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Chapter Forty Four: The Ultimate Showdown Part Two:

Ginny stood, in numb shock as she watched Harry drop to the ground. Her worst fear had been realized, she saw the Killing Curse flying at Harry and he seemed to be unable to get out of the way in time. Ginny breathed heavily, her hands shaking, as she saw Harry on the ground. Voldemort’s triumphant, cold laughter tore through her ears, taunting it and it caused Ginny to become extremely angry. She only had one idea in mind, as she flung off the cloak and rushed right towards Voldemort, wand drawn. Voldemort turned and Ginny managed to catch him off guard, viciously blasting Voldemort high into the air. Voldemort landed on his feet, and turned to face Ginny, who threw another spell at her enemy. The Dark Lord blocked the attack, before he turned to face off against the girl. A third spell by Ginny also spiraled right towards Voldemort, but Voldemort blocked it, sending a percussion wave in the air. Ginny was staggered back, but she kept fighting, an intense look etched in her eyes.

“Ah, trying to get revenge when I murdered Potter, girl, you have no concept of power and can’t hope to defeat me,” said Voldemort in a bored voice, as he blocked a cutting curse right to the throat, before he jabbed his wand forward. Ginny flew into the air and landed on the ground. She attempted to fight back, but Voldemort raised his wand, looking at her, a cold, calculating express in his eyes. “A little taste of pain, before I reunite you two, I believe. CRUCIO!”

Ginny screamed in agony, through the haze she realized that she had no chance to even injure Voldemort, especially since Harry was unable to. The pain was unbearable, Ginny wish for death, as it felt like white hot knives were twisting into every inch of her body. Placing her fingernails on her arms, Ginny pressed on them, attempting to do anything to help dull the pain. It was no good, as the pain from Voldemort’s attack still punished her. Time slowed to a mere crawl as the curse did it’s work. Seconds felt like hours, as the time ticked by. Her arm shook, dropping her wand, causing it to clatter to the ground. The only consolation was that she would be with Harry soon, but Voldemort would make her last few minutes in unbelievable agony. Ginny looked up, Voldemort’s mere presence taunted her but there was nothing that could be done to stop him. In some small way, she wished she could do more, she felt like she had failed Harry.

The body of Harry Potter laid on the ground, a black glow appearing on the area of his forehead around the scar. Light swirled around the scar, as Ginny continued to scream in the background. A shadow began to pull itself out through the scar, causing it to slowly fade by the second. As more of the shadowed personification of the Horcrux pulled itself to the real world, more of Harry’s scar faded. Finally, as the Horcrux had completely liberated itself from its prison, as Voldemort continued to torture Ginny, blissfully unaware of what was going on. The Horcrux recognized its original location and twisted, before it shot towards Voldemort. The shadow absorbed itself into Voldemort. Voldemort screamed, as once again another piece of the soul powerfully fused itself to the original. Staggering around, the Dark Lord dropped to his knees, as this one piece of soul seemed more powerful than the rest. The pain was nearly unbearable.

Slowly rising to her feet, Ginny tried to shake off the pain. Her body still ached, but it appeared to be nothing through the pain Voldemort was going through. Quickly Ginny rushed forward, legs aching in pain. Bending down, Ginny picked up her wand, but Voldemort pulled himself up from his knees, standing, slowly turning to face Ginny. Now, instead of his twisted snake like appearance, Voldemort looked like Tom Riddle, after he came out of the diary, aged by fifty years. His black hair re-grew with only the slightest hints of grey but still, his eyes held a cloud murderous look in him as he faced Ginny. The look caused a chill to flow through Ginny’s body, she had an idea what was going to come next, but there was no purpose in fighting it. Her mind was slowly slipping, from Harry being pulled away from her, it would be better to be put out of her misery before insanity took hold.

“It’s time we say good bye,” said Voldemort softly as he lifted his arm, pointing his wand at Ginny, who knew that she had no way out. Voldemort had the wand aimed directly at her and she looked forward, staring Voldemort down, standing straight up, bracing herself for the very worse. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Green light flew through the air right at Ginny. Ginny felt the magic flying towards her and she knew before those thoughts passed through her mind, she would be dead. Instinctively, her eyes closed, but yet it should have struck by now. However, the spell had just faded in mid air, before it had reached its destination. Voldemort looked confused as Ginny stood, uninjured and unharmed. At that moment, a shining image appeared and Voldemort looked at it, before he realized who it was. He took a step back in surprise, sending another spell towards Ginny, but the spell once again faded in mid air.

“Potter,” said Voldemort as he watched the spectral figure, who nodded, acknowledging his identity. “I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by doing this, I defeated you, your finished, nothing but a mere ghost, you can’t protect the world, I have won.”

“You threw the Killing Curse at me Voldemort, but do you want to know the exact reason why we had to fight?” asked Harry calmly, as he looked forward towards Voldemort, who did not look all that interested. “The prophecy that had caused you to come after me all those years ago, the full prophecy that Trelawney gave to Dumbledore. The one that you obsessed on, the one that you tried to pull out of her mind, but failed, you know that prophecy.”

“Tell me Potter then,” said Voldemort coldly as he looked at the spectral figure with utter contempt. “If you know it that is, because I bet you don’t.”

The spectral form of Harry appeared to clear his throat and take a deep breath, before he slowly turned to Voldemort, to recite the faux Prophecy in its full glory.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seven month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power that the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…” narrated Harry and Voldemort nodded, almost as if he had an clue it was something like this. “You heard the prophecy, but most of them are meaningless words anyway until someone hears them but this one was more meaningless because it was a cloak for the real prophecy, one that put everything regarding Draxxor into full perspective.”

Voldemort stood silent, not saying a word, as Harry had his full attention, before words appeared in the sky, swirling into legible writing, allowing Voldemort to read the prophecy as it had been stated all those years ago.

Throughout the land four great people of grand magical talent will found a school that young people can learn and prosper from. The bond between the four founders will be strong and great, until jealously and deceit rips them apart. The divide shall be no greater than the one who spawns the line of the lion and the one that spawns the line of the snake. The snake will rise to power, earning the respect of his peers and the utter and completely loathing of the lion. The lion will call upon a powerful yet evil force to prove his power is comparable to that of the snake but summoning such a force will put the world in great peril. The snake would barely contain the evil force but by the time the snake traps his foe, the breach between the four founders, especially the one between the lion and snake becomes fractured beyond repair.

The snake has two offspring who go upon different paths in life. One of the offspring goes upon a path that is not favorable, consorting with the worst that could be possible, and bringing great dishonor to the line of the snake, causing his earlier achievements to be faded into obscurity. The second of the offspring is not blessed with magic as her father, so she flees in shame, marrying in with non magical people until the fact that her and her descendents ever came from the snake was completely forgotten.

The dishonored line of the snake spawns a new dark threat that puts the world in grave peril. Born due to the union of the last living female descendent of the snake and a person lacking magical abilities, this person will become bitter and disenchanted, wanting all to fear him. He will succeed to the point where all fear to utter his name and he will believed to be one of the most sinister forces the world has ever seen.

The lost line of the snake will have a female descendant, born sixty years into the century. She will be the first in a thousand years to have one trace of magic within her. Despite her greatness, her son will be even more powerful, as he would be born nearly two decades after his mother did. He will be marked by the corrupt forces of manipulation as many would like to use the descendent from the lost line of the snake to achieve their own sinister objectives.

The two lines of the snake will have many encounters, with the seventh encounter, should there be a seventh encounter, being the most crucial. The winner of the seventh battle between the two lines of the snake will decide whether the evil of the dishonored line is completely wiped out or the world be enslaved by the darkness.

But even before the final, seventh encounter can take place, the great evil summoned by the lion a thousand years previous and its followers will break free from their containment. These creatures will prove to be the greatest evil the world has ever seen and will put every occupant of the world in peril, especially both of the fractured lines of the snake. The outcome of this will factor into the plausibility of the seventh decisive battle between the two lines of the snake coming to reality along with the fate of the entire realm of mortals.

The outcomes between these two decisive conflicts will decide whether the world engages into a new age of prosperity or plunges into an age of unprecedented darkness. The abilities of the descendent from the lost line of the snake, the one with the Heart of the Warrior, will decide whether the world becomes a better place for us all where the forces of manipulation and corruption become the exception rather than the rule or whether it will get plunged into a nightmare of pure darkness. Only the fates could truly tell for sure.

Voldemort concluded reading the prophecy, everything had made sense, but through his head, he calculated the number of times he had fought Potter. Seven times, as the prophecy indicated, including his past diary self and Voldemort rose up, staring down Harry, triumph in his eyes.

“That was informative Potter, but it doesn’t matter to me Potter, because I’ve won, the world is mine!” shouted Voldemort in a triumphant voice, as he looked at his enemy, who did not seem concerned at all by this. “All will bow down before Lord Voldemort, in time, my armies of followers will be recovered and rebuilt, so you may go onto the other side now, because you are not needed now. It’s all over for you now, Potter, leave me.”

“The prophecy failed to take one thing into account, one fatal flaw that you made, Riddle,” stated Harry in a calm voice. “I might not be in the physical world, but I’m going to be in a few minutes. I’m coming to finish you off, Voldemort, end this once and for all.”

“No Potter, you’re dead,” argued Voldemort softly, in disbelief, there was no way that Potter could have survived the Killing Curse twice. “No matter how much you want to return, death is final, this time the Killing Curse did its job, it’s time to bid you farewell, but do not worry, I will send your little girlfriend on her way to join you.”

“Once again, the fatal flaw in your plan was once you took my blood, you assured that as I long as my blood runs through your veins, I would always be anchored to this world in some fashion,” informed Harry and Voldemort’s eyes widened, when he realized this. “I had always suspected this, but I never had any reason to believe so, until now. All your Killing Curse did was detach your Horcrux from my soul. Not your intention, I believe, and not pleasant to get rid of.”

Voldemort refused to acknowledge that statement, just standing there. He felt that Potter was bluffing him, but truthfully he had never intended a seventh Horcrux. Dividing his soul into eight pieces could have diluted his power. Perhaps he could have beaten Potter sooner had the unintentional Horcrux. Voldemort turned as Harry looked at him, with a nod.

“It is ironic, isn’t it, Riddle?” asked Harry as Voldemort was angered, this thing, nothing more than a ghost was taunting him, the great and powerful Lord Voldemort. “The very thing that caused you to return to the body, will allow me to return to mine. You see, we might have fought seven times, but I refuse to believe that the seventh battle is over. I refuse to give up until I see you finished for good. This isn’t over, until I say it is. And I’m coming back to finish this Riddle, this time for good.”

Voldemort look on skeptically, as the spectral image began to fade into existence. Magic swirled around the body, before it flowed right towards Harry. The body gave a shudder, as Harry’s fingers began to twitch, before he rose up to his feet. Voldemort took a step back, as Harry rose to his feet, pulling himself to his feet, before he sent Voldemort flying backwards with a banishing spell. Voldemort landed on his feet, but Harry quickly shot several razor sharp arrows right towards his opponent. This forced the Dark Lord to deflect them one by one, causing them to crumble to dust which gave Harry time to turn to Ginny. He suspected she might try to follow him, but right now, his only concern was to get her to safety, instead of lecturing her about following him.

“Ginny, get as far away from here as you can!” yelled Harry in an urgent voice and Ginny nodded, as Voldemort had his sight set on Ginny, but Harry quickly landed right in front of his adversary with a somersault. Landing on his feet, Harry gripped Voldemort around the arm and twisted it. A loud crack echoed, as Harry had Voldemort’s arm held, but Voldemort managed to fight out, before he landed on his feet. Once again, two spells collided together, as Harry pushed Voldemort back, as he watched Ginny move out of sight, safe and away from the duel. “We end this right now, Riddle!”

“Yes, Potter, we shall and this time I’m going to destroy your body so there’s nothing for you to return to,” said Voldemort coldly as another two spells collided with each other in mid air, but once again nothing gave. Another two spells fired to each other, but the powerful attacks had caused a mild rumble. They cancelled each other out in time, shaking both adversaries off balance, but they quickly bounced back into the battle.

Both wizards circled each other, preparing to duel and Harry dodged around, throwing a dagger at Voldemort, who deflected it with a spell. A Kusari-Gama shot at Voldemort, in an attempt to impale the Dark Lord with the sickle on the chain. A stone shield stopped this attack in its tracks, before Voldemort twirled his arm, sending a cloud of yellow acid towards Harry. Harry placed a shield of ice around him, which caused the acid to connect and bounce off. Harry then broke the shield, sending the sharp pieces of ice at Voldemort. Voldemort had to send a melting charm to prevent from getting stabbed with them, before Voldemort sent thick black ropes. The ropes wrapped around Harry, contracting around him, attempting to struggle him to death. With each breath, the ropes would tighten more and more, as Harry quickly tried to find a method of escape.

Harry struggled for breath, before he concentrated hard, turning into his Animagus form. A raven flew above the air and dropped down, transforming back into Harry. Miniature earthquakes caused Voldemort to readjust his footing. It was the most powerful magic that Harry felt he could manage without using a wand and yet, Voldemort just remained on his feet. Only one conclusion slowly came to Harry’s mind, he had to reveal his final trump card, Slytherin’s wand. Several small blasts of fire staggered Voldemort, fighting with a greater intensity than ever since his immorality was removed. The fire faded, as Harry leapt to the side, withdrawing the wand from his sleeve, before he turned to face Voldemort. Voldemort’s eyes widened, as he recognized the wand in Harry’s hand. It had been lost for many years and Potter of all people had it.

“Slytherin’s wand,” breathed Voldemort, as he adjusted himself, before he attempted to disarm the wand. In his mind, he was the only one worthy of holding that wand, but Harry expertly blocked the disarming attempt, blocking it, before he dodged around. A concussion curse was sent through the air, its destination aimed towards Voldemort’s head. Voldemort’s shield just barely held back the spell, forcing him back. A flick of the wrist sent a sonic vibration spell towards Harry. Waves flew through the air but a solid shield appeared around Harry and the vibrations were directed back towards Voldemort. Voldemort yelled, clutching his ears, blood dropping down from them and Harry rushed Voldemort. An attack was avoided, a second one avoided, but the third one connected, with a ring of fire slicing right towards Voldemort. Voldemort blocked the majority of the attack, but his left arm was blistered. The agony caused the Dark Lord to be left susceptible for a jab from Harry’s wand. The magical equivalent of the mace smacked Voldemort right in the face. Blood dripped down to his face, as a wall of pure magical energy rushed towards him. An attempt to push back Harry’s assault was just barely kept up.

Harry continued to push the magic towards Voldemort. It was a matter of outlasting Voldemort, to kill him. Voldemort staggered, arms and legs seemed to be contorting. His anger rose, before a solid black wall of raw magic slammed against Harry’s wall. Both walls continued to push against each other, neither having any give. Never had so much magic been exerted by two people. Harry pushed, Voldemort pushed back, both wizards had fought back and forth, sparks flying in each direction.

“Give up Potter, you might have the better wand, but I’m the better wizard,” grunted Voldemort in a taunting voice but Harry just brushed off Voldemort’s taunts. “There is no hope for you, give up now.”

“Not today, Riddle, not ever,” responded Harry, as he attempted to push forward, the magic shaking the ground beyond Hogwarts and even Hogsmeade as well. Both walls of magic begun to merge together before a loud explosion was heard. In the distance, Ginny instinctively put a shield around herself to protect herself, but it still knocked her off balance slightly. Smoke rose from the air around where the two magic walls had overloaded themselves.

Both Harry and Voldemort laid on the ground at Hogwarts, as the smoke cleared. Both warriors struggled up to a standing position, as their wands had been knocked out of their hands. Voldemort’s wand laid off to the side, slightly charred, but still usable. However, as Voldemort was on his knees, he saw the Slytherin wand. Harry shook off the cobwebs, as he watched Voldemort dive right towards the wand. Quickly, Harry attempted to beat him for the wand, but a powerful solid shield was wandlessly created by Voldemort. Harry bounced off the shield, as Voldemort gripped the wand of Salazar Slytherin in his hand, holding it with a gleeful expression as he climbed up to his feet, to face Harry properly.

“Slytherin’s wand is finally in the hands of its worthy owner, the true heir of Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the Hogwarts Four,” crowed Voldemort triumphantly, as he held the wand in his hand and pointed it at Harry, who shook his head. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Instead firing the Killing Curse at Harry, the wand sprung out of Voldemort’s hand and landed right back in Harry’s grasp. Voldemort’s eyes widened, before Harry surprisingly held the wand in his hand.

“It seems if the wand doesn’t approve of you, Riddle,” stated Harry in a taunting matter and Voldemort moved towards his wand, but Harry bent his knees, leaping up. Both of his feet landed right on Voldemort’s right arm. A pair of loud cracks indicated that both Voldemort’s arm and his wand had been shattered. Voldemort cradled his arm and Harry magically hoisted Voldemort up into the air, before he flung him across. A cushioning charm took the brunt of the landing and Voldemort sprung up. A blinding black light flew towards Harry’s head. Harry recognized it as the mind shredding curse, a very powerful spell that few even had a hope of pulling out. A shield of fire appeared around Harry, absorbing the deadly spell, preventing it from turning his brain into mush.

It was time to end this now, Voldemort could not manage the Unforgivable Curses without a wand but he still had a number of useful weapons at his disposal. Flaming daggers aimed towards Harry, a cyclone of water putting out the fire. Voldemort had some moderately powerful mystic attacks, but none of them could match Harry. A organ explosion curse focused on Harry’s heart was blocked, before Harry quickly jabbed the wand. Several razor sharp cables flung forward, stabbing into Voldemort’s arms and legs. Blood dripped from the ground and Harry slashed the wand again. Fire flung against Voldemort burning him. Voldemort staggered around, with Harry turning towards Voldemort.

“You can’t kill me Potter, even without the Horcruxes, nothing is powerful enough to beat me but the Killing Curse,” responded Voldemort, as the one time Potter had threw it at him, caused him to collapse in exhaustion.

“Nothing you know, Riddle,” countered Harry, as he held the wand, before throwing his last ditch effort. Harry was nearly certain this spell would beat Voldemort, but what shape it left him would be up for debate. Still, it would eliminate any possibility for Voldemort to be resurrected ever. “ERADO HOSTIILIS!”

A corkscrew of platinum magical energy blasted from Slytherin’s wand. This spell had been used only once before in history, to completely eliminate an extremely dangerous dark wizard. It did not only kill the wizard, but erased him from reality, at the price of leaving the caster a squib. Still, Harry kept this spell in the back of his mind and it was pure desperation, the desire to eliminate Voldemort great, even if it did cost him the ability to perform magic.

Voldemort yelled, attempting to fight the effects of the spell, with his magic being rendered unstable. The magic seemed to be slowly destroying him. Potter kept a hold on him, there was no way he recognized this spell, as he looked about ready to collapse, as the magic ripped through the Dark Lord’s internal organs, inflaming them. The organs burst one by one, as blood drained from Voldemort’s body. The skin rotted off the bones. A standing skeleton was left, before it burst to dust. Harry’s Portus Amulet that was around Voldemort’s neck dropped to the ground and a black shadow appeared, the personification of Voldemort’s recently reconstructed soul. The magic pushed its way towards the soul, causing it to fade without a trace. Harry watched it vanish. With eyes widened, Harry took one step forward, before he collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily.

“HARRY!” yelled Ginny in a panicked voice as she rushed over, moving as quickly as she could towards Harry. Harry was hunched over, looking dazed, rather worse for wear, before he sunk right to the ground Quickly, Ginny knelt down before Harry, who was on his hands and knees, barely able to hold his head up. Slowly, Harry lifted his head up, as he looked into Ginny’s eyes, both staring at each other intently. It took a few seconds before Harry had the strength to speak.

“I can never do that much magic again,” whispered Harry as he looked at Ginny, as Ginny grabbed his hands, helping Harry to his feet as they both stood up, arms wrapped around each other.

“You never have to again, not for me, not for anyone else,” responded Ginny in an encouraging voice, as they looked down at the Portus Amulet and the broken pieces of Voldemort’s wand on the ground. “It’s over, you did it Harry, he’s finally gone.”

“It’s over,” confirmed Harry in a happy voice, before he pulled Ginny forward, into a deep kiss that neither wished to break anytime soon. Voldemort was beginning to seem like a distant nightmare, as they enjoyed the moment, there was plenty of time right now and there would be for some time in the future. Harry held Ginny close to him, slightly hoisting her off the ground, before he deepened the kiss. Both mutually released their triumphant feelings, Voldemort was done. After several moments, Ginny and Harry slowly broke apart, more out of necessity than anything else.

“The Horcrux, your scar, did you know about it Harry?” asked Ginny quietly. She was not accusing Harry, she was just curious. If Harry had knew and did not tell her, she fully understood his reasons for not telling her. If she had knew, Ginny could not have said she would have been of supportive as Harry going off to face Voldemort as she did. Harry remained silent, he seemed to be contemplating if he had even exactly knew.

“A part of me has always suspected, thanks to the connection I nearly had against Voldemort, but I tried to block that thought from my mind, especially if I was wrong,” replied Harry thoughtfully, as he looked at Ginny. “It does explain how I gained odd insights about how Voldemort worked that helped me survive the duel with him. Still, Voldemort taking my blood was a blessing. Had it not taken it, I would have been killed to release the Horcrux from my scar, and there would be no way back.”

“Thankfully it worked out,” said Ginny, as she leaned back, before she looked bright and hopeful. “What about the wand, why didn’t it work for Voldemort?”

Harry paused, in deep thought, truthfully it was as much of a mystery to Harry about why Slytherin’s wand refused to work to Voldemort.

“The wand always did seem to me like it had a mind of its own,” remarked Harry after a few minutes. “This time, it worked out well, as it didn’t feel Voldemort was worthy of using it, so it returned to me. At least, that’s what I’ve guessed, it’s magic, you can never really tell.”

“Well, I don’t have a better explanation, so I suppose that we’ll have to do,” replied Ginny with a smile, before both her and Harry laughed, before Ginny voiced another concern she had.” Now what happens, you destroyed his body, how are you going to prove he’s really gone?”

“Ginny, this had a drawback of Voldemort having no body to show, but I have his destroyed wand, that is something that no one would have been allowed to walk off with had he survived,” explained Harry and she nodded in understanding. “But, it had more benefits than drawbacks, as it destroyed Voldemort. Not just killing him, but utterly erased his essence from existence in both this world and the next. No magic can bring him back, but I just hope that I haven’t lost the ability to do magic.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” replied Ginny but she could see that it was bothering Harry. Squibs were considered to be misfits in both words, but she gripped Harry’s hand in an encouraging matter. “Try it Harry, you can still do it, I believe in you.”

Harry took a deep breath, holding Slytherin’s wand in his hand, before he aimed it towards the Portus-Amulet on the ground. Attempting to summon it to him, Harry closed his eyes, just waiting for it. After an anxious few seconds, the Portus-Amulet flew right towards Harry’s hand. Harry nodded in triumph, as he clutched the amulet in his hand, taking a deep breath, he was still a bit fatigued from finishing Voldemort off.

“Well, I guess I still do magic, but it’s going to take a bit more I can do it without becoming fatigued,” responded Harry as Ginny nodded in understanding.

“So do you want to go to whatever’s left of the Ministry and tell that what happened?” asked Ginny and Harry nodded, before Ginny leaned forward slightly, before picking up Voldemort’s wand. “Okay Harry, give me the Portus-Amulet so I can take us there, you shouldn’t really have to do any more magic than you half to.”

Harry handed the Portus-Amulet off to her, allowing Ginny to snap it around her neck, as she handed the pieces of Voldemort’s wand to Harry. Tapping her wand to the Portus-Amulet, while thinking of the Ministry of Magic, both were transported from the quiet Hogwarts Grounds. Seconds later, they would end up in the Ministry of Magic, to inform them all about Voldemort’s demise at the hands of Harry.

One final chapter, which is really just not all that eventful, just putting the finishing touches on the entire series and then we can call Heart of the Warrior Book VII to a halt. As any future tales for this universe in the future…well, you never know.