Harry's mouth hung open in the greatest disbelief, he didn't care about the hundreds of dementors, he had long since been able to fight them off and even reset their horrible dark powers. The death eaters were nothing more than a minor irritation to Harry, he could take care of them all by himself with his now extremely advanced dueling skills. But though is powers and knowledge of magic were growing, he knew he was still no match for voldemort, by any standard. He looks to his side at Hermione who had fallen to the floor, a look on her face as though she had just been slapped senseless. She turned her gaze up at Harry, her cinnamon brown eyes widened in terror.
"Come on" he nearly shouted as he reached down and snatched Hermione by the hand, yanking her to her feet and they raced from the room. The raced down into the common room which was in utter chaos, students running in every direction screaming crying. Harry looked around the common room, order needed to be restored fast so they students would stand a chance, but he just didn't have time. Still grasping Hermione's hand he dragged her through the mass of students and stopped at the portrait hole where Ron was shouting something to Fleur.
"Ron!" Harry yelled, barely heard as the castle gave another unnerving shake. Ron turned to face Harry, his expression torn between fear and anger. "Ron you've got to do something about these fools" he yelled as he motioned toward the entire Gryffindor common room. Ron nodded and pulled his wand, letting out a blast like a cannon that silenced the common room. "join us as soon as you can ok?" Harry didn't wait for an answer as he pulled Hermione with him through the portrait hole. Out in the corridor things were almost as bad as the common room. Students were running in every direction, wondering where the teachers were and why they weren't with the students. Harry knew perfectly well that all the teachers and probably a good deal of the seventh years were already out on the grounds battling, indeed he could hear the distant blasts of magical spells.
He glanced quickly over his shoulder at Hermione to make sure she was still with him, she already had her wand out, a nervous but determined look on her face. "I…. I'm ready Harry" she said with a tone of pure terror. Harry knew that she wasn't really ready for this, to partake in an all out war against the mass of the dark side. Harry nodded though, his hand slipping into the front of his own robes and drawing his own wand. He stared down at it and thought back to that moment in fourth year when he had battled voldemort and the wands had connected. "time for the brothers to battle once more, hopefully….for the last time" he said with a look of disgust on his face at the thought of sharing a wand core with his parents murderer. He turned and raced as fast as his legs could carry him, down into the entrance hall and stared out onto the grounds as the horrid scene. Already dozens of wizards lay on the ground, pools of blood around them, some with missing limbs, some still struggling to rise to their feet. Hermione made as noise as if about to be sick, but Harry let out a sigh of relief after scanning the grounds. As far as he could tell all the casualties seemed to be on voldemort's side.
He drew a breath and raised his wand, preparing to rush out onto the battle field when he stopped, feeling a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Hermione, he saw such fear in those beautiful eyes, but it certainly want fear of the battle, it was something else, something deeper.
"H-h-harry" she chocked out "I cant lose you now Harry, please, don't go. You know you cant win, im sure Dumbledore can handle it Harry, please". There was such desperation in her voice that Harry stopped and thought for a second about simply running from the battle. But he could not bring himself to do it, no matter how much he wanted to simply grab Hermione and disappear from the horrible death scene's all around them, he just couldn't do it.
"I'm sorry Hermione" his own eyes stung with tears now, for it was not just possible, but probable that Harry wouldn't survive this encounter. It tore at his heart to think that just moments before he had been confessing his love to Hermione, and what might have happened. Hermione sniffed and tried to hold back her tears, accepting that she couldn't stop him, she grasped the front of his robes and pulled him to her, crushing her lips against his in a fierce kiss.
Harry slowly pulled back from the kiss as a curse knocked off a chunk of the wall next to them. He simply nodded to Hermione and turned, letting out a powerful yell as he charged down the steps, his wand raised overhead, and Hermione right on his heels. Harry immediately saw Dumbledore and rushed to his side, firing curses all along the way, blasting death eaters from his path, in the haze of it all Hermione became separated, but he didn't worry, he was sure he had seen her headed toward Professor Snape.
Harry didn't make it to Dumbledore however, he was cut off by five death eaters, their masked raised so he could clearly see their faces. Of the five death eaters before him he recognized four as Lucius Malfoy, Mcnair, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Peter Petigrew. Harry's eyes narrowed as anger flooded his senses, all his fear forgotten now as he starred into the beady eyes of that bastard Peter who had dared to call himself a friend to James Potter. He shifted his gaze upon Lucius Malfoy, noticing that he was speaking.
"Well well well, young Harry Potter. Charging into battle, so brave" he gave a sickening grin, "so foolish". Malfoy slowly drew his wand, pointing it at Harry and paused as if considering what spell he should use. "You know Potter, my master always gets to have the fun with you, I think I'd like to be the one to make you scream for a change" he grinned once more and trained his wand directly at Harry's heart before speaking, barely over a whisper, "Crucio".
Harry, however, had expected this and kicked hard on the ground, hurling himself to the side as the ground he had been standing on exploded. Harry didn't miss his chance, his wand now aimed at Malfoy's face, he took his chance and yelled the first spell that came to mind. "Obliviate" his spell was barely heard over the sounds of the battle, but it was none the less effective. Malfoy was sent flying off his feet, landing a good ten feet away, surprising knocked out from the power of the spell, Harry hoped for a moment that Malfoy had forgotten how to breath. Harry hit the ground and rolled, springing immediately back to his feet, his wand aimed in the direction of the unknown death eater who was now charging at him.
Harry had to think quickly now as Mcnair raised his wand, Harry vaguely heard him yelling some sort of incantation. Harry leaped into the air, forgetting about magic for a moment, and swung his leg in a karate like fashion, nailing the unknown death eater hard across the face, knocking him in the path of Mcnair spell. Harry landed and looked at the death eater on the ground now and almost lost his lunch, whatever spell Mcnair had fired it was causing the death eater to lay on the ground screaming in pain as it appeared that his skin was boiling and melting right off of him. 'two down' Harry thought savagely as he rose to his feet once more facing the three remaining death eaters. Wormtail looked as though he was considering the option of turning and running to find someone else to fight, Mcnair looked mildly surprised at Harry tactics, and Bellatrix simply had an amused look on her face as though she were having the time of her life.
Harry suddenly felt a wave of cold sweep over him and realized that someone he had managed to forget about the hundreds of dementors all around them. He turned and thought quickly of the moment not to long ago when he was in Hermione room, sharing their first kiss and yelled "EXPECTO PATRONUM". As usual the silvery stag erupted from his wand, but rather than chasing the three advancing dementors away, it entangled the cloaked creatures in his massive antlers, allowing Harry to hear what must have been a cry of pain from the dementors.
Harry turned as he heard Bellatrix cry out, but too late. The spell hit him full force and knocked him back several feet, driving him down into the ground. He quickly rose to his feet feeling quite dizzy, he tried to think for a moment but it simply hurt his head, he'd been hit by stupefy curse, somehow he'd managed to remain concious. He ground his teeth together, his lip curling in anger like a wolf baring its fangs just before the strike. He waved his wand inbetween Bellatrix and Mcnair and roared at the top of his lungs. "MAXIMUS REDUCTO" the force of the spell knocked Harry off his feet, he'd never used any maximus charm, which was used to nearly triple the power and range of the spell. And he'd had good reason not to try it before, use of the spell could drain the spell caster of almost all their power if they didn't have complete control of the spell.
He looked up from where he was laying on his back and gasped at what he'd done. The spell had gone off like a wide spread blast and caught the upper halves of their bodies, Mcnair's entire upper body had been blown way, his body, from the stomache down was still standing there like some hideous, bloody statue. Bellatrix had apparantly managed a shielding spell before the blast hit her, but it was obvious by her burning flesh and dieing cries that the power of the spell and broken through the shield. Now the only one left was Peter, Harry grinned wickedly as he rose to his feet, all the rage and anger he had long felt for the traitor of his parents suddenly came flooding back into his heart. He slowly advanced on Peter, who had fallen to the ground, his legs refusing to work out from fear.
Harry, completely out of his mind with anger, raised his wand on Peter, "Malfoy's right" he said venomously "why should voldemort have all the fun". Peter's eyes widened in fear a deafening roar erupted from Harry, "CRUCIO". Harry poured all his grief, his anger, his rage, everything he had ever felt into this curse, all he cared about now was making sure Wormtail suffered for what he had done. Peter's screams were heard abouv the rest of the battle, Harry's cruciatus curse even more terrible than voldemorts, which he had grown used to.
Harry blinked and shook his head coming to his senses and raised his wand, breaking the curse and stumbling back, looking around as if not sure where he was. Wormtail still lay on the ground, twitching, even though the spell had been lifted. He rose to his feet and turned, dropping his wand and running as fast his he could, away from the battle and Harry simply watched him go. "Dumbledore" it seemed as though someone had whispered the name in his ear and he whirled around looking for the source of the voice, but no one was near him, he looked around trying to see where the headmaster was. He spotted him a good distance away, battling against nearly twenty death eaters, and doing pretty good against them.
"No, no not Dumbledore, he's fine. Who………HERMIONE" he tore off into the ground wildly, unsure of where she was, he simply decided to head in the direction he'd last seen her heading. He prayed she was still alright, he'd waisted more time on the five death eaters than he'd realized. Harry's voice was beginning to go hoarse from yelling out another curse every few seconds as he made his way through the death eaters and dementors trying to find Hermione.
His search wasn't going to well, the battle had now been raging for nearly an hour already, and still he hadn't found Hermione. Horrible thoughts now racing through his mind as he imagined Hermione being hurt, killed, or captured. "STUPEFY" he yelled for the thousandth time it seemed, the death eater before him flew off his feet and landed, unconcious a few feet away. Harry dropped to his knees as he coughed, blood flying from his mouth. The constant shouting and use of the powerful spells was putting a great stain on his still young body. He heard a cruel laugh on his left and turned, gazing up at the hooded form of a massive death eater, nearly has big as Hagrid. Harry gasped and feel back, in shock as the death eater raised his wand and aimed it at Harry, but before he could fire his curse a voice erupted behind him, two blasts of magic nailing him in the back, causing him to fall next to harry, a line a blood coming from the corner of his mouth.
Harry looked up for his savior and grinned, jumping to his feet and engulfed his two friends in a hug. Hermione grinned and hugged back, as did Ron who had finally managed to get away from the castle and into the battle. They stepped back from one another and Harry looked around, the battle showed no signs of slowing down, indeed, if anything, the battle seemed to have intensefied. He could see that more forces had shown up for voldemorts side, but also he saw what must have been almost every seventh year student on the grounds as well.
Harry dropped his gaze to the ground and sighed, this had to end somehow now or the battle could go on forever, with neither side winning. And Harry knew there was no point in trying to avoid the inevitable, he knew he'd have to face voldemort soon enough, no matter how long the battle dragged on he knew it would come down to him and the dark lord. He turned back to his friends to tell them what he had to do but stopped, seeing a look of deepest saddness upon Rons face that he hadnt noticed before. "Ron……what happened?" as soon as he asked he regreted it, he knew immediately that he didn't want to know. Ron slowly brought his gaze to connect with Harry's and raised a closed fist, uncurling his finger Harry saw in Ron's hand the ring that Ron had given Fleur the previous christmas. Harry's mouth hung open in terror at the sight of the ring, tears of anger now forming in both Ron and Harry's eyes.
Ron turned his hand over and allowed the ring to fall to the ground as he raised his wand. "He dies today Harry" the tone of Rons voice made Hermione shudder next to them. Harry nodded and the three friends turned and raced off toward voldemort. It wasn't hard to find out where voldemort was, large explosions, followed by both death eaters, dementors, and hogwarts students and staff flying through the air, only voldemort would cast such destructive spells. The three stopped and stared, now in an open, circular area with voldemort on one side of the circle, Harry Ron and Hermione on the other.
Harry stepped forward and time seemed to slow down suddenly as voldemort grinned evily and took a few steps toward Harry, so that they now stood only a few feet apart. Voldemort grinned wider and began to laugh, Harry couldn't understand why, maybe he was just being cynical, though when he looked down at himself he realized that his whole body was shaking. He narrowed his eyes and glared back at voldemort, who's laughter ceased as he raised his wand.
"That's right Harry, stand and face death for the last time, after this it will all be over and you'll be with your, oh so brave father, and that disgusting mud-blood mother wench of yours" voldemorts taunting voice was nothing more than an accelerator for his anger. Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at Harry, pausing as if waiting for some sort of cue for them to begin what should be their final battle. Suddenly, on the right side of the circle, an explosion went off and Harry took this as his cue to attack.
"MAXIMUS REDUCTO" his voice roared mighty over the other sounds of the ongoing battle. Harry was pushed back a few feet by the force of the spell but managed to stay on his feet. He opened his eyes which he hadnt realized he'd closed and his mouth hung open at what he saw. Voldemort still stood where he was, a shielding spell infront of him, it looked as though a transparent piece of glass was hovering infront of him, badly cracked and on the verge of shattering. Voldemort grinned nastily and raised his wand causing the shield to disappear. He slowly raised his wand as Harry looked back over his shoulder at Ron and Hermione, "RUN" he shouted as loud as he could as he turned back to face voldemort. He didn't even hear the curse curse that he used, all he was aware of was the streak of blood red light headed toward him as time once more slowed down for Harry. He instinctively swung his arm, still grasping his wand tightly in his fist, his mind racing and finally settle on the shielding spell just as the streak of read light reached him his wand was infront of him and in the path of the curse voldemort had fired. Somehow, the wand seemed to act like a baseball bat and send the curse straight up into the air and way from Harry, somehow he had blocked whatever spell had been fired at him. Harry starred at his wand in disbelief, he had never learned how to block spells but somehow he had managed to do just that.
Voldemort too starred at Harry in a shocked manner, he hadnt expected the boy to be advanced enough to block spells at all, let alone his spells. He grinned though, he still knew, as did Harry, who would win this fight. They starred daggers at each other for a moment, seemingly unaware of the raging war around them and of the new arrival to watch the fight between Harry and Voldemort. Letting instinct take over, Harry raises his wand as if it were a sword and charged at voldemort, the dark lord did the same, the wands clashing against one another causing sparks to erupt from both wands. They remained standing there, leaning their body weight against the crossed wands, trying to overpower the other on physical strength.
Voldemort suddenly grinned and leaped to the side just as Harry heard Ron shout "Harry No!!". Harry turned in time to see the new arrival at his battle with voldemort, it was bellatrix, apparantly his reducto curse hadnt finished her off, not yet anyway. Harry turned in enough time to see the unmistakeable green sparks of the avada kedavra curse flying at him, and bellatrix lestrange fell dead before she could see if her final spell worked. He felt a massive force slam into him, sending him flying out of the way and another body taking his place in the path of the killing curse. Harry landed face down on the ground and heard, just as he had in fourth year, the horrible sound of something heavy landing on the ground next to him. Harry raised his head and looked to see who it was, he gasped at what he saw. There, on the ground next to him, still somehow gasping for air, was his long time, best friend, Ronald Weasley.
"no" Harry gasped as he realized what Ron had just done for him. "No" he said louder as he sat up and looked down upon Ron who was beginning to draw his last breathes. "God Damnit Ron, WHY?!" he cried out to his best friend as tears began to swell in his eyes.
Ron managed to grin as he starred up at Harry, "Sorry Harry, couldn't let you have all the glory, damn prat" Ron said with an almost serious tone. He drew another slow, rattling breath, "At least I'll be able to be with Fleur now, ay Harry?" his hand suddenly rose and grasped the front of Harry's robes, drawing him closer to him as his voice began to fade. "You have another destiny other than Voldemort Harry, it is the reason you must live beyond this battle" Ron paused to take another breath as blood began to stream from his nose and mouth, "Your next destiny, Harry, is……." Rons grasp on Harry's robes slacked and his hand fell to the thick grass as he let out his last breath, and within that last breath was the one word, telling Harry why he needed to live on, "Hermione". And with that final warning to his best friend, Ron Weasley closed his eyes and was no more.
Harry, however did not have the time to grieve, he looked up to see voldemort surveying the scene with a look of the utmost disgust on his face. "how very touching" he sneered as Harry rose once more to his feet, his wand hand shaking now with anger instead of fear. "Well I suppose if your little friend is right about another destiny than me, I'll just have to get rid of it, that way you can focus all your attention on me, your true destiny Potter" and with that he raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione, who had returned the scene, and was in tears at the sight of Ron's lifeless body.
But at that moment, something deep within Harry snapped. He didn't know what it was that he feeling, it was impossible to describe, not even the power of the emotions he'd released into the cruciatus curse on wormtail could compare to this new sensation. He glared at voldemort, his whole body trembling now as he raised his left hand, which did not hold his wand, and pointed his palm at the dark lord. "RIDDLE" he roared so loudly that even a dragon would coward.
Voldemort's widened slightly at the sound of the voice, it indeed did not sound like the young Harry he'd been fighting with seconds before, he slowly turned his gaze away from Hermione and starred unblinkingly at Harry, wondering what the gesture with his left hand was about. Harry had no idea what he was doing, he wasn't even making concious decisions anymore, a new force seemed to have taken over his body…..a dark force.
"Leave now Granger" he said speaking directly to Hermione though he kept his eyes locked in a death stare with voldemort. Hermione didn't dare argue with this new Harry that she didn't know, she turned and raced as fast as she could, not just running from the two of them, but from the whole battle, deciding to run back into the school where she would be relatively safe, depending on how things went outside.
Voldemort wasn't sure what to do next, Harry had suddenly changed in that instance he way his friend die, and though he still had his wand in hand he didn't seem to think it of any use, and voldemort still couldn't figure out what Harry meant with his left hand. "You've taken to much from me you son of a bitch, this ends now" Harry's voice shook with such rage that voldemort unwittingly took a half step back. He wouldn't allow this child to intimidate him though, indeed he was right, it would end right now, he, voldemort, would finish off the Potters.
They starred each other down for several minutes, unaware of the now slowing battle around them, Voldemorts forces beginning to gain the upper hand. Voldemort couldn't take it anymore, being under the stare of Harry was driving him mad. He snapped his wand at Harry and yelled at the top of his lungs "AVADA KEDAVRA" a literal cannon blast of green sparks shooting from his wand at Harry. To this Harry didn't seem to react at all, all he did was mutter a single word, almost like a command, "no"
As he said this the green blast collided with his outstretched hand……..and froze. The blast simply froze, as if Harry's hand was an unbreakable barrier. Harry gave a malicious grin at the fearful look on voldemorts face and pushed gently with his hand, the blast sliced in half. One hand flying harmlessly into the forest, the other flying back at voldemort and smashing square into his chest, sending him flying out of their little circle and knocking him almost fifty feet away. Harry shook his head again and looked around as if awaking from a dream, he remembered what he had just done, but he couldn't remember how. 'it couldn't be' he thought to himself 'I can use wandless magic'. Harry suddenly dropped to his knees, his legs giving out completely as if he had no strength left. He looked over at voldemort who had not risen yet, but was indeed stirring, as if trying to roll over.
He looked up toward the school and saw Hermione, he needed to get to her, she had never made it inside, she was battling with some death eater. He pushed himself off the ground but immediately fell once more, now gasping for breath as though he had just run a thousand miles. He became vaguely aware of somebody screaming his name, but he didn't care, he simply looked back to voldemort who was somehow on his feet again, even after getting hit by his own killing curse. "cant be" he gasped as he looked around, he saw Dumbledore racing toward him through the mass of death eaters. He somehow found the strength to rise one more time to his feet, and he took an extremely shaky step in the direction of the castle, where Hermione was still battling against a death eater.
His eyes suddenly widened in terror as what he saw next. Both the death eater and Hermione fired their curses at the same time, leaving no chance for the other to block, the deather eater flew back and off his feet, most certainly dead. But Hermione dropped to her kneeds, her hands clutched over her face, her screams filling his ears. "No" he chocked out as he fell to his hands and knees, unable to hold himself up any longer.
He raised his eyes and saw voldemort marching toward him, a look of utter fury upon his now bloody face. Though he suddenly felt a hand grasping his shoulder, and a cloak being thrown around him, he looked up into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore. The ancient headmaster starred down at Harry, a look of grief in his gaze, "We are leaving Harry, we cant win this battle im afraid".
"What" Harry gasped, "No, professor, I've got to get to Hermione, she needs me to……" but Dumbledore cut him off.
"I'm sorry Harry, we must leave now, while I still have the power to get of out of here" his tone was now very urgent, and Harry could see why as he looked at the chest area of Dumbledores robes, they were stained in blood.
"NO" Harry shouted with the last of his energy as he raised and hand out toward Hermione who didn't even see him, but it was to late. With a last look around and quick spell under his breath Dumbledore released the anti apparation wards, and took Harry away from the battle, away from lord voldemort, and away from Hermione. And all Harry could do, was cry out to the nothingness that surrounded his mind, as he finally allowed his tears to flow freely down his face…….he had lost more than just a battle with voldemort this time, so much more.