Author's Note: I don't have very much to say this time around. Thanks to Charmaine for betaing this as fast as she could. Big thanks to everyone for reviewing. You guys (and girls) are awesome!
CHAPTER FORTY
DUEL OF THE FATES
For a moment, he didn't know what to do. He glanced down at his watch, a gift from Moody for his sixteenth birthday. The face was beginning to turn red. The time was half past six. Everybody would be down in the Great Hall, enjoying dinner and celebrating the end of exams. They had no clue that Voldemort and his followers were about to rip open the doors and attack.
Ron was down there.
Hermione was down there.
He felt his chest freeze up as fear took complete control over his body. The moment Voldemort saw them, he'd probably kill them.
No, don't think that way. Get a grip on yourself, Harry. This is what you've been waiting for. It's time. It's time to face Lord Voldemort and complete the prophecy. It's time to either kill or be killed.
He closed his eyes and steadied himself. He began to perform Occlumency to stop his scar from pounding. Yes, the time had come. It was time to fight.
He walked over to his trunk, pulling off his school robes so that he was wearing only a black t-shirt and jeans. He rooted around his trunk until he found the wand holster that Tonks had given him for his sixteenth birthday; he put it on around his thigh. He found some products of Fred and George's that he slipped into his pocket, along with Sirius's mirror, the penknife that Luna had replaced for him, and the Marauder's Map. He slipped his wand in the holster and grabbed his invisibility cloak. Then he grabbed his broom, not really knowing why, but feeling like he would need it.
He marched out of the dormitory, down the stairs into the common room, and out the portrait hole. He felt like he was carrying too much, so when he reached the top of the seventh floor stairwell, he propped his broom against the archway. Then he slipped underneath the invisibility cloak, feeling that that was the proper thing to do.
When he reached the first floor, he pulled out the Marauder's Map and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Hogwarts appeared on the paper and he searched it. No one seemed to be in the corridors except for him. Everyone was in the Great Hall, including a dot that read "Tom Riddle" and numerous others that did not belong. Dots were moving everywhere in the Hall. He could only imagine the panic. He wondered how many people had been killed.
He ran down the last flight of steps before carefully entering the entrance hall at the top of the marble staircase. He could see that the doors to the Great Hall were wide open and he could hear only one voice speaking loudly in a high, cold voice.
"Potter isn't here! But no matter. Jugson! Mulciber! The entrance to Gryffindor Tower, I believe, is behind the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor. Go slice her open and search the tower! Meanwhile, we have new members to induct, don't we, my friends?"
Harry tiptoed down the steps and across to the Great Hall, dodging Jugson and Mulciber as he went, and he peered inside. The four long House tables had been moved to the opposite end of the Hall where they sat haphazardly against the staff table. The students and staff themselves had been bound and gagged before being taken over to one side of the Hall, where they were placed on their knees. Ron and Hermione were in the middle of the front row, looking terrified. Next to them were Ginny, Neville, and Luna. Four Death Eaters were standing in the middle of the Hall with their wands out, watching the students for any sign of movement. Meanwhile, the rest of the Death Eaters stood on the other side of the Hall with a small group of students who were not bound and gagged. Harry couldn't help but notice that all of them were Slytherins, nor could he help but notice that Draco Malfoy was among them.
Voldemort stood in front of these Death Eaters with his hood drawn back to show his chalk white face, snake-like nose, and horrible red eyes. He had a small smile on his face.
"Who would like to go first?" he asked.
A Death Eater stepped forward and bowed deeply before removing his mask. It was Lucius Malfoy. "Master, my son, Draco, would like nothing more than the honor to join you. He has told me his whole life of how he wants to be of service to you."
Voldemort gazed at Malfoy, who bowed deeply. He smiled. "Very well, Lucius, I shall give your son the honor of being the first in my new generation of Death Eaters. Come here, Draco."
Malfoy stepped forward, keeping his eyes averted. Mr. Malfoy also stepped forward, placing his hand on his son's shoulder with a look of pride in his eyes.
"We will test him first, won't we Lucius?" Voldemort said, his red eyes gleaming.
"Yes, master," Mr. Malfoy said.
"Let us test his ability to take a life," Voldemort said, snapping his fingers.
Two of the four Death Eaters in the middle of the Hall sprang forward, scanning the group of students as if picking out which one they really wanted to see die.
"Might I make a suggestion, my lord?" Mr. Malfoy asked.
Voldemort narrowed his eyes at him. "Certainly, Lucius."
"Why don't we use Potter's Mudblood? It will be a very emotional blow to him when he finds out that she's dead," Mr. Malfoy said.
Immediately, Harry began to creep into the Hall underneath his cloak. He had to get to Hermione. He would not let the Death Eaters take her.
"No," Voldemort said, causing Harry to stop after only taking five steps into the Hall. "I want Potter to be here when I kill his Mudblood. I want him to see her die."
"What about his other friend then? The Weasley boy?" Mr. Malfoy asked.
Voldemort didn't answer him. Instead, he was gazing at Malfoy. "Look at me, boy," he hissed at Malfoy, who immediately complied. Voldemort was silent for a moment, staring at Malfoy. Then, he finally said, "Take the Weasley girl instead."
Harry started forward again, but he didn't get there in time. The Death Eaters seized Ginny and took her, kicking and screaming, over to where Lucius, Draco, and Lord Voldemort stood.
Voldemort laughed. "Such spirit in this girl! It's almost a shame to kill her. No matter. Take the gag out of her mouth. We must allow her a chance to say her last words."
When the Death Eater took the gag out of Ginny's mouth, she bit him, causing him to cry out him pain. He backhanded her.
"No!" Voldemort yelled. "Do not touch her. She is for Draco alone! She is his test. Come, Draco, prove yourself worthy of joining your father as my servant. Kill her."
Malfoy got out his wand and took a step toward her, his jaw clenched. He raised his wand.
Behind him, Mr. Malfoy was smirking. "Any last words?"
Ginny was trembling, but when she looked at Malfoy and spoke, her voice was steady. "You have a choice, Draco. You have a choice."
Malfoy frowned and pointed his wand directly at Ginny's heart. Harry, who was standing stock still in the middle of the Hall, was too petrified to move. He waited with baited breath, but Malfoy said nothing. He just continued to stare at Ginny until the hand holding his wand began to shake. Finally, he lowered his wand.
"No," he said in a hoarse whisper.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed. Mr. Malfoy gaped. "What did you say?" Mr. Malfoy asked.
Malfoy turned toward his father. "No," he said in a stronger voice. "I don't want to be like you, Father. I don't want to be nothing more than a murderer."
Mr. Malfoy pulled his wand out of his robes and pointed it at his son. "Why you little-"
"Master!" someone yelled. Harry, Voldemort, Mr. Malfoy, and his son all turned to see Jugson and Mulciber enter the Great Hall. Harry finally found sense and moved again, creeping over toward where Hermione and Ron were kneeling.
"Master, we could not find him," Mulciber said. "He is not in Gryffindor Tower."
Voldemort snarled in anger. "Where is he then? WHERE IS HARRY POTTER?"
Harry, knowing it was time, turned to face Voldemort and said recklessly, "I'm right here, Riddle."
Voldemort and all of the Death Eaters turned to where Harry's voice had come from. Slowly, he pulled off his invisibility cloak. "Hello, Tom," he said, grinning as he took a page out of Dumbledore's book. He took a lot of pleasure out of annoying Voldemort.
Each Death Eater took out his wand and pointed it directly at Harry. Mr. Malfoy pushed Draco aside to where Ginny stood, gazing at Harry in shock. She was not the only one. When Harry had appeared, he actually heard Hermione behind him make a noise behind her gag out of surprise.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort greeted. "How good of you to join us."
He smiled. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't miss this party for the world."
Voldemort chuckled, although there was no amusement in it. "This past year has made you quite cheeky, hasn't it?"
Harry shrugged. "I've always been cheeky. Ask Professor Snape," he said, nodding toward where Snape kneeled, bound and gagged behind him with the rest of the staff.
Voldemort's eyes drifted over to Snape. "Yes, Severus. A former ally. I will deal with him later."
He took out his wand. "I assume you know why I'm here, Potter. Why I've distracted your precious headmaster and the Ministry by sending my vampires and dementors there. You've been in my head so many times this year. Surely you know."
Harry nodded. "I do, and I'm ready for you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and I say we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice," he said.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed. He raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry was too quick for him, though. The moment he raised his wand, Harry plucked his own out of its holster and shouted, "Stupefy!" at the same moment that Voldemort shouted the Killing Curse.
Green spell met red spell in the middle of the Hall. Harry held his wand with two hands as the spells turned golden and his wand began to shake violently. Voldemort yanked his wand back before the affects of priori incantatem got any worse.
Harry kept his wand pointed at him. "I guess it's the hard way, then," he said and moved his wand so that it pointed back at his fellow students. "DIFFINDO!" he cried, concentrating hard.
With a great ripping sound, the ropes binding the students and staff were severed. They tore the gags from their mouths and rose, as one, behind Harry with their wands out pointed directly at the Death Eaters.
Harry brought his wand back around to point at Voldemort. "So, shall we play?"
Suddenly, a loud, deafening BOOM came from the entrance hall. Harry turned his head left in time to see the great oak front doors fly across the floor as a number of witches and wizards stormed into the Great Hall. At their head was Albus Dumbledore. He looked livid.
Voldemort stiffened. "Dumbledore."
"Tom," Dumbledore said. "I hope that you did not think that I wouldn't figure out that Madam Bones had been placed under the Imperius Curse when she wrote me that note, even if the Ministry did fall under attack while I was there. I also hope that you don't think that I will tolerate you and your followers entering this school lightly. The moment the wards upon this school were broken through, an instrument on my desk went rather haywire and one of the portraits in my office went to fetch me at once. It was an ingenious plot, Tom, but, as always, a flawed one."
"No," Voldemort said, "this is working out better than I had hoped. Now I have both you and Potter here. I can kill you both tonight."
Thunder sounded ominously outside. Up above them, the enchanted ceiling was turning blacker and blacker as storm clouds approached.
"You will do no such thing tonight, Tom," Dumbledore said. "Rather, you and your Death Eaters will be heading to Azkaban."
Voldemort laughed coldly. "Azkaban cannot hold me, Dumbledore. They only way to stop me is to kill me, but you're much to afraid to do that, aren't you?"
"It is not my place to kill you," Dumbledore said. "Besides, there are much worse things than death."
"You are a fool," Voldemort spat. "There is nothing worse than death."
"You have an incredibly narrow mind, Tom," Dumbledore said. "It is yet another flaw you possess."
"I possess no flaws!" Voldemort yelled and with a flick of his wand, he sent one of the long House tables flying toward Dumbledore and the Order.
Dumbledore's wand was out. With a wave, the table smashed into pieces. The Order rushed forward at the same moment the Death Eaters did, firing spells at each other. Harry rushed into the mix too, followed by the students and staff.
"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled at the Death Eater closest to him, but the Death Eater ducked.
"Stupefy!" the Death Eater shouted, sending a burst of red light at him.
"Protego!"
"Conjunctiva!"
Harry dodged out of the way. He sent the Trip Jinx at the Death Eater, causing him to fall flat on his back. His masked slipped up, obscuring his eyesight. Harry pointed his want at him. "Stupefy!"
Having Stunned his opponent, he took a brief moment to look around. Dumbledore and Voldemort were locked in battle, while Death Eaters were taking on Order members and students. Ron was fighting a tall Death Eater along side Luna. Not too far away, Hermione was dueling a female Death Eater who Harry didn't recognize. She had torn off her mask to reveal a mass of ragged blonde hair.
Harry moved to join her but found his path blocked off by another Death Eater who jumped in his way. The Death Eater ripped off his mask. "Remember me, Potter?" he asked.
Harry stared into the face of Judas Flint, a man he had helped send to Azkaban-twice. "And here I was hoping to run into Marcus instead. We used to have so much fun playing Quidditch against each other," he said sarcastically.
"Oh, he's here." Flint grinned. "The Dark Lord will reward me well for killing you."
Harry laughed. "I'm sure he would."
"Avada Kedav-ARGH!" he cried as Harry performed a roundhouse kick on him, sending him to the floor, clutching his nose. "You broke it!"
"Better than removing it," Harry growled. He pointed his wand down at him. "Petrificus Totalus!"
When he started to move toward Hermione again but had to stop suddenly as Kingsley Shacklebolt passed him, dueling fiercely with Rastaban Lestrange.
Lestrange.
The thought hit Harry like a bolt of lightning. Bellatrix Lestrange was surely there in the Great Hall. She had to be.
He looked around, scanning the faces of students, teachers, Order members, and Death Eaters. Finally, he found her, laughing shrilly and dueling against someone that was blocked from his view by another Death Eater.
He ran toward her, anger filling him. She was Sirius's murderer. She had to pay.
He pushed his way between Tonks and a wiry-looking Death Eater who only kept right on dueling. He dodged Professor Snape, who was busy fighting Macnair. He jumped over the body of what he hoped was a Stunned student. Then, with all his might, he leapt onto the back of Bellatrix Lestrange, knocking her to the floor.
"Harry!" someone yelped in surprise and when he looked up he saw that Lestrange had been fighting Neville.
Lestrange elbowed Harry in the gut. He wheezed and rolled off of her as she jumped up, cackling.
"Longbottom and Potter. This is my lucky day!" she screeched.
"It won't be so lucky after I'm through with you!" Harry growled, getting up.
"Harry, no! She's mine!" Neville said angrily.
"She killed Sirius!" Harry yelled.
"She tortured my parents!" Neville yelled back.
Harry and Neville stared at each other. Lestrange giggled. "Can't decide who'll kill me, eh?"
Neville had his jaw set. It was obvious to Harry that he would not back down. "Fine," he said to Neville. "We'll do this together."
Neville nodded. "Fine."
Lestrange laughed loudly. "Oh, poor wittle baby Potter and Wongbottom going to hurt wittle old me?"
Neville attacked first. "Impedimenta!"
Lestrange flicked her wand, blocking the spell and laughing shrilly once more.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, but that, too, was blocked by Lestrange.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Neville cried.
"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled.
"Tarantallegra!"
"Occido!"
Each of these spells, however, where deflected. Lestrange continued to laugh. "Impedimenta!" she shouted, pointing her wand at Neville, causing him to freeze.
"Petrificus T-" Harry began to yell, but Lestrange pointed her wand at him and suddenly he was blown backward.
"Crucio!" Lestrange shouted, pointing her wand at Neville as Harry landed with a thud some ten feet away from their battle. His hand smacked the floor, hard, and his wand rolled away. He could hear Neville screaming in pain.
Suddenly, someone scurried over toward him. "Wormtail!" he heard Lestrange yell as she tortured Neville. "Kill him! Kill Potter!"
Harry jumped up and found himself face-to-face with Wormtail. He looked down and saw Wormtail's wand pointed right at him.
"Hands up, Harry," Wormtail said in a squeaky voice.
Slowly, Harry raised his hands up, concentrating on his wand. From the other side of the Hall, he heard someone roar "AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a flash of green. Both Harry and Wormtail stared, startled, at the spot for a moment and Harry couldn't help but wonder who had just died.
Wormtail gulped in front of him. "I've got to kill you, Harry," he said.
"I saved your life once," Harry said, trying to concentrate on his wand again. "I saved you from Sirius and Lupin. They would have killed you if it hadn't been for me."
Wormtail's teeth chattered in a very rat-like way. He raised his wand slightly and then lowered it. To Harry's great surprise, his eyes filled with tears. "You're right," he sobbed. "A life for a life. My debt is repaid."
Harry lowered his hands and placed them behind his back. Concentrating hard, he thought, Accio wand! Suddenly, his wand leapt back into his waiting hand. He pointed it at Wormtail. "Incarcerous!" he cried. Thick ropes shot out of his wand and wrapped themselves around Wormtail's body.
He ran past Wormtail to where Neville and Lestrange last were. To his horror, he found Neville lying on the floor with a trickle of blood running out of the side of his mouth.
He rushed forward and dropped to his knees. "Come on, Neville," he whispered, groping for his wrist. "Don't be dead."
He held his wrist, searching for a pulse. Just as a feeling of dread crept into his gut, he felt something-a weak, but consistent throbbing. He breathed out a sigh of relief and pointed his wand at him. "Ennervate," he murmured.
Slowly, Neville's eyes blinked open. He looked up at Harry. "You're alive."
"You're alive," Harry said, grinning despite himself. "What happened?"
"Lestrange hit me with a Stunner," Neville said as Harry helped to pull him up. "What happened to you?"
"Wormtail couldn't kill me. He owed me a bit of a life debt, you see," Harry said, grabbing Neville's wand and handing it back to him.
"Thanks. Let's get back to it, shall we?" he said.
Harry nodded. "Take care of yourself."
"You too."
Harry marched forward, bent on finding Lestrange again. He got distracted, though, when another Death Eater jumped right in front of him, his mask askew. "Stupefy!" Ginny yelled from behind the Death Eater, causing him to slump onto the floor. "Hi Harry!"
"Hi! Nice job!" he said, motioning to the Death Eater.
"Thanks. Duck!" she yelled and he did so just as a red light whizzed over his head and hit her.
He turned around. "Stupefy!" he yelled at the Death Eater who had just Stunned Ginny. He pointed his wand at her. "Ennervate!"
She came to and got up. "Damn," she murmured. "I didn't get him. Thanks."
He shook his head. "No, thank you."
"Have you seen Neville?" she asked as another spell whizzed over their heads, causing them both to duck.
"Yeah, he went off that way!" Harry told her, pointing towards the other end of the Hall.
"Thanks!" she said and took off.
Suddenly, something hit Harry and he went sprawling onto the floor. Groaning, he turned around to see Hagrid above him, holding a Death Eater up by his robes and punching the living daylights out of him.
"Take that! An' that!" Hagrid roared, still punching the Death Eater, whose head was lolling.
"Hagrid!" Harry yelled up to him. "I think he's unconscious!"
Hagrid looked down at Harry, who was still on the floor, and dropped the Death Eater. "I s'pose yer right. What're yeh doin' on the floor?" he asked, pulling Harry to his feet.
"I think you bumped into me," Harry said, pointing his wand at a passing Death Eater and Tripping him.
"Sorry 'bout that," Hagrid said, picking up the Death Eater and tossing him half the length of the Hall. "Ruddy Death Eaters!"
"Stupefy!" one of the nearby Death Eaters who Harry recognized as Augustus Rookwood yelled.
The spell bounced harmlessly off of Hagrid. With a roar of rage, he took off after Rookwood, who screamed and ran for it.
He looked around, searching for Ron or Hermione. For Lestrange. He saw Colin and Dennis Creevey fighting against the Death Eater known as Yaxley.
Yaxley blocked a jinx sent by Colin and raised his wand at Dennis. "Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" Harry cried and rushed forward.
Dennis seemed to fall in slow motion, a look of surprise on his face. Colin screamed as Yaxley pointed his wand at him.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Harry roared and Yaxley froze before falling to the floor.
Colin was kneeling beside his brother, sobbing. "No, no, no!" he cried.
Harry dropped to his knees next to Colin a looked into the eyes of the boy who had fallen into the lake at the beginning of Harry's fourth year. The one who had helped his brother snap so many photographs of their time at school. The one who enjoyed each and every D.A. meeting he went to, even though Harry never really paid him that much attention.
He turned to the sobbing form of Colin. "Colin, I'm so sorry," he murmured.
"We-he just wanted to help. We both did," Colin said in between sobs. "He's gone."
Harry placed his hand on Colin's shoulder.
Suddenly, Professor Lupin passed them as he dueled against the tall, ferocious form of Fenrir Greyback, who was laughing.
"Come on, Remus! I expected someone I turned into a werewolf to be more aggressive!" Greyback said tauntingly.
"Tergiversatio!" Lupin shouted, Blasting Greyback against the wall.
Someone knocked into him. Lupin pointed his wand down at him before his eyes widened. "Peter," he greeted.
Wormtail, who had been freed of the bindings that Harry had wrapped around him, quaked at the sight of his old cohort. "Remus," he squeaked.
"Lost your wand, have you?" Lupin asked.
"Er-well, yes," Wormtail said, glancing around nervously. Then he fell to his knees in front of Lupin. "Oh, Remus, forgive me! Don't hurt me! I'm sorry for what I did to James and Lily!"
"It's not me who you should be apologizing to," Lupin said. "It's Harry!"
"The Dark Lord is powerful. I could not resist him. You know how weak I am, Remus," Wormtail sobbed. "I had to give in!"
"You had to do nothing," Lupin said. "You should have died."
"I know! I know!" Wormtail wailed. "I should have! I could not believe it when I heard that Sirius had been killed. I did not want to serve the Dark Lord anymore!"
"Yet you did," Lupin said. "You did serve Voldemort. You brought him vampires and werewolves! You did everything he asked!"
"Because I was scared!" Wormtail cried. "I did not want to die, too!"
"As I said, you should have died," Lupin murmured.
Greyback was getting up behind Lupin. "Wormtail!" he barked. "Kill that worthless wolf! Use your silver hand!"
Wormtail gazed down at his silver hand. He looked back up at Lupin. "I didn't kill Harry," he said frantically. "I was told to by Bellatrix Lestrange and I didn't!"
"Kill him!" Greyback yelled.
Wormtail shook his head feverously. "I can't!"
Greyback bared his teeth. "You stupid, pathetic little rat!" He pointed his wand at Wormtail. "Crucio!"
Wormtail cried out in pain and fell to the floor, where he convulsed.
Lupin flicked his wand at Greyback, who growled and lifted the curse. He rubbed his wrist.
"Bad little wolf," he said. "Impedimenta!"
"Protego!" Lupin shouted.
"Conjunctiva!" Greyback yelled and managed to hit Lupin in the eyes. He cried out in pain. Greyback laughed. He pointed his wand lazily at Lupin, who was holding his hands to his eyes. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
There was a flash of green and Lupin fell to the floor.
"LUPIN!" Harry shouted, unable to believe what he had just seen. Greyback tossed his head back and howled.
Wormtail picked himself up from the ground, staring at Lupin's body. "Remus," he whispered. He turned to Greyback. "You killed my friend."
"He was no friend of yours," Greyback said, laughing.
"He was. He and James and Sirius were my best friends and I betrayed them all," Wormtail said.
"It was all in service to the Dark Lord, Wormtail," Greyback said. "They were too stupid to join."
"No," Wormtail said. "They were too smart. They were brave. You killed my last friend."
Greyback rolled his eyes. "You're talking stupid, Wormtail. Let's go."
"No!" Wormtail yelled. "You killed my friend!"
"Stand aside, Wormtail," Greyback said. "I have more prey to kill."
"No!" Wormtail yelled, grabbed Greyback by the shirt front. "You must pay!"
Greyback laughed again. "Who's going to kill me, Wormtail? You?"
Wormtail pulled back his arm, his fist clenched. "Yes," he said and struck. Instead of simply punching Greyback in the chest, however, Wormtail's silver hand went right through Greyback.
The werewolf made a terrible squelching noise and stared at Wormtail in shock as blood poured out around Wormtail's arm. Finally, Wormtail pulled his arm back and Greyback fell to the floor, dead.
Harry rushed over to Lupin's body as Wormtail did. His silver hand was slick with blood.
"Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry," he said.
They heard someone clear their throat above them. Both Harry and Wormtail looked up to see Lucius Malfoy standing over them, his wand out and pointed at Wormtail.
"Did I just see you kill Fenrir Greyback?" he asked in a harsh whisper.
Wormtail stuck his chin out. Without waiting for an answer, Mr. Malfoy yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" With a flash of green, Wormtail was dead.
Mr. Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry. "Up, Potter. I shall take you to the Dark Lord. He wants nothing more to kill you and I would be a fool to deny him of that pleasure."
"Stupefy!" someone yelled from Harry's left and with a flash of red, Mr. Malfoy fell to the floor.
Harry turned to see Tonks rushing over. "I heard the Killing Curse," she said when she reached him. She looked down at the floor where Lupin and Wormtail lay, side-by-side.
"NO!" she shrieked and fell to the floor, dropping her wand. "Remus!" She crawled over to his body and threw her arms and her head over it, sobbing. Harry couldn't help but notice that her flaming red hair slowly went away and turned into a mousy brown.
"No, no, no! This wasn't how it was supposed to be!" she cried. "You weren't supposed to die!"
Harry stood beside her, unsure of what to say. Inside, he felt numb. He couldn't believe it. All of the Marauders were gone.
Tonks continued to sob. "Oh, Remus, why? I loved you!"
Harry felt a dead weight settle into his stomach. Lupin and Tonks had been…together. That was why they had met in Hogsmeade and that was why Tonks had personally come to Hogwarts to deliver a report from the Order. She loved him, but now he was gone.
Suddenly, he thought of Hermione. Where was she? Was she still fighting? Was she dead?
He turned from the sight of Lupin's body and ran, searching everyone and everything he came across. He could see Ron dueling against Crabbe, who had obviously decided to join up with Voldemort, while Luna was nearby dueling with Goyle.
A piece of a bench lay upright in front of him. He jumped up onto it and scanned the room. It was a lot emptier now as students, teachers, and Death Eaters had all been knocked out (at least, he hoped they were just knocked out). He could see Voldemort and Dumbledore still battling over the doorway to the entrance hall, although Dumbledore seemed to barely be keeping up with Voldemort's onslaught.
Finally, he saw Hermione near the middle of the Hall. She was battling frantically against Antonin Dolohov and it looked like she was losing.
Harry jumped down off of the bench and ran toward her. She was still alive, thankfully, but he didn't know for how much longer. As he got closer and closer, he could see her face-see the fear in her eyes as she fought against the man who had successfully knocked her out with an unknown curse in the Department of Mysteries.
Harry rushed forward and, when he got close enough, he jumped up and kicked Dolohov right in the face. The Death Eater stepped backward and fell right over his comrade, clutching his face.
Hermione seized her opportunity. "Stupefy!" she cried, knocking him out.
Harry grabbed her and pulled her down as a spell flew over their heads. "Alright?" he asked.
"Yes. Thank you for doing that," she said, gesturing to Dolohov. "I thought for a moment that he would get me."
"I wouldn't let that happen," he said.
Suddenly, with a terrible yell, Professor Dumbledore was sent flying backwards straight across the Hall. He hit the wall on the other side and fell in a heap behind the smashed up House tables. Harry turned to see Voldemort standing in the doorway, grinning.
Close by, Snape was dueling with a Death Eater who Harry recognized to be Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband. Voldemort sneered at them.
"Severus!" he called in his cold voice.
Snape blocked a spell sent by Rodolphus and turned his head toward Voldemort.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed and a shot of green hit Snape.
"Oh, God," Hermione whispered, closing her eyes to the sight of Snape's dead body.
Voldemort laughed. He then caught sight of Harry in the middle of the Hall with Hermione. The laughter died. He turned around and ran.
"The coward," Harry spat. He turned to Hermione. "I've got to go."
She nodded. "I know."
He took her hands in his. "Keep yourself safe. Okay?"
"Okay."
He looked into her eyes and saw the fear in them. "I love you," he said.
"I love you, too," she replied.
He went to get up, but she grabbed his arm. "Harry!" she cried.
"Yes?"
She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. "Come back to me."
His kissed her forehead. "I will."
Then he got up and ran out of the Hall, chasing after Lord Voldemort.