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I Suppose it's a Finale
Catherine and Harry were the last to leave the overcrowded kitchen. Before they left to apparate, Cat pulled Harry back. She looked straight into his eyes and stated "It's not murder. It is killing, like a dog with rabies. It is necessary, but if you feel you can't do it then I will."
Harry was more than shocked. She was willing to kill Voldemort if he didn't want to. "But … the prophesy."
Cat gave a harsh laugh that seemed to hang in the air. "Load of baloney. I could kill Voldemort if I did the killing curse and it hit him. That's life. Or death in his case." A strained smile appeared on her face.
Harry thought. This was a way out. He didn't have to do it. But, he slowly realised, he needed to do it. To give him closure. "I don't need anyone to protect me from what I have to do." He explained.
Cat smiled a real smile. "Good. Tell me if you change your mind though, my offer will always stand" Together, they walked out of the house and apparated to the field.
Harry, Cat, Ron and Hermione sat in the middle and waited. The others hid. They knew what to do. They knew what to expect.
Suddenly, the battle, which Harry knew would be his final battle – as he would either win (and never be involved in battle again) or lose (and die) - began.
Curses thrown left and right missed him by millimetres. Yards from him, Tonks was attacking Dolohov. She appeared to be winning. Harry hoped she was.
Cat was fighting someone he'd never seen before and Ron was attacking Lucius Malfoy. Then something made his blood run cold. Bellatrix Lestrange was being attacked by … Neville Longbottom. Neville was at school, he was not supposed to even know this battle was happening. And if he could get out of school to fight, that meant so could … He groaned and ducked an oncoming killing curse (which, incidentally, hit Bellatrix in the back, and was sent by her husband), sending a stupefy in the same direction, hoping it hit it's target.
Then an oncoming Peter Pettigrew took his full attention. "Hello Peter," Harry's voice was so cold that the rat shivered and Harry no longer recognised it as his own. "You know, you never were very good at keeping promises." A glare silenced what the traitor's mouth had begun to form. "I stopped them from killing you, ya know. Maybe I'll just do it myself. Remus is too tired to do it, and Sirius is too dead, but I'll do it."
A cold voice sent shivers up his spine. He wished he'd never heard this voice, ever. Not since the first time, when he was just one year old. "You really think you can kill Potter. You don't have what it takes."
The avada kedavra Harry then sent at Pettigrew stopped Voldemort's tormenting in a moment. But it made Harry feel sick. He had actually taken someone's life. He was no better than Voldemort himself. Or was he?
He remembered what Cat had said. "It's not murder. It is killing, like a dog with rabies." He turned to Voldemort and suddenly felt pity for him. He was not alive, not human. He wondered when the misguided boy trying to live forever was replaced by the evil that he was now confronted with. Somewhere inside he felt that he didn't care.
"Well hello Tom, fancy seeing you here." The sarcasm seemed to hang in the air. Harry didn't even bother to bow. He saw a flash of red. Ginny. She was against five death eaters at once. "STUPEFY!" he roared at Voldemort.
Not bothering with why Voldemort wasn't cursing him to oblivion, Harry stunned one of the Death eaters she was fighting, and went to help her, fighting with her back to back. No words were necessary. They were doing what was necessary. Arguments would be settled later. Now they were to fight.
Several dead or stunned Death Eaters later, Harry and Ginny split up, going in different directions. Harry hoped she would be OK.
He remembered Voldemort. What had happened to him? Why hadn't he come after Harry immediately? He hurried back to see Cat and Voldemort in a one on one duel. Somehow, this didn't surprise him as much as he thought it should.
Cat was laughing at Voldemort who was staring at her in complete shock. "Now Voldy, dear, I only thought that since I know all your secrets, you should at least know one of mind."
"Who are you?" Voldemort's voice was icy and powerful, yet soaked in suspicion.
"You're worst nightmare," she hissed in what Harry recognised as parseltongue. "But don't worry, I won't kill you. I could, but I honestly can't be bothered." She nodded at Harry and he saw mental images of what she wanted him to do. Attack, those messages said. Attack before he sees you, make the most of the element of surprise … or you might not make anything ever again.
Harry yelled the disarming spell and it hit Voldemort's shield. It bounced off, but distracted him from Cat. "Ahhh, Mr Potter is back. What a surprise?" The snake-like slits in the seas of red narrowed at Harry's stance. "You don't honestly think that you can kill me, do you?"
Harry simply stared him out, not bothering whether Voldemort thought he could do it or not. Cat; Ginny; the Weasleys; Ron; Hermione; Remus; … Dumbeldore; Sirius; his parents. They all thought he could do it. He knew they did. And right then, that was enough.
Blood pumped through his veins and his voice came out strong and harsh. "Why Tom, you actually think you can kill me." He ducked a purple light. "Now, now," he sighed, shooting another spell from his wand, "Play nice."
And so it continued, trading curses, insults, once even physical blows (though that was Harry with a conjured stone warrior). The sword Harry had spent many hours learning to use reflected spells as well as working in harmony with his wand. Thoughts of Ginny spurred him on to greater heights, though no spells actually hit their targets. Conjured shields, last minute ducks and shield spells took care of that.
The battle wore on, fights braking out all around. Harry and Voldemort were the only two to have been fighting just each other the whole way though. Harry was glad for his Quidditch reflexes as they kept him from getting tired. The adrenaline rush he'd felt at the beginning of the fight hadn't even begun to wear off.
He could see Cat fighting five Death Eaters at once. She was very powerful and her hair was beginning to bush up again. He idly wondered what that was about before ducking exceedingly quickly to dodge a cruciatus. He really needed to pay attention; he scolded himself, sending back a cutting hex.
Others around paid no mind to the Dark Lord and Harry Potter's final duel. Therefore, most missed Harry draw in his breath and fire the killing curse. Most missed Voldemort dodge just a second too late. Nobody missed Voldemort's scream of anguish just before he died. No one missed Harry James Potter faint, hand's held over his scar, seconds later.
A/N Thanks for the reviews, they are really appreciated. I hope to update this once a week, so look out for an update next weekend.