to subject hundreds of Muggles to the Dementor's Kiss. But what I really do is this." His wand twitched, and Draco, Ron and Hermione gasped.
"What? What is it?" Harry asked. He was fighting off a strong impulse to stare blankly into space, but otherwise, he felt normal.
Draco said nothing, but conjured a mirror. Harry peered into it, and saw that his eyes appeared soulless, blank and dead.
"A simple Glamour on the eyes, and a mild sedative, to make the victim act soulless," said Snape. "Voldemort won't try to kill you, if he thinks you're already dead. He is aware I planned to lure all four of you to Malfoy Mansion and he will expect to see your Kissed Inferi. Except you, Harry. He wants you kept alive."
"He's not looking very alive at the moment," muttered Draco, looking ill.
"Tut, tut! I failed to follow Voldemort's orders to the letter," said Snape mockingly. "How remiss of me!" His eyes glittered. "I can't wait to see Voldemort's face when he sees I've destroyed one of his Horcruxes. By accident, of course! Push your hair off your forehead, Harry. I want Voldemort to be in no doubt at all that your Horcrux has gone."
"He'll kill you," said Hermione.
"Perhaps," said Snape. He seemed indifferent.
"We'll kill him first," said Harry fiercely. He paused, and felt some of his confidence drain away. "Or the Chosen One will. If he shows up. Even if we die tonight, at least Voldemort is mortal."
"Do not try anything," said Snape, his eyes flashing with sudden anger. "YEARS of planning will come to an end tonight. Voldemort is exactly where I want him. Keep quiet, look dead, and don't give me away!"
"If you think Harry will pass up a chance to act heroic tonight, you've lost your mind," muttered Draco.
oOoOoOo
They were able to Apparate right outside Hogwart's closed front doors.
"The wards are still working inside, but not outside. The castle is in the Dark Lord's hands," said Snape. He was wearing a white mask, along with his usual black robes. The castle grounds were deserted but anyone watching would have thought Snape was talking to himself, for his four companions resembled walking corpses.
Harry noted Snape's use of the term 'Dark Lord'. They were in enemy territory now. Subtly, he pointed at the turrets of the castle, where wisps of white smoke could still be seen.
"The sixth floor was on fire recently. Some abysmally foolish person must have given Hagrid Firewhiskey," murmured Snape, as if to himself.
Draco stared blankly ahead.
Snape's lips twitched. He placed a hand on either door and thrust them open.
A forest of heads turned. The Great Hall was fuller than Harry had ever seen it. The four House tables had been destroyed, to make way for throngs of black robed, white masked Death Eaters. They stood in lines, with a gap down the middle, looking towards the main table, at the top of the hall, where the teachers and headmaster should have been sitting.
High-ranking Death Eaters occupied the main table instead. One seat was unoccupied. In the headmaster's magnificent chair, sat Voldemort, his chalk-white face luminous, in the light of hundreds of floating candles, and the starry night sky overhead.
Harry inwardly seethed with righteous anger at seeing Voldemort where Dumbledore had been.
The hostages lay on one side of the main table. They were unconscious and Harry could see why. Barnes's corpse lay in front of the main table. He'd apparently attacked Voldemort and been killed. The rest of the hostages had been stunned to keep them quiet. Among them were Scrimgeour, and Umbridge. Harry guessed the Death Eaters had burst into a Wizengamot meeting and kidnapped the most important people in the British wizarding world. They'd even captured Rita Skeeter, who must have been there writing her usual lies.
To Harry's horror, he spotted the Weasley twins among the hostages. Why had they been at the Ministry or St Mungo's? He couldn't even ask them, let alone save them.
But Harry's heart leaped when he spotted Neville Longbottom and his formidable-looking Gran, lying slumped and unconscious with the rest of the hostages. So the most likely Chosen One was here?
"Good morning. I see you saved me a seat," announced Snape, striding towards the top of the hall, followed by the deathly quartet. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the hall heard him.
Voldemort's red eyes focused on Snape. "You're late," he said coldly.
Snape smirked. "Please accept my apologies, my Lord. I had business. As you can see." He gestured at the quartet.
"Is that Harry Potter? Dead?"
Harry didn't see who had spoken, and couldn't turn his head to look. But every single Death Eater seemed to be talking at once and craning their heads to look at him.
"Silence!" Voldemort shouted, and the noise subsided. He stood up, a crystal glass of red wine still in his hand. "Approach!"
Snape and the quartet approached the table. Harry could hear whispers of 'scar!' all around him.
"Yes," said Snape conversationally to the crowd. "It was most peculiar. That wilful Dementor consumed Potter's scar first, as thought it had a separate piece of soul inside!"
The crystal glass in Voldemort's hand exploded. Harry thought the pieces must have cut his hand, but the Dark wizard didn't seem to notice, so shocked he was at the loss of one of his Horcruxes.
The muttering in the room grew louder at Voldemort's reaction.
"It was all over before I could follow your orders and keep Potter alive, my Lord," said Snape lazily. They now stood in front of the main table, where Voldemort stood, speechless and dripping with wine. "I wonder, were we ordered not to kill Potter because of that strange scar?" Harry waited excitedly behind his Glamour for Voldemort's answer.
He wasn't the only one. Voldemort seemed quite aware that all eyes were on him. He licked his lips, as though his mouth had gone dry. Harry could practically see the wheels spinning in his head. Should he murder Snape for destroying the Horcrux? But if he drew any more attention to the importance of the scar, the throng of Death Eaters might guess it had been a Horcrux. Some of them were clearly on the cusp of guessing already, and that would put his other Horcruxes in danger.
With every appearance of being unconcerned, the Dark wizard shook his head. "No, of course not! I merely wanted Potter alive, so I could sacrifice him, in front of my Death Eaters, as he deserved. As an entertainment."
"My humblest apologies for taking that pleasure away from you, my Lord," said Snape, with a slight bow.
Standing close to Voldemort, Harry could see traces of the explosive rage he was barely holding back. Spasms wracked one side of his chalk-white face, and his teeth were bared. "You WILL be punished for disobeying my orders," said Voldemort, some of his rage leaking into his voice. "Go and guard the hostages. Wormtail can have take your seat on the main table."
With another slight bow, looking suitably remorseful, Snape walked towards the hostages. The quartet followed him.
Harry itched to Avada Kedavra Voldemort, but his friends and the hostages were nearby, and the five hundred Death Eaters would surely kill them all. Besides, what else had Snape planned?
A white glow appeared behind the main table, and the Hogwarts ghosts walked through the wall.
"Hogwarts was invaded once before, during the Norman Conquest. That's when I died," the Fat Friar was saying to Nearly Headless Nick.
"Such a terrible thing that it should be invaded again," said Nearly Headless Nick, surveying the throngs of Death Eaters in dismay.
"You take that back," snarled Bellatrix, from her seat at the main table. She raised her wand, but Nick regarded it with scorn.
"What are you going to do? Kill me?"
The ghosts chortled.
Peeves floated over their heads. A grin spread over his wicked face, as he caught sight of Voldemort. "Looky, looky! It's Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Head Boyo! Thinking he's the Headmaster now!"
Voldemort's temper was already close to snapping, thanks to seeing one of his Horcruxes destroyed. It would have taken much less than Peeves to send him over the edge. "SILENCE!" he roared.
But Peeves was delighted, not frightened. "Tom! Don't you like me calling you Tom, Tom?" Voldemort raised his wand and the poltergeist blew a loud raspberry.
There was an explosion, and Peeve's fat, little body flew out of sight like a cannonball. The ghosts gasped, and the Death Eaters laughed.
"Shocking way to carry on," said the Fat Friar.
Voldemort sneered in the direction Peeves had vanished. "I have removed Peeves from Hogwarts. Something even Dumbledore wasn't capable of," he gloated.
"He will return. Peeves is a spirit of mischief, and cannot be permanently removed from the school," said the Bloody Baron. His voice was deep and sepulchral, as though echoing from a deep and lonely tomb. Harry had never heard the Slytherin ghost speak before.
Voldemort glared at the Bloody Baron. "You doubt the abilities of your own descendant?"
The Bloody Baron gazed sorrowfully at Voldemort. "You are a descendant of Salazar Slytherin as am I. But you will be the last of our line."
"I need no descendants. I will never die!"
The Bloody Baron sighed. "Once, I too thought I could overcome death by magic-"
"You succeeded."
The Bloody Baron's fingers strayed to the copious amounts of silvery unicorn blood that stained his clothes. "I wish I had not. I have a half-life, a cursed life. I will live forever as a ghost! Tom-"
"Do NOT call me that!" snarled Voldemort.
But the Bloody Baron acted as if he hadn't heard. "Tom, you spent seven years at Hogwarts, in my House. Wasn't my miserable example enough to stop you craving eternal life, at any cost?"
"Your example only made me find other ways! Better ways! I am not like you, covered in the blood of unsuccessful experiments!"
The Bloody Baron stared at Voldemort as though he could see right through him; see everything about him. "Do not flatter yourself, Tom. You are bloodier than I."
Harry inwardly cheered.
Voldemort shook with rage. "I will exorcise the lot of you!" he screamed. "This castle is MINE! I shall clean it up! No more ghosts! No more Muggle-borns or squibs!" He stared up into the starry ceiling. "From the moment I set foot in Hogwarts, aged eleven, I knew it would be mind some day. Now it is. The greatest stronghold of ancient magic in the world - mine!"
Lightning flickered in the ceiling. Voldemort fired a blast from his wand straight up, and the lightning flickered out.
"You may love Hogwarts, Tom, but it's hardly requited. Hogwarts wants you dead!" said Nearly Headless Nick.
To Harry's surprise, the Death Eaters muttered fearfully.
"I did warn you, my Lord," said Bellatrix. "There are a thousand years of magical protections placed on this castle. Hogwarts will destroy us if it can."
"What of it? I am descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders. Hogwarts is mine by right!"
"Hogwarts doesn't belong to any one person, it belongs to the children of each generation in turn. Magic children. Muggle-borns, pure-bloods and all," said Nearly Headless Nick.
"But now it belongs to me! I am holding back Hogwart's defence system," said Voldemort. "All of it. Nothing in Hogwarts can harm us!"
But a new sound echoed through the hall - the high-pitched, malevolent tittering of over a hundred house elves. And a single, squeaky voice could be heard above the others. "Not quite ALL of Hogwart's defence system, Tom Marvolo Riddle, sir!"
Voldemort stared around. So did the crowd of Death Eaters. But no tiny creatures with pointed ears were visible.
"Good house elves can not be seen, sir," squeaked the voice.
"We are very good house elves, sir!" This voice was even higher than the first, a tiny, tremulous squeal.
"But these are not good wizards!" This squeaky voice was old and doddery and very, very angry. "Some of us still remember when you were a student here, sir. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Head Boy and Special Services Award to the School, but WE knew you, sir. We saw how you treated the ones you thought were the weakest, the most defenceless. You treated house elves like vermin, sir! You tricked most of the wizards into thinking you were good, but we weren't fooled, and neither were the smart wizards, sir!"
Behind her Glamour, Harry guessed Hermione was overjoyed.
"You ARE vermin!" shouted one of the Death Eater at the main table. Harry recognised the voice. It was Alecto Carrow. "Why should human wizards be scared of tiny half bloods? We could beat you like Bludgers!"
Her answer came in the form of a purple jet of light, which speared down from the rafters and struck her head. Alecto fell instantly unconscious, and heavy ropes appeared and wrapped around her, until she was little more than a rope cocoon.
Voldemort raised his wand. "Death Eaters! Kill the house elves!"
Immediately, the Great Hall was full of jets of light, aimed at the rafters. There was a small explosion, and the starry night illusion faded. But there were no house elves on the rafters.
"Where are they?" Harry heard someone shout. Then purple jets of light, and loud giggling, erupted from near the front doors. Even as the surviving Death Eaters wheeled around to retaliate, the giggles and jets of light starting coming from the other side of the hall, behind them.
Harry had seen a newly freed Dobby attack Lucius Malfoy and effortlessly knock him flying, so the next few minutes weren't as surprising to him as they were to everyone else. But even Harry was impressed. The house elves didn't need wands so they couldn't be disarmed. They were fast, tiny and impossible to hit. They could Apparate and Disapparate in the warded Great Hall, and they all attacked at once.
All but one.
"Mistress Bellatrix! Kreacher will guard you, sir!" The old house elf scuttled towards the main table. But another elf, that Harry recognised as Dobby, appeared and punched Kreacher in the head, knocking him unconscious.
"Dumb, mad old elf, sir," Harry heard Dobby mutter.
Bellatrix fought back. "Veritasformo!" she shouted, pointing her wand at Dobby. But the house elf clicked his fingers and vanished. The spell flew past where he had stood and vanished into the hostages.
Harry saw another familiar elf, this one wearing clothes.
"Winky's old master would be so happy to see his Winky now! Fighting bad, Dark wizards!" she hiccupped drunkenly, then hit a cringing Peter Pettigrew with a spell so powerful that it flipped him into three backward somersaults, and left him dangling, Stupefied, from the rafters.
So many Death Eaters were somersaulting backwards through the air from house elf stunning spells that the Great Hall looked like a three ring circus full of acrobats or, more likely with those masks, clowns.
Voldemort was ducking and weaving, as showers of spells came his way. As a Death Eater stumbled past with two house elves on his head, both trying to gouge his eyes out, Voldemort's nerve broke and he sprinted out of the Great Hall, in the direction of the Astronomy Tower.
Lightning crackled in the rafters overhead. Voldemort was no longer there to keep it in check. A blindingly brilliant, white-hot bolt of lightning speared down from the ceiling and struck the top of Bellatrix's head. There was a flash of light and when Harry could see again, he saw Bellatrix had been reduced to a smoking grease spot on the stone floor.
"Wicked!" muttered Ron.
"Ron, be quiet!" said Hermione.
Unconscious bodies, tied with rope, littered the hall. More lightning bolts were striking the Death Eaters who were still standing.
"I distinctly heard those Inferi talk," murmured Neville's grandmother. The hostages were waking up. Voldemort's stunning spells were fading.
"Harry? Are you dead?" Neville was frantic. Trevor was wriggling in his top pocket. The toad seemed to have doubled in size.
Harry didn't want to speak and give Snape away, but he felt his Glamour dissolve.
"Disguise no longer matters. Catching Voldemort does," said Snape. His robes billowed out behind him, as he ran through the door after the Dark wizard.
Harry started to run after Snape, but he stopped himself. "Neville, you've got to come with us," he said. "You're the Chosen One. You've got to destroy Voldemort!"
"Me?" Neville's eyes were as big as saucers.
"Yes you!" Harry grabbed one of Neville's arms, and Ron the other, and they pulled him to his feet.
"But I thought-" Neville's eyes raked Harry's scarless forehead.
"It's not me. We aren't sure who it is, but you're the only other person who was born at the end of July," said Harry. "The prophecy must refer to you!"
"The Chosen One, eh?" said Neville's grandmother. "Your parents would have been proud of you, Neville!"
Neville merely looked frightened, as the quartet dragged him after Voldemort and Snape, and towards destiny.
oOoOoOo
Author's Notes: So who is the real Chosen One? Was Snape wrong, and it's Harry? Is it Neville? Someone else? All will be revealed in the next chapter.
Replies to reviews: OMG! Thanks so much everyone! The Bodyguard has 1080 reviews now, counting the 89 reviews in the three and a bit days since I posted the last chapter. (Nearly killing Harry got a fantastic response, though the death threats were a bit of a worry. ;-)
Thank you to the following people for reviewing: Chocola Emo Shizzlem, Puddles-dono, PENGUiN2006MASTER, Alexsandra, draconian snowangel216, T.Felton, chinadoll27, Quellesirel Peredhil, Cara, 3-left-turns, SeventhandHigher7, Lisi the slayer, Karaii, Rabid Reader 4, lonley.hopelessly-romantic, theSWAGGA, DarkxAz, ThePotionsMiss, Anshara, WiCkEdLiTtLeReD, GreenEyedCatDragon, aliasangel3, Shizu, semper paratis, piuk, telleo, Bleeding-Tears-06, AngelLuva, WAFFle Lover, Sakuramar, sasunaru lover, pltzchen, Fred kissed George, Die Kikyo Die, Potter's Wifey, Yellowwolf, HecateDeMort, dynonugget, Angel of Immortality, Kittendragon, justanotherfangirl35, dracoizumi, shadowama, tetra6, JacobimVonStyluss, mon-ami-runa, monamiruna, StunningSpellRocks2345, fragonknight01, Naesy, Crowley Black, MaisaG, black dilemma, Gryffindorgrl86, Artemis-Potter-Snape, Shadow, Jet Black Feeling, Riku-Rocks, ExhaleDreams, green eyed dragon, Serpente Amante, Tears Falling Freely, fufu.a.k.a.speechless, Your Mom Is My Heart., Elizabeth Patil, rekahneko, Moyima, thrnbrooke, NinjaoftheDarkness, txcalbud, 6tigercubs, ProperT, SoraIsRikus, Orgainoid, Ardent Affair, MayuBlack, cjandre, Sam, AmethystSiri, death by storm, unforgivable curse caster, and Muchacha.
Anonymous: No, killing Harry wouldn't have necessarily killed the Horcrux. The way I figure it, to destroy life, you have to aim your Killing Curse at a person's soul. The soul fills the body (which is why Harry glowed like a neon light) so hitting any part of his body with Avada Kedavra would have killed him. But the Horcrux doesn't fill his body, it's only found in the scar. So it would take a direct hit on the scar to destroy it. BTW, thank you for killing your Internet twice for me! ;-)
Rabid Reader 4: Good point. I had Harry mention to Snape that Aunt Petunia hadn't told Lily that Snape had visited. Thanks for your review!
bellajen94: Hopefully I can come out of hiding now, because you're not going to kill me any more! ;-) Yes, Tonks and Lupin are married. They don't have any multicoloured werewolf babies yet. No, Draco doesn't dare know where his friends are, if they're placed under the Fidelius Charm. Remember Wormtail whinging in book 3 that Voldemort forced him to tell the Potter's location? I took that to mean Voldemort simply swiped the information, using Legilimency, out of rat man's stupid skull. The Secret Keeper needs powerful Occlumency, for the Charm to be secure, and Draco doesn't want to take the chance and risk his beloved friends' lives.
LunaSky: I LOLed at your review. Thank you!
inu-youkai 911: Thanks for the beta and the review!