Authors Note: Second to last chapter! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my reviewers and everyone who read this story at ThinkPotter- I couldn't have done it without you. Especially Skivin' Ivy, Mercurystar and Jemlibris. (Special thanks to Jemlibris for this chapter. I'll explain it in the endnote) Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 35

The Soul Line

Hermione forced herself up. As she did, she heard Ron groan and looked over to see him roll over.

"You blocked it!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah. Didn't this just happen to be a few hours ago?" Hermione helped Ron up.

"We have to move. No time to wake up Ginny," Hermione said taking off down the hall without hesitation. In truth, she realized, cramming her line of thought into split seconds as she ran, she also felt better not bringing Ginny with them. She wanted Ginny to live. She was just like Harry then, wasn't she? Completely irrational.

They couldn't find Harry and Voldemort anywhere. They raced desperately across the grounds. Hermione suppressed the urge to call out Harry's name.

"They could be anywhere," Ron said. "D'you suppose they went into the Forbidden Forest?"

"Highly doubtful," Hermione massaged her temples. Oh my God, Harry. You are the most blundering, irrational, self-righteous, stubborn, completely driven-by-emotion, sarcastic, unfocused, self destructive and STUPID person I have ever met. Which is precisely why you're my best friend and if Voldemort kills you, I don't care how many people he's murdered, and I don't care if it's suicidal, I will do my very best to completely DESTROY him. AND if you die, I will personally dig you up and-wait…

"I know where they are! Hermione cried.

"Wha…where?" Ron gaped at her.

"Graveyard. Where Dumbledore's buried. It's Voldemort after all; he'll want to mentally torture Harry as much as possible. Not only will this bring back traumatic memories of fourth year, he'll intimidate Harry and distract him with Dumbledore's gravestone, and psychologically it-

"HERMIONE. Stop it."

"Sorry," Hermione said quickly.

"I didn't even know we had a graveyard. Where the hell is the bloody graveyard?"

"Remember all those times I told you to read Hogwarts, A History?"

"Unfortunately."

" This is why. Come on!" Hermione led the way with Ron puffing after her. Past the greenhouses, past everything, just a wide stretch of grass nobody ever bothered to look at. Between trees, nearly hidden, there was an ivy-covered gate. They raced up to it and Hermione pulled out her wand. "Aloho-

"Wait," Ron said quickly. "Before we die and all-

He kissed her very quickly, but it felt like the best kiss ever to Hermione. She smiled at him.

"Let's go do something incredibly stupid, recklessly brave, and entirely against school rules, shall we?"

"We've got to go with our talents," Ron nodded. "Sirius would be so proud. Now, do your specialty."

"Alohomora," Hermione unlocked the gate with a whisper and they rushed. As soon as they got in, they heard somebody screaming, the involuntary, choked scream that Hermione instantly knew was Harry being tortured. She gripped her wand as Ron made a furious sound. She'd teach Voldemort what happens when you take time to play with your food before you eat it. They snuck quickly and quietly through the graves until Hermione could see two figures. One was crawling on the ground, the other was laughing.

"Harry Potter," she heard Voldemort say, as she got closer. "If I were you, I would welcome the sweet death I am about to give you. I mean, I've taken everything from you, have I not?" His foot slammed down on Harry's hand as it reached for it's fallen wand, and she could hear Harry's defiant snarl as he grabbed Voldmort's leg, prepared to knock him down, but the Dark Lord merely laughed again and blasted Harry into a nearby gravestone. "I mean, let's think, shall we? I've killed your parents. I had that ridiculously inconsequential boy you seemed a bit attached to in the grave yard that night. Bella killed that scapegoat, Sirius Black, and she tells me you were SO upset about it. Attempting Unforgivable Curses and everything. That's not nice, Harry. And of course, we have that old fool. Your one mentor…your protector…your…friend? Not to mention, you've spent your entire life running from me. You should welcome death, Harry Potter. And do you know why? Because. You. Have. Nobody. Left."

"That's where you're wrong, you deformed soulless freak. He still has US!" Ron cried valiantly as he and Hermione popped up from behind the gravestone and fired the worse curses they could conceive at Voldemort. He deflected them easily. Hermione had had a feeling he would.

Harry looked up at them, looking very much worse for the wear. His glasses were crushed beside him so he had to squint to focus on them, to compound matters, his left eye was swelling up and his nose and head were bleeding. The gravestone Voldemort had blasted him into has an enormous dent in it now, and with a sick feeling, Hermione read the letters between the cracked rock. BUS UM DORE.

"No," Harry croaked. "No…you two…leave…now!"

"Ah," Voldemort gave a very cruel smile. "These must be your dear friends. The Malfoy boy passed me some information on them. You're supposed to be insanely protective of them. If I kill them, it will be your biggest loss yet, am I correct?" He raised his wand.

"GET DOWN!" Ron grabbed Hermione and forced her down, so two Killing Curses flew over their heads.

"I…Malfoy's wrong…I don't care about them…they're nothing…" she heard Harry choke out.

"You have to break that lying habit, Harry, it's just not polite to be so deceitful. Dumbledore would not approve," Voldemort said lazily. It was clear he didn't see Ron and Hermione as a threat at all.

"Wand at the ready," Ron muttered. Hermione felt like she was going to vomit all over the place. Ron was shaking quite badly beside her. Being her, it really made her realize…that this was it. There was no way she could survive this. She'd never get to say goodbye to her Mum and Dad…she hadn't written them lately…she'd been so busy. What would they think when they found out she was dead? Who would take care of Crookshanks? The Weasleys, she supposed, since that's where she'd left him. Another thing that annoyed her was that Voldemort was going to beat her. And Hermione didn't like losing to anyone. Though she really supposed she'd spent the last six or seven years losing to Voldemort…every time she couldn't help Harry…. or anyone else.

Well, she was here now. And win or lose, one thing she knew was she wasn't going to give up. She'd studied hard for this test, after all.

"Three…two…one…" Ron muttered.

Voldemort's head poked around the grave, his wand pointing straight at Hermione. He opened his mouth to say a curse, but Harry grabbed him around the legs, making him fall. Hermione figured it was the most admirably stupid thing he'd ever done.

"Please…" Harry gasped. "This…is my last...request…you two…Voldemort's…right…you're all…I've got…left…please…go…."

Voldemort suddenly sprang up. I "Crucio!"

Hermione felt like her skull had exploded and its shards were now stabbing into her remains repeatedly. The entire WORLD was on fire. Her brain had gone on pause…no, it had dissolved. She has never experienced ANYTHING like this. She didn't know who she was, where she was, why she was…she wasn't even thinking of herself as human, she was in a realm outside words, outside categories, outside life….no concepts understood, except for PAIN. SO MUCH PAIN.

Shewantedtodiewantedtodiesomuch…

It broke into a million pieces and Hermione was lying on the ground aching and gasping. She couldn't see what Harry or Ron had done to get her out of the curse, but she forced herself to sit up. She could see Voldemort fuzzily, standing over Ron and looking mildly annoyed (she supposed this meant he was the one responsible for her rescue) while Harry scrambled for his wand. She steadied her shaking hand and fired a stunning spell…. and…it connected. And did absolutely nothing. It was like Voldemort was a giant or something. He was so powerful he could block himself without looking or thinking. Voldemort turned to her and she felt a vague terror, but at this point it was almost unreal. She had transcended fear a long time ago. She did every curse she knew, even that stupid Sectumsempra one. He blocked them easily, or let them fly past him. Her wand flew out of her hand into his, and he examined it carelessly. "I thought the Malfoy boy said something about you being the clever one? I must admit, I find your judgment very much to the contrary. And you are Muggle-born too, am I correct?"

Hermione figured she was going to die at this point, so she might as well try to say something defiant. "Something we have in common, I'm told."

Voldemort's eyes flashed angrily at this. Hermione could feel the storm coming. She had actually angered him. It gave her a prickly sense of satisfaction. "Oh, yes, you were half blood. Well, very much the same thing. We're still kindred spirits, you and I. I think it's a bit sad, that you hide your lovely heritage."

She waited to die, but Voldemort's suddenly pointed his wand at Harry, not her, and blasted him back into Dumbledore's grave just before he reached his wand. "I want you to watch this, Potter. Watch what happens when you bring your insolent little friends to slaughter."

He raised his wand, but Ron shouted "CRUCIO!" and Voldemort doubled over in pain as the spell hit him. He straightened up fairly quickly though.

"Damn!" Ron spat. "Why am I not psychotic enough to cast this spell?"

"I am very tired of this stupidity," Voldemort waved his wand in a wide arc and Ron crashed into Hermione. "I can no longer stand to be in the presence of you little lackeys, so I'm going to forgo watching you suffer and kill you quickly. Say goodbye."

"NO!" Harry seemed to defy the laws of physics for a second as he jumped a long distance to land directly in front of Ron and Hermione. "If…you want to kill them…you'll have to do…me…first."

Voldemort gave a strange hissing sound. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for that one, Potter?"

"Not really," Harry admitted.

Voldemort jerked his wand and Harry's arm gave a very loud snap. Harry fell over, screaming in pain.

"STOP IT!" Hermione screamed, pounding her fists fruitlessly against the mud packed ground. To her anger, she was now crying.

"I'll kill you…I WILL…." Ron said angrily, but in the sort of way you knew he didn't believe himself, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Nothing's going to stop me. You all should know that by now. Now get out of the way, Harry, and watch your little friends die like a man," Voldemort said softly, a cruel smile stretching across his face.

"I think…I know…something that…will…" Harry spat out some blood and forced himself to a sitting position. "Tell me, Riddle, it's the final battle…do you know where your snake is?"

"Harry…no…" Hermione whispered.

Voldemort's scarlet eyes narrowed. "You…"

"She's dead. And so is that precious little piece of your excuse for a soul."

Voldemort straightened up, his lipless mouth opening to reveal his pointed teeth. "What…you…"

"That's right. I know. Or more appropriately, he knew," Harry gestured to Dumbledore's dilapidated gravestone. "Should've killed him sooner, because he told me everything. He outsmarted you. He figured out the location of every single one of your little Horcruxes. Or should I say ex-Horcruxes, because me and my little friends here? We destroyed all of them."

"You couldn't have…. nobody could…" Voldemort snarled.

"All." Harry said, a gurgling chuckle barely escaping his mouth. "The locket, you can thank little Amy Benson for that, she took care of it for us when she went back to your little secret hideout for therapy. She explicitly told me to tell you, wanted you to know a Muggle bested you. The ring was Dumbledore's. The diary was ages ago, of course, but the cup was all us. You don't have anything to keep you immortal anymore. You can die now."

Voldemort stared at Harry in complete shock, and then very suddenly gave a howl of rage. "IImperio! Imperio!/I

Suddenly Hermione was floating. Everything was beautiful and empty and for once she wasn't worried at all. It was wonderful…like an enchanted sleep.

Put the wand to your head and kill yourself. Go ahead. Just say Avada Kedavra. Go ahead. A melodic soothing voice beckoned her.

Okay…

Hermione! Ron! NO!

Hmmm? What was that?

Don't mind him. Kill yourself…it'll be alllll over. Go ahead

NOOOO

Harry…?

Ignore it. Go ahead. You're going to go to heaven, little Mudblood. It'll be so sweet…

Don't do it! Fight it fight it fight it!

Second voice…so full of anguish and terror…invading her happy place so…afraid. She had to help that voice. Help. It.

Hermione turned the wand away from her head and towards Voldemort. She fired some sort of spell, she didn't even know what it was…. and it missed him. Another one came from Ron and Voldemort blocked it.

She was out of the happy place.

"You're not going to kill me, Potter. Because you forgot one Horcrux in your little list," Voldemort snarled, his whole being frothing with rage

"Oh… yeah?" Harry managed to say.

"Yes. Crucio. " Voldemort pointed his wand at Ron who immediately began screaming a jerking.

"RON!" Hermione and Harry cried. Hermione felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She reached for her wand, but Voldemort summoned it away again. Hermione couldn't move…she was aching all over. Voldemort looked down at Harry.

"Going to kill them, Harry. I'll kill them both. And you won't be able to kill me, because you forgot one Horcrux."

"Oh wait," Harry said, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You don't mean I forgot to mention the gauntlet, do you?"

And with that, Harry grabbed Voldemort's robes with his right hand, ripping through them and scratching a giant gash on Voldemort's leg. He then pressed his own badly scraped hand to the cut.

Voldemort stared as his own blood mixed with Harry's, leaking out through Harry's fingers as Harry squeezed. "What are you-?" Then the Dark Lord began to scream, scream a terrible scream that was like a chainsaw burning against metal. He dropped his wand and Ron stopped jerking at last.

"It…hurts…doesn't it?" Harry said through gritted teeth. "Love…and all…that. We share…blood…my mother's protection…and my…hand…was in…that stupid…gauntlet. That magic is…going…through soul…and blood…what…Dumbledore…was talking about…"

Voldemort fell to his knees, still screaming. Harry's whole face was twisted up in fierce concentration now, and his nose was beginning to bleed. Hermione could feel something bad was coming and she struggled to move, but found she still couldn't.

Harry kept talking; it was almost like he had to in order to distract himself from the pain.

"You should…n't…have…used…my blood…Voldemort. That's…what…the…the…Dumbledore's…gleam…was about…we're…connected…by…my mothers…magic…in blood…and…maybe…he…thought…it wouldn't…work…but…now…with…by hand…with…the…gauntlet…I…have…a…way…in. Your…soul…what's…left…" Harry broke off with a cry of pain. To Hermione's horror, as more of Voldemort's blood begin to dribble out between the gaps between Harry's fingers, Harry's hand began to have little black and brown threads snake up his hand, spreading like ink, as if he had stabbed a quill into his veins…like his hand was rotting. She realized with a jolt that it was like when Harry had had the gauntlet attached to his arm. The same thing was happening around Voldemort's wound as Harry squeezed, and Voldemort's eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to give that terrible yell.

"I love them…." Harry cried, shaking all over, pointing a wobbly finger at Ron and Hermione. "HOW DOES IT FEEL, VOLDEMORT? HUH? HOW DOES IT FEEL?"

A terrible crackling wind was whipping up around the two enemies. Magic was making the ground shake. Ron said something, but Hermione couldn't hear it. Tears of pain were streaming down Harry's face now.

"I loved Sirius and Dumbledore and my mother and my father and you killed them and now FEEL IT!" Harry said in a choked voiced. The blackness continued to spread up Harry's arm and across Voldemort's skin. Voldemort was frothing at the mouth now; his skin seemed to be cracking, dark crevices interrupting him, something happening to his eyes. Harry's scar began to split open, blood sliding down the sweaty bridge of his nose. Hermione finally found it in herself to move. She grabbed Ron's hand and they both ran towards the struggling pair, only to be knocked back by the crackling magic. Hermione's head and part of her face smashed against the solid stone and now she REALLY couldn't move, or in fact, barely keep conscious as she watched.

There was so much blood now…Hermione could only hope most of it as Voldemort's, but she watched in terror as Harry's lightning bolt scar split open all the way and the blood slid down Harry's face directly into Voldemort's wound. Voldemort gave his loudest scream yet and Harry screamed too, black veins stretching up both their faces and Voldemort's eyes turned a bright, bright green, just like Harry's and then…

Something shiny and very very small slipped out of Voldemort's mouth. Harry raised his bloody right hand, still black and rotted looking and whispered… "Soul…" and closed his fingers around it.

There was a bright, bright flash of white that nearly blinded Hermione and when her vision finally came back she saw Harry sitting on the ground beside Voldemort, whose eyes were still green, and very, very empty. He didn't have a soul anymore…no sense of self or memory…he was worse than dead.

"And one shall die at the hand of the other

Because neither can live while the other survives, " Harry whispered, and then he fell over.

Ron crawled over and helped Hermione up, and they both stumbled over to Harry, Hermione's heart beating like a mouse's as she cried. Pleasedon'tbedeadPleasedon'tbedeadPleasedon'tbedead

Harry was still breathing, but barely. The blackness had disappeared from his face and the rest of his body, but his right hand was severely damaged. He gazed blearily up at him.

"kill…m…"

"What?" Ron said, kneeling down anxiously.

"Kill…m…" Harry looked at Voldemort. "S…can't…come…back…"

Hermione turned around and raised her arm over the tortured Voldemort, but she couldn't summon any feeling other than terror over Harry's condition and more tears. So she dropped her wand and closing her eyes, stomped as hard as she could on Voldemort's neck, breaking it with a crack!

"Whoa," Ron said.

"Thank…" Harry mumbled.

"Don't die on me, Harry," Hermione dropped down beside him, wiping her eyes. "Please, don't do that to me."

"I dunno…" Harry seemed not to be looking at them. "I see my Mum and Dad…"

"No you don't, mate, they're not here," Ron said anxiously, a tear dribbling down his long nose. "They're not here. WE are here."

"There's kinda a light…" Harry's eyes were blank. "And them…all…of them…"

"Harry Potter, I swear if you go towards that light I will make your afterlife so miserable…it will be…miserable…" Hermione said through sobs, squeezing Harry's hand.

"Yeah, she'll lecture you for all eternity or something," Ron choked, grabbing Harry by the shoulder. "Please, you're my best mate…you're only seventeen…please…please…please…"

"Mum…" Harry tried to say something, then spat out some blood.

"No, Harry…no…don't let him win!" Hermione screamed. She pressed her hand to her heart and realized in anguish that it was slowing horribly.

"Mum…" Harry said again and his heart skipped two beats. Hermione broke into uncontrolled sobbing as Ron began to cry harder too. They were losing him.

"Mum…is…shakin' her head…she doesn't want me to…come…she's crying…" Harry managed.

Hermione's eyes widened and she stopped crying. "Yes, Harry, listen to her! You should always listen to you Mum!"

"Yeah, and don't use Hermione and me as examples, you know we're bad people," Ron urged. "It's not time, Harry, not time…"

"Luna's waving garlic at me," Harry said quite clearly, his cracked lips forming a smile.

"And Luna, always listen to Luna," Hermione began to cry again.

"Yeah…" Harry closed his eyes. "Okay…"

He closed his eyes and his heartbeat seemed to go slightly faster.

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "If you run directly east you'll reach a fence and if you jump over that you'll be off Hogwarts grounds and you can Apparate to St. Mungo's and get Harry some Healers!"

Ron nodded. "I promise to read "Hogwarts, A History" after this, okay?"

"FINALLY!" Hermione called as Ron took off running.

She held Harry's head in her lap. He was unconscious now.

"You did it," she whispered. "You really did it, Harry. You saved…everybody."

Soon Ron came rushing back with several Healers, all who stopped dead at the sight of Voldemort's corpse.

"Wha…" One said, looking like she was about to pass out.

"GET A MOVE ON!" roared Ron. "If you want to be grateful, then save the boy who killed him!"

The Healers rushed to Harry's aid, lifting him up on a magic stretcher. More Healers came pouring in after that, and Hermione sent a few of them to Hogwarts. Eventually Ginny and Neville came out to join them.

"Is he…" Ginny gasped.

"They think he's going to be okay," Hermione assured her friend. "Well, you know, all things considered…"

"Thank God," Ginny sniffled. "Because I want to kill him myself for Stunning me…"

"Wow…" Neville said, kneeling over Voldemort's corpse. "Wow…who broke his neck?"

"That was me," Hermione said. "But it was very easy, since Harry's the one who crushed his soul with his bare hands."

"Wait, what?"

"Hold it," a stern looking Healer bustled toward Hermione and Ron. "You two both need serious medical attention."

"What?" Ron was leaning heavily against a gravestone. "Are you mad? We're just fine!"

He pushed himself off the gravestone and promptly began to pass out. The Healer caught him before he hit the ground, and gave Hermione a very beady glare.

"All right, then," Hermione sat down on the grass, leaning against Dumbledore's grave, somehow proud looking despite the massive damage that had been inflicted on it, and allowed herself to go to sleep.

Let's write a story of a tidal wave
We run out of luck
We run out of days
We run out of gas
A hundred miles away
From a station

There's a war and a plague
Smoke and disaster
Lions in the coliseum
Screams of laughter
Motherless children
A witness and a bible
Nothing but rain ahead
No chance for our survival

Just before the flood comes
Just before the night falls
Just before the blood runs
Into the valley
Just before my eyes go
Just before we can't go any further
Love throws a line to you and me

I heard someone calling me from very far away
Sister oh sister did I hear them say?
Prisoner of this endless story of pain
You hold the key
Try to find the way

And just before the flood comes
Just before the night falls
Just before the blood runs
Into the valley
Just before my eyes go
Just before it all blows to pieces
Love throws a line to you and me

Love you better pick up your paceIf we're gonna win this race
Love we're running out of time
Pull yourself out from behind

-"Love Thow A Line", Patty Griffin

A/N: Thanks very much to Jemlibris on ThinkPotter for giving me the idea for how Voldemort was to be defeated with her comment about if Harry's hand being in the Horcrux could correlate to the "either must die at the hand of the other" line in the prophecy. I realized a couple chapters before this one that my original plan for the final battle was du ex machina and cheesy, and thought hard about how Harry would defeat Voldemort, and then I remembered Jem's comment and...viola! Yay, Jem! It may STILL be DEM and cheesy, I dunno, but it's definitely less so than what was originally planned! ;) So thanks Jem, you're a genius.

The next chapter should be the epilogue, wrapping everything up, and should come soon. Once again, thanks to all my reviewers.