Chapter Thirty-Four: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
It was dark now, Harry could see the large shadow of Hogwarts in the distance, he lit his wand and walked towards the front door of the shrieking shack, there was dim light coming from the crack between the door and the ground, he heard a loud scream… It was Ginny. Harry blasted the door away from the frame and walked in to the dilapidated old house. The screaming was coming from upstairs, something brushed over his foot and he looked down, there is was… a long snake, the sixth and last Horcrux, Harry shot a silent spell at it. A gash went from the snake's head right to its tail, bleeding heavily. At last after an excruciatingly long minute something shot out of the snake in a bright light, Harry was knocked off his feet… It was done, now Harry thought, its time to face the final test…
Harry got to his feet and ran up the stairs, his heart beating fast against his ribs, pain in both his head and heart, another scream echoed throughout the dirty house. Harry burst in to the room; Ginny was tied to an old bed.
'Crucio' Voldemort said pointing his wand at Ginny, she screamed out and twitched. Voldemort turned to Harry.
'I knew that you'd come eventually, you think you're going to kill me. Well there are two small problems with that… one… your wand will not work against mine and two… I can't be killed' He laughed mercilessly then fired a curse at Harry, who dodged it.
'If my wand will not work against yours what makes you think that yours somehow works against mine Riddle? You think you can't be killed, well think again, I know your little secret' Harry said sounding braver than he actually felt.
Ginny's breathing was uneven 'listen to you, the little hero calling me by my former name bluffing to scare me. Harry I have more power than you'll ever have.' Voldemort fired another curse at Harry, who shot it back, then Voldemort turned to curse Ginny again.
As Ginny screamed Harry felt rage beyond anything he'd ever felt before. His heart filled to the brim with his love for Ginny, his head with hate for Voldemort, and he drew out his father's wand 'THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE WORLD IS LOVE! RIDDLE YOU MADE A BIG MISTAKE KIDNAPPING THE PERSON I LOVE MOST IN THE WORLD… AVARDA… KADAVRA!' Harry yelled.
Voldemort had no time to deflect or dodge the killing curse, as he turned around it hit him with full force, he fell to the floor completely still. Like with all of the Horcruxes though strangely different something shot out of the body on the ground, it was bright blue. The thing lingered over the body for a minute before bursting in a shower of fire and light.
'Harry… is he…' Ginny said weakly.
Harry crossed over to Voldemort's body… he kicked him as hard as he could, when he didn't move Harry knelt down to feel for a pulse… there was none, not that it mattered as Harry had enough proof to know that this spelled the end of Voldemort's reign of terror. Harry took the wand out of Voldemort's lifeless hand and snapped it in two; happiness replaced the rage he'd been feeling.
'Yes Ginny, he's dead, we're all safe now' Harry replied untying his fiancé by magic 'Happy Birthday' he said smiling.
Ginny sat up slowly and kissed Harry before fainting in his arms. Harry sent his Patronus to let everyone know where he was, ten minuets later most of the Order of the Phoenix Apparated in with varying degrees of injury.
'There are some already in St Mungo's with serious injuries but no deaths on our side, some of the curses we dodged hit other death eaters so there are a few deaths there' Lupin said, he had not noticed Voldemort's body lying cold and dead on the floor, he'd noticed Ginny though 'Sirius take her to St Mungo's' he said.
Sirius picked Ginny up and Disapparated; the others had noticed Voldemort now.
'Harry, he is… dead isn't he?' Hermione asked, her hair messy, her shirt torn, sporting a black eye and a bleeding lip, she was crying.
Harry crossed to his friend and put his arm around her 'Yes Hermione, what's wrong?' He said.
Before she answered Harry cast a look around… Ron wasn't there…
'Ron's hurt isn't he?' Harry asked, cursing himself for letting his friends help.
Hermione nodded and Harry pulled her closer, she cried in to his chest.
'What do we do with the body?' Harry asked
'I think we should leave that up to the Ministry to decide, they'll want everyone to know that it's all over Harry' McGonagal said stepping forward, she sent a Patronus.
Harry knew that Ministry representatives and media reporters would be there soon and ten minuets later there they were.
'Is it true? He's gone? Dead?' The Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour asked.
'Yes, Harry finished him off' Lupin replied pointing to the body in the corner.
Cheering and clapping filled Harry's ears, people were coming towards him now, they all started grabbing him, hoisting them on to their shoulders, yelling and celebrating. All he wanted to do was get to St Mungo's to check on Ginny and Ron. Eventually they let him down, Voldemort's body was removed and people started going to break the happy news to everyone that they knew. Harry was asked thousands of questions and camera's flashed in his face every few seconds.
He finally got away just before eleven o'clock. Even though Harry was in a fair amount of pain he raced to Ginny's bed, his first thought was that she was unconscious but when he took her hand she woke up.
'Harry?' She said sleepily.
'Yes, Ginny it's me, are you all right?' Harry replied.
She nodded 'you saved me again, I love you' she said.
'I love you to Gin and I didn't save you, you saved me, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been able to defeat him. Is Ron alright?' Harry replied kissing her hand.
Ginny's face fell, 'They told me he's in intensive care,' she said holding back her tears, 'You should go and get fixed up, I'm not going anywhere' She added.
'No, I'll stay here with you' Harry said.
'I'm fine Harry; I'm only here overnight for observation and rest. Go get yourself fixed up and go and check on Ron, he needs you more than I do,' she replied.
So Harry reluctantly trudged down to reception to ask where he should go, he was directed back to Ginny's floor, so, thinking that it had been a complete waste of time he went back up there. He had very few injuries and the healer fixed them with no trouble, he didn't even need to be admitted, not even overnight.
He then went to Ron's room but was not allowed in, he must be in bad shape Harry thought.
When he walked back in to Ginny's room all of the Weasley family, bar Hermione and Izzy were standing around her bed. The room was decorated for a party and the table to the side was laden with food, Harry's stomach grumbled loudly, he hadn't eaten at all the whole day. Ginny's birthday presents were at the foot of her bed.
'Harry dear, you did it!' Molly ran towards him and grabbed him into a tight hug.
Harry pushed away from her, 'what about Ron? Shouldn't you all be worried about him?' He asked.
'We can't do anything about it, we're not allowed to see him, he'll be alright though Harry, let's just celebrate Voldemort's defeat and Ginny's coming of age,' Mr Weasley answered patting him on the arm.
Therefore, that night in the hospital room they celebrated, as did the rest of the wizarding world. Harry didn't feel much like celebrating, to many people had been hurt because of him, all he wanted to do was go and make sure they were alright. People who hadn't been injured came and went throughout the night congratulating Harry and wishing Ginny a happy birthday. Ginny thought these people were stupid, her birthday was over and she'd spent it tied up and being tortured, her brother was in a serious condition. Overall she hadn't had a great birthday at all, until Harry had saved her and the whole world, they were all safe.
When there was a lull in the festivities Harry went and sat on Ginny's bed 'I'm really sorry Gin, I should have known that whether we were together or not…' he started saying.
Ginny put a finger over his lips 'shh… It's all over now it's time to move on with our life' she said and kissed him firmly.
'I love you so much Ginny' Harry whispered.
'I know, I love you too Harry' Ginny replied.
'Here, its insignificant now but happy birthday' he said handing her a wrapped up box.
Ginny ripped the paper off and opened the box, inside was a silver id bracelet but it did not have Ginny's name on it, instead it said HP and GW forever… there was a small heart shaped charm to the right of id plate.
'I love this Harry; I'll never take it off' Ginny said fastening it to her wrist above her hospital armband, they kissed.