Disclaimer: All the usual ones apply!

Chapter 110

Harry grabbed his cloak and glanced in the mirror one more time. He desperately wished his hair didn't stick up everywhere.

"I can't believe you asked her on a date," huffed Ron.

Harry turned around to look at him. "I thought you liked Susan."

"She's an okay girl, but still, what do you need with another girlfriend? It took you ages to get over the last one."

Harry rolled his eyes. "She's not my girlfriend. Look. I need to get down to the entrance hall. I'll meet up with you and Hermione in the 3 Broomsticks around noon."

"Yeah, yeah," grumped Ron.

Shaking his head, he headed toward the Great Hall. He knew that Ron was really okay with this. The redhead had just wished he'd been told before he had asked Susan out.

When Harry arrived at the entrance hall, he didn't see Susan yet, so he plopped down on a nearby bench.

"'ey 'arry!"

"Hagrid! What are you up to?"

"Goin' tuh see Dumbledore."

"Anything wrong?"

"Nah. Gotta thin' needing 'is advice on."

Harry chuckled. 'Merlin only knows what Hagrids done now.' "Good luck."

He watched as Hagrid headed off toward the Headmaster's office. He then spotted Susan coming up the stairs that led down to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Morning Harry."

"Morning. Did ... uh ... you wanna eat? Or head on down to Hogsmeade?"

"I'm fine. Unless you're hungry?"

"Too nervous to eat," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Susan laughed. "It's just me, Harry. The same me that you've always known. C'mon. Maybe you can walk off some of that nervousness as we head into the village."

Harry groaned in mortification but nodded. After being signed out by Filch, they began their descent into the valley.

Severus had just finished his breakfast when he realized he never saw Harry come in to eat. As he stood, Albus reminded him of that blasted staff meeting he'd been hoping to avoid.

With a reluctant nod, he circled the Head table and made his way to the Gryffindor table where Longbottom and Granger were waiting on Weasley to finish inhaling his food.

Longbottom saw him first, which caused the boy to let out an undignified squeak.

"Where's Potter?"

"He went on into Hogsmeade, sir," Granger had replied after it appeared that neither of the boys were going to.

"Without you three?"

The girl nodded again. "He didn't want us tagging along. We're meeting up with them around noon."

"Them?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Harry's on a date," blurted out Longbottom.

Severus felt something warring inside of him. 'Why didn't Harry tell me?' he wondered.

"Sir, he just asked Susan yesterday. It probably didn't occur to him to tell you," Granger commented.

Stifling anger at her presumption, he simply nodded and stormed off.

So, Harry had actually asked Susan Bones out on a date. 'Merlin, I hope he doesn't do something inappropriate,' he thought as he headed to his office. He needed to pick up some papers to grade so he'd have something to do during the staff meeting.

Harry and Susan were laughing as they exited Zonko's Joke Shop.

"You should really consider getting that book, Harry."

"Absolutely not. Hermione would murder me." They had seen a book that was designed to keep track of homework assignments but two hours later the book would swap what was written down to another date. It was called a 'Homework Mis-Manager'.

"Good point. Especially with our O.W.L.'s this year. Maybe get it for her next year."

Harry snorted. Hermione would still kill him. "I am going to enjoy using these pranks on Ron and since he isn't with me, he won't know their coming."

Susan laughed. "Bookstore next. I need a few more packets of parchment and a new quill."

He nodded.

As they crossed the street, their hands inadvertently found each other. Neither commented on it as they clasped together, although they did share a small smile. After they purchased what they needed in the book store, they headed toward Honeydukes.

As they were crossing the street, Harry felt a wave of nausea hit him. It caused him to immediately stop walking.

"Harry, what is it?" asked Susan as she glanced back at him.

He tilted his head to the side, as if listening, and extended his senses to the nearby area. It suddenly hit him as if a ton of bricks had landed in his gut.

"Take cover!" he yelled as he pulled Susan toward a barricade in front of Zonko's.

Apparition sounds broke through the air less than two seconds later.

Along with several screams.

Harry watched in horror as all of the invisible Auror's were trussed up in a matter of seconds. They were then dragged into the middle of town. (No longer invisible.)

"Harry, I know you're here."

"Susan, I need you to go inside," he whispered. He then crawled toward a set of barrels before he could hear her reply.

"Attacking harmless kids, Tom?" He shouted as he moved behind another barricade.

"These Auror's aren't harmless. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry watched in shock as Voldemort killed one of them. He then realized that Tonks was among them. If anything happened to her, Remus would be devastated.

He didn't have a choice. He'd have to show himself. Just as he started to step out of his hiding spot, he felt himself being pulled back.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort intoned lazily at the next Auror in line.

"No, Harry." It was Hermione. He hadn't realized her and Ron had crawled toward him. If it had been a Death Eater, he'd have been killed.

"I have too," he said.

"No. You'll get yourself and them killed, which will accomplish nothing," she whispered.

He then had an idea. One that he could actually thank Moody for, assuming he lived through this. "Be right back!"

To his friends horror, he apparated away from them.

"I'll kill them all, Harry," threatened Voldemort. "Show yourself and I'll spare the rest."

Harry grimaced. He had apparated straight into Pansy Parkinson and Malfoy. A quick stunner took care of Parkinson, who had been about to shout his whereabouts, but Malfoy raised both hands in supplication and backed away.

"You'll spare them, but what about the rest of them?" He then ducked around the corner, narrowly dodging the ten or so curses that flew past his head.

Voldemort chuckled. "Who am I to deny them a bit of fun? Avada Kedavra!"

Harry watched with horror as the next Auror fell lifeless to the ground. There was nothing for it. He needed to show himself to stop the killing. He briefly wondered if he should simply walk out to the fountain or apparate. He knew he could get into trouble for apparating without a license, but walking out to the middle of the street seemed like an immediate death sentence.

With a sigh, he focused on the location near the fountain in the center of town. He would have liked to have held onto his apparition secret a little longer, but since his friends, plus a few of the Slytherins had seen that he could do it, there wasn't any use to hide it now.

"Here I am, Tom," he said as he appeared in the center of town.

"So nice of you to finally join me. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry watched in disbelief as the next Auror keeled over. There was only two left.

"You said you'd spare them!"

"I lied," he hissed. "Avada Kedavra!"

That killing curse was shot directly at him. He immediately fell to the ground in an effort to avoid it. As he rolled away from another, he pointed his wand at the dirt underneath the mass of Death Eaters and said, "Humus Tempestas."

Thankfully it was a dry day, otherwise that spell wouldn't have worked. He then took his opportunity and apparated away.

It, naturally, only took Voldemort about three seconds to cancel the dust storm, but when he did, he saw that his last two hostages were missing and one of his Death Eaters had been stunned.

"Harry, we can't let you go back out there," Tonks said as she pulled the last of the ropes off of herself.

"I'll be fine," he assured the Auror's with what he hoped was sincerity. "Just get everyone else out of here."

A scream caused everyone's attention to be directed back toward the center of the village.

"Now, Harry. We have some of your classmates. Come out here and die like a good little boy."

He frowned. The hostages were two Ravenclaws and a Slytherin. He doubted the Death Eater's realized they had grabbed a Slytherin student. Either that, or they simply didn't care. With a grimace, and much to the Auror's gasps of disbelief that he would willingly go back out there, he apparated back to the center of town. "Sorry, Tom, I don't feel like dying today."

"Circle us," commanded Voldemort.

"Are we going to do this properly then?" Harry dodged an incoming spell. His scar was searing with pain, which made it hard for him to concentrate.

Instead of an answer, he had the killing curse shot at him, again.

"Expelliarmus," he shouted back.

Just as they had done before, the two wands connected. Voldemort broke the connection and apparated to a spot behind Harry so that the combined spells wouldn't hit him.

Harry barely managed to dodge a curse that was shot at him the second Voldemort reappeared.

"Now, Harry. Stand still and die."

"Profusum Unda," he shouted while pointing his wand at what little bit of water was in the fountain and again at Voldemort. "You want a fair fight, Tom? Then bring it! Just you and me!"

"Seeing as how you're alone, I don't see where you get to dictate the terms."

A scuffling noise sounded behind Harry but he didn't dare take his eyes off of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord.

"He's not alone," called out a voice that he had definitely not been expecting.

"Longbottom, is it?" crooned Bellatrix. (She was currently the only Death Eater without a mask. Harry figured that it was her way of proudly admitting where her loyalties lay.) "How's mom and dad?"

"Better, now that they're about to be avenged."

'Great. Now I have to figure out how to make Tom go away and protect my friends,' he thought as he pulled Neville back behind him.

And for what was the hundredth time, he wondered where in the bloody hell Dumbledore was.

Albus had just been about to conclude the staff meeting when the Head Boy suddenly burst into the staff room.

"Harry and You-Know-Who are fighting in Hogsmeade!"

He felt his stomach hit the floor. As he, and all the teachers, poured out of the room to head into the village (nearly trampling the Head Boy in the process), he saw Severus nearly two feet in front of him, running. It took him a minute to catch up to him.

"Severus, you need to stay here in the castle and look after your Slytherins."

"Absolutely not. I'll not abandon my son. Sinastra is staying behind to watch them for me."

He merely sighed but nodded. Despite the fact that he wanted to protect him, he should have known that the man would want to protect Harry.

There was only one word that described the scene in front of him as they arrived in Hogsmeade ten minutes later.

Chaos.

There were battles taking place everywhere. Multiple students were fighting Death Eaters, a closer look showed that they were all Harry's closest friends.

He saw students down. Death Eater's were also down. He could also see two Auror's fighting. There were supposed to be six. He briefly wondered where the other four were.

And there, in the middle of it all, were Harry and Tom. They were throwing spell after spell at each other. To his surprise, a lot of it was elemental magic and not all was being cast by Tom. He knew that Harry knew a few spells, but clearly the boy had either learned more, or he had underestimated just how much he did know.

Albus then heard someone shout, "there's Dumbledore!"

Harry was exhausted. He had been forced to put all of his power behind each spell that was being cast. Also, his scar was bleeding directly into his eye. He didn't know what was more distracting: the pain or the blood.

The only good thing about this duel is that it showed him he could, if only barely, stand toe to toe with Voldemort.

"You can't win, Tom."

The resulting answer came in the form of another killing curse.

Severus was beside himself with worry. He and Albus both had to fight their way through the crowd.

"Infragilis Funis," he shot at Malfoy Sr. The blonde hair gave him away, despite the mask.

He was then torn between two choices. Longbottom was beginning to weaken under the onslaught of Bellatrix's attack.

And his son - who was still fighting the Dark Lord.

In the end, he chose to help Longbottom because he saw Albus finally arrive at Harry's side.

"Hello, Tom."

"Dumbledore," hissed Voldemort - his red, snake like eyes, narrowed in anger that he had put in an appearance.

"I think it's time for you to leave. Most of your followers are either stunned or have been captured."

Voldemort leaned over and pushed his wand against the Mark of an unconscious Death Eater. Those that had been stunned and bound immediately vanished.

"I will not lose my followers because some hyper active children got in lucky shots."

Albus sighed and merely dodged a spell that had been shot at him.

Harry was stuck with his back up against what was left of the fountain. From his vantage point he could see Susan and Luna lying unmoving in front of a shop. Several of his other friends were fighting Death Eaters. It was at that moment he realized that Snape was helping Neville.

He felt a wave of gratitude wash over him that the man was looking out for his friends.

Movement caught the corner of his eye. A Death Eater was sneaking up on Dumbledore while he dueled with Voldemort.

"Incarcerous," yelled Harry.

He watched as the Death Eater fell, struggling with the ropes that had wrapped around him. It must be a new recruit because he didn't recognize the magical signature.

As Harry went to stand, he realized that he couldn't. He eyed the huge chunk of wood in his leg and idly wondered when that had happened.

"Stupefy," he shouted at another random Death Eater. A glance over his shoulder showed that the duel was intensifying. Harry realized that earlier when he thought he could contend with Voldemort, he had been delusional. There is no way he could duel like they were now.

"Pondero Contego," he called out. He had conjured a reflective shield between Dumbledore's back and the spell that had been shot at him. He watched as the spell rebounded back to the Death Eater. The man had then erupted in flames.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Remus join Tonks in a battle with four Death Eaters. She had been holding her own quite well by herself. He was very impressed.

A spell suddenly shot within three inches of him. He needed to get out of the open, but before he could apparate to one of the back alleyways, he became chilled to the bone.

Only one thing had ever made him feel that way.

Dementors.

He rolled out of the path of another stray spell as he looked around the village. He could see his fellow classmates crowded in the store windows, watching the battle. He also saw that a dozen or so students were stuck hiding behind some of the barricades and even a bench - the latter of which was hardly any cover.

The chill gripped his soul tighter. He knew that they were near even though he couldn't see them.

"Incarcerous," he suddenly shouted at one of the Death Eaters that had been battling Remus and Tonks. Where he had been hunkered down at, he hadn't had a clear line of sight until that moment.

"Protego Maxima," he said as he directed a shield to protect Snape. A stray curse had almost hit him.

He then focused on the Dementors. A full minute had passed before he saw the first one. And, naturally, it headed straight toward the group of students that were behind the bench.

Harry picked a memory, let the emotions fill him up, stood up fully (despite the chunk of wood in his leg), and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

His patronus charged at the Dementor and flung it away. Another moved in to take its place, but Harry guided his stag patronus back to that one as well. He then told it to make a warding circle around the village.

Severus was still dueling with Longbottom against Bellatrix. Flitwick had joined in with them a minute prior. The witch was strong, very strong. And despite the fact that Azkaban had clearly left her unhinged, it had only added to her power.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Harry was pinned down against the fountain. He wondered why he hadn't apparated out of danger when he saw that he was staying put simply to protect the Headmaster.

He was going to end up strangling the boy for those idiotic Gryffindor tendencies of wanting to save everyone.

As they dueled, Severus noted that Longbottom sometimes had trouble casting a few spells, despite them being below the 5th year level. He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that they hadn't exactly had the most reliable teachers over the years.

He then felt the Dementor's coming. It would appear that the Dark Lord had offered something that made them leave the prison.

Just as he heard Harry cast his patronus, he blocked a spell sent by Bella that would have caused Longbottom to boil from the inside out. It was a nonverbal spell, one that she had made up, but very few spells carried the sickeningly yellow light that one did.

'Sectumsempra', he silently cast at her.

To his horror, she deflected it - straight into the back of Harry.

Harry had been about to guide his patronus to make the warding ring when he felt a spell slam into his back. The force of the spell caused him to not only lose concentration so that his patronus winked out, but it also caused him to fly through the air.

He landed about five feet from where the other Auror was battling two Death Eaters.

It was then he felt the blood pour down his back. He had, evidently, been hit by a cutting curse.

"Ow," he groaned. However, before he could get lost in the pain, he knew he had to get his patronus back up before the Dementor's returned.

He went to move his wand hand but found that it didn't work right. With a frustrated and pained sigh, he switched his wand to his left hand. "Expecto Patronum!"

Harry looked at the shield that formed. The problem, however, was that it was just a shield and not corporeal anymore. 'That's not a good thing,' he thought. He let it wink out on purpose. He had to get 'Prongs' back.

With a fair amount of struggling, he managed to pull himself up to his knees. (When he had been thrown by the cutting curse, the chunk of wood in his leg had become dislodged, thus he was bleeding heavily from there as well.) He surveyed the village while trying to keep himself from passing out - which was becoming very hard to do.

Despite the fact that he could see the curses flying and see the lips moving on certain people, for whatever reason, he couldn't hear anyone.

He shook his head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs. All this fighting should not be completely silent.

It was at that moment he saw that the Dementors were returning.

And the noise returned as well, assaulting his senses' head on.

He forced everything - pain, blood, screams - everything to the back of his mind, gathered what power he felt he had left and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

And at that, his stag patronus finally leapt from his wand. He quickly had it making full warding circles around the village - which pushed the Dementor's back.

After it had made three complete circles, he felt another curse slam into him. It hurt but at least he hadn't been thrown. He could feel a burning sensation go through his side. He imagined if he looked, he would have seen burning welts on his skin.

Harry glanced over his shoulder at Dumbledore and Voldemort. Their dueling was an impressive show of power. He then checked on Snape. He had just knocked Bellatrix's husband, who had joined his wife in the duel, unconscious. To his surprise, Neville was still fighting with Bellatrix, but thankfully, Flitwick was now fighting along side of him and Snape.

Tonks and Remus were dueling a total of six people between them. Evidently more had taken the place of their fallen comrades. McGonagall and the other Auror were each fighting two.

And while he couldn't see them, he heard more fighting going on in a couple of the back alley's.

Another spell slammed into him and even though he had seen this one coming, he had been unable to dodge it. This spell, however, Harry recognized as he was thrown. The Reducto had completely broken his right arm. As he lay on the ground, looking up at the sky - once again fighting to stay conscious, he wondered if his slowed reflexes had anything to do with the amount of blood he was currently losing.

After a minute had passed, he managed to pull himself back up into a kneeling position. He had to get out of the open because if he didn't bleed to death, he'd be killed by a stray curse.

With a final glance around to make sure the Dementor's were gone and that no one was sneaking up on Dumbledore, he managed to apparate to a back alley.

Right into the waiting arms of a Death Eater.

And not just any Death Eater.

Oh no, he apparated straight into the arms of Gabriella's father.

Albus had breathed a semi-sigh of relief when Harry had apparated away. The boy had protected his rear, even though he would have been fine.

At the moment though, he was worried about him because of the sheer amount of blood loss that he was currently losing.

He had panicked slightly when he felt the Dementors because he was so preoccupied. He knew he'd not be able to control a patronus and duel Tom at the same time.

When he had saw Harry's stag, he had been grateful that someone with enough power had cast it because that meant they could be driven back.

Unfortunately, he had lost sight of the boy then because the young man had been tossed several feet beyond his vision.

Just as he conjured a shield that would cause the flying concrete that Tom had sent his way to be turned into dust, he heard a terrible thing.

"I have Potter, my Lord."

To his horror, a Death Eater came out of a nearby alley holding Harry at wand point.

He quickly sent a spell at Tom, which he evaded. Tom had then stuck his hand out, as if waiting for something. A second later, Harry's wand landed in it.

That meant the boy was defenseless.

He hoped that one of the other order members, whom had apparated into the village about twenty minutes prior, would come upon them and help Harry.

He then wondered where Severus was, but before he could finish that thought, something was thrown in front of him - making five Death Eaters appear out of nowhere.

Five fresh Death Eaters.

Harry figured he was screwed. Nott Sr. had just tossed his wand to Voldemort. He was literally defenseless. Plus, he felt himself rapidly losing consciousness from all of the blood loss. He was quite sure his leg had stopped bleeding but he was painfully aware that his back had not.

He imagined it was a testament to his own willpower that he had remained upright all this time.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kingsley kick a fallen Death Eater out of the way as he went to help a group of students that had been cornered. He then realized that he wasn't defenseless.

He quickly made himself fall limp in Nott Sr.'s arms, which wasn't hard to do given how weak he felt, but nevertheless, he managed to surprise the man. Once he hit the ground, he rolled over and kicked him, as hard as he could, squarely between the legs.

Nott Sr. fell to the ground and (thankfully) dropped his wand - both in surprise and in pain.

Rolling over again, he grabbed the fallen wand with his left hand and just as he shouted, "Expelliarmus!" toward Voldemort, the snake like man had snapped Harry's wand into two pieces.

And to make matter's worse, Nott's wand had splintered - no doubt from the force of the spell.

So he, once again, had no wand.

A scream nearby suddenly distracted Voldemort and everyone else.

Snape, Flitwick, and Neville had finally managed to disarm Bellatrix.

He watched as Voldemort apparated to her side, grabbed her, and apparated to another part of the village. He then put his wand to her Dark Mark. "Apparate! Now!" he bellowed.

All of the Death Eater's vanished, including the ones that had been keeping Dumbledore occupied. However, the newly unconscious and bound ones remained.

"No!" Harry screamed. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself running straight at Tom - and tackled him to the ground before the man could vanish as well. (Where he found the strength to do so, he had no idea.)

He felt Voldemort's hand around his neck before he could do anything else.

"You idiotic boy. You are no match for me," he hissed in parseltongue.

Voldemort then vanished into thin air.

And all Harry knew was pain.

Severus watched with horror, along with everyone else, as Harry literally hurled himself at the Dark Lord. What the foolish boy was going to do once he had him pinned down was anyone's guess. However, the Dark Lord vanished about three seconds after Harry had tackled him.

To his alarm, after the Dark Lord vanished, Harry began convulsing. He immediately began to run to him but Albus grabbed his arm.

"No. That's not Harry."

A laugh that did not belong to Harry suddenly came out of his mouth.

"Of course I'm Harry."

He stopped mid-step with instant understanding.

The Dark Lord was possessing his son.

Harry was fighting for control of his own body. He had never felt such excruciating pain before, and unfortunately, he could still feel his back oozing blood.

"Fight against it, Harry," Dumbledore called out.

'Look around, Harry,' Voldemort's voice said in his mind. 'Look at all the death's that have occurred because of you.' He felt his head jerk around to see all of his fallen classmates.

Susan and Luna were still not moving. Hermione and Ron looked to be stunned. Neville was bleeding from a gash in his arm and on his forehead, but he was kneeling over Ginny - who was also not moving.

He was then made to look at the four dead Auror's that were still laying in the middle of the street. 'They're dead simply because you waited to show yourself.'

"Harry, push him out," whispered Dumbledore again.

"Kill me," he managed to croak. "Kill me and he'll go, too."

"That's right, Dumbledore. Kill him and I'll go with him," Voldemort said using Harry's mouth.

"Harry, occlude your mind, then shove," came a strangled cry that he vaguely recognized as belonging to Snape.

"Ah, my little betrayer," came the voice out of his mouth again. "Tell me, Severus, have you told your son everything?"

Harry was almost willing to let Tom have his body if it meant the pain would stop - until that had been asked. "Get out!" He desperately tried to occlude his mind, but couldn't.

'Ah, I see,' Voldemort said into his mind. A series of images then flashed in front of his face.

Snape had been the one to tell Voldemort that a prophecy existed and what he knew of it, which is what caused him to be hunted to begin with.

Betrayal shot through his body.

'That's right, Harry. He betrayed you.'

Another series of images went through his mind.

'He's not afraid of killing either. That woman could just as easily have been your mother.'

"Get out!" seethed Harry.

His head jerked around involuntarily again, this time to show a couple of unmoving teachers.

'Dead because you didn't have the sense to just lay down and die. If you had done so, my Death Eater's and I would have simply left and all this could have been avoided.'

"No!" he screamed.

"Kill me," spoke Voldemort's voice out of Harry's mouth, again.

Harry then looked around (of his own semi-control) and saw into Snapes' eyes. From that, he found the strength to put up his occlumency shields, but they were weak - because he was weak.

Voldemort, no doubt sensing just how weak he was, whispered into his mind again. 'We're a lot alike Harry. Similar childhoods, betrayal by people you thought cared for you. We even share many of the same skills and abilities.'

Another series of images flitted through his mind, these ones showing him exactly how weak and alone he truly was.

"We're alike," muttered Harry out loud, over and over again. More images assaulted his senses. He slowly felt himself falling - and he knew that within the next couple of minutes, he would be dead.

"Harry," said Dumbledore softly - so softly he almost didn't hear him, "it isn't how you are alike. It's how you are not."

"It won't work, Dumbledore," hissed a voice. The sound seemed far away, yet he knew that it was his own mouth that said it.

"Fight him, Harry. Occlude then shove," called out Snape again.

By this time, from his peripheral vision, he could see people starting to come out of the shops. Order members were trying to keep them away from where he was, but he could feel everyone's eyes on him.

It was then he realized that everyone wasn't dead.

These were innocent people that could still be harmed.

These were innocent people that could still be saved.

He vaguely realized Snape was still telling him to occlude and shove.

A memory suddenly came to the forefront of his mind. It was the joy and happiness he felt when Snape had given him a room in his quarters because it had meant he wanted Harry to be around. It had meant that Snape did want to be a family.

"NO!" shouted the voice of Voldemort.

And with that thought, he was finally able to occlude his mind. And this time, the shields were not weak.

"You're the weak one and you'll never know love or friendship. And I feel sorry for you," he managed to croak out loud.

He then gathered whatever small amount of power and energy he had left and shoved.

A second later, he realized he was, more or less, pain free. He had idly wondered if he had finally died of blood loss, but considering Voldemort was standing over him at the moment - he doubted it.

Severus had watched with agonizing horror as Harry tried to fight off the possession.

He heard several bones break as the Dark Lord contorted his sons body into abnormal positions.

He desperately wanted to take the boy into his arms, but knew that if contact was made with a possessed body, the spirit could kill that body and move onto the next.

A glance at Albus showed that the man had tears running down his face. This was just as agonizing for him to watch as well.

He had a feeling that only half of what the Headmaster and himself had been saying was getting through. It was when Harry had started saying that he and Voldemort were alike that he also felt panic shoot through his body.

Harry and the Dark Lord were nothing alike. The boy had to be made to see this.

He also knew that he had to somehow stop the bleeding, quickly, or he was simply going to die of blood loss. How Harry had managed to stay conscious was beyond his understanding. The blood was still pooling underneath him - rapidly.

"Occlude and shove," he repeated.

"NO!"

That was definitely not Harry's voice that came through Harry's mouth. It was the Dark Lord's and whatever Harry had just done, it sounded like it caused him a great deal of pain.

"You're the weak one and you'll never know love or friendship. And I feel sorry for you," Harry had managed to gasp out.

With a slight frown, he watched as a bubble or a shield of some sort had appeared around the corporeal Voldemort and Harry a few seconds later.

"You may have won this battle, Harry Potter, but I will win this war. Avada Kedavra!"

He saw the Dark Lord apparate away before seeing if the killing curse had even hit its intended target.

Severus then realized with dismay that he was the intended target.

And it was too late to move away.

A/N: I was originally going to post this tomorrow, but decided what the hey! So now it's posted tonight! *chuckles* Besides, I figured everyone could do with a good dose of a cliffhanger. ;)

I loved the part of the OotP movie where Harry had to fight off the possession, so I stole ... er ... borrowed what the movie said in this case. I couldn't help it. That scene just called to me!

I also hope the battle was a bit of a surprise, at least a little one. I know everyone was concerned about Susan and Harry dating, and well, you do have to admit, this was one heck of a first date. hehe I actually had several people concerned about Susan and Harry dating. Evidently that didn't sit well with some people. I was actually surprised by that. I actually like my Susan. As for those wondering who Harry will eventually end up with; I have a fairly good idea, but it's definitely not set in stone yet. With the way my muses go, it could end up being 50 different people - though, uh, not all at once. o.O

Anyway, the next chapter obviously deals with the aftermath of the battle, plus we'll get to see who all died. I have every intention on bringing hex and curse proof clothing the day that I post that chapter! I imagine some people won't be happy with it. Then again, all you wonderful reviewers and lurkers always surprise me. :) Not sure when it'll be up. I still have to type it. I had planned on typing all of my written stuff while I was on vacation, but instead I came down with an evil case of shingles (adult chicken pox - very very painful). The library's not open long tomorrow, but I'll try to go and start typing everything up. I'd expect about a week before it's posted.

I mean, what good is a cliffhanger if I turn around post the next chapter? ;) *takes Death Eater robes and mask and flees to a safe location*