𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐃𝐇 𝟑𝟒

He was lying facedown on the ground again. The smell of the forest filled his nostrils. He could feel the cold hard ground beneath his cheek, and the hinge of his glasses, which had been knocked sideways by the fall, cutting into his temple.

Every inch of him ached, and the place where the Killing Curse had hit him felt like the bruise of an iron- clad punch. He did not stir but remained exactly where he had fallen, with his left arm bent out at an awkward angle and his mouth gaping.

He had expected to hear cheers of triumph and jubilation at his death, but instead hurried footsteps, whispers, and solicitous murmurs filled the air.

"My Lord ... my Lord ..."

It was Bellatrix's voice, and she spoke as if to a lover. Harry did not dare open his eyes, but allowed his other senses to explore his predicament. He knew that his wand was still stowed beneath his robes because he could feel it pressed between his chest and the ground. A slight cushioning effect in the area of his stomach told him that the Invisibility Cloak was also there, stuffed out of sight. "My Lord ..."

"That will do," said Voldemort's voice.
More footsteps. Several people were backing away from the same spot. Desperate to see what was happening and why, Harry opened his eyes by a millimeter.

Voldemort seemed to be getting to his feet.

Various Death Eaters were hurrying away from him, returning to the crowd lining the clearing including Emily. Bellatrix alone remained behind, kneeling beside Voldemort.

Harry closed his eyes again and considered what he had seen. The Death Eaters had been huddled around Voldemort, who seemed to have fallen to the ground. Something had happened when he had hit Harry with the Killing Curse. Had Voldemort too collapsed? It seemed like it. And both of them had fallen briefly unconscious and both of them had now returned. . . .

"My Lord, let me-"

"I do not require assistance," said Voldemort coldly, and though he could not see it, Harry pictured Bellatrix withdrawing a helpful hand.

"The boy . . . Is he dead?"

There was complete silence in the clearing. Nobody approached Harry, but he felt their concentrated gaze; it seemed to press him harder into the ground, and he was terrified a finger or an eyelid might twitch.

"You," said Voldemort, and there was a bang and a small shriek of pain. "Examine him. Tell me whether he is dead."

Harry did not know who had been sent to verify. He could only lie there, with his heart thumping traitorously, and wait to be examined, but at the same time noting, small comfort though it
was, that Voldemort was wary of approaching him, that Voldemort suspected that all had not gone to plan. . . .

Hands, softer than he had been expecting, touched Harry's face, pulled back an eyelid, crept beneath his shirt, down to his chest, and felt his heart. He could hear the woman's fast breathing, her long hair tickled his face. He knew that she could feel the steady pounding of life against his ribs.

"Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?"

The whisper was barely audible; her lips were an inch from his ear, her head bent so low that her long hair shielded his face from the onlookers.

"Yes," he breathed back.

He felt the hand on his chest contract; her nails pierced him. Then it was withdrawn. She had sat up.

"He is dead!" Narcissa Malfoy called to the watchers.

And now they shouted, now they yelled in triumph and stamped their feet, and through his eyelids, Harry saw bursts of red and silver light shoot into the air in celebration. He looked to the side and saw Emily still being held on the floor, screaming out and sobbing.

Still feigning death on the ground, he understood. Narcissa knew that the only way she would be permitted to enter Hogwarts, and find her son, was as part of the conquering army. She no longer cared whether Voldemort won.

"You see?" screeched Voldemort over the tumult. "Harry Potter is dead by my hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch! Crucio!"

Harry had been expecting it, knew his body would not be allowed to remain unsullied upon the forest floor; it must be subjected to humiliation to prove Voldemort's victory. He was lifted into the air, and it took all his determination to remain limp, yet the pain he expected did not come.

He was thrown once, twice, three times into the air: His glasses flew off and he felt his wand slide a little beneath his robes, but he kept himself floppy and lifeless, and when he fell to the ground for the last time, the clearing echoed with jeers and shrieks of laughter.

"Now," said Voldemort, "we go to the castle, and show them what has become of their hero-"

Emily suddenly threw the two men off her, rising to her feet and running at Voldermort.

Voldermort slashed his wand in the air and Emily was thrown backwards onto the floor, yelling out in pain.

Harry thought every part of his body that told him to get up and protect her, he couldn't.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Emily screamed, "YOU HAVE TOOK . . . EVERYTHING FROM ME! EVERYTHING!"

"Well, I can give you one thing." Voldermort smirked, "inflectere tenebris custodia"

Emily fell back once again to the floor and when she rose, she was breathing heavily, black veins on her face whilst a black liquid covered her pupils.

"Now then, who shall drag the body? No- Wait-"

There was a fresh outbreak of laughter, and after a few moment Harry felt the ground trembling beneath him.

"You carry him," Voldemort said, "He will be nice and visible in your arms, will he not? Pick up your little friend, Hagrid. And the glasses-put on the glasses-he must be recognizable-"

Someone slammed Harry's glasses onto his face with deliberate force, but the enormous hands that lifted him into the air were exceedingly gentle. Harry could feel Hagrid's arms trembling with the force of his heaving sobs; great tears splashed down upon him as Hagrid cradled Harry in his arms, and Harry did not dare, by movement or word, to intimate to Hagrid that all was not, yet, lost.

"Move," said Voldemort, "Emily, stand beside me. Let us show them that you have made the correct choice."

Emily walked directly beside Voldermort and Hagrid stumbled forward, forcing his way through the close-growing trees, back through the forest.

Branches caught at Harry's hair and robes, but he lay quiescent, his mouth lolling open, his eyes shut, and in the darkness, while the Death Eaters crowed all around them, and while Hagrid sobbed blindly, nobody looked to see whether a pulse beat in the exposed neck of Harry Potter. . . .

The two giants crashed along behind the Death Eaters; Harry could hear trees creaking and falling as they passed; they made so much din that birds rose shrieking into the sky, and even the jeers of the Death Eaters were drowned. The victorious procession marched on toward the open ground, and after a while Harry could tell, by the lightening of the darkness through his closed eyelids, that the trees were beginning to thin.

"BANE!"

Hagrid's unexpected bellow nearly forced Harry's eyes open. "Happy now, are yeh, that yeh didn' fight, yeh cowardly bunch o' nags? Are yeh happy Harry Potter's-d-dead ... ?"

Hagrid could not continue, but broke down in fresh tears. Harry wondered how many centaurs were watching their procession pass; he dared not open his eyes to look. Some of the Death Eaters called insults at the centaurs as they left them behind. A little later, Harry sensed, by the freshening of the air, that they had reached the edge of the forest.

"Stop."

Harry thought that Hagrid must have been forced to obey Voldemort's command, because he lurched a little. And now a chill settled over them where they stood, and Harry heard the rasping breath of the dementors that patrolled the outer trees. They would not affect him now. The fact of his own survival burned inside him, a talisman against them, as though his father's stag kept guardian in his heart.

Someone passed close by Harry, and he knew that it was Voldemort himself because he spoke a moment later, his voice magically magnified so that it swelled through the grounds, crashing upon Harry's eardrums.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My
Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anybody who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

There was silence in the grounds and from the castle. Voldemort was so close to him that Harry did not dare open his eyes again.

"Come," said Voldemort, and Harry heard him move ahead, and Hagrid was forced to follow.

Now Harry opened his eyes a fraction, and saw Voldemort striding in front of them, wearing the great snake Nagini around his shoulders, now free of her enchanted cage. But Harry had no possibility of extracting the wand concealed under his robes without being noticed by the Death Eaters, who marched on either side of them through the slowly lightening darkness. . . .

Emily walked on beside him, a small skip in her step as she giggled loudly to herself, twirling her hair around her finger.

"Harry," sobbed Hagrid. "Oh, Harry . . . Harry . . . "

Harry shut his eyes tight again. He knew that they were approaching the castle and strained his ears to distinguish, above the gleeful voices of the Death Eaters and their tramping footsteps, signs of life from those within.

"Stop."

The Death Eaters came to a halt; Harry heard them spreading out in a line facing the open front doors of the school. He could see, even through his closed lids, the reddish glow that meant light streamed upon him from the entrance hall. He waited. Any moment, the people for whom he had tried to die would see him, lying apparently dead, in Hagrid's arms.

"NO!"

The scream was the more terrible because he had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound. He heard another woman laughing nearby, and knew that Bellatrix gloried in McGonagall's despair. He squinted again for a single second and saw the open doorway filling with people, as the survivors of the battle came out onto the front steps to face their vanquishers and see the truth of Harry's death for themselves.

He saw Voldemort standing a little in front of him, stroking Nagini's head with a single white finger, Emily standing so close to the snake that if she were her true self, she could end it in seconds. He closed his eyes again.

"No!"

"Harry! HARRY!"

Ron's and Hermione's voices were worse than McGonagall's; Harry wanted nothing more than to call back, yet he made himself lie silent, and their cries acted like a trigger; the crowd of survivors took up the cause, screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eaters, until-

"SILENCE!" cried Voldemort, and there was a bang and a flash of bright light, and silence was forced upon them all. "It's over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Harry felt himself lowered onto the grass.

"You see?" said Voldemort, and Harry felt him striding backward and forward right beside the place where he lay. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice them selves for him!"

"He beat you!" yelled Ron, and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once more.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort, and there was relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save himself-"

But Voldemort broke off: Harry heard a scuffle and a shout, then another bang, a flash of light, and a grunt of pain; he opened his eyes an infinitesimal amount. Someone had broken free of the crowd and charged at Voldemort: Harry saw the figure hit the ground, Disarmed, Emily throwing the challenger's wand aside and laughing.

"And who is this?" Voldermort said in his soft snake's hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Emily and Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled into fists.

"So what if I am?" said Neville loudly.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom. Be like your good friend here, join us like she has done so."

Hermione sobbed and Ron held onto her arm, both of them looking at Emily's face in denial.

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army!" he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold.

"Very well," said Voldemort, and Harry heard more danger in the silkiness of his voice than in the most powerful curse. "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he said quietly, "be it."

Still watching through his lashes, Harry saw Voldemort wave his wand. Seconds later, out of one of the castle's shattered windows, something that looked like a misshapen bird flew through the half light and landed in Voldemort's hand. He shook the mildewed object by its pointed end and it dangled, empty and ragged: the Sorting Hat.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," said Voldemort. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?"

He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the hat onto Neville's head, so that it slipped down below his eyes. There were movements from the watching crowd in front of the castle, and as one, the Death Eaters raised their wands, holding the fighters of Hogwarts at bay.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.

Screams split the dawn, and Neville was aflame, rooted to the spot, unable to move, and Harry could not bear it: He must act-

And then many things happened at the same moment.

They heard uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out- of-sight walls and pelted toward the castle, uttering loud war cries.

At the same time, Grawp came lumbering around the side of the castle and yelled, "HAGGER!" His cry was answered by roars from Voldemort's giants: They ran at Grawp like bull elephants, making the earth quake.

Then came hooves and the twangs of bows, and arrows were suddenly falling amongst the Death Eaters, who broke ranks, shouting their surprise.

Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak from inside his robes, swung it over himself, and sprang to his feet, as Neville moved too.

In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon; the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle-

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of the stampeding centaurs, and yet it seemed to draw every eye.

With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet-

Hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry cast a Shield Charm between Neville and Voldemort before the latter could raise his wand. Then, over the screams and the roars and the thunderous stamps of the battling giants, Hagrid's yell came loudest of all

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "HARRY-WHERE'S HARRY?"

As Emily began to fight, using her powers aggressively more than before, she heard Harry's voice whisper in her ear, "Emily."

She spun around in anger but nobody was there.

"Emily," he spoke again, "don't give up. I don't know what you're doing, but I know you won't stay like this. You'll always find the answer in a book. Always."

Chaos reigned. The charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone was fleeing the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearer thundered the reinforcements that had come from who knew where; Emily saw great winged creatures soaring around the heads of Voldemort's giants, thestrals and Buckbeak the hippogriff scratching at their eyes while Grawp punched and pummeled them, and now the wizards, defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters alike, were being forced back into the castle.

Emily had pushed herself out of the crowd, through the side of the entrance hall and began to run as quickly as she could through the castle, a black smoke formed around her, protecting her from any curses, Hermione was sprinting after her.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted, dragging her back, "She'll kill you!"

"She won't hurt me." Hermione sobbed, "I know she won't."

She felt inside her clothes and felt the outline of a thick book. Digging her hand into her pocket, she remembered the book that Dumbledore had left Emily in his will.

She looked down at the old, black and brown book, across the cover in big crooked golden letters it said:

BOOK OF HIGHLY ADVANCED SPELLS

"EMILY!" Hermione screamed, "CATCH!"

Emily turned around in anger but something changed in her expression when she saw Hermione's face.

Hermione tossed the book in the air, it soared like a bird before it landed delicately in Emily's hand, and just like that, Hermione ran off.

Emily sat down in a corner of an empty and abandoned hallway, finding a spot between two fallen pillars and made herself comfortable.

She opened the book and the first thing she noticed were black lines that lay on the edges of every single page. Emily shook her head in confusion, they almost looked identical to the veins that were displayed on her face right now.

Emily began to read every single page, they weren't just any ordinary spells and it certainly wasn't spells that you would find in the library, it was dark magic.

Extremely dark magic.

Emily flicked back to a page that had caught her eye, the spells description was bigger than the rest, taking up most of the page.

SPELL:

nam qui in lapide et luto dormit, hanc vocem attende, surgite et obedite. Aperi ostium mortuis, et videam te iterum

Beware, this spell may cause the caster to be killed. This spell requires immense amount of power, the estimated power needed is the power of over a hundred witches/wizards. This spell allows the caster to cross the border into the death city. See those who have died. They will see the dead ones they care about the most or who ever is on the casters mind when they are performing the spell. The caster will be able to speak to the dead but not able to touch them, but, the caster can ask them to come back with them across the border. This is then the dead persons choice. If they decide to come, they will have to pass through the casters body, this will cause physical pain to the person and there is a risk that the caster may get stuck on the other side if they don't have enough power to get back through.

Emily closed the book harshly.

"No." she whispered to herself, "That's what the other Emily would do, the weak and pathetic one."

Emily thought for a few moments of her other self, how had she been so foolish to think she could overthrow Voldermort? Her plan clearly didn't work.

The plan.

That's when Emily remembered. The plan. She had planned to lie to Voldermort, tell him she was on her side and destroy him right there and then just as he gained her trust.

But she had gotten lost. Voldermort had activated her most powerful yet ruthless side and she had forgotten.

How was she remembering this? From her past experience, when she was possessed, she had no feelings at all, she wanted to kill no matter who it was.

But now, all she could think about, was her normal self. The plan that she had came up with.

And suddenly, she realised, that she now had gained control over her possessed self, she still looked the same, the colour of her black eyes did not dim and the veins on her face did not disappear, but her brain was sure her normal self.

Quickly grabbing the back, she read over the instructions. She opened the book in front of her and closed her eyes and began the chant.

Harry was shouting jinxes and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not knowing what or who had hit them, and their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd.

Still hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry was buffeted into the entrance hall: He was searching for Voldemort and saw him across the room, firing spells from his wand as he backed into the Great hall, still screaming instructions to his followers as he sent curses flying left and right; Harry cast more Shield Charms, and Voldemort's would-be victims, Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, darted past him into the Great Hall, where they joined the fight already flourishing inside it.

And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry saw Charlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pajamas. They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who had remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and homeowners of Hogsmeade.

The centaurs Ban, Ronan, and Magorian burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges.

The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers, and at their head, the locket of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, his bullfrog's voice audible even above this din: "Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of the house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"

They were hacking and stabbing at the ankles and shins of Death Eaters, their tiny faces alive with malice, and everywhere Harry looked Death Eaters were folding under sheer weight of numbers, overcome by spells, dragging arrows from wounds, stabbed in the leg by elves, or else simply attempting to escape, but swallowed by the oncoming horde.

But it was not over yet: Harry sped between duelers, past struggling prisoners, and into the Great Hall.

Voldemort was in the center of the battle, and he was striking and smiting all within reach. Harry could not get a clear shot, but fought his way nearer, still invisible, and the Great Hall became more and more crowded as everyone who could walk forced their way inside.

Harry saw Yaxley slammed to the floor by George and Lee Jordan, saw Dolohov fall with a scream at Flitwick's hands, saw Walden Macnair thrown across the room by Hagrid, hit the stone wall opposite, and slide unconscious to the ground. He saw Ron and Neville bringing down Fenrir Greyback, Aberforth Stunning Rookwood, Arthur and Percy flooring Thicknesse, and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.

Voldemort was now dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once, and there was cold hatred in his face as they wove and ducked around him, unable to finish him-

Bellatrix was still fighting too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she dueled three at once: Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, all battling their hardest, but Bellatrix was equal to them, and Harry's attention was diverted as a Killing Curse shot so close to Ginny that she missed death by an inch-

He changed course, running at Bellatrix rather than Voldemort, but before he had gone a few steps he was knocked sideways.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

Mrs. Weasley threw off her cloak as she ran, freeing her arms. Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of her new challenger.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Mrs. Weasley to the three girls, and with a swipe of her wand she began to duel. Harry watched with terror and elation as Molly Weasley's wand slashed and twisted, and Bellatrix Lestrange's smile faltered and became a snarl. Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the witches' feet became hot and cracked; both women were fighting to kill.

Somewhere in a deserted corridor, with no one but Emily, the girl began to levitate into the air as she felt the spell beginning to work and before she knew it, she heard a large snap and the distant sound of war silenced.

She opened her eyes and found herself in an open space, nothing was around her but whiteness.

"Hello?" she called out, "Dad? Pops? Are any of you there?"

A man came creeping around the corner, examining Emily as he stepped closer.

"No." he whispered when he realised who it was, "No, it can't be. It's impossible. You can't be dead."

"Oh, no." said Emily, "I'm not dead, sir."

"You don't recognise me, do you?" he laughed, "Well, we had only met once. That was under very bad circumstances, if I do say so myself."

Emily stared into the man's face, looking closer and closer into every crevice of his face, "REGULUS!"

"Ah!" he cheered, "There we go! But, Emily, I must ask, if you are not dead, how and why are you here?"

"No time to explain. Do you know where my dad is?"

Regulus shook his head, "Once I saw him enter this place, I hid. I can't face him. I've heard him shouting my name every now and then but I couldn't bring myself to him. If you keep going, you'll find him, I'm sure of it."

"Do you want to come back?" Emily blurted out before she could stop herself, "Back to the living. I can bring you back! There's a war going on at the moment so you may want to hide somewhere until it's-"

"Yes." Regulus spat, "Yes. I want to go back, if I get a chance to help take him down, I need to try again. Can you bring me back?"

"Yes. Try to take my hand."

Emily held her hand out and watched as Regulus reached out and took her hand, straight away, his body faded into white dust and evaporated into the air.

A small proud smile came onto Emily's face as she realised that it must have worked and that she had now rescued someone from the dead.

But the happiness she felt soon went away as her knees crumbled, a scream erupting from her mouth as she felt the worst pain she had ever felt.

She placed her hands to her face to try and help her reduce the pain but she felt a warm liquid now dripping from her face to her fingers.

She took her hand from her face and saw black blood, transferring from her eyes to her face and dripping down to the floor.

"Who's there?" a familiar voice said.

Emily, using all the strength she could, stopped screaming. That voice was familiar, she couldn't exactly think of who the voice was but it was someone she knew.

She began to run, limping from the pain that now flowed through her aching body.

Harry felt as though he turned in slow motion; he saw McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn blasted backward, flailing and writhing through the air, as Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last, best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb. Voldemort raised his wand and directed it at Molly Weasley.

"Protego!" roared Harry, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source as Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak at last.

The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of "Harry!" "HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once. The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help." Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Voldemort hissed.

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good...."

"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taunt and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two.

"Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people-"

"But you did not!"

"-I meant to, and that's what it did. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

Voldemort did not speak, but prowled in a circle, and Harry knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized and at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret. . . .

"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter-and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you from dying now when I strike?"

"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.

"If it is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both," said Harry, and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humorless and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.

"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"

"Oh, he dreamed of it," said Harry, "but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."

"You mean he was weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he was cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man."

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did," said Harry, "but you were wrong."

For the first time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one.

"Dumbledore is dead! " Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle. I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"

"Yes, Dumbledore's dead," said Harry calmly, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."

"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other, like wolves about to tear each other apart.

"Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him-"

"Of course he told you that," said Harry, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand!
"Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy-I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up, I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, it did," said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done. . . . Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . . ."

"What is this?"

Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. Harry saw his pupils contact to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten.

"It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left. . . . I've seen what you'll be otherwise....Be a man ... try ... Try for some remorse. . . ."

"You dare-?" said Voldemort again.

"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle."

Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco's very tightly.

The moment, he knew, was seconds away.

"That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed-"

"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"

"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"

"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard . . . . The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance. . . ."

Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.

"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.

"But what does it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy. . . ."

"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him."

Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it.

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does . . . I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur.

Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus! "

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of a Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward.

Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hands, staring down at his enemy's shell.

Emily was now breathing heavily, she felt like she had been running for what felt like hours on end.

Her running finally came to a stop when a tall handsome man came sprinting around the corner.

Ethan Lupin-Black.

"Emily." he whispered, "No, you can't be, this means you're-"

"No." Emily said, "We've got no time to catch up, Ethan. Do you want to come back? I can bring you back."

"Yes." Ethan nodded, "Of course, if you come with me that is."

"I'll be right after you. Take my hand, quick!"

Ethan smiled at his sister but grabbed her hand immediately, he disappeared just as Regulus had done so a few minutes earlier.

"ETHAN?" Fred came running around the corner, "WHERE'VE YOU GONE, MATE?"

"Fred!" Emily shouted back, seeing the worried and concerned look on Fred's face, "It's alright! I'm so happy to see you. Hey, I've just brought Ethan back to life, would you like the same?"

"I-Yeah-huh-you're not dead are you-what are you-how are you-"

"Fred where's Ethan?" Eric screamed, now running around the same corner Fred did, "Is he alright? Fred-WHAT THE F-"

"SHUSH!" Emily screamed, "Please, I do not have time! Eric, Ethan is alive, I've just brought Ethan back. Do you want to as well? I'm gonna find Pops and dad but we need to do this quick. Fred's already said yes, so all I need is you saying yes!"

"Sure, but what are you doing here?" Eric asked, approaching his sister, "You're not dead. You can't be!"

"I'm not, Eric. Please, I need to bring you back. I need you all back with me! Please!"

"Okay! Okay!" Eric shouted, "Will you be able to do it without-you know-hurting yourself?"

Emily stared at her dead brother's face and realised if she told him the truth, he wouldn't agree, "Yes, it doesn't hurt at all, okay?"

"Okay."

Emily held out both her hands and the two boys took it at once and their body's began to evaporate into thin air.

Emily shut her eyes tight shut and tried to keep the scream inside of herself that was threatening to burst out.

"Dad?" Emily cried out, although she was shouting because she needed to bring her father back, she was also shouting because he was the only person she wanted whilst she was going through the pain, "DAD? PLEASE!"

She began to stumble forward, staring into the distance seeing nothing but white which blinded her slights, her ears ringing from the pain and now the black tears streaming down her face.

"Emily?"

Emily spun around on the spot and stared at the person who said that. Sirius was standing there, looking more healthier than Emily had ever seen him.

"Darling?" he whispered, taking a step toward his daughter, "What's happening to you?"

"It's nothing." said Emily, wiping the black liquid from her face, "Dad, where's Pops? Please, I really need you both."

"You're dead. This can't be." Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Dad, I'm not dead!" Emily shouted out in anger, the pain bubbling throughout her, "I'm alive for Merlin's sake! Dad, you got to come back! Take my hand!"

"I am not doing anything until I know what is wrong with your face. You're bleeding- you're hurt, I know you are! Whatever you are doing, you need to stop! Prongs!"

"Prongs?" Emily questioned, "Did you just say-"

James Potter came sprinting around the corner, "What is it, Padfoot? It isn't Harry, is it?"

"No." Sirius said angrily.

"Emily." James said, "Why is she here-she isn't dead is she?"

"She says she isn't!"

"I'm not!" Emily inputted.

"What is it?" A woman shouted, walking peacefully around the corner with Remus Lupin beside her.

"It's my daughter." said Sirius, "No, Remus, calm down. She isn't dead. Well, she says she isn't."

"Dad!" Emily shouted, "I'm not dead for Merlin's sake! Now, although this really is a lovely catch up, I need you to all agree to come back to life and take my hand!"

"What?" Remus asked, "Darling, what has happened? You can't bring us back. How are you even here?"

"Not important!" Emily said, "Please. Ethan, Eric and Fred-"

"I like Fred." James nodded.

"They've all came back." Emily said, ignoring the man's comment, "Please, I need you. Eric and Ethan will need you both. And Lily and James, Harry needs you. He's always needed you. If you come back with me, you can finally be with your son."

"You can really bring us back?" Lily asked, the mention of being able to see her son meant more than anything, "Really? Like completly human."

"Yes." Emily nodded, "Please. Please come back."

"Okay." Lily said, she took James' hand, "This is our only opportunity, dear. We've got to try. For Harry."

James smiled and kissed Lily upon the forehead, "For Harry."

Emily watched the man's smile, he looked so much like Harry that it made her smile. The way James kissed his wife on the forehead and spoke softly to her reminded Emily of the way Harry did that to her too.

"Take my hand." Emily said.

She held open her hands and the Potter's took one each, turning into small particles of dust before evaporating.

After they had disappeared, a strong wind emerged around the remaining three, Emily felt as though her head was about to crack open with the amount of pain.

"Emily?" Sirius shouted, holding his hand over his head to protect his face from the blithering winds that were picking up speed with every second they spoke, "This isn't right! You can't do this! You aren't strong enough! Baby, please just stop and look after yourself!"

"I can't, dad!" Emily shouted, feeling her legs shaking, "The quicker you both take my hand and agree, the quicker we can go!"

"Miss?"

Emily turned around and saw Dobby walking towards her, his thin small legs threatening to be swooped from underneath him by the wind.

"Oh, Dobby." Emily smiled, "Take my hand. I'll take you home."

"Home?" Dobby asked.

"Home. Me and Harry. We'll look after you. Come on, I'll bring you back."

"Of course, anything for you Miss Lupin-Black."

"I told you, call me Emily." Emily smirked before she took Dobby's hand and he too disappeared right before their eyes.

"Your turn." said Emily, looking to Remus and Sirius, "Please. Do this for me. For your daughter. I can't survive without any of you, I'm just a kid."

Sirius and Remus looked at each other, "Only if you promise you'll leave this place as soon as we've took your hand."

Emily nodded.

Finally, Sirius and Remus reached for Emily's hand, Emily stared into her father's face's as their body's came close to hers.

She had forgotten what Sirius' face had properly looked like. Seeing it this close for the first time in a few years, the pain in her head seemed to go.

Their body's turned to dust and they disappeared, the pain in Emily's head came back in an instant and now she didn't have to hide it from anyone.

The wind picked up, she fell to her knees as she screamed, a pool of black blood rushing beneath her.

"EMILY!"

Emily tried to look through her eyes which were smothered in black liquid to see who was running toward her, fighting against the wind.

"What is happening?" the woman asked, crashing down beneath Emily.

Tonks.

"Tonks!" Emily screamed, "Take my hand! I can bring you back! I promise! Just try and take my hand!"

"I'm sorry, darling." Tonks smiled sadly, "I won't. It's killing you, I can't do that to you."

"But, what about Teddy? You have a newborn son at home waiting for you to return."

"When he grows up, and you tell him this story, I'm sure he'll agree that I couldn't. He may be upset, but I know he'll have the best big sister to be there for him."

"Please, Tonks." Emily sobbed, "What about my Pops?"

"Oh, he doesn't love me." Tonks smiled, "He loves your dad. I'm okay to leave the word now, Emily. i've lived my life, I've had a child with the man I love even if he doesn't love me. That's all I've ever wanted. Look after them for me. Please."

Emily nodded, "Of course."

"Now go." She said, helping Emily stand back up, "Go back. Your family will be waiting for you."

"Thank you, Tonks."

After the longest time of silence, the shock of the moment suspend: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him.

Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Spout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, nor tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last-

Emily's body smacked down back to the floor, the black bubble that had formed around her popped.

She heard her father's screaming and she turned to look at them but something else had caught her eye.

A group of death eaters were heading their way, including Bellatrix and the brother and sister.

Her family turned around and began to form a circle around Emily's body, including Fred, Dobby, James and Lily Potter.

Emily watched silently, her family had once again been ready to risk their life for hers. She couldn't let it happen, not again. She had saved them and she was going to keep doing that.

With a flick of her hand, all of them were thrown against the wall and collapsed to the floor, a see-through black misty barrier in front of them, surrounding them.

"Come and get it." Emily said, pushing herself to her feet, "You've killed all of them and yet you've never been able to kill me! COME ON!"

Bellatrix licked her lips and smirked, before the pack of them broke out into a run, Emily looked over to her family and friends who were now helping each other up and smiled at them before she too broke out into a run.

She ran all the way through the broken and crumbling castle, out into the courtyard, through the greenhouses and finally stopped when she came to the river.

"No where to run to now Emily." Bellatrix said, stopping beside a tree, "You have to face us now. No running, no one to protect you."

"Yes." Emily nodded, turning around to face them, "No running. No protection. No Harry Potter. No sacrifices. Just me."

Bellatrix sent a curse and it was blocked my Emily. Bellatrix smirked, "Don't get too proud, we're just starting."

The two began to duel, both of them being as powerful as the other although Emily felt as if Bellatrix was overpowering her.

"Just as weak as your father was!" Bellatrix screamed as she continued to send the curses at Emily, "Just as fragile as your brother! I still see their faces as I finally got rid of them. They're a disgrace to my family name-"

With a sudden scream, Emily pushed her arms forward with all her might and Bellatrix collapsed to her knees.

Emily pushed her hair from her face and looked down at the woman who was now bleeding from the corner of her face.

Emily looked up at the two siblings who raised their wands but it was pointless, Emily clicked her fingers and they were flung onto the backs on the mud.

"You all made a mistake when you chose to come after my family."

The rest of the surviving death eaters had now made their way towards Emily and every time they raised their wand, Emily would simply move her head or click her fingers and they would collapse instantly.

"You killed them." Emily shouted to them all, feeling an overwhelming feeling of power inside her body, "You took advantage of their love for me. Took advantage of their grief. You took advantage of them. All of them. You took advantage of me. That won't happen again. . .ever again."

"Emily." Bellatrix started, a smirk appearing on her face.

Emily held her hands as if they were wrapped around someone's neck and suddenly, Bellatrix placed her own hands to her neck, trying to pry someone's hands away that weren't even there.

Whilst Bellatrix clawed at her neck, Emily spoke to her, "The first time you threatened my father is the day that you signed away your life. The day that you met me, you faced death without even knowing. But now you do know, Bellatrix Lestrange. You know now. And you regret it. Don't you?"

Bellatrix's face was turning read as she shook her head vigorously.

"Dont you?"

She shook her head again.

"SAY IT!" Emily screamed out in anger, her hand tightening and Bellatrix clawed at her neck more than ever.

"I-I- I do." Bellatrix chocked, "I-I regret-it. Fo-forgive m-me!"

Emily unclenched her hand and relaxed it, watching as Bellatrix doubled over and coughed violently.

"Thank-thank you." She said, "But-"

Emily had gotten what she wanted, Bellatrix begging at her feet for forgiveness, paying for what she had done to Emily's family.

Without another word, Emily made a sudden movement and Bellatrix' eyes widened in shock.

"No-"

She removed her hands from her neck and revealing blood pouring down from an open slit in her neck.

She crumpled to the floor and Emily watched as the pool of blood formed around her.

The others were now looking at her, all of them with sorry looks in their eyes.

"I'm guessing you're all sorry now, huh?" Emily scoffed, "You all want forgiveness. You should've thought of that before you killed my family!"

All of them were bleeding on the floor, their body's twitching.

Emily turned away from the crowd of dying bodies and stared out at the open waters.

"Well done." a voice said from beside her, "You did good. You're starting to become what you were always meant to be. No need for a spell no more, you're activating it yourself."

Emily looked to her left, she saw herself staring back at her, but this Emily had the black pupils, the black veins and her clothes were fully black.

"They were beginning to go." The dark Emily said, pointing at Emily's face, "The marks. They were going when you saw our family again. But, they've come back. Go ahead, look in the reflection."

Emily did as she told herself, she walked closer to the water and leant over, she saw her own reflection. Blood pouring from the corner of her lip, black veins now covering her entire face, her eyes a pool of black.

"The black liquid-" Emily began.

Dark Emily nodded, "You were beginning to get rid of it. But you'll never fully get away. Never. You saw them and you changed, there's no turning back now."

"You can't be right."

"Oh but I am."

Emily dug her hands to find her wand but instead found the book back in her pocket. She gripped her hand around it.

Hadn't I left it behind? I could've swore I didn't pick it up. She thought to herself.

But she didn't voice this odd suspicion, she kept it to herself and simply stared at the dark Emily.

"You're not powerful as your normal self, you were only able to kill these because you were becoming me."

"No." Emily shook her head, she lifted up her hand and pushed her other self into the water.

She watched as she plummeted into the lake and then took the book out of her pocket, flicking through the pages quickly to find something.

She remembered that the spell to turn her into her other version and activate her other powers was in this book, so who's to say that the spell that could take it out of here wasn't in the book.

Dumbledore knew the reversing spell, he had used it on her in the Ministry of Magic, and he was the one that possessed this book. It all made sense, he had to have found the spell from this.

And then, finally, the page was right in front of her. It was different to all the other pages, it had two spells with two different descriptions beneath them.

The first one read:
Obserare tenebras et abscondere

This spell can reverse the previous spell which is used to activate the darkness inside of them. This spell places the dark powers back in the person and hides it away until it is activated again.

The second one said:
Aufer hanc versionem a me, tolle tenebras et destrue eam. Relinque me puritate

This spell will destroy the darkness which is inside the persons body forever. They will be left with their powers but they will be pure and innocent, nothing will posses them and they will have full control of themselves.

"You bitch!" Emily screamed, climbing out of the water seeming to be entirely dry despite being thrown in, "What was that for?"

"I thought that I was weak." Emily said, standing up and looking away from the book, "I thought that, to be powerful, you had to be evil. I didn't believe that me-just me alone-was good enough. I was convinced that to be at my full potential, I had to be you."

"That's true!" The dark Emily shouted.

"No." Emily said, shaking her head, "It's you that makes me weak. You that makes me do the bad things. On my own, I am strong, I'm the strongest witch known, it's you that's weak."

"No-"

"Everything that's wrong with me, is you!"

"No!"

"The only reason I am the way I am, is because I've always got you in the back of my head. Those voices in my head, telling me it's my fault, that there's something wrong with me, that's you isn't it?"

"Yes because I'm telling-"

"I know now that to be powerful and strong, I don't have to be evil. Being me is good enough!"

"Please!"

"Aufer hanc versionem a me, tolle tenebras et destrue eam. Relinque me puritate." At the end of the spell, dark mist shot from Emily, heading straight towards the possessed girl that Emily no longer recognised.

As soon as the darkness connected with her body, the pain she had experienced when she brought her family back from the dead came back, but this time it was 10 times worse.

Emily looked down to her stomach and saw blood staining her clothes, she felt the blood now leaking from her mouth, dripping down her face.

"EMILY!" A boy screamed.

Emily turned around, holding one hand to the blood that was soaking through her clothes. She saw Harry standing in between Hermione and Ron, all of them staring at her.

She smiled at them before she chocked on the blood and fell to her knees.

Harry broke out into a run, screaming Emily's name at the top of his lungs, praying that he would get a response.

They finally reached her, Harry slid down by her side just as her body fell backwards, falling into Harry's arms.

Emily looked up at Harry, a single tear falling from her eye, unable to speak from the blood gathering in her mouth.

Harry grabbed her hand and placed it over her chest, "You did it, Em. You brought them back. You brought them all back."

A small smile crept upon Emily's face.

"I love you." Harry sobbed, "I'll always love you. I always have loved you."

Emily eyes fluttered shut, Harry placed a kiss on her forehead before he lost complete control, he collapsed over her body and sobbed violently.

Ron and Hermione sobbed too, holding each other whilst looking at the girl they loved so deeply, dead amongst the grass.

But Harry had no one to hold him, he was clinging onto Emily's body, as if she would come back if he held tighter.