Well, I have received a fairly mixed reception to my posting of the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Dark's rise.

A lot of you didn't like it, thinking it didn't answer any questions, or was too open ended. therefore I have decided to publish this as well.

It is an alternative ending, I actually wrote this before the other ending but didn't think it was how I thought the story should end. However, I wrote this for you guys, and so If you might enjoy this more, I dedicate it to you, an alternative ending, by popular demand.

Give me your thoughts.

Alternative Ending

Silence.

Loud, oppressive silence.

Harry stood motionless as time seemed to stop in its tracks. He stared, his eyes gazing at her face with an expression of agony and joy. With faltering steps he approached her unmoving form until he was just feet away.

Tearing his gaze from Miranda's face, he turned slightly so he could look at the Dark Lord. The man was gazing at him closely. His wand was on the desk before him, and his face was set in eager excitement.

"How?" Harry asked, his voice deceptively calm.

"it was nothing really, I simply..." Riddle was cut off as Harry raised his hand demanding silence.

"I care not." He murmured, turning back to gaze into the cold blue eyes of his fiancé. "Why?"

This time Riddle took far longer to answer, and when Harry turned slightly to look at the man, he appeared in deep thought.

"Leverage." The Emperor answered finally. He paused and a small smile appeared on his face. "Your betrayal was inevitable. And it was your dear Miranda who was pushing for it… I simply captured one of your chess pieces whilst simultaneously gaining the most valuable hostage possible." The Dark Lord's smile grew feral as he watched Harry turn back to Miranda.

With carefully controlled movements, Harry raised an arm and slowly brought it up to cup her cheek, the blonde smiled at him warmly and Harry smiled back. He could feel his throat tighten as he felt her soft skin beneath his fingers.

He pulled her into an embrace with a savage intensity and blinked away tears. Burying his head into her blonde hair and inhaling deeply.

He frowned, inhaling again before he froze. His body became stiff as he held Miranda close to him, his right arm pressing into her back and pinning her to him.

"Avada Kedavra" Harry whispered quietly, his wand pressed up into her ribcage. Miranda gasped and he released her, allowing her to fall gracelessly to the floor like a puppet with the strings cut.

"Harry?" Cedric asked shocked from behind him. The young professor remained still, his back facing the rest of the room, he took a deep breath, swallowing the tennis ball lump in his throat as he blinked furiously, looking down on the corpse at his feet, Miranda's features frozen in surprise, the normally bright eyes dim and lifeless.

"You know," Harry began, turning back to the rest of the occupants, Voldemort had a look of disappointment, whilst Olivia, Cedric and Brookes looked frozen in horror, "I remember every detail of Miranda Rookwood."

His eyes, which had been calm suddenly erupted into vivid burning green, "I know her well enough to know when I am being shown an imposter." With a furious flick of his wand, the blonde corpse shimmered, her skin rippling as the delicate features of his love returned to the heavy lidded, dark haired Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Polyjuice?" he finally asked, his voice shaking with rage.

Riddle seemed to pause as he looked into Harry's burning eyes. Eventually the pale skinned, red eyed Dark Lord shrugged, his mouth curling into a cruel grin. "I'm impressed, perhaps you are not as weak as I had thought."

Harry slashed his wand at the dark Lord in a single violent sweep, sending a violent surge of unchained magic at Riddle, his rage funnelled through his wand. Riddle picked up his wand and cast a shield over himself.

The wave struck the shield with a sound like a cannon, exploding outwards with a powerful shockwave, the windows were shattered and the large desk in front of Riddle was reduced to splinters.

"Avada Kedavra!" Riddle roared from the dust, rising to his full height, the spell flew at Harry who summoned the body of Lestrange into the path of the green light, the corpse absorbed the killing curse, only to fly at the Dark Lord as Harry banished her.

"Pulvio" Voldemort cast, turning Lestrange into a cloud of ash. He followed up with a withering hail of spellfire, flashes of red, blue, green and pink hurtling at Harry who was forced to dodge, shield and conjure walls to weather the onslaught.

From his left, he saw his companions raise their wands and begin to cast a series of spells at Riddle, the Dark Lord paused and raised his shield, sending a swathe of black flames at the three who all dived out of the way just in time.

Whilst not particularly effective, the distraction offered Harry precious seconds to drop his shield and begin to fire strings of spells with such high frequency it appeared that a single multihued string was flying from his wand, forcing Voldemort onto the defensive.

He took a deep breath, allowing the rage to diminish in him as he forced his mind to clear of everything but the duel.

'Reducto, Crucio, Diffindo, relashio' he thought, watching as the spells were batted away from Riddle with ease. The Dark Lord Snarled, slashing his wand at Harry who ducked, the orange spell sailing over his head, striking Cedric on the leg as he was standing up.

The ex-Hufflepuff cried out in agony as the orange curse sped straight through his limb, cleaving it off in a spray of crimson. Harry growled as he saw his friend collapse, desperately holding the stump of his thigh which was spraying blood like a fountain. Olivia quickly crawled over to him, her face green, but mouth set in determination to help him.

Bombarda

Riddle laughed as he sidestepped, the curse missing by inches, and instead slamming into the far wall, blasting a hole in the stone, revealing the great courtyard below.

Protego Harry thought as Riddle sent a cutter at him, the shield held and he returned fire by transfiguring the desk into a Minotaur and sending the beast at Riddle.

The mythical beast exploded into flames with a wave of a wand and crumpled to the group with a bellow. The two combatants paused, glowering at each other, both unhurt, but both breathing deeply.

Riddle's expression darkened, and he turned on the spot suddenly, vanishing into a cloud of black smoke that flew out of the broken wall.

"Not today." Harry growled, and he took off after Riddle, diving through a broken window. His arms wrapped tightly around the Dark Lord in the smoke, grappling until his fingers clutched at Voldemort's face, his fingers gouging at his eyes. Riddle released a pained shriek and dived for the ground. The two struck the grey York stone ground hard. Bouncing apart. Harry was torn off of Riddle by the force of the impact, and he bounced several times, feeling bones crack and break. When he came to a halt, his body was agony, he turned his head slightly, wincing as he felt a scraping sensation in his neck.

The Emperor appeared equally injured, his limbs at odd angles and blood flowing freely from his nose and mouth. With slow movements Harry looked down at his own body and winced, it was not a pretty sight, he could see bone protruding over an inch from his shin, and his foot appeared inverted. He took a deep breath, which turned out to be a bad idea as his battered chest protested.

With shaking movements he withdrew from his pocket a vial of golden elixir, struggling to remove the stopper with his broken fingers. With several quick swallows he emptied the bottle and cast it away, where it skittered several times on the ground.

He could feel the magic of the liquid work almost immediately, agony coursing through his system as his bones shifted back into their correct positions, skin knitted over and muscle grew. Five seconds after taking the potion, he was as good as new, his body showing no sign of the intense punishment it had just taken.

He rose to his feet, stumbling over to his wand which had flown several feet away. Picking it up, he just had time to raise a shield as the Dark Lord hurled a violet coloured spell at him.

Despite the impressive job Voldemort had done on healing himself, it was clear that it was only due to powerful magic that he was still standing, his body appeared stiff, as though many joints were bent out of shape, numerous cuts and wounds still bled profusely. He appeared furious at Harry's seemingly miraculous recovery and raised his wand again.

"Fiendfyre!"

Harry watched in fascinated horror as a vast serpent of flame exploded from the end of Riddle's wand, it grew in size until it stood over twenty feet high, Harry could see the air shimmering from the heat.

As the snake lunged at Harry he turned and disapparated, appearing twenty feet behind the Dark Lord, just in time to see the snake smash down where he had been standing only seconds before. Voldemort snarled like a dog and the snake lunged at Harry again.

With a slash of his wand Harry forced the fiendfyre to retreat, hissing, with a broad sweep of his wand, the creation of dark magic lost its cohesion, burning up in the air until no trace of it was left.

"Why can you never just die?" Riddle hissed, his voice high and cold.

Harry said nothing, instead sending an electric blue beam of light at Riddle whose eyes widened as he retaliated with his own dark red beam. The two strings of magic collided with the force of a bomb, pulverising the stone beneath where they struck to gravel.

The two spells raged against each other, arcs of lightening spraying out into the surrounding air, making Harry's nose burn with the acrid smell of ozone. The intensity it the magic was saturating the air, which shimmered, the stone around the two men cracking as the earth itself seemed to rupture.

Harry renewed his efforts, sending all his reserves into the spell which burned even brighter, slowly, very slowly, the blue beam began to advance, forcing the Dark Lords spell into retreat. Voldemort saw this and screeched his frustration, stabbing his wand forward, the advance of the blue beam slowed, but did not stop.

The magic in the air reached new heights, fires burned around them, stone glowed red hot and overhead the sky darkened, lightning forking down onto the surrounding area.

Harry felt the pressure in the air, felt his head ache as he continued to put everything he had into the spell, his vision tunnelled and he felt the sudden wind whipping his torn and burned clothes against his body.

As Harry's spell reached Voldemort's wand, time seemed to stop, Harry saw the Dark Lord's eyes widen in horror and his face strain.

There was a second of silence, the pressure in the air vanished. Then, suddenly, Riddle's wand exploded in a flash of white light, Harry was thrown off his feet by the force of the explosion, landing on his back ten feet back. He groaned, tasting blood as he bit his cheek. He stood up, his feet unsteady and slowly advanced on his fallen adversary.

Riddle was a mess. His wand hand had been reduced to a bloody stump, whilst his face had been broken and bruised until it no longer resembled the man in the slightest.

The Dark Lord's eyes were open, his mouth gaping as he looked up at Harry. The young man gazed at his most hated enemy for several seconds, trying to conjure up the hatred and rage he knew existed, but he couldn't. As he looked at the man who he despised so much he felt nothing but exhaustion, a weight pressing on his shoulders.

"P…Po…" the dark lord took in a rattling breath, "Potter…" he finally gasped out. Harry looked at him dispassionately, waiting for the man to speak. After several seconds of nothing, Harry grew tired and raised his wand.

"Wait!" was the gurgled cry, but Harry ignored him.

"Apsorio." He spoke the spell clearly, and Voldemort's eyes flashed as the spell flew at him.

The pale blue light's effects were instantaneous. The Dark Lords head imploded violently, his skull crushed as though a black hole existed in its centre, as its effects finished, the Dark Lords face was destroyed, blood and brain and bone mixed together.

Harry stood standing over the Dark Lord for a long time, he watched as the rivulets of blood flowed into the gap between to paving slabs where it formed a greater stream, flowing into a small red lake. He watched as the bright scarlet light slowly dimmed to a dark crimson, before solidifying.

Eventually he felt several presences approach and he turned, it was General Hilliard and Captain Richmond. He looked up at them calmly, both approached until they were but feet away from him and then knelt, dipping their heads in deference.

"Your majesty." Hilliard began, "It is done, the government is ours, the party leadership has been arrested and all high command are currently detained." He paused, and Harry could hear the relief in his voice. "We've done it my lord. The Empire is yours.

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REVOLUTION: RIDDLE DEAD.
Thomas Audley, Political correspondent

Following the emergence of Thomas Riddle's crimes against the citizens of Magical Britain, a coalition of allies led by Harry Potter has overthrown the corrupt government in a daring attack against the imperial complex. In the battle, Harry Potter personally defeated the emperor in a duel described by witnesses as 'awesome and terrible'
as of right now it is unclear what shall happen with regard to the future of the Government.

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The crowds in the imperial plaza were hushed, Harry advanced slowly, he wore his finest dress uniform, the fitted black jacket draped in gold, medals pinned above his heart and an elegant silver sabre at his hip. He was cloaked in black edged with ermine fur.

He strode with purposeful strides towards the stone steps before him, where stood the Imperial High Command, the remaining loyal members of the NTF, Olivia, and Cedric, though he leaned heavily on a crutch, still unused to his new prosthetic. Harry smiled coldly as he reflected on his journey here. Before him, four young Hogwarts first years walked, rose petals gently floating from the tips of their wands, where they fell and were trodden down beneath Harry's highly polished black boots.

Following the death of Voldemort, there had been a national cry for Harry to regain the throne, so great had it been that Harry had felt confident enough to order a national referendum on the future of the government. The reply had been a resounding demand for Harry to return to the throne.

A demand he was now obeying.

With sure steps he made his way onto the raised stone and stood before the assembled wizards of Great Britain, it seemed every magic user in the country had arrived for his coronation, as well as thousands of foreign dignitaries, press and tourists.

The square was packed, Harry estimated 20,000 people stood in awed silence before him. He reached the centre stage and stopped,

"Citizens of Britain." He called proudly, his voice magically amplified, "I must apologise." There was a murmur of confusion from the crowd. "Three years ago I promised you that I would not let this country down. I promised that Britain would rise to her rightful position"

He bowed his head slightly, "I was betrayed by one I thought could do this. Thomas Riddle betrayed me as he betrayed each and every one of you and I accept responsibility for this."

There came louds cries from the crowd, all in support of Harry and he raised his head, he allowed the shouted support to continue for several seconds before raising his hands for silence.

"I therefore proclaim, that I shall restore Britain, this shall become a land of hope, a land of prosperity and growth, a land of freedom and a land of pride."

There came loud cheers and he smiled slightly, once more he raised his hands and silence immediately fell. From the velvet pillow in front of him, he picked up the platinum laurel circlet, each intricately goblin carved leaf seemingly alive.

"I, Harry James Potter, Marshall of the Imperial Forces, Lord Protector of the British Magical Dominions and elected governor of Britain do hereby proclaim myself, Emperor of all British Magical Dominions, from now, until the end of my days."

As the final note of his voice rang out, he lowered the crown onto his head and set his face into an austere mask, as the crowds bellowed their approval and hundreds of camera's flashed. From somewhere in the crowd, a bright white spell-flare was sent up and soon others copied, until the orange evening light was illuminated by thousands of lights fired into the sky.

"Long Live the Emperor!" someone cried, and others took up the chant.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

There you go. Finished.

Unless you want a sequel... which I am tempted to write. heres the deal. if you want a sequel, review this chapter and put in which ending you want the story to continue from, either the civil war following Harry's death, or the growth of the empire as Harry develops his position...

Love you all

Marshall Angmar.