* Author's Note.
I believe I had read somewhere that most Portkey readers had a strong dislike for cliffhangers, but it seems I had forgotten. I did not intend to create distress among the great readers at Portkey-but I always envisioned this last battle in three parts spread out over three chapters. Besides, I didn't think the cliffhangers were that bad, especially since I have been able to update fairly regularly (but that may be because I already know what is going to happen-sorry).
In the sequel I am writing to this story, I will try to limit them, but sometimes they form a natural break between chapters. Besides, I intend to update it very regularly as well. For those of you who like longer chapters, the sequel is already longer than this story, though I haven't finished writing the final five or six chapters yet. Anyways, thank you again for all the wonderful reviews and the helpful comments. Now, without further ado, on with the battle.
Ch 29: Breaking the Bands of Death
"STUPEFY!!!" shouted Harry, pointing with the two fingers of his left hand at Voldemort's hand. The spell was disrupted and Voldemort's wand fell from his suddenly numb hand. Stretching out his left hand, he spoke quickly, before Harry had a chance to cast another spell with or without his wand. "Accio wand." Catching his wand in his other hand, Voldemort sneered, "Circus tricks won't save you now, Potter."
"Nor will attacking my friends, Riddle. Or would you prefer Tom? Tommy perhaps? Is that what your sweet old Muggle daddy called you-Tommy? Or did he just call you boy before he left you and your mum?"
His face livid with rage, Voldemort sputtered, "I'm going to kill you right now, Potter."
"That's right, Tommy-boy, this is between you and me."
Voldemort's wand swished in the air, emitting a bright flash of orange light as Harry stepped quickly to one side. One of the Aurors behind Harry barely dodged in time.
"Get everyone back Hermione. I can't block everything he's going to throw at me. Have the house-elves put up an anti-magic shield orb around the two of us and move everyone behind it. Then wait for my signal. I'll let you know when I think he's weak enough to try the spell. Then you let Ron know, OK? And make sure the elves let you and Ron Apparate back in."
"OK, Harry. Please be careful. I love you."
"I know. I love you too. But we both knew I had to do this part alone."
Hermione concentrated and everyone began moving back, while Dumbledore and Snape explained to Hagrid that there was nothing more they could do at the moment and that the presence of so many innocent bystanders only worked in the favor of Voldemort.
Meanwhile, the two continued to duel fiercely. Lights flashed as streams of magical power crossed in the air between them and ricocheted off the anti-magical wards set up by the house-elves. Harry noticed that Voldemort was very careful to not cast a spell at the same time as Harry. Smiling, Harry realized he feared to lose another battle of wills should their wands attack each other simultaneously and repeat the Priori Incantatem that had allowed Harry to escape Voldemort and his Death Eaters two years ago. Using their wands for casting offensive spells, both used their other hand to raise various defensive magical shields. The sweat began to drip off both of them as they maneuvered around the field, looking for a weakness in the other's defenses.
Harry countered Voldemort's Serpensortia with Incendio, incinerating the deadly serpents he created. Voldemort countered Harry's Thundering Hammer spell with Fuerza diffusa, dispersing the destructive force unleashed at him. When Voldemort created a number of snakelike tentacles that reached for Harry around his defensive shield, he conjured a number of flying discs, similar to fanged frisbees that sliced the tentacles apart. Harry caused two huge mounds of earth to rise on either side of Voldemort, to crush him in between and Voldemort turned them to stone and then shattered them with another spell. As the smaller rocks flew apart, Harry redirected their motion backwards so they once again pelted Voldemort in the head and stomach. As the rocks assaulted him, Voldemort managed to shout "Caecusunt!" blinding Harry. Harry's other senses came to his aid, enabling him to dodge the other spell attacks Voldemort launched until he could remember the counter spell and regain his sight. Back and forth it went, each casting an effective counter spell for each one launched at them, and then trying a new, different spell. Sometimes they screamed the spells they launched to make them more powerful, occasionally they fired one off wordlessly, trying to disguise it or slip it past the other unnoticed.
Most of their spells simply bounced off the other's magical shield, or missed the target as they dodged. While Voldemort had spent decades studying the Dark Arts, Harry's intensive training and extensive reading over the past year had prepared him well for the confrontation and he had a formidable array of spells, as well as other talents to draw on. Harry's ability to teleport gave him an additional advantage when dodging Voldemort's attacks in addition to his lightning like reflexes honed by years of Quidditch. Harry tried a different tactic and cried "Inflammatio whip!" Harry's attack with the flaming whip ended when Voldemort's wand became a sword of ice and sliced it in two. With a flick of his wrist and rolling his fingers, Harry directed the severed line of flame to wrap around Voldemort's blade and melt it before Voldemort could hit him with his backswing.
Suddenly Voldemort transformed into a large serpent. Harry swung his wand down at the snake and muttered "Gladius." As he sliced downward, his wand transformed into a gleaming sword. But the snake was much quicker than he had thought and he merely sliced the side of it. Its tail hit him from behind before he could duck and he lost his footing. Quickly Voldemort wrapped several thick coils around him. Harry tried to swing the sword again, but found that his wrist was trapped by the powerful tail. "Now you die, Potter," hissed Voldemort, opening his mouth to reveal long fangs dripping with venom.
"We're not done playing yet Tommy-boy," replied Harry as he morphed into his dragon form. He ignored the gasps of fear and wonder from those watching him from a short distance away, concentrating on the battle at hand. Using his teleportation ability again to disappear momentarily, Harry reappeared immediately right under the black serpent's jaws and sunk his tiny fangs between two of the soft scales underneath the jaw, where the snake's scaly skin stretched to allow the jaw to dislocate in order to swallow its prey.
"Now, Hermione. Tell Ron and both of you get to your places."
All three of them disappeared, only to reappear a short distance away from the madly hissing snake. Harry reappeared in his human form and glanced quickly at the other two and nodded. It was now or never. The small amount of venom would not really do much against the large snake. But hopefully, it would distract Voldemort long enough to cast the defensive ward.
With each of his friends ten feet away to either side, they formed a triangle with Voldemort in the middle. Harry began a variation of the ancient incantation Hermione had found.
"With trust in friends
and to achieve our ends,
to protect all living, I add my strength to this spell I begin
to trap this wizard and contain the evil power within.
Tutaminis Trium."
Ron, to his left, continued the spell,
"With trust in friends
and to achieve our ends,
that the evil magic within may dissipate,
I add my strength that he entrapped may meet his fate.
Tutaminis Trium."
Hermione added the final part,
"With trust in friends
and to achieve our ends,
to protect all living, I add my strength and seal this spell
and warn him within that should he fight, that next his soul will be in hell.
Tutaminis Trium.""
A faint blue line sprang up between each of the three teens and a blue, shimmering sphere became visible around Voldemort, who had now returned to his human form. "Another trick, Potter? I appreciated your little shapeshifting act a moment ago. Did you really think that mosquito bite you gave me would take me down? Surely a more useful form would have been like the tiger of your friend here. So, you've finally realized that you can't defeat me by yourself. Decided to call in some help? Is this the best you could do? A Mudblood and a Mudblood-loving Weasley? Well, they've sealed their doom, along with yours, Potter." Voldemort fired another spell at Harry which he deflected. "As you can see, your pathetic little spell can't protect any of you."
Harry and Voldemort continued to exchange spells through the pulsing blue sphere. Each time one of the spells passed through, the sphere brightened and then shrunk in size.
"Do you think it's working?" asked Harry.
"I think so. I think the changing lights and the fact that it's getting smaller is a good sign."
"I hope so. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
Hermione didn't reply, but looked at Ron and nodded. Immediately, both began chanting softly. Harry looked up at them, distracted for a moment, and barely ducked as a spell sizzled across his left side, glancing off his ribs. Clutching his side in pain, he realized what his two friends were trying to do. Hermione and Ron were attempting another variation of the spell. A few pages after the Tutaminis Trium, Hermione had found a slightly different version of the spell but had not told Harry about it. Luckily, he had seen her reading it and studied it after she moved on to another book, afraid that she might try to use it. Instead of just lending their strength to the spell, both Ron and Hermione were risking their very lives in an effort to strengthen the spell in order to protect the third member, in this case, Harry. They were trying to sacrifice themselves in order that he might live long enough to defeat Voldemort.
Though extremely grateful for their willingness to give their very lives for him, the thought of losing either one of them to Voldemort infuriated him. Hearing Voldemort's mocking laughter, Harry became even more furious.
"Running out of tricks, Potter?" taunted Voldemort.
Enraged almost beyond reason, Harry tried to focus on completing two different, but essential tasks. The first was to add his own voice to the chanting cadences of his two friends. He was more than willing to lay down his life for both of them. He wouldn't accept their sacrifice without offering his own. The second task was to use his building rage to hammer Voldemort in every way he could think of with his influence over the elements. He hoped it would wear him down and force him to focus on defense instead of additional attacks.
Within the blue sphere itself, Voldemort's eyes grew wide as he suffered blasts of fiery winds, followed by freezing rain and sleet. The ground under his feet became boiling hot, then icy cold. Electricity sparked in the air as his body was wracked with pain as the violent currents passed through him. The ground shook hard enough to knock him to the ground, and then tried to swallow him whole. Those outside the sphere watched in amazement and even felt some of the effects, though to a lesser extent. Voldemort bent every effort to protecting himself from the attacks and could launch no counterattack.
After several minutes, Hermione and Ron finished their spell, and Hermione glanced at Harry with a mixture of confusion, anger, and compassion as she realized that he had taken part in the spell as well and was just finishing. Exhausted by the effort, Ron and Hermione were barely able to remain standing, but the blue sphere was considerably brighter now, and much smaller. Looking at Harry, she noticed the strain on his face and the sweat dripping from his forehead. She felt completely spent.
She had no idea how Harry could still be standing, let alone casting spells. After what seemed like an eternity, Harry gave a low moan and nearly tumbled to the ground, bent over double gasping for breath and wiping a bloody sleeve across his forehead. Voldemort was barely visible inside the bright blue globe, crumpled on his knees, moaning in pain.
"Is that the best you've got, Potter?" he grated through his teeth. Struggling awkwardly to his feet, Voldemort sneered, "It's going to take more than that to kill me, boy." As he finished his last remark, Voldemort launched a series of curses at Harry.
His face registering his complete astonishment that Voldemort still had so much power after the incredible beating he had just taken, he barely raised a defensive shield in time to deflect the spells. They sizzled harmlessly past Harry, but he was not sure how much longer he could keep this up. He felt exhausted.
"Still got enough in the tank to protect yourself, eh Potter? Now make your choice. You can't protect everyone. Who are you going to sacrifice? The redhead or the Mudblood? One of them will die-it's your choice." Raising his arms and pointing one at each of them, Voldemort began another spell.
Ron and Hermione were too weak to offer any resistance. They simply stared with resignation at Voldemort.
"I love you, Harry. Goodbye."
"Finish of this worthless…" growled Ron tiredly.
"It's not goodbye. Don't give up now!" yelled Harry. Screaming in frustration, Harry focused intensely, somehow finding the energy within himself to create not one but two defensive shields, one for each of his friends. The streams of red light from Voldemort's spells nearly shattered them, but they held. It was Voldemort's turn to scream in frustration as he looked in astonishment at the two shields Harry had created. But Voldemort noticed that Harry's own shield was no longer there. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he cast another spell at Harry. "Avada Kedavra."
The spell hit Harry full in the chest before he had a chance to react, but Voldemort did not notice that the color of the spell had changed from green to a light blue the moment it passed through the blue sphere that was now very close to him. Feeling dizzy for a moment, Voldemort nearly swooned. Then he saw that Harry was still on his feet.
"Impossible!" he roared.
Harry simply gazed back at him, looking much better than he had a few moments ago. "Thanks, Tommy-boy. I really needed that. I feel much better now. Shall we continue?"
Looking more closely at Voldemort, Harry noticed something odd. He thought for a moment that his vision was just blurry, but when he kept looking, he decided he wasn't seeing things. Voldemort's form didn't seem as substantial as it should be. For a couple of seconds at a time, Harry could almost see right through him.
"I think it's working Hermione! I think some of the enchantments keeping him alive are finally breaking down. You did it Hermione! You did it!"
"No, Harry. You did it. Now finish it." she replied very wearily.
"I'll try."
Once again, Harry began hammering Voldemort with elemental magic. But it was even more intense this time. The wizards and witches watching could tell because the effects outside the sphere were even more significant. Many of them had to begin casting spells to protect themselves. They could only imagine what it must have felt like inside the sphere for Voldemort.
But Harry couldn't tell for sure if Voldemort was tiring or weakening. "Surely he must be! What else can I do?!?!" Then something in his head seemed to click. Was there any way he could channel some of the energy from the elements around him into his own spells? He decided to try. Within his mind, he felt as if a dam had suddenly burst and he felt flooded with power. He nearly lost consciousness and barely maintained control. "BAUTTUERUM MARTEL!" he shouted.
Voldemort barely had time to strengthen the shield in front of him with his wand but the spell still knocked Voldemort to his knees and his eyes widened in sudden fear. He slowly stood again and Harry altered the air within his sphere, superheating it again. Then he cast a stunning spell. Then he sent another electrical current through Voldemort's body. He followed that with a spellshield breaking spell, then a strength draining spell, and then created a freezing sleet that blew sideways. Harry continued to alter his attacks, trying to avoid any routine or repetition, but kept a steady and intense barrage of attacks trying to wear down Voldemort's defenses. Harry did not hear the gasps of the wizards and witches still watching as they witnessed the most powerful display of magic they had ever witnessed or read about. Hermione shifted her glance from Voldemort to Harry, and realized for the first time, as did all of the witches and wizards gathered there watching, the incredible power available to an elemental mage. She shivered slightly trying to imagine just how powerful Harry might become, if he survived this battle with Voldemort. Dumbledore himself looked on in awe at the power with which Harry was able to cast his spells and still maintain control of the elements. "His power has advanced far beyond that of any of us, but can he maintain his control?" As if he could help Harry, Dumbledore kept thinking, "Stay in control, Harry. Do not lose control. Stay in control."
Voldemort was having a horrific time trying to defend against the variety of powerful spells Harry now sent his way. The mixed attack of spells and elemental magic kept him off balance and unable to launch any sort of effective counteroffensive. The pain and agony was much worse this time, and his spells didn't seem to be as effective as earlier. After what seemed like hours of excruciating pain and using every last ounce of power he had in fending off the various elemental effects and spells cast by Harry, Voldemort collapsed to his knees again. The fiery burning in his legs, the dull ache throughout his body from the pounding of powerful spells, the sharp pains in his sides and shoulders where some of the spells had landed, the damp, chilly air filling his lungs, the painful electrical currents that made his body shake with spasms suddenly dulled in comparison to the pain that immediately exploded in his heart. A scream of fear and pain ripped free from his throat and echoed loudly in the air. Opening his eyes, he saw not only the three teenagers standing warily around him, but gray, hazy images of all of his past victims surrounding him. He screamed again, this time in pure fear.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron suddenly noticed the ghostly images as well. And they realized that they were no longer outside in a sunny, field of grass, but in a dimly lit plain covered in a thin, wispy mist. Harry's concentration broke as he saw three figures separate themselves from the large circle surrounding himself and his two friends and move closer.
"Mum? Dad? Sirius?" They hovered closer and smiled at him. His mother spoke.
"You've done it Harry. You've broken the bands Voldemort placed on himself to stave off death. We have come to help you finish and ensure he never hurts another victim in your world." Her eyes beamed with love and pride. His father and Sirius both looked extremely proud and motioned as if to grab his shoulder and squeeze. Then they each moved away and took a place between himself and one of his friends. James stood on his right, between him and Hermione. Lily stood between Ron and Harry, on the opposite side of Hermione. Sirius stood directly opposite of Harry, between Ron and Hermione. The three of them chanted for a minute, and another series of lines, colored gray, sprang up between them. Voldemort was now surrounded by two triangles with their tops in opposite directions, one blue, and the other gray.
A hysterical cry rang from the bright blue sphere. "You can't kill me Potter. Nobody can! I'm undefeatable! I'll come back Potter. I'll have my revenge!"
"Not this time Voldemort. It's over. But I don't want to kill you. In fact, I sort of pity you, you pathetic coward. Maybe if you apologize to all of your victims here, I'll let you surrender and go quietly to Azkaban. First you can apologize to my parents, for being a sniveling, cowardly murderer. Start with my mother and apologize on your knees!"
"Never Potter! Never! I'll kill you with my bare hands if I have to!"
Charging forward in a blind rage, Voldemort began one final spell. "AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"
Voldemort's arm touched the bright blue sphere at the same time that his spell rebounded and struck him full in the chest, knocking him to the ground. There was a bright blue explosion and then the sphere disappeared.
Harry sagged in relief and nobody moved for a minute, just staring in disbelief at the fallen body of Voldemort. Their shock turned to horror as the form quivered slightly, then began to rise again from the earth. In dismay, Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched as Voldemort once again rose shakily to face Harry.
"I told you, Potter! Your pathetic defensive wards are no match for my power! Not even with the help of your dead parents and their pathetic sidekick! Did you really think I would somehow die from one of my own spells?!?! Foolish boy, have you learned nothing with all of your extra training? The Avada Kadavra curse does not work on the wizard who casts it. It can't rebound and kill the caster. Besides, Potter, I have your precious Mudblood mother's blood in my veins protecting me now. Or did you forget?" Voldemort laughed cruelly as he looked over at Lily and then back to her son. The ghosts said nothing, though James and Sirius looked even more furious, if that were possible.
Shaking off his doubt, and furious at the insult Voldemort had hurled against his mother, Harry fought to regain his calm. Then he noticed a faint blue aura surrounding Voldemort's body. With a smile, Harry replied in a low, deadly voice. "No, Tommy-boy. I haven't forgotten. But my mother's blood would never protect something like you. But let me show you another little surprise I've been saving, TB. Do you remember this?" From the pouch at his side, Harry withdrew a slender, silver blade.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed as they studied the blade, then widened slightly in fear.
"Yes, Tommy-boy, this is the same dagger from your little ceremony two years ago. I had hoped you had left it in the graveyard in the confusion after I escaped. But no, I wasn't that lucky. But I did get lucky when you were foolish enough to send Wormtail as one of your spies to watch Hogwarts from the Forbidden Forest. Didn't Wormtail tell you how I spared his life, how he owed me a life debt when he returned to you?" At Voldemort's look of surprise and anger, Harry continued. "No? I didn't think so. Well, after I cornered him in the Forest, I reminded him of his debt and called in the favor. He knew exactly where you had hidden the items from that ceremony and it was fairly easy for him to steal it for me. You know the danger it poses don't you? The same dagger that helped you magically bind your spirit back to a body can destroy those ties just as easily, can't it?" Holding the dagger in his left hand with his wand pointed at Voldemort in his right, Harry slowly advanced on a visibly shaking Voldemort, though it was impossible to tell whether it was with fear or rage. Or both. As Harry moved forward, he spoke the word Gladius quite softly and the wand in his right hand changed into a long, narrow-bladed sword.
Voldemort's snakelike face seemed to grin as he lifted his own wand and created a long, curved sword with wicked hooks and spikes along the back of the blade. "So you've decided you can't best me with magic, eh, Potter? Think you're man enough to finish me off physically, boy? You're stupider than I thought."
Harry said nothing, but simply assumed a balanced pose with his dagger held low and his sword in a defensive position, angled slightly upwards in front of him. Harry watched as Voldemort moved slowly and painfully in front of him with his sword held confidently. Harry knew from the way Voldemort handled his blade that he was the more skilled of the two. Harry had not been able to find a suitable fencing tutor, everything he knew was from reading books and practicing on his own. However, he could tell that Voldemort was in bad shape physically from the magical assaults earlier, no matter how well he seemed to conceal it. But he knew that it would be very dangerous to let the fight go on very long lest the odds return somehow to Voldemort's favor.
"Impedimenta!" screamed Voldemort. Harry barely managed to dodge to one side as Voldemort cast the wandless spell.
"Cheating already, TB? You didn't even bow before we began dueling. Surely they taught you better manners than that when you attended Hogwarts?"
Harry thrust high with his sword and then stabbed low with his dagger. Voldemort sidestepped easily and beat aside both attacks with his longer sword.
"You should have stuck to dueling with wands, Potter. You have no skill for this," taunted Voldemort.
Harry circled again and launched a low slicing cut aimed at Voldemort's shins, which he easily hopped over, but was unable to dodge the dagger which came flashing up and sliced his left forearm. Harry quickly spun away from the countering sword that came flashing across as Voldemort howled in pain.
"Now the blade has your blood, as well as Wormtail's and mine," mocked Harry.
Voldemort lunged and slashed down with the curved sword, and Harry raised both of his blades in an X to block its downward momentum. Voldemort pulled back the blade as it descended, allowing it to pass the center of Harry's defensive crossed blades. Voldemort then halted its downward momentum, and stabbed towards Harry's chest. As Harry twisted to avoid the thrust and moved to parry it downward with his sword, Voldemort then swung the blade up and out to his right. One of the hooks on the back of the blade caught Harry's left forearm, piercing it and jerked Harry forward, off balance, to fall at Voldemort's feet. The dagger was sent spinning in the air to fall twenty feet behind Voldemort, somewhat to his right.
His pale face gleaming with his anticipated victory, Voldemort laughed again. "Pathetic, Potter. To have worked so hard this year training and planning my defeat, only to die so easily in front of your parents and friends. Any last words before you die?" he mocked as he raised his sword again to finish off the fight.
Harry glanced around quickly at the concerned faces surrounding him. Hermione and his mother both looked to be in tears, while Ron, Sirius, and his father started to move forward. But they were too far away to give any type of aid. Harry looked back at Voldemort and raised his bleeding left arm with the palm extended as if to surrender and then in a strong voice commanded "Accio dagger."
With a look of horror on his face, Voldemort turned and with his own open hand countered with "Prot…." Then Voldemort felt a searing pain in his left lung as Harry plunged his sword deep through the side of his chest. A moment later a sharp pain exploded in the front of his chest as the dagger struck deep, right below the rib cage in his solar plexus.
Harry withdrew his sword and stood in front of Voldemort, who had slumped to his knees and was drawing deep, gasping breaths. Harry said quietly, yet forcefully, "Why the look of surprise, Tommy? You opened the duel to magic use. Or perhaps you're wondering why you are dying? The blue sphere wasn't meant to protect us, it was meant to break down your magical defenses against death. Since it disappeared, you've been quite mortal. Even if I couldn't have finished you off, the other wizards waiting for your return would have easily ended your miserable life. After all, I had no way of telling whether or not Wormtail gave me the correct dagger for sure. He's betrayed my family before and fooled some of the wisest and most powerful wizards in the world. But cheer up and have a look around Tommy, it seems like you have quite the welcoming party." Harry smiled as he saw the fear return to Voldemort's eyes when he looked around at the shadowy images surrounding him. Harry watched grimly as the life slowly ebbed out of Voldemort and he finally fell back to the ground. This time he did not rise.
Harry nearly swooned as his parents came close to him once more.
"Thank you, son. You've finally made all of our sacrifices worth something. Voldemort will never trouble the world of the living again. I am so proud of you son. You're more than I ever hoped for in a son," choked his father.
"The world of the living? But what about your world? Will he be able to hurt you again?" asked Harry.
"No, Harry. He always feared the afterlife. He has no power there. He'll never hurt anyone again," comforted his mother. "Do not worry about us, Harry. We are happy with our friends and family there." With a beautiful smile, she added, "And though we love you more than you can imagine, we do not want to see you there anytime soon, young man. I want you to enjoy a long, happy life with your friends and future family in the world of the living." She glanced meaningfully at Hermione and than back at her son. "You will see all of us again someday, Harry. Enjoy the life you have before you now." Lily and James turned to go.
"Wait. Wait! Can't you stay just a little bit longer? There is so much I want to talk to you about…"
"I am sorry son, but we have to return. As do you. None of us can stay any longer here between worlds." Harry could have sworn he felt her lips brush against his forehead, and then they were gone. When Harry blinked again, he was standing again in the bloody, spell scorched field.
Ron was kneeling and bent over on his hands, gasping for breath. His robes were soaked with wolves' blood and probably some of his own. Most of his robes were hanging in tatters. Hermione looked a little better than Ron. She looked very tired and was covered with grime, but didn't look like she had been wounded. Voldemort lay flat on his back with the dagger still buried in his chest, his snakelike eyes staring blankly at the sky. Shuffling awkwardly, Harry staggered over to look at him more closely, to make sure he was dead. He focused his senses intently for a full minute, unaware that the surviving faculty, students, and Aurors had gathered closer. Hermione was standing right next to him on one side, and Dumbledore on the other. Harry could detect no heartbeat, and not a trace of magical energy anywhere in the still body. Putting his wand in his back pocket, he extended his hand and picked up Voldemort's wand, which had returned to its normal form after Voldemort's death.
Looking up, he noticed everyone looking at me hesitantly. "It's over. It's finally over. Voldemort is dead." Turning to Dumbledore, he asked, "Would you do me the honor? Save the pieces to show those that weren't here that Voldemort has been defeated. For good this time."
With a wide grin and his eyes sparkling, Dumbledore raised the wand between his fists and snapped it in two.
The field erupted with cheers. Harry didn't notice because all of a sudden, he felt very tired. He suddenly realized that every inch of his body ached, his side burned fiercely, and his arm throbbed and was bleeding heavily. Looking over the field again, he saw the vast devastation and destruction that had occurred during the battle. He knew that the statues of the bodies he saw standing around would never enjoy life again. He didn't know how many of his friends from school had lost their lives today and he was afraid to know. He didn't dare count the number of statues. Looking at the field itself, he knew that this small, once beautiful valley would not support any sort of life again for many decades, if ever. The field and hill would become barren, the forest would die away, and the waters would become inhospitable. He had tapped too deeply into the magical and natural sources of this area in order to defeat Voldemort. Then he thought again of how he had manipulated and deceived people to win this battle. And what he had let happen to Ginny. But Voldemort was dead. His reign of terror and bloodshed was over. There would be no more victims of Voldemort or his Death Eaters. That had to be worth something. It had to be worth the price that had been paid. It had to be, he kept telling himself as he felt himself falling into darkness.
"Dumbledore, I can't shut the demon-gate, I'm too tired. Can you do it? And you have to find the rest of Voldemort's army. They're not all here. There could be more! You have to find them!"
"Rest, Harry. You have done well, much better than any of us could have ever dreamed."
"No, you don't know everything I've done. If you knew the half of it, you wouldn't say that."
Dumbledore looked with concern at Harry.
"Hermione, tell the Weasleys I am so sorry for everything. And Hermione, please remember that I love you. I always will. I'm sorry I can't…"
Harry didn't finish as the darkness overcame him completely and he collapsed into the arms of Hermione and Dumbledore on the ruined field.
*Author's note-To ease any anguish caused by the end of this chapter, rest assured, I do not kill off Harry or Hermione. And JKR better not either. The final chapter will be up as soon as I'm done editing it.
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