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SIYE Time:15:09 on 28th March 2024
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Voldemort's Last Stand
By Zelthian

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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Ron Weasley, Sirius Black
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 18
Summary: My imagining of what might happen during the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort, with a healthy dose of Harry/Ginny.
Hitcount: Story Total: 4200







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Harry closed his eyes and tried to remember how he got here.

The Order had beaten down the main onslaught, and Harry and the DA members had snuck around and penetrated the main hold, as planned. While the Order attacked from without, Harry and his friends had surprised from within. The battle was over very quickly, though all were shocked to find Voldemort missing. All but Dumbledore. He twitched nervously about, looking everywhere, much the same way he had at the Ministry of Magic when Voldemort had disappeared. Realizing this, everyone tensed.

The explosion knocked everyone back. Harry just managed to hold on to his wand as the wind was knocked out of him. He had landed just so and hadn’t suffered any serious injury. The others weren’t so lucky.

Harry didn’t have time to check to see if everyone was ok. Voldemort was bearing down on him.

“Nobody to save you THIS time, Potter! It’s just you and me, and I’ve grown weary of your existence.”

Harry didn’t have time to think. All the hate and rage that he had held inside swelled in his mind all at once. Their killing curses went off at exactly the same time.

Harry was suddenly bound by a force he couldn’t see. The wands were locked together, much like the last time this happened, only it was different somehow. He couldn’t move, but he still had control over his thoughts. A great swell of energy began to build where the two spells joined. It crackled with sickly green energy and smelled of death.

“You… see… your death… Potter!” Voldemort hissed through clenched teeth. The energy surge was slowly heading towards Harry. He let the hate swell in him again, and then focused that hate on the surge. It grew larger and stopped, then started moving towards Voldemort.

“No! You… will… not…” Voldemort strained against his wand, and the surge stopped again. It was a battle of wills. The energy surge grew larger and larger, until it was the size of a small car.

Without warning, the energy surge turned bright red.

Voldemort yelled in victory. “I have you now, Potter!”

Both wands exploded, shattered into thousands of splinters that went flying around the room. A great wind blew into the room, pushing Harry towards the energy surge. This was no ordinary wind, Harry realized. It felt like the surge was sucking the soul out of him. He could see that Voldemort was caught in the same wind, though he was laughing hysterically. Harry fought as hard as he could, but he was still caught by the spell and couldn’t move. He felt his soul break free of his body, and he flew across the room and into the surge…

And then he was here.

Only he didn’t know where here was. He was standing in a field, which turned out to be a rather large back yard that belonged to a rather large and stately house, which seemed to be more than a bit run down. There was nobody else around that he could tell. It was evening, and a full moon hovered overhead, though larger than Harry had ever seen it. The stars were out and twinkled brightly overhead. It was warm, and a warm breeze flowed gently through the air.

“Welcome to my boyhood home, Harry Potter.”

Harry turned to find Tom Riddle standing behind him. He went for his wand, but it wasn’t there. Harry realized he was wearing muggle clothes.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

Tom looked very proud of himself. “This was the greatest and most powerful magic I ever encountered. A spell by which, should I ever be next to death, I could pull myself into an alternate world, allowing me to survive and eventually find my way back into the real world. I used it on myself before I went to kill your parents, and it served me well then. Now, it has allowed me to bring you here, alone and defenseless.”

Harry’s rage began to resurface. “Coward!”

Tom laughed. “Cowardice is irrelevant, Potter. Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter how I kill you, so long as you are dead.”

“I won’t let you get away with this. I’m going to stop you.”

Voldemort mockingly raised an eyebrow. “And how do you suppose you’re going to do that, Harry?”

Harry thought his blood was going to boil. “I don’t know.”

Tom sneered. “No, of course you don’t. You don’t even know exactly why you survived my first attack, do you? Yes yes, your mother’s love and all that, but how? How did dear Lily’s love get to be in your very skin, Harry?”

Harry said nothing. He stood there and stared viciously at Tom, trying to burn a hole in his head with his gaze.

Tom sighed. “It really doesn’t matter now, does it? She’s dead, you lived, and now here we are at last, alone. You’ll forgive me if I take pause to cherish this moment.”

“If you think I’m going to let you stay here and recover just to return to the world again, you are very much mistaken, Tom Riddle!”

Tom smiled. “On the contrary, Harry. You are going to help me get back.”

The first pang of fear hit Harry’s stomach. “You wish.”

“It’s very simple, really. All I have to do is consume your energy and use it to fuel the spell that I will use to return. That’s how the trap spell works. Two souls enter the trap. Only one soul can leave. That’s why it took so long for me to return the first time: I had to cast the spell quickly when my curse reflected back to me, so I didn’t do it well enough. I got trapped without a second soul.”

The fear started churning in his gut. Harry had no way to get back. He didn’t know the spell. If he killed Tom somehow, he’d be stuck here forever.

It was then that he felt something warm wash over him. It wasn’t the wind; it was more like someone had turned on a sun lamp next to him, but there was no such thing around.

Tom looked around as if he were looking for something. “Somebody’s thinking about you, Harry.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harry asked angrily.

“Our bodies are still back in the real word, silly boy. No doubt the Order is trying desperately to dispose of mine as we speak. They’ll find it very difficult to do so.”

“So why do I feel warm, then?” Harry sneered.

“Oh they’re not trying to dispose of your body, Harry. Nobody’s ready to believe that you are dead. They’ve probably set you up in St. Mungos. I’d wager there’s someone at your bedside right now, weeping for you.”

“How could they have gotten me to St. Mungo’s so quickly? It’s only been a few minutes, and everyone was unconscious.”

“A slight side-effect of the spell which helped me endure my time here. Time flows a bit slower here than in the real world. I’d say that so far a week has passed in real time.”

“A week?”

“Yes Potter. And now, all I have to do is wait for them to give up and bury you. Once your body reaches a certain amount of decay, your soul will dislodge from it forever. As your soul dissipates, I’ll capture it for myself and use it to return to my own.”

It was more than Harry could handle. The image of his friends mourning him, of them giving up hope and letting him go, only to have Voldemort return was more than he could take. He ran full on at Tom, yelling and screaming with rage, and jumping into the air to tackle him.

Harry fell through Tom and landed badly on the ground behind him.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that we can’t touch each other here?”

Harry sprang back up and swung at Tom as hard as he could. His fist went right through Tom as if he weren’t there.

“No…” Was all Harry could say. He swung again and again and again, is rage taking over. Nothing would connect.

“No… NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Tom laughed then in the high, shrill laugh of Voldemort.

Harry collapsed on the ground, defeated. He could do nothing to prevent what was coming. He couldn’t touch Tom. He didn’t have his wand. He was trapped. He put his head to the ground and wept.

“And to think, Dumbledore trusted you once, Tom.”

Harry looked up quickly to see another dark-haired man standing in the field. He looked much younger and cleaner than he remembered, but he knew instantly who he was.

“Sirius?”


* * * * *


Ron hadn’t fully recovered, but he didn’t care. His health wasn’t important. He would heal in time. He had to talk to Ginny.

He went back over everything he had been told. It was as if Ginny was keeping vigil over Harry. She hadn’t left his side. Nobody had thought to take Ginny’s wand away from her, which was a mistake. She used it to threaten everybody, demanding that she be allowed to stay with Harry. She demanded to be allowed to recover in his room so she could watch over him. As soon as she was strong enough to walk, she walked over and sat in the chair next to him. She would only allow the doctor, the nurses, her family, select friends and certain professors near him.

She had even bat bogey hexed Professor Snape when he dared to suggest that Harry was never coming back, and that Dumbledore should begin funeral preparations. It took all the strength Hermione, Fred and George could muster to keep her from hexing him further.

Ron wheeled his wheelchair up to Harry’s room and knocked quietly.

“Who is it?” Ginny’s voice was shakey.

“Ginny, it’s Ron. Can I come in?”

The door opened quicker than he had expected.

“Ron! You’re OK!” Ginny hugged him as tightly as she dared.

“It’s great to see you to, sis.” He hugged Ginny back. He hadn’t seen her since the battle. He knew she was better, but he had to see for himself.

“What brings you here, Ron?” Ginny said, standing back up.

“I came to see you, Ginny, and I came to see Harry.”

For the first time, Ron understood what Hermione had tried to tell him. He had never seen Ginny look at him this way. It was as if she was suspicious of him, not like he was about to pull a prank on her, but like he was going to take away the most precious thing in her life.

“Can I come in and see him?” Ron asked quietly. “Please?”

“Are you alone?” Ginny asked curtly. Ron took the safe approach and simply nodded. Ginny opened the door just enough to clear Ron’s wheelchair and stood aside to let him in. As soon as he was in the room Ginny closed the door and tapped the doorknob with her wand. She then walked quickly back to the chair next to Harry’s bed.

Ron wheeled over to the bed slowly. His heart sank as Harry slowly came into view. He looked horrible. He still had bruises and scratches all over him. His eyes were sunken in a bit and there were deep, dark wells under them. Ron could see why everyone thought the spell had sucked the life out of him.

“He’s still alive,” Ginny said simply and sadly.

Ron swallowed hard. “How can you tell?”

Ginny wiped away a tear. “Lean down and look across his chest. You have to stay there for a whole minute and watch closely.”

Ron did as she said. He was about to give up until he glimpsed an almost imperceptible movement in Harry’s body. As he watched, he realized he was watching Harry breathe very, very slowly.

“He IS alive!” Ron said excitedly, but his excitement was short lived. “Do you think what Dumbledore said is true?”

“I don’t know what to think, Ron. All I know is that I have to stay with him.” Ginny replied.

“Why, Ginny?”

Ginny hung her head, then turned and looked at Harry. “Because if I don’t, he WILL die.”

Ron looked at Ginny. He couldn’t help feeling sad for her. “How do you know that, Ginny?”

Ginny didn’t move. “I don’t know how I know. I just know. With all my heart and mind and soul, I know that I must never leave him.”

Ron understood. “You love him.”

Ginny looked back at Ron and nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“You told us you were over him, but you never really were, were you?”

Ginny pulled a tissue off the table beside her and wiped her face. “Let’s just say I gave up thinking we could ever get together. I tried to convince myself that I could let him go completely, but I never could. That’s when I realized that I loved him.”

Ron wheeled up and took Ginny’s hand. “You’re right, Ginny. You can’t let him go. None of us can.”

Ginny leaned over and hugged Ron tightly. “Thank you, Ron. Thank you so much.”

“I love you, Ginny.”

“I love you too, Ron.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Ginny yelled out.

“Miss Fludgely, here to retrieve Mr. Weasley. It’s time for his therapy,” a sweet voice called from behind the door.

“I have to go,” Ron whispered in Ginny’s ear. Ginny nodded and stood, releasing Ron as she did. She went over to the door and tapped it with her wand.

“Come in.”

Ron turned to look at Harry again. He put his hand on Harry’s. It was cold.

“Hurry back, Harry,” Ron said as the nurse pulled him back towards the door.


* * * * *


“I must say, this is an unexpected displeasure. I’ve never had a visitor from behind the veil before.”

“Shut up, Tom, you great prat,” Sirius sneered back. Sirius walked over to Harry and helped him up. Harry hugged him tightly as he would his own father. Sirius hugged back.

“Sirius I’m so sorry, how can you every forgive me?”

Sirius chuckled. “Harry, you can’t blame yourself for everything. Ol’ Voldemort might have lured you to the Ministry, but he didn’t get what he came for, now did he?”

“That didn’t stop sweet Bella from sending you to an early grave, did it?” Tom jeered.

Sirius ignored him. “Did they capture anyone?” Sirius asked Harry.

“Yes,” Harry answered through his tears.

“Did Dumbledore use the situation to our advantage?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded.

“Then it was worth it, Harry. Victories like that are hard to quantify. If it helped in the all-too-eventual defeat of Voldemort, than my passing was worth it. You do NOT have my permission to blame yourself.”

Harry smiled. “Ok.”

“Now: let’s get you out of here,” Sirius said, as if he were serious.

Tom laughed. “There is no way out, you moron. I’ve made quite sure of that.”

Sirius looked amused. “Have you ever been behind the veil, Tom?”

Tom smirked. “I must say that I’ve never visited there myself.”

Harry thought he knew what Tom was insinuating. From the look on Sirius’s face, he didn’t find it funny, either.

“I’ve learned a few things in my time there,” Sirius explained. “The most important is this: There is no such thing as cut and dry when it comes to magic. There’s always a way in, a way around, a way through, and a way OUT.”

Sirius turned Harry towards him and put his hands on Harry’s shoulders.

“Now, Harry, I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind.”

Harry did as Sirius told him. He relaxed and concentrated on breathing, in and out.

“I want you to feel for that warmth you felt a few moments ago. Wait for it to come. If I’m right, it’s always there, and you should be able to pick up on it fairly easily.”

As soon as Sirius said it, Harry felt the warmth again. He suspected it had not really left. It was as if he were feeling someone near him, someone who cared for him, someone who loved him very much.

“Do you feel it, Harry?”

Harry nodded slowly. “It’s so strong, Sirius. I don’t know how I know that, but it’s very strong.”

“Who is it, Harry? Can you tell?”

Harry let the warmth flow through him. “I’m not sure, Sirius. I can’t be sure, but it’s like a deep, caring love… not like a motherly love, more like…”

“Say no more, Harry, I understand.”

“But I can’t imagine who it could be. It’s not like I had a girlfriend or anything.”

“Then it has to be someone who admires you but never told you how she felt. If you can feel it that strongly, she must be holding vigil.”

Harry was caught off-guard. “Holding vigil?”

“Yes, Harry. Unless you can feel the warmth ebb away and return, she’s staying by your side. Remember, time moves faster in the real world. You’d be able to feel her leave your side, then return.”

Harry concentrated on the warmth. It didn’t ebb at all. It was steady.

“But who could love me this much?”

“Only you can answer that question, Harry.”

Harry thought back on the last few years as he let warmth permeate him. The thought back through all his years at Hogwarts, to everything he had done. His first thoughts were of Cho, but he knew immediately it wasn’t her. She had dropped out of his life almost entirely. He still saw her at school until she graduated last year, but they never talked.

A little bell went off in the back of his head. There was a presence that he perceived as he thought through recent events. He traced it back as far as he could, and the image came to him: a pretty young girl with fiery red hair peering out from behind a door at the Burrow.

That’s silly, Harry thought. She’s over me. I’ve had this conversation with myself before.

He forwarded his thoughts a few years. He saw Ginny in the library with the chocolate. He saw Ginny giving him back his wand, having just bat bogey hexed Malfoy to get it. A myriad of other situations flooded back, and Harry realized two things: He had fallen in love with Ginny, and she had never fallen out of love with him.

“I think I know who it is, Sirius. Merlin I hope it’s her.”

Tom chuckled. “So tragic. So you’ll be able to feel when her love finally dies away. All the more pain to you, Potter.”

“That’s not going to happen, Tom,” Sirius said with certainty.

“Oh ho ho, and I supposed a dead, failed wizard like yourself is going to stop it, eh?”

“No, I’m not, but Harry is.”

“But what can I do, Sirius? I can’t even touch him,” Harry said, trying to understand.

“Wait, Harry. Just wait.”


* * * * *


Ginny brushed away a tear as she brought the little table over next to Harry’s bed. On it were two cupcakes which she had asked her mum to make for her. She put a small candle in the shape of a ‘1’ on one cupcake, and a matching candle in the shape of an ‘8’ on the other. She lit them with her wand.

She looked over at the clock expectantly. As she watched, the minute hand ticked onto the 12, joining the hour hand.

“Happy birthday, Harry,” she said softly. She leaned over and gently kissed Harry on the lips. She sat back up and stared at the candles. Then she closed her eyes.

“Come back to me, Harry.” Her eyes closed, she blew out the candles.


* * * * *


Harry could feel a strong surge in the warmth around him. It was like someone had lit a bonfire, and he was standing in the middle of it.

“Sirius!” he called out.

“What do you feel, Harry?”

“The warmth! It’s like I’m on fire!”

“Your time has come, Potter! They’ve thrown you into the pyre!” Tom screamed with glee.

“Ignore him Harry,” Sirius said urgently. “I want you to gather all that love, let it flow through you, gather it up and concentrate it into your hands.”

Harry tried to do as Sirius asked. He concentrated his mind on the fire and let it course through him. With his thoughts, he directed the energy into his hands.

“My hands are going to burst, Sirus!”

“Not yet, Harry! Keep your eyes closed! Keep at it!”

Harry didn’t know how much more he could stand. It felt like the skin was pealing off of his fingers.

“I can’t hold it much longer, Sirius. I’m going to lose it!”

“Alright, Harry! Listen to me! You only have one chance at this! Do exactly as I say. Don’t hesitate!”

Harry couldn’t think. It was taking everything he had to keep the energy at bay. He nodded.

“Open your eyes and focus quickly on Tom!”

Harry opened his eyes. The scene looked different. Everything was in black and white, except Tom, who was surrounded by a sickly green Aura.

“Time to die, Harry Potter,” Voldemort cheered!

“Release all the energy into him, Harry. NOW!”

Harry let loose the energy. Tom screamed as it hit him, a scream that was hate, pain, and defeat all at the same time. Harry watched as the image of Tom Riddle melted into the ruined form of Voldemort. The energy continued to flow, melting Voldemort into a blob of energy, which rose and stretched into a cloud before him.

“That’s your portal back, Harry. When I tell you, run for it.”

“Will I ever see you again, Sirius?”

“Stranger things have happened, Harry.”

“Thank you Sirius, for…”

Harry didn’t get a chance to finish. Just then, the portal changed color from green to red.

“Now, Harry, NOW!”

Harry ran and jumped into the portal.

Harry had expected to see a light, but it was dark in the portal. It took him a moment to realize that he was now lying down. His body felt tired and very weak. He ached in several places and he couldn’t see anything. His chest felt heavy.

It was then he realized his eyes were closed.

Harry opened his eyes slowly. He could see the ceiling above clearly, which surprised him. Someone had put his glasses on his face.

Harry moved his eyes to see if he could figure out where he was. He moved his eyes down and noticed something strange on a table. After a moment he realized he was looking at two small cakes with a strange candle on each one. He looked down further and discovered something with flowing red hair sitting on his chest. His heart jumped when he realized it was Ginny’s head. She was sitting in a chair next to his bed and had fallen asleep on his chest.

Harry fought to contain his emotions. He had been right! It was Ginny all along. He didn’t want to wake her, but he desperately wanted to talk to her. Ginny moaned softly and moved her head slightly.

“Ginny.” Harry’s voice was quiet and raspy.

Ginny tensed and slowly turned her head. Her eyes, beautiful and red and puffy from crying, grew large as she realized Harry was awake.

“Harry?” she asked tentatively.

“Hello Ginny,” was all Harry could think to say.

“Harry!” Ginny cried. She shoved her arms behind his neck and hugged him, crying openly into his ear. Harry understood. He couldn’t stop his own tears from flowing down his cheeks. He tried to move his arms. They complained, but he forced them around Ginny anyway.

“I knew you’d come back, I knew it! I knew it! I told them you would.”

Harry didn’t interrupt her. He let her pour out her emotions for as long as she needed. She slowly regained her composure. It took some time. When he thought she was ready, he spoke.

“You never left my side, did you Ginny?”

Ginny sat up on the bed. Harry let his hand fall down to Ginny’s waist. She looked at him with those incredible eyes and shook her head.

“How did you know?” she asked.

“I could feel you, Ginny. Voldemort set a trap for me. He was going to wait for everyone to give up on me, then consume my soul and use the energy to return to his body.”

Ginny looked horrified. “I knew that if I left you, you’d die. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. What happened, Harry?”

Harry reached up and wiped the tears from Ginny’s cheek. Ginny closed her eyes as he did. Harry thought she was enjoying the gesture.

“You happened, Ginny. While you were here keeping vigil, I could feel your love wherever I was.”

Ginny opened her eyes and stared at Harry. “How did you know it was me?”

Harry took hold of Ginny’s hand and took a deep breathe. “I didn’t know for sure, honestly. At first I didn’t think it was you, but as I thought back over the past few years, I realized that who it was didn’t matter as much as who I wanted it to be. As I thought about that, I realized that all this time I had been falling in love with you. At that moment, I knew that the only person I wanted it to be was you. I grasped images of you from these last few years, images from times when you had helped me and been there for me. I held on to the hope that you still felt something for me, even though you’d said you were over me.”

Ginny managed a smile. “I guess it’s pretty obvious now that I’m not over you.”

Harry smiled back. “Yeah…” He grasped her other hand and held them both together. “Ginny, if you’ll have me, I promise to love you, forever and always, and never leave you so long as I live.”

Ginny’s face fell into an expression of shock, then of radiant joy. “You mean that, Harry?” she asked shakily.

Harry nodded. “With all my heart.”

Harry reached up and put his hand gently on her cheek. He slid his fingers back around her neck and pulled her slowly down to him. Ginny closed her eyes as she neared him, and Harry did the same just before their lips met. Ginny seemed unsure at first, but Harry persisted, as if to tell her that he meant what he said. She stopped holding back and fell entirely into his arms, and they spent the next moments of their lives attempting to channel the whole of their love for each other into a single, passionate kiss.
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