Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.
Authors Note: Okay, probably about one more chapter to go now. This was going to be the last chapter, but it ultimately didn't feel right, so I split it up. The other part will hopefully be up tomorrow, but I don't know what I'm going to be doing yet this weekend, so it'll probably be Sunday night. Anyway, it's short because it was split, so sorry about that. I'll try to get bigger chapters in the sequel, as I know some of you want them. Anyway, hope you all like this, sorry about any typos. Thanks for the reviews.
If you were to ask anyone present in the Great Hall the meaning of the word chaos, they would have been able to answer better than anyone in the entire world. Why? Because that was the only word that could be used to describe the scene that was unfolding before them - pure, complete, and absolute chaos.
The members of the Order of the Phoenix (and even a few Aurors) stormed the room with full force. The Death Eaters responded in kind, charging into battle. Spells and curses of all kinds flew in every direction. It was only through skill and a vast amount of luck that the entire student body of Hogwarts wasn't killed or seriously hurt in the crossfire.
When Harry arrived in the Great Hall, leading the few volunteers he had, the battle was already in full force. He ordered his fellows into battle, instructing them to try and keep the rest of the students safe. Harry had his own mission.
He ran into the fray, dodging spells when needed, his eyes darting every which way for some sign of Draco. Voldemort would have to wait, because he was dead set on finding out if his best friend was still alive.
(----)
As the chaos erupted around them, Draco had fallen to his knees with relief, hardly able to stand anymore from the amount of pain coursing through his body. He turned his head to look at Ginny, who was curled up in a ball and sobbing behind him. He shuffled over to her on his knees and laid a hand gently on her shaking shoulders. She jumped and turned startled eyes to him, her brown orbs shinning through tears.
"Ginny," Draco murmured, "it's okay now, we're going to be fine."
Ginny started sobbing anew, but to Draco's surprise, she crawled forward and buried her head into his lap. He started combing his fingers through her hair in an attempt to soothe her, his eyes darting around to keep a look out.
"So you really fell for the Blood Traitor," Blaise's mocking voice taunted from behind him, "how pathetic."
Draco turned on his knees, pulling Ginny with him. She raised her eyes, confused, but when she saw Blaise, they widened and she buried her head back into Draco's chest.
"I looked up to you, you know?" Blaise said. "When we were younger. I though, this is a guy who knows what he wants, who's proud of who he is. But your nothing but a pathetic Gryffindor, aren't you?"
"I'll never be a Gryffindor Blaise," Draco said, locking eyes with his former friend, "but at least I'm not a back stabbing, ass kissing loser like you."
"Is that what you think?" Blaise asked, twirling his wand between his fingers, showing off.
"I don't think," Draco said. "I know. You're the Death Eater Harry and I have been looking for all this year. But what I don't get is, what exactly was your mission?"
"I suppose I can tell you now," Blaise replied, "but it's not as if it'll do you any good. I'm going to finish you off, you know? Anyway, my original mission was to take out Dumbledore. Or at least, try my best at it. The Dark Lord told me he didn't expect me to pull off the task, but he at least wanted me to cause some trouble at Hogwarts. But then I overheard you and Harry talking about something called Horcruxes and I got curious."
"You heard us?" Draco asked, surprised.
"Yeah," Blaise said, "you're not as smart as you thought, huh? When I told the Dark Lord about these Horcrux thingies he became very interested. He asked me how I knew about them and I told him I'd heard you and Harry talking about them. Anyway, after that he told me to keep a low profile and concentrate on my other job. Seems he thought my first job wasn't necessary anymore, and I guess he was right. That dumb ass Dumbledore got himself hurt all on his own."
"Second job?"
"Finding a way to get the Dark Lord into Hogwarts," Blaise answered, "and as you can see - mission successful."
"How'd you do it?"
"That I'm not going to tell you," Blaise said, before twirling his wand one last time and pointing it at Draco. "Now it's time to finish this. I'm sorry you had to turn out like this Malfoy, I really wanted you to join with me, but it looks like you've chosen you're side. She must really be a good fuckin lay."
Draco's eyes narrowed when Blaise laughed, his fist tightening and feeling the cool wood of his wand against his skin.
"Avada - "
"Stupefy!" Another voice roared before Blaise could finish the killing curse.
"Harry?" Draco gasped, looking over the stunned shoulder of the collapsing Blaise, but when the body fell, it wasn't Harry standing there. It was Ron Weasley.
"Ginny!" Ron yelled, running forward and collapsing to his knees beside them. He locked eyes with Draco and glared, before reaching out and prying Ginny away from Draco.
Draco let him, watching sadly as Ginny embraced her brother, still crying. Ron rubbed soothing circles in her back, murmuring how it was all going to be all right now. The Order was here.
Draco stood up shakily, his body protesting, but his mind over ruling. He looked around and found Harry standing with a bushy haired girl and another boy. He grinned and gave a lazy wave.
"Hey," Draco said.
"Draco," Harry said, before stepping forward and embracing his friend.
Draco blushed and brushed him away, flustered.
"Quit it you big girl," Draco said.
"It's good to see you," Harry said, "I was sure you'd do something stupid."
"I did," Draco said, running a shaking hand through his messy silver hair. "I feel like I was hit with a thousand stunners, but I'm unable to fall unconscious."
Harry shook his head. "I'm just glad you're okay," he said.
"Well," Draco groaned, suddenly feeling a spasm of pain in his chest when he took in a deep breath. "Oof, I think I spoke too soon."
"Come on," Harry said, putting Draco's shoulder around his own. "Let's get you out of here. Neville, a little help."
"…Okay," Neville said, coming forward a little reluctantly and putting Draco's other arm around his shoulders.
"Hermione," Harry said, "help Weasley with Ginny please."
"Sure," Hermione said, doing as told.
"Ah," a cold and unsympathetic voice said, "now this was a little encounter I was more than looking forward too. We meet again Mister Potter."
(----)
Harry went stiff for a second and was echoed by everyone else. No one moved even an inch, except for Harry, who untangled himself from Draco and turned, spotting the source of the cruel voice. Lord Voldemort was standing before him; his wand out and his twisted face alight with cruelty.
"Voldemort," Harry returned.
Voldemort locked eyes with him and Harry felt his scar burst to life. He grit his teeth against the pain and watched Voldemort smirk at him. Harry glared and sent out a wave of Legilimency, probing into Voldemorts mind, intent on making the evil wizard as uncomfortable as he was making him. He encountered firm blocks, which made Voldemort laugh out loud.
"Trying to get into my mind Potter?" Voldemort taunted. "How pitiful you are."
"Then let's fight," Harry said, ignoring the pain his scar was causing him. "I mean, I think I have the winning tally, don't I? Let's see, what's the score? Four to nothing, right?"
Voldemort's mouth twisted into an ugly snarl and Harry smirked, glad to find he could anger the wizard.
"Insolent brat," Voldemort ground out through clenched teeth, "you got lucky."
"Four times?" Harry marvelled, smirking even more. "Wow, I must be the luckiest person in the world. How about we try it again, see who's 'lucky' this time? Who's betting it'll be me? Anyone?"
"Harry," Hermione whispered, but Harry could hear her clearly, "is it really a good idea to taunt him?"
"Come on Tom," Harry said, emphasising the wizard's true name on purpose, "let's see what you got."
"How dare you use that name!" Voldemort raged, his wand flying into the air faster than Harry expected. A flash of green erupted from it.
"Shit!" Harry cried as he flew to the floor in a sloppy attempt to dodge. He certainly wasn't expecting Voldemort to be this fast. He rolled to his feet and drew his own wand; only to find he had to dodge again as another curse flew at him. Sweating profusely, he came to a stop on one knee and looked up, expecting another curse, but this time it wasn't heading his way. Voldemort was aiming at his friends!
"No!" Harry roared, his magical energy flying out around him with the force of his will, creating a sort of shockwave of magical energy. Harry had never heard of anything like this happening in his entire life, but he was certainly grateful. The shockwave knocked everyone over and caused Voldemorts killing curse to veer slightly of course, striking a chair and turning it to ash.
Voldemort spun back to face him, eyes wide. Harry was already up, wand aimed:
"STUPEFY!" Harry shouted.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort voiced at the same time.
The two spells collided mid way, creating a link between Harrys wand and Voldemorts. The two brother wands formed a link, a bright solid golden line of magic. Harry gripped his wand with all his might as it started to vibrate and watched as Voldemort did the same. His eyes locked with his nemesis, finding the wizard glaring at him with pure loathing. Then his feet left the ground.
"What's going on?" Harry heard Ron yell, but nobody answered.
The entire Great Hall was silent - the chaos over. Every eye was turned upward as Harry and Voldemort flew further up into the air, until they where suspended halfway between the roof and floor. Priori Incantatem continued, the magical link breaking away and forming a sphere of gold light around Harry and Voldemort. The wands shaking continued and Harry held on tight.
But then, through the golden light surrounding him, Harry noticed the entire audience shift as footsteps echoed into the Great Hall. Harry turned his head around and looked beyond the light, his eyes seeing a sight he though he would never see again. It was Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore!" Neville cheered, and Harry felt a grin bloom on his face.
Dumbledore strode into the Great Hall, his robes billowing about him, and looked up at the Priori Incantatem bubble above him. His eyes twinkled as he raised his hands (wand held aloft) and waved.
The bubble began to vibrate just like the wands. Harry felt himself slowly falling to the floor again. He met Voldemorts shocked and angry visage from across and smirked at the wizard. His feet hit the floor and the bubble burst, blinding everyone. In that instant, Harry heard Voldemort bellow:
"Retreat!"
And when Harry opened his eyes, he saw Voldemort whip his cloak about him and vanish. Harry's eyes widened, before he spun around in a circle and scanned the entire room. Death Eaters fled, running for the door. The Order leapt into action, stunning anyone moving.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled, before crashing into his arms. He hugged her back, his eyes finding Dumbledore's over her bushy head. The Headmaster smiled cheerfully at him, eyes twinkling.
"Harry, are you okay?" Neville was asking.
"What the hell was that?" Ron followed.
"Can I collapse now?" Draco said, deadpan.
"I think you have all earned your rest Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said, approaching them.
"Sir," Harry said, gently disengaging from Hermione, "what about Voldemort? Shouldn't we go after him?"
"I'm sure he is already gone Harry," Dumbledore said, "and we both know neither I nor you can defeat him yet. He is, at the moment, out of our reach. I'm sure you know that, otherwise you wouldn't have lured him into a Priori Incantatem, would you?"
"Right," Harry said.
"That's why you taunted him?" Hermione asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah," Harry said. "Well, that, and it was fun."
Draco smirked at Harry, who returned it.
"And the Death Eaters?" Neville asked.
"I'm sure all that can be apprehended will be," Dumbledore replied.
"Speaking of Death Eaters," Draco said, looking over his shoulder, "someone should tie him up."
"Isn't that Blaise Zabini?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Draco said, looking at Ginny, who was still curled up in Ron's embrace. "It is."
"It was Blaise then?" Harry asked, looking at Draco.
"Yeah," Draco replied, "he was the Death Eater."
"I knew that bastard was evil," Ron said.
"Oh shut up," Neville said, "you say that about every Slytherin."
Everyone but Ron and Ginny laughed.
(----)
Authors Note: Any questions you might have - please be patient. They will be answered in the next (and final) chapter, and if they aren't, then feel free to ask away. Again, hope you all enjoyed. Sorry if it wasn't the huge confrontation you expected, it just can't happen yet, but rest assured it will. Thanks for sticking with my story! One more to go!
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