Thanks for all the reviews.

There was a wait between Part II and Part III, but I didn't post until I had the whole part done so that there wouldn't be much time to wait. Please let me know if you like that approach or if you like the "post each chapter as soon as it is done" approach.

Enjoy.

Chapter 9: ...Will Fight With Death...

Harry Potter was still arguing with his son James when the first spells ripped through his defenses. He had expected a full hour before Voldemort attacked, but instead Voldemort had simply attacked when he wasn't ready. It was a smart move; Harry should have seen it coming.

Harry ordered a counter strike. Stunning spells, disarming spells, killing spells flew through Diagon Alley as Voldemort's army met his. Harry sent disarming spell after disarming spell into Voldemort's ranks and they were quickly followed by stunning spells from the Americans up front. His forces were falling back, unable to stand up to Voldemort's attack.

Hermione's words flashed through Harry's brain. We will want to avoid the battle lines idea which we had been focusing on. If we are going head hunting we will want chaos, the armies interwoven together to force Voldemort and Travers to join in. Otherwise they will just stay in the back and orchestrate the whole thing from afar like Voldemort did in Paris. Chaos. Harry did the only thing he could think of; he yelled "retraitent!" Immediately, the French army began to retreat back toward Gringotts. However, only some of the British army had understood him and the Americans were completely clueless. The Death Eaters stood confused for a few seconds before they charged. The English and Americans stopped some, others continued on all the way to where the French had regrouped by the bank. Chaos achieved.

Harry fought off and on, most of the people he actually found were unable to really fight. Most fell with only a couple spells. He looked around for Voldemort and finally found him, striding in through the Leaky Cauldron. Harry recognized the form of Adam Travers striding behind him, leading two lumpy shapes with his wand in front of him. Harry didn't think much about the shapes. He moved quickly to intercept Voldemort. As soon as he was in range he shouted "Expelliarmus!" A red, disarming spell shot from his wand and flew in front of Voldemort. Voldemort smiled and turned, shooting a killing curse half-heartedly in Harry's direction. He dodged and got a better look at the shapes. His heart dropped. Hanging, upside down, in front of Travers were the bodies of Albus Potter and Ashley Wright; both very much dead.

Harry stood stunned for only a moment, but it was enough. Voldemort hit him with a stunning spell which sent him flying over the crowd and into a wall near the front of the alley. Rose Weasley appeared in front of him and preformed the counter-curse to the stunning spell. Harry sprang up and tried to find Voldemort. The tall shape was moving easily through the crowd toward the gate. Harry fought his own way through, trying to get to him before he arrived at the bank in the back. He saw a portable swamp go off about halfway down the alley, he only just made it past the swamp in time. It was good to see George in the battle.

Harry was shouting distance from Voldemort when Voldemort stopped and pulled his wand on the bank door. The door exploded in a shower of splinters but Harry knew that the bank would not appear behind it. It was the final one of Hermione's gates. The Ministry was breached. The smoke cleared and Harry stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't staring at an empty Ministry for Voldemort to run easily through all the way to Flamel. Instead he was staring at the face of an old man in elegantly flowing magenta robes and a beautiful white beard which reached his knees. The face of his old mentor and favorite Professor: Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening, Tom," Albus said as if nothing had changed. As if both he and Tom Riddle hadn't died and somehow come back to life to fight again. But then he whipped his wand out and sent a disarming curse at Voldemort, who easily deflected it and then charged, ordering several Death Eaters with him, and disappeared into the Ministry.

Neville Longbottom saw Harry get blasted away by Voldemort. He then followed as Voldemort rushed away down the Alley. He followed Voldemort from the shadows of the shops as Voldemort approached Gringotts bank. Voldemort paused in front of the bank and Neville was able to catch up. He moved to attack but stopped short as he recognized two shapes floating along behind Voldemort. The shapes were two of his students: Ashley Wright and Albus Potter.

Neville regained his focus but it was too late. Voldemort destroyed the bank doors with a wave of his wand. He knew that it would be hopeless if Voldemort got into the Ministry; there was no one in the Ministry to stand in his way. He would have a straight shot to Flamel's body. Neville moved to get between Voldemort and the door but there was already someone standing there: an old man that Neville recognized immediately as Albus Dumbledore. Normally he would have thought it impossible, but after everything he had seen the past few months nothing surprised him anymore. Dumbledore sent a spell at Voldemort who easily blocked it and ordered his army to charge. Neville followed as Voldemort plowed into the Ministry.

There were over four hundred people inside the Ministry as Neville ran inside, side by side with Harry Potter. Neville was tripped almost as soon as coming inside the door. He landed with a roll and came back around. He sent a disarming spell at the person who tripped him; a tall, lanky man he recognized as Stan Shunpike. Stan had a dazed look on his face, but Neville didn't go easy on him. The disarming spell sent Stan's wand flying and Neville quickly sent a quick stunning spell which hit Stan square in the chest.

Neville got up and caught sight of Harry who had Voldemort in a duel near the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Neville hoped that the fountain didn't get destroyed again. It had been destroyed too many times during the last war. Neville continued to scan the battle and was finally surprised. Albus Potter was very much alive and was standing back to back with Ashley Wright. He had pulled the Elder Wand out and they were fighting off about ten members of Voldemort's army. It was looking easy. Sirius Black was tap dancing between two or three enemy wizards, taunting them as he easily blocked their spells. Remus and Tonks Lupin were in a corner fighting against six Death Eaters. Even Harry's parents were fighting together like they had been doing it for decades, taking down three witches as Neville watched.

Then Neville was surprised even more. He saw one of the Ministry clerks turn her back on him, battling someone who Neville couldn't see. There was a flash of green light and the clerk fell to the ground like a balloon that had just been popped. The person who the clerk was fighting brought Neville's blood to a boil. He was staring straight eye to eye with Bellatrix Lestrange. Neville raised his wand.

Bellatrix struck first but Neville was ready. He dodged the killing spell and sent a disarming spell back which was nonchalantly blocked. Bellatrix sent a white spell in Neville's direction but he was already long gone. He came around behind Bellatrix and sent a stunning spell in her direction, but she seemed to notice the spell at the last minute and ducked, causing the spell to slam into the back of an unsuspecting Death Eater who was fighting a balding man that Neville thought he should recognize. Neville didn't have much time to think about it though as Bellatrix rebounded and sent another killing curse in his direction.

Neville was running out of time. He never had been good at dueling and Bellatrix was really a pro. He had seen her fighting four different aurors at the Battle of Hogwarts. Neville didn't know how he would beat her alone. But she had tortured his parents to death. Neville owed it to them to try. He thought about his father, drooling in his sleep in a St. Mungo's hospital bed. His mother babbling nonsense as he and his grandmother visited them. That was how he remembered his parents. And this woman had put them there. Bellatrix Lestrange had robbed him of his parents.

Neville gritted his teeth and blocked an incoming stunning spell. He whipped his wand around and sent an Impedimentia curse at her. He didn't wait, sending a stunning spell, a reducto curse and finally a disarming curse at her. She was able to block the first three but she waved her wand at the disarming curse too late. The curse hit and her wand went flying into the crowd. Neville thought he heard the wood snap. Bellatrix looked back at him, wand pointed straight at her chest.

"Do you know who I am?" Neville said.

"Do it," she screamed. "Do it for your pathetic parents. Kill me."

"I shouldn't," Neville said.

"Coward," Bellatrix said, smiling. "You never had it in you."

"Oh, I have it in me," Neville said. "But I still shouldn't kill you. I should torture you until you go mad; leave you in St. Mungo's like you left my parents. But I'm not like that. I'll show you mercy. Avada...!" he said, but a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

He turned and saw the man who had been fighting against the poor Death Eater who had fallen to Neville's spell. Now that the man was closer, Neville could remember some of the features. But the cheeks were fuller, and the eyes had life. Neville didn't remember that. He only remembered his father after Bellatrix had gotten a hold of him. "Son," Frank Longbottom said. "Son, do not become a murderer on my account."

"Sorry dad," Neville said. "But this won't be my first kill."

Frank looked back in shock but quickly composed himself. "Together then," he said. "That way we won't know which spell actually did the deed." Neville nodded and the two of them turned their wands on Bellatrix Lestrange and shouted "Avada Kedavra!" Two emerald spells shot out and hit Bellatrix straight in the chest as she attempted to crawl away. There was a loud, triumphant roar and Bellatrix Lestrange stopped moving.

Neville reassessed the situation but didn't get to look very far before his attention was grabbed by Harry Potter flying through the air. He slammed into the Fountain of Magical Brethren with a grunt and sent the wizard tumbling into the centaur and rode both down to the ground on the other side of the fountain. He looked back to where Harry had come from. Voldemort was standing at the far end of the hall holding his wand triumphantly in the air. He waived the wand down and nothing appeared to happen.

Neville knew better than to believe Voldemort would waste a spell. He took off at a run toward Voldemort, Harry quickly joining him. They watched as Voldemort turned and called a lift. Harry sent a spell at him but the spell hit an invisible barrier just before Voldemort and fizzed out. "No!" Harry yelled, but Neville had a feeling he knew what was happening. They reached the point where the spell had fizzed and ran into an invisible brick wall. Voldemort had cast a barrier. They could go no further.

"Move!" someone shouted behind them. They turned and Harry quickly pulled Neville aside as Draco Malfoy sprinted past them, straight through the barrier and straight into a waiting lift, taking him down away from the lobby. Neville turned to Harry but Harry just nodded toward the battle and the two of them rushed back into the fray, an understanding passing between them. All their hopes now lay in the hands of the Death Eater Draco Malfoy. Neville hoped that was better odds than it sounded.