A New Beginning (Sequel to A Different Beginning)

Chapter Twenty-Seven - The Chamber of Secrets

Remus ducked to avoid the fat arm that tried to grasp him from the around the neck. The duel was getting intense. He had found himself trapped within a group of werewolves who were more interested in feasting on human flesh than in duelling. His ribs were throbbing from where Damien Ross had taken a chunk out but he didn't plan on giving up. Ross was dead now and seeing the man, his neck lying at on odd angle, made him feel pity.

He had given up his life for this.

Now he was duelling with Allison Sanders and she was tricky. He ducked to avoid the fat arm again and finally just turned and punched the man behind him in the face, as he was hardly making the duel any easier. His wand flicked out and pointed at Sanders' throat making her gasp. Her breathing heavy and then she laughed.

"Going to kill me, Remus?"

Remus' face was full of pity as he looked at her. "Not if I can help it." He stunned her and then put an anti-Disapparating charm on her, tying her up and tossing her in the corner. There was one wolf left he wanted to deal with ... needed to deal with.

It didn't take long for Remus to find him.

Greyback wasn't hiding. A few of the students were down and he was feasting on them in ways that made Remus' skin crawl. He wasn't fighting anyone but working on the dead and the wounded. Remus grabbed him by the cuff of his neck and pulled him away making the older man smile.

"Ah, Lupin, come to grace me with your presence?" Greyback asked, removing his wand from his jacket.

"Yeah, I have." His wand was pointed out at the heart of the man who had taken his life away. He had dreamed of killing him many times as a teenager and recently the dreams had come back.

Greyback grinned, blood in his teeth. "Still trying to live a normal life, Lupin? I heard you married a filthy half-breed and had children ... or working on that second child ... I've always had a fondness for children."

"Stay away from my son!" Remus exclaimed, his wand out.

Greyback grinned. "The question would be ... should I destroy him, or turn him?"

"Crucio!" Remus shouted, shocking himself as the man hit the ground. He kept his wand trained on him though and watched as he twisted and twitched on the ground.

A hand grabbed his arm and his wand moved, making the curse stop. "Moony, don't." Sirius replied.

Remus came back to himself and nodded at his friend. "I know."

Greyback came back to his feet. His eyes were still gleaming but he looked severely shaken. "Think you're a big man now, do you?"

Remus shook his head. "That's right, I am a man, unlike you. Avada Kedavra!"

The light left his wand and Greyback fell back against the wall, his eyes wide and staring blankly ahead.

Sirius nodded at his friend. "That bastard deserved it."

Remus shook his head. "No one does ... but it makes me feel better, for whatever that's worth. I'm willing to suffer whatever punishment is brought toward me."

"It's a war, Moony. You won't be penalized." Sirius explained as two huge Death Eaters turned towards them. "For now, just keep fighting. It's all we can do."

********

Draco was sending curses at his father so fast that Lucius was doing a semi-entertaining dance, just to stay alive. Draco was not sure how he felt. The only thing that he knew was that his father had written him this letter about not needing forgiveness, and how Lucius wanted to die. He had then come here and tried to kill Harry.

The silver arm that Lucius had been given by Voldemort clearly was supposed to be a gift of a sort, but Draco thought it didn't seem to be working properly. Lucius was out of breath and his energy was failing. He collapsed to the ground, his wand falling from his fingertips, his eyes meeting his son's.

"Do it."

Draco's eyes darkened. "Why? Why should I give you the satisfaction?"

Lucius nodded. "I don't want to live anymore."

Draco shook his head. "So you're just giving up? It's what you've always done! I don't know why I'm surprised. You give up on everything! If it's not how you want it to be, then it's not enough!"

"I never claimed to be a good person, Draco. I never meant to disappoint you in the way that you disappointed me. You're hopes were always too high."

"Maybe my hopes were high. Can you blame me? You're my father and I wanted to have faith in you."

"It was misplaced."

Draco nodded, wondering why there were tears in his eyes. Suddenly, Lucius jumped to his feet and dived at him. Draco fell to the ground, rolling out of the way and to his surprise found his father pummelling the face of a vampire, with his teeth barred. Lucius snapped his neck before he fell back to his knees in front of him.

"Just end it, Draco."

"Why did you just do that? He could have killed me."

Lucius didn't seem to know how to respond. "Don't lose the Malfoy name."

Draco stared down at his father in shock. He didn't know how to react, or talk, or anything. He was confused over Lucius' entire behaviour. Lucius had just saved Draco's life. How was he supposed to feel about that?

"Kill me, Draco."

"No."

Lucius stood up and came face to face with him. "Kill me!"

"No."

Lucius grabbed his wand from the ground. "Then I'll do it myself."

"You don't have the guts."

Lucius grinned now, his eyes no longer sad but desperate and almost delusional. "You're right about that. Crucio!"

Draco dived out of the way to avoid the curse, his eyes on his father now. "What was that?"

"Crucio!" Lucius yelled again.

This time, the curse struck true and Draco screamed at the pain. When the curse lifted, his wand was pointed at his father. "If you think I'm going to kill you now, you're wrong!"

Lucius grinned. "If you say so." His wand turned to where Delilah was standing nearby duelling with two Death Eaters. "Cru-"

But the words never got out because Draco had yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" and Lucius had collapsed to the ground without another word.

Draco stared at his father for a moment, and when he didn't feel any remorse, he wondered why. His eyes fell on Delilah and he shook his head. He didn't have any regrets at all. Then he turned and continued to fight.

**********

Delilah had seen Draco stop and stand over the body of his father, but she didn't have time to think about it. Macnair and a man she didn't know were busy firing jinxes at her left and right. She dodged as many of them as she could, but something hit her in the side and she gasped. Blood was coming from the wound, but she didn't have time to think about it. She was more concerned with keeping these two men off of her.

The man she didn't recognize got in the way of one of the curses that Macnair had sent her way and collapsed. It was enough to make Delilah breathe in relief. Her wand connected with Macnair's making a cracking noise before he grinned at her, grabbing her arm tightly and holding her in place.

"You certainly grew into a pretty little thing, didn't you?"

Delilah cringed from the smell of whiskey on his breath. "Meaning what?"

Macnair grinned. "Mmm, you smell good. Almost as good as your mother did ... so many years ago."

Delilah paled and her eyes flashed dangerously. "What?"

"I had a nice long taste of your mother at one time. Let me tell you ... I really ... enjoyed the stink."

Delilah's hand moved up and she slapped him across the face, making him stumble back in laughter.

"Is that all you got? I think your mum had more fire."

Delilah's wand was pointed firmly at him now, and her hand was no longer shaking. "How dare you talk so casually about what you did?"

Macnair shrugged. "You mean what I'm going to do to you?"

Her wand shook slightly but then she shook her head. Hatred filled her heart in ways she couldn't explain and before she even knew what she doing, horrible words left her mouth, ones that she couldn't take back. When the spell hit him and he stumbled, eyes wide, she wasn't sure what made her feel worse ... that she had killed someone, or that she didn't regret it.

She stood there for a moment just staring down at him, but she was pulled out of her stupor by Harry's scream.

"Da, NO!"

Delilah turned in time to see a jet of green light rushing towards James Potter and all she could so was hold her breath.

********

Ron had turned at the sound of Harry's scream. He wasn't sure what had happened but he hadn't fully turned around but had instead, shot power from his fingertips. He didn't know how he did it, but he knew suddenly at that moment, that he was in total control of his magic. Ron knew that he could put a stop to what was happening.

He was the phoenix.

While Ron was having this realization, flames erupted in front of James, just in time to deflect the curse. The flames were not normal flames but a hot burning fire, made of flashing phoenixes that turned to ashes in front of him.

Once James managed to get over the shock of what had just happened, his eyes met Voldemort's. "Tough luck."

Voldemort growled, his red eyes gleaming. "This is far from over."

James knocked down the Death Eater he was duelling and sent a Reducto curse flying towards Voldemort, ducking when it was rebounded on him. His eyes met his son's and he nodded.

Harry took this as a token to mean 'finish him' and he climbed to his feet. "That's enough."

Voldemort simply grinned. "Hmm, if only it was. I'm tired of your little games, Potter. Once and for all, I'm going to make that damn prophecy come true and kill you!"

Ginny stepped forward. The ruby around her neck was still glowing darkly as she grasped Harry's hand tightly in hers. "I don't think you will, Tom."

Harry felt Ginny probe his mind, seconds before the power ripped through him. Her touch was enough to make the power strong. He could feel the sparks and heat vibrating from his body. It wasn't only the magic that was filling him, but he could feel his love and passion for Ginny, as well. The power was so strong that he knew suddenly exactly where his strengths lay. His hand stayed tightly in hers as Voldemort sent a killing curse flying in their direction. Using their joined hands, it exploded in a detonation of lights.

Voldemort sneered. "You think you've got power, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I know we have power."

"Crucio!" Voldemort exclaimed.

Harry raised his and Ginny's joined hands and waved the spell away.

Voldemort's eyes were flashing angrily now and through his dark brown eyes that red gleam could be seen once more. He was sending curse after curse at the couple, but they were waving them away, or destroying them in mid-air. He had no idea how they were accomplishing it, and if he was going to be honest with himself, it unnerved him quite a bit.

Harry couldn't explain what was happening any better than Voldemort could. He had always known that together he and Ginny had powers that couldn't be explained. The power that they shared was raw magic, once fused together allowed for them to control something so huge that the restrictions on what was and was not possible, no longer seemed to exist. Together they had power that was stopping both of them from being killed, numerous times over.

"Why didn't the sword kill him, Gin?" Harry asked mentally, as he and Ginny continued to calmly deflect whatever Voldemort was sending their way.

Voldemort had given up using his wand to cast the curses, and was now using the sword like a bat, making the curses larger and sending them flying all over the room and beyond the white walls of light, with which he had surrounded them.

"I don't know, but I think there's something you're forgetting ... the sword of Gryffindor."

Harry's eyes met hers for a moment, and he nodded. It was simple, why hadn't he thought about it? He had even learned how to fence, in case a moment like this arrived. Using all of his energy he summoned the sword to him through his elementals. Moments later it appeared in his hand.

Voldemort's eyes widened at the glistening golden sword. It had seemed to appear out of no where. Ginny let go of Harry's hand and he raised the sword. Voldemort came back to himself in time to deflect it, the two swords clashed against each other echoing in the chamber. Before he comprehended what happened, he found himself in a duel with Harry, the swords connecting and clashing against each other. Voldemort had never been much of a swordsman. It was an old, ancient custom that he had thought long ago died out in the muggle and wizarding worlds. But this young boy ... this man who had defied him for so long, could not only fence, he could fence well.

Harry was pleased to note that he held the upper hand. He lunged forward with the sword, scratching Voldemort's robes and making a small tear before he was deflected. The duel went on - lunge, thrust, dodge, deflect, lunge, thrust, dodge, deflect - it was almost like a staged play. Neither one of them were willing to yield.

Voldemort lunged forward, thrusting the sword at Harry and connecting with his shoulder, ripping his robes a bit. He grinned maliciously at this, but then watched as Harry shrugged and tossed the sword to Ginny. She caught it and it began to glow. The brighter it glowed the deeper the gold was and Voldemort moved to break it away from her but as soon as his sword met hers, he was blasted off his feet and back into the wall.

Ginny had no idea what Harry was doing.

She had practiced fencing, naturally, but she wasn't as skilled at it as Harry had been. Then when she had caught the sword in her fingertips, the heat ripped through her. She could feel the power of the sword and the cold of the metal; the fight and exhilaration that Harry had just experienced in the duel. She wasn't sure what was happening and then when she had somehow blasted Voldemort off of his feet, she knew what she had to do.

When the sword of Excalibur had connected with Gryffindor's sword, for a split second, the magic of the two had joined and Ginny had felt the power of the sword. Without even thinking about what she was doing she drained the sword of Excalibur of its powers. She didn't know how she had done it, all she knew was that when the two swords had joined, so had the magic. When the power ripped through her, she could feel her body glowing and vibrating from the heat and the intensity. It was forceful, and she knew what was still coming.

She knew what Harry had to do.

Harry reached forward and grabbed his wife's hand. He wasn't sure why he had tossed her the sword. It had just felt like the right thing to do. Now when he grabbed her hand, his elementals appeared around him for the world to see and Voldemort's eyes widened now. Harry felt stronger because he knew that Voldemort was scared.

"Are those ...?"

Harry nodded. "Elementals ... yeah ... a strong branch of magic that I believe you don't possess."

Voldemort growled. He pointed the sword at Armand, the earth elemental. Armand growled and without having to be told, attacked. The magic hit Voldemort and even though Armand disappeared, his power did enough damage. Voldemort was shaking now with the sword still in his hand. "This is not over. I am immortal!"

Harry shrugged and gasped as a huge wave of power rushed over him and into him. He knew it was coming from Ginny. He let it fill him up for a moment, understanding that the power came from not only her, but a mixture of both Gryffindor's sword and Excalibur as well. Ginny passed the sword back to him and he lunged at Voldemort. The two swords connected and white light burst from the joined tips.

The light began to vibrate, as did the two swords reminding Harry strongly of the Priori Incantantem charm that had happened back in his fourth year with his and Voldemort's wands. But this was different. The light was getting bigger and Harry seemed to be the one pushing it forward. Suddenly it exploded in a huge circle surrounding him and Voldemort.

"Do it, Harry."

He turned to look at Ginny and he knew what he had to do.

He ripped the sword of Excalibur from Voldemort's grasp and with a sword in each hand, thrusted them forward and into him. His scream echoed off the chamber walls and this time, he didn't pull the swords out. All of the love and all of the passion and heat that Ginny and Harry felt for each other had passed through both swords. Ginny had connected them, washing away the evil and all of the horrible deeds. She had taken them from the swords, into her and into Harry, who passed them back through the swords and into Voldemort.

The pain was intense and Voldemort gasped as it shot through his body. Love ... a strong, sweet, and real emotion that ripped through the little piece of the soul that he had left, and poured into his heart like a poison. His breath hitched. He let out a blood curdling scream that caused everyone outside of the circle to look through the white light to try to see what was going on. He screamed again and this time Harry built up the energy on his own, holding his hands together and tossing his last huge wave of power into Voldemort's chest. He ripped the sword of Excalibur out and closing his eyes, plunged it through Voldemort's heart. The scream turned to a whimper, and Ginny grabbed Harry's hand, as Voldemort collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide in horror.

A small wisp of greenish smoke floated up from his body. Harry grabbed it into his hands and for the last time, used his powers to make it disappear. It vanished into the air just the like the six horcruxes had. He looked down at the body of Voldemort and pulled the swords from his body. They made a slick noise as it came out of his flesh that made Harry sick to his stomach. When the last sword had been pulled out, Harry fell to his knees and vomited.

Ginny fell down next to him, her hands in his hair as he let go of everything vile and everything that had filled him. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and stood up. His eyes met hers, bright and shining with a look of hope that she had never seen before.

"It's over, Gin."

Then he pulled her into his arms and wept.