Battles End

Cerea

Rating: PG13
Genres: Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 05/06/2007
Last Updated: 07/06/2007
Status: completed

The last battle told through the wandering eyes of Hermione Granger.

Chapters

1. Battles End

1. Battles End

Disclaimer: This world and all the characters do not belong to me, although the voices tell me they do.

AN: I wanted to write something about the final battle, not too much romance, but they are some nice moments.

Title: The Battles End

Rating: R

Pairings: HHR, RL, NevilleMultiple

She watched from afar as the battle began, she would give anything to be there with them, but her current condition prohibited it. Instead she was forced to watch the grisly scene from a distance and hope that her support was received in other ways.

She scanned the field to look for any familiar faces, though it might have been better to look for those she did not know. All of her closest friends and those she would call family were on the field sacrificing their childhoods, and some their lives, for a cause they believed in. She finally found her gaze falling on a group huddled near the entrance to the great castle, those members of the former DA, who now called themselves Potter's Army. When the battle first began the PA, as they generally called themselves, took their position to block the main entrance to the castle and protect the younger years.

When Headmistress McGonagall took over, her first duty was to make sure that no one with ill intent ever entered the castle again. Part of this plan was to have her professors re-establish some of the wards that were set in place by her predecessor. In addition, she actively searched out any long- forgotten protections that could be useful. As possibly the only person to ever read Hogwarts; A History no less than 1000 times, Hermione was the logical choice to be placed in charge of this detail. Hermione immediately went into research mode and was able to mobilize the PA to work on some more "creative" defenses.

Hermione immediately found the de facto leader of the PA, Neville Longbottom. Throughout their sixth year Neville seemed to fade into the shadows, but on the train back from Hogwarts, Harry approached Neville and they sat and talked for an hour about what needed to be done to win the battle that had taken both sets of their parents. When they emerged from the cabin Neville looked less like the shy boy she had once known and more like a warrior on a mission. Hermione later found out that Harry had told Neville all about the prophecy and the Horcruxes, Harry explained that if anything happened to him, Neville would need to complete the mission.

Upon returning to Hogwarts shortly after the Weasley wedding, Neville locked himself either in the room of requirement or the greenhouse in order to train himself. Even though Herbology may be belittled by some, Hermione and the rest of the PA, soon found out the ability to not only grow, but perhaps control flora and/or fauna was invaluable. It was unfortunate that the Death Eaters had not studied up on that as well.

The gates of Hogwarts had fallen and the Death Eaters were making their way toward the main entrance in an attempt to control things from the inside. The Aurors and professors put a halt to most of their forward motion. It was at this point that the members of the PA were assembling any younger students. Shortly after finally securing the last of the students Neville heard someone scream his name.

"Neville, about ten dead heads coming your way." The voice was easily recognizable as that of Ron Weasley.

It had been decided in the planning that even though most of the attackers would be held off, a few would be allowed further entry to preempt any major advancement until everyone was prepared. Therefore Neville was quite ready for this smaller contingent, even though there were about eighteen Death Eaters, as opposed to the promised ten.

As they approached, one Death Eater, seeing the small band of students, laughed and questioned, "What Minerva couldn't at least provide a nanny for you all. Let us pass and we won't have any problems." His confident stride showed that he had no idea of how much trouble he and the others now found themselves.

Neville waited patiently for the group to get close enough, and he closed his eyes to call on his power to help protect the school. Seeing his eyes closing, the Death Eater laughed and said, "No praying will help you now little boy you should have never trusted that old fool or that stupid boy, today you will . . ."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the look of fear and subsequent loss of air when the vines that covered the walls of the school came to life and strangled the would be intruders. Once the bodies of the Death Eaters were thoroughly crushed under the strength of the vines, they were unceremoniously thrown back to the ground. Some vines took their place back on the walls, while others, perhaps sensing more danger, but more probably obeying Neville, stayed where they were, poised and ready to once again strike.

Knowing that this was only the beginning, Neville decided to prepare the troops. "Lavender, take their wands and put them in your cloak. Parvati, Padma, start casting the repulsion charms around the front. Ginny, I need you to get in the castle and make sure that the others have the students safely stowed away and let me know ASAP." Once his lieutenants were dismissed he turned to those left.

"Okay, obviously we will not be able to trick all of the dead heads to come close enough to us. We need to lift the disillusionment charms on the barricades and take our positions, you all know what group you are in so let's get moving."

"Excuse me, Neville?" Terry Boot seemed to be quite apprehensive at asking the question, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Why can't we just hide behind the disillusioned barricades?" The murmur in the ranks helped bolster his confidence, and he affixed a more confident look on his face.

"We thought of that, but we are afraid that either one, the dead heads will see us behind the disillusionment and once they try to attack, any advantage would be gone anyway, or two, they will not see anything and attempt a straight on approach which could lead to devastating casualties. We decided it would be better for them to know that something is in their way. Alright, if there are no more questions then let's be off." The finality of Neville's statement meant that even if there were questions, it was too bad.

Neville had started to mumble to himself when Ginny returned with her report. "Neville, all the first and second years have been placed in their houses with the entrance locks in place. The third and fourth years have been split between the infirmary and the Room of Requirement, just in case. Once I returned downstairs the staircases removed themselves from sight and will remain that way until called on by the headmistress, one of the heads of house, you or Harry. What else needs to be done?"

"I am hoping we don't need to fortify anything within the castle, so let's just get into position and wait for the attack." Before taking his position directly in front of the main doors, Neville looked over the faces of the students who had vowed to give their lives, if need be, for their school and his face showed the awe that he felt at the lengths these students would go to protect the place they had called home for the last six or seven years. Unfortunately, any words of praise or encouragement were cut off by the cold sensation and the screams of Dementors.

"Take your positions, remember to keep a clear head and a happy memory. Prepare to cast you patronus, on my mark. One, two, three, MARK!!!"

All at once, patronuses of all shapes and sizes leapt from the wands of the PA. Even though it was nearing dusk, the brightness of the spells caused many of those fighting to look up to see what was happening, causing quite a few of them to lose their wands. As for the Dementors, their once frightening screams were dispersed as they spread out trying to escape. While they attempted to regroup for another strike Neville and his lieutenants stepped forward in a line of five to cast the spell that would either save them or damn them.

"I hope this spell that Hermione, Ron and Harry created will do the trick." Padma said to no one in particular.

"Just trust in it, and all will work out in the end." Neville replied, sounding more like a fortune cookie than a student. "Alright here they come again. DO NOT fire any more patronuses unless we fail. If they get passed us fire at will." Fixing his steely gaze on the fast approaching horde he raised his wand, and his lieutenants followed suit.

"Okay, on three, One, Two, THREE . . . . ABROGO ACERBUS!!!"*

For all of the theorizing that the Trio had done with this spell, they could not risk trying to test it out, so this was the first time the spell that they created to destroy the Dementors was used. It was actually an idea that Ron had while on the hunt for the Horcruxes. He wondered if there was a way to just erase the darkness that they contained, this of course was initially met with skepticism, but in the end the three thought it might work.

Nobody knew what exactly to expect, but it certainly was not a dark mist coming from the wands of the five defenders. For a moment Neville looked like he was going to call for a 'Fire at will', but then the screaming began. Thankfully, the ear piercing screams were coming from the group of Dementors that had just met with the dark mist. The mist enveloped the horde and actually shrank as it gathered more of the floating beings. Before long the screaming sounded more like a small whimper as the mist continued to shrink, until at last the small mist disappeared completely, along with the Dementors.

Anyone who saw the demise of the Dementors cheered, especially the PA, but that was until they noticed that their five leaders had collapsed to the ground. When a few teams of two went out to recover their fallen comrades, they noticed that they had not fallen down due to pain, but laughter. It took a while to calm the five down enough to understand them, but soon Neville spoke up.

"Well, I guess the spell worked great. I feel better than I have in ages." Seeing the confused look on faces of those sent to help, he explained. "Part of the spell required us to release some of our hidden fears and demons, and since they are gone, we have a few minutes of intense joy, before our natural balance sets back in." He finished, almost mimicking the phrase that Hermione had told him.

"I'll make sure to tell Harry that the spell worked, although I bet he will figure it out. Anyway, let's get back to our stations and get ready for the rest of the fight." Neville's natural balance must have returned because he was once again hard-faced and ready for anything.

Upon seeing the spell that they had created in reality, Hermione could not help but think of how proud she was of Ron and Harry for the work they put into that spell. Finding herself looking over the field for Ron, she could not believe how hectic things had become since the gates fell.

While she could not see Ron, she found his "better half", as she liked to call her to tease Ronald, Luna Lovegood. Luna was the type of person that seemed to grow on you. During the attack on Hogwarts at the end of her sixth year, Hermione and Luna were on patrol outside Snape's office for quite some time, and they of course got to talking. Hermione had always wondered why Luna was sorted into Ravenclaw, but it became apparent after discussing some Arithmancy concepts with her, exactly why. Even through all of the emotion that went on after the funeral Hermione made sure to stay in contact with Luna, and over that summer they were corresponding regularly.

During the search for the Horcruxes, Luna became instrumental in some of the more complex plans that had to be made. Ron was a good strategist, but Luna seemed to be able to pick apart defenses at will, a skill she demonstrated quite effectively while beating Ron at Wizard's Chess.

As Hermione watched the lovely blonde fight, she could not help but appreciate the grace that seemed to flow from her movements. Even when she was firing off multiple curses in a matter of seconds, each movement was specific and exact.

Luna jumped out of the way of a nasty looking curse, but before she did, she cast a jelly legs jinx on her attacker. The smile on her face was an indication that she really loved that spell. But since this was war, she could not stay happy for long, she threw a quick stunner and body bind so as to remove this particular Death Eater from being an immediate threat.

"I can sense you Hermione. I am sure that everything will turn out how it has been ordained. I would like to ask you to stick around for a while, I miss you, it has been a while since we have spent any time together." As Luna was saying this she glided over the field looking for another opponent or two.

As Luna crested a small mound being used for a bit of cover, she saw three Death Eaters laughing, while standing over a few unconscious, or perhaps dead, Aurors. She stood still for a second or two, seemingly to gauge the best course of action, and then in a blink she moved.

The Death Eater closest to her original position was caught off guard by a nasty reducto curse at his leg. The subsequent yell of pain caused the other two to prepare themselves for a fight, but it was a bit late. The taller one was knocked off balance by the bone fragments flying at him from his fallen comrade. The shorter, was unceremoniously knocked out with a log that Luna had picked up on her way to intercept the three. She wheeled around to face the remaining Death Eater, who had finally regained his balance.

"Rabastan, I did not recognize you there, how are you doing?" A swift movement of her wand hand, seemingly to cast a shield, offset the causal nature of her question.

"I think I remember you girl, you were with that stupid boy at the Department of Mysteries, and then again at the Mansion. I meant to ask you, why were you there anyway?" Again the tension of the scene played out more with the movement of Rabastan's wand hand than his words. Immediately after, what appeared to be a blasting curse flew at Luna, or more accurately at an exact copy of Luna that stood stock-still. The real Luna had moved in behind the Death Eater, while he was talking.

The look on Lestrange's face was quite priceless as Luna stepped up beside him with her wand aimed directly at his neck. "Petrificus Totalus", Luna almost whispered, as Rodolphus fell to the ground. "Just so you know, I know a hell of a lot more spells than you do." And with that uncharacteristic self-praising, Luna worked her hands in a completely unrecognizable manner and the wands of the three men flew to her hands as their entire bodies, save only their noses, were encased in some type of gelatinous material.

Luna activated the portkeys to St. Mungo's on the Aurors' bodies and slowly made her way to the main battleground, while casually twirling her wand. Of course, anyone watching close enough could see the three bodies twirling in the same manner.

"I think it might be time for you to check up on Ronald. I hope you enjoyed the show. See you soon." Luna ran off into the battle as the words seem to drift to Hermione's ears.

Hermione was almost laughing as she lost sight of Luna, leave it to the blonde Ravenclaw to act so casually, although that nature saved them many a sleepless night. Taking Luna's advice, Hermione started to look for Ron Weasley, one member of the infamous trio.

Her eyes finally found him on the front lines of the battle, where he was busy taking care of a few dead heads. She watched his precise, and sometimes deadly, attacks, and could not help but be proud of how much all of them had accomplished, in what seemed such a short time.

Ron was, at the moment, in a heated exchange with Lucius Malfoy and Antonin Dolohov. Even though one would think he would be at a disadvantage, due to his recent training, Ron was holding his own very effectively. Lucius' wand arm was hanging limp and he was trying, poorly, to cast with his other hand. Dolohov seemed to be sweating from trying to keep up with the onslaught of Ron's spells.

"Malfoy, I wanted to let you know that your son died while begging for his life, I even believe he was crying a little bit. He also said something about never being hugged."

"You damn blood-traitor, my son was ten times the wizard you will ever be." Lucius punctuated his decry with a curse that looked somewhat similar to the Sectumsempra. It was only a guess though, as Ron very easily and quickly avoided the curse and sent a simple stunner towards the elder Malfoy.

"Lucius, stop playing with the boy and be done with it." Dolohov, figuring that a 'do it yourself' action was needed, immediately yelled "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

This was exactly what Ron was hoping for, although he figured his taunting of Lucius would have caused it to come from him, but no matter. Instead of moving out of the way, Ron stood still and waited the few seconds it would take for the curse to reach him, then he merely snapped his fingers and before Malfoy knew what happened, he was hit in the chest with the spell.

Seeing the expression on Dolohov's face, Ron decided to clear up a few things, while in the meantime circling the Death Eater to preempt any repeat casting. "You see Antonin, it has been widely argued that the unforgivables, especially the death curse, could not be redirected or blocked, but a brilliant muggle born witch discovered that wasn't the case. In fact, if memory serves, that same witch was struck down by you at the Department of Mysteries, seems I owe you one." As Ron stopped talking, and purple flame shot from his wand directly at Dolohov, who seemed too shocked to move, too bad for him.

"That was for you, Hermione." Ron muttered, almost to himself. He was distracted by a few figures running toward him, and his steely attitude returned and he readied himself for battle. The group of Death Eaters never really stood a chance, they rushed too quickly to make an effective multiple opponent attack, so Ron was able to finish most of them off quickly, although he did take some time teach Crabbe and Goyle a lesson or two. It was not until he saw Bellatrix that this fight really began. He raised his wand in the air and shot out a patronus to call the others, and within a second Luna Lovegood was marching along with him. It took a while longer for Neville Longbottom to appear, but he fell quickly into stride.

"So Neville, what took you so long?" Ron asked as a smile formed on his lips at Neville's blush.

As the battle heated up, the barricades at the entrance were broken and reformed many times. Thankfully there were no serious injuries to the PA, but a few of them had been sent to the infirmary, so the defenses were starting to weaken.

"Alright, we need to fortify ourselves. Red team, gather as much of the barricades as possible and start forming the blockade for the main doors. Gold team, make sure that any Death Eaters that want to get into this castle have to come by us." The members of the respective teams immediately took to their tasks. Neville was turning to address his lieutenants when he saw Ron's patronus fly in the sky.

"Well, it looks like its time. You four take care of our school, do not let anyone pass. If you need to, seal the castle off completely, don't worry about anyone on the outside, we have the portkeys to Mungo's and the field medi-staff to help."

As Neville was busy removing his bulky cloak and making sure his back up wands were secure, the Patil twins stepped up to him.

"This is for good luck, we hope to see you soon." They said in unison as they each kissed a cheek.

Not to be outdone, Lavender walked up to Neville and placed a kiss right on his lips, even going as far as to slip in a little nip on his bottom lip. "Come back."

Not wanting to be out done, Ginny looked at Neville, and grabbed his face to bring his lips to hers. The three other girls laughed as Neville seemed to melt into the kiss before stirring again and remembering where he was. "Neville, you go take care of things and help end this."

Neville smiled and with a pop, was gone.

As the three moved as one to what would be the sight of the final battle, they were a force of energy; most combatants who even thought of approaching were immediately thrown off course either by a spell or just by the power emanating from the three. They stopped for a moment, and it appeared as if they were waiting for someone.

Harry Potter walked towards his three friends and stopped directly in front of them. Even though they were distracted by their conversation, no one dared try to confront them. It seemed like the Death Eaters were too busy fighting the Aurors and Order members. They did not seem to understand the significance of Belltrix' arrival.

The four students knew that once Bellatrix showed up, it was only a matter of time before Voldemort arrived with his inner council. They were not concerned about being bothered by anyone but those four, and they began to plan the ending of the war.

"Okay, as I see it, Tom will come marching in all high and mighty followed by his two remaining cronies. Since Bella is here, that means that Rodolphus and Snape will be with him. Do we want to assign partners now or wait for the dance to begin?"

"Well Harry, I would like to meet up with Bellatrix." Neville stated, very confident that it was now time for payback.

"Very well, she's all yours Neville, just do me a favor, take one shot for Sirius." Neville nodded his understanding.

"I might as well take the other Lestrange, since I took care of his brother, it seems only fitting that I wrap things up with him too." Luna almost giggled as she finished, although none of three wizards had any idea why.

"I guess that leaves the greasy git to me. I will have to make sure to address him properly though, decorum and all that." Ron finished as he smiled. Harry and Neville smiled in response.

"Now that that is out of the way, let's revisit the plan." Harry looked to Ron to continue.

"Once the four horsemen get here, we need to define our boundaries quickly. We need to insure that none of them gets too far from Voldemort. Once we have them incapacitated we will look to Harry to finish the job. Try to keep them alive, if they don't cooperate then anything goes, but just try."

Just as Ron finished, a huge explosion was heard about fifty feet from where they were standing. When the smoke cleared it was obvious that Lord Voldemort had made his entrance. If the situation was not so serious it would almost be laughable. Voldemort was floating around on what appeared to be a throne, and Snape and Rodolphus were marching in front of him. Bellatrix walked up in front of the throne and bowed deeply towards her master, one would wonder if she was going to try to kiss his ring.

This was all the four needed to get into action. Harry walked purposefully toward the "king" and his court jesters, with Neville, Luna and Ron walking just a few steps behind him, wands at the ready.

"I am so glad you could make it Tom, I was wondering if we were going to have to begin the dance without you."

The tone of Harry's voice betrayed none of the anger and disgust that he felt, and Lord Voldemort seemed quite disappointed and offended that this boy would interrupt him and in such a tone.

"You foolish boy, do you really think that making jokes will lessen your suffering. I have come here for one reason, and that is to finish you off and end this battle so I can reign over this pitiful world and make it right."

"Tom, you don't seem to remember that you have tried to finish me off numerous times, and I am still here."

Harry was playing his role extremely well. While he was addressing Riddle, his companions had spread out and began casting the anti-apparation wards and other charms to insure that they were not interrupted.

"Master, they are setting us up." Snape, obviously noticing the movements of his former students, was moving to stop them.

"No Severus, let them cast whatever they like, it will be their own undoing in the end.

"Now Potter, do you think that you have improved so much over the last few months, if memory serves correctly, your little mudblood tart is not here precisely because you had not learned anything . Are you willing to make the same mistake twice?"

A flurry of spells flew towards Riddle, not from Harry but from the other three. The spells were mostly blocked, but one actually did manage to slice a piece of Riddle's cheek.

"I would be careful who you call a mudblood, if my memory serves, you are nothing but a half breed anyway." Neville's voice was quite clear and it was obvious from the reactions of the Lestranges that they did not appreciate his sharing of this information.

"How dare you try to sully the name of the Dark Lord. You will pay dearly for that, just as your parents did." Bellatrix punctuated her statement with a cruciatus curse, of course, Neville had already moved out of the way, but the battle was on.

Harry was almost casually blocking any spell that Tom Riddle sent his way, and for his part, Lord Voldemort was trying to weaken The Boy Who Lived.

"Potter, I wish you would just accept you fate and die like a good little half-breed." Voldemort shot a few simple reductos at Harry, who blocked one and apparated away from the other.

"Tom, you don't seem to understand that nothing you can say will change your fate. Today you will die." As Harry reappeared a slight ways from his original position, he fired off a stunner and piercing hex.

"Insolent boy, you could never kill me, I am immortal." His features betrayed his surprise at the agility of his opponent, Voldemort was forced to conjure a quick shield and then spin out of the way to avoid the spells.

"Perhaps you are talking about your horcruxes, . . .what Tom, are you surprised that I knew about them? Or maybe you figured even if I knew what you did, I wouldn't be able to do anything about them." Voldemort stopped in his tracks at Harry's words. Harry threw a small sack towards Voldemort, who immediately jumped back out of fear, but then he saw the contents of the bag as it hit the ground. Five objects that once contained his soul pieces lay on the ground before him. For the first time the face of Tom Riddle showed fear.

"I did forget one Tom, but it was only because I couldn't carry her, but Nagini is gone too." The look of fear changed to anger, then to realization that he was mortal once more, and the spells started flying harder and faster.

To Harry's credit he was easily able to maneuver around, or block, most of the spells sent his way. At last the final battle had begun, and it was now one mortal against another.

The colors erupting from each wand were amazing, and frightening. Interspersed between reds, yellows and purples, an occasional green would be seen, but only going in one direction. As if the colors were not enough to catch the attention of the combatants, the stray curses sailing past people certainly did. Even though the fighting had not stopped, it seemed that each person kept on eye on the increasingly dangerous battle.

The members of the Order and some Aurors watched Harry gracefully dodge curse after curse while simultaneously pressing any advantage to weaken the self-styled Dark Lord. Although each time one person seemed to get the upper hand, the tide of the battle would switch. Currently, Harry was reigning down spell after spell on Tom Riddle, who seemed to be slowly losing ground.

Suddenly a woman's cry was heard throughout the battlefield, Neville Longbottom was finally repaying the debt, but rather than a cruciatus curse, Neville used a spell that created a strong, yet localized, burning sensation, similar to placing your hand in a vat of lava. The curse burnt Bellatrix' wand hand and that was what caused the scream.

"Bella, there are so many ways that I could make you suffer, but I would much rather have you face up to your crimes. Of course, I cannot have you helping your master." As Neville talked he made very sure that his wand was aimed directly a Bellatrix the entire time. In addition, he was calling on his "special power" and anyone watching could see the grass around Lestrange's body was growing longer and weaving together. By the time Bellatrix realized what was happening, she was completely covered by a blanket of grass and roots. Neville took her wand, and cast a quick stunner to prevent her from possibly doing some wand-less magic.

Rodolphus, upon hearing his wife scream, was only distracted when he cursed that she had been taken out. This distraction though, resulted in Rodolphus being knocked off balance by a reducto sent by Luna.

"Rudy, I think you may want to pay attention to me, seeing as your wife seems to be out of commission." Unlike her fight with Rabastan, Luna was actually on her toes quite a bit. No curse even came close to her yet, but she was not taking things as lightly as she did with the brother.

Rodolphus re-engaged himself in the battle and began throwing a few nasty little spells toward the blonde Ravenclaw. One spell took her off her feet and as she fell a cushioning charm cast by Neville allowed her to land gently. The cruciatus curse that barely hit her foot, was enough to darken the eyes of the normally easy going Luna Lovegood.

"Whatever is the matter my little girl, did you forget how dangerous we all are, I think I am done playing with you. AVADA KEDAVRA." The curse flew at Luna, and using the spell Ron used earlier, the green curse stopped in mid flight, and shot straight into the air.

"Mr. Lestrange, you must not realize that, I am not little girl, and you would do well to remember that, this 'little girl' took out your brother as well as many other of your friends without even batting an eyelash. I agree we should stop playing this game, how about a new one."

The wind started spinning around Luna and a cloud of dust obscured her from view. Rodolphus had a confused look on his face which then changed to fear as he seemed to realize that it was not looking too good for him. Curses started flying through the dust, and he had a hard time keeping up with them. A few spells cut through his robes and one nearly took his ear off. Even though Rodolphus was able to cast a few spells, all of them were thrown wildly off target.

The sweat started to bead on Lestrange's face, and his movements became more erratic, just like an animal trying to escape its hunter. Even when the dust had cleared, literally, he was unable to pin down the young witch with anything. The intensity of the spells he was blocking was increasing, and he became worried that he would not be able to block them all.

In contrast, the blonde was easily casting spell after spell, even with the rage in her eyes that would have scared even her friends. She was no longer playing, and it became obvious as she shot three piercing charms directly at her opponent.

Rodolphus was staggering from being winded, and he was about to fall when the first spell shot right through his right shoulder. He stumbled and the fear in his eyes shown more clearly then ever. The second went through his left ankle, bringing him to the ground, which allowed the third to enter just below the mans sternum and exited through his spine, paralyzing the Death Eater.

"Goodbye Rodolphus, I look forward to seeing you in front of the Wizengamout." Luna cast the same binding spell she had on his brother, after taking his wand and placing inside her robes.

Ron spared a brief glance towards his fiancee as she was wrapping up and decided that it was about time to end things.

"Professor, I wanted to thank you for all of the misery you gave us in class, because of that I have very little sympathy for your fate."

"You silly little boy, being around Potter has made you just as arrogant as he is. He actually thinks he can defeat the Dark Lord, how prepostorous." Snape punctated his statement by sending a sectumsempra curse at Ron, who deftly dodged it and retaliated with a stinging hex which caught Snape off-guard.

"You know Professor, I have been meaning to tell you that you were really crap at teaching, you would be amazed what I learned while destroying your master's soul. There are some wonderful potions out there, including one that could have helped the former headmaster with his hand, I am rather surprised you didn't know about it."

The look on Snape's face darkened at the reminder of his betrayal, his decision was made, but it was quite clear that there was guilt present. "You know nothing of what you speak you blood-traitor."

The witty banter between the two continued for a while longer as their spells flew, and the strain on both parties was becoming quite apparent. Ron misjudged his footing and was struck by a piercing hex, which caused him to stumble.

"Too bad, you came all this way, and you will not win, you filthy weasel. Avada . . ." The curse was never finished because as Ron stumbled from the hex, he threw his palmed dagger directly at his former professor.

Walking slowly towards the hunched form of his opponent, Ron kicked the wand from Snape's hand, and lifted up his chin.

"Professor, my name is Ronald Weasley, you killed the best headmaster this school has seen since Godric himself, prepare to die." Snape's anguished look slowly changed into one of undeniable fear as he watched his once student poised over him, not with a wand, but with a sword. The last sight that his eyes beheld was the gleam of a blade as it sliced through the air to remove his head from the rest of his body.

Upon seeing the last of the inner circle taken down, Harry knew that his time was now. Having been training for this moment for the last few months, Harry knew that his timing had to be exact. He took out his old wand and fired his next curse to coincide with Voldemort's and once again the Priori Incatantum was invoked. As the wands connected and the dome started to form, the three remaining wizards cleared the field of any would be intruders.

The first figure out the wand was that of Rufus Scrimgeour, he had been killed not more than a day ago when Voldemort started his last assault by attacking the ministry. The former minister smiled at Harry, knowing that the end was near and that Tom Riddle would finally be laid to rest. Harry was not sure how long it would take, but he knew he had to wait for her because she hold told him so.

As casually as he could, Harry started to tell Tom Riddle the story that was six months in the making.

"Tom, while I have your undivided attention, I would like to enlighten you on a few matters of interest. At least when you die, you will have a complete understanding of what happened.

"You see Tom, you never appreciated the true power of magic before, sure you have some pretty nasty curses up your sleeve, but they pale in comparison to the true power of magic."

"What are you talking about boy." Tom Riddle seemed to be straining against the power of the wands as he attempted to keep the light from getting too close to him. One by one, spirits of the dead appeared out of the wand.

"Tom, you want to know the power that I have that you don't? Isn't that what this is all about, some prophecy you heard. Well I'll tell you, Albus thought it was love, which is part of it all, but what the real power is self-sacrifice. True magic comes from allowing the magic to become a part of you, and you a part of the magic. Letting go of yourself enough to feel the true nature of the gift that we are given. That was and still is your problem Tom, you never wanted to share yourself with anyone or anything. That is why you were a mediocre wizard, until you took up the dark arts. You realize the only reason we call them dark is because instead of sharing yourself with the magic, you use someone else to feed the power. That is why so many of those rituals need blood or body parts to work. For instance, your resurrection spell took something from three people instead of you allowing the magic to help you. What a mistake you made, if you would have given yourself over to the magic, you could have been unstoppable, almost like I am.

"I can tell by your face that you doubt what I say, let me ask you a question, have you ever thought of why my eyes are almost exact duplicates of my mother's? It isn't just heredity Tom, it is because she gave herself over to the magic that saved me, so really she let you kill her to insure that I received her true gift.

As the look on Tom Riddle's face fell and darkened, the spirit of the one person Harry was waiting for appeared out of the wand. Tom's face brigthened, thinking he would soon be able to press an advantage, how wrong he was.

"Well little Potter brat, I see that your filthy mudblood friend has decided to join us, it appears that maybe you are not as powerful as you think, since you were unable to save her." Whatever further diatribe he had was cut off by the ghost of Hermione Granger appearing inside the dome and beginning to meld with her spirit self.

"You are a stupid man Tom" Hermione began as she took a more corporeal form, although he could still see through her to the smiling face of Harry Potter.

"Do you really think you could have killed me if I did not want you to. Do you not realize that the only reason we attacked you that night was so you could kill me. Granted Harry was not happy with the plan, but I was able to convince him by telling him that the look on your face right now would be priceless." She smiled and continued.

"Anyway, you see Tommy, by allowing you to kill me, and staying around as a ghost, I now have the ability to share my essence with Harry, which, when combined with his power will be more than enough to take care of your sorry arse. Also, since you will not be seeing any of us after you are gone, just remember that you lost and that a mudblood and halfbreed took you down. Bye Tom."

And then turning to Harry, she floated in front of him to begin the incantation. "Okay my love, remember that you may feel a bit disoriented for a second, keep your concentration on holding the power, we do not want Tommy to gain any advantage."

"Hermione, I just want you to know that I am sorry for ever doubting this plan. I was broken more than you will ever know when we lost you, but I know it was the right thing to do."

"Harry, I watched you every day, and it killed me to not be there to help, but I am so proud of the progress you all made, especially you. I Love You, and even though we never shared our bodies with each other, our spirits will reside together forever."

As she finished talking and began the incantation, Tom Riddle watched in frightened fascination as he saw the auras of the two meld together to become one. In the first time in many years, Tom Riddle knew fear and he knew that his end had come. As hard as he tried, he could not break the connection so he could run, and he was forced to watch as his most hated enemy glowed with a brigthness rivaling a thousand suns. When the merging was complete Harry Potter appeared almost godlike to the would-be Dark Lord. His skin had taken on a bronze hue and his eyes glowed even more of a green than ever before, of course there also seemed to be a hint of brown as well. Even his voice had changed, becoming an amalgam of Harry's and Hermione's.

"Tom, I want you to know that all the evil and hatred you have inflicted on this world will be returned to you ten-fold. I have often thought that I would want to see that, but I now know that I just want to forget that you ever existed, which is exactly what will happen. You will become a footnote in history, a note in a margin, nothing more. Goodbye Tom."

They began the complex incantation needed to finally remove the threat that was Lord Voldemort from the wizarding world. As their three friends watched on, the dome broke and they could see a silver stream of light going from Harry's wand to Tom Riddle's chest. An ear-piercing scream was heard as Tom's soul was removed from his body and consumed by the bright light. As the light dissappated, the three friends looked toward Harry and were just about to cheer when they saw him collapse.

Rushing to his side, Ron fell to his knees as he tried to keep Harry awake. "Harry, come on, you know you can fight this, stay with us." The tears that threatened to fall were angrily wiped away as Ron tried to keep his focus.

"Ron, Luna, Neville, you knew how this was going to play out. Remember us both, and tell our stories. And remember my last request." Harry smiled as his breathe became more shallow. Luna and Neville had, by this time, joined Ron on their knees. All three began to hug each other, but were brought out of their grief as they once again heard Harry's voice.

"Please, don't be too sad, I know what awaits me in the next great adventure, I'll be with my parents, and Hermione. We'll be waiting for you guys, of course, we better have to wait a long time. We'll be happy, and we will watch over you." As Harry stopped talking he closed his eyes and breathed his last breathes.

The sobbing of the three friends were overpowered by the cheering and celebration of the Aurors and Order members. Through teary eyes Neville and Luna watched as Ron revently took Harry's wand and placed it inside his robes. Ron then began to prepare the body for Harry's last request.

Neville rose and walked over to Tom Riddle's body and grabbed his wand from its death grasp. Neville broke the wand into fives pieces and, as per Harry's instructions placed the five pieces into Tom's head, hands, heart and at his feet. He then began the incantation to completely destroy any remnants of the body, along with the wand. The body burst into a bright blue flame, and was consumed.

As per Harry's request, Neville and Ron lifted their friends body onto their shoulders, they were going to carry him back to the castle to put him in his final resting place. Luna took the lead and cast her patronus to clear their path.

The cheers subsided as everyone watched the three teens carry their lost friend from the battlefield. A long line of mourners followed the group and with bowed heads began the trek back to the castle. Some of the Order members attempted to help carry the body, but were politely, yet firmly, told that this was a job for just the two boys.

Perhaps it was fate, or more likely true magic, but when the final cheers died down a song could be heard from high in the sky. The song got louder and louder as the gathered crowd looked for its source. Finally out of the darkening sky came Fawkes. He landed on top of Harry's body and continued to sing. The tired and injured found new strength in the song, the downhearted and weeping found solace and comfort, and all those who mourned the loss of Harry Potter were given peace. Even though this was an unplanned event, Ron, Luna and Neville placed Harry's body on the ground, all the while keeping an eye on Fawkes. Luna was the first to see it, and she leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Harry's cheek.

"Goodbye dear Gryfinndor, you have brought peace to this world and hope to many." As she stepped back, Neville, realizing what was happening stepped forward, and grabbed Harry's hand.

"Harry, you are a good friend. You were able to see things in me that I did not know were there, thank you. I will remember the promise I made to you for the rest of my life. Goodbye dear friend." Lastly Ron stepped up to Harry's body.

"Mate, I want you to know that throughout all of this you have always been my brother. We have had many fights, but when we needed each other, we had someone to lean on. You take care of her, wherever you are. Know that I will miss you, but I will move on, just as you asked. Goodbye dear brother."

When Ron stepped back in line with Neville and Luna, Fawkes' eyes began to burn with an intensity few had ever witnessed. The crowd of would be mourners gasped as they realized what was about to happen and a few even shielded their eyes. The flame that began in the eyes, quickly consumed not only the beautiful bird, but also the body of Harry Potter. After what seemed like days, the conflagration stopped and all that remained was the little hatchling phoenix. Luna stepped closer and picked up the bird and began to stroke its head, while she whispered, "You will be with us always Harry."

In the Heavens above, five figures waited for the appearance of two others, and once Harry and Hermione were seated with Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius, James and Lily they all discussed what the next great adventure would be like. The youngest two of the group found it very hard to remember the awful events that led them to where they were, but as one would hope, their memories of their love shone through and provided the fuel for a long and happy after-life.

*ABROGO ACERBUS: To Repeal Darkness (Evil)