Chapter 21

Bella's POV

Gone. Dead. The Only-One-He-Ever-Feared was gone. He looked as if he were sleeping, if not for this pale pallor and deathly stillness.

I couldn't believe he was dead. He was so strong and just...constant. Always there, always fighting. As I stared down at the headmaster's wise old face, I tried to absorb the incomprehensible truth. He would never speak with Harry and me again, never again give advice and support, never again see and point out the silver lining in every storm cloud the Wizarding World faced, never again offer support and wisdom and truth and knowledge and help....

Everyone had tears in their eyes now, excluding one expressionless person. Snape. Why wasn't I surprised?

I bit my lip to keep from sobbing.

McGonagall was weeping, hardly stifling sobs. I saddened me to see my favorite teacher so heartbroken.

I sensed Edward and the Cullens behind me, along with Harry's and my friends.

Trying to be strong, I successfully stifled my sobs.

The man who'd seen as a caring grandfather's last words echoed in my mind. "Tell Severus its time…Kill the snake…Destroy the Horcruxes. Now."

Unknown to the others, I clutched at the Horcrux tightly, my knuckles turning white under the pressure.

I grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him out of the Hospital Wing. Only the Cullens noticed us leaving. I shook my head at them, silently telling them to stay.

When we were out of the building, I noticed the sky.

"Twilight…" I murmured before turning to my friend. "We need to destroy this. Now."

He nodded. "We do. Come on. His office. The sword."

At that, we ran to the office together.

Harry was my brother in every sense but blood. We knew exactly what the other went through with Voldemort and the prophecy and everything.

Together, my brother and I would end the war. We'd be the end of it. The end of the Second Wizarding War—just like how we'd ended the first—and the end of Voldemort.

When we reached the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's—old—office, it leapt aside automatically, seeing our urgency.

We sprinted up the stairs and flung the door open. The portraits all jumped at the sound.

"What are you two doing in here?" Dexter Fortescue exclaimed.

I ignored him, like Harry. We scanned the shelves for a moment, looking for the sword of Gryffindor.

I rounded on the portraits and gave the Horcrux to Harry. "Where is the sword?"

"Excuse me, young lady!" Phineas Nigellus Black exclaimed, angrily. He was my great-great-great grandfather.

"Black!" I realized. "Go to your other portrait. Now. You need to get the Order! Quick!"

"Why?" he said, getting very annoyed.

Tears were still flowing down my face.

"Because," I said quietly. "they need to know Dumbledore is dead."

"What?" several of the portraits exclaimed, aghast.

"They need to know Dumbledore has died. Quickly, now! Voldemort is on his way. Go and tell them, please. Before the school is ambushed. Tell them now, please!"

He was gone as soon as my lips closed.

I looked to Everard and said, "Everard, go to the Ministry! Tell any Order members you see! Tell the Aurors and the Minister! Voldemort is about to attack Hogwarts! And Dumbledore is dead, and they know it. Spread the word! Tell them Isabella Swan sent you! Hurry! GO!"

His portrait was empty now. Then I spotted a glint of ruby and silver from a shelf.

"Found it!" I exclaimed. Harry tossed the Horcrux on the desk as I gripped the sword.

He looked to me. "On three, I'll open it, and you destroy it. Okay?"

I nodded.

"One…Two …Three…Open," he said. I knew instinctively that it was in Parseltongue.

The locket's doors opened. Behind both of the glass windows were two living eyes that I recognized—Tom Riddle Jr.'s, before he changed.

The sword felt like it weighed a ton. Heavier than anything before. I couldn't swing; I couldn't move.

Suddenly, it spoke to me, a soft hissing voice. "I have seen the secrets of your heart…I have seen your dreams and fears…"

I could hear Harry screaming something to me…but I couldn't make out words.

"All you dream is possible, but so are your fears, Isabella Lestrange…

"Always mistreated, misunderstood…alone. Unloved by the man who you gave your heart and his family…Always misapprehended …always alone…always unloved…"

No, I thought back. No. My friends, my real family--the Cullens--all loved me.

"Always alone…for eternity. Unloved by all…Why bother coming back? Mocked by all behind your back…laughed at for years…Unloved for years…"

No. So many friends. Family.

I found my strength, thinking of them. With as much force as I could muster, I swung the blade down.

There was a thump as Harry through himself out of the way, just as there was a metallic clang.

The Horcrux was screaming in pain. Shrieking. I stabbed it again.

Then, it was silent. I dropped the sword. I realized I had tears flowing down my face. My breathing was heavy and labored.

The glass windows of the locket were smashed.

I looked up and saw Harry standing.

"Of course it said Isabella Lestrange," I muttered bitterly, despite the tears on my face.

"While you were gone, everyone was so worried. We thought you'd be hurt or found or...killed. Every time we saw a member of the Order, we pleaded for information. We were out of our mind with worry." He paused, then said, "I know he loves you. The way he looks at you is the same way I look at Ginny. All of us—me, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the Cullens, the Order—you are important to us all. You're family. You are loved, and we don't care who your parents are."

I nodded, wiping at the ears. "Thanks, Harry. It just…It was a weak moment. I'm always vulnerable with grief."

Harry shook his head. "No. Grief is a part of love. Loving someone isn't weakness. It's strength. Voldemort doesn't understand any of it, and that's why he's weak and why we are strong."

I smiled slightly. "Yeah. That's something Dumbledore would say."

He nodded.

We sat in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Harry cracked a smile.

"What?"

He replied, "Remember our first year? When Dumbledore was giving his speech? He said he wanted to say a few words? Remember them?"

Of course I did. "Nitwit," "oddment," "blubber," and "tweak". I laughed quietly.

We sat there, laughing in memories while we could possibly be killed. It was obvious we were slap-happy.

I calmed. "We should go now. Students need to evacuate. The Order and Ministry officials should come soon."

He nodded and we both stood to leave.

"Wait!" a voice said. I turned and saw Phineas Nigellus Black running back into his portrait. "They are coming. Lupin sent out Patronuses to warn the others. He said to tell you two that the Order will be Apparating to Hogsmeade and travel through the secret entrance in the Hog's Head bar behind that girl's portrait into the Room of Requirement, but they need someone to go and open it."

"I'll go," Harry said. "You go and tell the professors." He ran off.

Another portrait—Everard, I realized—exclaimed, "The Minister has been informed. I also told the Auror office. Shacklebolt sent Patronuses, as well, to Order members and Aurors. The Ministry is setting up the Floo network as we speak. They'll be here in moments."

I nodded and headed to the door, but I tripped over something and landed on the floor in front of the cabinet that I knew held the Pensieve. The door was cracked open. Curious, I opened the cabinet door.

Inside, was the tattered, maimed remains of a black leather diary covered in dried ink and sporting a hole through the middle that caused it to look as if it'd been stabbed, which it had—Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary, his first Horcrux. I picked it up and saw other things inside.

There were other mangled remains of Horcruxes. A ring with a black stone with a crack down the middle and a mutilated golden cup. The other Horcruxes. All were destroyed, except Nagini and Voldemort himself….or so I thought.