Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Reap What You Sow
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
A/N: Here's where I kill off most of the more deserving bad guys. Speaking of which... Anyone who has read "The Heir of Gryffindor," or at least when it was up the first time, might have noticed a certain symbolism with how I kill off the bad guys. I try to make their fates fitting in a way; poetic justice/, if you will. Consider this a challenge for the purpose of fun: /Can you find any sort of symbolism with how the bad guys die in this chapter?
/IMPORTANT:/ This chapter is why this whole story is be forced to be rated R (or M), so have fun!
"Crucio//. May you die the most painful death imaginable. May all the sins of the world be hung on you. May whatever gods there be turn their faces from you. May you be forever exiled into the outer dark, there to scream in agony for all eternity." -Dzeytoun, "Daddy's Favorite"
Chapter 3: Prophecies and Payback
The taunt almost made all rationality in Voldemort's mind snap. This day, when he was supposed to have fulfilled that damned prophecy (he had managed to learn the full details), was getting worse and worse with each passing moment.
All motion in the room seemed to be frozen as everyone pondered the situations they were in. The members of the Order of the Phoenix hoped that Harry would forgive them and spare them in the fight that loomed ahead, and the Death Eaters were looking very apprehensive about having to fight a teenager who could shrug off Killing Curses, or so he seemed to do.
Those fiery green eyes focused on the Order of the Phoenix, who were watching him warily.
"Will all members of the Order of the Phoenix please leave, so I can avoid accidentally killing any of them," Harry said calmly with sarcasm dripping in his voice. "Will all Death Eaters please stay so I can kill them and give them what they deserve."
There was a moment of silence before the Order heeded their better judgment and fled, deciding to help Harry later. With a tiny smirk, Harry let them run like scared rabbits; he'd deal with them later.
"Let them go," Voldemort smoothly ordered his minions, "since we can always hunt them down and then kill them later. I'd rather make sure this foolish boy dies like he should have /a long time ago/..."
However, the last person who should have fled from the room along with the rest of the Order was somehow magically barricaded from leaving: Snape.
"Nice try, Severus," Voldemort sneered. "Magic involving the Dark Mark; no one Marked may leave this room unless I make it otherwise."
"Don't worry, Professor," Harry said calmly to the Potions Master. "Just stick with me and everything will work out fine. Besides, you always wanted to teach or at least demonstrate Defense Against the Dark Arts? Well, at least now, you'll get the chance."
Snape was somewhat surprised by the boy's almost friendly attitude towards him, but he had to admit how the new Harry Potter was starting to become more and more interesting.
"So, Potter," Voldemort chuckled darkly, "You think that you can challenge the great Lord Voldemort with only yourself, a traitor rat Animagus, and a former spy?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think, Lord Voldemort," Harry said sarcastically.
As Voldemort and Harry looked each other down, Snape and Wormtail were contemplating this situation. Snape couldn't help but feel awed by Harry's growing trust in him; Wormtail felt the same way, but for obvious and different reasons.
As each second ticked away, both sides waited for the other to make a move, while Harry thought to himself...
In Harry's memories...
Harry could remember when the spirit of Godric Gryffindor managed to contact him, and pull him out of Azkaban and into a sanctuary for him.
The Founders' Temple.
It was a maze of vaults, staircases, libraries, laboratories, and other areas of study. Conveniently hidden away on an ever stormy island, only descendants and non-related associates of the Hogwarts Founders could gain access to it.
It was also where Harry learned to hone his abilities and unlock his inner potential.
Harry was almost proud to have been Gryffindor's descendant, with Godric's spirit teaching him not only magic spanning the millennia between both their times, but also stories of the Founders themselves.
The Boy Who Lived also learned here that Salazar Slytherin himself wasn't actually the one responsible for the Chamber of Secrets; as a matter of fact, Slytherin eventually returned to the school and made peace with the other Founders, whereas his descendants didn't like this, so they preserved the Chamber and rewrote the history books so that their Founding ancestor never reconciled with his fellows. As it has been said in countless times and places, "History is written by its victors."
It turned out that Slytherin returned to Hogwarts several years after he originally left, and reconciled with the other Founders, and converted the Chamber of Secrets as another sort of defense against the school. However, some of Slytherin's descendants wanted to maintain the original concept of using it to purge purebloods out of Hogwarts. In the end, they won out, and the history books showed Slytherin as one of the first pureblood bigots in Wizarding history.
Godric used some techniques to help Harry learn information he should have learned during what would have been his sixth year at Hogwarts, not to mention some good chunks of seventh-year material.
Most importantly of all, Harry learned he was the Heir of Gryffindor, a very special title indeed. He now knew how to wield Gryffindor's sword as a tool and as an ally, never as some reckless, barbaric weapon to simply swing around.
To cap it all off, he was now an /Animagus/, too...
Presently...
Tired of waiting any longer, Voldemort once again launched a Killing Curse. "Avada Kedavra!"
The Dark wizard hoped that Harry wouldn't be able to block it twice, but as quick as a flash, Harry deflected it with his sword.
The deadly curse instead deflected off the sword and killed Avery. His fellow Death Eaters winced, but Voldemort seemed to take no notice of it.
With a swift sudden movement, Harry drove the sword into the ground and silently cast a quick charm on it through his hands so no one could draw it out. This spell was used a thousand or so years ago to keep weapons safe and unstolen, which found its way into Muggle legend with the tale of King Arthur drawing the sword from the stone.
Then, something highly unexpected and out of the ordinary happened in a flash.
Harry moved and instantly became a blur of stormy blacks and grays, accompanied by a high-pitched screech. As it slowed down to attack Macnair, everyone could see that it was now a stormy gray griffin that looked more as though it had been sculpted from steel. Griffin-Harry was armed with golden claws, and adorned with blood-red wings and feathers, penetrating green eyes, a wild black mane, and that dark red scar on its forehead in the shape of a lightening bolt.
Macnair tried to defend himself, but in one fluid movement, griffin-Harry grabbed and snapped the Death Eater's half-drawn wand, and proceeded to rip the victim's head right off the rest of his body.
As this was happening, Voldemort calculated to himself in his true Slytherin style. The prophecy said "one must die at the hand of the other," but that meant that anyone else could do anything else to harm the boy.
Even if it meant sacrificing all of his Death Eaters to have them weaken and incapacitate Potter, Voldemort told himself it would be a small price to pay to kill the wretched teenager once and for all.
"Keep trying to kill him!" Voldemort roared, retreating. "I'll kill that fool Dumbledore and save Potter for last. Potter surely can't be that invincible!"
As he left, the Death Eaters surely figured that they at least had strength in numbers, and that multiple Unforgivable Curses (namely Killing Curses) would surely do the job. Getting their wands out, they advanced just as Harry transformed back into a human.
Jumping aside to avoid some Dark curses, Harry landed near Snape and quickly mumbled, "Please excuse me one moment."
With that, he grabbed his professor's lower left forearm and clamped onto the Dark Mark engraved on it. Siphoning magic through, he disabled the spells used by Voldemort to summon Death Eaters, as well as the spell which was currently preventing the Death Eaters from leaving Riddle Manor, which Voldemort had gloated about earlier.
Snape could feel the difference as Harry let go. As Harry and his former loathed professor briefly made eye contact, the latter could see the young man's trust in him, and felt a surge of power and possibility with what he could now do to quicken Voldemort's downfall.
Just then, however, Lucius Malfoy attacked, using a Pulverization Flame Curse (the kind that Dolohov used on Hermione in the Department of Mysteries a year before), along with a few other highly dangerous dark curses. They all would have hit Harry, had not a small blur of black with a hint of silver intervened.
Wormtail/ had sacrificed himself./
Harry leapt into the fray to stop Malfoy from doing anything else when he and Snape had been thrown back by Crabbe and Goyle.
Wormtail screamed a truly horrendous scream of pain as his strength was drained, and blood started oozing in various places all over his body. He collapsed, shuddering and shaking as his attacker towered over him, laughing coldly.
"And so it ends, Peter Pettigrew, a.k.a. Wormtail," he maliciously gloated. "Anything else you'd like to mess up before you die a pitiful death?"
Wormtail muttered something incomprehensible. Malfoy leaned closer, and with the last of his strength, the treacherous Marauder lunged at the platinum-haired man's chest.
With a blood-curdling scream, followed by disgusting sounds, Wormtail put his hand through Malfoy's chest, effectively demolishing the latter's heart and lungs in the process. Both men then died, each in their own heaps of blood.
Harry felt a pang of something like sympathy for the man who betrayed his parents, but pushing those thoughts aside for later, he lunged into battle with the remaining Death Eaters.
Snape merely picked them off using a wide array of Dark curses (though not Unforgivables, as he had no desire to be tossed into Azkaban after this), and quickly disabled and bound Death Eaters before sending them off with Portkeys. Not only would he gain some fame and recognition for the capture of Death Eaters, but by bringing in alive the fathers of some of his Slytherin students, he could avoid any future conflicts with them. After some deliberation, Snape also sent back Cornwall so he could meet his own fate at the hands of the justice system he infiltrated for Voldemort.
Those that Harry faced, on the other hand, weren't so lucky.
As they all fired curses at him, Harry ran while shielding himself with his sword with swift movements, so some curses missed him altogether while others bounced back. Rodolphus Lestrange was hit with his own rebounded Cruciatus Curse, so he screamed in pain just as Harry dispatched him, thus putting him out of his misery. His younger brother Rabastan tried to avenge his death, only to meet his own as Harry went in and eviscerated him with one upward stroke.
Mulciber, Jugson, and Rookwood all tried to circle him and pin him down while Dolohov started to fire a number of nasty curses at him; Harry countered by sweeping low with the sword, cutting through their legs and rupturing blood vessels; as they all staggered, Dolohov's curses (meant for Harry, who narrowly avoided them just in time) did the job and killed them all.
Seeing Harry's slight distraction at watching the three Death Eaters die on the spot, Dolohov quickly yelled "Expelliarmus!"
Harry's sword flew out of his hand, but he had a backup. Whipping out his wand, he yelled, "Stupefy!"
Dolohov managed to block it, and then launched a massive amount of the Pulverization Flame curse, the same one which nearly killed Hermione a year before in the Department of Mysteries. Harry used an advanced shield charm to send it all back in multiplied amounts; within seconds, Dolohov was dead, a victim of the brutality he once unleashed on so many others.
"Avada Kedavra!" shouted a voice from behind.
Harry jumped out of the way just in time and turned around to see Cho, who was as mad as hell and clearly intent on making Harry suffer as much as possible.
Both of them moved so quickly they were in perfect sync as they simultaneously launched their next attacks.
"Crucio!" Cho screeched.
"Occidiarmus!" Harry yelled.
Both curses went right past each other; Harry screamed in pain while Cho's wand exploded into splinters. She screamed a god-awful scream as one scratched her cheek and another went into her hand.
Recovering, Harry taunted, "I'm surprised your boss didn't teach you a Wand-Destroying Curse! I know the spell's dark, but hey, self-defense, right?"
As she turned, ready to flee, she yelled, "How dare you preach about defense when you couldn't even defend Cedric..."
Those words caused Harry's blood to boil; how dare she accuse him of murdering Cedric Diggory! Losing his cool, he grabbed his wand and screamed, "YOU DEFILE CEDRIC'S MEMORY BY DOING ALL THIS, SO SHUT UP, YOU HEARTLESS /BITCH/!"
Finally turning around to run, Cho made to get away just as Harry conjured a spear. The traitorous Ravenclaw was about to turn a corner before she collided into Snape and was spun around. Seizing his chance, Harry took the spear and threw it with unbelievable strength (his anger and magic were funneled into his strength).
Snape saw what was happening and dived out of the way with cat-like reflexes; Cho, however, wasn't so lucky.
With equally deadly force and accuracy, the spear impaled her straight through her heart, effectively pinning her to the wall behind her. As she dangled mere inches above the ground, she wrestled with it and tried to pry it out, but died a few moments later.
"I stand corrected," Harry muttered, "she did have a heart."
Suddenly, high-pitched cackling rang out. "Aw, does ickle wee Potter miss his girlfriend like he misses his wittle doggy godfather?"
"Bellatrix..." he growled. Turning to Snape, he said, "Professor, get out of here now! I'll deal with the rest."
Snape could only nod with something like shock and amazement, but before he ran out, Harry thought he saw something like a lingering smirk on his professor's face.
As Bellatrix leapt out of the shadows, itching to fight, Harry got his wand ready and immediately stood his ground to fight back.
For the next several minutes, the two of them fought like tigers, each of them viciously lashing out with jinxes, hexes and curses.
"You certainly don't fight like someone fresh out of Azkaban, Potter!" she spat. "What secrets are you hiding?"
"Ha!" Harry scoffed. "You're one of the last people I'd ever tell, /Bitch/-atrix!"
"Aw, ickle noble Potter, going the way of your dear godfather!"
That brought Harry's temper right back up to explosive levels. "At least I don't kill my own family and kin!" he roared. "MALEDICTUM FURIARUM!"
What looked like three miniature winged demonesses with whips flew at Bellatrix. After each of them whipped Bellatrix once (she shrieked in pain with each hit), they vanished with noxious clouds of smoke.
As she staggered in pain and tried to remain upright, she started an incantation which would have caused the entire manor to go up in an explosion, starting with Harry, whom she was currently aiming it at.
In a risky move, Harry swung his wand at her and shouted, "Spiculae Argentae!"
The Silver Dart Curse he threw at her was only partially deflected, as some of the magic Bellatrix was trying to summon; however, two darts did manage to get through.
Somehow, they managed to pierce her right through her wrists and nail her up against the wall right behind her. In her awkward position, she looked like she was being crucified.
"What are you waiting for, Potter!?" she shrieked, completely psychotic now. "Kill me already and be done with it!"
"No," Harry muttered after a moment's thought. "You just hang around and die. It should give Sirius enough time to plan for your arrival in the afterlife. I daresay you'd be requesting a transfer for the place downstairs soon enough."
She growled and tried to get loose, but she was nailed like an insect specimen in a display case.
"You're a hypocrite, you know that?" he gloated. "You dispense all that pain, and yet you can't stand a dose of your own medicine."
"ROT IN HELL, POTTER!" she screamed, still struggling.
"Ladies first," he shot back sarcastically. After collecting his ancestor's sword, he walked out, calling back to her, "Happy trails in hell, Bellatrix, and send Sirius my regards!"
Back inside, moments seemed to pass like eternity as Bellatrix wished she could just die quicker, or Aurors would show up and get her down... which ever happened first...
Outside Riddle Manor...
Up on a hill, Voldemort was surrounded by his lesser-ranking Death Eaters, watching Riddle Manor for any sign of movement. Suddenly...
CRASH! Some dark blur (made darker by the night itself) burst out a window and flew straight at Voldemort.
With a beastly screech and an arctic howl of pain, the griffin Animagus slashed at Voldemort's face while the target screamed in pain.
Getting out his wand, Voldemort shouted at the griffin, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The griffin crumpled to the ground, but didn't die. It transformed back into a very exhausted and very aggravated Harry Potter.
Raising his wand menacingly, Voldemort darkly chuckled, "Any last words you'd like me to hear, Potter?"
"Yes indeed," Harry ground out, putting his wand away with one hand and fingering his sword in the other. Suddenly whipping out the sword, he yelled, "GO TO HELL, RIDDLE, AND TAKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU!"
Raising his sword, Harry yelled, "Gladius Cuoris!"
And then he struck.
At the same time...
Down in the village, the Order waited anxiously from a distance, magically surveying Riddle Manor from the top of a hill.
Snape just came rushing up to them, and after catching his breath, he was about to say something when Luna interrupted him.
"Look!" she said, pointing to the hill next to the manor. "Something's flickering!"
Indeed there was. What started out as a tiny light, barely visible from their distance, was growing in size.
And then it exploded in a flickering fireball, with the eruption catching up to them a few seconds later, causing the ground to shake violently.
The fireball expanded out to nearly a hundred meters before it stopped and began to dissipate. As it started to fade, a crater in the ground was visible. Dumbledore's heart nearly stopped as gruesome images of Harry's death filled his head.
Throwing all caution into the wind, he Apprated over there to the edge of the crater, only to see one solitary figure climb out.
It was Harry. His robes were half-ruined, there were scratches all over his body, and his glasses were askew on his head. He just staggered aimlessly, trying to get out of the crater. Half-burned skeletons of Voldemort and his minions lay all over the crater in positions no human could assume while alive.
Dumbledore started to calm somewhat. Voldemort and the majority of his followers were dead, the prophecy was fulfilled, and Harry was alive and relatively unhurt (or at least from what the Headmaster could tell at first sight).
The rest of the Order was hurrying back over to see what happened. Harry's friends, professors, and acquaintances were all hurrying over to see what happened and if the Boy Who Lived was okay.
Hermione gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth when she saw Harry, and Ron went extremely pale. Abandoning all pretense, Neville actually jumped and skidded down the crater to make sure Harry was okay.
"Harry... are you okay?" Neville asked uncertainly.
Harry just stared at Neville for one moment before collapsing from exhaustion and blacking out.
Neville caught him just in time, hoping to Merlin and whoever else would listen that Harry wouldn't suffer enormous mounts of grief for the mistakes everyone else made.
(End of Chapter 3.)
A/N: Well, sorry if this final battle was not up to par, but then again, killing Voldemort and his minions wasn't the purpose of the fic.
Note about the possibility with Salazar Slytherin: This is also the same as in my "Heir of Gryffindor" story. Full details on my version on what could have been can be seen at the beginning of Chapter 25.
Note about the Wand-Destroying Curse: "Occidere" is Latin, meaning to kill, destroy, or ruin ("Occido" means "I kill/destroy/ruin"), and "Arma" comes from the Latin word for "weapon." I figured this might be considered Dark by Wizarding society.
Note about the Curse of the Furies: According to Roman mythology, the three Furies (the Eumenides in Greek mythology) were three sister goddesses who punished people who hurt or killed their friends or family. They are often depicted as goddess with whips (they used the whips to punish their victims).
There's even a reference to the Furies in that song by R.E.M., "It's the End Of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)": "Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck..."
Note about the final spell Harry used: "Gladius Cuoris" means "Sword of the Heart" in classical Latin.
A/N: Here's where I kill off most of the more deserving bad guys. Speaking of which... Anyone who has read "The Heir of Gryffindor," or at least when it was up the first time, might have noticed a certain symbolism with how I kill off the bad guys. I try to make their fates fitting in a way; poetic justice/, if you will. Consider this a challenge for the purpose of fun: /Can you find any sort of symbolism with how the bad guys die in this chapter?
/IMPORTANT:/ This chapter is why this whole story is be forced to be rated R (or M), so have fun!
"Crucio//. May you die the most painful death imaginable. May all the sins of the world be hung on you. May whatever gods there be turn their faces from you. May you be forever exiled into the outer dark, there to scream in agony for all eternity." -Dzeytoun, "Daddy's Favorite"
Chapter 3: Prophecies and Payback
The taunt almost made all rationality in Voldemort's mind snap. This day, when he was supposed to have fulfilled that damned prophecy (he had managed to learn the full details), was getting worse and worse with each passing moment.
All motion in the room seemed to be frozen as everyone pondered the situations they were in. The members of the Order of the Phoenix hoped that Harry would forgive them and spare them in the fight that loomed ahead, and the Death Eaters were looking very apprehensive about having to fight a teenager who could shrug off Killing Curses, or so he seemed to do.
Those fiery green eyes focused on the Order of the Phoenix, who were watching him warily.
"Will all members of the Order of the Phoenix please leave, so I can avoid accidentally killing any of them," Harry said calmly with sarcasm dripping in his voice. "Will all Death Eaters please stay so I can kill them and give them what they deserve."
There was a moment of silence before the Order heeded their better judgment and fled, deciding to help Harry later. With a tiny smirk, Harry let them run like scared rabbits; he'd deal with them later.
"Let them go," Voldemort smoothly ordered his minions, "since we can always hunt them down and then kill them later. I'd rather make sure this foolish boy dies like he should have /a long time ago/..."
However, the last person who should have fled from the room along with the rest of the Order was somehow magically barricaded from leaving: Snape.
"Nice try, Severus," Voldemort sneered. "Magic involving the Dark Mark; no one Marked may leave this room unless I make it otherwise."
"Don't worry, Professor," Harry said calmly to the Potions Master. "Just stick with me and everything will work out fine. Besides, you always wanted to teach or at least demonstrate Defense Against the Dark Arts? Well, at least now, you'll get the chance."
Snape was somewhat surprised by the boy's almost friendly attitude towards him, but he had to admit how the new Harry Potter was starting to become more and more interesting.
"So, Potter," Voldemort chuckled darkly, "You think that you can challenge the great Lord Voldemort with only yourself, a traitor rat Animagus, and a former spy?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think, Lord Voldemort," Harry said sarcastically.
As Voldemort and Harry looked each other down, Snape and Wormtail were contemplating this situation. Snape couldn't help but feel awed by Harry's growing trust in him; Wormtail felt the same way, but for obvious and different reasons.
As each second ticked away, both sides waited for the other to make a move, while Harry thought to himself...
In Harry's memories...
Harry could remember when the spirit of Godric Gryffindor managed to contact him, and pull him out of Azkaban and into a sanctuary for him.
The Founders' Temple.
It was a maze of vaults, staircases, libraries, laboratories, and other areas of study. Conveniently hidden away on an ever stormy island, only descendants and non-related associates of the Hogwarts Founders could gain access to it.
It was also where Harry learned to hone his abilities and unlock his inner potential.
Harry was almost proud to have been Gryffindor's descendant, with Godric's spirit teaching him not only magic spanning the millennia between both their times, but also stories of the Founders themselves.
The Boy Who Lived also learned here that Salazar Slytherin himself wasn't actually the one responsible for the Chamber of Secrets; as a matter of fact, Slytherin eventually returned to the school and made peace with the other Founders, whereas his descendants didn't like this, so they preserved the Chamber and rewrote the history books so that their Founding ancestor never reconciled with his fellows. As it has been said in countless times and places, "History is written by its victors."
It turned out that Slytherin returned to Hogwarts several years after he originally left, and reconciled with the other Founders, and converted the Chamber of Secrets as another sort of defense against the school. However, some of Slytherin's descendants wanted to maintain the original concept of using it to purge purebloods out of Hogwarts. In the end, they won out, and the history books showed Slytherin as one of the first pureblood bigots in Wizarding history.
Godric used some techniques to help Harry learn information he should have learned during what would have been his sixth year at Hogwarts, not to mention some good chunks of seventh-year material.
Most importantly of all, Harry learned he was the Heir of Gryffindor, a very special title indeed. He now knew how to wield Gryffindor's sword as a tool and as an ally, never as some reckless, barbaric weapon to simply swing around.
To cap it all off, he was now an /Animagus/, too...
Presently...
Tired of waiting any longer, Voldemort once again launched a Killing Curse. "Avada Kedavra!"
The Dark wizard hoped that Harry wouldn't be able to block it twice, but as quick as a flash, Harry deflected it with his sword.
The deadly curse instead deflected off the sword and killed Avery. His fellow Death Eaters winced, but Voldemort seemed to take no notice of it.
With a swift sudden movement, Harry drove the sword into the ground and silently cast a quick charm on it through his hands so no one could draw it out. This spell was used a thousand or so years ago to keep weapons safe and unstolen, which found its way into Muggle legend with the tale of King Arthur drawing the sword from the stone.
Then, something highly unexpected and out of the ordinary happened in a flash.
Harry moved and instantly became a blur of stormy blacks and grays, accompanied by a high-pitched screech. As it slowed down to attack Macnair, everyone could see that it was now a stormy gray griffin that looked more as though it had been sculpted from steel. Griffin-Harry was armed with golden claws, and adorned with blood-red wings and feathers, penetrating green eyes, a wild black mane, and that dark red scar on its forehead in the shape of a lightening bolt.
Macnair tried to defend himself, but in one fluid movement, griffin-Harry grabbed and snapped the Death Eater's half-drawn wand, and proceeded to rip the victim's head right off the rest of his body.
As this was happening, Voldemort calculated to himself in his true Slytherin style. The prophecy said "one must die at the hand of the other," but that meant that anyone else could do anything else to harm the boy.
Even if it meant sacrificing all of his Death Eaters to have them weaken and incapacitate Potter, Voldemort told himself it would be a small price to pay to kill the wretched teenager once and for all.
"Keep trying to kill him!" Voldemort roared, retreating. "I'll kill that fool Dumbledore and save Potter for last. Potter surely can't be that invincible!"
As he left, the Death Eaters surely figured that they at least had strength in numbers, and that multiple Unforgivable Curses (namely Killing Curses) would surely do the job. Getting their wands out, they advanced just as Harry transformed back into a human.
Jumping aside to avoid some Dark curses, Harry landed near Snape and quickly mumbled, "Please excuse me one moment."
With that, he grabbed his professor's lower left forearm and clamped onto the Dark Mark engraved on it. Siphoning magic through, he disabled the spells used by Voldemort to summon Death Eaters, as well as the spell which was currently preventing the Death Eaters from leaving Riddle Manor, which Voldemort had gloated about earlier.
Snape could feel the difference as Harry let go. As Harry and his former loathed professor briefly made eye contact, the latter could see the young man's trust in him, and felt a surge of power and possibility with what he could now do to quicken Voldemort's downfall.
Just then, however, Lucius Malfoy attacked, using a Pulverization Flame Curse (the kind that Dolohov used on Hermione in the Department of Mysteries a year before), along with a few other highly dangerous dark curses. They all would have hit Harry, had not a small blur of black with a hint of silver intervened.
Wormtail/ had sacrificed himself./
Harry leapt into the fray to stop Malfoy from doing anything else when he and Snape had been thrown back by Crabbe and Goyle.
Wormtail screamed a truly horrendous scream of pain as his strength was drained, and blood started oozing in various places all over his body. He collapsed, shuddering and shaking as his attacker towered over him, laughing coldly.
"And so it ends, Peter Pettigrew, a.k.a. Wormtail," he maliciously gloated. "Anything else you'd like to mess up before you die a pitiful death?"
Wormtail muttered something incomprehensible. Malfoy leaned closer, and with the last of his strength, the treacherous Marauder lunged at the platinum-haired man's chest.
With a blood-curdling scream, followed by disgusting sounds, Wormtail put his hand through Malfoy's chest, effectively demolishing the latter's heart and lungs in the process. Both men then died, each in their own heaps of blood.
Harry felt a pang of something like sympathy for the man who betrayed his parents, but pushing those thoughts aside for later, he lunged into battle with the remaining Death Eaters.
Snape merely picked them off using a wide array of Dark curses (though not Unforgivables, as he had no desire to be tossed into Azkaban after this), and quickly disabled and bound Death Eaters before sending them off with Portkeys. Not only would he gain some fame and recognition for the capture of Death Eaters, but by bringing in alive the fathers of some of his Slytherin students, he could avoid any future conflicts with them. After some deliberation, Snape also sent back Cornwall so he could meet his own fate at the hands of the justice system he infiltrated for Voldemort.
Those that Harry faced, on the other hand, weren't so lucky.
As they all fired curses at him, Harry ran while shielding himself with his sword with swift movements, so some curses missed him altogether while others bounced back. Rodolphus Lestrange was hit with his own rebounded Cruciatus Curse, so he screamed in pain just as Harry dispatched him, thus putting him out of his misery. His younger brother Rabastan tried to avenge his death, only to meet his own as Harry went in and eviscerated him with one upward stroke.
Mulciber, Jugson, and Rookwood all tried to circle him and pin him down while Dolohov started to fire a number of nasty curses at him; Harry countered by sweeping low with the sword, cutting through their legs and rupturing blood vessels; as they all staggered, Dolohov's curses (meant for Harry, who narrowly avoided them just in time) did the job and killed them all.
Seeing Harry's slight distraction at watching the three Death Eaters die on the spot, Dolohov quickly yelled "Expelliarmus!"
Harry's sword flew out of his hand, but he had a backup. Whipping out his wand, he yelled, "Stupefy!"
Dolohov managed to block it, and then launched a massive amount of the Pulverization Flame curse, the same one which nearly killed Hermione a year before in the Department of Mysteries. Harry used an advanced shield charm to send it all back in multiplied amounts; within seconds, Dolohov was dead, a victim of the brutality he once unleashed on so many others.
"Avada Kedavra!" shouted a voice from behind.
Harry jumped out of the way just in time and turned around to see Cho, who was as mad as hell and clearly intent on making Harry suffer as much as possible.
Both of them moved so quickly they were in perfect sync as they simultaneously launched their next attacks.
"Crucio!" Cho screeched.
"Occidiarmus!" Harry yelled.
Both curses went right past each other; Harry screamed in pain while Cho's wand exploded into splinters. She screamed a god-awful scream as one scratched her cheek and another went into her hand.
Recovering, Harry taunted, "I'm surprised your boss didn't teach you a Wand-Destroying Curse! I know the spell's dark, but hey, self-defense, right?"
As she turned, ready to flee, she yelled, "How dare you preach about defense when you couldn't even defend Cedric..."
Those words caused Harry's blood to boil; how dare she accuse him of murdering Cedric Diggory! Losing his cool, he grabbed his wand and screamed, "YOU DEFILE CEDRIC'S MEMORY BY DOING ALL THIS, SO SHUT UP, YOU HEARTLESS /BITCH/!"
Finally turning around to run, Cho made to get away just as Harry conjured a spear. The traitorous Ravenclaw was about to turn a corner before she collided into Snape and was spun around. Seizing his chance, Harry took the spear and threw it with unbelievable strength (his anger and magic were funneled into his strength).
Snape saw what was happening and dived out of the way with cat-like reflexes; Cho, however, wasn't so lucky.
With equally deadly force and accuracy, the spear impaled her straight through her heart, effectively pinning her to the wall behind her. As she dangled mere inches above the ground, she wrestled with it and tried to pry it out, but died a few moments later.
"I stand corrected," Harry muttered, "she did have a heart."
Suddenly, high-pitched cackling rang out. "Aw, does ickle wee Potter miss his girlfriend like he misses his wittle doggy godfather?"
"Bellatrix..." he growled. Turning to Snape, he said, "Professor, get out of here now! I'll deal with the rest."
Snape could only nod with something like shock and amazement, but before he ran out, Harry thought he saw something like a lingering smirk on his professor's face.
As Bellatrix leapt out of the shadows, itching to fight, Harry got his wand ready and immediately stood his ground to fight back.
For the next several minutes, the two of them fought like tigers, each of them viciously lashing out with jinxes, hexes and curses.
"You certainly don't fight like someone fresh out of Azkaban, Potter!" she spat. "What secrets are you hiding?"
"Ha!" Harry scoffed. "You're one of the last people I'd ever tell, /Bitch/-atrix!"
"Aw, ickle noble Potter, going the way of your dear godfather!"
That brought Harry's temper right back up to explosive levels. "At least I don't kill my own family and kin!" he roared. "MALEDICTUM FURIARUM!"
What looked like three miniature winged demonesses with whips flew at Bellatrix. After each of them whipped Bellatrix once (she shrieked in pain with each hit), they vanished with noxious clouds of smoke.
As she staggered in pain and tried to remain upright, she started an incantation which would have caused the entire manor to go up in an explosion, starting with Harry, whom she was currently aiming it at.
In a risky move, Harry swung his wand at her and shouted, "Spiculae Argentae!"
The Silver Dart Curse he threw at her was only partially deflected, as some of the magic Bellatrix was trying to summon; however, two darts did manage to get through.
Somehow, they managed to pierce her right through her wrists and nail her up against the wall right behind her. In her awkward position, she looked like she was being crucified.
"What are you waiting for, Potter!?" she shrieked, completely psychotic now. "Kill me already and be done with it!"
"No," Harry muttered after a moment's thought. "You just hang around and die. It should give Sirius enough time to plan for your arrival in the afterlife. I daresay you'd be requesting a transfer for the place downstairs soon enough."
She growled and tried to get loose, but she was nailed like an insect specimen in a display case.
"You're a hypocrite, you know that?" he gloated. "You dispense all that pain, and yet you can't stand a dose of your own medicine."
"ROT IN HELL, POTTER!" she screamed, still struggling.
"Ladies first," he shot back sarcastically. After collecting his ancestor's sword, he walked out, calling back to her, "Happy trails in hell, Bellatrix, and send Sirius my regards!"
Back inside, moments seemed to pass like eternity as Bellatrix wished she could just die quicker, or Aurors would show up and get her down... which ever happened first...
Outside Riddle Manor...
Up on a hill, Voldemort was surrounded by his lesser-ranking Death Eaters, watching Riddle Manor for any sign of movement. Suddenly...
CRASH! Some dark blur (made darker by the night itself) burst out a window and flew straight at Voldemort.
With a beastly screech and an arctic howl of pain, the griffin Animagus slashed at Voldemort's face while the target screamed in pain.
Getting out his wand, Voldemort shouted at the griffin, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The griffin crumpled to the ground, but didn't die. It transformed back into a very exhausted and very aggravated Harry Potter.
Raising his wand menacingly, Voldemort darkly chuckled, "Any last words you'd like me to hear, Potter?"
"Yes indeed," Harry ground out, putting his wand away with one hand and fingering his sword in the other. Suddenly whipping out the sword, he yelled, "GO TO HELL, RIDDLE, AND TAKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU!"
Raising his sword, Harry yelled, "Gladius Cuoris!"
And then he struck.
At the same time...
Down in the village, the Order waited anxiously from a distance, magically surveying Riddle Manor from the top of a hill.
Snape just came rushing up to them, and after catching his breath, he was about to say something when Luna interrupted him.
"Look!" she said, pointing to the hill next to the manor. "Something's flickering!"
Indeed there was. What started out as a tiny light, barely visible from their distance, was growing in size.
And then it exploded in a flickering fireball, with the eruption catching up to them a few seconds later, causing the ground to shake violently.
The fireball expanded out to nearly a hundred meters before it stopped and began to dissipate. As it started to fade, a crater in the ground was visible. Dumbledore's heart nearly stopped as gruesome images of Harry's death filled his head.
Throwing all caution into the wind, he Apprated over there to the edge of the crater, only to see one solitary figure climb out.
It was Harry. His robes were half-ruined, there were scratches all over his body, and his glasses were askew on his head. He just staggered aimlessly, trying to get out of the crater. Half-burned skeletons of Voldemort and his minions lay all over the crater in positions no human could assume while alive.
Dumbledore started to calm somewhat. Voldemort and the majority of his followers were dead, the prophecy was fulfilled, and Harry was alive and relatively unhurt (or at least from what the Headmaster could tell at first sight).
The rest of the Order was hurrying back over to see what happened. Harry's friends, professors, and acquaintances were all hurrying over to see what happened and if the Boy Who Lived was okay.
Hermione gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth when she saw Harry, and Ron went extremely pale. Abandoning all pretense, Neville actually jumped and skidded down the crater to make sure Harry was okay.
"Harry... are you okay?" Neville asked uncertainly.
Harry just stared at Neville for one moment before collapsing from exhaustion and blacking out.
Neville caught him just in time, hoping to Merlin and whoever else would listen that Harry wouldn't suffer enormous mounts of grief for the mistakes everyone else made.
(End of Chapter 3.)
A/N: Well, sorry if this final battle was not up to par, but then again, killing Voldemort and his minions wasn't the purpose of the fic.
Note about the possibility with Salazar Slytherin: This is also the same as in my "Heir of Gryffindor" story. Full details on my version on what could have been can be seen at the beginning of Chapter 25.
Note about the Wand-Destroying Curse: "Occidere" is Latin, meaning to kill, destroy, or ruin ("Occido" means "I kill/destroy/ruin"), and "Arma" comes from the Latin word for "weapon." I figured this might be considered Dark by Wizarding society.
Note about the Curse of the Furies: According to Roman mythology, the three Furies (the Eumenides in Greek mythology) were three sister goddesses who punished people who hurt or killed their friends or family. They are often depicted as goddess with whips (they used the whips to punish their victims).
There's even a reference to the Furies in that song by R.E.M., "It's the End Of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)": "Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck..."
Note about the final spell Harry used: "Gladius Cuoris" means "Sword of the Heart" in classical Latin.
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