I really own only the plot...okay I own a couple of things, but nothing really important.
A/N: Ok here we go.
Chapter 43: ENDGAME
*******************Hallway outside Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom**************
"ALBUS" Minerva McGonagall snapped as she came running down the corridor as fast as her legs would carry her. "Is it true?"
Dumbledore waved a wand and sat down, tiredly, on the chair that appeared. The students, both dead and wounded had been carried, carefully, respectfully, to the infirmary, or to the Slytherin or Hufflepuff common rooms depending on their conditions, as Ravenclaw tower was on the ground and Gryffindor tower still wasn't secure at last report. He glanced around at the house elves, already working hard at removing the various reddish stains that coated part of the floor and walls. The bodies of the dead Death Eaters were lying out by the shattered remains of Hagrid's pumpkin patch, covered with a tarp someone had conjured over the bodies. Not because anyone cared about them, but to keep the birds off, no one wanted to poison the birds after all. "I don't know Minerva, is what true?" Dumbledore replied as he sat with his eyes closed, he pulled off his glasses and polished them with a bit of his robe, still not looking up.
"That they have gone into the Chamber after him." An expression mixing amazement and horror flitted across her normally stern visage.
"Yes, Minerva, that is true." Dumbledore said with a nod.
"And Sirius is back" She said with an odd combination of a frown and a smile.
"True"
"And that you gave, Lupin and him a hunting license to hunt down any remaining Death Eaters, and you let them take my Gryffindors with them." She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him, a look that would have killed a lesser man.
Dumbledore merely held up his right hand and waggled it back and forth, "In a manner of speaking, yes. I am afraid that I might not have been specific on the means of, ahem, capturing any remaining adversaries, however."
"Albus there are, or rather were five dead Death Eaters in our entryway before I banished them to the pile outside Hagrid's hut." She almost snarled the response and she sat down heavily in the chair that Dumbledore had summoned for her. Down the corridor a bit, the three fifth year DA members that were acting as her bodyguards, paced a bit, looking up and down the corridor nervously.
"Marcus, Samantha, Steve" Dumbledore said down the corridors to her escorts, "please leave us for a bit." The two Ravenclaws and solitary Hufflepuff wandered off around the corner though Dumbledore knew quite well they didn't go far. "Minerva, do you notice those stains on the wall? "
"Yes," she snapped heatedly.
"I didn't put them there, nor did Remus, nor for the most part did Sirius. Minerva it may be my greatest failing since I became Headmaster, but the vast majority of our students lost a great deal of their innocence this night. Now that we have that out of the way, how is the rest of the school?" Dumbledore opened his eyes and looked at her finally, and she could see the pain there, soul-rending deep.
"As well as can be expected, we were really lucky, even though it pains me to use that term, we only lost four students when Lucius' fiends blew the ceiling on the Great Hall..." Her reserve crumbled and McGonagall suddenly broke into quiet sobs, "damn it Albus, they were mine, I lost Sara, and Steve and Horahse and Griffin, they were just second years, and they had survived the battle at Hogsmeade last year by the..." She broke off finally, not able to complete the sentence, she started crying openly, and Dumbledore reached over and pulled her into his shoulder.
"Now, now, Minerva"
********************Secret passage, seventh floor**************************
Lupin held his wand up, the tip alight as the rest of his group crowded around the Marauder's map, which at the moment was zoomed in on Gryffindor tower. "Sirius, I don't like this at all, this is the last group on the map, and we've stopped the rest." Soon after leaving Dumbledore, and consulting the map, they had discovered that for some inane reason the surviving Death Eaters had broken up into small groups and had either ran for the door and temporary freedom which made sense, or had spread out throughout the castle, which only led to their defeat in detail. They had ambushed several of the groups escaping, witness the bodies that McGonagall had complained about, but most of those taking that route had already fled before they got there. Between them and the various other Order-led groups the castle had been pretty well cleaned up by now. The last remaining Death Eaters were up in Gryffindor tower, the only problem was there seemed to be several students in with them, and considering the gender of those students, Lupin had a sick idea of just what the Death Eaters plans had been.
"I know," Sirius growled, almost as if he were in dog form, "There's just no way in there except through the portrait hole." They had already looked out the peephole and saw that the portrait of the fat lady was in ruins; someone had indisputably used a reductor curse on her. "If there is we never found it, or it'd be on the damn map, FUCK!"
"Ginny," Lupin said softly, over to where she was standing by Draco and Neville, "Did Fred or George or Ron, ever say anything about a secret way into Gryffindor, we found the ones into the other dorms, though that was after Filch took the map from us, but we never found Gryffindor."
"Why don't you ask us yourself?" A familiar voice said, coming up the passage.
"Yes, honestly, and you call yourself Marauders" Fred finished.
"George, Fred" Ginny squealed quietly and hugged her two much bigger brothers.
George held her at arms length for a moment, "We just got here, we had to fight our way out of Diagon Alley then apparate to the edge of the grounds and run up here. You ok there Gin?" He looked around, his question obvious, "And Ron? Harry? Hermione?"
"I will be. Ron was hurt pretty bad, he lost a lot of blood, but I think he'll be ok." Ginny nodded at them, as she replied hesitantly, more out of hope than belief. She looked down a moment, "Harry and Hermione went after Voldemort." The twins just nodded, grimly.
George and Fred turned to look at the group, which now numbered eleven: Tonks, Sirius, Lupin, the Patils, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Seamus and Dean, had already survived the battles in the corridor, while Draco had lead his group of students in hunt of Death Eaters, but after finding them ambushing Death Eaters he had sent the rest back to help where they could in the Great Hall or the infirmary, Moody had gone with them, as he was having problems getting around in the sometimes narrow passages with his wooden leg. "We actually do know a way." Fred said leaning in.
"We found it out of desperation actually.' George muttered, a little embarrassed.
Fred shrugged his shoulders, "You see after Harry started siding openly with Hermione in her Prefect duties last year."
"And their becoming Heads this year" George said rolling his eyes.
"Business was suffering." They both said at once.
Sirius and Lupin glanced at each other and rolled their eyes in unison, in a harried tone Lupin asked pointedly, "Skip the smuggling woes boys, where?"
"You see that's the rub" Fred said, "we can't actually open it, it comes out here." His finger pointed at the Heads' common room. "We only tried to use it once but the door wouldn't open, I guess you need the password the same as for their normal door."
"Doesn't matter," Lupin said with a cold smirk, "Harry can repair his wall later; we blow it. Nymph, take Draco, Ginny, Fred, Luna, Padma and Pavarti, I'll take everyone else; you'll hear me blow the wall, give us a minute and come charging in the front. Tonks nodded. She gave his hand a quick squeeze and pulling on a unlit wall sconce, she led her group out a newly revealed door to the corridor. They surrounded the destroyed Gryffindor entry portal, waiting for the signal, wands pointing into the dark entry hole.
George waved and said, "Follow me," he pushed another stone in the wall, and a staircase was revealed.
****Five Minutes Later******
"As soon as we get done changing, blow the wall George." Lupin said and turned to Sirius, "ready old friend?"
"I just come back from the dead, and here you are making me change back and forth, I'm getting a headache Moony," Sirius grumped and changed in an instant to his animal form.
"Just be glad that Hermione was able to make that potion to let me transform at will and keep my mind when I do Padfoot" Lupin changed too, but before he did, even in dog form he could see the pain that that careless remark had caused Sirius. He knew it, because he shared it too, as did probably everyone here, except maybe Draco and possibly even him. For after all in the end this was just a sideshow, no matter how dangerous this little excursion was. The pair that the two of them both had taken into their hearts, even if they wouldn't admit it out loud, as replacements for James and Lily, were fighting the real show almost a mile below their feet.
"REDUCTO" The wall exploded inward and the grim and the werewolf sprung foreword, jumped over Harry and Hermione's couch and down the stairs. A pair of screams could be heard, as the rest of the team members followed as fast as they could, but they were no match for the speed of those two.
Draco led the group in the front door and saw George coming down from the heads stairs. George immediately turned and ran up the stairs to the boy's dorms, closely followed by Seamus and Dean. They all spun as they heard spell fire erupt from within the girls rooms, then after a second, Lupin came out, a sick look in his eyes. Almost at the same moment Seamus, Dean and George came down the boy's stairs having found no one, unfortunately that was not the case for Lupin or Sirius. He walked over to Tonks and said quietly, "Tonks take the girls and go up there; Sirius is still up there in dog form."
"Why Remus?" Tonks asked then with a sudden realization of horror," Luna, Ginny, Padma, Pavarti come with me please," she ordered in a slightly shaky voice. Tonks leaned close to them and said a few hushed words that made the Patil twins gasp, and they hurried up the girls' stairs together.
Lupin turned and punched the wall, the werewolf hormones still coursing though his veins allowing him to shatter through the wood paneling. "Draco, you, Fred and George go find McGonagall, and if she is available Madame Pomfrey too."
*******************The Chamber Of Secrets***************************
The death curses Hermione and Harry had fired as they dove in; hadn't actually been expected to kill Voldemort, but hey they could have gotten lucky, and they did mean them. The four shot the length of the gloomy chamber and exploded as they hit the back wall, right next to the legs of the giant stature of Salazar Slytherin. Huge divots were blown out of the walls, but unfortunately Voldemort had taken cover as he heard the door opening.
Harry and Hermione advanced slowly, their wands outstretched, ears straining for any hint of an unforgivable headed their way. They heard no such thing, but did hear Voldemort's high, hissing voice, "So you finally hate me enough to kill me huh? Potter? Your old fool of a mentor would never stoop that low. And I see that you brought your pet, tell me Potter, would you rather have her die now, or shall I hold her for the enjoyment of my followers, I'm sure Bellatrix in particular would love to entertain her for a while." Voldemort broke off laughing.
He's trying to goad you, Harry. Hermione thought desperately at him.
I know, watch out, he's somewhere ahead; this close he can't hide his presence from me. Harry replied in his thoughts. Then with a grimace, "Tom, Tom, how many times do I have to destroy you in this chamber?" Harry shouted into the gloom, his eyes constantly scanning for any hint of his nemesis.
***********************Gryffindor Tower*************************
Draco, along with Dumbledore, Pomfrey, and McGonagall appeared suddenly in the Gryffindor common room. With a tired, old look, Lupin summoned the newcomers over to a quiet corner by the fire. With a look that told the male students still standing watch to stay back, he didn't quite meet Dumbledore's and McGonagall's eyes, "Minerva, Albus...we were too late, we should have come here first."
"Explain, Remus" McGonagall murmured, though Dumbledore's face had already fallen, he knew, and somewhere inside she did too.
"We ambushed the rest of the groups as we found them, we wanted to go from top to bottom so they wouldn't escape...we should have done it in reverse. We gave those bastards too much time. I guess they thought they had already won, as they umm, had their fun." Lupin's gaze fell to the floor, as the exact terms that he couldn't bring himself to use, were heard anyway, in their own imaginations at least.
"MY GOD" Pomfrey gasped, "Are they?" Her face, already pale, was suddenly the color of her hospital bedsheets.
"Yes, Poppy," Lupin managed, "Ginny and Sirius are up there in animal form, along with the rest of the girls..." Pomfrey gave him another quick glance and sprinted up the stairs, taking a deep shuddering breath as she went.
McGonagall looked at Dumbledore, tears staining her robes, but she was a Gryffindor too, their head in fact, "Albus, I should..."
"Yes go, Minerva, go" McGonagall ran up the girls' stairs as well, as Dumbledore turned to Lupin, "What else Remus?" The weight of ages in his voice, behind him Sirius came down the stairs in dog form, and as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he became human again, though rather green. Sirius darted quickly into the bathroom on that level, and soft retching sounds could be heard.
"They didn't kill any of them Albus, but..." Lupin broke off that thought quickly, and shifted to another painful topic, "We uhh, found Severus, out in the hall. It looks like he tried to protect the kids...but he failed in the end, we found like eight or ten of them dead...I guess he did deserve that DADA job."
Dumbledore shook his head, mournfully, "In the end, redemption was his, Harry was right you know" Dumbledore put in thoughtfully, "that mark was only a mark, not a branding of the soul." As he finished, Sirius came out of the bathroom, pale, but steady.
"Any word, Albus?" Sirius asked, without preamble. He fidgeted a bit as if he wanted to run out instantly, but he held his ground, for now.
"No, I am afraid not, everything depends on them, now."
***********************Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts************************
Harry and Hermione, had separated, and were dodging from serpent carved pillar to pillar on either side of the hall, quickly moving from cover to cover, wands questing like bloodhounds for targets. The dim red glow of the chamber lit one end of the room, but there were no torches lit, and the shadows were deep. Harry dove behind the pillar second from the one nearest to the end, and the opening containing Salazar's statue, he looked pointedly at the shadows across from him, do you see anything?
No, you?
No I can hear him, breathing, but I can't tell where in this dammed chamber. Harry replied, his thoughts, more than a little annoyed.
"Potter...I thought you came to die, why aren't you coming out." Voldemort's laughing hiss echoed from the walls, seemingly moving from place to place around them.
Shit...he's in the pipes, Harry gritted his teeth, and with a deep breath dove out into the middle of the room, out in the open, stay hidden Hermione. Harry muttered in his mind, overriding her sudden complaint. "Tom...I am getting bored, I really have better things to do tonight, so if you would come out. I can kill you and go to bed, or something...maybe a butterbeer, I'd like a butterbeer about now." Harry finished in a conversational tone. He "heard" Hermione laughing, just a bit in his head. Harry closed his eyes, and then reopened them slowly. "Thomas Riddle, I challenge you to a duel, come out, and fight me, you worthless piece of dragon dung."
Over near a leg of the statue, a dark presence detached itself from the shadows and stepped into the open. "Potter..." Voldemort hissed, "You dare to challenge me?"
"No Tom..." Harry replied slowly, glaring into his burning red eyes, "I dare to destroy you."
"Do you now, boy?" Voldemort hissed in response. He walked out, his wand pointed at Harry, whom in turn had his pointed at Riddle. Voldemort and Harry started circling slowly, stepping carefully over the detritus strewn over the floor. "You do realize the protocol for a duel, don't you boy? Your pretty little mudblood can't help you. You are all alone against me."
Like, he's going to fight fair...Why the FUCK are you doing this Harry? Hermione snapped in her thoughts to Harry, even though the duel was accepted, she kept her wand pointed at Voldemort's head. She kept mostly behind a pillar, so as to keep cover as best as possible.
Time love, Harry whispered back in her mind, we aren't playing fair either, if you get a shot take it. And, Mione...be careful. "Yes, I know Tom, I know my, what did you call her, oh...yes. I think as I reminded you last time we met, that the last one of your Death Eaters to call her that was delivered in a box...I am puzzled though, if you are dead, whom do we send your head to?"
"The prattle of the young, so refreshing..." Voldemort responded with a dark, heinous smile. "You could join me of course Potter, Lucius has been such a disappointment in the end, after all...and you have so much potential...I might even let the mudblood survive to be your pet."
Harry could feel the anger filling the ether to his right, and he knew the time for words was gone. "Wands or steel? Tom" Without taking his eyes off his nemesis, he gave a precise military bow in lieu of a more formal one.
"Why dear boy...both" With a look of fury Voldemort snapped his wand towards Hermione and shot a death curse as he charged towards Harry. CLANG, the Slytherin sword struck the ancient steel of the Gryffindor one, and Harry flipped away, using the momentum of the strike as an impetus. Hermione ducked behind the pillar, which was almost shattered with the force of the spell, but she was unharmed, more or less. She wiped blood from her eyes as she slipped to the next bit of cover, the Kedavra had missed, but the explosion of stone had bounced a marble sized chunk off her forehead.
Voldemort summoned a silver shield just in time to block a pair of spells from Harry, but the shield shook violently and rang like a church bell as he did so. "AVADA KEDAVRA" he shot back, uselessly as Harry dove behind another pillar. "Potter I thought you were going to destroy me? Hiding won't do that. Especially behind those pillars, SILICIS VIVO" Voldemort screamed and waved his wand at the pillars lining the walls, each carved in the image of a serpent. The same pillars that both Harry and Hermione were taking cover behind.
With a grinding of stone on stone, the pillars came to life, the carved serpents slithering down the pillars and rearing up like an army of giant stone vipers. As one the Gryffindors dove into the center of the room, with a manic glint in his eye Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry's heart, "AVEDA KEDAVRA"
"EXPELLIARMUS" Harry snapped at the same instant, and as had happened three years ago, the spells met in a blaze of golden light. But this time, one of combatants was far more powerful than before, and he wasn't alone.
Voldemort watched in a touch of shocked deja vu as the spell slowly and inexorably crept back towards his wand, "EXPELLIARMUS" Hermione snapped the spell at him. The spell nailed Voldemort in the chest. It didn't cause him to drop his wand, but it did break the spell lock, and it did one other thing, it just for a second released his hold on the stone serpents, and that was all the time Hermione needed, HARRY. His gaze flew to hers, and a microsecond later he followed. The castle might prevent most people from apparating with magic even Voldemort or Dumbledore couldn't challenge directly, but she still obeyed her Headmaster and founders or in this case their Heirs. And while Riddle might in fact be one, technically, his line had severed its ties to the castle a thousand years ago, in a battle much like this one, only in the Great Hall.
Rowena and Godric had walked away from that day, and the castle would help if it could today, though here in the chamber the powers of the grand old lady were limited. Without a word, Harry stood back to back with Hermione, she pointed her wand at the ground at their feet, "REDUCTUS ARERUM EXTRAIUS" A circuitous turquoise wave of light snapped outward from the point of aim of her wand, shattering the thirty or so stone serpents into gravel, and ending at the walls of the chamber, which groaned mightily but held. Voldemort fell to his knees as the wave passed, and with a slight groan he resumed his feet.
Hermione quickly flicked her wand at the sides of the chamber, right then left. The shattered remnants of the stone snakes stacked themselves into a large mound of crushed stone, encapsulating Voldemort in the blink of an eye. Eyes flicking to her, Harry waved his wand in a giant circle, the tip trailing fire and with a final jab of the wand into the center of the flaming ring, "MUTATIO SILICIS VALLUM" The hemisphere of shattered rock glowed bright white for an instant, then faded to reveal a black, featureless dome. Harry looked at Hermione, who bit her bottom lip nervously and stepped back a bit, her wands not dropping from their encased foe.
Hermione whispered urgently, "Do you think we..."
But her question was answered for them, as the dome shook, then as Harry dove to the ground, taking Hermione with him, the dome exploded, razor sharp fragments of stone whining off the walls, tunnels and Harry's back, "SHIT" Harry snarled and kept rolling until they both were behind a large chunk of fallen stone. Voldemort laughed loudly and started towards them, chuckling darkly. Harry rolled off Hermione and glanced around the room, "ENFLAMARE" Harry growled, swishing his wand at the torches lining the walls. Streamers of fire shot from the lit torches, igniting Voldemort's robes in a plume of fire.
"AVADA KEDAVRA" a green bolt hissed from the center of the flames, crumbling the stone that Harry and Hermione hid behind, the explosion picking them both up and tossing them against the wall of the chamber ten feet away. "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE POTTER?" Voldemort screamed as he walked from the flames looking uttering unharmed.
"Actually I was just getting warmed up, Tom" Harry replied as stood and MOVED, Voldemort tracked him, and shot three spells after his blurred image, each shot missing by bare centimeters and cratering the walls in his wake. Not slowing down, Harry ran at the wall next to Voldemort, then up and over, letting his momentum send him in a lazy flip over his head, "EXPELLIO" a wave of force shot outward from Harry's wand, and Voldemort flew backwards, Hermione stood, "REDUCTO"
"PROTEGO CONTEGO" a shining silver shield appeared in Voldemort's hand, and with a crash like thunder, Hermione's reductor reflected off into the far, dark end of the chamber, "DIFFINDO SPARSI" A hail of sliver bolts shot from Voldemort's wand, Hermione dove out of the way, but not quickly enough to totally escape the magical shotgun blast. Blood stained the stones behind which she covered now, Voldemort's curse having sliced her leg and laid her back open, though neither mortally.
HERMIONE, Harry cried in his mind as he spun back to the dark one, "CONDUCTUS TERRATUS." An electric blue snake of lighting wound its way along cracks in the ground, towards the Voldemort. An explosion echoed off the walls, and Voldemort went spinning through the air to land in a heap in the middle of the room, next to the huge remains of the basilisk. He rolled to his feet, and pointed his wand at where Harry had gone to Hermione's side.
He snapped another Kedavra at the pair but they were long gone. Voldemort didn't bother looking for either one; he turned and sprinted in a blur of robes to the cover of the statue's giant feet. As he looked out on the chamber he saw Harry advancing from cover to cover, "CRUCIO!" He snapped, and hit Harry in the side, and then with stunned amazement he saw Harry writhe in pain for just a moment, then with a shake of his head like he was trying to dislodge snow from his hair, Harry stood upright, and dove behind the next bit of cover as if it had never happened.
Voldemort turned and dove once more into the pipes, Harry heard the echoing of his footsteps in the surrounding pipes, and stood, looking down at an entrance to the catacombs. I'm going after him, Mione.
I'm coming with...
No, Harry snapped back, but at the sudden snap of anger, he shook his head, she couldn't see the action, but she felt it just the same. You didn't let me finish, I'm going in here, you try to find another way in, He felt her sudden agreement and his stomach grew tight, Hermione, don't you dare die on me.
Of course not, you still bloody well owe me dinner, you prat.
Despite the desperate situation, Harry chuckled inside as he SHIFTED and leapt into the open entrance. His black form vanished in the darkness in the eight-foot tunnels; his steps were silent as he strained his senses for any sign of Voldemort. He turned left, and then right then left again. He stopped suddenly as he heard an echo of the death curse ring off the walls for an instant. His brief flash of panic was dampened as he received a silent reaffirmation. He sprinted towards the sound of the spells, only to stop suddenly as his enhanced ears heard a slight scraping from the left. Instinctively he sprung to the side, as a man-sized snake shot at where he had been, its fangs already extended. Harry's paws hit the side of the tunnel and instantly propelled him back at the spot where the snake had landed. Before it could move, the great Gryffindor lion grabbed the snake in its jaws, just like Crookshanks had done earlier with Nagini. But unlike Nagini, the snake suddenly started burning a sullen red. Stung, Harry flung the snake away from him watching as it SHIFTED in mid-air into his hated enemy.
Voldemort spun and fired a spell at Harry, which was deflected as Harry had already transformed back and raised a shield. Voldemort used the split second distraction and headed off towards the right. Instantly, Harry pursued only to pull up suddenly as he encountered Hermione in another tunnel. She turned to him, shrugging as she turned, "IMPERIO" the spell took her in the back and as if in a trance, she turned and raised her wand to Harry's throat.
A high-pitched voice rang off the tunnel walls, and behind Hermione, a malevolent presence emerged from a tunnel, its wand still pointed at her back. Voldemort positioned himself directly behind Hermione and laughed. "The end is at hand, Harry. Either your mudblood gives in and kills you or I do, either way, I win."
Hermione however had other ideas. Unseen to Voldemort, she gave Harry a slight wink and flicked her eyes to the right and down. Harry gave an invisible nod in return. Sorry Tom, I don't think so her thoughts snapped out, as he continued to try to make her cast the curse on Harry.
She dove down and to her right, twisting as she did so, "DIFFINDO" Harry snapped, and the curse shot through the space her head had previously occupied. Black blood sprayed outward, hissing as it hit the sides of the tubes. Voldemort jumped into a side tunnel and ran again, heading back towards the main chamber. Harry ran back the way he came, motioning to Hermione to repeat her earlier steps as well. Harry soon reached the place he had entered the tunnels and leapt out, back behind his previous cover.
"What's wrong Tom...Never seen an unforgivable thrown off?" Harry's voice echoed from the ancient walls. He dodged out to glance at Voldemort, but this time Voldemort was ready.
"REDUCTO" Voldemort snapped, the reductor hit Harry in the side of the chest, knocking him spinning, his wands flying from his hands, "EXPELLIARMUS, ACCIO" Voldemort snapped, and Harry's sword went flying from its sheath, and his wands flew to Voldemort's outstretched hand. The sword while strong enough to resist anyone but its rightful owner summoning it, was now lodged in the rubble somehow, feet away from Harry, and he was wandless.
"HARRY" Hermione screamed and dove out from the cover she had found to take a desperate shot at Voldemort, Lily's wand tracking ever so slowly in her left hand towards his head. Unfortunately that was what he had been waiting for. Without a pause Voldemort fired the Death Curse at her, away from any cover. Desperately, she swung the Ravenclaw sword in between them, just as the spell reached her. In a blinding flash of green, she flew through the air and smashed into the wall behind, to slide down lifelessly to the floor.
"Your mudblood is dead Potter," The hooded man cackled, the red glow from his eyes growing brighter by the second. "She did not escape me a second time" Voldemort turned from the lifeless body, and turned back to him. Voldemort idly twirled Harry's wand. "I have your wand, Godric's sword is buried under the rubble and you are weak, so weak Potter, if you hadn't let me distract you with her fate you might have destroyed me. As it is, oh well, it is time to end it." The red glow illuminating his eyes grew bright as he pointed his wand at the feet of the statue, "OPEN" Voldemort hissed, but the words came out in Parseltongue. A panel appeared, with a carved channel that seemed to exactly replicate the outline of a sword, the very dark blade that Voldemort carried in fact. Voldemort turned back to Harry and idly pointed his wand at parts of Harry's body, as if deciding what part to torture first. "Shall I kill you now, Harry? Or shall I wait until after I have activated the chamber so you can see how utterly pointless your resistance was? Before you die."
Harry looked up with pure hatred in his eyes, but even so it did not consume him, for he knew something that Voldemort did not, it wasn't over not yet. Damn that's going to leave a mark. Hermione muttered in his mind, her thoughts colored with pain. He purposely put that fact out his mind, and on the job at hand.
Harry slowly, painfully, stood up, he could feel the ends of at least two broken ribs rubbing together and he panted with the pain. His eyes flicked to a spot slightly behind Riddle and with a last hiss of pain, a smile slowly grew on his face, and he laughed bitterly, "Tom, you just never learn do you, you have been trying to kill me for sixteen years, and you know what?"
"What?" Voldemort snarled.
"That power you know not, it's behind you."
"EXPELLIARMUS" Hermione bellowed, her hand outstretched, she had rolled onto her back, and fired the spell directly at Voldemort's back wandlessly, her sudden movement flinging blood from a gash on her forehead onto the stones below. A wave of pure force hammered the Dark Lord, Voldemort's wand and Harry's captured ones flew twenty feet from him. He started to spin towards where Hermione lay, her eyes glowing, panting slightly, blood plastering her hair to her forehead and staining the stones beneath her, but very much still in the fight when he froze, impossibly Harry had once again vanished from in front of his very eyes.
"Hello Tom." Harry hissed, and the Sword of Gryffindor danced. Voldemort barely caught the edge on his blade. A strike to the head, another to the body, both blocked. The clang of the ancient swords echoed off the walls. Harry struck again and again, each strike driving the Dark Lord away from the statue and his goal. Desperately, Voldemort fought back, his blade a shadowy blur, but in the end, despite his skills, despite his vast and dark powers, he was alone. A red stunner bolt snapped past his ear, he turned for an instant, and a silver blade hissed.
The Sword of Slytherin lay on the ground, his hand still attached. Suddenly the Chamber was still. The gentle drip of lake water, and the soft panting of Harry and Hermione were the only noises to be heard. Voldemort stared, amazed, at the space at the end of his arm that used to hold a long-fingered gray hand.
A soft voice whispered in his ear, "Goodbye Tom." Eyes blazing blue, Harry snapped the Gryffindor sword horizontally at head height. For a long moment nothing happened, then Thomas Riddle's, Lord Voldemort's, head toppled from his shoulders to roll away in the darkness. Instead of blood, a weird green glow slowly oozed from the stump of his neck. Then in a blinding explosion of green light, Harry was knocked through the air, to crash into Hermione where she lay, several meters away. Both of their bodies seemed to be enveloped in a faint green glow, which changed to a brilliant white, before the glow was absorbed into their bodies. For a moment Harry could see the immense statue of Salazar Slytherin trembling, its feet cut out from under it by the explosion, then as the scene faded to black, he could see the statue start to slowly tumble down behind the body of Thomas Riddle, its fate echoing the that of the last heir of Slytherin.
A/N: DA DA The Wizard's dead......