Rest in peace
"You die today, Potter!" yelled Lord Voldemort as he sent another green streak of light towards his nemesis.
The lean, raven-haired youth known as Harry Potter rolled to the side for the umpteenth time. The dark lord had decided to attack Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry on Halloween. The school had just sat down for the Halloween feast when explosions rocked the castle.
Harry had immediately sprung from the table and rushed outside, followed by all those over fifth year and most of the teachers. The battle had begun in earnest as auroras and members of the auroras of the vigilante group, the Order of the Phoenix, arrived.
It hadn't taken Harry long to locate and engage Voldemort. Spells were traded at blinding speeds as the two unleashed everything they had. It soon became clear that the dark lord and the boy-who-lived were too evenly matched. That is until Harry struck in the back by a stray cruciartus curse.
Smiling his manic smile, Voldemort cockily approached his downed foe. He relished the feeling as he raised his wand, the tip glowing the vivid green of the killing curse.
"It appears as though your time has finally come, Harry. For years you've managed to evade me, but no more. Goodbye..."
Voldemort's monologue was cut mercifully short as the Hogwarts grounds fell into a deep purple light. Fog began to fill the battlefield as a deep, ringing church bell tolled.
"What is this illusion?!" demanded the dark lord as the customary funeral march began.
"Tom... Marvollo... Riddle..." the deep, hollow voice resonated across the grounds, sending ice up everybody's spine. The source of the horrifying tones remained a mystery within the fog-shrouded battlefield as a look of sheer panic crossed the snake-like face of Voldemort.
"For too long have you walked the earth, bringing pain and death to a countless number. Your sins have caught up to you, Tom." the voice said with a smiling tone.
"I do not know who are, but I am Lord Voldemort. Your pathetic tricks do nothing but anger me. Show yourself so that I may destroy you!"
A deep, soul-rattling laugh rolled across the silent combatants.
"Tom, you can threaten and prostrate all you want. Just know that I will leave this place with what I came for...your SOUL!!"
The final word echoed as a figure approached Riddle from behind. A man standing over six feet, wearing a black leather coat that reached his feet and a wide-brimmed hat appeared through the fog. Riddle whipped around to find an impossibly pale face shrouded in the hat's shadow and thick beard on the chin. Red eyes widened in petrifying fear as the man's hands slowly reached up to his hat.
He gripped the front and back of the wide hat, bringing it up off of his head and down in front of his face. As it passed, the eyes were revealed, ghostly white and heavily veined.
Dropping the hat, which promptly vanished, the stranger focused his pupil-less eyes on the dark lord. A large hand raised and latched onto Riddle's pale throat.
A scream tore from the would-be conqueror's mouth. It washed over the grounds in waves, a sonic battery of true agony. Tears streamed from the slitted red eyes as vocal chords were slowly disintegrated. Another scream ripped through the ranks of fighters as Harry Potter fell to his knees.
The famous lightning bolt scar adorning his brow unleashed a piercing white light. As his tears and yell reached a crescendo, a ball of dark energy formed in front of his head. Words of pain flowed from his mouth in a hissing that shattered the hearts of all those watching. Tears escaped the eyes of light and dark warriors alike as they all cried for the pain that this child, who was never able to be a child, was continually subjected to.
The orb of sickly dark energy shot forth, only to burrow into the still writhing dark lord. Finally free of the burden, Harry collapsed in to a pain-wracked fetal position.
Four more piercing shouts sounded over the field, drawing the attention to the horizon. All eyes watched the skies as four more orbs hurtled to the body still held in the powerful grip of the stranger.
After the last impacted with Riddle's for, the man tensed. Voldemort was hauled three feet into the air, still howling in agony. With a grim smile, the dark lord was brought down. The sickening crunch of flesh, bone, muscle and cartilage was heard by all as the screaming villain was grounded, hard. All present witnessed, with a wince, the powerful hand of the man burrow through Riddle's throat and into the dirt.
The ground was slowly saturated with the dark, coagulated blood of the once feared dark lord as his eyes dimmed for the final time.
Looking down at the cooling corpse, the stranger uttered three words before vanishing in a flash of lightning.
"Rest... in... piece."
As the glare from the departure faded, every one of Riddle's followers fell to their knees. None of them had ever truly realized how evil their master was. Every masked face turned to the raven-haired boy held, shaking and sobbing, in the arms of a bushy-haired brunette who was crying for her friend and love. Never had the dark followers known of the pain inflicted on this poor orphan, chosen by fate.
No one resisted as they were shackled, tried, and handed over to the tender mercies of the soul-sucking guards of Azkaban. For the rest of their natural lives, the only image witnessed by their joyless minds was that of a boy reduced to a little ball of pain and sadness.
--oo00LBOS00oo--
It took Harry three weeks to recover from the loss of the piece of Riddle's soul. When he finally awoke, it was to be blessed with the face and bushy brunette hair of his true love and a soul free of the dark lord's taint.
Returning to the public eye, Harry was shocked to find no hero worship or praise. All he found was the understanding he'd wanted his entire life. Nods of acceptance were met with nods of his own. No crazed fan girls flocked to him. No males glared at him with envy. He was welcomed back to good health and then left to his own.
Looking into the happily tearing eyes of his love, Harry was finally able to let everything go. Tears, held back for years, were unleashed as he pulled her against him. Tears for his lost parents. Tears for his lost childhood. Tears for the innocence he was never allowed to know. Tears for the life he was now blessed with. Tears for the love he finally allowed himself to completely feel, free of fear. Tears of happiness at his newfound freedom. All were shed in that instant as the two lovers held each other in front of everyone's gaze. The crowd bore witness as a soul that had been tortured all of its existence was finally let loose to the surrounded world.
Harry Potter could now, and forever, live the life all of Earth's children were entitled to. He could finally live in peace.