"Well Harry, you look all grown up now," Voldemort told him. "But I haven’t come here to talk. You know what I want."
"You can’t kill me, Voldemort. You’ve tried so many times before, and it’s never worked," Harry told him dangerously.
"I can kill you this time, and I will. You see, Harry, I know that you have been destroying my Horcruxes, and I’ve come to destroy you."
"Well," Harry said with a smirk, "go ahead and try."
"But wait, we have to have our talk. You know - the one where you say your final words. Beg for death, that sort of thing," he told Harry mockingly.
"I’m not begging for death, and I’m certainly not saying my last words. You, on the other hand –well, I can’t kill you until all of the other Horcruxes are gone."
"But Harry! You haven’t figured out the last Horcrux yet? I’m sure that you know that there are only two left, me and something else."
"Of course. I just-"
"Have you always wondered why I can read your mind, even though I’m thousands of miles away? Have you ever wondered why you can speak ParselTongue, even though you aren’t a descendant of Salazar Slytherin?"
"Yes." They were now moving around in a circle, away from the others that were battling. He saw that Draco had killed George with Fred and Ron watching. He felt deep remorse for what Mrs Weasley would say when they got home.
If they got home.
~ * ~
Hermione was getting impatient. An hour had passed since she had last seen Ron and Harry, and she was getting deeply worried about them. She had loads of scared first, second, third, and even fourth years sitting with her in a corner. She had first told them stories about what she had done when she herself had been at Hogwarts, but they had soon heard the fighting outside and the screams of everyone else and gotten distracted.
Inside, she was deeply distressed to know that her husband and his best mate were outside fighting to the death. She hoped that it wouldn’t come to that, though. She was very proud of Ron and Harry, but she was still worried beyond a doubt.
~ * ~
"Expelliarmus!" Ron yelled at Antonin Dolohov.
It missed and rebounded onto the cool grass. It was nearing dark now, and they wouldn’t be able to see for much longer.
"Avada Kedavra!" Dolohov yelled as he dodged the curse.
It missed Ron, but this time it rebounded upon Goyle, his fellow Death Eater. As Goyle fell to the ground, Dolohov seemed to be distracted and Ron took his chance.
"Avada Kedavra!" he yelled, and as the Death Eater fell to the ground, he couldn’t believe what he had just done.
Dolohov would have done the same thing to him - he just had but, luckily missed - but Ron was not a Death Eater and was a good person inside. As he dodged a curse sent from Vincent Crabbe, one of Draco’s fellow cronies from school, he realised that if he didn’t make it, Hermione would have to take care of the baby by herself.
He didn’t want to die, especially if it meant leaving Hermione alone with a fatherless child.
~ * ~
"But haven’t you been wondering what the final Horcrux is, Harry?’ Voldemort persisted.
Harry nodded.
"You." He nodded towards him.
Harry stopped moving.
"Wha-? Me? I can’t be a Horcrux – you never made me –"
"Oh, but I did. You see, I was planning on just killing you and making you the sixth victim for my final Horcrux. Your mother could have easily stood aside, and I would not have touched her. She could have just let me kill you, and she wouldn’t have had to die, but it was her choice. I killed her instead to make my final Horcrux: Nagini, my snake."
"So … I’m a Horcrux, and you’re one too. We both have to die." Harry said slowly.
"No. Only you do." Voldemort said.
Harry, realising what he meant, pulled out his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled.
Harry ducked and the spell hit a rock, diminishing on the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry screamed, pointing his wand at Voldemort. The spell struck its mark, but Voldemort’s wand only landed a few feet away from him. Voldemort called out ‘Accio!’ and it soared right to his fingers.
"Crucio!"
"Impedimenta!"
Miss. Miss.
Harry had had enough. Images of Ron, Hermione, and their life together at Hogwarts, all of the those times at the Burrow with Fred and George, saving the Sorcerer's Stone and Sirius, and most of all, his beautiful wife Ginny and his daughter flashed through his mind as he realised what he must do.
He must die to save the Wizarding World.
To save everyone; friends, family, and even the innocent Muggles that had no idea what kind of destruction had been going on in their world. But he would be leaving Ginny and his daughter husband and fatherless.
He hoped that she could forgive him.
"Avada Kedavra!" they both yelled, pointing their wands at the other.
The spells hit their target at the exact same time. Everything seemed to pause as everyone – the Death Eaters, Dementors, and even Hermione and the children – turned to look in their direction.
Around Harry, a blue phoenix flew, encircling him, but then it rose up in the air and fell as a flash of green hit the two now-lifeless bodies
.
Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort were now dead.
~ * ~
Ron Weasley watched in agony as his best mate, died that day.
He let out a cry of pain that echoed over the grounds of the school where he and Harry had spent most of their life; most of the time saving it from something evil, as they were doing now.The school was now in ruins, with bodies scattered all over the cold dirt, a fire still blazing in the Great Hall, and the sobs of the family and friends that had lost someone that day.
Voldemort had caused total destruction, though now he was no more. But neither was Harry Potter.
Ron Weasley stood up and thought he could just end it all. He would no longer feel any pain, and he could be with Harry. And George and Percy.
But what would that solve? his mind asked him. He would be leaving Hermione all by herself to care for a child that he had only fathered for eight-and-a-half months and wasn’t even born yet. As he stood up, he thought of Ginny. She would be utterly and completely grief-stricken when she learned that her husband, his best friend, was dead. He didn’t know what would happen to any of them now that Harry was dead; his smile had kept them all going this long. He had been the one who lead them on the search for the missing Horcruxes, but they hadn’t suspected this at all.
Harry James Potter a Horcrux? But no matter what he, Hermione, Ginny, or anyone else could have done, his friend was dead. As sobs racked Ron’s body and tears fell fresh and fast down his face, he thought of something.
Harry had given them a new chance at life, and he should seize it. Others had not been so lucky: Neville Longbottom, for instance. Luna would still have to be told about his death.
He still had to tell Ginny, and everyone else, what had happened to Harry; and he wasn’t looking forward to that at all.
He looked, his sight blurred with tears, to the Astronomy Tower where his lovely wife now sat. Their child could be born at any time now. He couldn’t ruin that moment; he still had someone to live for.
But his chance at life was only possible through the death of another.
As he walked back to the Astronomy tower, and to Hermione, he heard her scream in pain.
Not this, not now. How could a Death Eater have gotten to the tower, unseen by everyone else?
As he ran as fast as his long legs could carry him, he hoped to Merlin that she wasn’t dead by the time he got there. He loved her with all his being, and she was all he had left.
He burst into the room, holding his wand out in front of him. He saw Hermione leaning against a wall and panting very fast with a pained look on her face.
"Ron," she said, not even looking at him.
"What? Are you okay? Where are the Death Eaters –"
"Ron we have to leave …" she took a breath as pain shot through her body.
Ron gave her a confused look.
"My water broke."
~ * ~
Ron helped Hermione down the stairs very slowly and carefully. They only had to get outside the grounds to Apparate to St. Mungo’s. He had his arm around her waist, and they walked onto the cool, red grass. There were more bodies than Ron could have imagined, but thankfully, Hermione had her eyes closed and wasn’t looking around her. She didn’t even know about Harry yet.
He wanted to keep that a secret, but as they had to pass right by his body on their way off the grounds, his plan didn’t work. Hermione stopped at the sight of him.
"Harry," she gasped. She let out a blood-curdling scream and started to fall to the ground, but Ron kept her on her feet.
"Hermione, please. I know, I know," he said to her as she sobbed. "Please, let’s just go on to St. Mungo’s and everything will be all right –"
‘RON! How can you say that?’ Hermione yelled at him, taking another glance at their friend. She couldn’t believe this.
"We …won? Our side?? she asked him as the tears streamed down her face.
Ron pulled her close. "Yeah, yeah we did." He wiped her tears away. "Harry did it. He and Voldemort were the last Horcruxes … Harry died for us, Hermione. He died for everyone. I’ve realised that he wouldn’t have wanted us to be sad. He gave us all a new chance at life. He would have wanted us to be happy,’ Ron told her thoughtfully. The tears were falling fast down his cheeks as well. Hermione pushed his hair out of his eyes and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. She stopped abruptly though, as the pains of another contraction shot through her body.
The baby was coming fast. With Ron’s help, they managed to make it to St. Mungo’s safely.
Mrs Weasley and Ginny came to see Hermione while she was in labour: a total of three hours. In that amount of time, Ron told Ginny and his Mum what had happened to Harry, George, and Percy in the battle at Hogwarts. As expected, Ginny was completely heartbroken and could not be consoled. The healers finally gave her a sleeping draught. Mrs Weasley couldn’t believe that her ‘other son’ was dead, as were her real sons.
Hermione’s baby came in weighing a total of seven pounds, twelve ounces, and twenty-one inches. He was a healthy baby boy, and even through all of the sadness and sorrow that they knew they would be feeling for a long while at the loss of their family and friends, something good had come out of this.
Ron Weasley was now a father, and Hermione a mother.
Later that day, as Hermione and Ron were visiting with their child through the glass of the nursery, a medi-witch came up and asked which was theirs.
"That one," Hermione declared proudly, pointing through the glass.
"Oh, he’s the cute one," she told them cheerily.
As they stared and watched their tiny baby in his crib in the nursery, they realised they had forgotten something. Last night was still too fresh in their minds.
‘What are you going to name him?’ the medi-witch asked them.
Hermione looked up at Ron. Realising what she meant, he nodded to her with a faint smile.
"Harry," she said softly. "We’re going to name him Harry."
Starts with Goodbye by Ron x Hermione
Chapter Notes: I would like to thank my beautimous beta again, Abigail! This fic would be nothing without you, darling! *giggles*
I hope that you all have enjoyed this! This is the last chapter; I will not write any more. (Well, other fics, but you know what I mean). Thanks for reading, and please review!
NOTE: I do not own these characters. JKR just let me borrow them for a minute...