Chapter Four

Justinian refused to scream as the curse burned through his body even as he could feel Harry's shield struggling to try and dampen the effects of the spell on him, he moved a little and managed to mutter his spell, and listened as Bellatrix shrieked as the cutting hex hit her ankle. He rolled out of the way of the next couple of curses thrown at him and managed to get a shield up in time to allow himself to roll to his feet. His spell hit Dolotov, blasting him off of his feet as his ribs let out a loud crack, and he took another Death Eater off of his feet and the two of them fell backwards into another side of the entrance hall, right where there were a few suits of armour, another wave of Justinian's wand before he threw a further shield up enchanted the armour into grabbing the two struggling wizards and restraining them. He started duelling with the remaining Death Eaters who were torn between him and Fenrir, thankfully the shock of Fenrir turning against them distracted them enough to even things out just a little.

Fenrir was duelling with Rodolphus and Rabastan as Justinian flung away seven spells that came from him from different directions, all of them eager to take him down and be the one to grab him for Voldemort no doubt.

Just as Bellatrix shouted the Cruciatus curse again and threw it at Justinian who managed to dodge out of the way of it this time and take the mad woman off of her feet hitting her in the face with a curse that would make her feel as though she had had boiling water thrown into her face, there was an almighty boom as someone else broke through the wards. Where the Death Eaters had ripped through, this person punched his way through them. And then standing in their midst was a tall man with shadows clinging around him obscuring his features.

Justinian didn't need to see his face though to know who it was, he could feel it, right to his core he could feel it. The man turned to Justinian and took in the damage that had been done to him during the short duel, the rips in his robes, and the clear effects after taking the cruciatus.

"Justinian," The voice was furious and he looked around at the Death Eaters and Fenrir standing around him, the armour still wrestling with their prisoners. "This is a surprise,"

"Voldemort," Justinian inclined his head.

"Arrogance!" Voldemort hissed. "You think you can disobey me? You think that you can hide from me? Align yourself to another Lord,"

"You were never my Lord!" Justinian sneered.

"Oh, I see. I you wanted to fuck someone powerful, then you should have just said, I wouldn't have turned away a pretty face like yours," Voldemort drawled and Justinian couldn't have prevented himself from scrunching his nose up even had he wanted to, and he didn't want to, he wanted this animal to know exactly what he thought of that. Fenrir Greyback snorted in amusement while Bellatrix bared her teeth at Justinian, though it was more from jealousy than anything else.

"Fenrir, don't think I haven't noticed your lapse of judgement," Voldemort turned to the werewolf, the shadows around him snapping and swirling with his anger.

"You were the best of a bad choice, I found a good choice," Fenrir snorted again and Justinian laughed.

"Insolence!" Voldemort hissed, he raised his wand and fired the killing curse right at Justinian.

It sped towards him and though it sounded cliched he felt as though his life was flashing before his eyes, and everything that he had been hoping for, everything that he wouldn't get to experience now. His life with Harry that he had been looking forward to.

He wanted to close his eyes but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing his fear, and so he left them open and looked at the shadows around Voldemort as the spell shot right towards him.

Except it didn't hit him. The spell seemed to impact something right in front of Justinian, acid green exploding outward and then the next thing there was a loud clang and everyone looked down to see a dented golden cup still writhing in acid green rocking on the floor.

"What…" the shadows writhing around Voldemort snapped towards Bellatrix who was wide-eyed and already shaking her head.

"M…m…my Lord…I…I don't know how…" Bellatrix stammered.

"My apologies Bellatrix, I took the chance of borrowing it," The familiar voice came from right in front of Justinian, and almost right away Harry appeared in front of him.

"Po…Potter!" Voldemort stammered.

"Bit dramatic isn't it," Harry taunted before waving his wand, his spell soaked into the shows around Voldemort and seemed to melt them away, and they were all able to see the large wound running right through the centre of his right eye, an eye that was missing now. It made the snake features he had chosen look even more bizarre. "And besides, I prefer Grey Lord these days,"

"Grey…Lord…you're him!" Voldemort stopped trying to resummon his shadows and instead started furiously at him.

"That's moi!" Harry said mock coyly, pressing his hand to his chest.

"Really Harry, don't indulge his dramatics," Hermione said, stepping forward as she and Ron dropped their own spells.

"It is so difficult though," Harry grinned.

"How did you get my…" Voldemort glanced at the cup laying on the floor as though it was going to explode.

"We had a little trip to Gringotts, lovely vault you guys have, some really interesting things," Ron grinned at the three Lestranges.

"Your donation to our cause was greatly appreciated," Hermione nodded with a smile.

"But the…" Rabastan stopped talking uncertainly.

"Curse, yeah it was a little bit annoying, but easily dealt with considering Draco had a fairly good idea what we were likely to face," Harry shrugged.

"Draco?" Lucius Malfoy gasped. "My son?!"

"Our fiance," Hermione said firmly.

"Our?" Lucius said with growing horror.

"Not me, them two, that's my fiance," Harry grinned motioning over his shoulder to Justinian.

"Ahhhh!" The scream was more of frustration than anything else, and Voldemort threw a spell right at Harry, Justinian reacted as Harry did, blocking a spell that Bellatrix had tried to hit Harry in the side with as Harry blocked Voldemort's spell and then his second, patiently throwing off his third before firing off a couple of spells himself. And then the whole room erupted back into movement, spells flying this time as everyone moved into action.

Hermione and Ron threw themselves into duelling with the Death Eaters as Fenrir assisted them, Justinian watched Harry's back making sure that none of the remaining Death Eaters could sneak in any attacks while also getting his own hits in where he could.

The power that Harry and Voldemort were giving off was almost burning as they battled back and forth, and Justinian was proud to see the panic in his remaining eye as he realised what he was facing.

His head snapped to the side as he caught Lucius throwing a hex at Hermione, and then another, the Witch threw them away, but she clearly was not fighting at full strength as she fired back against him, her spells less lethal than the ones she had been throwing at the others, and Justinian remembered his conversation in regard to the fate of Lucius that had been decided by her fiance.

He blocked the second hex Lucius threw her way and stepped in between them, Hermione paused before nodding quickly to the Nott Heir, and then he focussed on duelling Lucius and stopping him from attacking Ron and Hermione.

"Fucking hell! Harry!" Fenrir's snarl had them all glancing away from their duels quickly to see that Harry had just blasted off Voldemort's arm, unfortunately covering Fenrir who had been right behind in a fair bit of gore.

"Sorry!" Harry panted.

"Stop taking chunks of him and fucking kill him!" Hermione huffed throwing three Death Eaters unconscious across the room as she used a spell to merge their shield and then hit them in the face with it.

"But…"

"Just because he made the insinuation about Justinian, just kill him!" Ron rolled his eyes as he opened a hole in the floor and two Death Eaters fell through, stepping with only their heads visible as he made the floor reappear.

"Fine!" Harry grumbled. He turned to Voldemort who was watching wide-eyed and looked utterly baffled by the turn of events, as though he couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Justinian moved quickly, blocking the spell that Lucius tried to throw at Harry, and hit Bellatrix in the throat this time with a cutting hex before immobilising the Malfoy Lord, and spinning him so that he could see Harry forming some sort of barrier around himself and Voldemort, a sickly grey looking colour that shifted like oil on the water.

"How does it feel to know that your son is far smarter than you are, and bet on the right horse?" Justinian murmured into Malfoy's ear just as Voldemort and Harry threw the killing curse at each other at almost the same time.

There were only a couple of Death Eaters left on their feet now, and they turned along with Fenrir, Ron, Hermione and Justinian to watch as the two green spells hit each other and started fighting against each other to be the one that hit their target.

Justinian reached up with the hand that was not holding his and Malfoy's wands to the Lord's throat and grasped his necklace in his hands. His heart was thundering a little as he watched and felt the powerful magic flowing against each other, throwing sparks of pure magic out from the centre where they had met. His heart was thundering in his chest, but he knew Harry wouldn't lose, he was too strong and had too much to live for.

Harry's head turned just a little so that Justinian was able to see only one of his green eyes looking at him, and then he saw Harry's mouth upturned a little in the corner. He turned back to fully face Voldemort and with a shout pushed more magic into his spell, and like that it was done.

Harry's magic seemed to envelop and swallow Voldemort's before flowing towards him, the monster's remaining red eye widened before the spell slammed into his chest and took him off of his feet, slamming him backwards into the barrier that Harry had created. Ribbons of the oily barrier wrapped around Voldemort's chest and held him in place a foot off of the ground and seemed to be absorbing him as his head dropped forward and the light went out of his eye.

All of them stood there for a long moment just watching Voldemort being absorbed into the barrier until he was completely gone, and then with a loud pop the barrier swirling in on itself seemed to harden until with a clink a grey stone barely larger than a galleon hit the floor. Harry walked over and scooped it up with a grimace of disgust, rolling it quickly into a strip of fabric that he ripped from Rodolphus' robes where he was lying unconscious nearby, and then he placed it into a box he pulled from his pocket, replacing the box in there even as he turned and swept towards Justinian.

"Are you ok?" Harry demanded stunning Lucius and throwing him to the side and then reached up to cup Justinian's face, his eyes burning with concern and anger.

"I am fine, I knew you would come," Justinian laughed breathlessly.

"It took too long," Harry growled, shaking his head.

"Your power protected me from the worst of her curse, and Fenrir was here to help me until you could get here," Justinian cupped Harry's face and pressed kisses to his face. "I can look after myself love, I am not made of glass,"

"Think she can attest to that," Harry smirked, motioning without looking at Bellatrix's body. "I am still sorry it took so long,"

"You came," Justinian shook his head.

"That's what she said," Ron snorted.

"Seriously?" Harry raised an eyebrow at his friend. "We're having a moment,"

"Do apologise, My Lord," Ron dipped into a deep bow, "I will let you get back to making heart eyes at your fiance,"

"Prick," Harry huffed.

"I had better be getting new robes Harry, this isn't coming out!" Fenrir whined, casting yet another cleaning charm on his stained robes.

"I will pay for your dry cleaning," Harry rolled his eyes.

"I want new robes! These have Voldemort ick on them!" Fenrir grumbled.

"Did you just say ick? You're like 94!" Harry turned to the werewolf.

"94! You cheeky fucking brat I am 51!" Fenrir snarled.

"Yes Harry, show your grandfather some respect," Hermione laughed.

"Grandf…cheeky brats!" Fenrir growled.

"It is true technically," Ron shrugged grinning.

"He bit Remi, Remi sees me as his cub, so Grandson," Harry explained seeing Justinian's slightly lost expression.

"I picked the wrong side," Fenrir snarled.

"Nope! I heard what you said!" Harry singsonged wrapping his arm around Justinian's waist, "I am a good choice,"

"I said that to piss him off only," Fenrir rolled his eyes. "Now, what do we do?" He asked a little more seriously looking around the mess on Justinian's floor, including the two death eaters watching wide-eyed from where their heads alone were sealed in his floor.

"Are they going to be able to be taken out?" Justinian asked, a little concerned.

"Oh yeah they will, no worries," Ron grinned.

"Send for Kingsley, Tonks and Moody, have them take the living ones to Azkaban, make sure Lucius isn't hurt as per Draco. Take the bodies to the Ministry to be claimed by anyone that wants to claim them," Harry said seriously.

"The papers?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, full announcement, Voldemort and me," Harry nodded.

"Dumbledore?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded before turning to Justinian, "there is one more of his items that I need to destroy to be done with him. Will you come with me?" There was something vulnerable and uncertain in Harry's eyes, and Justinian quickly slipped his hand into Harry's.

"Of course, I will," He said softly, squeezing Harry's hand in his.

"We will see you later," Hermione nodded.

"Look after him, please," Ron said to Justinian.

"I will," Justinian nodded, feeling more worried about where it was that they were going.

"Thank you, see you soon," Ron smiled.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"Ready," Justinian nodded and closed his eyes as he apparated the two of them out. They reappeared in the middle of a forest, Justinian wasn't sure what it was that he had been expecting, he had no clue where this item would be considering one of them had been inside of the Lestrange vault in Gringotts. The peacefulness around them in the forest seemed wrong after the chaos of the last hour, the quiet around them seemed more like a silence as they paused to readjust to where they were.

"Harry," Justinian breathed out, turning and cupping his fiance's face, leaning up on his toes to press their lips together fiercely.

"I love you, I am sorry that happened," Harry sighed kissing Justinian's forehead.

"It would have happened if I had been with you or not, because I am with you, I am here now. You protected me," Justinian shook his head.

"Not enough," Harry sighed deeply, lifting his necklace from Justinian's throat and running his thumb along the jewels with a frown.

"She cast an Unforgivable, you are powerful, but I believe you would have to be Merlin to completely block an Unforgivable, as it was it blocked it enough to allow me to be able to fire a spell and stop her," Justinian smiled.

"I wish you had not had to go through that," Harry said, his green eyes earnest as he looked at Justinian. "When I felt you were under attack," he shook his head.

"They punched through my wards, I hoped that my father being in prison would mean that his loyalties wouldn't affect the wards more than my own influence," Justinian huffed.

"We will have the Lordship properly transferred to you, rebuild the wards, and I will have Bill add some tricks into them as well," Harry promised.

"And your magic put through them as well?" Justinian looked up at him.

"Of course, it will make them stronger," Harry nodded.

"That is lovely to know, but I meant because it is to be your home as well, and it will be our children that will inherit the Manor eventually, and its wards," Justinian smiled, wrapping his arms around Harry's shoulders. He watched a small, happy smile build on Harry's face and then he nodded with a laugh of happiness that Justinian had to taste as he pressed their lips together again, humming when Harry wrapped his arms around his waist and held him closely.

Finally, the two of them parted, and then they turned to look around the forest they were standing in, Harry cast a quick point-me spell before taking Justinian's hand and leading him down the moonlit pathway of the forest.

"Where are we?" Justinian asked, looking around.

"Little Hangleton, this is where Voldemort's mother and father grew up, where she drugged him," Harry said softly. "We are going to her house,"

"That is where he stored the last item?" Justinian asked.

"Yes, he has stored all but the Cup in places with strong meaning to him. The items as well were chosen because they belonged to the Founders or because they were important magical objects, he made it easier to be able to find them with his sentimentality, such as it can be called," Harry explained.

"Sentimentality is not something that I believed he could ever have been accused of," Justinian said a little confused.

"The little boy that he was, was rejected by the world, the places and items that he chose reflect that rejection, and the grandiose idea he has of his lineage and why they shouldn't have rejected him. He stored one in a cave where he killed two children from the orphanage that had bullied him, it was a pivotal moment in his mind, the first time he killed,"

"I see why you said such as it can be called," Justinian grimaced.

"His items were created to make him immortal, Horcruxes," Harry glanced down at Justinian as they walked.

"I have not heard of them," Justinian shook his head, he felt his heart beating a little faster when he realised that Harry was explaining to him what these important items were. He wasn't sure who else knew besides Harry, Hermione and Ron, it was possible no one else knew at all.

"By committing the act of murder you can store your soul in an item, sacrificing another's life for the preservation of your own. A few Witches and Wizards have made them in the past, normally they destroy them themselves when the long-lived life is not what they want, or they go mad and someone discovers what they have done. Most make only one,"

"You said, seven?" Justinian felt a little ill.

"Yes, two were in living beings as well which has never been done before," Harry looked ahead and Justinian pulled him to a stop, a rock dropping into his stomach and he put two and two together, and prayed that he was wrong.

"You?" He asked, reaching up to brush Harry's fringe from his eyes and revealing that famous lightning bolt scar that he had barely looked at since meeting Harry.

"Yes," Harry inclined his head.

"Is it…"

"Gone, yes, before we met," Harry wrapped Justinian in his arms.

"Do I want to know how?" Justinian asked fearfully.

"Probably not," Harry grinned.

"Oh Merlin, I need to know now, though I doubt anything that I imagine will be half as bad as it actually is," he groaned, pressing his face into Harry's chest.

"Don't you mean it the other way around, what you imagine will be worse than what actually happened?

"No I do not," Justinian snorted looking up at Harry.

"We captured a Dementor and managed to put it under a form of imperio, we managed to get it to suck the soul piece from me but leave my soul intact, and then we destroyed the Dementor,"

"I…that sounds ridiculous," Justinian covered his face. "How do you even control a Dementor?"

"It felt pretty ridiculous doing it, to be honest, and it was fairly uncomfortable, but it worked. Hermione came up with the spell, it was a little… theory-based, but it worked, though it didn't feel the most comfortable," Harry grimaced.

"Did he know he did it?" Justinian asked.

"To me? No, he was going to create one that night, had everything in place so when whatever happened happened and the Killing Curse rebounded, he created an unknown Horcrux, we believe it is why I am a parseltongue,"

"The cup was one as well?" Justinian asked.

"Yes, Horcruxes can be destroyed one of three ways, Basilisk venom, Fiendfyre, or the Killing Curse, we hadn't gotten around to destroying the cup because Snape had been watching me like a hawk for Dumbledore who suspects that I have something to do with the Grey Lord after my childhood was put into the papers, I figured might as well use the chance to have Voldemort destroy it while he was casting the Killing Curse rather than trying to dodge the spell," Harry explained as he took Justinian's hand and they started walking again.

"And it was dramatic," Justinian laughed.

"And it was dramatic," Harry grinned, "I couldn't resist especially with all three Lestranges' being there as well,"

"And this is the last one?" Justinian asked.

"Yes, we would rather have destroyed all of them first and then him, but things worked out the way that we did, and we had the backup plan in place for that reason," Harry shrugged.

"That barrier?" Justinian asked.

"Yup, we managed to find it after digging through a lot of books. It absorbed his soul, which is the main piece of his soul, it can't be killed until all the Horcruxes are, it is the main piece, the host piece all I destroyed was its vessel. Trapping it means that when we destroy this Horcrux I can destroy the stone and kill him," Harry nodded.

"But it is more complicated, which is why you wanted all the Horcruxes first?"

"Exactly, but then Voldemort isn't really well known for doing things when I would rather he did them, which is why we put the plan into place just in case. If I was forced into a fight with him I couldn't have killed him because it would have been harder to track him down and destroy him once and for all, and I had no intention of living the next ten years waiting for him to make another try at things, I also could just run away from him if we did end up facing each other, so our only choice was to find something that would trap him,"

"It is almost as though he enjoys putting you out," Justinian said dryly.

"Right!" Harry nodded before grinning a little.

"What is it about this Horcrux?" Justinian asked softly.

"It is what he chose to house it in that is the problem," Harry sighed looking forward.

"Ok?" Justinian pushed when Harry didn't seem to be saying anything else.

"Hmm, you know the Tale of the Three Brothers?" Harry asked.

"Of course, all Wizarding children do, I used to read it to Theo when we were little," Justinian nodded.

"The tale is true, the three gifts from Death exist. Dumbledore has the Elder wand which Grindelwald found and he took it from him. I have the invisibility cloak. And Voldemort used the stone to create his Horcrux,"

"It is funny," Justinian said softly after a few moments of silence except for their feet crunching through the leaves as Harry allowed him to take in what he had just said.

"Funny?" Harry turned to him a little confused.

"Yes, the three main players of this fight our country finds itself in, all find themselves in possession of the three items Death gifted out, quite by coincidence it seems, and I would imagine without really knowing that the others possess the other two items?" Justinian looked at Harry who nodded, "It is funny the item each of you ended up with. The Elder Wand for the man who pretended to dislike power and influence and worked behind the scenes grasping at every single inch of it that he could. The stone is in the hands of probably one of the few men in this world that would have no desire to see or speak to anyone who died in his life. And you,"

"And me?" Harry tilted his head.

"You have the cloak, the item that was given to the brother who lived his life, and then greeted Death as an old friend, you the one who desires neither power nor greed, who wants freedom more than anything else, for yourself and for others," Justinian stopped and turned to smile up at Harry, knowing that every inch of love that he felt for this man was shining through. Harry's breath caught as he looked down at Justinian.

"I…"

"It is one of the reasons that I love you so much," Justinian leant up and pressed their lips together.

"I love you too, and it is why I needed you here with me," Harry pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I am the one that needs to retrieve the stone, to destroy it, my possession of the cloak will allow me to do so. But I am not strong enough to resist the call of the stone, not without help," He admitted.

"What do you need me to do?" Justinian asked quietly.

"Stay with me, stay at my side, and remind me of what I have to look forward to when the ghosts of my past make me want to look back," Harry opened his green eyes, and Justinian could see the lonely little boy that he had been, longing for love, longing for comfort, longing for his parents who would never hug him, or kiss him, or tell him that everything was going to be ok. The little boy who wanted love, home and family, who had grown up to desire the same things, who had grown into the man standing in front of Justinian.

"I will not leave your side," Justinian promised, and both knew that he meant more than for just this evening.

They turned and in silence this time carried on down the pathway until at the end they saw a ruined shack coming into view. Justinian huffed as they walked towards it and the shack became clearer for them to see in the moonlight.

"Hardly the auspicious and sumptuous living that my Father spoke about the Dark Lord coming from," Justinian explained when Harry glanced at him. "I might take a picture and send it to him,"

"I imagine you would be risking giving him a heart attack," Harry laughed. "Ready?"

"Yes," Justinian tightened his hold on Harry's hand and they stepped through the gateway and into the overgrown garden, picking their way along what remained of the pathway, through the bushes that caught and grasped onto their robes, they finally made it to the front door.

"Geez," Harry huffed, giving in and blasting the door off its hinges so that they were able to get inside.

"Oh, Merlin! It smells disgusting!" Justinian grimaced as they stepped inside.

"I think there is a good chance that this was started long before he killed his Grandfather and Uncle," Harry grimaced as well.

"I can feel the dark magic," Justinian took a breath that felt as though he was breathing in smoke.

"The Horcrux," Harry nodded, "It knows it is the last one,"

"There," Justinian pointed at what appeared to be the living room floor of the shack. Harry made a sweeping motion with his wand and the debris covering the area, revealing the warped and rotting wooden floorboards of the room, the magic seemed to be even thicker now with the coverings were removed, and Justinian held his breath as Harry stepped forward as he lifted the floorboards and moved them to the side.

He watched with wide eyes as Harry levitated a ring from inside of the space, the metal was worn gold, but it was the black stone that was set into the ring that caught their attention, it was still shining despite having been under the dirty floorboards for decades, and shadows seemed to move inside of it as Harry brought it a little close to them.

"It is so small," Justinian murmured.

"Mm, so small and yet so much," Harry nodded. "Ready?" He half turned to Justinian.

"Ready," Justinian nodded. Harry sucked in a deep breath and reached out to grasp the ring.

He felt something cool wash over his as his hand tingled, he closed his eyes and tried to fight against the desire that flared through him, it felt as though it was burning through him, it felt as though something was being pulled from his stomach, from his core.

He opened his eyes and looked into the eyes of his father.

"Harry," James Potter smiled gently, and glanced to the side at Justinian, "and who is this?" he grinned as Lily laughed happily.

"This is Justinian," Harry looked around and Justinian smiled gently at him, reaching out he covered Harry's hand where the ring was sitting in his palm, the ring sitting between their hands.

"Justinian," A gentle voice said, and Harry turned to see who could only be Justinian's mother standing looking at them.

"Mother," Justinian smiled.

"And who is this?" She looked at Harry.

"This is my Harry," Justinian said proudly looking up at Harry and found him smiling happily back.

"You love each other," Lily sighed happily.

"Yes," Harry looked up at them. "I am not…"

"We know, we're proud of you, and the choices that you have made, you have done the right thing, and you have done it amazingly!" Lily shook her head.

"Plus you have managed to pull the prank of all pranks on not only Dumbledore and Voldemort!" James grinned.

"Mother?" Justinian looked nervously at where his mother's ghost was.

"I am…I will never be able to express how proud of you I am Justinian, never, ever doubt that. You have done everything that you could for your brother, you have looked after him and helped him, and you have made the best choices that you could, the choice you made to go to Harry is the best thing that you could have done. I am sure that the life you will make together will be amazing," Natalie smiled at them.

"Thank you," Justinian closed his eyes and opened them again. "I miss you,"

"Oh my child, I miss you too, you have made me so so proud though, you have grown from the little boy I left to a wonderful man,"

"We are so happy that you found each other," James smiled between the two of them.

"Most of the Nott's are rolling in their graves because of this!" A voice boomed, and the three ghosts and 2 alive men turned to blink at the large man, no massive man, standing there.

"Great Grandfather?" Justinian blinked.

"Yes! It is wonderful seeing how horrified they all are by this pairing!" Great-Grandfather Nott laughed like a foghorn clapping his hands.

"I am glad that we can provide you entertainment," Justinian chuckled.

"You two have livened up my afterlife something wonderful!" Great-Grandfather Nott grinned. "Just wanted to let you know, be amazing!" He waved and then was gone again.

"I want to get to know that man," James turned to Lily right away who chuckled, shaking her head. "I am going to make friends with him!" he said to Harry.

"I am glad," Harry grinned.

"You have important things to do, and we can't linger here too long, it wouldn't be safe for you, but we wanted to come and see you, tell you how proud we are of you, of you both, and how happy we are that you have found each other," Lily looked between the two of them.

"But…you could stay for a little longer!" Harry said desperately.

"No, it isn't safe for you," James smiled but Harry was already shaking his head.

"Harry," Justinian said softly, squeezing the hand that he was covering and bringing his other hand up to cup Harry's face tenderly. "We have to let them go, this isn't the place for them,"

"But just a little longer," Harry tried.

"We have been able to have this with them, that is amazing, but we need to say goodbye for now," Justinian smiled.

"I…" Harry looked down at Justinian and took a deep breath, and then a second before nodding.

"We are so happy that we got to see the two of you together and introduce ourselves," Lily took James' hand.

"And to see the two of you so happy, seeing you together is just everything that I could have wished for," Natalie nodded.

"We will see you both when it is time," James said gently.

"Definitely not too soon!" Lily held her finger up.

"Look after each other," Natalie smiled a little sadly looking between them.

"We will," Harry looked down at Justinian.

"We definitely will," Justinian nodded.

"Time to let go, Harry," Lily nodded.

"We love you, and we can't wait to see what you two do together!" James grinned.

"I am sure that it is going to be spectacular!" Natalie laughed.

"Tell Siri and Remi that we miss them and that we love them," James asked.

"Of course," Harry nodded.

"You need to let go Harry," Justinian said gently, feeling the struggle in the other.

"I…" Harry physically felt as though he couldn't release the magic keeping them there. Justinian leant up and pressed their lips together gently, sliding his fingers into Harry's hair, and finally, he felt the give in Harry, enough that he could close his hand around the ring in Harry's hand and remove it. Just as he threw the ring to the floor they heard their parents saying 'be happy' before they faded.

"Thank you," Harry wrapped his arms around Justinian's waist and pressed their foreheads together, a shudder going through him so Justinian reached up and wrapped him tightly in a hug.

"I love you, and I am so happy that I got to see them," Justinian smiled when Harry opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Thank you for being here with me," Harry said.

"Always, whenever you need me," Justinian shook his head.

"Time to destroy it," Harry took another deep breath and then stepped back towards the door.

"I think we should destroy the whole thing," Justinian looked around them.

"That actually seems pretty fitting," Harry nodded after only a second of consideration.

"Ready?" Justinian looked at Harry.

"Ready," Harry said and then tugged Justinian into a firm kiss. "For strength,"

"That your excuse?" Justinian said teasingly.

"And I am sticking to it," Harry laughed pressing another kiss to Justinian's lips before reaching down and picking the ring up, before any temptation could kick in Harry clenched the ring tightly in his hand and muttered the spell he needed, "fiendfyre,"

The ring caught as though Harry had doused it in petrol, and they watched as he dropped it back into the gap in the floorboards that they had taken it from, they both walked out of the shack to the crackle of flames behind them and it was only when they were standing outside of the gate that they turned back.

Harry raised his hands and threw some more power into the spell and the two of them watched as flames climbed over the building and started tugging it to the ground. A loud shriek suddenly escaped from the centre of the building and Justinian sucked in a breath as he felt the dark magic from inside of the flames breaking apart and a shade seemed to try to escape from inside of the magic but the flames surrounded it and dragged it back into the centre of the building.

Harry released his power from the fiendfyre and let it die down to a natural flame that ate up the rest of the shack. Justinian wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and laid his head onto his shoulder as he watched the flames eating away at the shack, the heat from the crackling fire warming them as the late night sank in and the cold washed over them.

"It feels cathartic," Harry said softly, wrapping his arm around Justinian's shoulder.

"It does, it feels right," Justinian nodded. "What happens now?"

"Now, we reveal ourselves to the world properly, take Dumbledore down once and for all, and then we carry on," Harry said.

"What do you plan for Dumbledore?" Justinian asked.

"He will be arrested and thrown into Azkaban," Harry hummed, watching as the roof fell into the shack and the flames seemed to lick higher around it.

"What for?" Justinian asked.

"Don't really care, Hermione and Ron are going to sort that out, doesn't really matter what for, as long as he is put away and will stay away for life,"

"So not legally having him arrested?" Justinian asked.

"No," Harry looked down at Justinian amused. "Does that bother you?"

"Not really, as long as he is away that is all that matters. I just thought that it might be one of the things where your morals would step in," Justinian smiled.

"At the end of the day would I like him to go to Azkaban for the actual things that he has done and the damage that he has caused? Absolutely. Are we likely to be able to find the evidence or the witnesses to ensure that that happens, no, can we guarantee that he won't find a way to wiggle out of it? No. It is more important to make sure that he is out of the way, that he can't hurt anyone else, and that he isn't here to threaten me and mine, so if we need to…expand the truth a little, that is what we will do," Harry explained.

"It makes sense," Justinian nodded. "I am proud of you,"

"Why?" Harry asked, confused looking back down at him.

"You managed to let go when I could feel how difficult it was for you, and you are looking forward, getting everything into place," Justinian said leaning up to kiss Harry.

"Thank you, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you by my side. I am glad I got to see your mother though, and that my parents got to meet you," Harry said softly.

"Me too, it is nice to know that we have their blessings, that they are happy with the choices that we are making," Justinian smiled.

"Are you ready to leave? We have some more work that we need to make our way through tonight," Harry sighed.

"Ready," Justinian nodded, turning fully into Harry and wrapping his arms around his waist so that he could apparate them out.


They appeared at the gates of a mansion and before they could take a step through them towards the Manor at the end of the driveway there was a loud bang over their heads that had them spinning and looking wide-eyed towards the Wizarding village below them, a second bang revealed fireworks being let off, and as the sound of the explosion eased they could hear laughing and cheering coming from the village, sparks of magic were being let out and the sound of celebration seemed to be getting louder and louder despite the late hour.

"It looks as though word has spread that V…Voldemort is dead already," Justinian said, turning back to Harry.

"Hermione and Ron work fast when they need to," Harry grinned, turning back to Justinian watching as a rainbow of colour reflected over his face as another firework went off above their heads.

Justinian couldn't stop the happy laugh that spilt out of him when Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, laughing even more when he reached into his own pocket and pulled out a ring of his own.

"I wanted to wait for the right moment, this seems the perfect moment, I want people to know that we belong to each other," Justinian explained.

"That sounds perfect to me," Harry held out his left hand, keeping his own ring in his right and watched with a blinding smile on his face as Justinian slid a golden band set with sapphires onto his ring finger and squeezed Harry's hand before letting go. Harry reached forward and took Justinian's hand in his, pressing a kiss to the back of it before sliding the golden band set with emeralds and diamonds onto Justinian's ring finger.

"I wanted to get you the perfect ring," Harry explained. Justinian smiled beautifully at him and wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders, humming happily when Harry's arms seemed to automatically wrap around his waist, holding him close.

"Anything that you give me would be perfect, as long as it was from you," Justinian reassured him.

"I love you," Harry smiled.

"I love you too," Justinian kissed Harry because he could, because he was engaged to this man, because he loved him.