"Fuck—what the actual, flying fuck," Cole spluttered, as Sam sashayed down the corridor towards us, walking, breathing, smiling at us. "Samantha—"
"That's my name, I didn't change it when I was gone," she said breezily, as if she'd come back from Tesco rather than her grave. She beamed at me. "Alright, Rory? First time I've seen you in the physical world for a while."
"I—"memories flooded back from the strange purgatory I was in.
I decide whether you can come back.
"But I killed you—"Cameron whined from the floor, everybody had forgotten he was actually still alive. "I saw you die—"
"Aw, and I'm going to see you die, darling, what a beautiful irony." Sam smiled, tossing her hood off her head, just as Cameron made a choking cough, blood spluttering all over his front. "Ugh, I forgot how messy poison is."
"Genius, she's a genius," Draco whispered hoarsely from beside me, looking as if he'd seen a ghost—which he had really.
"Poison?" Cameron whimpered, clutching at his chest, looking in pain.
"Keep up, keep up—I've been poisoning you for over a year now," Sam rolled her eyes. "Why do you think you've been so weak, letting all these people getting to you, feeling dizzy? Etc etc, basically I've won."
"We've won," Cole said, seeming still in a daze, and he reached out and grabbed Sam's hand, tears in his eyes. "We've beaten you."
Panic radiated in Cameron's eyes, and he began squirming around like an ugly meal worm, scrabbling at the floor and wailing. "No—No—not ready, please—I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"SORRY DOESN'T BRING ALIA OR JIA BACK!" Cole bellowed, and Cameron actually cowered away from his little brother. He turned to Sam. "Together?"
"Together."
And at the same time, they thrust their wands back and shouted: "Dissolutionis!"
Two beams of red light shot from theirs wands, and I heard Cameron's high pitched scream and saw his blackened eyes widen as large as saucers before the rays hit him. Like a flame touching a curtain, Cameron burnt from top to bottom, flames swallowing him in gulps and chews compacting him into nothingness.
And then his final scream rang out, and with a faint puffing sound, Cameron Wilde was a pile of dust on the floor.
Cole collapsed to his knees and fell beside Alia, finally letting his emotions spill out like stars, his body quivering. "I did it—Natalia, I did it—he's gone—he's gone—"
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here to save her," Sam whispered, and the aura of pride at killing her worst enemy evaporated, grief falling into place on her thin face.
"Draco—are you okay?" I turned to my boyfriend quickly, there hadn't been enough time to check him after he was hit down.
"I'm fine—I'm fine, love—"
"HARRY!" several voices screamed, and a new instinct jumped inside me, and I set off running, dropping Draco's hand, Sam hot on my heels.
Breaking onto the main fray of the battle I could see Harry—clearly not invisible-- in the centre of the hall, protecting Molly Weasley, facing off Voldemort with a determined glint in his eye.
I skidded to a halt only fifteen feet away from Harry and Voldemort, the crowd parting for me, voices ringing out my name like a choir. But when Voldemort caught sight of me and hissed, the crowd fell silent.
"The two of you survived," he hissed, and he began to circle Harry like a hawk with prey. "But you girl, aren't even important to this duel."
"Just underestimate me because I'm a girl, you know that worked out for you so well the last twelve times," I sneered.
"It has to be me," Harry said loudly. "It has to be me—Rory, you know what you have to do."
I nodded. "Naturally, you don't wing death battles last minute,"
Voldemort hissed. "They don't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "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?" sneered Voldemort. "What makes you say that, boy who survived by accident?"
"Oh please, we just followed the laws of nature, a life for a life," I said calmly. "We died to protect all of these people—you will not touch anybody else, never again."
"And what's going to save you this time—love?" Voldemort snapped. "Dumbledore's powerful weapon?"
"Well it brought me back," Sam declared, stepping out of the shadows next to me, whispers and shouts of her name echoing through the crowds. "Hello, Tom, did you think I'd miss the party?"
Voldemort hissed. "But you—"
"Faked my death, yeah," Sam said. "You always said I was the brightest witch of the century, I wasn't going to disappoint my master, was I?"
"Impossible," Voldemort hissed. "Cameron said—"
"Cameron's dead, btw," Sam said, almost cheerily, "That means by the way, it's text speak. Cole and I just killed him. So you're all alone, boo hoo,"
"I will still have my victory!" Voldemort screamed. "I will have my victory over Harry and Aurora Potter, as I did with Dumbledore—and then Samantha Lockwood, you will be dead!"
"You didn't beat Dumbledore," Harry said calmly. "He chose his own death, arranged it with the man you thought was your servant."
"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike.
"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you starting hunting down my mother. "
"And also, Mark Oswin chose me and his daughters over you," I chipped in. "He couldn't forgive himself or you for the deaths of his wife and daughter."
"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, letting out a cackle. "I crushed them! I crushed them whether they were loyal or not! I am still the master of the Elder wand!"
"Just think before you do anything," Harry said calmly. "Before you kill us, try to have some remorse, Riddle..."
"You dare—"
"He dares, because he's one of the damn greatest people I've met," I spat. "Try, otherwise my brother will destroy you."
"You killed the wrong person, Tom; Snape wasn't the master of the Elder wand. The power of the wand wasn't with Dumbledore when you grave robbed him either." I turned to Harry. "Now, drum roll Harry, who was the master of the wand next?"
"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy." Harry declared.
Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone. "After I have killed you both, I can attend to Draco Malfoy..."
"You bloody will not, I become master of the wand after I took Draco's wand from him," I said proudly. "And then Harry took the wand from me—he became the master, and currently is the master of the wand. So there."
And then Voldemort growled and held up the Elder wand, now a flaming blur against the dazzling sunrise. And a burning power was tingling through me like a phoenix being released from the darkness—ten, twenty times more powerful than that day, all those years ago in the chemistry room.
And flames were licking at my fingertips and those scarred, cursed palms were glowing, fiery red power spilling from them, my vision red and burning. And those words, those words were being bellowed:
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Gold flames were unfurling from me with every breath and I was elevated, all my power shuddering out of me.
I needed to give it all.
For them, for Draco, Sam, Harry, Gennie, Cole, Hermione, Ron, Alia, Lacey, Hollie, Kayley, Jenna, my parents, Sirius, Remus, even Mark.... All of these people I loved, all those I lost, this was all for them.
Give it all; give it all, all of it. All of my hope, my love, my fear, my laughter, my hatred, my memories, my everything....
And then darkness stroke across the sky like a knife, and the phoenix was seranding above my head, and cheers were ringing around me, but I was blind and falling... falling....
*****
The sky was full of stars, and my eyes full of flickering sunlight, and my limbs as soft as the clouds, the left side of my body weighed down.
Flickering my eyes left and right, I found myself lying on a stretcher in the great hall. Chatter was breaking out in groups to my left and right, families reuniting and hugging, healers bandaging and fixing, grief-striken people covering their dead with sheets. But most people were smiling.
We'd won?
And clinging to my side like he would never let go, was Draco, his arm draped across my front protectively.
"How the hell am I alive?" I whispered, more to myself, but Draco, who didn't seem to be asleep at all, scrambled to prop himself up on his elbow to look at me.
"You're a bloody fucking survivor, that's what you are," he said, his dusty and wounded face breaking out in a smile. "God—I love you, I love you, I love you."
And before I could say it back, he was kissing me softly—my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my mouth, the base of my throat, my collarbones and hands.
"We won?" I said, clutching onto his hands as tightly as I could, my head whipping around in this new sunlight that was streaming through the broken windowpanes.
"You and Harry did it," Draco said with a smile, though there was something wavering about the smile. "He used the disarming spell and you—you gave him everything to help him."
"It felt like I was molten gold," I whispered. "Everything was red and gold and burning—everything was disappearing...."
Draco clutched my hands tighter. "Aurora...."
A final note of dread clawed at my stomach. "Who's dead?"
A wry smile clung to Draco's lips. "Nobody's dead, I promise. It's just—Rory, you used all of your magic defeating Voldemort."
"All my magic," I said blankly. "I—I don't have magic?"
Draco nodded sadly. "Madam Pomfrey wanted me to break it to you—she said whatever you did, whatever power that prophecy unlocked in you... it drained you out."
"But Voldemort is dead, right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure his body has already been decapitated by somebody, most likely Lacey...." Draco said.
A life with no magic.... What would that feel like, in a world where I wouldn't have to fear for my life constantly? Would it be peaceful?
"Well I'm ready for some peace and quiet," I decided. "Maybe I can take up art again."
Draco kissed the side of my head again. "You're so incredible."
"You're not too bad yourself, Draco," I said, stroking his cheekbone lightly. "I love you."
He practically glowed. "Everybody is outside—I think Sam is retelling her resurrection, that's likely to be fun."
And so, hand-in-hand, we headed out into the new sunlight, where all of our friends were gathered on a burned patch of grass, Sam sat in the middle, holding Cole's hand. Holding Cole's other hand was—Gennie!
"Rory!" she cried, stumbling to her feet, running towards me. Dropping Draco's hand I ran to my best friend, swooping her up in my arms and holding her poor scarred body close. "God—we thought we'd lost you again!"
"Hey, I'm here to stay, even if I'm essentially an empty magical shell now." I said, squeezing her hand. "Are you—okay?"
"Apart from being a werewolf and losing my parents, I'm delightful—don't apologise." Gennie said, "Join us."
And so Draco and I joined the circle with all our friends—Nate who was clinging to his little sister like an anchor, Arthur who was consoling Camille, Ron, Hermione, Cole, Harry and Ginny. Here were all of my loved ones, who were still here, after everything.
"--And so yeah—the warp star necklace had the cure for the poison inside," Sam was finishing off telling her story. "Did you really think I'd create a poison without an antidote? So when Rory tossed the necklace onto the grave—the necklace smashed, and I could drink it. It was simple, really."
"Simple," Arthur shook his head, looking dazed. "That's more complicated than defeating Arceus on Pokemon—and that's something even I have never accomplished."
"You can do that now, we all have the time," Nate said quietly, stroking his boyfriend's hand. "We all do."
A silence passed over the crowd of us. Infinity was stretched out before us, the aftermath and recovery the only challenges on our horizons....
"So Kingsley is the Minister now," Ginny said quietly. "And they're going to try and reopen Hogwarts for next September."
"Maybe Hollie can go then," Camille whispered her eyes still watery with grief. "I know how excited she was for this year...."
"Well she's okay—she can't remember this year—but I suppose that's not a bad thing," Harry said. "I'll always remember this."
"I'll always remember Alia," Cole spoke up, his voice ragged.
"And my parents," Gennie said softly.
"Jia," Sam said with a hint of longing.
"Jenna," I whispered.
"Fred,"
"Colin,"
"Sirius,"
"Kayley,"
"Well you won't have to remember me," Sam piped up. "I'm back."
And we all laughed, and it felt so nice, sitting in this new sunlight with all the people I loved. I might have been stripped of magic and scarred, and lost those I loved and lost my memories, and been to hell and back but I was here.
I was carrying on. I was smiling, I was laughing, and I was living. I was alive.
And it had never felt so good.
------------------------------
A/N Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.... That's for the epilogue, which is almost complete and I've cried writing over three times now.
So now, how do you become a part of the epilogue?
Answer this question by Midnight, Wednesday 25th November:
How do you want the story to end?
I love you all—epilouge will be posted Thursday with the addition of all you brilliant people who answer the question.
I LOVE YOU ALL XXXXX