Finally, the truth was spread out in front of me, all of the intricate puzzle pieces falling into place. It was almost a comfort knowing what I had to do, what my purpose in life was. I used to think the purpose was to be happy, but instead it was to bring happiness to others.
With Harry by my side, we had to crawl into the jaws of death without a shout or a scream, or even a fight. All my life I had been fighting, told to survive, to live, to beat death itself. But in the end, I was a pig in the line of the slaughter house, a beast with a number branded onto it.
I had been bred to die.
The job that should have been accomplished in Godric's Hollow would be resolved, the prophecies tied up with a neat little bow. Neither could live, and I would make a choice so that my friends, my family, my lover could be safe with beating hearts.
Lying face-down on the carpet, where I had laid since the memories had ended, I could only hear the hollow beating of my heart. Soon, like everything else it would end, my body would decay, my life soon long forgotten.
A cold creeping feeling, as stealthy and mind-numbing as a dementor rushed over me. Would it hurt to die? Would it be as easy as falling asleep, or would it hurt, like how I'd seen countless people get stroke down?
"You need to be brave," I mumbled to myself, sitting up at long last, stroking the face of my mother's locket. "The bravest you've ever been..."
A gasp came from next to me, and I saw that at long last my brother had emerged from Snape's memories. His eyes looked heavy, his mind far away. I got to my feet.
"We're horcruxes...."
I nodded, and even that seemed like an effort as my body felt like a slowing ticking time bomb. "Mark actually loved me, Harry, in the end he cared."
A ghost of a smile came onto Harry's face. "Snape loved our mother."
Even though the shock shook at my core, explaining things, my mind wandered to other aspects of Mark's memories. Mark and Jenna had a long, deep-stetted tragic love that had ended far too soon. And Sam, Samantha of all people loved me.
If I'd ever explored who I was, deep to the very core, would I have ever felt the same? Would I have wanted Sam to hold me like Draco, to feel her touch and embrace? Would things have worked out differently?
"If only it could be different...." I whispered to myself. There had been so many points I'd been on the brink of death, or wanted to. Why couldn't I have ran into a car, or died to save a loved one—like Jia, like Sam, like Fred....
"Aurora....." Harry's voice was as soft as a heartbeat. "It's time."
And just like the first time we met, all those years ago in Diagon Alley, we hugged as if we weren't letting each other go. I could smell the soot and ash on his faded, rough jacket and feel the softness of his hair under my fingers.
We'd entered the world together, and now we were leaving together.
Finally prising apart from the hug, we grasped hands like children—that's what we were. Children caught up in a dangerous game, pawns to something I still didn't understand. The children of the wizarding war, we would soon be names on a memorial.
As we walked forward, I didn't even feel hurt that Sam had betrayed me. She was always a step ahead of us all, and she was so trusting, of course she would believe Mark would pass on the truth. But now I knew, and all there was left to do was walk the fragile line to the end.
This was a perfect solution though—Dumbledore, Sam, all of them—knew we wouldn't let anybody else die for us. We could stop further deaths; keep the fragile lives of our loved ones unbroken.
There would still be the snake left, but somebody could take care of that. Ron, Hermione, Cole or Gennie.... We were told to confide in them, so our word would live on, pass through the ages in our friends.
The two of us slowly walked out of the office together, feeling like we were walking on top of a glass tightrope. If we moved from our path, for even a second, the plan would shatter. If we said goodbye, we couldn't accept it—our friends wouldn't accept it, and resistance would crumble.
The castle was empty as we walked through together, we were two silent ghosts flitting through a place that wouldn't remember us soon enough. We were wandering in an empty body, any sustaining life being in the Great Hall, the heart of Hogwarts itself.
Harry pulled the cloak over us as we descended the stairs, and I felt even more connected to my brother. Wearing our father's cloak, we would all be together in the end....
Harry and I had been reunited for a reason, I could see that now. We were put together to find the horcruxes, find our loyalties before we died together. But I didn't regret meeting my brother, not one bit.
But then as we exited passed the entrance hall, we caught sight of Neville helping others carry bodies into the castle, to be reunited with their family for the last time. With a lump in my throat, I looked into the crowded Great Hall.
People were constantly on the move, hugging the dead and loved ones, offering first aid and comfort. I couldn't see anybody I loved—Draco, Lacey, Gennie, Cole, Ron, Hermione—and I felt another stab at not seeing them one last time.
But I suppose it was easier this way.
Squeezing Harry's hand, we headed into the darkness that would soon be all we would see. It was almost four in the morning, and I rubbed a finger over Jenna's watch. I had twigged from Mark's memories that it was not the Parkinson's who gave her a coming of age watch—it was Mark himself who'd given up everything to be with the squib girl.
"He can kill the snake," Harry whispered to me, nodding at Neville who was bending over a namelss body. "C'mon."
"Neville," Harry said softly as he pulled off the cloak, and Neville clutched at his chest.
"Blimey, Harry, Rory you both nearly gave me heart failure!" he frowned, looking at our serious expressions, linked hands. "Where are you two off, alone?"
"Part of the plan," I said, which wasn't a lie. "We have to do something, urgently. Neville, listen to us—"
"Rory...." Neville looked suddenly scared. "Aurora, you're not thinking of handing yourself over?"
"No," Harry lied easily, "'Course not . . . this is something else. But I might be out of sight for a while. You know Voldemort's snake. Neville? He's got a huge snake . . ."
"I've heard, yeah . . . What about it?"
"It's got to be killed. Ron, Cole, Gennie and Hermione know that, but just in case they ---" My voice choked off at the end of the sentence.
I felt like Lacey was shoving a pillow over my face again when I was six years old, suffocating wanting to let everything out but trapped. The thought of not knowing what would happen to my friends—would they die, or would they live?—made me want to keep fighting, but I had to be like Sam, cool in the face of death.
We would die, but others would know about Nagini and horcruxes, they could carry on the holy grail that could end this.
"But—just, kill the snake." I finished, trying to calm my voice.
"Kill the snake?"
"Kill the snake," Harry repeated.
"Are you two okay?" Neville frowned.
I nodded and smiled at Neville, remembering how shy and scared he was five years ago. Now he was a war leader, somebody who could really fight.
But before I could move away, Neville caught hold of my wrist.
"We're all going to keep fighting, Rory. You know that?"
"Yeah, I ---" Harry spoke for me, his words dying on his lips.
Neville didn't find it strange, he patted Harry's shoulder and began gathering up more bodies to be taken home.
Harry swung the cloak over us and we walked on, still linked. Movement came from up ahead, and it took moments for me to realise it was Ginny and Draco.
They were knelt beside a small girl, who was crying for her mother.
"It's all right," Ginny was saying. "It's ok. We're going to get you inside."
"But I want to go home," whispered the girl. "I don't want to fight anymore!"
"I know," said Ginny, and her voice broke. "It's going to be all right."
"My mum is on the other side, I don't know where she is!" the girl cried.
Draco put a hand on her shoulder. "My parents are over there too. But we'll make it through—there are people who will take care of us here."
My skin tingled and I could feel tears burning in my eyes. Draco.... After all we'd been through, I wouldn't be able to hold him again, kiss his cheek or even tell a stupid joke. The next time he would hear my name, it would be the announcement of my death.....
Like the little girl, I felt like I wanted to be sent home, tucked away from the danger. But I suppose this was home, the one I never knew I was looking for. It was here I met my friends, the people I loved and lost.
Hogwarts was the home for the wayward children—Snape, Mark, Sam, Harry and I..... Even Tom Riddle—and this was our small and broken home where we'd found ourselves.
The black lake glittered in the darkness as we walked onwards, and a small smile crept onto my face at the memories. I'd kissed Draco for the first time there, and Cole had asked Gennie out there too.... I'd been to funerals and almost died by that lake and yet it still glittered with a new light.
We stopped at the edge of the forest as dementors swarmed over the entrance. I was numb with what I would have to do, numb at the thought of everything ending, numb enough that I wouldn't care if the dementors took me now.
"The game is over, Aurora," Harry croaked. "The snitch has been caught, the whistle sounded...."
He pulled the snitch out of his drawstring pouch. I read the inscription....I open at the close.
He pressed the golden metal to his lips and whispered, "I am about to die."
The metal shell broke open, and a small black triangular stone was visible in the centre. It was the resurrection stone, cracked down the middle with the deathly hallows scratched against it.
"They're coming to meet us, bring us to them," I whispered, closing my hand over Harry's, where the stone laid.
We turned the stone three times over, and a rustle went through the air, light footfalls padding across the ground.
Our dead loved ones were neither ghosts, but they weren't flesh either, they looked like the people in memories; partially there, but not enough to touch.
James Potter was as tall as Harry, his glasses lopsided. Lily had a huge smile on her face, her expression so familiar to me I ached. Sirius looked so handsome and young, Remus' scars only flecks on his face. Jenna was there, clutching the hand of a dark-haired girl that had to be Robyn.
And there, in the centre of the circle were Kayley and Sam. Kayley's hair was fanned out, a peaceful smile on her face. And Sam looked so radiant with tears in her eyes, I almost wanted to cry.
"You've been so brave," Lily whispered, and I shut my eyes, listening to the resonation of my mother's voice, the first time I'd ever heard it in consciousness.
"You've made it this far, kids." Sam said, her voice just as smooth and comforting, even though I hadn't heard her for so, so long.
"You are nearly there," said James. "Very close. We are . . . so proud of you both."
"Does it hurt?" Harry blurted out.
"Dying? Not at all," said Sirius. "It's quicker and easier than falling asleep."
"Unless you get stabbed, of course," Sam said a small smirk on her face.
"You all shouldn't have died," my voice broke. "All of you—so much to live for..."
"My son may not know me, but Genesis will tell him stories, and he will understand we were trying to make the world a happier place." Remus said softly.
"And I finally get to know my daughter, how she should have been—and I will see you again, my darling daughter." Jenna said with a watery smile, running her hair through Robyn's hair.
Kayley smiled at me, the glint of adventure in her eyes still there. "We're finally going to Neverland, the place where you'll never grow up, never be hurt or lonely...."
"You'll stay with us?" Harry said, squeezing my hand again.
"Until the very end," said James.
We set off through the forest, our loved ones acting like the brightest patronus one could conjure, the chill of dementors bouncing off the radiating calm going through into my bones. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I had my brother and that made me brave.
"Harry," I whispered, and Harry nodded. "You were the best brother I could have asked for."
"Thanks."
"Even if you did tell some really awful jokes and sassed everybody in sight."
A smile came onto Harry's face. "Well I would have preferred it if you didn't have a complex love life, but we take what we're given."
But now, so close to the end of the road, I felt like I was on autopilot, my mind and soul a vessel set on a course towards me destiny.
When I come to the end of the road, and the sun has set for me I want no rites in a gloom-filled room. Why cry for a soul set free?
"Harry?" I whispered again. "I love you."
"I love you too," he whispered back.
Then a thud and whisper came from the darkness. "Someone there-- could it be them?"
It was Yaxley and Dolohov, pointing their wands at where we were hidden under the cloak. "They're not coming; they clearly want fully blown war."
"Let's head back then, see what the master wants us to do with the girls."
We followed the two death eaters through the twisting forest, our parents giving us encouraging smiles. Until at last, we emerged in a clear opening that Harry said Hagrid's giant spider had once lived in.
Two flies walking into the spider's web....
A fire burned in the middle of the clearing, lots of masked death eaters crowded around. Near the back I could faintly see two small figures—possibly girls—shivering. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy blocked the view of them, looking terrified.
Every eye was fixed upon Voldemort, who stood with his head bowed, and his white hands folded over the Elder Wand in front of him as if he was counting for a game of hide and seek.
When Dolohov and Yaxley rejoined the circle, Voldemort looked up.
"No sign of them, my Lord," said Dolohov.
Voldemort's expression did not change.
"My Lord ---" Bellatrix spoke.
Voldemort raised his hand to silence her. "I thought they would come," said Voldemort in his high, cold voice sounding almost disappointed. "I was, it seems . . . mistaken,"
Harry squeezed my hand one last time. "You weren't," he declared as he threw the cloak off us, the stone slipping from his fingers, our loved ones fading into smoke.
The giants on the side of the trees roared, and the death eaters gasped, laugh and cried. We took a step forward.
Then a voice yelled: "HARRY! AURORA! NO!"
Hagrid was bound to a tree, blood trickling down his face.
"NO! NO! HARRY, AURORA WHAT'RE YEH --- ?"
"QUIET!" shouted Rowle, and with a flick of his wand, Hagrid was silenced.
Voldemort smirked, stroking at the elder wand. "Bring them forward."
And then the two girls were shoved forward from the back of the crowd, and my heart leapt out of my chest. Camille was holding Hollie close to her chest, wand held across Hollie's neck like a dagger.
"I offer you a choice, Aurora Potter," Voldemort said calmly over Hollie's sobs. "If you surrender yourself to me—this pitiful thing you call a sister will be allowed to live." He paused. "If you answer no—"
He nodded to a death eater, and he forced Camille's hand, dragging the wand against Hollie's neck, smoke unfurling from the wand, my little sister screaming as flesh burned away.
"Hollie, it's going to be okay," I whispered, my voice cracked. This was the moment. Hollie was the bargaining chip, my final choice.
"You're a liar as well as an idiot, I see," Voldemort sneered. "What is your choice?"
Even though I could feel Harry's hand on mine, with knowledge flowing through my veins I felt hesitation. I didn't want Hollie to die. I didn't want anybody else to die for me.
But then I caught eyes with Camille. Her eyes were full of tears but she looked deadly calm. She mouthed, "Trust me,"
A deep calm went through me. "No," I whispered. "I won't join you."
"Then the Girl who Survived and the Boy who Lived will perish together." Voldemort hissed.
Everything slowed down but there was a roaring in my ears.
Voldemort raised his wand and spoke two words.
Camille raised her wand, and whispered the spell which started it all.
I curled into Harry, and we held each other as our world ended.
Draco and his shining eyes came to mind, his voice whispering: We almost made it.
There was green light.
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
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A/N I had chills writing this. I feel as if it's one of the best chapters I've written.
Two chapters and the epilogue left. Any theories, comment here.
I love you all and am so grateful you have read this story. x