Chapter Thirty-Five

Explosives down below took out the bridge that multiple death eaters were on. Mandrakes were knocking death eaters out on one wall. Death Eaters were flying towards the school and fireworks shot at them, knocking quite a few out of the sky. Spells were shot forward, the darkest any of them knew, just kids fighting against forces larger than themselves.

An explosion to her left and Lavender screaming before gurgling sounds followed. Stella twisted around Theo, him offering cover as Stella went to see the damage… Lavender had not been far enough away, the skin on the right side of her face melting into her bones, the four death eaters she'd killed completely unrecognizable. She stared in disbelief for a long moment before hearing footsteps approaching quickly.

Stella let out an angry scream as more death eaters ran down the hall towards her. She spun around a green streak of light, shooting a few of her own in rapid succession. Theo was by her side, both fighting for the lives of the ones they loved, just the one for him.

Stella wasn't going to be able to dodge three killing curses at once. Theo knew it as he saw the lights streaking towards his sister. He jumped in front of her, taking all three straight to his chest.

"NO!" Stella's scream of anguish threw the death eaters, necks cracking as they hit the school wall, Stella catching Theo's body. "No, no, no. Please, Teddy. Don't leave me. Please."

'We need help down here!'

"Teddy… please wake up… Teddy please…"

'STELLA!'

Stella set Teddy down carefully, tears streaming down her face as she ran towards the secret passage, coming out just in time to see Fred laughing at Percy's joke, Harry, Ron, and Hermione right next to them as they fought three death eaters. Stella ran forward and a wall exploded.

"NO!" she screamed.

She threw her hands up, a surge of magic tossing the wall outwards instead of in. The three death eaters turned their wands on her and Stella screamed, her magic throwing them out with the rubble, their wands flying towards her so they couldn't save themselves from the fall.

She was breathing heavily, anger and devastation clear on her face. She could hear the others trying to speak to her but Stella ran forwards. She jumped from the window, her broom flying straight to her hand as she did so, having already summoned it from her bag. She flew into the air, noticing Quidditch teams already in the air. She shot like a bullet into the fray, blocking a spell from hitting Baker.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!" she screamed as she flew with him.

"MAGICAL CORD AROUND THE GIANTS LEGS AND FLY TOWARDS THEIR FACES SO THEY FALL!" he screamed back.

Stella groaned as she followed after him, doing as he'd instructed. Sure enough, the giant fell backwards, crushing death eaters and even knocking another giant down in the process. Stella and Baker flew back towards the school, shooting spells off behind them as they went. Stella saw Remus and Tonks dueling four others, Bellatrix included. She flew down, raining fire on them, but not in time to stop the green spell shot from Bellatrix's wand from hitting Tonks.

"No!" Remus yelled, catching the young witch.

Bellatrix ran, hiding from Stella as she targeted her. Stella lost the witch, distracted by everything happening around her. She did not think of Lavender. She did not think of Theo. She did not think of Tonks. She thought of Dean Thomas and the Patil twins as two death eaters exploded, blood and body matter covering her left side. She thought of Rose Zabini as ten death eaters skin melted. She thought of Andromeda Tonks and Remus Lupin as green spells took out four more death eaters, Stella not even needing to speak as she shot the spells off. She thought of herself as she used her family ring, black smoke filling the lungs of five death eaters, causing them to fall to the ground, coughing the smoke up before suffocating on it, blood seeping from their eyes, noses, and mouths.

Stella dropped a swamp in the middle of the death eaters, watching as they fell in like it was quicksand, a giant falling in with them. Stella's broom had been lost somewhere on the grounds after that, having been shot off of it with a strong stinging hex, which she downed a potion for before running forward, fury causing her magic to lash out at any one she perceived as a threat.

'Third floor.'

Stella apparated to the third floor, appearing in front of her dad, who had Theo's body in his arms. Stella waved her wand and Lavender's body floated beside them. They set the two students next to Tonks. Stella let out a sob before shaking herself, feeling her hair curling uncontrollably from how much family magic had been working through her.

She turned on her heel, leaving the Great Hall, fiendfyre leaving her wand and burning up the large group of spiders that had just entered the castle, destroying all of them in a matter of seconds. Her brother would have no more nightmares of these things if she could help it. Peeves zoomed overhead, dropping Snargaluff pods down on Death Eaters, their heads suddenly becoming engulfed in wriggling, green tubers like fat worms.

"Someone's invisible there!" shouted a death eater and Stella just knew.

A killing curse shot out, killing the death eater. Another wave of her wand and the pod was off of the cloak. She nodded in their direction before she continued fighting. Yaxley was fighting Flitwick, Kingsley in a battle with a masked death eater beside him. Neville appeared, brandishing armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which looped happily around the nearest death eater and began reeling him in.

The Slytherin hourglass shattered, spilling emeralds everywhere.

"Traitor!" someone yelled and three death eaters began fighting Severus.

Stella jumped in, helping him fight, defending her dad. Greyback tried attacking her from behind.

"Not my daughter!" Remus yelled, appearing behind Stella and blasting the werewolf away.

Stella and Severus finished off the death eaters and Remus ran at Greyback, Bellatrix's cursed knife in hand. Greyback was stabbed through the rib cage, straight into his heart. Remus pulled the knife out and watched as Greyback fell to the ground, bleeding out and dead.

A crystal ball fell on top of a death eater, causing Stella to look up.

"I have more!" shrieked Professor Trelawney from over the banisters. "More for any who want them! Here!"

And with a movement like a tennis serve, she heaved another enormous crystal sphere from her bag, waved her wand through the air, and caused the ball to speed across the hall and smash though a window. At the same moment, three large fireworks went off, diving for the death eaters. Stella wondered how the hell Fred and George had gotten the fireworks to target people for a moment before Remus and Severus pulled her behind a tapestry.

All three were breathing heavily, leaning against the wall.

"Are you hurt?" Remus asked, looking Stella over.

"Not my blood," Stella told him.

"Remy, Theo…"

"Lavender threw dangerous potions and wasn't far enough away. Three Avadas were coming at me," Stella told him. "Theo jumped in the way to save me."

"No…" Remus breathed, looking devastated.

"Dad, Tonks…"

"Bellatrix got her," Remus told Severus.

"Where's Potter?" Severus asked. "We need to be near him, make sure no one grabs him."

"He was just in the entrance under the cloak," Stella stated. "Come on."

Stella led her dads out from behind the tapestry, the three defending one another as they went.

"Hagrid!" Harry yelled, running down the front steps.

"No!" Severus grabbed Harry, pulling him out of the way of a curse. "This way!"

Severus and Harry disappeared and Stella knew her dad would keep him safe. Stella fought with her other dad, Ron and Hermione joining them. Dementors were coming towards them.

A silver hare, a boar, and a fox soared past them, Luna, Ernie, and Seamus standing tall.

"Think of something happy, Stella," Luna told her, encouragingly.

Stella thought of Theo, of Blaise, or Sirius, of Tonks, of Lavender, of her birth mother, of Harry's parents, of her Uncle Regulus… she couldn't think of a single happy thing in the moment.

"There once was a pirate queen. She ran the sea. She floated across the world and stripped the rich and gave to the poor," Ron sang beside her.

"There once was a pirate king. He helped the queen when in need. Brother and sister, hand in hand, stealing from the rich to give to the poor," Stella sang back.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" they shouted together, two dogs running forward.

An otter, stallion, and wolf ran beside them and the dementors scattered in earnest now. The night became mild again, no longer freezing, but the sounds of the surrounding battle were loud in their ears.

"Can't thank you enough," said Ron shakily, turning to Luna, Ernie, and Seamus, "you just saved—"

With a roar and an earthquaking tremor, another giant came lurching out of the darkness from the direction of the Forest, brandishing a club taller than any of them.

"Run!" Remus shouted, but the teenagers needed no telling.

They scattered and not a second too soon. The next moment the creature's vast foot had fallen exactly where they had been standing. Stella, Ginny, and Luna ran towards the castle and Baker, Wood, and Walsh appeared, wrapping around the giants legs and knocking him down. George and Fred flew by, dropping a swamp each, the giant falling into it and drowning.

The three witches ran into the castle. They fought back to back, protecting one another, pretending to be pirate queens as they did as children. It made everything easier to all three of them, the play pretend as they sang sea chanties, dark curses flying from all three of them. It wasn't long after that Voldemort's voice was in all of their heads again.

"You have fought valiantly," said the high, cold voice. "Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses."

Stella wanted to crumble, a pitiful whine leaving her throat.

"If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately."

Death Eaters apparated away without question, Stella letting out an angry shout as she watched.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

"One hour," Stella mocked, rolling her eyes. "Let's find Harry so he doesn't try to Harry everything up."

"Did you just use his name as a verb?" Hermione asked, having appeared by Stella's side during the speech.

"Learned it from you," she shrugged.

"Let's get the Great Hall," Ron sighed. "It's where everyone is heading."

Stella watched everyone leave her. She wanted to go to the Great Hall, but she couldn't. She couldn't stare at Theo's dead body and imagine a future without him, couldn't see Lavender in the state she was in. It wasn't until she heard Hermione scream his name that she began walking slowly forward. She stood just in the doorway, eyes going to where she knew Theo's body was.

Fred was holding Hermione as she cried over her first love. Draco was crying against Tracy, unable to speak as he sobbed, her quiet tears running down her face. Daphne and Luna were sitting beside one another, both huddled close to one another and rocking back and forth a bit. Multiple Slytherins were staring at Theo, tears streaming down their faces.

"Stella!" Baker yelled, running towards her and causing the others to turn their heads. "Don't look! Don't!"

She walked right pass him though, reaching the group quickly and ignoring everyone else. Stella fell to her knees immediately. She began to sob, tears escaping her and rough breaths making it so she could barely breath. She pulled Theo's cold, still body to her chest, rocking back and forth. She was trying to hum Sirius's lullaby but she could barely think straight as she held her best friend, her brother, in her arms.

Black magic moved through her, Stella feeling everyone's pain at once, absorbing some of it so it wouldn't hurt as much for them. She screamed, her magic pulsing around her, rings glowing on her fingers. Theo's family ring, which he'd somehow inherited before his death, appeared on her finger.

"Stella Nova," Remus's voice tried but Stella shook her head, blocking him out and causing him to hiss in pain, pulling his hand away from her quickly as a stinging hex hit his arm.

"Cousin," Draco tried but she wasn't listening, only able to feel new magic rushing through her and her dead brother in her arms.

"Daughter," Severus's voice finally got her to look up, her grey eyes meeting his black. "Come on. You have to let him go."

"No," she whined, holding Theo impossibly tighter. "No. No. No."

"He's gone, Stella. It's okay. Come here. I've got you, my child."

"No," Stella tried again, shaking her head.

Why didn't they understand? It was her fault. She knew he didn't want to live anymore, knew he would die to protect her without thought, without a care in the world. He'd told her as much not an hour before he'd done it. Her brother, the wizard who had helped tutor her in History, had protected her from the other Slytherins, had refused to sleep on his own and woke her gently from nightmares… the boy who liked to curl up by the fire and read mystery novels to her was gone.

Her heart was broken, shattered like the hourglasses outside the hall, pieces spread across the floor like the emeralds, rubies, topaz, and sapphires that represented each house. Stella clung to Theo like a lifeline, the others crying with her or for her, she wasn't sure anymore. He'd been wrong. It wasn't just her he'd left behind. He'd helped her take care of the younger students, looking out for them and defending them every chance he got. He helped keep her and Draco both sane, helped Tracy stay strong, helped Daphne realize just how wrong her family had been. He'd protected Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs every chance he got, following Stella's lead and acting on his own when necessary.

It took time, but Severus was the one to get her to release Teddy. He pulled Stella into his lap, holding her and rocking her back and forth. Draco was singing the Black lullaby quietly in her ear, sounding almost like Sirius. Stella began to settle when a cold voice spoke to them all.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone."

"No!" Stella yelled, wrenching herself from Severus's arms just for Remus to grab her next, holding her in place.

"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.

"Come."

Stella got out of Remus's arms and went straight to Ron and Hermione, the three running outside, the rest of Hogwarts following behind, McGonagall being the only one to beat them to the scene.

"NO!"

The scream was the more terrible because she had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound. Bellatrix laughed maniacally at McGonagall's despair.

"No!" yelled Ron.

"No!" Hermione screamed, anguish clear in her voice.

"Harry!" Stella sobbed loudly.

"SILENCE!" cried Voldemort, and there was a bang and a flash of bright light, silence forced upon them. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Stella's angry scream broke the silencing spell, louder than any sound she'd ever created as she watched Harry be placed on the ground where he most certainly did not belong. Another flash of light and silence again.

"You see?" said Voldemort, pacing beside Harry's body. "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!" yelled Ron, the charm broken, and the defenders of Hogwarts shouting and screaming again until a stronger silencing spell was place over them.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort, and there was relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save himself—"

Neville rushed forward and Stella tried to run after him but Remus grabbed her again, stopping her. Neville was tossed to the ground, his wand flying to the side.

"And who is this?" Voldemort hissed out. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh and Stella growled in anger, trying to escape Remus's hod.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pure-blood, aren't you, my brave boy?"

"So what if I am?" Neville demanded, hands in fists.

"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."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army!"

Stella and the others cheered loudly and Stella stumbled away from Remus, finally getting free of him and going straight to Neville, helping him stand.

"Stella Black," Voldemort breathed and Stella swore she saw Harry twitch, but it had to be her imagination. "I've heard much about you."

"Probably all true," she spat out.

"You would make a wonderful Lieutenant," he smiled. "You and Bellatrix together. You'd be unstoppable."

Stella rolled up her sleeve, showing the scar she was proud of.

"Very well," said Voldemort, understanding her. "If that is your choice, Stella Black, Neville Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head be it."

Voldemort waved his wand and a window in the castle shattered. Something that looked like a misshaped bird flew through the half-light and landed in Voldemort's hand. He shook the mildewed object by its pointed end and it dangled, empty and ragged: the Sorting Hat.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," he explained. "There will be no more houses. The emblem, shield and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone, won't they, Neville Longbottom?"

Stella flew backwards, landing a few feet away. Neville's body grew rigid and still. Voldemort forced the hat onto Neville's head, the hat slipping down below his eyes. The Death Eaters had their wands raised, ready to fight if anyone stepped out of line, half the wands alone trained on her, seeming to finally realize the threat that she was.

"Neville here is going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.

"No!" Stella yelled, scrambling to get to Neville.

Many things happened at once. They heard uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out-of-sight walls and pelted towards the castle, uttering loud war cries. At the same time, Grawp came lumbering round the side of the castle and yelled, "HAGGER!" His cry was answered by roars from Voldemort's giants: they ran at Grawp like bull elephants, making the earth quake. Then came hooves, and the twangs of bows, and arrows were suddenly falling amongst the Death Eaters, who broke ranks, shouting their surprise.

In one swift, fluid motion Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming Hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle—

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd, or the sounds of the clashing giants, or of the stampeding centaurs, and yet it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke, Neville sliced of the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the Entrance Hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet.

Stella grabbed Neville's arm, pulling him away and towards the castle quickly. His dad's old wand fell into his left hand and the two shot spells backwards, defending themselves from the Death Eaters behind them.

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "HARRY! WHERE'S HARRY?!"

Stella could not think about Harry being trampled by the crowd, another person she loved needing to be buried. Chaos reigned. The 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; Stella saw great winged creatures 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 Voldemort's Death Eaters alike, were being forced back into the castle.

Neville and Stella were separated in the fight and Stella found herself in the Great Hall, looking between two battles happening at once. Voldemort was fighting Remus, Severus, McGonagall, Slughorn and Kingsley all at once while Bellatrix was fighting Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. She rushed towards Bellatrix, tossing a blasting curse at her and causing her to shout in rage as she dodged. Stella was in front of the other three now, her hair half down from fighting and running around already, curling dangerously.

Bella's eyes widened, seeing a smaller version of herself. Stella's arm was on display, showing her handiwork. There was a darkness surrounding Stella, a fire in her eyes, and anger in her heart, a wrath so deep that Bellatrix started backing away quickly, the Black family magic sensing the danger she had found herself in. Stella ran after her, Bella finally turning and sprinting away. Voldemort shot a killing curse at Severus and Stella waved her wand wildly, making circular motions and causing the spell to fly towards her instead. She redirected it towards Bellatrix, watching as the witch fell to the ground, her death rather anticlimactic outside of Voldemort's scream.

Stella turned, seeing McGonagall, Kingsley, Slughorn, Remus, and Severus be blasted backwards, 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 Stella. She smiled viciously, running towards him. She slid under the curse that flew towards her, shooting one out of her own wand in the process.

Voldemort let out an angry yell, stumbling backwards slightly. Stella jumped to her feet again, continuing to move towards the broken wizard ahead of her, not caring about the danger she knew she was facing, the almost certain death. Voldemort wiped a bit of blood from his cheek, turning with wide eyes to see Stella running towards him. Black, Nott, and Prince magic flowed through her, the rings thrumming on her hand, magic lashing out at every death eater close enough, knocking them back.

Voldemort raised his wand again but Stella was too close. She reared her hand back and sent it flying, punching Voldemort across the face where he was already bleeding from, family rings leaving marks on his cheek. Voldemort reached out with wandless magic, tossing Stella backwards. She flipped backwards, slowly getting to her feet again, smirk still in place.

"AVADA KEDAVA!" Voldemort shouted.

"PROTEGO!"

A shield charm expanded in between Stella and Voldemort. Stella didn't care though as she turned her head, finding Harry standing a few feet away, wand raised and anger clear on his face. He moved to Stella's side as shouts of shock and cheers rang on every side of them. Stella moved her wand to her left hand, taking Harry's left hand with her right.

She stared at him in awe, his eyes still on Voldemort, wand raised. The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other. Harry pulled Stella close to his side, pulling her slightly behind him protectively.

"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."

"Potter doesn't mean that," Voldemort hissed. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter? The Black girl?"

"Nobody," said Harry simply. "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…"

"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taut and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, the three of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other. "Accident, when I decided to fight in the graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but the two and Stella, who was still tucked safely behind Harry, moving with him and ready to protect him. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts 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, green into red. "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 hurting these people—"

"But you did not!"

"I meant to, and that's what did it. 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?"

"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?"

"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering, "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the Tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter – and nobody seems to love you enough to run forwards this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

"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 is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both," said Harry, and he saw shock flit across the snake-like 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 has performed magic that Dumbledore himself 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 was weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he was cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man."

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

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

For the first time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one.

"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen 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 childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still, he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.

"Severus Snape isn'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 nearly all of his like, from the time when they were children. You should have realized. He asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort. "When she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him—"

"Of course he told you that," Harry rolled his eyes and Stella smiled. "Severus Snape didn't desire my mother. He loved her like a sister, someone to look over and protect. He was in love with Remus Lupin since his second year. He was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened his sister, and he's been working against you ever since! Especially when you started trying to get Stella on your side, his heir! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"It matters not!" Voldemort shrieked, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand!

"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy – I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I'll kill you, then his heir, and then him! The Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiney will truly be mine!"

"Before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done… think, and try for some remorse, Riddle…"

Stella wanted to groan. Harry truly was far too good.

"What is this?" Voldemort questioned.

"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.

"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan didn't go according to plan. It's backfired on you, Riddle."

Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand and Harry gripped Blaise's very tightly. The moment, Stella knew and could tell that Harry knew it too, was seconds away.

"Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"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 power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"

"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! Its power is 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. Stella had realized what Harry meant and she knew she would have to defend Harry and Draco in mere moments.

"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 does it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: we duel on skill alone… and after I have dealt with you and Black, I can attend to Draco Malfoy…"

"But you're too late," said Harry and Stella was now confused as well. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco two weeks ago. I took his wand from him. So it all comes down to this, doesn't it? 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."

A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them, as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Stella turned so she was back-to-back with Harry, wand raised in case a Death Eater tried to step in, most already beaten down though.

"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. Stella could see a flash of red and green, reflected off the floor and in the eyes of those she faced. Stella turned in time to see a wand flying through the air. With seeker reflexes, Stella and Harry both reached out, catching it at the same time.

Voldemort had fallen backwards, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upwards. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snake-like face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounded curse, and Harry and Stella stood over Harry's enemy's shell, a wand in each of their own, one of which was shared between the two of them.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around them 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 towards them. Harry turned to Stella quickly, grabbing her face and kissing her roughly. Stella threw her arms around his neck and Harry lifted her off the ground, spinning her before setting her down again, the two smiling brightly as they separated.

Ron and Hermione reached them before anyone else, their arms wrapping around them, their incomprehensible shouts deafening them. Then Ginny, Neville and Luna were there, and then the rest of Stella's siblings and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout and Remus and Severus, and Stella couldn't hear a single thing any of them said. Everyone was trying to grab Harry, to hug him, Severus pulling Stella to him quickly and kissing the top of her head before pulling back and looking her over for injury.

Harry kept ahold of Stella's hand the entire time, refusing to release her as the two were dragged through the crowd, people trying to hug Harry all at once, the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last—

The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. They moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away from the bodies of Tonks, Lavender, Theo, Colin Creevey and fifty others that had died fighting. McGonagall replaced the house tables, but nobody was sitting according to house anymore: all were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in the corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth. After a while, exhausted and drained, Stella decided she'd had enough.

Her dad's had disappeared and Stella was willing to bet they were in his office. She pulled Harry along, waving for the others to follow. Draco, holding Tracy's hand and staring at her lovingly, Ginny, Neville still carrying the sword of Gryffindor, Luna, Ron, George, and Fred, who had Hermione under his arm, making Hermione laugh at some joke, followed Stella and Harry from the hall, Baker setting off firecrackers to distract everyone.

Great chunks were missing from the marble staircase, part of the balustrade gone, and rubble and bloodstains occurred every few steps as they climbed. Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:

"We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the One!

And Voldy's gone moldy, so now let's have fun!"

"Really give a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" said Ron, following as Stella led everyone up the stairs and through secret passages.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"Are we going to where you and Theo hid all year?" Draco asked and Stella took a shuttered breath at the name, simply nodding as she swallowed thickly.

"Supernova," Stella told the gargoyle and it hoped aside.

They clambered around him and on to the spiral stone staircase that moved slowly upwards like an escalator. Stella pushed the door open at the top.

"Ah, it's our kids," Remus smirked as the group entered.

Applause filled the room. All around the walls, the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts were giving him a standing ovation. They waved their hats and in some cases their wigs. They reached through frames to grip each other's hands. They danced up and down on the chairs in which they had been painted. Dilys Derwent sobbed, Dexter Fortescue was waving his ear-trumpet, and Phineas Nigellus smiled proudly at Stella, a true Black.

Stella finally released Harry, falling against Remus suddenly. He caught her hug, smiling as he held her, breathing her in, relief clear on his features as he grabbed Harry, pulling him into the hug as well. The rest joined in on the group hug, Stella releasing Remus long enough to grab Severus and pull him in as well, him letting out a groan as she did so but looking rather pleased at being included. Once the hug ended, Harry looked to Dumbledore's portrait.

"The thing that was hidden in the Snitch," he began, "I dropped it in the Forest. I don't know exactly where, but I'm not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"

"My dear boy, I do," said Dumbledore and Stella had so many questions. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less than I would have expected of you. Does anyone else know where it fell?"

"No one," Harry shook his head. "I'm going to keep Ignotus's present though."

Stella shared a confused look with Ron and Hermione, a little grateful that she wasn't the only one with no clue what was happening. She looked to Severus, seeing a guilty expression on his face, causing her eyes to narrow slightly.

"Then there's this," Harry held up the Elder Wand. "I don't want it."

"What?" said Ron loudly. "Are you mental?"

"I know it's powerful," said Harry wearily. "But I was happier with mine. So…"

Harry rummaged in the pouch hung around his neck and pulled out the two halves of his holly wand, connected by the finest thread of phoenix feather. He laid the broken wand upon the desk, touched it with the tip of the Elder Wand and said "Reparo."

The wand resealed and red sparks shot out of it. Harry picked it up, smiling at the wand.

"I'm putting the Elder Wand back where it came from," Harry explained. "It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."

Dumbledore nodded and he and Harry shared a smile. Stella still didn't like the man.

"I think Harry's right," said Hermione quietly.

"Bound to happen every once in a while," Stella shrugged, causing a small laugh to ripple through the room.

"That wand's more trouble than it's worth. And quite honestly," Harry sighed, looking back to the rest of them, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."

"Why don't I believe you?" Stella smirked.

"Cause you know better," Harry shrugged back, kissing her gently before pulling away. "I need a sandwich and a nap."

"Kreacher?" Stella asked and the elf appeared. "Can you make sandwiches for all of us please?"

"Yes, mistress," Kreacher nodded, disappearing again.

"Up the stairs," Stella directed everyone. "Uncle Moony will make my bed big enough for all of us. There's a shower we can all go back and forth using as well. I'll be up in a minute."

Remus lead the group up the stairs, not arguing with Stella. Severus stayed behind, waiting.

"Why do you look as if I should be hexing you right now?" she asked him.

"Because you should."

"Why?"

"Come," Severus told her, leading her to the pensieve. "I'll show you."