The Four Swords of Hogwarts

Chapter 37: Together

Warnings: several character deaths, minor and major, detailed and referenced; minor and major character injury, detailed and referenced

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Harry wandered the space, gazing around waiting for something to change. He didn't know where he was or how long it had been or what, exactly, had happened. He remembered Dumbledore's Killing Curse and excruciating pain, and then he was in this place of nothing. It was nothing but empty white space, much like when Hogwarts had come to him in his dreams. He was sure he was dead and, while he wasn't sure what he'd expected anytime he'd thought about dying, this wasn't it. There was nothing and no one. It didn't feel right, as though this wasn't where he was supposed to be.

He sighed, continuing to wander aimlessly. He thought of Severus and Draco, a pang of sadness hitting him. He hoped they had made it or would if the battle had yet to end. He wanted them to have real lives, even if he didn't get to have one with them. It hurt to know the pain they would be in from his death, but they would be okay one day and at least they had each other. They wouldn't be alone in their pain. He would miss them, though, the life he could have had with them, the life stolen from him.

He stopped walking, then, when he felt something change, a disturbance of some kind. He turned around and was shocked to find Tom gazing around curiously.

"Tom?" Harry said, getting the man's attention and approaching him.

"What is this place?" Tom asked.

"No idea," Harry said with a shrug. "I've been here since Dumbledore killed me, whenever that was. He killed you too?"

"It would seem so," Tom said, looking around again.

"My dad and Draco?" Harry asked, worried, unsure he wanted to know.

Tom looked at him, face tight and sad. "I don't know. I hadn't seen Severus since the Chamber, and Slughorn and I separated from Draco to fight Vector and Hooch."

Harry sighed again. "So, this is it, huh? After everything...we still failed. He won."

"Not yet, my dear children."

Tom looked behind Harry and Harry turned to find Hogwarts. Harry frowned when he noticed how fuzzy her edges were, how dim the gems on her necklace were, and how she seemed to be more translucent. Hogwarts was fading...dying.

"There is still hope," she said.

"How?" Tom said, frustrated and discouraged. "How could there be? He's too strong. We had your power, the power of the Founders, and he still killed us. We can't beat him."

"You are not dead, not yet," Hogwarts said and they looked at her in confusion. "You both have a protection that is keeping you in limbo, and my mothers and fathers are trying to get you back."

"What protections?" Harry asked. "The story about my mother's love protecting me was a lie. I never survived the Killing Curse. There was no Killing Curse."

"No, but you have still gained the protection of love," Hogwarts said. "The love Dumbledore tried to take from you, the love you have always found no matter what he did."

Harry was bombarded with images of his friends and family, warmth engulfing him.

"Dumbledore has used the same curse he used Halloween night," Hogwarts said to Tom. "Though he has modified it since. It is a Soul Extinguishing Curse and it is destroying your horcruxes before it destroys you."

"So, I will die," Tom said, resigned, and Harry looked at him, pained. It wasn't fair. After everything Tom had done, after fighting alone for so long...if anyone deserved the life stolen from them, it was Tom.