To Love and Live by LilaBear
Chapter Notes: Who owes who a celebration? And why? Moderate low-graphic violence plus character death.
Two hours later, as Harry relied upon every last ounce of strength he had, those eyes were in the back of his mind. When he thought he had no energy, he thought of those beautiful brown eyes, and suddenly, his energy was revitalized. Currently, he and Neville were back to back, fighting off four Death Eaters between the two of them.
“PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!” Harry heard Neville roar.
Harry grinned when he heard the thump of a Death Eater hit the ground. Harry was proud of Neville. If Luna was three times the witch she was in sixth year, Neville was five times the wizard he had been.
Harry deflected two curses aimed his way, replying with an “EXPELLIARMUS!”
One, whom he suspected to be Amycus Carrow, fell backwards and hit his head on a gravestone behind him, his wand flying metres away. Harry turned to the next Death Eater, looking suspiciously like Lucius Malfoy, and deflected his curse. Harry kicked himself for fighting back to back with an ally. It meant he couldn’t physically duck to avoid curses, in case they hit Neville. Instead, he had to ward them all off magically.
“EXPELLIARMUS!” he shouted, disarming Malfoy. With both wands lying metres away from their owners, Harry yelled “ACCIO WANDS!” The two wands came flying towards him, along with the wand of an unsuspecting Death Eater standing behind them who wasn’t holding too tightly to his.
Harry caught the three wands and snapped them all, before setting them alight with an “Incendio!” The adrenaline pumping through Harry’s body subsided slightly upon seeing the wands burst into flame.
Malfoy screamed in frustration, his face contorted with hatred, before leaping at Harry. Suddenly, from somewhere behind him, Harry heard “SECTUMSEMPRA!” and Lucius recoiled and collapsed in agony, blood pouring from a zig-zag gash in his chest.
Harry swirled around in time to see Severus Snape helping an injured Marietta to her feet before pulling her behind a massive headstone where he proceeded to heal her cuts. The shock hit Harry as he realised the man he loathed had just mortally wounded Malfoy.
Harry swallowed a lump of confusion before turning away from the scene before him. Upon seeing Snape treat the girl so gently, and seeing the look of satisfaction that he wore after hitting Malfoy with the curse, Harry’s resentment of his Potions professor melted slightly.
Harry regained his wits just in time to avoid a way-ward Petrificus Totalus. He looked around himself. Headstones were smashed, many Death Eaters were incapacitated, some even dead.
He, so far, had managed to avoid killing any, but had heard Marcus and Charlie both utter the Avada Kedavra curse in last-minute desperation. Resentment mixed with pride surged through his body as he saw all his friends- people who should be safe at home- bravely throwing aside all concern for their own lives. Resentment towards the Death Eaters who had forced them out of their safety.
He had also seen an old head stone crumble and fall on two Death Eaters, killing them, after being hit by a spell from Fred’s wand. He also had a sneaking, horrible suspicion that the Avada Kedavra curse he’d previously heard from Malfoy had hit its intended target- whoever it was.
He saw two flashes of purple light shoot past him, hitting Ron in the leg.
"RON!" Harry yelled.
Ron screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground. Rage wove itself throughout Harry’s entire body as he spun around, eyes only for Ron’s attacker. His sights settled upon a Death Eater whose hood was in shreds and about to fall off. The breath caught in Harry’s face. It was Dolohov. Harry was livid.
“PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!” he screamed, pointing his wand at Dolohov. Dolohov’s arms snapped to his side and he fell backwards. Harry ignored Ron for the time being, sprinting to Dolohov’s side. He angrily jabbed his wand into Dolohov’s neck in a blind rage.
“Gideon and Fabian not enough for you, scum?” he hissed. He jabbed his wand harder. “Afraid of their nephew, too?”
Harry’s mind suddenly flicked back to sixth year where he saw an injured Hermione lying in the hospital wing. He stared back down at Dolohov below him, loathing tearing through his veins. “Had to curse a schoolgirl, Dolohov? You’re scum. You’re not worthy of death.”
Harry breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. He wanted nothing more than to torture the scum in front of him, but knew that not only would it waste time and energy, but he could get in trouble for it. Harry pulled his wand from Dolohov’s necking, saying “Incarcerous… accio wand!”
Dolohov’s wand flew into Harry’s hand, and with a “Incendio!” he burnt it to a crisp. With a final glare in Dolohov’s direction, Harry turned his attention back to Ron, who seemed to be in the process of binding a Death Eater from his awkward position on the ground.
On the other side of the graveyard, Hermione gasped for breath after petrifying three Death Eaters in rapid succession. She magically bound them before confiscating their wands and setting them alight, much like Harry had.
“CRUCIO!” she heard a woman scream.
She saw a bolt of light heading straight towards her, and ducked behind a nearby headstone. She took several deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She poked her head around the stone, wand ready to kill if need be. She relaxed slightly upon noticing the witch had gone, when suddenly- “CRUCIO!”
Hermione was thrown backwards and into the air, screaming in agony, her body contorting in violent fits. George, just metres away, spun around at the sound. He gazed at the sight before him, frozen for a second. Fury that such wickedness could infest a woman to curse such a gentle girl flooded through George's body.
“HERMIONE!” he roared, sending an Expelliarmus at Bellatrix Lestrange, who had Hermione in the air. Bellatrix’s wand flew from her hand and Hermione fell to the ground, not moving. George fired a few more curses at her in rapid succession, fighting the urge to kill her on the spot. Ron and George ran to Hermione’s side, shaking her.
“Hermione!” Ron yelled. “Hermione, please! Please, wake up! Don’t DO this! You’re strong! Wake up!”
Moody appeared behind them.
“Weasley number one and number two,” he barked. “There are dark wizards out there who have an appointment with Azkaban. I’ll look after her.”
Ron hesitated, looking between Hermione and Moody, before nodding at Moody and running to assist George who was in the middle of hexing two Death Eaters. With a wave of his wand and a “Renervate”, Moody resuscitated Hermione, before lifting her behind another headstone. He conjured a glass of something sweet-smelling and told Hermione to drink it.
“Stay here for two minutes,” he growled. “The potion should take affect and you should feel ok.”
Hermione nodded, her head throbbing. She watched Moody spin around and heard the old man bark out a curse as three bolts of light shot past him. As he had said, within minutes she felt her strength return.
She had petrified and bound two more Death Eaters when she heard an “AVADA KEDAVRA!” ring out, followed by a jet of green light which flew across the graveyard. She didn’t see who it hit, but saw the commotion that followed. Dread filled her when she saw a blond head lying on the ground.
Bill turned to see who the curse had hit. Three unconscious Death Eaters lay around him, and he moved to see who the most recent victim was. He blanched when he saw the gentle blond-haired girl lying dead on the ground.
“Marietta,” he whispered.
Renewed anger surged through his veins. Marietta was nineteen. She had been in Harry’s class. Nineteen year olds are not supposed to die! Nineteen year olds are not supposed to be battling for their lives against violent, twisted forty, fifty, sixty year old men! He spun on his heel to see two gleeful eyes and a wicked grin where Marietta’s killing curse had come from.
Enraged, Bill battled the same emotions George had felt just minutes earlier, before roaring “AVADA KEDAVRA!” and killing Bellatrix Lestrange. She didn't deflect it. Not for a moment did she even consider he would actually try and kill her.
Bill turned back to Harry and Neville.
“We need to get her body out of here,” Neville said. Bill shook his head.
“Sorry Neville, but she’s not going anywhere. It can wait 'til this is over.”
Suddenly, a deathly hiss filled the air. All other noise seemed to subside, even though sparks and jets of light still flew across the graveyard in a frenzy.
“CRUCIO!” It cried, and Bill was lifted into the air in anguish.
Four nearby Order Members didn’t stop to think. They didn’t stop to consider what they were doing or who they might be cursing. Harry, Neville, Kingsley and Tonks drew their wands in the direction of Bill’s tormenter and screamed “PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”
Voldemort went rigid as a board and fell backwards. There was a brief moment of frozen shock before ten Death Eaters swarmed towards him, as if in slow motion. Harry saw Remus, Arthur, Fred and Snape knocking them off one by one. Harry couldn’t think straight. Time stood still. All he heard were three words, going round and round in his head.
Voldemort is defenseless. Voldemort is defenseless. Voldemort is defenseless.
Harry knew he would never get another opportunity like this. He was closest. Neville, Kingsley and Tonks were joined by Marcus and Hermione and were battling the Death Eaters who had attacked them upon seeing them petrify their master.
Remus, Arthur, Fred and Snape had been joined by Ron and Anthony and were warding off the Death Eaters seeking to protect their master.
Luna and Colin were taking on five Death Eaters between the two of them. In other circumstances, Harry would have cheered. Where Charlie, Bill, Moody and George were, Harry didn’t know. All he knew was that so far, it was as if he was invisible- and Voldemort is defenseless.
He took off at a run, covering the ground between himself and Voldemort. He wasn’t going to kill him, not yet. He was going to make him pay. Time was still moving in slow motion. Harry saw Remus glance up and nod at him. He thrust his wand in Voldemort’s direction just as he began to stir, and screamed another “PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”
Voldemort went rigid again. A Death Eater spun around, wand thrust in Harry's direction.
"CRU-" his shout was cut short by Snape, who swished his wand back and forth in a pattern Harry didn't recognise. The non-verbal spell seemed to do the trick as the Death Eater's face went rigid and he collapsed in a pile. The anger bubbling in Harry's mind dissipated for half a second as he hesitated, glancing at Snape.
“Potter!” Snape bellowed. “Get it done with!”
The anger returned and mixed with irritation and confusion at Snape’s order. The combination of emotions hurtled through Harry as sweat poured down his face. He felt his heart explode in a mixture of fury and heartbreak at the memory of his dead friends. Harry thrust his wand towards the petrified Dark Lord, bitterness rising through his body, and roared “SECTUMSEMPRA!”, waving his wand furiously to create as long a gash as possible.
Voldemort’s eyes widened in pain as blood poured from his chest. Snape flinched at the sound of his curse being administered. Tears clouded Harry’s vision. He fumed as he stood with his wand pointed at the Dark Lord, lying immobilised on the ground.
“This is for Sirius!” he yelled, cursing the dark wizard. “And this is for Cedric! This is for Marietta- this, this, and this, are for anyone else you’ve killed tonight!" Harry paused to catch his breath. He registered the shock and agony in Voldemort's eyes, but he didn't hesitate.
"AND THIS IS FOR MY PARENTS!”
With a final roar, Harry pointed his wand at the Voldemort’s petrified throat.
“Avada Kedavra!”
A jet of green light spewed forth from Harry's wand, hurtling straight for Voldemort's throat. Suddenly, a jet of red light shot forth from Voldemort, connecting with the green bolt from Harry's wand. Harry's wand began to shake. Harry's mind reeled, confused. How was this happening? Was Voldemort fighting the Killing Curse? But no... that was impossible. Wait. He'd survived the Killing Curse. But only because of his mother's sacrifice. Had anyone sacrificed themself for Voldemort? No, never. Had Voldemort discovered a new protection, more horcruxes? Dumbledore had been so sure there were only seven.
Harry concentrated on Voldemort, wondering if he should break the spell and try again. His wand shook more violently. He saw a jet of green light heading for him from the corner of his eye, but it disappeared suddenly. Suddenly Harry heard a voice in his head.
You... you're not going to... to win, Harry...
"You will die!" Harry shouted, keeping his wand aimed at Voldemort.
Fin... Finite.... Finite Inca-
"NO!!" Harry roared, forcing his mind blank. He felt Voldemort squeeze his way in.
Finite...
No. Voldemort was not going to break the Killing Curse from Harry's end.
Finite In-
Harry forced a brick wall into his mind, wishing desperately that Snape had persevered with his Legilimency classes.
Suddenly, Snape was beside him, aiming his wand at the red light emitting from Voldemort's body.
"Mensi Vinci," Harry heard him whisper determinedly.
Fini...Finite...Fin-
"Mensi Vinci!!"
The voice disappeared from Harry's mind. The red light which was duelling with Harry's green light suddenly redirected and connected with Snape's wand. As the red light moved, the green light of the Killing Curse finished its path, and connected with Voldemort. Voldemort's body went limp, and the red jet of light disappeared.
Silence ensued. The Death Eaters seemed to freeze. Out of the remaining fifteen or so, five surrendered, throwing their wands at the feet of their attackers, while the others fled. Two however, turned in anger.
“AVADA KED-”
Their cries were cut short by stunners from Fred and Remus. The Order members, panting, walked towards the limp body of Lord Voldemort. Harry stood over the body, his face expressionless. His eyes slowly moved across the group as he looked at those who had saved his life not just tonight, but many times in the previous years. He made eye contact with Ron.
“He’s dead at my feet,” Harry whispered. “I do believe I owe you a celebration, Ron.”