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Author: Gridley Story: Harry Potter and the Price of Freedom Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 6 Words: 30,601
Neville coughed, clearing the choking dust from his lungs. “L…lumos,” he choked out. He swept his wand around in a circle. He was alone, deep inside the Dark Lord’s castle. Well, now’s as good a time as any. He pulled a flask out of his robes and uncorked it. He took a deep breath and then gulped down the contents in a single burst. He grimaced, coughed again, and moaned as his body shrank slightly. He dropped to his knees as a scar shaped rather like a bolt of lightning formed on his forehead. His eyes turned green. Neville gulped, feeling rather green in general. He tried to take a deep, steadying breath and choked on the dust. Shaking slightly, he pulled a pair of spectacles, which he had transfigured from a piece of wire to match Harry’s, out of his pocket and put them on. Harry Potter stood and, lighting his way with his wand, set off in search of Voldemort. ~~ “Bloody hell!” Ron snarled. “What do we do now?” “Don’t swea…” Hermione cut off her automatic response. She frowned as she looked at the stones blocking the passage. It would take hours to shift all that, and in the meantime, anything could be happening to Harry on the other side of it. If he wasn’t caught under it, a treacherous voice in her mind insisted. She banished that thought thoroughly. Harry was alive. He had to be. “Come on. There must be another way ‘round.” They hurried back the way they had come. After a minute, they found another corridor to their right and took it. Hermione almost grinned when they came to a four-way junction and turned right. They’d come into the room from the other side, they would link up with Harry, Dumbledore and the rest and go off to find Voldemort. Hermione saw a figure turn a corner in front of them, coming towards them with a lit wand. She snapped up her own wand automatically, lowering it when she saw it was Harry. “Harry, mate,” Ron sounded weak with relief. Then he looked behind Harry. His voice sharpened. “Where’s Ginny? Where are the others?” “We got separated when the roof came down,” Harry replied. His voice sounded hoarse, as if he’d swallowed a lot of dust or something. “Damn!” Hermione opened her mouth and shut it again. Cursing actually seemed fairly attractive right now, rather than bawling out Ron for doing it. “Maybe they went on ahead, looking for us,” she said instead. “Just like old times,” Ron muttered to Harry as they hurried on. “Yeah. Just like old times.” ~~ Harry choked back tears as he looked down at Dumbledore’s body. After all this time, he’d been killed by a snakebite. Ginny sniffed and squeezed his hand. Come on, Harry. Nothing more we can do here. Yeah. Let me find my wand. I’ll do it. “Accio Harry’s wand!” Nothing happened. “Accio wand!” A handful of wands soared towards her from the fallen wizards. Ginny snatched them out of the air. Dumbledore’s wand was there, and the nine wands of the Death Eaters, one of them broken, but not Harry’s. “Accio wand! Accio! ACCIO!” Maybe it got stuck under something. Let’s look around. They searched the room quickly but completely, Harry using Dumbledore’s wand for light. Nothing! Where could it have…wait, what’s that? Harry and Ginny swung their wands back a bit to a dusty corner. I think, Harry replied grimly, those are rat tracks. Wormtail, Ginny hissed back. So he’s changed sides again. Harry swallowed a lump in his throat. Yeah. Guess so. Come on. I’ll use Dumbledore’s wand. They crossed the room, unlocked the door, and stepped out into another corridor. They glanced quickly at each other, turned left, and set off. A pair of Company soldiers jogged towards them, followed by a squad of Aurors. The Auror sergeant held up his hand to halt his men, and spoke to Harry and Ginny. “Are you all right, Mr. Potter? Miss Weasley?” “We’re alright,” Harry started and then paused. He’d been about to tell them about Dumbledore, but didn’t want to demoralize them. Linked with Ginny, his hesitation wasn’t noticeable, though he had to concentrate to speak slowly. “How’s the fighting?” “Balls up,” responded the sergeant. “Captains Aislant and Hull are dead, and this place is a maze. I haven’t seen a single officer since we entered the building.” He grimaced. “You’d better tag along with us. We can…” “Down!” Harry and Ginny were still linked and easily ducked the volley of curses that shot past. Harry turned and saw what looked like a score of the Pure Blood Regiment’s soldiers coming down the corridor. Run! Down the corridor, around a corner. Left, right, left again. Harry and Ginny paused. The sounds of fighting had died out. Then, just ahead, they heard Hermione’s voice. “Protego!” Come on! There was more shouting, followed by a high, cold laugh that Harry recognized all too well. It’s Voldemort. That’s what we’re here for, Ginny replied. As they rounded the corner, she added one last thought. I love you, Harry. Harry swallowed. I love you, too. Voldemort was half-facing them from the center of a medium-sized room. Hermione and Ron were off to one side, and standing just behind them was… Harry, who is that!? It looks like… me. I noticed, Ginny replied dryly. Voldemort cast another spell, and this time, the other Harry cast one as well. The two spells met, and Phoenix song filled the air. The now almost-familiar cage of golden light formed around the two combatants. Whoever it is, they’ve got my wand. Harry’s train of thought derailed. Oh no. Neville? But Voldemort was speaking again. He seemed amused. “You didn’t really think this pitiful trick would work again, did you?” He swung his other arm from behind his back. Harry had just enough time to realize that Voldemort had two wands before the dark wizard called out, “Avada Kedavra!” and a jet of green light struck Neville in the chest. Harry dropped to his knees as his scar exploded with pain. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but he certainly didn’t expect what happened next. Neville’s wand and Voldemort’s primary wand burst into splinters. The cage of light began to grow, and the Phoenix song swelled. The cage swept over Ginny and Harry, giving them a warm, tingling feeling as it passed. It halted just inside the walls of the room. The fire in Harry’s scar faded to a mild ache as the golden light passed him. Ron and Hermione were looking in horror at Neville/Harry’s body. Voldemort, seeming not to notice Harry and Ginny or the cage of light, swept his other wand across his body and out to the side. Ron and Hermione tumbled to the floor. “NO!” Harry screamed. Voldemort turned. His eyes widened, snapped briefly to Neville’s body, and then back to Harry. He pointed his wand at Harry’s arm. “Eci ohcrou yeman.” A moment later he smiled. “Ah, Dumbledore. You sought to confuse me by pretending to be the boy? Well, your plan has failed, as so many of them have. The boy is dead, and your wand betrays you.” He smiled as his eyes shifted to a point behind Harry’s shoulder. “And now, the girl dies, too. Wormtail!” Ginny was wrenched from Harry’s side, their link broken. Peter Pettigrew stood, shaking, a wand pressed to Ginny’s throat, an arm pinning her to him. “No play time now, Wormtail. Kill her.” Peter gulped. His eyes darted from Voldemort, to Harry, to the cluster of bodies to one side. Abruptly his spun around, turning his back to Voldemort and blocking Ginny with his body. His hand snapped out, and the wand he had been holding flew through the air towards Harry. Automatically, he caught it. It was his own wand. Voldemort screamed. The pure, raw, anger in that scream almost stopped Harry’s heart. Voldemort leveled the wand in his off-hand at Peter and screamed, “AVADA KEDAVRA!” Everything was happening in slow motion. Peter turned towards Harry and shoved Ginny at him. The green light struck him in the back, blazing around his body like a halo. Peter was thrown against the wall, striking the lines of golden light… And the Phoenix song rose to a scream. Ginny slammed into Harry, and they linked. Harry’s thoughts accelerated to a blinding speed, memories mixing with the present, as their minds blended as never before. He/they saw flashes of Neville, first. Neville, facing Harry, Ron and Hermione down at the end of his first year, offering to fight just before they went after the Philosopher’s Stone. Neville, blood flowing from his nose, trying to curse a Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries. Neville, carefully repotting a plant, gently tamping down the soil. Earth. Not quick, but not to be underestimated. The warm earth from which grow delicate flowers and mighty oak trees. Now scenes of Peter. Peter, begging for his life as Harry stopped Remus and Sirius from killing him. Letters, in his handwriting. Peter, a green glow about him as Voldemort’s Killing Curse blasted him off his feet. A small, sad smile on his face, and tears in his eyes. The last Marauder. Water. The bitter ocean. Fluid and changing, dangerous and untrustworthy, ever returning to dash itself on the beach. The waterfall, which over time carves stone. Ginny next. The scenes were almost a blur. Ginny, all but dead in the Chamber of Secrets, sitting up. Ginny, yelling angrily. Ginny, throwing herself in front of Malfoy’s Killing Curse. Fire. Passion, violent temper. Wild love, unquenchable, needing only a single spark to rekindle and burn anew. Fire, always yearning for… AIR! Harry was AIR! Flying on a broomstick for the first time. Catching the Snitch. Dodging a dragon. Air. Swift, and free. The breath of life… or the whirling tornado, the hurricane. Dumbeldore’s voice echoed in their shared mind. ‘Remember everything you are… remember everyone who loves you.’ Barely a second had passed. Voldemort’s wand was still trained on Peter’s body. Harry raised a wand in each hand; his own and Dumbledore’s. Ginny, one arm wrapped around Harry, raised her own wand. Together they chanted words they had never thought of before, words that simply came to them as they said them in perfect unison. “Earth joined with Water, Fire joined to Air, Life freely given, Love freely given, Repentance and honor, Friendship and trust, Loyalty and justice All strike as one.” A searing light so brilliant it all but blinded shot from all three wands. The cage of light became streaks of golden fire, rushing in on Voldemort from every side. Harry felt, but could not see, the wands in his hands crackle and disintegrating like dry leaves. The light dimmed. Harry tried to blink away the spots before his eyes. Voldemort stood there, unmarked, for a single heartbeat, like a tree which has been dealt the final axe-stroke needed to fell it but has not yet fallen. The moment passed, and Voldemort collapsed, straight down into a heap. Harry knew, somehow, that he was dead. Ginny slumped beside him. Harry tried to catch her, but could not make his body respond. Footsteps were thundering towards him, seemingly from every side. A full section of Aurors burst into the room from one side, a squad of the Company of Tebo, rifles leveled, from another. Harry stared stupidly at them for a moment, then his eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell on top of Ginny. End Chapter 13 Author’s Note: Yes, Voldemort is really, completely, and totally dead. No, Harry isn’t, nor are Ginny, Hermione, or Ron.
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