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Chapter : 38 The End of War

Voldemort's eyes gleamed a bright red as he became furious and was about to fire a spell at me when,

'Protego!' Two shielding spells shot at me from two different directions, one was fired by Harry and the other came from somewhere beside me. I turned and saw Draco standing there with his wand in his hand, looking daringly at Voldemort, who bellowed,

'You dare defy me! You dare, even after I told you what happened to your parents!'

'Yes, I do, because they did what was right and gave up their lives doing it. I wanted to do the same as well. I am not scared of you, you brute!' I shouted back at him.

'I told you that you were not going to kill anyone else today', said Harry. 'You don't learn from your mistakes, do you? I know things you don't know, things that are important. Do you want to know them before you make another mistake?' Harry then began to recount all the incidents connecting to Dumbledore's death. How Snape had gone behind Voldemort's back and had actually killed him on Dumbledore's orders.

'What nonsense is this?'

'Severus Snape was never your's. He was loyal to Dumbledore. He turned his back on you the moment you killed my mother Lily Potter. He loved her nearly all his life, ever since they were children. If you don't believe me, ask Ava, she will tell you the truth. Snape asked you to spare my mother's life, didn't he?'

'He desired her, that was all!'

'You still don't get it, do you? Have you ever seen Snape's patronus? It was a doe, the same as my mother's, because he truly loved her. You never realized it, because its a thing you have never, and never will understand.'

'What does it matter now? I am now in the possession of the Elder Wand, a wand which Snape should have been the master of, but is not, as I have killed him. The wand answers to me now, and what chance to do you have against me?'

'But the wand doesn't work properly for you does it? It doesn't work properly, because you murdered the wrong person. Snape never defeated Dumbledore.'

'He killed-'

'Aren't you listening? Snape never defeated Dumbledore! It was planned between them. Dumbledore planned to die undefeated.'

'But Potter, I stole the wand from its last master. I removed it against its last master's wishes. So the power is mine!'

'Haven't you paid attention to what Mr. Ollivander, the wandmaker has told you? The wand chooses the wizard.... the Elder Wand had recognised its true master before Dumbledore was killed. The new master disarmed Dumbledore against his wishes, thus claiming the wand, but he never realised what he had done. Do you want to know who it is?' You could see Voldemort's chest rise and fall rapidly as they continued to prowl in a circle. 'The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy', revealed Harry. I let out a small gasp and turned to Draco, who looked wide-eyed. Even Voldemort looked shocked for a moment, but he shook it off his face.

'It will make no difference, I still have the wand. And we can duel on skill alone. After I have killed you, I will attend to the boy myself'.

'Yes, but you are too late. You missed your chance. You see, I had already overpowered Draco and stolen his wand from him a few weeks ago, back at Malfoy Manor. So that means.....that I.... am the true master of the Elder Wand.' The two of them glared at each other, and then,

'Avada Kedavra!'

'Expelliarmus!'

           Green and red sparks shot of from both wands and met midway, marking the point where the spells collided. You could see Harry's spell slowly overpower the green one, and soon, the Elder Wand was flung high, spinning in mid-air and Harry deftly caught it, while Voldemort fell backwards, hands sprawled by his side, at long last, dead.

         Screams and cheers broke from all around, and everyone made their way towards Harry and hugged and cheered for him. The bright light of dawn shone through the windows upon everyone in the hall. I stood there, watching the looks of joy and happiness spread across faces all round, but my heart ached a little when I caught a glimpse of the dead bodies which lay on the ground.

          I became aware of someone holding onto my hand, and looked up to see a smiling Draco standing by my side.

'We did it Ava. The war is finally over. He is dead. Now we can live.... we can be together.... forever....' The truth of this finally sank in, and I looked into his shining grey eyes filled with hope.

'Yeah, we can be together....' He leaned in and softy kissed me, pulling me closer to him as he did so. I hugged him, feeling relieved and glad that I was finally free of Voldemort.

'Draco darling, we would like to tell you something', interrupted a voice. We broke apart and saw a smiling Narcissa standing with Lucius, who did not look as disgruntled as he usually did. Instead, his facial expression had softened immensely, he looked.... calm. He cleared his throat and spoke,

'Son, I know I have made you do things against your wishes, and I hope you can forgive me for that. I had no more choice than you had. I would like us to put aside our differences and try to go back to being a proper family again. And you, Ava, are more than welcome to join us. Now that Bella is dead, you don't have to bear her when you're with us anymore. So, what do you say?'

'Ava dear, I would be more than glad to take care of you. Severus had helped me, had helped us, a lot by protecting our son Draco from harm. It is the least I could do, to take care of the person he loved most, and I am sure Draco would be more than happy to have you with him'.

          I looked up at Draco and caught his eye. He looked a little worried, but I gave him a smile which assured him that it was the right thing to do. He walked up to his father and hugged him tight. Narcissa joined in the small family reunion, while I slowly slinked away.

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