Voldemort's Demise

1. 1: Dumbledore's Announcement

        Disclaimer, actually kind of two...the HP characters aren't mine, except the ones that Harry fans don't recognize, much as I wish dear Harry was; they belong to JK Rowlings, one of the most fantastic authors around. Also, part of the plot where Voldemort is actually demolished is also a borrowed idea from author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor where she writes about an evil sorcerer who was defeated in a similar fashion in her book The Witch Returns, so the actual spell used by the Gryffindors is not my idea.

        Sort of a bit of crossover, but mostly still Harry Potter, where the Gryffindors get the idea from a website about the spell used by two Americans used to defeat evil sorcerers. Oh, and the two American characters aren't mine, but also Phyllis Naylor's; I might not even mention their names, just the idea. Sooo, hope that covers it. And anyway, if someone tried to sue, I just have a joooob, but not millions in cash, so they'd only get a few bucks. Soo, enjoy this story!
 

        "Ron..." I called to my best friend, Ron Weasley. I ran over to his dorm bed that Monday morning in late November. Sure enough, Ron was barely up, his bright red hair in five million directions and his blue eyes still sleep-dazed.
        "Yeh, I'm up..." he moaned, heading to the bathroom still in his underwear. I was still a bit sleepy myself, but had been up and dressed for a while. I was anxiously waiting the morning announcement about our Gryffindor retreat. The evil wizard Voldemort is still at large and his been sighted in wooded areas close to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Most of his followers, aka death eaters, are now in Azkaban prison, a result from an incident last spring where they floo-jacked several Hogwarts students including Ron and Cheria Radwin, two good friends of mine from Hogsmeade. So, instead of flooing back to Hogwarts as they planned, they'd ended up in the death eaters' chambers. The rest of us, including Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and me, had to stay on campus for two weeks until they were rescued. I still sometimes shudder remembering how frightened we'd all been. Finally, a group of us students devised a plan to free them by developing a potion that could locate the captives. It took a long afternoon of crying on all of our parts, including me, but we finally dried our tears, got our act together and put together the potion and it worked. Thank Merlin's stars that Professor Trelawney and Madame Hooch were willing to help. It had been dangerous, but we'd apparated over and got to them. It had been a battle, but we'd freed our classmates and Madame Hooch had several brooms with her, which she piled several of us on at a time because the death eaters had put a spell to disable to apparating charm. That ended up working like a...charm because the death eaters were caught in their own trap and were caught. And perhaps best of all, Wormtail, who used to be Peter Pettigrew had been in that group, so he was caught, which in turn proved my godfather Sirius Black's innocence.
        "I just hope this retreat isn't postponed," I told Ron as we headed into breakfast before our classes of the day.
        "Me too," Ron nodded. The Gryffindor students are having a retreat at Quarry Grounds starting Wednesday and ending Saturday...keep your fingers crossed...if it's not postponed. Hermione, Ginny, and Cheria waved us over and we joined them and talked. A niiiing sounded from the teacher's table in the front of the Great Hall, drawing our attention and the room fell silent. Dumbledore, our headmaster, announced the results of last Saturday's Quidditch game. (Gryffindor had won). I smiled ruefully as I ran my tongue over the slit on the side of my lip, which had been split last Saturday, and thought about how Draco Malfoy, the biggest jackass in Hogwarts history, knocked me off my broom, but I'd ended up batting the bludger away from Ginny just in time to allow her to catch the snitch and win the game. I still felt a small twinge in my heart remembering last week when Malfoy had burned my parents' photo album.  As a result, to my utter embarrassment, I'd dissolved into tears right here in the Great Hall in front of almost the whole school. I'd been crushed and humiliated for a couple of days, but now I was healing from that awful experience. Playing well at the Quidditch game had helped as well as having support from my friends.
        "...and finally..." Dumbledore finished. "The Gryffindor retreat will go on as planned, starting on November twenty-fourth. Let breakfast begin." The whole Gryffindor table exploded with mad whooping and any noise of triumph we could think of, including our group.
        "Allll riiiiight!" Ron bellowed and hi-fived me and Hermione. I let out a whoop myself and Hermione tossed a fist into the air and crowed. Dumbledore and our deputy headmistress smiled down at us, then all of us began shoveling in food. Good, now our retreat can go on. All of us were looking forward to it.
 

2. 2 : Gryffindor Retreat

        Thanks so much for reviewing this story and others! I love reading the reviews! Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up, but I've been busy with school and work (I just started my senior year in college). I'm so glad you reviewed the first chapter, Esperanza and Aftertaste Of A Razorblade! There'll be more soon! This second chapter is partly based on a delightful dream I had a few years ago where I dreamed I was walking along with a group in a wooded area and we saw little rainbows among the fall leaves. I remember waking up feeling euphoric from that dream. That dream still stands vividly in my mind even today. Enjoy this piece and keep those reviews coming; I enjoy reading them as well as your stories too!
 
 

        "...And so, after I'd reminded Neville to put the silencing charm before we said the password to go into the common room, Neville and I went in and found Greg Harriman and Felicia Moran trying to catch a cup of butterbeer from falling onto the floor," Ron told me as all of us Gryffindor students trekked through the wooded area of Quarry Grounds that Thursday afternoon. We'd had our password changed since last week and now use a silencing charm so others can't hear it. I was soo glad that this retreat wasn't postponed. My friends and I had all been in a bunch, but now Ginny, Cheria, and Hermione had moved toward the back of the group and were talking with Lavender Brown and a few other girls. Professors McGonagall and Hooch were chatting away somewhere in the middle of the group. Since Quarry Grounds is about two hours away from Hogwarts and almost in Wales, it was so far determined to be safe, since Voldemort had not been detected anywhere around Wales. It was an overcast afternoon with thick silvery-gray clouds and the leaves had all fallen off the trees and now made a fine crisp racket under our feet as we hiked along. They were still bright colors and covered the ground like a multi-colored huge carpet. Being the magical world, there were even more colors than the muggle world. On top of the usual brown, purple, orange, yellow, gold, and red, I saw some glittering metallic leaves, and even a few deep pink leaves. We passed a bush with its leaves still on, but in multi-colors and several of us crowed, Woooohhh... when we saw that it was shifting colors visibly right there. I gasped softly at the beauty of the bush. Slowly we walked on by as the bush changed from deep magenta to a bright red, then and orange, then a bright yellow. About a half hour later, it began to drizzle lightly. Several students pulled the hoods of their robes up, including Ron. I had my head down and was peering at a cluster of yellow ferns near the ground. I saw a small sliver of light, then a little streak and just as quickly, it disappeared and left a small round...rainbow. Oh... I mouthed, my eyes going wide. I had never seen a rainbow like that, not right on the ground. It made a small colorful circle and faded in an instant. It was gone so fast that I thought maybe it was my imagination. But I knew it wasn't when I heard Mintra McGonagall, Professor McGonagall's great-niece, squeal, "Ooooh, look, a rainbow right here by tree root!" Several of us peered over and sure enough, there was a nice round little rainbow right by a bare tree surrounded by metallic red leaves. It was soo beautiful!
        "Hey, look another rainbow!" Hermione called and there were more wooo's by another clump of purple bushes. I gasped and Ron whooped when we saw another rainbow circle on the ground in front of us by a pile of gold leaves. They became more frequent as we walked on and hiked down a hill. By then the drizzle came down steadily and I was growing damp. It was delightful; rain has never bothered me. More whoops and squeals arose from the group as we spotted more rainbows among the bright leaves.
        "Ohhh, this is so lovely, Ron," I was feeling really happy now.
        "There are..." Ron grinned. "Heyy, look, there's one there..." Another rainbow circled a cluster of multi-colored ferns, which also changed colors rapidly. By the time we headed back to the lodge, the drizzle had slowed and it was growing dark. The rainbows faded when we reached the end of the woods and headed toward the lodge, a small stilted stone and wood building. We went in and got ready to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        After we ate, we sat in a circle in the main room and pondered the question of where we'd see ourselves ten years from now. There were a lot of interesting answers, including auror, news reporter, pro Quidditch, etc. Ron saw himself either in pro-Quidditch or working in the Ministry like his dad. I saw myself either in music or teaching. I haven't really decided if the instruments I'll play will be magical or muggle. Mum played the violin and the bariol, a wizard/witch instrument in several groups before she turned to teaching music. I've taught myself to play the bariol, the piano, and the violin these past few years. My great-aunt Miranda tells me I've inherited Mum's musical talent. Hermione is planning to either go into teaching or be a news reporter. The next activity was everyone dividing into their years. All of us seventh years were on one end while the first years were on the other. Each year got a different thing to reflect on and the seventh years were to reflect on what was the most life-altering experience of our almost seven years at Hogwarts.
        "Mine's kind of easy," Ron spoke up. "I could say the floo-jacking last year, but I think it was more when I became the Quidditch captain last year."
        "Oh?" I raised an eyebrow as I peered at my friend.
        "Well...I think I've become more responsible and honed in on my Quidditch skills more, not to mention becoming better organized." We all chuckled at that. Bit by bit, all of us went around. Mine somewhat easy, yet complicated.
        "Cedric's death at the end of the fourth year and that summer afterward," I said. For the first time, I told the rest of the seventh-year Gryffindors the harrowing experience I'd had coping with the loss of Cedric, a bit of what I'd endured with my aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, told them I'd run away after one fight too many with my Uncle Vernon, then found out about my great-aunt Miranda, who I hadn't known about. Thank the Merlin's stars she could take me in and I never had to return to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia again. Aunt Petunia is Mum's sister and is a muggle. She was jealous of Mum and bad-mouthed her almost constantly and she and Uncle Vernon were often cruel to me. They had a son, Dudley, whom they spoiled rotten.  It turned out that Uncle Vernon had actually gotten guardianship of me illegally.  I found this out back in my fifth year.  Aunt Miranda had been cursed with a memory-loss charm, which took her several months to recover and by the time she did, Uncle Vernon had falsely claimed his family to be my only living relatives and even had a false death certificate made out in Miranda's name, so Dumbledore and McGonagall thought she was dead.  Of course, the Dursleys never let on where they were living, so for a long time, Miranda had no idea where I was in London, which is a huge city.  For that fraud, Vernon got six months in jail.  I've also heard that Petunia and Dudley stayed with some neighbor of theirs since Petunia doesn't have a career. Who knows where they are now, except not on Privet Drive anymore?  I've not seen them since I ran away from them the summer after my fourth year  and I have no desire to see them again. I'm so glad I have Great-Aunt Miranda back, who's much kinder and more understanding. The two of us have formed a close bond and now I go home to her for holidays and summers. I'm really going to miss her next year when I go away to college. Hermione then added something about her younger sister, Aileen, who is nine. It turned out that Aileen is also a witch. Their parents are muggles.
        "...so, Aileen has two more years to go before she gets her letter," Hermione finished. It's something of a Hogwarts tradition for many witches and wizards in the London area to get their letters around their eleventh birthdays accepting them into Hogwarts and giving them a list of supplies they need to get for their years at Hogwarts. I sure remember getting mine. I was living with the Dursleys then and of course they didn't want to let me go and hid my letter. More letters came and finally, Hagrid, Hogwarts' groundskeeper, came to pick me up. That had been another life-altering experience for me.
        The night wound down as we got back into our large group. We then said the Gryffindor chant. It's about courage and dignity and staying united in the face of all obstacles and using good to overcome evil. The part I like best is, may all of us stand courageous in the face of turmoil and when we fall, get back up and continue moving. We then trickled to bed. It was growing windy and several of us whispered little things back and forth before drifting off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        It must have been a few hours later when I found myself awake. I felt a tenderness in my forehead and my hand automatically went up to my scar. It felt sore. Sitting slowly up, I looked at the clock. 2:19, it read. It hadn't hurt since last spring with the floo-jacking incident. Could Voldemort...? I worried, my throat dry. I sat for a few minutes, but only heard the wind. The pain didn't get worse to my relief, but it stayed steady for a while, a dull ache. I clutched at the scar, feeling worried little lines wrinkle the middle of my forehead and slowly got out of bed and peered out the window discreetly. Nothing unusual out there. Grabbing my wand, I held it out, murmuring the spell to have it detect any other presence besides us. None.
        "Harry...?" Someone whispered. I jumped nervously, then let out my breath to see that it was Madame Hooch. "Are you all right, darling?" She just come out of the women's bathroom and was on her way back to bed when she'd seen me.
        "I..." I touched my scar again. "I'm..." I swallowed, my throat still dry. "...not sure...my scar's sore..."
        "Oh...dear," Madame Hooch put an arm around me and she and I headed back to the end room where she shook McGonagall awake.
        "What...?" McGonagall sat up and put her glasses on. "Is everything...? No, I think not." She got up and I followed them as they slowly walked down the hall.
        "Maybe we should contact the aurors..." Madame Hooch told her. McGonagall nodded, then using a nearby fireplace, contacted several of them. Several of them apparated and Madame Hooch whispered, "Why don't you go on back to bed and we'll see that everything's all right outside." I nodded and did. I didn't sleep, however, until Madame Hooch came in and whispered that they'd detected no one outside. Two of the aurors, however, would remain on the grounds to insure that everything would be all right, at least for the rest of this retreat. I hoped it wasn't Voldemort back again. By then the pain in my scar had faded. I just felt slightly dizzy and drifted off to sleep.
 
 
 
 

3. 3: The Final Struggle Between Good And Evil

        Most of Friday passed quietly enough. We carried on with more retreat activities and my scar wasn't sore then. We spent the late afternoon meditating to quiet melodies of wizard/witch music, which resembles muggle New Age music, but uses more instruments. It was in a room where there were actual spells you could use to create a relaxing atmosphere for yourself like a beach or clouds in the sky. I picked the clouds and actually felt as if I were floating on one way in the sky. Free, above everything. They're actually experimenting with that for real in various flying research labs all around the wizard/witch world in various countries, including here in England, in Ireland and in the United States. That'd be nice if we were able to just float around in the clouds without even needing brooms. It's still a long way off, though, from becoming reality. Once the music faded, we all slowly came back to the present and trickled out of the room, feeling peaceful. Dinner was a couple of hours away, so we had some free time. McGonagall warned us not to wander off too far or go into the woods. Some of us, including my friends and I went out onto the porch just as the sun was setting and talked a while. A big chunk of our conversation included our college plans. I'd applied to several colleges along with my friends and most of us wouldn't be hearing from them until spring. Hermione had applied to Oxford. I'd applied to Andrews and Wallace Arts College in Liverpool, which has an excellent music program there. It's a mix of muggle and magical students there.
        "If Quidditch doesn't pan out, I think I'll go into dragon research like my brother, Bill," Ron told me.
        "Oh, Ron, that's great that you're making backup plans," I smiled softly at my friend. Quidditch is a big chunk of Ron's life, but Hermione, Cheria, and I always thought he should have backup plans since it's very hard to get into pro Quidditch.
        "Of course, I'll have to take more dull science classes and even more potions in college," Ron rolled his eyes and we chuckled. Studying is not one of Ron's favorite things to do. More kids came out, including Ginny and Neville, who seemed to be deep in conversation. They waved to us, then stood to one side of the porch. It grew darker and eventually once the sun was down, the whole sky turned a deep, beautiful purple that took my breath away. The purple seemed to spread all over like a liquid, creating a deep purple hue over everything.
        "Oh, how lovely..." I murmured.
        "It is beautiful," Cheria added. The wind picked up and we stood close and watched the deep purple fade into a dark blue, then the dark of night took over and we went in to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Dinner was a lively affair and I had to smile as I noticed Ginny practically sitting in Neville's lap. Funny, but I've seen the two of them deep in conversation a lot lately. I noticed Ron, Hermione, and Cheria grin at them several times too. By dessert, I had to get up and pee and as I headed into the bathroom, I saw Parvati Patil with Boris Uran by the bathroom making out. They saw me and giggled and I had to blush as I went into the bathroom and peed. As I was going back, they went into a back closet and I blushed again when I heard them giggling. I stood by the main room, trying to will the redness out of my face, so the others wouldn't wonder why I was so red in the face. Once I thought most of the red had faded, I came back in. Once we finished dessert, we sat around in a circle to have tea and exchange advice on various situations we were dealing with.
        "Harry..." Mintra asked softly. "Are you feeling better from last week?" I knew she was referring to the incident with Malfoy and I nodded.
        "The odd thing is that Malfoy used to make me so angry, now he doesn't," I told the others softly. "I realize that he just is...lost inside and is dealing with a lot at home and all."
        "His dad's in Azkaban, isn't he?" Bernard Mars put in.
        "Yeah..." Several others chimed in.
        "Possibly Mr. Malfoy...was lost somewhere along his growing up years," I pondered. "And covered it up with hate and passed it on to his son." Ron stifled a laugh, letting out kind of a snort. "No, it's really possible," I added.
        "I was remembering...once my dad got into an actual fistfight with Malfoy's dad," Ron put in. Hermione, Ginny, and I nodded, remembering that. It had been in Diagon Alley, the week before we started our second year.
        "I think what happens with people who tear others down is that they get a brief high, but later on feel worse about themselves as they alienate others more," Hermione added softly. A lot of us nodded, seeing that point.
        "It then turns into a vicious cycle," McGonagall put in. We were quiet a minute. As we mulled over this, the wind seemed to be picking up outside. I don't know when, but I thought I heard a soft tune outside, carried by the wind. My scar jolted, then began to hurt.
        "Harry...are you all right?" Hermione asked as the others looked over.
        "I...did you hear that?" I asked. "A song, kind of humming outside?"
        "That's crazy, Harry, no one can command the wind..." Dean started to say, but several others went shhhh... We all fell silent, frozen in position for a long minute. Yes, there was the tune again. It wasn't really singing, but more of a hypnotic humming.
        "There it is, there it is..." I quavered. My heart began to pound wildly and my scar pulsed and hurt more intensely. "He's here...oh, God..." I had to fight down the panic. McGonagall came over and put an arm around me and I could feel myself start to tremble. Hermione stroked my back from the other side.
        "We have the aurors guarding this place," Ron tried to comfort me. I saw some of the others were getting frightened too. Ginny and Neville clutched each other and several others murmured nervously. The wind blew louder and the tune rose...and rose. "Don't we have the aurors, Professor?" Ron asked. I thought I saw a movement in the forest in the distance.
        "Yes, but I'd better investigate," McGonagall moved away and put on a cloak. "Nadine, will you remain here with the students..."
        "We're coming with you," Hermione stood and walked over. Several others joined. McGonagall's eyes widened as she peered at us.
        "It won't be safe..." she started.
        "It won't be safe just you going," Cheria added, "But with all of us along, we have a better chance of standing strong if it is Voldemort." Most of us added our agreement.
        "Maybe this once, we can confront him once and for all," I added, even though I was still shaking. I guess McGonagall knew we weren't going to give up, so we all decided to go, including Madame Hooch.
        "Does everyone remember the spells for staving off curses?" Madame Hooch asked us once we'd grabbed our wands and stepped out into the wind. We all said yes. Madame Hooch then told us all to stay together. The wind was howling out here and it was cold. I was glad I had a thick Hogwarts sweatshirt on under my cloak.
        "Oh, God, he's going to kill us all," I whimpered as we got closer to the woods and I saw the shadow again.
        "No, he won't," Hermione whispered back. "Not if we remember that spell we read about on the Net about making the circle...the one that the group in that small American town did to defeat the evil witch that lived there."
        "Yes, I think I remember..." We'd read about that earlier in the month on a website on one of the computers in the library. They'd formed a circle around this evil sorcerer and chanted spells and eventually she'd faded into nothingness, the evil vanquished.
        "I think we'd better..." Hermione waved McGonagall over and I guess whispered what the spell was. McGonagall nodded.
        "It sounds like it's worth a try," she told her. We gathered around and McGonagall softly told us the plan. Once we saw Voldemort, we'd surround him and chant the Hogwarts/Gryffindor spells in the hope that the evil would be driven away. Merlin knew if he'd disappear, fade or do what, but there was only one way to find out. And we all hoped to the stars that it would work.
        "And we'll all say Voldemort instead of You Know Who or anything," I added.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        We walked into the woods, where it was really windy and pitch black. Several of us cling to each other and I could feel my teeth rattling. Hermione held my hand and I could feel her shaking too. As we came to a clearing, we saw the shadow again and up above the moon came out briefly, then vanished behind the clouds like someone peering into a window. That brief shaft of light gave us a glimpse and it was indeed, Voldemort. I'd recognize those pale, glittering eyes anywhere. And that high, buzzing snicker. Abruptly, he turned by a high rock and peered at us from under his hood.
        "Soooo, you've come for more vengeance," he purred, causing chills to run down my back. "Looks like you have a little family here. Oh, I'm afraid I'll eventually have to do all of you in."
        "We haven't come for vengeance," McGonagall said softly. "We've come for just one thing...to chase away all evil, including the evil that's taken over your soul and heart." Without words or further instructions, all of us grabbed hands and formed a circle around the rock and Voldemort.
        "Whaat evil?" Voldemort bellowed. "I tried to bring order to the wizardry until you Gryffindors and other corrupters disrupted our plans...the likes of Dumbledore, the Weasleys and the Potters to name a few!" With that, Voldemort saw me and glared and it made me swallow. Voldemort gave a mean, wry grin at seeing my fear and nodded. The wind blew louder and harder, blowing the hood off Voldemort's cloak. His pale eyes glowered at us. "All of you will pay for last spring..." he hissed, referring to his followers being carted off to Azkaban for the floo-jacking. We started our chants, hoping for the best. I just hoped he wouldn't kill us all right on the spot. "What is this silly game this time?!" Voldemort roared, realizing that he was surrounded.
        "Louder...louder..." McGonagall urged the rest of us. She along with the rest of us strained to raise our voices above the howling wind. Voldemort's eyes widened in outrage as he pointed his wand.
        "Avera Kedevra..." he bellowed the most dreaded killing curse. My voice faltered a minute and I had to swallow again as I saw the green light shoot from the wand. But it fizzled quickly and only McGonagall and Ginny jumped a little, but we kept chanting and singing...the Hogwarts songs, the chants to drive away evil spirits, the Gryffindor song of courage in tough times. Voldemort tried to throw out the curse several more times, but only succeeded in producing no more than a mild electric shock. I got several. I was seeing Voldemort's face, but the harshness of the image was softened by images of my parents' faces, images of my classmates over these past nearly seven years...other encounters I'd had with Voldemort...the painful on at the end of my fourth year where I'd seen Cedric Diggory die. My breath caught and my hand holding the wand began to shake. I fought to steady it. One of our incantations had a name in it and we all said Voldemort clearly. Voldemort seemed to stumble and leaned on the rock. He dropped his wand and the curses stopped coming. But still we kept on, moving closer.
        "You all may think you've weakened me again..." Voldemort panted. "But I will regain my strength this time more quickly and you all will pay..." He slowly leaned back and something about the way he slumped reminded me of a position he'd assumed as Tom Riddle. I'd seen that picture when I'd gotten hold of his magical diary back in the second year.
        "Tom..." I said suddenly. "Tom..." Several others glanced at me. A surge of inspiration came to me and I called to the others, "His name's Tom...Tom Riddle..."I kept calling. Others joined in calling, Tom Riddle...Tom...Tom... Voldemort let out a moan, then a yowl as he slumped further down.
        "Tom no longer is alive..." he heaved.
        Undaunted, we moved closer, the wind whipping through us and continued calling "Tom Riddle...Tom...you're Tom Riddle...Tom...Tom...Tom..." A high wail rose up from the crumpled cloaked wizard on the ground and eventually the howl rose higher and higher until it faded and the body on the ground lay flat, then dissolved into...nothingness. The wind kept blowing and ashes blew from the now-empty cloak. There was a fluttering and several bats flew into the air and took off into the night. McGonagall and Hooch stepped forward with their wands and poked at the cloak. There was nothing there and even the ashes were blown away. A faintly waxy smell rose into the air, but that faded.
        "He's gone..." Hooch whispered in disbelief. We tentatively let go and moved closer. There was nothing but the cloak. Using our wands, we checked around and realized that yes, Voldemort the evil wizard was indeed...gone. Gone.
        "We did it," Hermione whispered.
        "We quashed out the evil," Cheria added. We stood silent a long minute, amazed by what had just happened. I myself went numb for a minute, not quite believing that any of this was real, fearing that I'd wake up and Voldemort would still be lurking around. I swallowed a third time, from relief or anxiety this time, I didn't know. A huge loud WHOOOOP! rose up from several Gryffindors just then, including Hooch and that told me that I was not dreaming, that we'd actually...defeated Voldemort using our good to overpower his evil. We all then exploded into bellows, cheers, and yowls and all of us back-slapped and hugged.
        "Oh, he's GONE!" Hermione bellowed as she and I hugged.
        "We diiiid IIIIT!" Ron's howl echoed in the wind. We continued carrying on all the way back to the lodge. McGonagall and Hooch notified Hogwarts right away and the aurors who'd been watching the woods had checked around and confirmed that Voldemort was indeed gone from this earth.
        "There will be a special feast of honor for the Gryffindors on Saturday evening when you return," Dumbledore told us via floo-speaker at the fireplace. "And the Gryffindors are awarded ten-thousand points for their triumph. Have a wonderful rest...you've earned it." Dumbledore grinned as he faded out. We all whooped and bellowed again. A few of the younger students cried some and we all sat to have tea and Hooch and McGonagall magicked over a huge snack feast from a local wizard deli. I was still a bit in a daze, but it began to sink in...our victory. I never really expected us to defeat Voldemort the way we did. I'd been afraid we'd have to go into a violent battle with lots of innocent people being killed. Looking back, I wondered why didn't we think of this earlier. I voiced this to my friends and they wondered why too.
        "Now we know," Ginny put in. "Merlin forbidding, we should ever have to use it in the future should another evil sorcerer rise again."
        "Let's make sure this gets passed on to future generations," Hermione put in. We all nodded, looking into the softly glowing fireplace Thanks to this victory, now future generations would be safer and evil had lost a foothold in this world...we could hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        We didn't go to bed until around two in the morning and we slept in the next morning until late. I was the last one up and by the time I crawled out of bed, everyone had gone to the main room, I guess to have breakfast...or lunch, I thought as I looked at the clock and saw that it was eleven-thirty. I slowly got dressed and trudged into the main room, groggily rubbing my eyes, carrying my glasses.
        "There's Harry..." someone murmured.
        "Sleep well?" Hermione asked as I put my glasses on and sat, yawning. I nodded, my eyes still drooping. I felt like a sleepy cat. Hermione then peered more closely at me, then her eyes widened. "Your scar...it's gone!"
        "Whaaa..." others peered over and I jolted awake some. My scar...? I felt my forehead and sure enough, I didn't feel the familiar pitted lightening-shaped scar. I jumped up and ran over to the mirror in the hall. Lifting my bangs, I looked and the mirror confirmed that my scar was indeed...gone. I came back to the table, dazed again and smiling faintly.
        "Way to go, Harry!" Ron and Cheria whooped.
        "Voldemort...Tom Riddle really is gone!" Ginny chimed in. McGonagall and Hooch saw it too and smiled over at me. Others gushed over my scar's disappearance and I blushed several times as we ate. I think by the end of the meal, my face resembled an apple. And it was still red in the early afternoon when we began packing to head back to Hogwarts.
        "Ohhh, dear..." I muttered.
        "What is it?" Ron asked, tossing several of his pants into his overnight bag. "Your face is still red."
        "If I'm this red now, I bet I'll be fuschia tonight when everyone sees that my scar's healed," I smiled ruefully and finished packing and zipped up my overnight bag.
        "You'll probably look like last night's sunset," Ron joked. "Then we can use your face to demonstrate how the sun set here." We both laughed and headed out to get ready for tonight.
 
 
 
 

Sooo, what do you all think of this victory? This story's winding down; I think it'll be one more chapter, then this story'll be done! And I'll be adding more Harry Potter stories as well, so stay tuned!

4. 4: Victorious Gryffindor Champions

        At laaast! The final installation of Voldemort's Demise! I hope you've enjoyed this story! There will be more stories coming soon, so stay tuned and thanks for the reviews, esp. JP Vulcan, Aftertaste of a Razorblade, and Esperanza! I'll keep checking out your stories as well! The usual disclaimers and also in case anyone wonders where Cornelius Fudge went in my stories, he's left the Ministry in Harry's sixth year; I think it'll be in relation to the floo-jacking incident. I'll explain it more as I add more stories. Meanwhile, enjoy!
 
 

        What a weekend we had! Actually, what a week the wizard/witch community of London had! The Gryffindors came back to Hogwarts late Saturday afternoon to an overwhelming hero's welcome. The dinner that night was a spectacular feast and several members of the ministry were there to congratulate us and McGonagall and Dumbledore formally awarded the Gryffindors ten thousand points. McGonagall and Hooch also were formally awarded by the Ministry for their courage. The Great Hall fairly shook with whoops and mirth.
        "...and for each of the Gryffindors..." the Minister of Magic, Merle Branswith announced. "A medal of honor." With that, a medal appeared around each Gryffindor's neck.
        "Wow..." several of us gasped. The medals were beautiful! I gasped as I looked at mine and the others examined theirs.
        "Wicked..." Ron grinned.
        "And with that joyous note..." Dumbledore added with a huge smile. "Let the feast begin!" The food was more fantastic than usual and we dug in. Word about my scar being gone spread through Hogwarts like a spilled potion and I lifted my bangs an awful lot that night to show them my now-scarless forehead. My bangs are sort of parted on the left side since I was sixteen, so finally I ended up borrowing Neville's comb and combing my bangs so they parted on the right side where my scar had been, so the others could peer over. Of course, I blushed all over again and had another ton of food with a red face.
        "Wow, I'm finally stuffed," Hermione leaned back and stroked her stomach with a grin.
        "Me too," Ginny added. "I hardly had room for dessert." I was full too and the fullness made me pleasantly sleepy. The Daily Prophet had appeared in the middle of the table with the food and of course the headline read Voldemort Finally Permanently Defeated!!! It went on to read about us Gryffindors gathering around to squash the evil out of him and had brief interviews with McGonagall, Hooch, and Dumbledore. And it also added that at this moment wizard/witch towns and cities all over were celebrating, including Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow, and Lyric's Lot. Hogwarts has proved itself one of the finest schools in the world to turn out fine young women and men of courage and love, the article finished. There were magical photos of the celebrations and of a groups of aurors examining what had been Voldemort's robe and footage of Quarry Grounds where we'd defeated Voldemort. The issue was extra-thick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        The next week passed in a haze of triumph. Classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday, so we had a bit of a holiday. Owls poured in all week congratulating us and Aunt Miranda sent me one as well as Sirius. My friends also got letters congratulating them.  If only your mum and dad were here to see what a fine young man you've developed into, Aunt Miranda had written. They would be speechless with pride and joy. Thinking of my dear, dear parents brought tears to my eyes and I had to wipe them away as I re-read the letter on Tuesday evening and owled her back. Once classes were back on Wednesday, it was still a bit of a circus, especially since reporters from various newspapers, mostly from the Daily Prophet came and interviewed various students and took several group shots of the Gryffindors. And naturally, they had plenty to say on my scar's disappearance. Rita Skeeter caught up to me in the hall and took a photo while using her wand to blow my bangs upward some. I grinned sheepishly and obliged her. Friday's Prophet had the picture and there was a short article that announced,  The scar that had so long marked the forehead of the young wizard Harry Potter, who is now a seventh-year student at Hogwarts, is gone. Supernatural analysts believe it is the vanishing of the evil spirit of Voldemort that finally dissolved the scar tissue, which allowed the skin to heal and the scar to vanish. Harry says he still is just beginning to believe that he is finally free of the scar and it'll take some getting used to. I smiled ruefully as I read the article at breakfast that morning. Me, the fodder for supernatural analysts, I thought. Yes, it would take a bit of time to touch my forehead and not feel the pitted lightening-shaped scar there that had so long dominated my forehead.
        "I say you still look the same," Cheria grinned at me.
        "Kind of like a haircut or something," Ron added. "A little different, but still basically the same. I noticed your part is on the right side now." It was true. Up until I was sixteen, I'd just had my hair straight down and no part really, but once I started my sixth year, I'd layered my thick black hair and sort of parted it down the left. I still had the bangs, but they were parted too and had covered the scar. Now I didn't have the scar to worry about any more.
        "More flexibility without the scar," I quipped. We all laughed some, then finished our food and got ready to head to class. We took the outdoors way and headed across the courtyard to get to the classrooms.
        "Hey, it's snowing!" Hermione called. Sure enough, in the early December wintry light, small flakes were meandering down from the sky.
        "I hope we have snow for Christmas," Ginny added.
        "Me too," I added. It wasn't a heavy snow and it didn't appear to be sticking, but it gave enough of a holiday feel to remind us that Christmas was less than a month away. In addition, with Voldemort gone for good, we all knew this holiday season would really be a reason to celebrate.