Author's Note: Congratulations! You've caught up to…my beta. She just edited this one this morning. As of two hours ago, however, I am officially done with this fic. You'll have your finale tomorrow, I promise you. That being said, big thanks to Charmaine for reading through this and, of course, thanks to you for reviewing.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
THE DESTINY OF ONE
Voldemort was already at the top of the marble staircase and running through the doorway to the main stairwell leading up the castle when Harry ran out of the Great Hall. Harry searched his pockets for anything that would help slow Voldemort down. What he found was a small bottle of Sole Stickers that Ron, Ginny, and the twins had given him for his birthday.
When he entered the main stairwell, he chucked the bottle up toward the second floor landing, where Voldemort had paused. It shattered on the wall near him and oozed down onto the floor.
He turned, enraged, and pointed his wand down at Harry. "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry dived out of the way just in time, seeking refuge underneath the stairwell leading up to the first floor. "I wouldn't go that way if I were you, Riddle," he said, getting up as Voldemort turned to go down the second floor. "Dumbledore caved in the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets years ago. You can't get in."
It was a downright lie as far as Harry knew. After all, only those that could speak Parseltongue could open up the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Voldemort, however, obviously could not sense that it was a lie. He stepped back out onto the landing and snarled down at Harry.
"You can blame Lucius Malfoy for that one," Harry yelled up to him. "If he hadn't put that diary in Ginny Weasley's cauldron, the Chamber of Secrets would still be safe and your great big ugly basilisk wouldn't be dead!"
Voldemort shot a curse down at him and began to climb the steps again. Harry dodged it and followed. "I bet that pissed you off when you found out about it!" he called.
"Conjunctiva!" Voldemort yelled, pointing his wand at Harry.
Protego! Harry thought and successfully blocked the curse.
Voldemort continued to climb the stairs, his wand trained on Harry. Harry followed behind him, two floors below, running up the stairs two at a time with his wand trained on Voldemort.
An orange ball shot out of Voldemort's wand. Harry jumped into the archway leading to the fourth floor as the ball hit where Harry had been standing only moments before. He poked his head out and pointed his wand at Voldemort.
"Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort shot a blue streak at Harry's Disarming Charm. They ricocheted off of each other. Harry's spell hit a mirror and reflected off of it, but also left the mirror cracked. Both spells wound up hitting the walls eventually and leaving small craters in the stone.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted.
Voldemort blocked it with a laugh. "You use such simple spells, Potter."
Harry jumped out from his hiding spot and ran up the stairs again. Meanwhile, Voldemort made a few motions with his wand. The portraits on the walls suddenly lifted as he levitated them. Then, with another flick, he shot them down at Harry.
Harry dodged the first one, pointed his wand at another one and blasted it apart with the Reductor Curse, and was hit with the third. He stumbled slightly, but continued to run up the stairs.
Voldemort sent another, larger, portrait at him. Harry pointed his wand at it and attempted to use a Banishing Charm against it. Instead of it sailing right back at Voldemort, it halted and hung in midair as both Harry and Voldemort fought for control over it. Harry gritted his teeth. Voldemort grimaced.
With his mind, Harry tried to push the portrait back up the stairs. It edged up one, then another. Then another.
Voldemort jerked his wand sideways, sending the portrait to fall down the stairwell. He stared down at Harry, red eyes glittering malevolently. "Impressive, Potter."
"Thank you," Harry said sardonically.
Voldemort took one step up on the next stairwell. "I was told that you ran a little dueling club here, but I did not think that you would be able to show your fellow students anything stronger than a Shield Charm."
Harry began to climb up the next set of stairs. "Shield Charms are old hat for the members of the D.A. that have been with me since the very beginning in fifth year."
"D.A.? What does that stand for? Dunderheads Anonymous?" Voldemort asked as he climbed up a couple more steps.
Harry gave him a fake laugh as he continued to go up the stairs. "Don't you wish. Didn't your informants tell you? D.A. stands for Dumbledore's Army. We follow Dumbledore. We're loyal to Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore's Army? Are you an extension of Dumbledore's will like his pathetic Order of the Phoenix? Or do you miserably trained students act as Dumbledore's hand since he is too weak to raise his own wand and do what must be done to stop me?" Voldemort said, sneering.
"Dumbledore is not weak," Harry bit out.
"Not weak? Harry Potter, did you not see what I did to him? I broke him. I crushed him. I destroyed him. He is as good as dead," Voldemort said.
"No. He's stronger than you think. He is the greatest wizard alive!" Harry yelled.
"I AM THE GREATEST WIZARD ALIVE!" Voldemort bellowed. He pointed his wand at Harry. "Crucio!"
Harry ran up the last few steps to the next landing and ducked behind the archway just in time. Voldemort shouted, "Crucio!" again and Harry heard the stone on the other side of the archway shatter.
"Come out, Potter!" Voldemort yelled. "Come out and play. That's what you said you wanted to do in the Great Hall, wasn't it?"
Adrenaline pumping, Harry jumped out from his hiding place and shouted, "Stupefy!"
Voldemort blocked spell. "Crucio!" he cried again, but missed. Harry was running up to the sixth floor. Voldemort scrambled to the very top at the seventh floor.
"Impedimenta!" Harry shouted.
"Protego!" Voldemort yelled. As Harry rounded the stairs to come up to the seventh floor, Voldemort pointed his wand at the stairwell and shouted, "REDUCTO!"
Harry heard a loud crumbling noise under his feet. As the stairwell began to shake and the crumbling sound grew louder, he ran up the last few steps. When he reached the penultimate step, the stairwell suddenly gave way and fell.
Harry dropped, but reached out and grabbed the landing. His wand fell out of his hand and chased after the broken stairwell, which was knocking down the stairwells underneath it.
He clung for dear life. Voldemort was standing above him with a sick, twisted grin on his face.
"Hang on, Harry," he said. "Your life depends on it. If you fall, you will fall to your death." He laughed coldly. "Oh, how are you going to get out of this one?"
Harry tried to pull himself up, but Voldemort stomped his foot in between Harry's hands, causing Harry's body to slip back down the couple of inches that it had been raised. His fingers were aching.
Voldemort was laughing again. "You may have every intention of climbing up here, Potter, but you must understand that I have no intention of letting you. You see, I want you to fall."
"That's no big surprise," Harry muttered.
Voldemort pointed his wand at him. "What spell to perform, that is the question," he said. "I could kill you here and now, but then you would not feel the pain of your fall. No, I want you to feel your back break as you land on the stone beneath you. I want you to feel every bone that breaks in your body. I want you to suffer more than I've ever wanted anyone to suffer, including that pathetic man who sired me and oh did I enjoy killing him. I enjoyed every second of it-the torturing, the screaming, and then the final release. The flash of green that ended his miserable Muggle life. I took great enjoyment out of the look on my father's face when I killed him. One of absolute fear. My grandmother and grandfather had the same looks on their faces as well. I wonder what your face looks like when you are petrified beyond all reason. If you show it to me now, Potter, I may let you live a little longer."
Harry glared up at him. His fingers felt like they were going to let go any moment. "Never," he said. "I will never give you that satisfaction."
Voldemort shook his white head. "I gave you a chance to live for a few more minutes, but like an idiotic fool you chose death now. You chose a very painful death, too, compared to the Killing Curse. Then again, I do not know if the Killing Curse is painful or not. I have never died, after all."
"You're close enough to it, though," Harry growled. "You look like the living dead."
Voldemort smirked. "You try to be witty in the face of death, Potter. You try to act bravely. It is almost a shame to kill you. Almost." He raised his wand higher. "Good-bye, Harry Potter."
He flicked his wand. Suddenly, uncontrollably, Harry flew backwards away from the stairwell and fell, his body twisting so that, when he landed on the ground floor seven flights below, he would land on his head.
As he fell down past the sixth floor, then the fifth, he reached out with his hand, concentrating hard, and cried out, "Accio Phoenix!"
He passed the fourth floor as his broom rocketed over the seventh floor landing and sped down toward him. He reached out for it as he fell past the third floor, then the second.
He snatched it out of the air just as he was about to pass the first floor and pulled his body upright so that he could get the broom under him. Then, with only five feet to spare, he lifted up on the broomstick and soared upward. He spotted his wand sticking out of the rubble by the third floor. With a great burst of speed, he flew over and snatched it out of the rubble, grateful that it was still in one piece.
He flew into the middle of the stairwell and looked up. Voldemort was still standing there on the seventh floor landing, his red eyes glaring down at Harry in anger. Then, with a swish of his long black robes, he turned on his heel and marched through the archway leading to the seventh floor.
Harry pulled his broom upward and soared past the destruction that Voldemort had wrought on the castle. He flew past the seventh floor landing and did a little loop that aimed him in the right direction. With a burst of speed, he zoomed through the archway and entered the seventh floor, where he pulled up and looked first right, then left down the corridor.
Voldemort had turned left and was running down the corridor. Harry turned his broom and chased off after him.
Voldemort looked over his shoulder and pointed his wand at him. "Avada Kedavra!" he yelled.
Harry barrel rolled over the flash of green light, which ended up hitting the floor and blasting a large hole in it. He flattened himself against the handle and sped up. As he drew even with his nemesis, he kicked out and sent Voldemort flying into the wall.
He pulled up on the shaft and stopped as Voldemort shook his head, trying to clear it after colliding with the wall. His eyes seemed as though they were on fire as he glared at Harry. He pointed his wand at the Phoenix.
"Incendio!" he shouted as a fireball shot out of his wand and hit the broom in the tail.
Harry quickly pointed his wand at his burning broom. "Aguamenti!" he cried and a gush of water shot out of his wand, smothering the flames.
Voldemort used this momentary distraction to his advantage. "Impedimenta!" he yelled, hitting Harry squarely in the chest and sending him backwards. Then he ran again, turning down a corridor between him and Harry.
Harry lay on the floor, frozen, with water still shooting out of his wand. It was not the position he wanted to be in as Voldemort took off again. At least he wasn't falling seven stories, though.
Minutes passed. He knew that any moment the Impediment Jinx would wear off. He was actually slightly surprised that Voldemort hadn't used something more powerful against him. He was also surprised that Voldemort had ran instead of finishing him off. What was he playing at, exactly? Did he enjoy dueling Harry in this manner? Did he consider it a worthy fight?
The Impediment Jinx finally wore off and Harry found that he could move again. He looked down at his broom. The twigs in the tail were sufficiently burned. He pointed his wand at them. "Reparo!" he cried, but to no avail. He would either have to find new twigs or his broom, the one that his father, Sirius, Lupin, and Wormtail had developed, would be nothing more than just charred pieces of wood with some rather fond memories attached to them.
Not knowing precisely where Voldemort went, Harry took the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and opened it up. He searched the whole of the seventh floor until he found the dot labeled "Tom Riddle" stepping into the Astronomy Tower. He continued to watch the dot as it moved up to the very top of the Astronomy Tower and out onto the roof.
So that was where Voldemort wanted to duel with him. He wanted to go to the highest point at Hogwarts.
He probably wants to blow me off of the top of it, Harry mused.
But there was no turning back now, he knew. He couldn't run; he couldn't hide. He didn't want to. He had been running and hiding since the day he was born. He was a child of prophecy, after all. Now, after seventeen years, it was time to complete the prophecy, one way or another.
Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.
Two destinies hung in the balance, but it was only the destiny of one to live.
Harry set off for the Astronomy Tower, a feeling of determination filling him. Whether he lived or died, he was completing the prophecy. If his destiny was that of death, then so be it, but he would go down fighting until the very end.
He didn't exactly believe in destiny. He believed that one makes their own destiny. He could have turned his back on the prophecy made about him and Voldemort, but he chose not to. Because Voldemort had believed the prophecy, he had killed Harry's parents. Because Harry wanted to avenge their deaths, along with every other victim's of the two wars against Voldemort, Harry chose to fight against the Dark Lord and try to defeat him. There were no guarantees that he would, but he would try.
He reached the Astronomy Tower and pulled open the door slowly, trying not to make any noise. He slipped inside and closed the door just as slowly, pleased with himself for not making the door creak.
He continued to move slowly up the stairs leading to the roof, his wand out and ready for the slightest hint of movement. The slower he went, the more his eyes were able to adjust to the overwhelming darkness of the tower. Above him, thunder cracked and he could hear rain hitting the door.
He stepped on something that made a rustling noise. When he looked down, he saw it was a piece of paper that someone had dropped. He bent over and picked it up, thinking that it might come in handy.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he pushed the door open, but did not step outside onto the rain-soaked roof. Instead, he crumpled up the piece of paper. With a swish and a flick of his wand, he levitated it outside.
There was a flash of green and the paper of incinerated.
He heard a laugh. "Come, Potter. Come and face death like a man. Like your father did."
Carefully, Harry eased his body out the door and onto the slick wet roof. The rain began to soak his hair and his clothes. He turned to face Voldemort, who was standing in the middle of the roof, his white face and gleaming red eyes clearly visible in the rainy darkness.
"Playtime on the stairs was fun, Potter, but now it is time to be serious," Voldemort said.
Harry nodded and stood with his wand at the ready. "I agree."
"Are you prepared to die, Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked quietly as the rain pounded on both of them.
"Are you, Tom Riddle?" Harry asked just as quietly.
Voldemort laughed. "I am not going to die tonight, Potter. It is you that will die. You and everyone else in the Great Hall when I return to them."
"I don't think so," Harry said. He waved his wand. "Tergiversatio!"
Voldemort flicked his wand and sent the curse back at Harry with such a force that when it hit him, it knocked him twice as far back as a normal Blasting Curse would have. He stepped forward with a cruel smile on his face as Harry groaned. "Would you like to try that again, Potter?"
Harry pointed his wand at him, thinking, Confundo! A shot of light erupted from his wand and Voldemort had to step back in order to block it. Harry sent the Jelly-Legs Jinx at him next, followed up by a freezing charm, but Voldemort easily blocked them as well. In the meantime, however, Harry was able to get up and face him.
Voldemort turned his wand on Harry and waved it. Suddenly, Harry felt his feet leave the roof of the Astronomy Tower as he was levitated into the air. Voldemort laughed as he jerked his wand over towards where he edge of the Tower was, Harry floating along with each of the wand's movements.
Voldemort lifted him up higher until Harry felt the toes of his trainers skim the ledge. There was a look of laughter in Voldemort's red eyes. A look of triumph.
Harry pointed his wand at him. "Morsus!" he shouted, sending a Stinging Hex at him.
Voldemort hissed when the hex hit him. He dropped Harry, who landed on the ledge of the Tower and waved his arms around frantically to maintain balance. It was a long way down. Finally, when he did so, he jumped down off of the ledge as Voldemort massaged his wrists.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted.
The Dark Lord waved his wand and sent the curse flying off in the opposite direction. Harry ducked as the spell shot over him and made a huge hole in the wall of the Astronomy Tower.
"I must admit that I find myself both surprised and impressed, Potter," Voldemort murmured. His wand was raised and pointed directly at Harry. "I didn't think you had it in you to cause actual pain, but you did. You actually used a Stinging Hex on me. That's very interesting. Tell me, though, Harry, are you willing to use more powerful, more painful curses? Can you handle pain yourself?"
He waved his wand. "Crucio!"
Harry dived and rolled on the wet roof, barely missing Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse. He jumped back up, rain plastering his bangs to his forehead, and yelled, "Silencio!"
Voldemort laughed as he blocked the spell. "Silencing me? You tried Silencing me?" he taunted. "That would not have helped your cause, Potter. I am very good at nonverbal spells." He flicked his wand, causing a stinging pain in Harry's wrists. "See?"
"I can be good at nonverbal spells, too," Harry said, pointing his wand at him and thinking, Furnunculus!
The spell hit Voldemort before he has time to block it. Angry red boils formed on his skin as he cried out in pain. He pointed his wand at Harry. "CRUCIO!"
Harry didn't have time to dodge the curse. It hit him, full force, and sent him to the floor. He screamed and writhed in pain. Voldemort, whose face was still covered in the boils, stood over him, teeth clenched, as he held his wand pointed directly at Harry. His red eyes seemed to be ablaze.
Through the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, Harry pointed his wand up at his nemesis and hit him with a Trip Jinx. Voldemort landed flat on his back; the curse had been lifted from Harry. He lay panting as his body tried to recover.
Voldemort waved his wand over himself, clearing away the boils. Then, he slowly got to his feet. So did Harry. They stood for a moment, staring at each other.
Then, they both struck. Voldemort shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" while Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
The jet of green from Voldemort's wand and the jet of red from Harry's met in midair and, for the second time that night, they were locked in an opportunity to perform priori incantatem. Harry's wand began to shake violently just as it had done earlier and just as it had done three years previously when Harry had first dueled against Voldemort. The beam between their wands was no longer red or green, but a bright gold.
As both Harry and Voldemort hung on, the golden beam of light suddenly splintered; a thousand more beams shot out and arced over their heads, crisscrossing every which way until Harry and Voldemort were surrounded by a gigantic, golden webbed dome. There was no way anyone who suddenly ran up onto the roof could get through the dome and there was also no way for either Harry or Voldemort to step out of it. Still, Harry hung on.
Voldemort tried to pull back, but Harry pressed on. He was not about to let Voldemort let go, not like he did before.
A beautiful music filled the air, one that Harry recognized immediately. It was phoenix song. Harry suddenly felt calmer. The song filled him with hope and confidence. He knew he had the ability to go on.
Suddenly, the vibration of his wand became insanely more horrible. Thick beads of light were popping up along the thread of light connecting his and Voldemort's wands. As the beads started toward Harry, he knew the vibration would only get worse.
He concentrated on the beads harder than he had ever concentrated before. With every ounce of his body, he willed them backward. Voldemort was grimacing. It looked as though he, too, was putting all his might behind trying to force the beads Harry's way. The beads edged closer and closer to Harry's wand. Suddenly, they slowed to a stop as Harry gritted his teeth and pushed them back with his mind. Slowly, agonizingly, they shifted course and headed back up the thread towards Voldemort.
"NO!" Voldemort screamed when the beads suddenly connected with his wand. A dense, smoky head came out of the wand, followed by the chest, arms, torso, and legs of Severus Snape. He stood up and looked at both Voldemort and Harry before crossing his arms over his chest. "You had better hang on to it, Potter," he said.
Suddenly, another dense, smoky form came out of the wand. It was Imhotep Rameses, Harry realized when he noticed that the apparition had a triangular goatee and carried with him a cane that looked like an Egyptian asp. He moved toward Harry and surveyed the scene.
"So you're the one he wanted to get to," Rameses said. "Hang on to that, boy. That one deserves everything that's coming to him."
Harry did as he was ordered as yet another form came out of Voldemort's wand. When he stood up, Harry recognized him to be Addams, the Death Eater that Voldemort had killed not too long ago.
"A half-blood fighting a half-blood," he murmured. His smoky eyes narrowed as he gazed at Voldemort. "I'd rather the half-blood that didn't kill me win this."
Three more times did dense, smoky apparitions come out of Voldemort's wand, each pledging their support to Harry. Finally, Snape stepped up beside him and said, "Now you may let go, Potter."
Harry jerked his wand upward. The golden thread snapped-the web disappeared-the song ended. The six apparitions remained, though, and they rushed toward Voldemort, who backed up, his red eyes betraying surprise and fear.
Unlike last time, when he ran away, Harry rushed forward with wand pointed at Voldemort. "Expelliarmus!" he cried.
Thanks to the apparitions distracting the Dark Lord, Voldemort's wand flew out of his hand and landed on the opposite side of the roof. He battled them away with his fists and they disappeared, leaving only Harry, who stood with his wand still pointed at him.
Voldemort looked around frantically for his wand. When he saw that it was too far away, he turned his soulless red eyes back to Harry and straightened.
"Very well, Potter. Do it," he said.
Harry stared at him. He had Voldemort cornered and wandless. With one spell, he could end it all. He could kill Voldemort and complete the prophecy.
Yet he stood there, motionless.
"Do it," Voldemort repeated.
Harry gritted his teeth and tried to summon the strength to perform the Killing Curse. He remembered what the fake Moody had told him, what Bellatrix Lestrange had told him about Unforgivable Curses. You had to mean it.
"Do it, Potter!" Voldemort snapped. "KILL ME!"
With a horrible sinking feeling, Harry realized that he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to perform the Killing Curse. He did not want to be like Voldemort. He did not want to be a murderer. He would never complete the prophecy. Only Voldemort could because he was willing to take a life.
Harry lowered his wand. "No," he murmured. "I'm not like you. I can't kill you."
Voldemort began to laugh, high-pitched and cruel. "Then you are truly weak, Potter."
"Only by your definition," Harry said.
Voldemort laughed again. "My definition is the only one that counts."
"That's what you think," Harry said. "You'll never rule the whole world and all the people in it. They will resist you. They will rebel against you."
"And they will die," Voldemort said. "Just as you will."
Suddenly, Voldemort lunged at him, grabbing hold of his wand. Harry tried to hang on to it, but it slipped through his rain soaked fingers.
Voldemort shouted in triumph and turned Harry's own wand against him. "I've got you now, Potter. There's no escape you for."
Harry glanced down at the wand lying behind Voldemort. Concentrating on it, he held out his hand and yelled, "Accio wand!" Voldemort's wand flew into his hand.
"What?" Voldemort cried as Harry pointed the wand at him. "Impossible! It cannot be! You're a true sorcerer?"
"Let me tell you something, Riddle-something you've wanted to know for seventeen years. Let me tell you the prophecy that Sybil Trelawney made to Albus Dumbledore in its entirety. The prophecy that Dumbledore memorized and told me.
"'The power with the one to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…' " He raised his voice as he continued on. "'And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES…' "
Voldemort stared at him. "For so long…" he murmured. "So long I yearned to know what the prophecy said. Now I know."
"Here's the thing, though, Riddle: the 'power you know not?' Yeah, that's not wandless magic. You know all about that, I imagine," Harry said.
Voldemort inclined his head. "I do."
"Then what is it? What other little weapon do I possess?" he asked.
Voldemort shrugged. "You have no other true talents. I'm afraid I don't know."
Harry nodded. "Good."
Voldemort looked lost in thought for a moment. Then, with terrible speed, he shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
The wand in Harry's hand flew back and fell on the rooftop with a clatter. Suddenly desperate, Harry pushed his hand outward and cried, "Expelliarmus!"
To his horror, nothing happened.
Voldemort screeched in laughter. "What just happened, Potter? Was there no magic? Perhaps you aren't a true sorcerer after all!" He flicked Harry's wand, Summoning his own back to him. Then he examined Harry's wand idly. "It is a fine wand, yours. It would a great pity to destroy it."
Feeling extremely desperate and reckless at the same time, Harry charged at Voldemort. Before the Dark Lord could react, Harry tackled him to the rooftop and struggled with him for control over Harry's wand. With his free left hand, he punched Voldemort as hard as he could, causing Voldemort to let out a scream as something cut his face.
Harry pulled back his fist and glanced at it as lightning flashed. Blood glittered on the ruby of his ring.
Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry. Suddenly, both Harry and his own wand flew backwards. Harry landed on his stomach while his wand rolled far out of his reach.
Voldemort was on his feet. "Up!" he yelled and, as though invisible hands had seized Harry, he was pulled to his feet. He couldn't help but notice the blood running down Voldemort's cheek.
"I want you to feel immense pain before you die, Potter. But before I do…" He flicked his wand. Harry felt his ring fly off his finger and watched it as it flew over the ledge and down to the grounds below. "Anything else on you, Potter?" Voldemort asked, flicking his wand a few more times.
Harry felt the Snitch pendant that Hermione had once given him rise out from underneath his shirt. With it was the talisman that Hagrid had given him for his last birthday.
"Accio!" Voldemort shouted. With a terrible pain, both necklaces tore into the back of Harry's neck before they broke and flew into Voldemort's outstretched palm. He laughed. "A talisman? Those offer you no protection. But what's this? A gift from one of your friends, no doubt. Well, I don't think you'll be needing this anymore," he said and tapped his wand against the pendant. It shattered into a million pieces and fell from Voldemort's hand.
Voldemort pointed his wand back at him. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes-pain." He waved his wand. "Sectumsempra!"
Harry tried to dodge right, but felt the spell hit him in the shoulder, where it sliced the skin and blood began to pour. Harry cried out in pain.
Voldemort laughed. "That would have hurt a lot more if you hadn't moved, Potter. No matter. Let us try something a little more painful. Crucio!"
Harry fell and screamed in agony as a wave of hot pokers seemed to be driving themselves into his skin. He twitched violently and practically begged for it to stop. But he didn't. He wasn't going to beg.
Voldemort lifted his wand. "How did that feel, Potter? Painful?"
Still twitching, Harry put his hand into his pocket and desperately felt around for anything that might help him. He pulled out his penknife and threw it at Voldemort. There was a flash and the penknife fell, melted.
"Pathetic," Voldemort spat. "Completely pathetic. Get up, Potter. Get up."
Slowly, still feeling the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, Harry picked himself up off of the ground. His shoulder was bleeding freely, soaking through his shirt as the rain had been.
"Face me," Voldemort ordered. "Face me like a man. I want to see the look in your eyes as you die, Harry Potter."
Harry turned and faced him, recognizing that this was it. He was about to die. There was no stopping it. He had lost.
"Any last words?" Voldemort asked.
It was over. There was nothing he could do. He'd never see Ron or Hermione ever again. He'd never joke around with Ron ever again. He'd never be able to hold Hermione in his arms ever again.
Their faces filled his vision. He suddenly heard Hermione's voice in his head.
"Come back to me."
Voldemort shrugged. "Very well, then. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out Sirius's mirror. Tossing it at the oncoming green light, he threw out his hands, thinking PROTEGO! with all his might. A golden sort of light emanated from his fingers and spread all over his body.
The green light of the spell connected with Sirius's mirror and bounced off of it. Through the golden light of his own spell, Harry saw the look of surprise in Voldemort's red eyes as the green light hit him. Then he fell backwards, dead, as two people rushed out of the door leading back into the castle.
Harry dropped his arms, feeling more exhausted than he ever had before in his life. Breathing raggedly, he dropped to his knees, staring at Voldemort's dead body. He had done it.
He fell forward onto the rooftop. Vaguely, he heard someone cry, "HARRY!" The voice sounded familiar. It sounded sweet.
Two pairs of hands rolled him over onto his back. He looked up and saw the scared faces of Ron and Hermione staring back at him.
"Ron, go get someone, now!" Hermione cried, dropping to her knees beside Harry and pulling his head and shoulders into her arms. Ron ran off.
"Hermione," he whispered, darkness closing in on him.
"I'm here, Harry, I'm here," she said, kissing his forehead.
"Just when I needed you," he murmured, his eyes drooping and his head lolling.
"Stay with me, Harry," she said, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look into her eyes. "Stay with me."
He gave her a ghost of a smile. "I love you, Hermione," he whispered to her and then let the darkness overtake him.