May 2, 1998

"He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him."

There was a great silence that encompassed the castle and the world beyond at Voldemort's words.

"We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone."

Then the rush of noise behind me grew greater and people pushed and shoved for a better look out of the Entrance Hall and into the grounds where Voldemort was leading his troops in victory. I managed to hold my position as the defenders pushed behind me, jostling for position as Ron, Hermione and Ginny managed to make their way to the front with Neville only a few places behind them. I saw Professor McGonagall appear next to Shacklebolt, her fierce expression turning to one of horrified dread and curiosity.

"The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

I could see Voldemort clearly now, he was coming to a stop a few yards from the castle, his large snake perched on his shoulder, like a large mink cloak. The Death Eater stopped a few feet behind their leader, respecting his authority and allowing him to be the physical threat. My eyes were drawn to the half-giant Hagrid just behind Voldemort, the massive man was crying quietly as he cradled the body of what I believed to be a child, so limp and still he could have just been asleep...

The realization came as suddenly to me as it did the rest of the crowd. My stomach dropping to the earth below in a bitter chill.

"NO!" Professor McGonagall surged forward at the sight of Harry Potter being cradled in the massive man's arms – restrained by Kingsley Shacklebolt who stared on solemnly with a knitted brow. McGonagall's pained scream sent chills down my spine. Bellatrix Lestrange cackled in a deranged glee at Voldemort's side.

"No!" A voice from the back shouted in disbelief.

"No!" I caught a glimpse of Molly Weasley's tearstained face as she reached forward to grab her daughter, stopped her from running forward into the no man's land.

Harry! HARRY!" Ron and Hermione's voices blended together in front of me as one.

The chorus of voices that followed was like a wall. Shouts of abuse, declaring Voldemort a liar! That there would be so surrender! Telling the Death Eaters to come closer and finish what they started!

"SILENCE!" Voldemort's furious scream brought quiet though a loud flash of bright light that made dust and rubble tumble down from the castle walls, enforcing a silence on the Hogwarts Defenders. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Hagrid, the large man, did as he was bid with shaking hands, seeming to struggle to let go of Harry Potter.

I struggled with the haunting silence around us, the magic seeming to grip my throat and hold my tongue, but something about it felt... impermanent. As if the spell itself had the sensation of tissue paper, but my tongue still refused to move.

"You see?" Voldemort was triumphant, he paced back and forth behind Potter's body as he continued to speak, gesticulating as he spoke. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" Ron shouted and the charm shattered like glass, another chorus of screaming and cursing Voldemort began anew.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds, killed while trying to save himself-"

"You lie!" A voice shouted from somewhere to my left, half swallowed by the rebellious crowd. "Coward!" Suddenly, the speaking figure figure pushed forward through the crowd, knocking away hands that sought to restrain him as he rushed at Voldemort.

I stifled a horrified gasp as Neville Longbottom fell with a bang from Voldemort's wand as Neville's own wand flew into Voldemort's outstretched hand, before throwing it aside with amused laughter.

I did not believe his laughter sounded human, it was more like an impersonation of what human laughter should sound like, but none of the soul behind it.

"And who is this?" Voldemort's voice was soft, snakelike with that faint edge of parseltongue in his natural speech I was sure I was picking up on. I found his words oddly clear. "Who has volunteer to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord!" Bellatrix spoke with a delighted laughter, that I recognized from the grounds. "The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," Voldemort looked down at Neville, who was struggling to his feet between the Death Eaters and Hogwarts Defenders. He was alone in the place between where we could not help him if they decided he was not worth keeping alive. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?"

The silence that held the crowd now was not solely magical, it was a pure horror at the drama before us. As if we were all watching a play that warned of the price paid for righteousness against tyranny.

Neville was on his feet, his hands balled up at his sides, his voice was loud and carried to those ahead of him and one's behind like a hunting horn. "So what if I am?"

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

Gross! But that offer filled me with confidence – if Voldemort was making offers, he lost more wizards than he would ever admit too. There might be a chance to win after all.

"I'll join you when hell freezes over!" Neville raised his fist in the air – voice carrying across the No Man's Land once more. "Dumbledore's Army!"

My voice joined the defiant cheers- the silencing charm that had been placed on us shattering with the force of our voices and rampant conviction that we would remain defiant.

I could not hear what Voldemort was saying, the noise around me continued until a shadowy something flew out of the window above. I thought it was an owl or a stray bat, but it flew into Voldemort's outstretched hand and dangled outward for all to see. I... I knew what that was. Yes.

That was the Sorting Hat.

Wands were drawn and defenders were frozen in place by spells or a horrified curiosity. My own arm froze midrise for the firing of some spell I had yet to choose. The silence fell over the crowd once more, despite the movement of mouths.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School. There will be no more Houses." Voldemort's voice carried over the crowd, a silky, authoritative tone. "The emblem, shield and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they Neville Longbottom?"

Neville stiffened like a board, as if he was paralyzed. Voldemort forced the hat down upon his head, the hat falling further down and covering his ears. I could not tear my eyes away from the sight before me – morbid curiosity holding me still and complicit in what was to come.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me." His wand flicked aimlessly, and horrible scream tore itself from my throat.

Brave Neville Longbottom was burning! He stood rooted to the spot by magic as Voldemort burned him in effigy.

The screams from the crowd at this sight were horrendous.

And the world seemed to answer this injustice all at once.

There was a great, rumbling noise from the school boundary, I risked a glance off the drama before me to see an unusually runty giant coming around the side of the castle shouting "HAGGER!" I did not linger on the runt as he was swarmed by giants under Voldemort's command, he disappeared under the writhing mass of flesh with loud thumps of being hit by meaty flesh.

There were the sounds of hooves as Centaurs arrived, nocking their bows with arrows made of beautiful feathers that flew into the crowd of Death Eaters, sending them into a panicked surge forward towards the castle. The Death Eaters seemed to mesh together with the surging crowd of people coming up the path. A flash of bunned back gray hair at the front of the reinforcements caught my attention before I lost sight of them in the crowd.

When the crowd broke for a moment, my eyes were drawn back to the boy, Neville Longbottom, who had escaped the curse placed upon him, the flaming hat falling to the ground below as he pulled something of shining silver out of the hat. A sword.

I saw Nagini rise to strike Longbottom from Voldemort's shoulder. I could hear her voice, a sick perversion of snake and magic that left me sick to hear it.'Master-'

Then it suddenly stopped in a flash of silver. I covered my ears as her voice was cut off from my hearing along with Nagini's head, which flew into the air for a moment before coming to rest at Neville's feet as Voldemort screamed in an unhinged fury as the corpse of Nagini slumped from his shoulders.

"HARRY!" A great voice boomed from the center of the chaos. "HARRY – WHERE'S HARRY?"

I could not stay here any longer, there was a great pushing to get out of the way of the oncoming giants, the centaurs had beat the humans up the to the castle and had begun to further scatter the Death Eaters. There were Thestrals and a Hippogriff assaulting the giants, leading them away from the castle in irritating airstrikes, blinding them with claws that cut their heads and allowed blood to flow into their eyes. I could see a figure on a broom rising from the oncoming crowd to bombarde the giants in with spells. Was that Thalia?

I lost sight of her as I was pushed through the Entrance Hall and with a crowd of defenders and Death Eaters as the giants continued their fight in the courtyard, several Death Eaters were stepped on in the chaos. I almost tripped over a fallen Death Eater near the doorway. The chaos was unwavering, pressing against me as war cries filled the space and the fighters began in earnest as they were forced into the castle, some to the marble staircase and the loft above, most moving to the Great Hall to defend those who remained there, too injured to move. I found myself joining the surge into the hall, the scene and pressure of people reminding me of Times Square during tourist season.

There was a break in the crowd and I could see Voldemort ahead of me, firing shots into the crowd at survivors of the initial fight as he was backed into the Great Hall. Several Defenders were knocked away, despite the dangerous appearance of the monster's curses. I deflected a stray curse into a nearby Death Eater.

"KILL THEM ALL!" Voldemort's voice was high and authoritative, there was little to remain of the horrible, whispering voice from the Minister's office. "Thicknesse, to the center! McNair the left! NOW!"

The swarming crowd made it difficult to place myself as I fired jinxes at Death Eaters and blasted Fenrir Greyback with a blood-boiling hex. There was more noise from the stairs into the Entrance Hall and the surging crowd of reinforcements arrived in the castle, I caught of glimpse of Weasley red hair and a large man in emerald pajamas throw themselves into the fray. Three centaurs entered the castle, hitting Death Eaters with their bows and firing arrows, kicking and shouting. I barely saw the woman leading the charge. Her prim gray bun immediately recognizable along with the roaring man at her side as I was pushed into the Great Hall.

"PUSH THEM BACK! FIGHT!"

Lucinda!

I avoided a curse that flew past my head and saw Lucinda and Tavish at the front of the massive crowd of reinforcements that poured into the Great Hall. The rest of them were people I did not recognize, except for Tinsy riding on Tavish's shoulders and looking around, shouting warnings to the crowd from her vantage point, her bat-like ears flapping in the wind as she waved a large cleaver over her head as she screamed encouragement that no one could hear.

I could see Voldemort moving back, deeper into the hall firing curses at the Hogwarts Defenders who attempted to engage, only to be knocked away. If we killed Voldemort here, his followers would flee! Cut the head off the snake and this all ends. Even I fail, I can get him away from the front!

My legs moved with no input from any part of my mind that still exhibited reason. I leapt over a man who Voldemort had knocked backwards as a powerful spell came to the front of my mind – one used at my cousin Martin's crematorium.

'Combustum!'

The fire that emerged from the tip of my wand burned so hot it rose the temperature of the room as it shot forward in a bright blue that faded to reds and oranges the further from my wand the stream went. I could see Voldemort dispelling it, allowing the flames to part around him as more people rushed past, caught in their own duels and moving deeper into the Great Hall as I pushed him further inside the room. I ended the spell when I saw it burn the robes of defenders nearby.

I fired a second spell as the last of the fire was pushed away from Voldemort, his crimson eyes locking on me and promising retaliation, raising his wand with a murderous intent in his eyes before being distracted by an old man who leapt at him with a mighty roar only to be smacked away by a furious spell. I ground my teeth and began to press further into the room.

There was a sudden weight on my shoulder.

"Miss Audrey!" Tinsy was on my shoulder, her little feet digging into my upper back as she held onto the hood of my cloak, as if I were a horse in reins and bridle. A clear triumph in her voice. "Tinsy returned with friends!" She snapped her fingers and a nearby Death Eater who was coming on my left was thrown across the room.

I needed no more encouragement. I moved forward again for a second assault, knowing Tinsy was watching my back, her war screams echoing in my ears, all valiant war cries and calls to fight! To kill! Avenge the dead!

Tinsy lobbed her cleaver at the back of a nearby Death Eater, shrieking in laughter as he gave a pained scream. My feet danced around the duals around me, my eyes focused on a singular target. From the corner of my eye, I could see Lucinda pressing forward with Tavish at her side.

"FORWARD!" Lucinda screamed like a general, the sort that demanded attention and reverence despite her age and crooked glasses, already slightly askew from a few by-blows of combat. She pointed Tavish's attention to the center of the hall where Voldemort was fighting. The pair broke off from the incoming crowd that was now splitting off to different parts of the Great Hall to join the fight with a relentless aggression at Lucinda's orders.

I was too tired and angry to be afraid anymore.

We were too close to victory to roll over. The final surges of strength I needed flowed through me. I chose to fight, one last time. Harry Potter was dead, but we would have a better world when the sun finally rose. My tired legs broke free of the exhaustion and I ran for Voldemort.

I found myself pulling ahead of Lucinda and Tavish, broke through the crowd at last to find Voldemort throwing Aberforth Dumbledore into the mass of dualists around him.

I stepped forward, my wand at the ready, not confident in victory, but hopeful for it. I could hear Lucinda and Tavish behind me, exclaiming my name, breathless with the effort of getting through the crowd and the trip up to the castle itself as they stepped next to me and Tinsy, who was digging a foot in my shoulder vying for a better look. The four of us arrived to face Voldemort together.

Lucinda and Tavish spared me quick, relieved glances and Tinsy was screaming to charge somewhere behind my ear. Tavish was wearing his kilt – looking very ready for the final battle of the war. We moved forward as one, all people wounded in a conflict that had lasted decades. Tavish lost his son and future daughter-in-law, Lucinda had grieved Alistair with Tavish and offered aid and comfort to children orphaned in the conflict twice over while I had lost my brother to his ambitions to put an end to this conflict from within Voldemort's inner circle.

We wanted a chance to put down a monster.

Tavish got to Voldemort first, a mighty roar erupting from deep in his chest as vines erupted from the tip of his wand, surging forward to bind Voldemort down. The vines turned into snakes with an absentminded swipe of Voldemort's wand. The snakes were all venomous and had glimmering red eyes. Before I could try and take control of them, Lucinda sliced through them with a powerful severing charm, leaving blood, bone and remnants of magic behind as I defended Tavish from an incoming spell with a shield charm.

Lucinda came at Voldemort from the opposite side with a blasting curse at the tip of her wand. The blasting curse had such power my hair stood on end. Voldemort blocked the spell with a conjured silver shield, the spell flying out into the crowd of duelists and blasting away a large piece of the dividing wall of the Entrance Hall.

'Vriezen!'

The cold of a blizzard shot from my wand and froze Voldemort's shield with cold so intense it rooted him to the spot with more ease than the fire had at the start of this battle, it was like my wand preferred this method of murder.

This was the hardest duelling I had done all night. Voldemort was more than a match for the four of us, I came down to attack him only for my spells to be adjusted and redirected. We were keeping the pressure on Voldemort, but not making a lot of headway. Tinsy was throwing a seemingly endless supply of sharp knives from my shoulder as she shouted taunts, never landing a hit, but coming to close for Voldemort to chance. I moved the stones beneath his feet, trying to knock him off balance and into Tavish's severing charm and Lucinda's reducto spell.

Voldemort laughed, high and cold, as he dispelled our combined efforts with a flick of his wand. I could feel my magic on the earth below fully slip away. "Do you think yourselves capable of killing me?"

Suddenly, the game came to an end. Voldemort threw Lucinda aside, using her to knock Tavish away, sending the two back onto the floor. He turned his wand on me, I swung to the side expecting a nasty curse, but the spell did not seem to have its intended effect, only knocking me sideways with such force, Tinsy yelped in my ear as she held on for dear life. I conjured a shield to block a second spell, my shield did not look as I intended it too, it looked like the wraith, the vulture skull in the center and the antlers jutting upwards in an act of intimidation.

Tinsy regained herself, flinging a knife past my ear and through the steel antlers with a shout. Voldemort flicked it away as if he were dealing with an irksome fly and yanked my shield away, flinging it into the crowd of duels around us as he pointed his wand at me once more.

My wand moved up, a curse on the tip of my tongue and hate in my heart. I knew the curse I wanted to use; it formed in my mind -

I was knocked back to the floor before the curse could leave my wand, bouncing off the stone floor below with a pained shout. Tinsy shrieked as she barely avoided being crushed under me, I could hear her sliding away from the force of the blow.

Voldemort was stepping forward with a fury, his wand raised to finish my part in this story for good. I reached for my wand, which had rolled just out of reach when I fell, a last-ditch effort to try and save my own life.

Lucinda sprung from thin air with a roar to my defense, Tavish at her heels, giving me time to grab my wand and scramble back to my feet back to my feet. Tinsy apparated herself back onto my shoulder, grabbing onto the hood of my cloak once more so she would not get trampled or misplaced, one of her feet digging into my shoulder and the other to the center of my back.

Voldemort blasted Lucinda and Tavish away once more with a furious swipe of his wand, sending Tavish across the hall and into a fray of duelists beyond. Lucinda crashed into the stone wall behind her with a horrible noise that seemed to echo through the hall or just in my own mind, cutting through the chaos of the room. Pieces of wall crumbling around her from the force of the blow as she slid to the floor below, blood quickly pouring from a wound to her head.

"LUCINDA!"

The weight of Tinsy on my shoulder disappeared instantly as she appeared at Lucinda's side. Lucinda was conscious and moving slowly, the wind clearly knocked out of her. Voldemort moving in to finish the job as Tinsy moved in front of the injured woman with a hard stare, her fingers together in a ready spell as she pulled a sharp knife out of the pocket of her blouse.

I leapt forward thoughtlessly, conjuring an executioner's axe that came down on Voldemort so quickly that he barely missed having it strike his back, instead it caught on the hem of his robe. I wretched it from the floor with a yank of my wand. The axe turned into a scythe that I swung at his neck with a shout, herding him further back into the hall, away from Lucinda and Tinsy.

The scythe moved fast, whirring through the air and being casually deflected by a laughing Voldemort – a monster more amused by my dogged rage then scared. He conjured a silver shield once more to taunt me – using it to block my weapon. The scythe caught the edge of the shield and I grunted in the effort it took to hold my ground as my shoes slid on the cobblestones.

Suddenly, there was an idea.

"You're not special!" Parseltongue slipped from my mouth with a vicious ease that I had never spoken it with before.

Voldemort's crimson eyes widened for a fraction of a second, a recognition of a shared talent as my wand vibrated in response to my speaking while it continued to scream its musical warnings. I sent my scythe back to nothing and reached for the rage inside me, cradling it like an infant as my wand moved into position.

"To the grave with you!"

I was close enough. I would not hit anyone if I missed.

"Avada Kedavra!"

As I spoke the ground shook, knocking me off my aim to send the killing curse flying past Voldemort's face, missing by less than an inch.

Well... Fuck.

There was a sudden rush of movement next to me and Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared, firing spells and drawing Voldemort's attention. I took another opportunity to fire spikes of ice at our mutual opponent. Voldemort avoided the blow and turned his wand on me again, sending me face first to the floor below and flinging me through the air.

I bounced three times before I stopped, I was too sore to move, the pain moved through my body but I needed to get up. I could not stay here! I needed to go help Shacklebolt and make sure Lucinda got away.

Staggering to my feet was an act of will as the rest of the Great Hall had divided into smaller duels. I saw two red headed men duelling Thicknesse, they disappeared from sight in the surging crowd as my heart leapt into my throat.

I had no time to contemplate the possibility before being deflecting an incoming spell to the ceiling above, several pieces falling down to the floor below. I hit my assailant with an impediment jinx and noticed a group of House Elves had taken up arms to stab and cut Death Eaters who went to the floor.

That's frightening – I guess Tinsy will find her warring kind in this country.

I caught a glimpse of Voldemort duelling Shacklebolt, the man in emerald pajamas from the reinforcements and Minerva McGonagall. Before I could go help, I was caught in another duel, trading spells with someone of no significance, who was quickly clutching his face as the blood inside his body began to boil, causing him to pass out from the pain as a shout shot through the Great Hall.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!"

I caught my breath as I bound my opponent with ropes to leave him for the House Elves and whipped around to see a middle-aged witch with greying red hair throwing aside her cloak, a leonine ferocity in her eyes as Bellatrix shrieked in raucous laughter.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" There was a swipe of the woman's wand, moving the three girls who had been duelling Bellatrix back into the crowd. One of them had a familiar shade of red hair... Ginny! Wait... Was that Percy's mother?

The air bristled and crackled with sparks as the two women duelled, spells flew in all directions, deflected and newly fired. I was having a hard time tearing my eyes away. Bellatrix's gleeful smile at a perceived easy opponent became a nasty snarl. The ground beneath their feet began to crack, an intense heat rising up from the openings.

I was jostled by a group of students who moved forward to try and help – one I recognized as Ginny Weasley trying to get to her mother.

"No!" Molly shouted, "Get back! Get back! She is mine!"

Some instinct from watching Annette grow up made me grab Ginny and jostle her in the direction of her father, who was clutching his wand and watching the fight with actual terror in his eyes. I lost sight of the pair quickly in the massive crowd of hundreds. I found myself being sucked into the assembling crowd, where I could not hear anything going over the terrified breathing and racing of my heart in my chest. I only caught glimpses under limbs and between shoulders as I was jostled through the crowd.

Bellatrix danced around the curses Molly flung, playing with her the way a cat played with a mouse. All arrogance and dragging out something that entertained her. Her mouth moved and I could not hear her taunts.

"You - will – never – touch – our – children - again!" Molly screamed every word between fired curses that sent waves of gooseflesh up my back.

Bellatrix laughed, high and insane and the duel ended as suddenly as it began. Molly's final spell moved beneath Bellatrix Lestrange's outstretched arm and hit her over the void where her heart would be if she had one. The dark witch's eyes bulged and her laughter dies instantaneously and she toppled down the cobblestone floor below – lifeless.

There was a terrible furious scream from Voldemort.

I glanced back at the source of the noise. The professors where were duelling Voldemort were blown backwards, flying through the air, writhing in pain.

My eyes were drawn back to Voldemort who had turned his attentions to Molly Weasley, who looked very much like she was ready to live a whole Auror career in less than half an hour. She was braced and ready to fight Voldemort too.

"PROTEGO!"

A voice came from the middle of the room from nowhere.

In an instant, Harry Potter stood in the center of the Great Hall, looking very much alive.

"Harry!"

"HE'S ALIVE!"

In the chaos of the revelation, I suddenly found Lucinda and Tavish next to me. Tinsy was riding on Tavish's shoulder again for a better look at the scene before us.

The pair looked at one another and began to circle each other like animals sizing up an opponent in the wild.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help." Harry's voice carried through the room; it was the only thing that assured me he would not just disappear like a spirit. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Voldemort cursed in parseltongue – something I understood to be snake language, but was not versed enough in to understand it in full. "Potter doesn't mean that. That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," Harry's voice carried through the silent hall. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good."

Horcrux... Why did that feel familiar? I felt like I had heard the term before. Perhaps in the Graves Family Grimoire...?

The pair moved in a perfect circle; Harry Potter was speaking of how he had survived. That he had died to protect those defending Hogwarts, that was reason none of Voldemort's spells had been binding or effective.

I suddenly felt a slight blow to my ego – maybe that was why all of us from Thornell had kept Voldemort distracted and escaped the fight alive. It was not talent; it was a blood sacrifice. If Quincy asked about the battle, I was going to leave that part out of the story.

"...You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare," Harry's voice carried through the Great Hall, "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?"

"Riddle? Tom Riddle?" Lucinda muttered, appearing next to me as she leaned against Tavish for support while Potter and Voldemort continued to circle each other, speaking of things I was not sure I understood the purpose of. "I don't believe it…!"

"What a stupid name," I muttered as Harry Potter spoke of love and Voldemort slandered Harry's mother for her nonmagical blood.

"If it is not love that will save you this time," Voldemort's voice was cold, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both." Harry's retort was quick, but not arrogant. It was calm, measured and confident. A sharp contrast to the humorless, insane laughter that escaped Voldemort. A laugh so unnatural it sent shivers up my spine as it echoed around the grave silent hall.

The topic turned to the magic of Dumbledore, about magic he never attempted because he was too clever and too good of a man to attempt.

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did, but you were wrong."

Wait? Was Dumbledore alive somewhere? Impossible! We had seen the body at his funeral, right? The crowd seemed to have similar thoughts that I did, the low intake of breath from the crowd was simultaneous.

"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort's words swung bluntly through the room, both an effort to hurt Harry emotionally and retain his power as the one who had arranged Dumbledore's death.

The topic changed to the true allegiance of Severus Snape, who apparently had a massive crush on Harry's mom, bit weird to bring up right now and not something I would want to know about either of my parents. I already knew too much about Jack and spent a lot of time trying not to think of the parts of Alex's journal I needed to purge the glances of from my memories. Snape had been working against Voldemort as a double agent, while, per my surface level understanding of the man, being an utter bastard to children. Something I did not abide.

"I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"

I wondered what sort of story I had wandered into where the possibilities of fairy tales were real. I knew the story of the Three Brothers – I often found the idea of a cloak of true invisibility too appealing to be ignored. Annie had always been more interested in the Deathstick or the Stone, depending on the day.

"Yeah, it did," Harry said. "You're right. But before you try to kill, I'd advise you to think about what you've done... Think and try for some remorse, Riddle..."

Remorse? Remorse! Has he lost his mind? You don't negotiate with monsters, you kill them! What kind of hippy dippy nonsense has Potter been getting up too?

I had kept my wand drawn throughout this event, despite Potter's orders or plea to stay our hands, I was not entirely sure what his end goal was. I was ready to end this if Potter did not stop monologuing and Voldemort decided to just try and kill him a third time. Tavish was following my lead beside me, pointing his wand at Voldemort with a look of such focused hatred on his face that I should have found it frightening from a soul of such pronounced kindness if I knew I was not harboring similar sentiments.

The Elder Wand was, according to Harry, not working properly for Voldemort. It had a new master, despite all of the planning of Dumbledore. That the unexpected ingredient to this plan, was Draco Malfoy, whom Harry had disarmed and claimed victory over weeks ago. My eyes, along with everyone else's were drawn to the wand in Harry Potter's hands.

My wand trembled in my hands, either from my own frayed nerves from a night of fighting, or at how close the end of it all seemed in this moment.

If Potter was not going to kill Voldemort, I was perfectly willing to do it myself.

Then came the sun, shining down through the large window at the eastern end of the Great Hall and there was a feeling of destiny in this room. As if a firework was being lit to soar into the heavens. The light lit the face of the two combatants in the center of the Great Hall and it all happened at once.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The collision of spells was like an explosion in the center of the circle they had tread. My wand trembled in my hands, either from my own frayed nerves from a night of fighting, or at how close the end of it all seemed in this moment.

A great silence fell over the hall as Harry Potter disarmed Voldemort, catching his wand out of mid-air in a final offense as the man suddenly crumpled to the floor in a heap – his own spell rebounding against him.

Voldemort was dead.

The Great Hall erupted in a castle shaking roar as the sun rose above on a new era.

Oo0Oo0

Author's Notes: I've had a lot of fun writing the battle from a different perspective (first person namely) and I really got to stretch myself writing fight scenes from this view in the last few chapters. I did have to go back and reference the appropriate Deathly Hallows chapters, which did help streamline everything at the end.

Yes, Audrey's first up close introduction to Molly was her murdering Bellatrix and tearing apart a giant spider. I think that image lingers when she first meets the Weasleys officially. Molly and Audrey have a few things in common, (both have cedar wands), and they've both got some crazy 'fight me' energy.

Ainsleys don't produce powerful wizards – but they are very friend shaped. Also, yes, the implication of Lucinda being familiar with the name Tom Riddle is reference to the fact they are the same age and went to school together- serving as Head Boy and Girl. A bit of that is in a short story somewhere.

I really love Tinsy – she's deeply unhinged, down for anything and has the heart of a brawler. She'll be an eternal menace as a Free Elf who will not leave