AN: Trying to update as much as possible. At this rate this story will be done by Thanksgiving. I love this story but its coming to an end. If you ever have any requests for specific pairings or story ideas just send me a PM and I'll see what I can do. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's anything you don't is mine.
Sirius POV
It was utter chaos as Ron, Hermione and I ran forward trying to hit Voldemort with the killing curse. He escaped easily and tried to run away but was stopped by Minerva, Kingsley and Horace.
Charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone was fleeing the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearer thundered the reinforcements that had come from who knew where. Great winged creatures were soaring around the heads of Voldemort's giants, thestrals and Buckbeak the hippogriff scratching at their eyes while Grawp punched and pummeled them, and now the wizards, defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters alike, were being forced back into the castle.
I tried to keep Hermione in sight but she got lost in the crowd. The only person I could see was Remus. He gave a great roar and ran at Greyback who was dueling Bill Weasley.
More people were storming up the front steps, and I saw Charlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pajamas. They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who had remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and homeowners of Hogsmeade. Three centaurs burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, as behind me the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges.
The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers, and at their head, with his mismatched socks, was Dobby, his squeaky voice audible even above this din: "Fight! Fight! Fight for my friend, defender of the house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Harry Potter! Fight!"
I hexed Rookwood as he ran towards me. He flew through the air and slammed into a wall. Other Death Eaters were falling to the ground either dead or unconscious at the hands of the D.A. or Order members.
"Have you seen Draco?" A voice yelled by my ear. I jumped in shock at the closeness and turned to Lucius Malfoy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blond hair.
"Over there!" I yelled nodding towards Draco who was taking down Pansy with Ron and Susan. Her hair flew around her face as she shrieked in rage and threw a curse at Draco on the back of his knee. Lucius and Narcissa ran over towards him throwing a hex at Pansy.
I turned and saw that Voldemort was now dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once, and there was cold hatred in his face as they wove and ducked around him, unable to finish him— how could we kill him if no one could get to him?
A shriek of laughter made me turn. Bellatrix was battling Ginny, Luna and my wife. My heart froze as a killing curse barely missed Hermione's beautiful ringlet curls.
"NOT MY WIFE YOU BITCH!" I roared tearing across the room towards her.
Bellatrix turned towards me laughing then froze. "TRAITORS!"
She flung out her wand but not at me. I turned and saw that she had aimed at Draco who had just killed Pansy.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY SON!" Narcissa shrieked throwing out a powerful shielding charm. The spell ricocheted off the shield and it chipped the wall.
Narcissa charged across the room brandishing her wand like a sword. "OUT OF MY WAY!"
Hermione, Luna and Ginny all backed off. Macnair snuck towards the girls and tried to hit Narcissa but missed. It rebounded and Luna was hit right in the eyes. She shrieked in pain and fell to the ground. Ginny and Hermione turned to help her but Thicknesse threw a spell at the sisters who were dueling and it rebounded again. Hermione flew through the air and hit a wall hard.
"NO!" I roared rushing over to them. Ginny turned to Hermione and helped her up. Blood was pouring out of a gash on the side of her head but she looked alright.
"No!" Narcissa cried suddenly. I turned to look at her, students were trying to help her but she kept pushing them back. "Get back! Get back! She is mine!"
Almost everyone stopped to watch the two sisters duel their faces in identical masks of rage. But I crossed the room to Hermione and pulled her into my arms.
"What will happen to your son when I've killed you, Cissy?" taunted Bellatrix, as mad as her master, capering as Narcissa curses danced around her. "When Mummy's gone the same way as her precious son will be when I'm through with you?"
"You—will—never—touch—our—children—again!" screamed Narcissa.
Bellatrix laughed, the same exhilarated laugh I had given when I had toppled backward through the veil, and suddenly I knew what was going to happen before it did. Because no one was there to save Bellatrix like there had been someone to save me. Narcissa's curse soared beneath Bellatrix's outstretched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart.
Bellatrix's gloating smile froze, her eyes began to bulge: For the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed.
I felt as though I turned in slow motion; I watched as McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn were blasted backward, flailing and writhing through the air, as Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last, best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb. Voldemort raised his wand and directed it at Narcissa Malfoy.
"Protego!" A voice roared from the middle of the room where no one stood. And then the Invisibility Cloak was removed and there stood Harry perfectly alive. Hermione gasped so hard she swayed on her feet.
The yells of shock, the cheers and the screams were coming from every side.
"Harry!"
"HE'S ALIVE!"
My mouth opened in shock. Before I could say anything the room became deathly silent as Harry and Voldemort stared each other down.
"I don't want anyone else to try to help." Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."
Voldemort hissed. "Potter doesssn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "That isssn't how he worksss, isss it? Who are you going to ussse asss a ssshield today, Potter?"
"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, andone of us is about to leave for good. . . ."
"One of ussss?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taunt and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who hasss sssurvived by accccccident, and becausssse Dumbledore wassss pulling the sssstringsss?"
"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other. My heart pounded as I 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?"
"Accccccidentssss!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike. Why wasn't he fighting Harry? Was he scared? "Acccccident and chancccce and the fact that you crouched and ssssniveled behind the ssskirtsss of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's 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 from hurting these people—"
"But you did not!"
"—I meant to, and that's what it did. 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?"
No wonder we had been able to break the silencing spells earlier.
"You dare—"
"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "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?"
Voldemort did not speak, but prowled in a circle watching Harry hid red eyes wide.
"Isss it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore'ssss favorite ssssolution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not sssstop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me sssstamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter — and nobody ssseemsss to love you enough to run forward thisss time and take my cursssse. Ssso what will ssstop you from dying now when I sssstrike?"
"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.
"If it issss not love that will sssave you thisss time," said Voldemort, "you mussst believe that you have magic that I do not, or elssse a weapon more powerful than mine?"
"I believe both," said Harry, and I watched shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams;
humorless and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.
"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who hasss performed magic that Dumbledore himssself never dreamed of?"
"Oh, he dreamed of it," said Harry, "but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."
"You mean he wasss weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been hisss, what will be mine!"
"No, he was cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man."
"I brought about the death of Albusss Dumbledore!"
"You thought you did," said Harry, "but you were wrong."
Hermione and I yelled in agreement. Harry's eyes flicked to us then away. The crowd started to mutter nervously.
"Dumbledore issss dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. Harry looked back at Voldemort coolly. "Hissss body decaysss in the marble tomb in the groundssss of thisss cassstle. I have ssseen it, Potter, and he will not return!"
"Yes, Dumbledore's dead," said Harry calmly, "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 childisssh dream is thisss?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.
"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"
Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other, like wolves about to tear each other apart.
"Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"
"He desssired her, that wasss all," sneered Voldemort, "but when ssshe had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him—"
"Of course he told you that," said 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 matterssss not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matterssss not whether Sssnape was mine or Dumbledore'sss, or what petty obssstaclesss they tried to put in my path! I crussshed them as I crussshed your mother, Sssnape'sss sssupposed great love! Oh, but it all makesss sssense, Potter, and in waysss that you do not underssstand!
"Dumbledore wasss trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Sssnape ssshould be the true massster of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy — I reached the wand before you could get your handsss on it, I underssstood the truth before you caught up, I killed Ssseverus Sssnape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathssstick, the Wand of Dessstiny is truly mine! Dumbledore'sss last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"
"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 isss thisss?"
Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. His face was like porcelain his eyes slitted. "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—?" said 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."
Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco's very tightly.
"That wand still isn't working properly for you because your attempted murder was of the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."
"Sssnape isssn't dead? And he killed—"
"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 asss good asss gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I ssstole the wand from itsss lassst massster'sss tomb! I removed it againssst itsss lassst massster'sss wissshesss! It'sss power isss 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 recognized 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 realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance. . . ."
Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly. Harry didn't show an ounce of fear as he looked at the Elder Wand.
"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."
Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.
"But what doesss it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makesss no differenccce to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on ssskill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy. . . ."
"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him."
Everyone in the hall turned to look at the wand in Harry's hand.
"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "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."
At once the two of them whipped their wands through the air.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. I watched as Voldemort's green jet meet Harry's own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of a Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hands, staring down at his enemy's shell.
One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspend: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him.
I was about to run up to Harry when Hermione swayed.
"Baby?" Her eyes rolled back into her head and she dropped to the ground her face pale, blood pouring profusely from the gash on her forehead.
AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize.