Harry and Amelia Potter

7.40

The ribboning flames grow more intense, begin to lick the flesh of my wand hand.

Harry glances at me, then at Nagini who draws closer, then back at Voldemort, who stares fiercely at us, willing the flames down the ribbon of light.

We wince as the flames singe the hair on our knuckles. Then, summoning every bit of strength I've got, I break the spell, grabbing Harry and staggering away, as the ribbon of light shoots upward and the ceiling above gives way, raining debris onto Nagini.

"I said leave her!"

Harry and I peer down at the wreckage below, then watch Nagini slither free, her thick braids oozing with lacerations, but otherwise unharmed. Another gust of air causes Harry and I to turn and Voldemort vanishes again, only to reappear seconds later on our blind side.

Harry wheels and, in a sweeping motion, sends a cluster of debris hurling at Voldemort. Instantly, Voldemort reaches out his hand and the debris grows smaller as it flies toward him, until, as it reaches his hand, it appears to vanish altogether. Then he turns his palm upward.

Sand runs between his fingers to the floor. Harry and I stand watching, stunned. Our eyes meet Voldemort's. He narrows his eerily, in a most unhuman way, and he hisses.

We stumble back, freaked out, when Voldemort begins speaking in Parseltongue. "Now, my sweet. Now."

Harry and I turn, seeing Nagini only yards away, rising to strike. We both fire instinctively, then dash for the balustrade. Grabbing each other's hands and leaping into the air, we begin falling... and falling... until we land on the stone floor below, awkwardly, painfully.

I glance up, seeing Voldemort's face. Instantly, Voldemort flicks his wand and the stone floor around Harry and I explode, the surface dancing like water. I turn to my brother then glance around desperately, then spy a door. Without thinking, I grab Harry's arm and pelt towards it and through, into a corridor teeming with smoke.

In the distance, a patch of light drifts oddly in the swirling mist, glowing weakly, then is swallowed by the smoke. Far off screams, the cries of battle hang in the air, hollow and distant. Harry and I move through the mist, feeling our way. The walls shimmer like skin on our periphery, barely discernible, melting, lost in shadow.

A low beating rises in my ears, rapid at first then growing slower and slower as it increases in volume and all ambient sound drifts away, revealing the low beating to be the thrumming of Harry and I's hearts.

Voldemort sweeps down to the lower landing and pauses, eyeing the door ahead. He glances up, in the direction of Nagini, conflicted. "Nagini!"

He waits, sees the giant snake begin down. Then passes through the door.

Harry and I push ourselves forward, blindly, silently. I squint. Up ahead, dark could of impossibly thick smoke corkscrew from the stone floor.

Another gust of air and we wheel, watching a figure materialize back at the doorway. The smoke shifts, revealing Voldemort. He raises his wand, pointing it directly at my brother and I as the smoke thickens once again, concealing him.

Seconds later a ribbon of fire erupts through the mist, stitching its way through the smoke towards us. Harry watches, transfixed for a moment, so I fling him and myself aside, narrowly eluding the sizzling ribbon of fire.

Voldemort vanishes, becoming one with the smoke, and I feel a rush of air rocket past us. I spin, blindly, and watch a disturbance of smoke several yards.

The air trembled with disturbance once more, but violently this time, the smoke whirling crazily up and down the corridor. Harry and I spin in a circle, wands raised, paranoid.

A second ribbon of fire comes from the blackness narrowly missing my head. Harry and I stagger on, tripping over the bodies that litter the stone floor, desperately gulping for air as the smoke grows thicker, choking us, a rag doll in the eye of a tornado. The light ahead blooming more brilliantly as we rush on, blinding both of us as our hearts thrum madly and Voldemorts voice rise in our ears.

"Die! Die!" Voldemort's face flickers before us briefly, insanely, and the two of us scream. Pitching ourselves forward and we are in the light, passing through, beyond the archway and onto a shattered staircase. The sound of Voldemort in pursuit thrumming in our ears as we race desperately on before staggering out onto the battlement, gulping air. We stop and look at each other, realizing we are trapped. We turn as Voldemort emerges, both of us begin to raise our wands but it's too late. Voldemort's spells blast us off our feet.

As Harry and I climb to our feet, Voldemort sends a ribbon of dark matter snaking through the air. Harry blocks it, deflecting it downward, where it explodes violently. As the walkway beneath our feet gives way, we drop, just as another of Voldemort's spells sails over our heads.

I glance up, seeing Voldemort's shadow begin to move forward. I look around, but before I can think of anything, Harry grabs my arm this time and we dash towards the doorway ahead. We almost reach it when tendrils of fabric encircle our ankles, arms, and neck, spinning us around.

I look to see Voldemort standing upon the walkway now, cloak swirling madly as the hem unravels and cloth vipers slither across the walkway and up my brother and I's bodies. Before we can react, Voldemort flicks his wand and snaps the cloth tight, reeling us toward him.

"Why do you live!" As Voldemort's face looms close, eyeing Harry and I like a curious specimen, Harry looks up.

"Because we have something worth living for." My brother says. I meet Voldemort's gaze and smirk.

"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you Tom?" I cough out.

Angrily, Voldemort poises the Elder Wand over my scar. My flesh begins to color with blood, the lightning bolt turning white as ice. And then Voldemort's hand begins to tremble. He stares at the wand and watches, in horror, as a crack appears and begins to expand along its length. For a moment, he only stares, as if betrayed.

Harry and I look too, minds racing. The tendrils encircling us begin to fray, loosening their grip on us ever so slightly. I wiggle my hand free and lash out, striking Voldemort across the cheek.

Voldemort's eyes shift, glaring at me, when he looks down, watches a drop of blood strike the fabric encircling my wrist. He reaches up, fingers his cheek. Blood. Instantly, Harry grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"Confringo!"

The tendrils of fabric burst into flames. Voldemort falls back and, with his fractured wand, slices the burning ribbons. As they turn to ash, I stumble back and Voldemort picks Harry and I up and hurls us into a wall.