(no subject)

[eternalkess]

Chapter 3:

Just as Neville’s watch struck eleven, familiar cracks that accompanied Apparition were heard beside the group. Voldemort himself Apparated silently; the cracks were the sounds of the Death Eaters. Neville had seen those hooded figures before. He’d fought them at the end of his fifth year, and the end of his sixth year, and several times throughout his seventh year. Somehow, this time was different. He wasn’t scared. A determination he’d never known before was flowing through his body, beating with his heart. Some extraordinary source of power was pulsing inside him, and he was ready. The power left no room for fear.

Voldemort stood in front of all the Death Eaters. Despite the number of times he’d fought the Death Eaters, Neville looked into Tom Riddle’s eyes for the first time in his life in that moment. He was amazed by how little humanity there seemed to be left in the tyrant. His eyes were red slits, and his nose was nonexistent. His soul, Neville knew, was in pieces. And six sevenths of it were destroyed.

Harry gasped, clutched his scar and fell to one knee. Voldemort surveyed the situation. "You readily bring me Harry Potter?" His voice was quiet, and filled with more evil than Neville could understand. It was completely devoid of any hesitation, of any doubt, of any kindness, of any mercy. Even when his words weren’t threatening, his voice conveyed a world.

Without hesitating, Professor McGonagall stepped forward. They all knew she’d replaced Dumbledore. She was the new head of the Order of the Pheonix, she was the new secret keeper for Order’s headquarters, and she was the new headmistress of Hogwarts. Those were the only "official" changes, but there was a change there they could all feel. If possible, her purposeful posture and gait became even more confident. She’d risen to take Dumbledore’s place as the one they all counted on - Hagrid’s fierce loyalty, the admiration of so many and the trust of the Order and its supporters had transferred from Dumbledore to her. Over the past year, there had been a major change in her. They’d all felt it, but none of them had spoken of it. Her stepping forward at that moment was accepted and expected by all.

"We are here to fight, not to play around." She spoke with the same tone she used when she told her classes to quit fooling around. She was a no-nonsense woman to the core, and wouldn’t be using any strategies to keep Voldemort talking. She was strong, and Neville was amazed by the fact that she didn’t even let the most feared dark wizard of the twentieth century degrade her. Suddenly, Neville realised Professor McGonagall and Voldemort were around the same age. In fact, they’d probably gone to Hogwarts together. He wondered if, years later, the headmistress of Hogwarts remembered her own school days with the tyrant.

"Have it your way, Minerva," replied Voldemort with a laugh. "You were never one for playing around." So he remembered, whether she did or not.

He nodded briefly to one of his Death Eaters and, without warning, the Death Eater pointed his wand at Harry and yelled, "Avada Kedavera!" Harry, who had since recovered from the pain in his scar, dodged it by half an inch. Voldemort and his Death Eaters stepped forward, and the Order moved automatically in front of the students. They were trying to protect them.

Immediately, the Death Eaters charged. The Order got between the Death Eaters and the teenagers, trying to protect them. Neville felt a cold wave of shock and terror go over him in that moment - for one second, he thought he was done for. Being brave was great - he wanted to save the world and everything, but it was at that moment that the truth really hit him: he could die. He stood frozen, staring at the battle. Then: "Stupefy!"

"Protego!" shouted Ginny, next to him. "Neville!" she yelled, desperation in her voice. "Don’t just stand there." Brought back to reality, Neville started firing stunning spells at random. The Death Eaters were outnumbered, and Ginny was soon lost in the crowd. Neville looked around, but couldn’t see Harry, Ron, Hermione or Luna. They’d all been split up. That was when he realised he didn’t have time to stop and be rational. The battle had been on for about five seconds, and he was lucky to have lasted that long without being hit by a stray spell. He changed his style immediately, knowing it was no time to push his luck.

Neville didn’t know how he got through the battle that ensued. He ducked a jet of green light, dodged a jet of red light, fired a stunner and had to jump away as it came back at him from a shield charm … the moments ran together in his mind. It helped that the entire Order was there but Voldemort hadn’t brought all his Death Eaters, so Neville’s side outnumbered his opponents about two to one.

The killing curse took up a lot of magical energy, and the jets of green light became fewer and farther between as the battle went on. After a while, only Voldemort himself still had enough power left to continue using the curse. Voldemort was firing the curse everywhere, but the Order used Harry’s wand to the best of their ability. They knew Voldemort couldn’t duel Harry, so Harry only had to point his wand and Voldemort and the other wizard would have to back off - he didn’t want to evoke Priori Incantatum if he could help it.

Priority was given to keeping the teenagers conscious, and the adults were determined to make sure the prophecy was fulfilled. Neville saw a jet of red light coming at him and, before he had time to react, Kingsley had blocked it. The time it had taken him to do that had given another Death Eater the time to stun him. Neville started firing spells at the Death Eater as Kingsley fell, and he didn’t even know what he was doing.

His mind was yelling with all the power it had: you’re duelling a Death Eater, you moron! Get the heck out of her - you can’t fight! What are you doing? Run! You’re a stupid, clumsy klutz - you don’t belong in this battle. Get out of here and put me back in control! Are you trying to get yourself killed?

Neville was too busy fighting to respond to his mind, but he didn’t heed a word of it. He knew it was completely irrational to ignore his mind’s advice, but he didn’t care. For good of the world - in order to fulfil the prophecy made by Rowena Ravenclaw, he knew he had to strip his mind of its power. That courage that had put him in Gryffindor rose to a position of more power than it had ever had before, and Neville let his mind scream itself hoarse.

Warnings were shouted constantly, until no one could tell where the came from. Neville took to just ducking when he heard his name, and casting as many shield charms as he could. Neville heard Hermione’s scream and felt terror rush through him, but she was still alive. Fred Weasley had jumped on her to get her out of the line of fire of a killing curse from Bellatrix Lestrange, but he didn’t get up with Hermione. Neville was about to go over there when he was hit with a stunner from behind.

The next thing he knew, Professor Lupin was standing over him. The battle was still raging, so Neville knew he’d been woken up by ‘Enervate’. This spell was used often throughout the battle. The professor didn’t have time to talk - he was duelling a Death Eater, and had just had time to revive Neville as he’d passed.

Neville got up and hit Professor Lupin’s opponent with a stunner to the back of the head. Suddenly, he felt someone grab him from behind. An unidentified arm covered his eyes, mouth and nose, meaning he couldn’t see and could hardly breathe. He struggled and tried to scream, but the arm muffled his cries. He was being carried away from the battle - where was he going?

"Petrificus Totalus!" The voice was male, but Neville didn’t recognise it. He fell to the ground, blocking out a suddenly triggered memory of the first time he’d been hit by it. But he knew the Death Eater, unlike Hermione, was unlikely to just leave him there and revive him later. He looked up to see the familiar face of his captor. Almost all the Death Eaters had their masks off, and Neville recognised the face of Lucius Malfoy. He hadn’t recognised the voice, but he’d seen him often throughout his seventh year and at the end of his fifth and sixth ones.

Then he heard another voice - this one female and far too familiar. "Excellent, Lucius," said Bellatrix Lestrange. "I didn’t get a chance at our last meeting to see if this one can hold out as long as his parents. But we’re still missing the other boy."

Right on cue, Neville heard Ron’s voice nearby. "Hermione! Ginny - Neville - Luna - argh!" Neville couldn’t see what was going on, but it sounded like Ron’s captor had tackled him to the ground. Bellatrix was still standing over Neville.

"Really, Goyle, the boy is sixteen. How difficult can it be to keep him from escaping your hold?" Neville knew Ron’s brief escape had come to nothing, because Goyle applied the full body bind right then. Neville heard Ron’s brief gasp, and then he heard him hit the ground.

From what Ron had called out upon seeing him, Neville assumed Hermione, Ginny and Luna were there too. So they had five of the chosen six - why had nobody noticed their absence? Come to think of it, Neville hadn’t been paying much attention, but the screams did seem to have gotten louder since he’d been carried away. Then he heard Mr. Weasley’s voice, ringing above the others: "Light a fire! Inferi hate the light, so keep fires going at all times! It’ll keep them away from the battle!" So that was how the Death Eaters had distracted the Order - they’d let out the Inferi just as they’d captured the teenagers. But where was Harry?

Suddenly, he heard a mocking male voice: "Come on, Potter, not scared - protego! - of a few Inferi, - stupefy! - are you? Come this way, that’s right …"

Neville could hear Harry shouting out spells, and he realised his opponent was leading him away from the battle. He, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna were being used as bait to get Harry over there. He tried to call out a warning to him, but he couldn’t move his mouth. He struggled desperately, but it did no good. He just had to wait, until…

"RON!" shouted Harry, obviously seeing his friends. "Hermione - Luna - Ginny - Neville - let them go!" Above him, Neville heard Bellatrix Lestrange laugh.

"So, you decided to join us, Potter. I’d put that wand down if I were you - it could be dangerous. And you wouldn’t want your friends to get hurt, now, would you?" At that point, Neville heard Harry gasp in pain.

"Funny," said a cold voice behind Neville. "My presence still causes your scar unbearable pain, but I can touch you with no ill effects. Now why don’t you put that wand down and let me kill you?"

Harry gasped - he seemed to have his pain under control. "Never - Finite Incantatum!" Neville didn’t know which of his friends Harry was trying to revive, but a simple shield charm from Bellatrix kept all five of them immobile.

"It won’t be that easy, Potter," said Voldemort from behind Neville. "You lower your wand so I can kill you without evoking Priori Incantatum, or the consequences won’t be good for these friends of yours. There are five of them, so she we should have at least an hour if we torture each one of them for long enough before they die. And you will watch - or lower your wand."

Neville felt pure horror rush through him at those words. He tried to yell at Harry - to tell him not to give in no matter what happened, but the spell prevented him from doing so. How far away were they from the battle? He thought he’d been carried for at least five minutes - the distance muffled the screams of the Death Eaters and the Order. But surely, they couldn’t be too far away to see the teenagers…

"And don’t bother trying to escape, Potter," added Lucius Malfoy. "There are wards around this area, and they were sealed the second you entered. The Order can’t get in here to save you now, and you can’t get out. So make your choice."

"And the second you kill me, you’re just going to let my friends go home?" asked Harry, keeping his voice even. "You’ll kill us no matter what I do."

"Very well," replied Bellatrix, not sounding at all bothered by this response. "I think I’ll start with this one - I have some unfinished business that the Order rudely interrupted me from two years ago. And I do want to finish what I started with his parents." Neville moved his eyes towards her, and saw her point her wand at him. "Crucio!" The pain was unbearable - he couldn’t even move or scream because of the spell. The pain crashed through him, destroying him - he just wanted it to end. He couldn’t take it - why couldn’t they just kill him? Through the excruciating pain, Neville heard Harry’s desperate voice: "Stop! That’s enough!" The pain didn’t stop.

"Lower your wand!" shouted Bellatrix. "A few more minutes and he’ll crack like his parents, and there are still four others here. Lower your wand and I’ll stop."

"Please," came Harry’s desperate voice. "Please … anyone … Dumbledore …" Suddenly, the pain stopped. The sound that reached Neville’s ears was the most beautiful one he’d ever heard, and it somehow stopped the torture. He thought his heart might burst with the most amazing sensation he’d ever experienced, and he heard Harry whisper: "Fawks … how did you get here?"

"Get that thing out of here!" came Voldemort’s voice. For the first time Neville had heard him, he sounded scared. "Avada -"

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry at the same time. Neville heard Voldemort’s gasp of surprise, but he couldn’t see what was happening.

"Do nothing," Voldemort told his Death Eaters. "I will break the connection when the time comes."

Through all this, Fawks continued to sing. Slowly, Neville felt his strength returning. After about twenty seconds had passed, he felt strong enough to move his fingers. The spell lifted completely about ten seconds later. For the first time since he’d been led away from the battle, Neville found he could sit up and looked around.

Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange had been obscuring his view before, but once he sat up he saw Harry and Voldemort’s wands had connected. Both their wands were vibrating, and Voldemort seemed to be trying his hardest to break the connection. Neville looked to his other side, and saw Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Luna had also sat up. They were watching the scene before them, with Harry and Voldemort duelling.

Then, slowly, the two wizards were lifted off the ground. A web formed around them, and a wizard came out of Voldemort’s wand. Neville didn’t recognise the man, but he knew what was happening. Harry had told them all about Priori Incantatum, and how they could use it to their advantage in the final battle.

Just as another man came out of the wand, Neville suddenly fell back onto the ground. His arms and legs came together in the full body bind. He wanted to cry out, but he couldn’t. What was going on? He hadn’t heard anyone say the incantation for the full body bind, and he could still see the Death Eaters out of the corner of his eye. They were staring at the web, paying no attention to him.

Several moments after the spell was applied to Neville, he saw Goyle get hit with a jet of red light. Lucius ran to him and Bellatrix turned immediately to the teenagers. She obviously saw nothing suspicious, so it seemed that the others had been knocked out again too.

When Bellatrix turned her back, Lucius was stunned. Bellatrix looked at the teenagers again, and then turned back to Lucius. She raised her wand to revive him, but she was stunned the moment she turned.

That was when Neville heard Hermione’s whispered voice: "Finite Incantatum". He heard Ron’s ask Hermione what was going on, but she just ignored him and said the incantation again. That one woke up Luna, who asked the same question as Ron but with far less panic. In fact, she sounded almost nonchalant. The next spell woke him up, and he turned to look at Hermione. The Pheonix song had rendered him able to move his fingers and toes, but he hadn’t quite been able to sit up until Hermione had revived him. As Neville watched, Hermione turned to her other side and woke up Ginny.

"What were you doing!?" demanded Ginny. She was the only one not sitting between Hermione and the Death Eaters, so she was the only one that would have seen Hermione had she been watching Harry. "You put the full body bind on me!" she said, furious.

"I’m sorry," said Hermione, silencing Ron with a look. "I didn’t know how to tell you all to pretend the spell hadn’t lifted, so I just put it back on. I pretended to be immobile, and I stunned the Death Eaters. If they’d seen any of us sitting up, they’d have been ready for the attack and they’d have put the spell back on all of us when it lifted."

There was a brief pause as these words sunk in on them. Then: "Hermione, you are the most brilliant witch I’ve ever met," said Ron, "let’s go." With that, they all got up and ran over to the web Harry and Voldemort were still in. Fawks was still singing, and Neville thought his heart might burst with the exhilarating sensation.

The web was thick with Voldemort’s victims, and Harry was struggling to hang on. "Harry!" shouted Ron, "We’re all right! We can help you!"

Harry looked down at them. "Run," he shouted. "I don’t know how much longer I can hang on - if you can’t get through the wards, the spell to turn something into a portkey is Portus. Get out of here!"

In exasperation, Hermione shouted at him: "Nobody runs in a fight to the death. We’re not leaving!"

Obviously, Harry’s determination to stick with what he’d said before the battle overshadowed his heroic instincts. He didn’t argue with Hermione. Instead, he jerked his wand upwards and broke the connection. When the two wizards landed, Harry had his wand pointed at Voldemort. "Try to revive the Death Eaters, or try to hurt Fawks, my friends or I, and I’ll throw another spell at you and make the wands connect again," said Harry, looking straight into Voldemort’s eyes.

Voldemort didn’t say a word in reply. Instead, he merely snapped his fingers. When he did so, seven Inferi came out of the ground and walked towards the teenagers. "You did think we wasted them all on the Order and left this place unprotected, did you?" asked Voldemort with a smile.

Neville was confused. There were only seven of them - why did Voldemort think that would be enough to scare them? He raised his wand - the fire-making spell came naturally to him after all that practice. To Neville’s surprise, all the Inferi seemed to have specific targets. One went right up to Neville, and as he prepared to light it on fire to keep it at bay, he stopped. Immediately, Neville knew why Voldemort thought seven Inferi would be enough to do real damage. When Neville turned to the Inferi that attacked him, he came face to face with his late grandfather.

In spite of himself, Neville felt a rush of memories flood his mind. His grandfather raised him alongside his Gran until he was killed right in the house when Neville was ten. Death Eaters had murdered the poor man - the Healers said it was a miracle Neville and his Gran had survived the attack. It had come the summer before Neville’s first year at Hogwarts - his grandfather hadn’t even lived to see his boy go to school. Gran had become much stricter since Grandpa had been killed - and there he was, standing right in front of Neville.

Neville backed away, transfixed by the body in front of him. Grandpa kept coming forward - what should he do? Neville couldn’t hurt his grandfather. That was when he heard Ron’s voice: "Ginny! It’s Simon! You remember him - he was my best friend till I was nine. Till the Death Eaters came…"

"He took Aunt Edna’s body," said Ginny quietly, sounding like she was in a trance. "Ron, Aunt Edna’s here! I haven’t seen her since…" She broke off - they all knew what had happened if she was an Inferus.

"Granny?" said Hermione quietly, "You’re here…"

Neville looked around. Luna was staring at the approaching Inferi, stepping back but not casting any spells. "Mommy," she whispered, sounding less grounded than ever.

Harry kept his wand pointed straight at Voldemort, but his eyes were on the two Inferi coming at him. Unlike the others, he didn’t seem capable of speech. He just stared at them, and Neville didn’t need to see their faces to know who they were. The man and woman that had sacrificed themselves for their son were now forced to kill him.

It didn’t long for all this to register with Neville - he had to keep backing away from his grandfather’s body. He didn’t have to take many steps before he hit an invisible wall - he’d backed into the ward created by the Death Eaters. He knew he had to create fire - the body was on Voldemort’s side, and there was nothing he could do. "No," he whispered, desperate for an alternative. "Please…"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna had also backed into the ward, and were desperate for a way out. "What’s wrong?" asked Voldemort mockingly. "Don’t you children know how to make fire?"

"Never," gasped Ron, as the Inferi closed in. "He’s my friend…" It was clear that the other six teenagers felt the same way as Neville: they’d rather have the Inferi kill them than watch their loved ones burn.

Neville’s grandfather closed in on him, pinning him by his neck against the ward. The hand was cold and clammy … Neville felt his breath grow short … Fawks was still singing - it would be the last sound he ever heard…

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and a blast of noise. Instead of drowning out the Pheonix song, it magnified the noise so Neville was sure Fawks could be heard for miles around. Voldemort screamed in agony, the hand was thrown away from Neville’s throat, he couldn’t see for all the multicoloured light … scarlet, gold, green, silver, yellow, black, blue and bronze - all intertwined, filling the whole area enclosed by the wards.

The different colours wove around each other to form a rope, and suddenly Neville felt the rope attach itself to him. It went right through him, right through all of them, connecting the six teenagers in a circle. They all rose up, the rhythm of Fawks’ song grew faster and the circle of teenagers spun in the air.

Neville heard Voldemort’s scream of agony - he was obviously feeling the opposite effect of the power that was surging through Neville. The six of them spun faster - the rope of magical light went straight through Neville’s heart, connecting him to the hearts of his five friends. It was the most incredible moment Neville had ever experienced - the Pheonix song grew faster and louder by the second.

Then, Neville heard two female voices. They spoke together, quietly, fluently, reciting the two prophecies that were being fulfilled. One voice was familiar - it was the misty, familiar voice of Professor Trelaway. Neville could only assume the other was Rowena Ravenclaw, as she was reciting the prophecy that had been in the letter from Hermione. The voices spoke quietly, sounding beautiful alongside the Pheonix song and each other.

Just as Professor Trelaway finished reciting her prophecy, Harry was thrown into the middle of the swirling mass of coloured light. He was tossed around inside it - the circle was about six metres in diameter, so Neville couldn’t always see him. However, as Harry was thrown around, he screamed with as much agony as Voldemort. The destroyer felt the same pain as the destroyed - Harry’s face and voice conveyed that perfectly. They were all in the circle, but Harry was the one destroying the evil, fulfilling Professor Trelaway’s prophecy. He was just able to do it because, thanks to the self-fulfilling prophecy of Rowena Ravenclaw, he had his friends helping him.

The rope of light that held the six of them together tightened, so Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna’s shoulders were almost touching. The circle continued to spin, going faster by the second, and Neville could see Harry’s face every time he passed it. Seeing Harry in that much pain numbed the incredible sensation that filled his heart - it wasn’t fair. Harry always had to take the hard stuff - why couldn’t somebody else shoulder his burden? After all, they were all destroying Voldemort together…

Suddenly, an unexpected pain seized Neville’s body. It ran throughout him, and it felt like the Cruciatus curse. When Neville looked around, he saw his friends’ faces had pained looks on them. Ginny let out a gasp of pain, and it seemed like the others were experiencing the same thing as Neville. When Neville looked at Harry, he saw the pain on his friend’s face had eased dramatically. That was when he realised what was going on: they were each feeling a sixth of Harry’s original pain. Their willingness to take some of it had given them the ability to

For the next thirty seconds, the circle continued to spin faster and faster. The rhythm of the Pheonix song also became faster and louder, and the pain increased. Finally, just when Neville didn’t think he could take any more, the light disappeared.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna were all thrown in different directions. Neville felt himself hit the ward as he flew, and then he fell to the ground. The pain went away and, unnoticed by anyone, Fawks disappeared. Neville sat up and looked around. His friends were sitting up too - they’d all landed in different places. In the middle of the circle was Voldemort, lying on his back.

Slowly, the six friends walked over to him. His eyes were wide open, and he showed no signs of life. Hermione took his wrist and felt for a pulse. Then she pointed her wand at him and made some complicated movements, muttering incantations under her breath. After doing so for about twenty seconds, she looked up at her friends. "It’s over," she said quietly, her face shining with tears. "He’s dead."