The Half-Blood Princess

Chapter 12

The Death Eaters hung about Malfoy Manor for the rest of the morning, most of them slept in the dining hall or one of the living rooms. Voldemort was given one of the guest bedrooms. Severus slept in one of the other guest bedrooms. Lucius and Narcissa retired to their bedroom while Gwen and Draco went to sleep in Draco's room.

At about 10 am, Voldemort ordered everyone to assemble back in the dining room. The Death Eaters all gathered into the room. Voldemort went through the plans and they all agreed. Once the plans had been gone through, Voldemort sent most of the Death Eaters ahead to a site near Godric's Hollow. He went after them, having Nagini come with him, leaving the Snapes and Malfoys by themselves.

Narcissa looked at Draco and Gwen. She broke down crying and hugged them to her tightly. Draco and Gwen hugged her back. "Mother..." Draco said trying to console her.

"No," She said crying. "I don't want it to be like this for you, too."

"Cissa. What are you doing?" Lucius asked her, his face contorting slightly in anger.

"I am so sick of everything the Dark Lord makes us do. Do you want your grandchildren growing up with him in charge, threatening them, holding anything over their heads? I do not Lucius. I want peace. Today we need to make a choice, not for us, but for our child and his future children."

Lucius looked at her, trying to fight the logic of her argument, but he couldn't. He went over to Narcissa, Draco and Gwen and joined in their group hug as he began to cry. Severus slowly joined in and they stood together, holding each other, finally all on the same page. "But what can we do, Cissa?" Lucius whispered uncertainly.

"You can kill Nagini." Severus said quietly.

"What?" Lucius asked, looking at Severus confused as to what the snake might have to do with anything.

"I promise you both," he said looking at Narcissa and Lucius "if you both fight against our Lord, and on the side of Harry and kill Nagini, the better world that we all want for our children and future grandchildren will come."

"All right." Narcissa said trustingly. Narcissa disappeared to a closet and came out with five long knives that were sheathed. "Here." She said giving one to each of them. They each took them and hid them on their person.

Once that was done, they all apperated to Godric's Hollow. They joined the other Death Eaters as they began milling around amongst them. It wasn't long before The Order of The Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and other students from the school came forward onto the field. The few remaining Death Eaters and their few supporters were outnumbered, but those who were not Snapes or Malfoys would fight to the end for their Lord.

Harry stepped out in front of everyone. "Hey Riddle!" He bellowed. "Let's end this." The battle began in earnest. Gwen and Draco took out a few Death Eaters by stunning them in the back, while Severus, Narcissa and Lucius made their way quietly over to where Nagini was, away from the battle. Some members of the Order and students dueled and took out some of the Death Eaters. In a fury, Voldemort stepped forward and began throwing curses at Harry which were deflected. They continued to duel for a few more moments, but when Voldemort threw an Avada Kedavra at Harry, Harry allowed it to hit himself and he fell. Voldemort fell and appeared to be unconscious as well. Harry and Voldemort remained like that for a few moments, during which Severus stunned Nagini. Lucius and Narcissa drew their knives and stabbed the enormous snake, finally severing the head and then cutting her up. All three cast an Avada Kedavra at Nagini at the same moment, killing the snake. The Snapes and Malfoys made their way unseen by the other Death Eaters over to the side of the Order.

As Voldemort and Harry came to, The few other remaining Death Eaters that were still standing, panicked. Voldemort yelled angrily. He looked over to where he had left Nagini and saw that she was hacked to pieces. That only served to further incite his anger. He had lost most of his Death Eaters, his snake was dead, and his horcruxes were in severe danger. But once he saw Severus, Gwen, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco standing behind Harry, he lost it. He began firing curses and Avada Kedavras left and right with Severus, Lucius, Narcissa, McGonagall, Lupin and Harry shielding and blocking the curses from the people behind them.

"They're all gone, Riddle!" Harry yelled at him while deflecting another curse. "All your horcruxes!" Lucius deflected the blasting curse sent his way and it rebounded and hit one of the Carrows, killing them instantly in a small explosion and injuring other Death Eaters by them.

"NO!" Voldemort screamed as he sent another Killing Curse at Harry.

"Avada Kedavra!" Severus screamed as he shoved Harry out of the way so that Voldemort's curse hit the tree behind Harry and Severus's curse sailed straight to his former master. Voldemort could not react quickly enough and it hit him squarely in the chest. Voldemort stumbled backward, stunned at the final betrayal of the man whom he thought was his most faithful Death Eater and fell down, the furious light behind his red eyes leaving entirely. The few standing Death Eaters that were still standing vanished.

The mass of students and Order members remained motionless and silent for a moment before breaking out into whoops of delight and happiness. The shouts could be heard for miles around. Students and Order members hugged each other. Gwen, Draco, Lucius and Narcissa all began crying as they hugged each other, looking extremely undignified doing so. Harry turned to Severus and looked at the man that he had hated for the last seven years, the man that had killed Dumbledore and the man that had saved his life when it mattered. Harry hugged Severus somewhat awkwardly.

"Thank you." Harry said as he held on for another moment before letting go.

"I owed your mother that much." Severus said meeting Harry's eyes and giving the young man in front of him a sad smile. Harry shook Severus's hand before turning to see Hermione, Ron and Ginny looking at him strangely.

"I'll explain later." Harry told them rushing over to Ginny and hugging and kissing her.

Severus turned to Gwen, Draco, Lucius and Narcissa. He joined in the group hug and then they all sat down on the grass and sighed. "It's over." Severus said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Finally." Lucius said closing his eyes as he hugged Narcissa to him.

Gwen and Draco held onto each other, saying nothing. But the smiles that were on their faces told another tale. The secrecy and hiding was over and they could move on with their lives, never having to worry about Voldemort again.

Disclaimer: Only Gwen is mine, everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

Author's note: This is not the end. I still have a few more chapters lined up before I will be done entirely. I realize that this ending may be a little too "unicorns and rainbows" for some of you, but like The Doctor once said "Just this once, everybody lives!" So, I apologize if that was too neat, but it was how I wanted it to end. I would absolutely love it if you review!

Thanks,

DE :)