Voldemort's scream of fury rent the air; his three duellers, Kingsley, McGonagall and Slughorn were all blasted from their feet with the force of it, and even Neville felt himself retreat, as though a large hand had simply pushed him backwards, still, miraculously, clutching the heavy sword in his hand. Mrs Weasley backed away, now looking positively terrified, as Voldemort turned on her and raised his wand, red eyes flashing murderously -
'Protego!'
Another, much more powerful Shield Charm swelled between Molly and Voldemort. The force of this, too, made everyone stumble backwards, leaving a large space in the middle. Voldemort stood stock still, eyes flickering everywhere, scanning for the source of that unusually powerful Shield Charm ...
And then Neville's heart skipped a beat as Harry emerged in the centre of the Great Hall, whipping the Invisibility Cloak from over him and stowed it in his robes. And Neville was cheering with everyone else and yelling his name again ... 'HE'S ALIVE!' 'HARRY!' ... he knew it, he knew Harry hadn't been defeated. But the celebrations were cut very short as Voldemort glared around at them in anger, then back at his would-be victim.
'I don't want anyone else to try and help,' called Harry through the sudden silence, his voice echoing off the Hall walls - he and Voldemort began to circle each other. Neville was at the front of the crowd and backed away instinctively as Voldemort passed within inches of him. 'It's got to be like this. It's got to be me.'
Voldemort hissed jeeringly, apparently recovering from this unexpected climax.
'Potter doesn't mean that ... that isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?'
'Nobody,' said Harry. 'There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good ...'
Somewhere in Neville's mind, the word 'Horcrux' stirred and he remembered Carrow lecturing them on the subject during a Dark Arts lesson. What had he said? Splitting the soul and sticking it in an object, so you'll never die ... was this really what Voldemort had done? And Horcruxes, as a plural. Perhaps the snake was one, thought Neville, which was why Harry had requested him to kill it ...
'You won't be killing anyone else tonight,' Harry was saying, as the powerful pair continued to circle each other, the tension slowly building up. 'You won't be able to kill any of them, ever again -' And Neville couldn't help but think Thank God - 'Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you hurting these people -'
'But you did not!'
'- I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed none of the spells you put on them are binding?' Neville realised Harry was referring to the failed Silencing Charms and when the Hat had been set alight. 'You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?'
'You dare -'
'Yes, I dare,' said Harry. 'I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?'
'Is it love again?' Voldemort sneered after a while. 'Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the Tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter - and nobody seems to love you enough to run forwards this time, and take my curse. So what will stop you from dying now when I strike?' Neville couldn't help but notice that there was a nuance of longing in his voice as he asked.
'Just one thing.'
'If it is not love that will save you this time,' said Voldemort, 'you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?'
'I believe both,' Harry replied, and Voldemort began to laugh, a high, cold laugh that caused the hairs on the back of Neville's neck to stand on end.
'You think you know more magic than I do?' he said loudly, as if Harry was the stupidest person he'd met. 'Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?'
'Oh, he dreamed of it,' said Harry, a hint of a frown on his face, 'but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done.'
'You mean he was weak! Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!'
'No, he was cleverer than you,' said Harry, 'a better wizard, a better man.'
'I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!'
'You thought you did - but you were wrong.'
The silence of the anticipated crowd seemed to grow further at this disclaimer, though everyone seemed to draw breath at the same time.
'Dumbledore is dead!' shouted Voldemort, his wand still raised as ever. 'His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!'
'Yes, Dumbledore is dead,' said Harry, with so much patience that time seemed to slow as he said it. 'But you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant.'
'What childish dream is this?' said Voldemort, red eyes narrowed in apparent concentration for Harry's words.
'Severus Snape wasn't yours,' said Harry, who, unlike Voldemort, did not have his wand raised, but casually at his side, as if tempting Voldemort to attack. 'Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother.' Neville heard a small gasp from McGonagall from behind. 'And you never realised it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?'
Voldemort said nothing, still listening intently.
'Snape's Patronus was a doe, the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realised,' Harry said with a small, pitying smile, 'he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?'
'He desired her, that was all,' sneered Voldemort, 'but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him -'
'Of course he told you that,' said Harry with the air of one trying not to laugh, 'but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!'
'It matters not!' screamed Voldemort, nostrils flaring, yet forcing another humourless laugh. 'It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my way! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand! Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me!'
Again, Neville's attention slipped ... the Elder Wand ... wasn't that just part of a child's story, something that his grandmother had read to him ... The Tale of The Three Brothers, was it? Yes, the eldest son had acquired a wand that made its owner the most powerful wizard ... did Harry think it actually existed? Had Dumbledore owned the Elder Wand?
'I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!'
The crowd broke into shocked mutterings again.
'Snape - dead?'
'He killed Snape?'
'Yeah, it did,' said Harry, unperturbed by this news. 'You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done ... think, and try for some remorse, Riddle ...'
'What is this?'
For the first time that evening, Voldemort looked disturbed, even scared.
'It's your one last chance,' continued Harry, 'it's all you've got left ... I've seen what you'll be otherwise ... be a man ... try ... try for some remorse ...'
'You dare -?'
'Yes, I dare,' said Harry, 'because Dumbledore's last plan didn't backfire on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle. That wand still isn't working properly for you, because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore.'
'He killed -'
'Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it would never been won from him!'
'But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!' Voldemort shouted, desperate to get a word in. 'I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! Its power is mine!'
'You still don't get it, Riddle, do you?' said Harry; there, again, was pity in his voice. 'Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard ... the Elder Wand recognised a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realising exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance ...
'The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy.'
Neville looked over to the three Malfoys, huddled tightly near the doors, blank shock reflected on all their pale faces.
'But what does it matter?' said Voldemort quietly. 'Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: we duel on skill alone ... and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy ...'
'But you're too late,' said Harry. 'You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him.'
As Harry twitched the alien wand in his hand, comprehension seemed to dawn on every person in the Great Hall, Voldemort included, and his face turned an even paler white.
'So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?' whispered Harry. 'Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does ... I am the true master of the Elder Wand.'
And then the moment came. Just as the sun peered over the horizon to see what might happen, its golden rays streaming through the broken windows to illuminate the fighters, Voldemort and Harry in harmony shouted their incantations:
'Avada Kedavra!'
'Expelliarmus!'
The two spells collided in the absolute centre of the Hall with the bang of a cannon-blast, and the whole crowd shifted backwards, though not daring to take their eyes off the scene. Voldemort's wand, the Elder Wand, departed the hand of its false master and cartwheeled through the sunlit air. As Harry caught it with his free hand, the jet of green bounced the other way and hit its unarmed caster, who fell backwards with a loud thud, mouth still half-open with the scream of surprise that had never left him.
There was a second of silence, before Neville was rushing towards Harry with Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, Ernie, Terry, Hagrid ... Neville, sword still hanging by his side, tried to hug him but there were far too many of them ...
The morning grew into huge celebration. After the dead were moved, including Voldemort's body, the tables were returned and everyone was jumbled up. Neville found himself aside Hannah, Michael and Ernie, listening to the news, both on the wireless and as Ministry officials strode through the Great Hall doors, handing Kingsley the Minister for Magic plaque. Neville set the sword on the table and many admirers came round to listen to Neville's own account of the story of slaying Nagini.
'And the Hat just gave you the sword?' asked Hannah in approbation.
Neville nodded and grinned.
'Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.'
He leant back in his chair as Harry slipped under his Invisibility Cloak, apparently unnoticed, and suddenly the image he'd witnessed in the Mirror returned to him ... he had the sword ... he felt excellent ... perhaps the Mirror really did tell the future after all ...
He would have to visit St Mungo's tomorrow - just to check.
Under Snape's Regime by joehook
Chapter Notes: I'm probably going to get abused for this but I again apologise for recounting this from the Deathly Hallows book; I can't be bothered to change it and I promise I haven't copied it word for word :P
And there's one more chapter to come after this :)