35

Chapter 35: The Downfall of Lord Voldemort?Notes:

Good morning everyone, I hope you're all doing fine. Here's this week's chapter of "A Whole New Life"

Have fun reading :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hermione was, after having a Pepper-Up Potion, as well on her way outside. And even though she knew that things were messy and brutal outside, seeing it was completely different. She headed for Harry and Sirius, incapacitating three Death Eaters temporarily along the way. 

A bit further away she was able to see the unmistakable ginger hair of the Weasleys. Arthur, Bill and Charlie were all here, and apparently Percy was fighting inside and had helped Remus to defeat Greyback and one of the rogue students. It was a very bloody battle for sure, because by now none of the good guys was only going for stunners anymore. They weren't being led by "everyone-deserves-a-second-chance-Dumbledore" anymore and the werewolf attack on Hogwarts had changed the publics' mindset. If life in Azkaban didn't work anymore because Voldemort could just break them out, then they'd need harsher punishments. Minister Bones had been against any kind of death penalty, but by now the calls for Veil or Dementor's Kiss were getting more and more.

And so the people fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts didn't really intend on making prisoners. Sure, they didn't kill ruthlessly, but they did use deadly force when taking down Death Eaters. Bodies were piling up on both sides of the battle, and that at a disturbing speed. But that might also be because many volunteers from all over Wizarding Britain and Wizarding France (as well as the French Auror Force) were still portkeying in. But the Dark Lord got more supporters coming in too, be it hidden sympathisers or followers just like Unspeakable Shaifq, or pureblood extremists and mercenaries from the continent. Especially Dolohov, who was the son of a Russian wizard (who kept claiming that Tolstoy based the character "Dolokhov" (War and Peace) on his father) and a British witch, still had ties to other Durmstrang absolvents with the same political opinion. Ever since the breakout from Azkaban he tried to connect with as many people from his old network as possible, and he was actually quite successful, at least when it came to Eastern Europe. Thorfinn Rowle had a cousin who married into a Spanish pureblood family (radicals too) and he managed to get them assistance from Western Europe. Rookwood and Goyle had some ties to Scandinavia, though only the latter to people willing to fight.

Due to that the number of fighters on both sides steadily increased and was well over three hundred people on both sides. And despite the vast amount of attackers, none of them managed to come close to the castle for now (excluding those that entered via the tunnel and were all dead by now, even those Remus had hunted down). Minerva was fighting from within her office, and for the first time in centuries Hogwarts' defences were showing all that they could do. Waves of elemental magic, lightning strikes, marching statues and so much more. She was definitely the one that kept the battle outside and away from the students. 

Once Hermione was remotely close to Harry, he turned around and, with a wave of his hand dodging a curse intended to hit him in his back, rushed into the arm of his bonded soulmate. And with the moment they touched each other again, both felt a rush of energy and all the weakness disappeared. Together they'd be the strongest force on the battlefield.

And while Sirius was showing the Death Eater that tried to curse Harry in the back, Mulciber Jr., what kind of a ruthless fighter a Marauder could be, the soul bonded couple headed closer to Voldy and his main Death Eaters. Since they got caught up in a few battles that mostly ended with severe injuries or death for their opponents (they were damn fast and as a duo could take on four at once and still win), Remus, Sirius, Percy, Oliver and Arthur Greengrass managed to catch up with them. Together they quite literally cut their way through the Death Eaters, and many others followed their example. Filius Flitwick, Severus, Arthur Weasley and his eldest two sons (happy to reunite with Percy), Septima Vector and Kingsley (after losing two other aurors they decided to fall back a bit instead of trying to defeat Voldemort), Andromeda Tonks (who was nearly as scary as her crazy sister) and Saul Croaker, they all followed Harry and Hermione into the fight. And it was no understatement when Septima Vector commented that they were basically on a killing spree. They pushed their way through Voldemort's troops without taking any serious damage most of the time. Kingsley lost a hand and Septima, who was still fighting alongside the auror, probably had a few broken ribs from that one bludgeoning curse Rastaban Lestrange wanted to throw at Severus for killing his brother. Charlie Weasley had taken a few curses too (mainly cutting curses weakened by his shield charm), to defend Bill, who was using most of the ancient curses he had learned to dispel them in Egypt. Quite a few nasty ones, truth be told.

But overall their shield charms were holding and those that didn't work on the shields took out as many Death Eaters as possible. They'd get overrun if they wouldn't act brutal and ruthless.

At one point, between dodging an organ dissolving curse and retaliating with a blood boiling curse, Andi Tonks told Sirius and Hermione, those currently closest to her, how much she'd love to take out all her aggression on Bella.

"And when I find that bitch of a sister - seriously Travers, going for the same curse twice? Idiot. Go dodge that…or not. Well, that's one less - anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, my sister. Believe me, she's not the only one having read Black Family Grimoires. I'll dismember her slowly and enjoy every one of her screams. You know, she put me under the Cruciatus when she was fourteen, just to "try it out". What a bitch."

At first, Hermione looked appalled by the thought of Bella torturing her sister as a teenager, then she had to tell Andi the news.

"Hate to break it to you, but that bitch entered the castle with Alecto Carrow, werewolves and a few Death - thanks for dodging that, Sirius. Anyway, I burned that bitch alive, sorry Andi. No, actually I'm not sorry."

Andi was, truth be told, very surprised by the actions of the young Hermione Granger. While she didn't know the truth about the time travelling she did indeed suspect it, having overheard a few conversations and seen some of the things she could do. Not all of that could be blamed on her genius intellect.

"Good to hear. I do hope she suffered."

"Oh she did. The least I could do to retaliate."

"Retaliate? For what?"

"Killing me…oops. Just forget what I said, will you?"

Andi just shook her head. That was not the kind of time travel she would have guessed, but well, it explained a lot. But that didn't really matter now, they had to take down a fucking Dark Lord and his insane followers. 

Slowly, but steadily the battlefield seemed to change. Everyone was following Harry and co. There were no longer dozens of separate fights all over the castle's grounds but one big fight. And so they started to push back the Death Eaters and come closer to the Dark Lord and his remaining inner circle. 

Lord Voldemort was surrounded by his most loyal and/or experienced followers, among them Parkinson, Rookwood, Dolohov, Nott, Malfoy, the rat and many more. For the time being they were mainly fighting from afar or supporting with shields while the low-level Death Eaters continued to battle for their lives.

But at some point their opponents came closer. Potter and Black were leading the fight, but many other familiar faces were among them. The only two young magicians (Harry and Hermione) were performing quite extraordinary things that rivalled if not surpassed his skill at that age.

He couldn't exactly make out what the Potter boy was yelling at him, but now Riddle thought that it was time for another display of his power. 

Harry saw Voldemort and yelled at him in anger, but once the Dark Lord flicked his wand, he got silent again and watched, ready to defend himself. That was unnecessary though, because it was no attack. 

The body of Albus Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere, summoned to the battlefield by Voldemort, and for a brief moment everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing and stared at the corpse of the "most powerful wizard of their time". While they despised him nearly as much as Voldemort, his power was indisputably enormous…or had been.

The moment of shock the Dark Lord wanted to create worked, and his followers used that to continue attacking, but Tom Riddle wasn't done yet.

Harry recognised the spell to create an Inferius immediately, and so did half the people around him. And because of that the body of Albus Dumbledore didn't even start moving before being incinerated by fire curses (from a standard incindio or an angel's fire to even fiendfyre, everything was used) from nine different people. The thought of a Dumbledore Inferius was pretty scary.

Looking around and seeing all the bloodshed, Harry had enough. He pointed the Elder Wand to his throat and cast a silent Sonorus.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Lord Voldemort, upon hearing the entire prophecy, signalled his followers to stop attacking and walked towards Harry Potter. A clearing formed itself, and no one dared attacking now. The two wizards, one looking like being in his twenties despite being much older, and the other had the aura of a grown man despite being so young, gave off so much magical power that even a muggle would have probably felt it.

"Potter."

"Tom."

Voldemort's facial expression changed to anger, and his eyes glowed bright red.

"You can't kill me. I suggest you tell your pathetic excuses of wizards to stand down and bow to Lord Voldemort."

Harry laughed, and everyone, be it friend or foe, looked at him in surprise.

"You know, Tom, sometimes I think you really believe that."

Lucius Malfoy, still trying to prove his worth to his master and redeem himself, couldn't take Potter's arrogance anymore, lifted his wand and cast the killing curse at the boy without any hesitation.

Harry saw the movement and expected it. He saw it coming, and with his wandless hand he conjured a rock big enough to block the green spell. 

"Malfoy, you stupid idiot!"

And all hell broke loose around Lucius Malfoy. A lion, made of fire, jumped out of Harry's left hand and before anyone could react it bit the blonde idiot in half. The creature growled, and Harry knew that he shouldn't play around with his magic too much before facing Tom, but he didn't want to let the flame lion go just now.

Not before it ripped apart Peter Pettigrew with its burning claws. Yes, it was a ruthless act, but still. The man had betrayed his parents, so he didn't feel much remorse at all. And once the rat was dead, the lion just fell apart, and only little sparks of fire falling to the ground were left of it.

"The boy is mine to kill! Keep your wands down! And you, Potter, that was quite the display of Power. But poor Peter. I never thought that you could be so ruthless and just kill him. But well, an unspectacular death for an unspectacular man. And now it's your turn to suffer and die!"

And with that Tom started to unleash the power of the elements on Harry, but the boy was just as skilled by now and could rather easily defend himself from dragons made of fire or lightning strikes. If Augustus Rookwood had believed that Potter would be weakened and magically exhausted, then he would have to admit now that this assumption was wrong. So very very wrong.

Since the Dark Lord had seen his opponent block a killing curse with wand- and wordless conjuring, he didn't even waste energy on trying to use the Unforgivables but instead used his most complex and rare spells, those that barely anyone knew anymore. 

But to his surprise, the Potter boy knew quite some rare spells too, probably due to his family's grimoires. The fact that he had the Slytherin and the Peverell Lordship made him angry, ever since he knew about it. He could have had it, but no, he "died". To be fair, he did die by both goblin and wizarding law and in his leech state he had no more rights than any ghost or spirit - which is basically none.

Even when considering the knowledge the boy had access too, something was very unusual and strange. His skill was beyond what it should be, his core was enormous (so much that he could feel it easily) and he behaved like a man familiar with war and death. It was strange, and if he wouldn't have to kill the boy, then he'd try finding out what was behind it. 

The anger behind knowing that he made the prophecy come true by marking Potter with that bloody scar fuelled his spells even more, and so did the sight of his once-so-loyal-servant Severus. The traitor had really cut off his arm to sever the connection. He'd be the next one he'd kill by himself once the Potter boy was…

Tom was interrupted in his thinking by Potter just disappearing (but not apparating since he heard no sound) and then throwing a flesh-eating curse at him from behind. He wasn't quick enough to dodge that one completely and so he groaned once it hit his left arm. Sure, a silent and wandless charm to prevent the spread for the time being and back into the offensive, but it had been a massive hit for his ego.

"Oh…that you will regret, Potter. You can't kill me."

"Tom, you haven't realised it yet, have you. Seriously, stop it with that bloody demonic fire."

Harry flicked the Elder Wand and the conjured creature exploded into little sparks. He was getting both frustrated and exhausted at the same time, because while Tom couldn't overpower him, he couldn't overpower Tom either. Knowledge-wise they were both pretty strong, so much that it was impossible to say who was better. While Harry had worked through the Potter Library and some of the oldest Grimoires in existence, Tom had travelled the world, discovered lost and ancient spells and probably had access to a dozen family libraries due to his followers.

"I haven't realised what, Potter?"

"And I thought that you were smart, see that ring on my finger?"

Voldemort growled, it was indeed the Gaunt ring.

"Oh, realised it now? I got them all."

"All? Yes, I know. You couldn't stop bragging about being the Master of Death."

Harry laughed, and a magical wind emerged as the invisibility cloak on his back appeared. Those that were very skilled when it came to sensing ambient magic could hear a soft and mystic melody within the wind. 

"Oh no, that's not what I meant."

He transfigured the ground beneath the Dark Lord into lava, but Riddle was just as good as him in transfiguration and just moments later the molten stone was a swarm of bees heading for Harry. Not that this was much of a challenge, those became sand and fell to the ground where Harry used them to send a sandstorm at Riddle. Not that it did much.

"The ring, the locket, the cup and your diary. Oh, and the diadem too, as if I wouldn't find a horcrux hidden in Hogwarts. You're mortal again, Tom. And now death is coming for you."

For a second Tom nearly lost his composure, because now he realised that he was indeed mortal. Potter couldn't be lying, he knew each and every horcrux so they would have to be destroyed. But he had to appear strong so his followers would still follow him.

"Just stop with your stupid comments and just DIE!"

All hell broke loose as Voldemort unleashed the power of about two dozen lighting strikes on Potter. The ground shook and despite being able to dodge every bit of lighting, their impact on the ground threw him back. He landed on his back and just groaned.

Harry knew that he had probably just broken a few ribs but had to continue. And he even had an idea of how to end this fight. He reached out to Mione's conscience and realised that he was actually laying in front of her. She was the one that now helped him up.

"Ha! The "Power the Dark Lord knows not" is not as strong as you thought it might be, Master of Death. My core is so much stronger thanks to Dumbledore's blood. The Elder Wand won't defeat me."

Then Harry shook his head.

"That…that is not the power of the prophecy. Or at least I think so. It is THIS!"

Harry was still holding on to Hermione and she felt his thoughts, she saw what he wanted to do, and she gave him the power to do it. A white glowing light filled the clearing as the soul bonded couple shared its power. And then, as Harry yelled out "THIS!", he directed the Elder Wand at Voldemort and channelled as much power as he could through it. What he performed was an ancient curse coming from the Potter Grimoire and what it did was it inflicted pain on the victim's soul if he was deemed dark. It wouldn't kill (under normal circumstances), but it judged the soul and if deemed dark by magic itself then all the pain it brought onto others would be brought onto this soul. And since Voldemort had certainly done dark things and his soul was no more than a fragment of its normal size it probably wouldn't endure much. 

Since the spell Potter unleashed had no visible "projectile" flying at him (it was based on intent and neither dodging nor moving out of the way would help the victim), Voldemort had no idea what would happen as a glowing sphere of golden light suddenly surrounded him. It shrunk down and disappeared into his chest as he heard his followers whisper about the couple's soul bond.

And then he screamed in agony.

Now a lot of things happened at once.

With the Dark Lord on his knees and screaming, most of his servants now opened fire at the "good guys." The vast power of their curses shattered the shields they still held passively while watching the final showdown and killed about a dozen people immediately before they had any chance to react. Among those were Charlie Weasley, Frederick Fawley (the auror who escorted Sirius from Azkaban to Amy's office), Rufus Scrimgeour and a few others.

While Filius Flitwick and Sirius Black put up the strongest shields they could so no one would interfere with the prophecy, Harry staggered forward to the screaming Lord Voldemort, Hermione helping him.

"What…have you…done to me, Potter?"

Harry looked down on the man, whose red eyes started flickering before turning back to their original brown. Voldemort was losing power.

"I judged your soul, and you got punished for your vile acts. And since your remaining bit of soul is so small…well, let's just say this spell causes agony of anyone with a whole soul, and you have what, one and a half percent of yours left after I also took the one out you left in my scar. So your soul goes through about a hundred times more pain than anyone else would."

With the last bit of power he had, Voldemort jumped forward and tried grabbing Harry's wand, but Harry was faster. He had his holly and phoenix wand disillusioned in his left hand and as soon as he saw the movement he threw a silent and overpowered cutting curse with it.

And Tom Riddle's corpse collapsed as his head got separated from his body. 

Lord Voldemort was dead.

Sirius and Filius were the first ones to cheer and yell out loud "the dark bastard is dead" (though Filius would later claim that he didn't use such a phrasing." Mione just hugged Harry, not wanting to let him go ever again.

The remaining Death Eaters of the inner circle then began avenging their Lord. They wouldn't give up or flee. Well, all but Parkinson and Rookwood. Once Voldemort got hit by Harry's curse that judged his soul, both realised that this fight was lost. And the moment the cutting curse ended the Dark Lord's life they portkeyed away, much to the anger of Dolohov and Nott, who led the revenge attack.

But by now it was clear that the Death Eaters couldn't win anymore. Many who were not really loyal Death Eaters but supporters from abroad or mercenaries began to flee, and the remaining inner circle was dealt with rather quickly by Sirius, Filius and Remus as well as some other supporters. 

Since Andromeda hadn't been able to deal with Bella, she let out her remaining anger on Dolohov, who first laughed at her and then began to realise that Bella wasn't the only Black family witch who was scary. After a very very painful curse designed especially for men she burned him until only ash was left.

Once no inner circle member was left standing, Remus looked around, because the two students that had accompanied him in the castle and out on the battlefield weren't near him anymore. In fact, he hadn't seen them since the Death Eaters had shattered their shields during Harry's and Tom's battle.

As soon as he spotted a person with the red Weasley hair kneeling on the ground, his heart froze. They had already lost Charlie, no need for another dead Weasley. But as soon as he came closer to them he realised that it was Oliver Wood laying on the ground. A blast had apparently ripped away his entire right arm and he was bleeding pretty badly. The school's head boy was trying his best to perform healing charms despite crying over his best friend. Remus put his hand on Percy's shoulder, making him look up, so the werewolf could tell him to take a break while he'd continue the healing. 

By nightfall there were no battles going on anymore. They won, but it was a bloody victory. The losses on both sides were enormous and nearly every participant of the battles had blood on his hands. 

The biggest losses were Charlie Weasley, Auror Peter Jameson, Rufus Scrimgeour, Ted Tonks (who had tried to heal an injured auror, far off the main battle, and caught a killing curse from Avery), Elphias Doge, Amos Diggory, Hestia Jones, four students, seven centaurs, nearly forty aurors, about twenty French aurors and quite a lot of volunteers, the amount was yet to be determined. The most surprising body they recovered was Aberforth Dumbledore, no one had expected the old man to actually fight.

The only surviving Death Eaters from the inner circle were Parkinson and Rookwood, everyone else got killed, and so were dozens of low level Death Eaters, mercenaries and every single werewolf of Greback's pack that had joined the fight. Amelia, who had given a big speech to calm the public and coordinated their troops from the ministry (or to put simply: neither her bodyguards nor her boyfriend had allowed her to be anywhere near the battle), was following the public's wishes and told the DMLE to try to charge as many as possible with war crimes. The punishment for that was (after an emergency session of the Wizengamot) to be sent through the Veil of Death. 

All the captured foreigners were shipped off to their home countries and the British ministry had made it pretty clear that they expected harsh punishments. Truth be told, most of the countries on the continent had harsher punishments, Britain was (at least until Harry and Amy cleaned up the ministry) the most corrupt of the European countries.

With the help of Severus' intel, the professors staying inside the castle had managed to catch all the five Slytherin junior Death Eaters, but there was still one missing. And none of the five were ready to speak.

And that was good for seventh year Hufflepuff Timothy Burke. He was the last of the "Hogwarts Seven" and as soon as he heard about the Dark Lord's death, he had only one goal: to do as much damage as possible. The others would break and give them his name, veritaserum guaranteed that. But not during the battle. 

So what he had planned was pretty reckless. Since Timothy had cursed three students that would have fought outside and locked them away, well, two of them, because one was dead, he would get severely punished either way. So why not do something stupid.

His great uncle had been Caractacus Burke, one of the two owners of Borgin and Burkes, and he had been well-acquainted with dark magic. And Timothy had even learned to use the killing curse, and that was exactly what he now intended on doing.

Once the "glorious victors" entered the great hall, he saw his group of potential targets. The bloody werewolf, Lord Black, Potter and his mudblood, the traitor Snape and the half-goblin. The others in this group (a mourning Andi Tonks, Shacklebolt and Vector, both holding on to each other after fighting the Dark Lord together, Babbling, a bunch of Weasleys and a few more) didn't even interest him at all. 

He had his opening when the headmistress got up to applaud, and everyone followed her example. Since he was sitting rather closely to the middle of the Great Hall, he had a clear shot, and a disillusioned wand hidden in the sleeve of his robe.

" Avada Kedavra! "

The only miscalculation on Timothy's side had been that no one would be working with stunners and making prisoners right now, they reacted the same way they had reacted on the battlefield - with lethal force. And so two bodies collapsed in the Great Hall at once.

Far away from Hogwarts, in the village of Little Hangleton, a prophecy orb flickered.

For a brief moment it seemed like it would go dark, but then it didn't.

Its light was still shining, and the prophecy wasn't fulfilled yet.

Notes:

So, as you all can see, this is NOT the end of this story. Updates will, if I manage, still come weekly, now that we enter the second part of the story.

This part (and I'd love to hear your speculations about that) won't be as long as the first part, but I hope that we'll end up with ~50 chapters...probably.

Anyway, let me know what you though about this chapter, until next week :)