A Part Of Me

Ron and Hermione arrived at Dumbledore's office a few seconds after Harry ran out.

"Voldemort is here and has taken Draco hostage to get Harry to come to him. Harry can't kill him yet, because Nagini, the last Horcrux, is still alive. We don't have time to call in Aurors this time, so you two are going to have to gp to Malfoy Manor and kill her. I am immensely sorry to ask this ofvyou, but there is no other option."

After they got over the shock, they nodded, and scurried to the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons and collected Harry's cloak. They ran back to Dumbledore's office and he Apparated them outside Malfoy Manor.

It was about 4am, just an hour or so of darkness remained to hide them in case anything went wrong.

Ron and Hermione disappeared under the cloak and they heard the pop Dumbledore made as he Apparated back to the castle. Ron held the sword tightly in his right hand.

Dumbledore had taken them inside the gates, so their only obstacle would be actually getting inside the house. Ron took Hermione's hand in his left one and they made their way towards the massive front door.

"Alohomora," Hermione whispered, and pushed the creaking door open.

"Silencio," she added hastily. She then erected another Silencing Charm around Ron and herself for good measure. They had no idea where to start looking for the snake, and were well aware of how pressed they were for time, and what was at stake. They just hoped they didn't run into any of the worst Death Eaters. Thinking of what might happen should they be discovered by Yaxley or one of the Carrows, they were almost relieved when the only person the huge dining room was Wormtail.

"Stupefy!" Hermione called, and the man slumped in his seat. They started walking around the table towards the fireplace. To their absolute delight, the big green snake was right there, warming herself in front of the glowing fire. Ron was just about to lift the sword and kill the thing when he heard voices and froze. Hermione was just making sure their entire bodies were covered by the cloak when Bellatrix and Scabior walked in, yelling at each other. Both Ron and Hermione were extremely tempted to kill them both right then and there, but they knew neither of them had it in them to perform the Killing Curse, so they had to think of a better alternative.

They moved into another room and the two under the cloak followed them. There was a massive chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, and by some unknown power of luck, the quarrelling Death Eaters came to a standstill directly under it. It was obvious what they had to do. They just hoped that nobody would come to investigate the noise. They only needed a minute after that. Hermione pointed her wand at the chandelier.

"Reducto," she squeaked. Bellatrix was too busy listening to the sound of her own voice to notice. Scabior saw though, and spent his last moments trying to find his killers. Then it was too late.

They turned around, not wanting to witness it. Hermione winced and Ron put his arm around her. Then they ran back to Nagini. Ron pulled off the cloak. Hermione looked at him as he lifted the sword high above his head and swung down, severing the head from its huge, writhing body. Then Macnair walked in. He stopped dead in his tracks. Then he lifted his wand, pointed it at Hermione who could do nothing but look at him.

"Sectumsempra!"

"What do you want, Tom?" Harry snarled at the smirking man.

"You of course, Harry," he said superciliously, still smiling.

Just because you were too weak to kill me 16 years ago?" Harry yelled. Voldemort's smile turned choleric and he snarled back, "Don't try me, boy."

"Torture me if it'll make you feel better," Harry countered sardonically.

"Don't think it won't. Crucio!" Harry was slammed to the floor by the mere force of the curse, and put all his conscious effort into not whimpering. His arms were flailing of their own accord and his entire body was shaking with frantic spasms of pain. It felt like hours when he vaguely registered a feeble voice yelling "Stupefy!" and he was suddenly freed from his torture. He looked up and saw Draco, holding one shaking arm in the other, and his wand on the ground next to him. He had many bruises and cuts in all shapes and sizes across his whole body. His eyes were swollen shut and Harry could see hat the arm he was holding was bending the wrong way. Harry ran and hugged him gingerly before ordering him to go to Madam Pomfrey. Draco refused, of course, and Harry let him be, secretly, selfishly, needing him to stay there.

The sun had just started rising when Fawkes appeared suddenly and Harry whooped in relief. His red and gold feathers were illuminated by the early sun. It was a remarkable sight, that meant that it was finally time to kill Voldemort once and for all. He let go of Draco's hand, and took a step towards the dark wizard's almost-lifeless body. He looked at him, gathering all the hate he'd ever felt and directed it onto him. Like Bellatrix said: he had to mean it.

"Avada Kedavra! " he shouted, and his wand exploded with green light. Voldemort's body gave one final twitch before it was done moving forever. Harry was frozen by the enormity of what he had just done, until he heard footsteps coming their way.

"Is it really over?" he asked Dumbledore, who was walking peacefully towards them.

"I do believe it is, Harry," the old man answered happily, holding out his arm for Fawkes.

"And Ron and Hermione? Are they okay?" he asked anxiously. Dumbledore sighed.

"Hermione suffered considerable damage from a cutting curse fired by Macnair, but other than that they are both alive and well."

"At least they aren't dead, I guess," he said sadly. He felt Draco's hand on his back and felt comforted immediately. Then he looked back at the man he killed.

"He was really stupid to come alone," Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, he wasn't alone." Dumbledore assured them. Harry's face went from confused to bewildered when Snape appeared - literally, as he had been under a Disillusionment Charm. Draco was gaping at him as well. It was his turn to speak now.

"You were a spy all along?" he asked, completely astonished.

"I'm a better actor than I seem, aren't I, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape answered dryly. Draco laughed.

"I wonder what the Dark L-" he stopped himself. "What Voldemort would have said if he knew. "

"I don't know what he would have said, but I wouldn't have been here talking to you about it," Snape said wryly.

"Either way, thank you," Harry said to Dumbledore and Snape.

"Now I'm going to sit here and enjoy the villainless sunrise over the Great Lake with my boyfriend if you don't mind." He them plopped himself down, pulling Draco down with him, leaving the professors to dispose of the body and leave them be. They did.

Draco rested his head on Harry's shoulder, and for the first time in too long, they simply sat, enjoying the sun and the breeze and the beauty of the world in each others arms.

The end.