Harry was cool now, a light breeze stinging the many scratches and grazes on his face and arms. The fiendfyre had burned away his armour, his shirt, shoes and all the other gifts given to him by the Free People. Now he wore only his father's cloak and the tattered remains of his lionskin trousers. The yew wand tucked into his waistband, he held the brand new one of ash loosely in his right hand where it rested tingling slightly against his skin. The only other thing that had survived the fire rested on his chest, hard and cool.
All around him were the bodies of free people, death eaters, high elves with their small cousins and former students and teachers of Hogwarts. Harry saw Lavender Brown's face burned and still, Hril'en slumped against a wall and so many others.
He stopped in the middle of the ruins and drew a deep breath. 'Tom Riddle!' He bellowed; his voice enormously magnified so that it rattled the stones around him. 'Come out and face me!'
With a crack that echoed across the space, Voldemort appeared. He was seated atop a heap of piled corpses, his pale face so inhuman to begin with made even more awful by the black and purple scar that ran from his smooth scalp, down his cheek over the edge of his jaw and across his thin throat. His face was pulled and twisted into an awful grin and the light that was reflected from his one remaining eye glowed an eerie and shining red.
'So you have come at last.' The Dark Lord said, standing. 'Come to die, again.'
'Not this time; it's over Tom. I'm here for one reason and one reason alone: to destroy you. When I'm finished here there will be nothing left of you. I'm going to tear apart whatever is left of that pitiful, ruined thing you call a soul and show the world the light. You were right about one thing; wizardkind can no longer hide from the muggles; the damaged caused by the disjunction has revealed too much of our world already. Magic is seeping out to them as we speak, the Fifth Quarter is open again.'
Voldemort's eyes went wide at this last revelation. 'Liar!' he cried, 'The Quarter is dead, I destroyed it myself and even now I sit on the remains of its leaders.'
'You sit upon the remains of those who were its leaders,' Harry corrected, 'they passed on the power to a new generation, knowing full-well what you intended to do to the place. You disrupted the Quarter, but didn't destroy it. Reach out Tom, you'll see I'm telling the truth.'
Voldemort closed his one remaining eye and sneered. The elder wand rolled around the tips of his long fingers. Silence, tense and hard strained at Harry while he waited. He felt like he could see Voldemort's mind stretching out toward the gates of the Fifth Quarter. It was the only safe place now – everyone who mattered to him was there. He was only disappointed that Nidhogg couldn't be with him.
As if summoned by Harry's thought of his own friend, Nagini emerged from the top of Voldemort's grizzly throne. She had grown even more since the last time Harry had seen her when Hogwarts had been collapsing around them. Her eyes now glowed red just like those of her master.
'The Boy Who Lived returns…' she said, coiling herself around Voldemort's shoulders. She was thicker than his torso now and easily twenty feet in length. Her head was a massive wedge that was slightly larger in proportion to her body than in a normal snake. 'All that knowledge you've gained hasn't availed you in the slightest, you're just a silly little boy…'
Harry ignored her. All his attention was turned to bear on Voldemort at that moment.
'A silly little boy that has lost everything except for a few bits of shiny magic… A silly little boy that no one loves and no one cares about enough to accompany him on his final journey. Why don't you give up, Harry Potter? You know that you cannot win.'
Harry knew it was not going to be easy. Voldemort still had the snake – his final horcrux – the elder wand and the heart of Hogwarts, twisted and corrupted as it was. But he, Harry had the cloak, the stone, the sword and the Quarter-made ash wand. The wand made from the wood of the tree of life itself. What better to fight the deathstick?
Voldemort's eye snapped open and his lips peeled back from a thicket of pointed teeth as the elder wand shivered in his fingers, black and gold stars seeping from its tip and hissing on the floor. 'You… you pathetic… you interfering filth!'
Quick as a mousetrap set free, Voldemort raised the elder wand and roared the incantation that had destroyed Harry's world a year earlier: 'Disjunction!'
Harry had seen it coming, knew full well the fury that would be unleashed when the Dark Lord realised that his access to the power of the Quarter had been revoked. He responded, lifting the Wand of Worlds and felt the power course through him, uninterrupted now that the ice was gone, the fire poured forth. The wand pulsed in his hand like it was part of his own soul and poured forth a shining beam of blue, bright as the calm after a storm.
The blue of life connected with Voldemort's silver of ending and in the instant they met, both wizards were blasted off their feet, thrown back a dozen feet by a shockwave that tore apart the ground and corpses between them.
Harry landed heavily face-first in a pile of bodies and rose to his feet, blood thundering in his ears. The pulsing from the wand was spreading through his whole body - It felt like someone was filling him with sunlight. He rolled off the bodies and stood. The spot where their wands had connected was still shimmering; a tiny fist-sized incandescent ball of multi-coloured light surrounded by a perfect sphere of nothing.
Voldemort had found his feet. He glared at Harry, who saw for the first time a glint of apprehension in his mutilated face.
You're not the only one with secrets, Tom. Harry thought as a smile played across his lips.
'Avada kedavra!' hissed Voldemort's sibilant voice and an arc of emerald green crackled around the point of damaged space.
Harry raised his wand again to counter the beam but was checked as the light turned back, looping in a circle around the ball of light. As it completed a revolution it seemed to feed off the ball and intensified, growing from an arrow of green to a bolt more like a missile. It roared at Harry who flicked his wand, levitating a nearby body in between him and the killing curse. The curse hit the body which was reduced to dust in a shimmering flash of light followed by another shockwave which knocked him off his feet and back into the pile of corpses.
It took a few seconds for sense to return to him. He was cold, the sun-filled feeling gone now and replaced with a hollow bone-deep ache like the life had almost been snuffed out. On weak arms he pushed himself to his feet again.
He sent a bolt of pure stunning energy at the Dark Lord who seemed to experience the same thing; the shimmering red orb seemed caught by the ball of light, performed one full orbit then shot back on its course now a crimson beach ball. Voldemort deflected the ball with a shield charm and it ricocheted away, blasting chunks of ancient stone wall to pieces. The effort of deflecting the stunner seemed to have taken a toll on Voldemort who staggered back several paces before recovering and vanishing with another loud crack.
Harry turned on the spot, wincing at the numbness in his limbs. It was just quick enough for him to see Nagini bearing down upon him from behind. She barrelled her massive length into him, bearing him to the ground and coiling once around him. Harry rolled as he fell, feeling the crushing strength reaching for his chest, but his movement meant the snake caught him around his right leg.
'Stupefy, bombarda, petrificus totalus!' he shouted, blasting energy into the snake which recoiled but barely checked her progress as she got another coil around him, pinning both his legs together.
'Give in, boy. Let go of the fight.' Nagini hissed in his ear as he felt his legs start to go cold from the pressure.
Her words gave him an idea and a memory of Hril'en came back to him. Diverting his strength away from the Wand of Worlds, he let it radiate from every pore of his body. It was do or die. He visualised a repulsive explosion and the snake releasing him then released his power.
With an awful hiss the snake was ripped loose from his skin, he had a brief moment of her scaled hide ripping in places where she had been touching him directly. Not letting himself dwell on the pain in his head from such a dangerous manoeuvre, he rolled over and somehow found his feet as Voldemort materialised next to him and made a stabbing motion with his wand.
The Wand of Worlds was up just in time, the protective bubble deflected most of the spell which would otherwise have blasted him through the wall. Staggering back a step, he redoubled his grip on the wand which seemed to banish the pain in his body and retaliated with a spell of his own.
Voldemort hadn't expected his own spell to fail and hadn't prepared for a reprisal and no sooner had the words 'Bombarda Maxima' left Harry's lips, the Dark Lord was flying back through the air, blood pouring from his mouth and torn cheek.
Making to finish it, Harry took a step forward but jumped to one side as another flash of green soared toward him. Bellatrix LeStrange and at least a dozen others had entered the chamber, wands raised and ready.
Taking shelter and renewing a protective ward, Harry wondered frantically what to do but came up with nothing.
'Come out Potter, come out and die!' Screeched Bellatrix as a stream of curses blasted away at the pile of rubble behind which Harry was hiding.
Closing his eyes and flicking the Wand of Worlds, Harry saw outside of himself. The death eaters had assembled around Voldemort who had regained his feet. Three of the Dark Lord's servants were staring transfixed at the shimmering light in the middle of the chamber. Returning to himself and remembering what happened to their earlier spells, Harry took a breath and popped out of his cover. 'Incendio Maxima!' He shouted and rocked back on his heels as the golden fire burst from his wand. It soared toward the death eaters, twisted around the shimmering orb and intensified to the brightness of a small sun, feeding on some invisible energy before returning to its original course and incinerating Lucius Malfoy and Pious Thickness in an instant.
Even from his position fifty feet away, Harry felt the awful heat wash over him, hotter even than the fiendfyre and smiled at the thought of never having to see Malfoy's sneering face again. He ran out of his cover, casting another deflecting charm followed immediately by swift feet and ironskin. Through a break in the dissipating fire, he caught sight of Voldemort casting a spell on Nagini and used the moment to send a killing curse straight through the visor of a masked death eater who crumpled on the spot.
'Potter!' Voldemort shouted, his magically-amplified voice filling the chamber. 'Come, face me if you have the courage!'
'Courage?' Harry responded, 'You have twelve, well nine now, cronies here and you expect me to believe you want a fair fight?'
The fire vanished in an instant, the air clearing except for the shimmering orb. Harry looked up and saw ten wands pointing at him. He was half-way between pieces of cover as the curses came. He deflected three, dodged four thanks to swift feet and his ironskin absorbed another three, but the last bolt of red light caught him high on his right shoulder and he fell spinning into space and he knew all was lost.
He landed face-first in a pile of rubble and found his limbs unresponsive. Bellatrix released an insane cackle of laughter and there was the sound of advancing feet. The feeling of being full of light was gone and Harry knew the Wand of Worlds was gone from him. He wracked his brains for anything that he could do to help himself but as he had been told time and again, it wasn't possible to dispel wand spells without another implement. Wild magic just didn't work that way.
He felt a shiver of magic and he was rising off the floor, grit and rubble scraped into his face. Turning, he faced Voldemort and the death eaters. Nagini was behind Voldemort, coiled tight on the ground but her wounds were almost gone already.
'You've caused me a lot of trouble over the years, Harry Potter,' Voldemort said, holding his wand which was in turn holding Harry airborne aloft. 'You are the only person I have ever failed to kill and not only once, but twice! You learned my secrets and you came so very close to winning. But you failed just as all heroes do. You don't have the spine to win, you lack the conviction to make the real sacrifices that greatness demands. Your mother sacrificed herself for you and protected you, then when I pointed death's hand at you again, you sacrificed yourself which bought your friends a few more days. You love and because of that, you lose. Dumbledore's secret power that he believed would overcome any obstacle has failed you as it did him. Goodbye Harry Potter.'
Harry, out of ideas, hope and any will to fight, unable to speak, move or resist in any way, closed his eyes.
Harry… said a voice, deep and slow in his mind. It was old and young, familiar and strange at the same time.
Harry opened his eyes as he realised who it was. The fear was gone. The voice was so empowering, so full of love and every emotion imaginable that it freed a tiny part of him. He looked at the spinning orb of light and knew what to do – understood exactly what it was.
Voldemort was drawing back the elder wand for the final strike, but Harry acted at the speed of thought. He reached out with his mind, felt the Wand of Worlds and fired a wandless summoning spell at it via the orb. The light amplified his will just enough and the branch of the world tree flew to his hand.
The light flooded his body, breaking Voldemort's enchantments. Harry fell to the floor, the killing curse flying way over his head.
Harry, take cover. Said the voice in his mind. We come from the sky!
We? Thought Harry, rolling to one side behind the huge body of a dead giant. Bracing himself, he pointed the Wand of Worlds at the ceiling of the chamber and bellowed, 'Bombarda Maixma!'
The wand kicked five times in his hand, reducing several sections of the roof to dust and through the haze he saw something that made his soul soar and tears come to his eyes at the same time.
'Nidhogg!' he roared as the great dragon plummeted through the hole in the roof. He was bigger than ever, easily fifty feet long and his scales glittered bronze and gold which caught every hint of light in the vast chamber.
'Harry!' screamed a voice, almost lost in the roar of wind as Nidhogg entered, but Harry would and did recognise Hermione's voice anywhere. He looked at Nidhogg's back and saw her there, her bushy hair flying and to his further amazement, she wasn't alone. Behind her, holding on to one another along the great dragon's back was Faye, Dean and Cedric, wands at the ready.
The death eaters scattered as Nidhogg landed. Even Voldemort fell back, vanishing again.
The snake darted forward, launching itself at Nidhogg's throat.
But his friend was faster. He caught the snake in his jaws and threw her hard into the shattered floor then pinned her with his monstrous front left leg.
"You have caused enough pain, vessel." Nidhogg rumbled.
The snake wasn't listening. "I will consume your soul!" She screamed, twisting and wrapping her enormous, crushing coils around his golden leg.
Voldemort reappeared over the heap of corpses long enough to see Nidhogg's vengeance. He reared his head back, inhaling deeply then unleashed his trueflame breath all over the snake.
She screamed immediately, her scales curling and eyes bursting as the inferno, as hot as the sun washed over her.
Voldemort's scream echoed that of his dying horcrux, the pain tore visibly at the air as he watched her die.
It only took a second for the dire horcrux enchantments to break. The snake's body shattered like glass and disintegrated.
Nidhogg turned to Voldemort then and stared into the single, bleak eye.
Voldemort was on the floor, wracked with pain and – for the first time that Harry had seen it – fear.
"Mortal." Nidhogg said, beating his wings once and leaping back toward Harry.
It is for you to do this now. The dragon said to Harry's mind as Fay wrapped her arms around his smoking and slightly scorched foreleg.
"Thank you, my friend." Harry said, stepping forward and walking toward Voldemort.
He flinched at the sound of Bellatrix's familiar screech of fury. She was up fifty feet away, her wand raised, eyes wild. He raised the Wand of Worlds, but it was unnecessary.
Bellatrix jerked, her wand dropping from suddenly limp fingers as a long, pale blade emerged from between her breasts. A pale fist wound itself into her hair and pulled her head back so that she could look into the eyes of her killer.
There was a savage, tragic glee in Ginny's eyes as they met Bellatrix's. "That's for my mother, you bitch." She said.
Then she wrenched the sword of Gryffindor free and Voldemort's favourite fell to the ground, motionless.
Ginny wiped the blade on Bellatrix's robes and stepped over the body.
A laugh burst from Harry as Fay ran over to Ginny, grabbing her in an enormous hug. He wanted to end it. To put an end to Tom Marvolo Riddle forever, but he took a moment. He waited for her.
She detached herself from Fay and they stopped a few inches apart he reached out and touched her face, her beautiful, radiant face, so full of fire and love and hope. She touched his chest, where her locket remained.
"You kept me safe." She said.
"You did the same for me."
"Can we do this after?" Cedric said, stepping under Nidhogg's bulk, wiping bloody hands on his own trousers. "That's Goyle Senior off to see his son in hell."
Harry and Ginny nodded, she took his hand and he felt the connection of Gryffindor's sword reaching through her to him. "Let's go." He said.
They turned and ascended the rise to where Voldemort had managed to get to his knees. The Elder Wand twitching in his shaking hand.
"It's over, Tom." Harry said, stopping a few feet away.
Voldemort coughed and a gobbet of blood spattered the ground. "It… will never be…" He gasped, panting.
"It was over long ago, this ending was written back in the graveyard. You remember the graveyard, don't you? When you murdered Albus Dumbledore, when you thought you had risen higher, achieved more in that one night than you ever imagined?"
Voldemort coughed again and managed to rise to his feet unsteadily. "That day, you sealed your own end. Albus Dumbledore knew what he was doing when he stopped Sirius getting at you. He died knowing he had done the right thing. He took a lesson from my mother. You never stood a chance."
"I..." Voldemort's eye looked around, uncertain.
"You thought you had won, but in that moment, you lost. In killing him, you gave everyone else his protection."
"For all the good that it did. Minerva McGonagall, Hector Garibaldi, Severus Snape – all those weaklings that chose to defy me – they're all dead!"
"And they died to ensure your death too, Tom. They all knew what was happening, they died knowing full-well that with every one of them that fell, you came closer to your inevitable end."
"I broke every single pillar!" Voldemort cried, taking a halting step forward. His skin was cracked and bleeding, leaving a red footprint behind.
Ginny took a step of her own, raising the sword, but Harry put a hand in front of her. "Not yet. He needs to know."
She paused, scowling.
"He needs to know." He repeated.
"You broke almost every pillar. We made new ones, I learned how when I went to the tree, before it gave me this." He said, indicating the Wand of Worlds. "And now, it's over."
"It will never be over!" Voldemort cried.
Crack, Crack, Crack. Three figures materialised around him.
Mad-Eye Moody, his bright eyes full of triumph and relief smiled. In his left hand was the ruined cup of Hufflepuff. In his right, the black dagger that had been used to steal Harry's blood five years earlier in the graveyard.
Remus Lupin didn't smile. His grey-streaked hair, sweat-streaked and filthy was plastered to his brow. He wore the Cloak of Stars which shone from within.
The last released a high bark of laughter. "Well done, Harry." Said Sirius Black. He spun the iron wand in his fingers and moved to stand next to his godson.
Voldemort's face was thunderstruck. His astonishment slowly turned to an expression of horrified realisation.
Cedric, Fay, Hermione and the others joined them.
Harry saw it coming. Voldemort twitched his wand, spinning it toward himself and beginning the incantation. He jerked the Wand of Worlds and said, "No."
The spell from the Elder Wand didn't reach Voldemort, but fizzled into pink and orange sparks.
"Like I said, Tom: It's over."
"Any last words?" Sirius asked, grinning.
They all raised their wands.
Voldemort's lone red eye met Harry's green ones as the spells went off, then it went dull and he fell backward, hitting the ground with a dull finality.