Chapter Twenty-Six

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Around the battle field, several people paused in their fighting when they heard a loud mental scream echoing through their heads. The time travellers and Harry's other friends all looked over in the direction they had last seen the boy fighting, and watched as the dagger was plunged deep into his chest. When the saviour collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood, the spectators followed his line of sight to the tall, imposing figure standing above him, a smug look on its face.

Ginny let out a loud gasp when she saw Harry collapse, a deep pain resonating in her chest as she watched the man she loved with all of her heart dying in front of her. She didn't know what to think, or what to do. She glared with hatred at the man standing over the crumpled body of the Boy-Who-Lived, taking in the pitch black robes, elegant figure and pale complexion. At her side, she heard Glenadade growl angrily and start forward. Noticing this, she quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back, a look of dawning horror on her face as she realised who the Death Eater was.

“ Glen, no,” she whispered to him frantically. The ancient boy still struggled to escape her grip.

“ He killed my father!” he roared.

“ I know,” the redhead soothed, “ But there's nothing we can do about that at the moment. We need to see if Harry's still alive, and if he is he needs healing. We need to find Ron. Harry's the priority, not Severus!”

“ Glen, there will be time for revenge later, but for now your father needs you!”

The youngest Potter sighed reluctantly and the pair turned themselves invisible so as to keep out of the fighting and went to locate the other time travellers.

On the other side of the battle field to Glen and Ginny, Ron and Hermione were frantically fighting a group of Death Eaters who were determined to take advantage of the two's distracted states. Ever since they had seen Harry drop, Ron knew he had to make his way over to his friend and see if there was anything he could do for him. However, the inner circle members they had been fighting wouldn't let them leave, attacking them more enthusiastically than before. The pair weren't stupid, though. They knew that the Death Eaters must have thought this through beforehand. They must have noticed from previous battles that Ron was a Healer, so they knew to keep him busy until it was too late for the young saviour.

Ron and Hermione frantically fought for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only several minutes, all the time worrying about their fallen friend. Their hearts leapt with hope, though, when Ginny and Glen appeared suddenly behind their masked opponents, quickly joining the fight. Before long, the group of Death Eaters was lying on the ground, each and every one of them unconscious.

“ Thanks, guys,” Ron gasped.

“ You're welcome, Ron, but we have more pressing issues here,” Ginny gasped.

“ Harry,” Hermione stated.

“ Yes. You need to help him, Ron,” Glen said.

“ I know. What about Snape, though? I mean, he betrayed Harry! We need to take care of him!” Ron growled. His girlfriend laid a hand on his shoulder and urged him to turn around.

“ Ron, look,” she said.

“ What?” he asked in confusion.

“ Look at the man standing over Harry. Severus didn't betray him.”

“ What do you mean, `Mione,” Ron roared, “ He's standing right there! You saw him do it.”

“ No, I didn't. Severus didn't betray Harry, because that man isn't Severus.”

Over near the school, Heather looked up when the Ministry Aurors turned up and became rather nervous. She was still afraid of them, even though she knew she wouldn't be carted off to Azkaban, and stood still for a moment to watch Fudge's shocked face and the new arrivals rushing to join the fight without being ordered to do so. Her attention was quickly averted from the new arrivals as she noticed what was happening to her nephew. As she gasped in horror, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, and so didn't notice the figure creeping up behind her until the sound of a spell being spoken penetrated her whirling mind.

Heather let out a loud scream as the pain curse hit her in the back. She quickly collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony. It was short lived, though, as her tormentor lifted the curse and began to laugh at her.

“ Well, well, well, I see the Mudblood whore is on her back again, where she belongs,” the silky voice drawled. Heather looked up at her attacker, fear visible in her eyes.

“ Lucius,” she whispered, dread filling her.

“ Nice to see you again, Evans. I think my Lord will be pleased to see who I have captured. He might even let me `play' with you as a reward,” the Malfoy patriarch drawled.

“ That's not going to happen, Lucius, I won't let it,” another voice called from behind the blond man. Lucius and Heather both turned to look in the direction of the newcomer, both shocked to see who it was.

“ Draco,” Lucius spat.

“ Lucius,” Draco greeted with a sneer, “ I would say it was a pleasure to see you again, but that would be a lie.”

“ What are you doing here?” Heather hissed, afraid for her young friend. As far as she knew, he had decided to remain neutral in the war, avoiding the battles, as they would force him to choose sides. The young blond merely smiled back at her.

“ I couldn't let the only family I have get killed now, could I?” he told her with a smirk, before sending a dark curse at his father. As the pair began to duel, Heather gathered her wits, and before long they had Lucius Malfoy unconscious and bound on the ground. They were about to move away from him when a voice came from off to one side.

Draco's wand went flying and the pair looked over to the newcomer, Heather growling in recognition.

“ Caligula, I never thought I'd see you again,” she spat.

“ Well, I'm just full of surprises,” he replied with a malicious grin. As he spoke to Heather, he didn't notice Draco waving his hand slightly. The next thing he knew, Draco was pointing his summoned wand at his grandfather, yelling two fatal words.

“ Avada Kedavra!”

As the green light sped towards him, Caligula gaped at his grandson in shock. When the light impacted and Caligula Malfoy fell to the ground, dead, Heather looked at her young friend in surprise. Draco simply shrugged.

“ I was brought up in a Death Eater household, I was taught that spell years ago. I just never thought I'd be using it on my own family.”

Heather gawped at him.

“ Draco, you just killed someone…” she whispered.

“ I know, but as Dumbledore keeps telling people, this is war, and we have to do everything we can to win. If I have a choice between killing and being killed, I'll choose the former every time. Death Eaters are tricky things. If you stun them, they're out for a while, but if they get up again, they won't hesitate in killing you. You have to make sure they don't get up again.”

Heather nodded in agreement, before looking back over to where Harry had fallen. She could see the man who stabbed him fighting with another black robed figure. Behind the group, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Glenadade were heading in their direction. With a shrug, Heather went to join them, cursing enemies as she went. Ron would need to heal Harry, if he could, and as many friends as possible needed to be there to keep the enemies away as he did so. After all, they needed Harry to defeat Voldemort, and if he died, then all would be lost. As she made her way over, she saw Draco was coming with her. When she gave him an enquiring look, he shrugged lightly.

“ I own Potter, and if he dies, at least I'll know I've tried to repay the debt.”

Heather simply nodded and went back to the fight.

Four other people on the battlefield were quickly making their way over to Harry's side. Remus, Sirius and Eustace had been battling some of the evil vampires, who had broken away from the main group to attack the humans. As soon as they spotted Snape standing over Harry, their blood began to boil and they simultaneously growled one spell.

The vampires in front of them all disintegrated as the sunlight touched them. The three men headed over to Harry, murder in their eyes, but were intercepted by a frantic Minh.

“ What happened?” she said, grabbing her husband's arm, “ Something's wrong with Harry, I can feel it.”

“ Harry's down,” Eustace told her, “ Severus stabbed him.”

Minh gasped, tears filling her eyes.

“ No, no, no,” she muttered, “ I can't lose him. I lost my son; I'm not losing my grandson, too.”

Eustace pulled her into a quick hug, pulling away abruptly to curse an incoming Death Eater. Taking his wife's hand, he stared making his way over to the centre of the fight, Sirius and Remus right behind him.

One other close friend of Harry's saw the Boy-Who-Lived fall to the ground. With a growl, he sprinted across the battlefield and came to a halt behind Harry's attacker. With a growl, he addressed the man.

“ Hello, Father.”

The Death Eater swiveled around and grinned at the newcomer.

“ Severus! Son, come bask with me in the glory that if before us. After plaguing our Master for fifty years, the boy is finally defeated.”

Severus let out a loud growl, and settled into a fighting stance.

“ Father, you will not get away with this. Harry will live, and he will defeat Voldemort. You, however, will not be there to see it.”

Satanus Snape looked at his son in astonishment, not having expected this turn of events. After all, as far as he knew, Severus was as loyal to his Master as he was. That didn't appear to be the case, though, and with a snarl of anger, he drew his wand on his son.

“ Traitor!” he spat, before throwing a curse at Severus. The younger Snape, though, waved his hand and deflected it. With a smirk, the Potions Master leapt into the duel with gusto, using wandless magic to protect himself and curse his father as much as possible. The elder Snape was shocked at his son's powers, giving him a disbelieving look when he didn't use his wand at all. Eventually, Sev caught sight of people approaching from all sides, the time travellers, several generations of Marauders, Heather and Draco. It was time to finish the fight. When Satanus sent the Killing curse at his son, and nothing happened, the older man stopped his attack and gaped at his son.

“ S-Severus!” he stuttered, “ Impossible!”

“ Perfectly possible, Father,” Severus sneered, pulling out one of the engraved throwing knives Harry had once gifted him with and hurling at the man in front of him. The dagger lodged itself in Satanus' ribcage, and the man gave his son a hateful and disbelieving look before collapsing to the ground, a pool of blood forming around him. Severus shot the body a hateful look before kneeling next to Harry's body and turning him over. The Boy-Who-Lived was deathly pale, having lost a lot of blood, and was barely breathing. Thinking quickly, Severus pulled the dagger out of Harry's back and watched as more blood seeped out of the wound. Knowing the fact that Harry was part vampire was the only thing keeping the boy alive; Sev took up the dagger in his hand and slashed his wrist, holding the wound over Harry's mouth.

When the other people arrived, Sirius immediately went to launch himself at Severus, still thinking him to be the one who hurt his godson. Remus, though, noted the body of the Snape patriarch lying close by, and put two and two together.

“ Sirius, it wasn't Severus,” he told the irate animagus.

“ What do you mean, we saw him!” Sirius snarled.

“ He's right, it wasn't Sev, it was Satanus,” Hermione interjected. Sirius looked to the body of the floor and relaxed a little. He was soon pulled out of this state, though, when curses were rapidly hurled his way. The others all quickly formed a wall around Harry, Severus and Ron. As the Death Eaters around them concentrated their attack on the cluster of Order members, those in the centre of the circle were well protected as Severus and Ron did all they could to get Harry healed. Ron placed his hands on his best friend's chest, healing the damage done by the dagger as fast as he could. Sev was still feeding Harry his blood, watching with relief as the injured boy started to regain some colour in his skin. Harry was naturally pale, being a vampire, but not as deathly pale as he had been when the group arrived. With the infusion of new blood, his vampire healing also took some of the strain from Ron. Before long, the Boy-Who-Lived started to stir and opened his eyes, blinking up at the figures above him.

“ What's going on?” he asked in confusion.

“ You were stabbed by my father,” Severus told him. Harry's eyes widened.

“ How's the battle going?” he asked. Ron looked around, a grim look on his face.

“ Voldemort's being kept busy by Dumbledore, and I suppose the Death Eaters and Order members are about evenly matched. We really need to take down the Dark Bore, as it'll scatter the dark forces.”

Harry thought for a few seconds, a small frown marring his forehead, before he looked up at his two friends.

“ I have an idea.”

Ten minutes later, after defeating all of the Death Eaters attacking their little group, the friends made their way towards the Hogwarts lake, where Voldemort and Dumbledore were battling earnestly. The headmaster seemed to be holding his own, but it was apparent that he was starting to tire. Voldemort, on the other hand, was still going strong. As the party neared, Harry concentrated hard; severing his mental link with the rest of the Order, after telling them what he wanted them to do. Harry's mental coordination of battles was always successful in making the side of the Light more organised, but in this instance, Harry needed as few distractions as possible. After all, this was the decisive battle, and it was finally time for him to take Voldemort out. As soon as Harry severed the links with the Order, he strengthened the ones he had with Hermione, Ron and Ginny. They would be needed if he was to pull off his latest plan. Just before they reached the duelling duo, Harry stopped everyone.

“ Ok, this is it,” he said, “ I'm going to take down the Head Snake, but I need you all to keep the rest of the Death Eaters away from me. I can't have them distracting me while I'm fighting him. It's going to be hard enough as it is. Use any means necessary. I mean anything. Dark magic, Light magic, Wand or Wandless, animagus forms or weapons. I need you to keep them all at bay. Can you do that?”

Everyone nodded their heads. They knew what they had to do, and they would protect Harry with their lives. Even Draco wasn't complaining. As the others started to form a loose perimeter around the area, Ron, Ginny and Hermione took up strategic places in a triangle shape. Harry closed his eyes briefly, trusting the others to keep him safe, and accessed the part of his mind which knew how to speak parseltongue. With a mental nudge, he accessed the other three's minds, and fed them the information they needed. Immediately, Ron, Ginny and Hermione began to chant in the snake language, raising their hands to either side, forming a triangular wall of energy, shutting out the elderly headmaster, and locking Harry in with his arch nemesis.

As soon as Voldemort realised he was surrounded, he looked over at the boy at the edge of the wall, glaring hatefully at him. Harry looked a little rumpled, and had caked blood staining his front, but his eyes were determined.

“ Hello, Tom,” he said, “ Long time no see.”

“ Potter,” Voldemort spat, his eyes narrowing, “ Or is it Evans?”

In response, Harry sent a wave of pain through the bald man's Dark Mark, causing him to grip his arm in agony.

“ I see you figured it out, Tom,” Harry stated.

“ You have plagued me for fifty years, Potter,” Voldemort snarled, “ And finally, I will rid the world of you once and for all. This time, you will not get the better of me.”

“ Really, Tom, I thought you would know better than that by now,” Harry smirked, “ After all, every other time we've met, I've given you a sound thrashing. You and your little pet Death Eaters have been defeated every time. What makes you think this time will be any different?”

“ Because, Potter, I've learned a few things over the years, several of which I learned from you. I'm prepared for you this time.”

“ That will remain to be seen,” Harry said, settling into a fighting stance. Glancing quickly outside the barrier, he saw his friends and family fighting for their lives, and the lives of everyone in the wizarding world. As he watched, Severus hacked and slashed with his sword before turning into his animagus form, the velociraptor a perfect weapon. He felt pride washing through him when he saw what a great warrior his friend became. That pride only grew as he saw his son change forms as well, into a beautiful golden lion. Focusing back on the Dark Lord, he started to hurl spells at him. Voldemort retaliated, although the fact that he needed a wand and incantations slowed him down somewhat. The shimmering shield around the combatants protected those outside from any stray spells, being strong enough to withstand the Unforgivables with ease.

The duel continued for a while, Voldemort quickly giving up on the Killing curse when he realised it was having no effect whatsoever. Instead, he started chanting quietly in parseltongue, summoning a large ball of energy in one hand. Harry was too busy keeping up his attack to notice until it was too late. With a roar, Voldemort threw the ball of magic at his opponent. Harry fell to the ground with the force of the impact, and felt a tingling all over as the spell went to work. With dawning horror, he realised what his opponent had done to him.

“ Where did you get that spell?” he demanded as he regained his breath. Voldemort was standing over him now, his arms crossed as he savoured the moment of his victory.

“ The same place I got the incantation for the Dark Mark,” he said with a grin, “ I have a very long memory, Potter, I remember things like this. I have been waiting for years to try this spell out on you, and I finally have my wish.”

Harry, shaking his head in denial, lifted his hand towards the red eyed man and whispered a stunning spell. Much to his dismay, nothing happened. He tried again, and every time had the same result, but the volume of the Dark Lord's laugh increased. With a snarl, Harry did the only thing he could. With his magic drained from him he had only his physical skills to fall back on. He could feel himself becoming weaker, though he didn't know why, and knew that if he was going to act, it would have to be quickly. Leaping to his feet, he drew his sword and attacked the cackling figure. Voldemort, unprepared for the sudden physical attack, quickly summoned a sword of his own and started to fight back. While he was not as skilled as Harry in the art of sword fighting, what he lacked in technique he made up for with magic. All the time, he still continued to hit Harry with pain and cutting curses. Before long, Harry was weakening further, blood loss so soon after his last major injury not doing him any good. With a last lunge, Harry buried his sword deep into his enemy's shoulder. Riddle roared in pain and shoved the green eyed boy to the ground once more. Pulling out the sword embedded in his flesh, he leveled his wand at Harry and muttered one final curse.

“ Animus annihilare!”

As the ray of purple light headed for Harry, he felt himself weaken further. Just as unconsciousness took him, the last thing he heard was an unearthly scream.