Voldemort surveyed the room carefully like he was studying a logic problem. He smiled and shook his head slowly. His grin was malevolent and made Harry want to hurt him even more.
“Is this what Dumbledore sends? Two dozen men to fight fifty of my finest?” He paused and now looked over Sirius, “and this…this is almost insulting, sending a scoundrel to fight in his stead.”
Harry raised his wand and was about to do something he might have regretted if Dumbledore had not walked in at that moment. Almost in awe and respect, Harry lowered his wand. Voldemort did not. Harry winced as the spell hit him, but he’d been preparing for the wrong spell. Harry felt very warm, comfortable, and relaxed, as if he wouldn’t mind being here for a long time. Then he heard Voldemort’s voice.
Give up, Harry, surrender to me, you know it’s useless to keep fighting. Everyone is going to die. You are going to die.
Harry tried to fight the voice, to force it out of his head, but he was getting weaker, and Voldemort’s curse was much stronger than Kira’s. Somehow he knew he couldn’t fight this one, because the words seemed so real, so true. He knew Voldemort was right, he couldn’t fight something he knew to be true. Harry fell to his knees.
That’s right Harry, surrender to me. Let me kill you now.
Harry’s head fell to the floor, cupped in his own hands, in defeat. As soon as his head fell the spell was released, he still lay there expecting the worst, not wanting to look up. He didn’t want to see the destruction, he was afraid to look around and see his friends being killed.
“Harry! Harry!” yelled Sirius desperately, falling to his knees beside him. “Harry, look at me!”
Harry raised his head to meet Sirius’s eyes. His godfather released a sigh of relief, wiping his brow.
“C’mon Harry,” he said, trying to pick him up.
“No Sirius, what’s the point, we are all going to die,” replied Harry looking down dejected, Voldemort’s words still ringing in his ears.
“Harry, look at me,” commanded Sirius, waiting until his eyes met Harry’s. “You can’t give up like that. What about Lily’s sacrifice? What about James? What about Cedric? Remember what Voldemort did to Hermione and me? Are you going to give up when all of us need you? Don’t give up on all the people that sacrificed to save you so you could get here.”
Harry nodded, remembering the anger he once had, overcoming his despair.
“All right, c’mon,” said Sirius, pulling him up off the ground. Harry started back over to Voldemort. “No, Harry, this way,” called Sirius pulling him towards the Death Eater battle behind him.
“But the prophecy, Sirius…” murmured Harry.
“Dumbledore is handling him. Remember, he doesn’t know the end of the prophecy,” Sirius told him as if he were a small child. Harry nodded, and Sirius ran into the line of firing wands and spells. Harry stood still for a minute surveying the battle, looking for his friends. Kira and Ron were going at it. Ron looked angry, and Harry prayed he wasn’t going to do anything stupid. Ginny seemed to be taking on either Crabbe or Goyle, Harry couldn’t tell, but she was doing a marvelous job. Hermione! Harry panicked when he didn’t see her, but when he did finally find her, he wasn’t much comforted. A tall Death Eater had backed her into the corner, he didn’t cast any spells, but her wand was on the ground a few feet away. Harry rushed over grabbing her wand. The Death Eater hadn’t seen him but a look of horror crossed Hermione’s face.
“Rivarious!“ shouted Harry making a large slash in the back of the Death Eater’s robes. Blood started to darken the already black cloth.
“Harry, no,” gasped Hermione, looking quite horrified.
The Death Eater turned towards Harry and muttered in a silky voice, “Don’t you have other people to cut up, Mr. Potter?” Harry eyes widened. It was Professor Snape.
“Harry I’m fine,” assured Hermione, smiling at him weakly. He grinned back stupidly. He looked back at Professor Snape, not really sure whether to trust him or not. Hermione’s voice somewhere in the back of his head reminded him, “Dumbledore trusts him, Harry. “ He tossed Hermione her wand before running off.
“Be careful, Harry,” she called after him.
Back in the thick of the battle, Ginny had either Crabbe or Goyle on the ground yelping in pain and was now working on another Death Eater. Ron however was still struggling with Kira so Harry rushed over to help. As he arrived, Harry could see Ron’s robes were torn and bloodstains were all over, including his head. He also had purple lumps on his left hand. Kira still looked amazing even though her hair was out of place and she was quite winded, her breathing shallow. Her robes were also singed in many places. Though she definitely seemed to have gotten the best of Ron thus far.
“Look who has come to help, the famous Harry Potter,“ snarled Kira. Harry was in no mood for small talk with her of all people.
“Stupefy!” yelled Harry, and a jet of red light hit her hard. Ron followed suit with the same spell. She fell back, stunned. Harry cast one last spell for good measure; her head hit the wall hard, and she slumped against the wall. Ron looked at her sadly for a minute, looking as if he was going to go help her.
“C’mon,” said Harry, putting his hand on his shoulder and leading him away from Kira. As he turned he saw Dementors flooding the Great Hall. There were a few Order members trying to push them back, but many were still tied up with the Death Eaters. Harry was pretty sure that they couldn’t defeat that many Dementors on their own. He ran over to help, trying to think of a happy memory.
“Expecto Patronum!” yelled Harry, but without a happy thought nothing came out of his wand. Nothing good would come to him, and then he heard the screaming, his mom pleading. Harry felt faint, and could no long hold on to consciousness. He fell back onto the floor, his arms supporting his fall only momentarily; his head still hit the floor hard with a crack.
Harry woke up and didn’t even have open his eyes to know where he was, he had been in a bed like this too many times to count, way more than any other student at Hogwarts. He sighed and slowly opened his eyes, expecting bright sun, but the sun had just risen and hadn’t filled the windows yet. He sat up slowly, and about every bone in his body seemed to pop or shift, his muscles still tense. He expected Madam Pomfrey to be fussing over him any second but as he examined the room, there was no one else there, not anybody. Surely he wasn’t the only one injured from the battle. The battle! What had happened? Is everyone okay? Hermione? Sirius? Ron? Ginny? They aren’t in here so they must be okay; unless they didn’t make it to the hospital room. Harry involuntarily shuddered at the thought. The doors opened in the hospital wing and a weary figure stumbled in. He straightened up when he saw Harry and smiled weakly.
“Hello, Harry, should’ve been expecting to see you here,” said Lupin smiling.
“What happened to you?” asked Harry. Lupin sat on the bed next to Harry’s.
Lupin sighed before answering, Harry couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Every time they met, Lupin seemed to look older and older. Harry could hardly see the young man that was in him somewhere. Harry wondered if the same thing would happen to him if Voldemort didn’t kill him.
“It was a full moon last night.”
Harry looked at him curiously and then the thought came to him instantly. He could hear Hermione’s voice echoing in his head.
“We have another month yet…”
“How could we have been so stupid!” cried Harry, becoming angry more at himself than anyone else. Lupin just looked at him, a surprised glance coming over his weary face.
“My dream,” Harry explained. “Voldemort said the attack would be the next full moon, when Hermione looked it was a month because from this morning that would have been the next full moon. But if it was exactly a month away that meant the next full moon was last night.” He paused and another thought dawned on him as he looked at Lupin, “He must have meant to keep you out of the battle…a night only a werewolf could love.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, Harry,” said Lupin in response, his gray eyes seeming to read Harry’s thoughts.
“I can’t afford to make mistakes, I can’t afford to lose. Everyone is counting on me, and I can’t even come close to their standards. Every time I see him I lose hope, I can’t do it, I’m not good enough, I may never be. All my work will always be for nothing, he’s always going to surpass me. What chance does a sixteen-year-old wizard have against a wizarding Lord? ” Harry felt tears of frustration forming in his eyes but he quickly blinked them away.
“Harry…” started Lupin slowly, looking at him with pained eyes still seeming to read him, “you are sixteen years old, you have done more things than most men will ever do in their entire lives. You gave us time; you prevented the Dark Lord from coming back for four years. You saved the school from his memory; Ginny owes you her life. You risked your life to allow Cedric’s parents to have closure. Last year you bravely faced him wizard to wizard. Tonight, Hermione owes you her life. You have saved people, Harry, and in the end you will save the world.” Lupin paused taking a breath and swallowing. “Remember Harry, even if you don’t believe, your parents believed in you first. James and Lily gave their lives because they believed in your life. Everyone that is here now, the Order, we’re here because we believe in you. No one is throwing in the towel here Harry. You can do it, I’m sure of it.”
“And like hell Voldemort is taking you away from me now,” came Sirius’s voice. Harry saw him leaning against the wall, also looking very ragged.
Lupin smiled, “I don’t think we could live with ourselves if we let the last piece of James and Lily get away from us.” He looked up and Sirius for agreement.
“No kidding, and James would hold a grudge forever! If we let Voldemort get a hold of you, he would come back from the grave to wring our necks.” Sirius rubbed his neck at the thought. Harry grinned, thinking of his dad throttling his two best friends.
“Even though the task still lies with you Harry, there is no way you’ll be doing it alone,” finished Lupin thoughtfully, still grinning. Harry looked between them gratefully, if he couldn’t have his dad, he was glad to have his two best friends.
“We better let Moony sleep, he had a late night last night,” remarked Sirius seriously. “We have to get you packed anyhow, and sneak you out of here before Madam Pomfrey finds out.”
“Too late, Sirius Black. It was bad enough to have you sneaking in and out of here as a student, but you will not be helping my patients escape as a teacher, now shoo!” Sirius grinned guiltily back at Harry and promised to come back later. Harry turned to Lupin, who was already asleep, and let Madam Pomfrey fuss over him; he was feeling much better already.
A day and a half later, Harry was drawn from his sleep as the Hogwarts Express slowed down. He opened his eyes a little and saw Hermione and Ron bickering quietly on the other side of the car. Harry turned away from them and watched the train station come into view, leaving countryside scenery behind. The train pulled in quickly to the station, and Harry wished once again he could remain right there for the next week. He was pretty sure he could manage for only a week. Dumbledore had given the students a week off so that he and the staff could fix the damage done the Great Hall and make sure the risk of Voldemort attacking Hogwarts was gone. That meant Harry had to return to Privet Drive, just because the risk of Voldemort was so great, and he was safest there. He kept reminding himself it was only a week but that though alone didn’t encourage him to get off the train.
“Come on Harry, It’s only a week,” said Hermione, looking back at him from the car door. Harry sighed and got up, that was easy for her to say since she wasn’t going back to Privet Drive with the Dursley’s. She hadn’t really spoken to him since the battle in the Great Hall, and he desperately wished she would. So when they got of the train and she pulled him aside, he was very grateful.
“Harry…” She started blushing furiously and stared at the ground, seeming to be at a loss for words.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, nothing is wrong. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t have been more help the other night, and you had to save me again. I mean, thank you so much, I owe you my life. I just wish I could do more.” She paused a moment wringing her hands restlessly, and Harry couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Luckily for him she wasn’t done. “Harry do you remember that night when I had that dream and…”
“Yeah,” said Harry so she wouldn’t have to finish.
“I dreamed that he…that Voldemort was going to kill you and it was all my fault. I was just so helpless and I couldn’t do anything, I sold you out because the pain, that curse…it hurt so bad…” She trailed off tears forming in her eyes.
“I know you would never do that,” replied Harry earnestly, trying to catch her eyes. She finally looked up at him, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She brushed it away and looked back at the ground.
“Hermione, you are the greatest witch I know, you have taught or re-taught me half of everything I know. You got me through the trapdoor first year, solved the riddle of the Chamber of Secrets, helped me save Sirius, helped me through the Tri-Wizard tournament, helped us escape Umbridge last year, and this year you learned how to become an Animagus all for me. If anything I owe you.”
It was something that Harry had known all along, something he had kept quiet the whole year, and something he had denied but had always known to be true. Hermione had been there every year, every peril, and he couldn’t have been more grateful. Somehow saying it in words made it all the more real. As she turned her gaze up at him again, he kissed her lightly on the lips. Tears now streamed down her face, but she smiled. She brushed away her tears and flung her arms around his neck, this time giving him a real kiss. Harry tingled, getting the same feeling he got that night so long ago. Ron clapped sarcastically somewhere behind them.
“It’s darn well about time. I thought I was going to have to spell it out for you both,” remarked Ron as he came up to them. Hermione blushed, pulling away, and Harry grinned stupidly at his friend. As they walked over to the Weasley’s, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Sirius dressed up like Professor Blanchet, Harry noticed as Lupin slipped Sirius a few Galleons. He looked up at Sirius and sighed.
“It’s not like we bet on you,” responded Sirius guiltily, “it was mostly on her.” Mrs. Weasley looked at them disapprovingly. Harry shook his head; Sirius clasped his hand and embraced him. Lupin shook his hand, looking like he was containing the urge to hug him as well.
“It’s just a week, Harry,” he said reassuringly. Harry nodded; it was much harder than it seemed to all of them. Mrs. Weasley attempted to flatten his hair and hugged him tightly. He waved goodbye to Ron and Hermione a little carelessly. Ron waved back, Hermione smiled warmly. He turned to face the next week with a disapproving Dursley family, knowing that his adventure was Voldemort was over--at least for this school year.
A 6th Year at Hogwarts by SomberBallad
Chapter Notes: I'd like to dedicate this to Cinderella_Angelina, my beta, she was a huge help for these last critical chapters and she is such a great help and wonderful person! She also betaed/betas my other fics! So thanks so much! Also thank you everyone for reading, I really appreciate the support for this adventure. I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed the ride! If you enjoyed this please look at my other one-shots and stories, I have grown so much as a writer since this first fiction. But with no more delay here is the grand conclusion.