Restarting the Heart
Chapter 2:
Again, most of the quotes are from Deathly Hallows, but after this chapter, it'll follow my story line.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter material, it's all J.K. Rowling's but I doubt you'd mistake me for her anyways.
Ginny battled her way back into the Great Hall firing stunning spells at any Death Eater she saw, the grief she felt spilling over as anger and she fought with a passion she never had before. She stormed into the Great Hall and noticed many smaller battles forming around the centre of the hall. She saw Voldemort taking on Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn and Kingsley, while Bellatrix battled Hermione and Luna. She saw that her friends needed all the help they could get and rushed to help them.
She was immediately focused on the battle and although there were three of them and only one of Bellatrix, it was clearly a fair fight. She whirled around, firing stunner after stunner at Bellatrix and was constantly dodging and casting shield charms. She was using all her strength and power and she knew Hermione and Luna were too and she was frustrated with herself for not putting in more effort. I can beat her, I know I can, she thought. For Harry, come on Ginny you can win this for him. Suddenly, she felt like a flame had been lit inside her, she battled with a new fury. She was less careful, attacking rather than defending. She was almost tired out when a killing curse flew past her shoulder, missing her by millimetres. She felt stunned; she had felt the curse breeze over her shoulder, almost through her hair. Almost instantly, she was annoyed with herself, annoyed that she couldn't beat Bellatrix and annoyed that that it was taking so much of her energy, simply to survive.
Before she had a chance to react, or fire a spell back at Bellatrix, her mother Molly Weasley was pushing her out of the way, with eyes only for Bellatrix.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" cried Mrs Weasley, running out in front of the girls, putting one arm out to shield them, while the other held her wand which was being waved and flicked around ten times faster than Ginny's ever did.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" she screamed, her wand slicing through the air, vicious blasts of light coming from both duellers wands. As they continued to battle the floor beneath them became cracked and hot and it was clear to Ginny that the loser would not survive.
"No!" warned Molly Weasley, as some of the spectators moved to help her, "Get back! Get back! She is mine!" Ginny noticed that the middle of the hall was empty, except for Mrs Weasley and Bellatrix and McGonagall, Slughorn, Kingsley and Voldemort. The rest of the armies lined the walls, watching the on-going battles in awe.
"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunted Bellatrix, an evil grin on her face and a look of madness and mock concern in her eyes. "When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"
"You – will – never – touch – our – children – again!" screeched Mrs Weasley, fury building up inside her, so much as that she felt as if her insides were on fire.
Bellatrix gave a loud exhilarated laugh, taunting Mrs Weasley, and the fury boiled over. Molly's curse soared straight at her, hitting her chest. Her goading smile froze as she fell backwards, lifeless. Voldemort, upon witnessing his most faithful servant's death, screamed, and with a bang he knocked his opponents backwards, aiming straight at Mrs Weasley.
Then Ginny heard a loud cry; a familiar one. It couldn't be though, he was dead. She had seen him, lying there in Hagrid's arm as he carried him out of the forest. And yet the voice which cried out "Protego!" was exactly like his. It just couldn't be, but it was. As she turned around she saw him, standing in the middle of the hall, wand out, face-to-face with Voldemort.
Ginny could hear whispers all around her, "Harry! HE'S ALIVE!" Ginny felt her hand drift towards her heart and she pulled both her arms close into her chest. "Harry", she whispered and if she weren't in shock she thought she might have cried.
"I don't want anyone else to try to help. It's got to be like this. It's got to be me," called Harry to the crowd, his stupid nobility once again, thought Ginny, but she understood that he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.
"Potter doesn't mean that," hissed Voldemort, his eyes open wide, sneering at Harry. "That isn't how he works is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"
"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good."
"One of us?" jeered Voldemort. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"
"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry, as both opponents moved round in a perfect circle, keeping the exact same amount of space between them. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"
"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, yet he did not attack; he seemed intrigued by what Harry was going to say next. The whole hall was silent except for the one pair in the centre. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry passionately, staring into Voldemort's blood-red eyes. "You won't be able to kill any of them, ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you hurting these people-"
"But you did not!"
"- I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"
"You dare -"
"Yes, I dare," said Harry calmly, and Ginny could tell that Voldemort was listening carefully now; he would have struck had he not wanted to hear what Harry had to say. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"
"Is it love again? Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love didn't stop him falling from the Tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which didn't prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter –nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time, and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"
"Just one thing" said Harry while they circled each other, still in a perfect rotation.
"If it is not love that will save you this time, you must believe that you have magic that I have not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"
"I believe I have both," said Harry calmly, and Ginny saw shock and horror flash on Voldemort's face for a split second, and then he was laughing.
"You think you know more magic than I do?" Voldemort asked incredulously, "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"
"Oh, he dreamed of it," Harry replied, "but he knew more than you, he knew enough not to do what you've done."
"You mean he was weak!" screamed Voldemort, clearly agitated, and Ginny knew that Harry wouldn't let Voldemort insult Dumbledore for long. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"
"No, he was cleverer than you, a better wizard, a better man." Harry said patiently, more so than Ginny expected him to be.
"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!" cried Voldemort, determined to claim this as one of his greatest victories.
"You thought you did, but you were wrong." The crowd was generally confused at this, and so was Ginny. Harry was going to explain it all to her later; she would make sure he did. She needed a lot of answers, and she needed them from him.
'That's if he survives' thought a darker part of Ginny's mind, but her usual optimistic self disagreed. He was going to survive, He always did, he was Harry Potter; The Boy Who Lived couldn't die.
"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort was lost in rage, he didn't like it when people told him he was wrong. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, he will not return!"
"Yes, Dumbledore's dead," said Harry, with the air of patience Ginny had often heard from her parents and professors, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."
"What childish dream is this?"
"Severus Snape wasn't yours, Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realised it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"
Ginny missed whether or not Voldemort replied to what Harry had to say about Snape's Patronus and his mother, as she was lost in her own thoughts. She didn't understand any of this, of Snape being on Dumbledore's side and why; Harry had a lot of explaining to do. When she pulled herself from her thoughts, she caught what Harry had to say.
"Snape's Patronus was a doe," explained Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realised, he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"
"He desired her," said Voldemort slowly, "that was all, but when she was gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him -"
"Of course he told you that," interrupted Harry, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"
"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, and he let out a mad cackle of laughter, as if he was implying that he did not believe a word of what Harry had said, but Ginny could tell from the look on his face that he had been giving Harry his full attention.
"It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh but it all makes sense, Potter, in ways that you do not understand!"
"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy – I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"
Again Ginny was confused; Voldemort had said that he had killed Snape. Normally, this would have been the best news of the day, and she couldn't help but feel slightly happy that he was dead, even if he had turned out to be good in the end. But the news that Snape had been Dumbledore's spy seemed to come as a surprise to Voldemort. If he hadn't been a spy, why else would Voldemort have killed him?
She was also confused about the Elder Wand. She had heard of it before, in one of the bedtime stories her mum used to read to her, The Tale of the Three Brothers. She had always thought that it had just been part of a fictional story, wrote to teach children not to be greedy, but could it be real? And if it was, did Voldemort really have it?
"Yeah, it did," said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done … think, and try for some remorse, Riddle …"
"What is this?" quizzed Voldemort furiously. It was clear that Harry had hit a nerve from how shocked Voldemort looked and sounded
"It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left … I've seen what you'll be otherwise … be a man … try … try for some remorse …"
"You dare –?" hissed Voldemort again.
"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle. That wand still isn't working properly for you, because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."
"He killed –" began Voldemort, but he was cut off by Harry, who was beginning to sound frustrated.
"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"
"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" cried Voldemort triumphantly. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"
"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard … the Elder Wand recognised a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realising exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance …"
Ginny suddenly felt a hint of pity for the person, who without knowing, had been in grave danger for months. She pondered how lucky the person was that Voldemort never knew who the true master was, although she realised that if someone had been Dumbledore's wand from him, they were probably a Death Eater, or working with them, at the very least. Her worst fears were confirmed as Harry continued, and all traces of pity were eradicated.
"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."
"But what does it matter?" Voldemort said softly, after recovering from the shock of this revelation. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: we duel on skill alone … and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy …"
"But you're too late," said Harry, and Ginny could tell that the actual duel was not far away. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him."
"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry, still holding up Draco's wand and the eyes of everyone in the hall rested on it. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was disarmed? Because if it does … I am the true master of the Elder Wand."
Then the moment came, just as the sun lit the Great Hall, Ginny heard to voices cry out, knowing all she could do was stand there and pray that he would win.
She heard Voldemort's cry of "Avada Kedavra!" first, but before he had finished the first word, Harry added his shout of "Expelliarmus!" to the silence.
There was a loud bang when both spells met, and a flash of golden flames. Then the Elder Wand came flying through the air and landed in Harry's outstretched hand; he had won. Voldemort fell backwards and there was a seconds silence and calm, before the whole hall erupted in cheers and surged towards Harry.
Ron and Hermione were the first to reach him, but Ginny was not far behind. As she finally got close enough to hug him tightly, she looked up into his eyes and saw his unspoken apology and love in them. She gave him a blazing look, and released him to the rest of the crowd. He held her hand for as long as he could, but eventually they became separated. Ginny wasn't worried, she knew that she and Harry had forever, but right now, her family needed her, and she needed to grieve. She looked around in the crowd, and eventually spotted her mother. She squeezed through the crowd towards her, and her mother took her into her arms. Although today had been a bad day for her, Ginny knew that, over time, things would get better.
Most of this chapter is a bit boring for us fans who have read the books over and over again, but I felt like this was the right way to set up the story. Hope you enjoyed it anyways, and a big thanks to everyone who alerted and favourited.