(A/N: Final chapter)

CHAPTER 18: Fate

Something red moved in front of Harry and was hit by the spell.

"Fawkes!" gasped Harry.

Dumbledore's phoenix had come out of nowhere into the path of the curse. It burst into flames and fell to the ground in a heap of ashes. But it had saved Harry from certain death.

Harry didn't hesitate. He dove for his wand and grabbed it.

"What the?" gasped Voldemort. "Dumbledore's phoenix? Where did that…" Then he spotted Harry with his wand again.

"No, you will not escape!" cried Voldemort.

He fired another Killing Curse at. Harry disapparated. Voldemort fired another. Harry disapparated again.

Again and again, Voldemort fired the Killing Curse, and again and again, Harry avoided them.

"I'm going to kill you!" shouted Voldemort.

"It's seems killing people and creating Horcruxes is all you can do!" Harry shouted back.

Voldemort stopped firing curses. He had a stunned look on his face.

"What did you say, Potter?" he hissed.

Harry smiled at the look of fear on Voldemort's face. "You heard me. Your Horcruxes. You know exactly what I'm talking about. And I would like you to know that they've been destroyed. Your diary, Marvolo's ring, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, your snake."

Voldemort's eyes widened with each Horcrux harry named.

"All that's left is your wand. You've split your soul into seven pieces. And now all you have left to protect you is your wand. Looks like you're not as safe as you thought… Uncle Tom."

Voldemort's cat-like eyes were as round as Galleons. There were shocked gasps from the Death Eaters and members of the Order alike.

Harry smiled more broadly. "What, didn't he tell you? The founders of Hogwarts are direct descendants of Merlin. Both of us are direct descendants of the founders. I guess there's a lot of things he didn't tell you."

"It matters not!" hissed Voldemort. "We are related by blood, nothing more. But your family has been tainted forever. Your father, marrying a mudbood. Forever contaminating the Gryffindor bloodline."

"What about your mother!" Harry shot back. "Marrying a muggle! You're half-blood too."

"Silence!"

"No!" snapped Harry. "It's time everyone learned the truth. You've been telling everyone that only pure-bloods deserve to live and that all others deserve to die, then you are merely insulting yourself. In fact, according to your rules, if the superior wizard is the one who's blood contains more magic, then I should be superior to you. Even though my mother was muggleborn, she still had more magic in her than your muggle father."

The Death Eaters were all muttering to each other and looking at Voldemort as though they've never seen him before.

"LIES!" shouted Voldemort.

"Levicorpus!" thought Harry.

Voldemort was lifted off the ground.

"No, Tom. They are not lies." said Harry. "And you know it. The superiority of the wizard does not depend on the purity of the blood. And apparently, deep down, you think so too."

"What do you mean?"

"The prophecy, Tom." Harry explained. "When you heard the prophecy of the one destined to destroy you, why did you choose me? You had two options that the prophecy was referring to. Me, the half-blood, and Neville Longbottom, the pure-blood."

There were more shocked gasps.

"The prophecy stated that you will mark him as your equal. And you chose the half-blood. Now why would you chose a filthy half-blood as your equal, and see him as a danger, when there was a pure-blood out there, which, according to you, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing?"

Voldemort let himself down. He stared at Harry with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Your words mean nothing, Potter!" hissed Voldemort. "If you think you can turn my followers against me, you are sadly mistaken!"

"I'm not trying to do anything." said Harry. "I'm merely telling everyone everything that you've kept from them."

"One more word, Potter, and you shall be sorry!" threatened Voldemort.

"What are you going to do?" laughed Harry. "Kill me? Do you think that shows that you're superior? There is more to power than being able to take a life."

"You sound like Dumbledore." hissed Voldemort.

"Yes, I guess I do." said Harry smiling. "My uncle was very wise. Far more intelligent than you ever will be. You think that being able to kill gives you power? You're wrong."

Voldemort laughed. "What power greater, than being able to take a life?"

"How about not taking a life?" snapped Harry. "Being able to let someone live, no matter how much you want them dead, is a far greater power. Taking a person's life proves you are weak. It shows you are not strong enough to escape your own hatred. But I am not going to kill you because I am weak, or because I want to. I'm going to kill you so you can't hurt anyone else."

Voldemort began laughing harder. "So you think I'm weak? Is that it, Potter? Then you are a fool. I do not kill because I am weak. I kill because I choose to. Being strong enough to take a life is a symbol of power. There is no power greater. I have taught this to all my followers. There is no good and evil! There is only power, and those too weak to seek it! You are the one who is weak! You are not willing to do what you must to achieve true power!"

Harry shook his head. "You're wrong, Tom. Love is the greatest power there is! Dumbledore had said it all his life. And if he says something, it must be true!"

"Love, Potter!" laughed Voldemort. "Love is nothing. You can't achieve anything with love. Love can't give you power. Love can't save you. Let me show you what true power is!"

Voldemort raised his wand. But he wasn't pointing at Harry. He was pointing at Ginny.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry's eyes widened with fear, as he realized what Voldemort was doing. Green light erupted Voldemort's wand, heading straight for Ginny.

Harry apparated in front of her. He would not let Voldemort kill anyone he cared for anymore. Knowing it was useless, but doing it anyway, Harry raised his wand and cried, "Protego!"

The jet of green light kept coming. It made contact with Harry's shield. And suddenly, it was gone.

Harry blinked in surprise. Shocked gasps came from everyone, Avada Kedavra was supposed to be unblockable. Yet, Harry's shield had stopped it, and remained perfectly intact.

"What's this trickery?" cried Voldemort.

Harry thought about it a moment. Finally, a smile spread across his face.

"No, Tom, it's not trickery. I think I finally understand what Dumbledore meant when he said love is the greatest power in the world."

"What nonsense is this?" said Voldemort, impatiently.

"It's not nonsense, Tom. It makes perfect sense once you think about it. Avada Kedavra is a spell of pure hate. When you attacked Ginny, my immediate reaction was to defend against the attack. My shield was fueled by my love for Ginny. Love is more powerful than hate. And with my shield powered by love, your spell of hate could not penetrate it. It appears that Avada Kedavra was only unblockable because no one ever tried to defend against it the right way."

Voldemort looked livid. But he was not willing to accept what Harry was saying.

"Nonsense, Potter." growled Voldemort. "I merely messed up. Even the greatest of people make mistakes."

"Are you trying to convince me, Tom, or yourself?" asked Harry, enjoying the fear in Voldemort's voice.

"I'm not trying to convince anyone!" cried Voldemort angrily. "It's the only explanation! I'll prove it! Avada Kedavra!"

Harry relaxed. He let the thoughts of his loved once fill him. He was fighting for them, not for himself. Raising his wand he cried "Protego!"

The green light made contact with Harry's shield. But it did not penetrate.

Harry saw fear in Voldemort's eyes.

"This is impossible!" he shouted. "Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry blocked the spells again.

"It's over, Tom." declared Harry. "Taking lives was the only power you had. Now that I have taken that away, you're nothing!"

Harry took a step towards Voldemort, who took a step back.

"Do something!" he cried to his Death Eaters. "Kill him! Attack! Will you do something!"

Some of the Death Eaters moved uncomfortably, but none attacked.

"Kill him, I say! KILL HIM!"

"What's wrong, Tom?" asked Harry. "You and me are just having a friendly duel, and now you, the mighty Lord Voldemort, need help to beat a 17 year old boy."

Voldemort's eyes flashed violently. Harry could see a mixture of anger, fear, hatred, and betrayal in them.

"Do something! I command you!"

"Crucio!" cried Harry.

Voldemort was unprepared for the attack. He flew backwards, his wand flying out of his hand.

"Look at you." said Harry. "Look what's become of the so called great Lord Voldemort. The one who's name everyone once feared. Look what's happened to you. You've been reduced to a helpless being, with one seventh of a soul left. Hard to believe that the pathetic creature at my feet was once so might and powerful. So many fell to you and your followers. Do you even remember how many there were? Let me refresh your memory a bit. There was Albus Dumbledore."

Harry nonverbally used the Cruciatus Curse on Voldemort again as he said the name.

"Sirius Black." He increased the curse's intensity. "Moaning Myrtle. Cedric Diggory. Amelia Bones. Grawp. Bertha Jorkins. Percy Weasley. Alastor Moody."

Voldemort twitched in pain, as the curse became more intense with each name Harry said.

"My dad. My MUM!"

Voldemort was shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly the pain stopped, as Harry lifted the curse.

"What you've just felt is only a small amount of the pain I've been feeling." said Harry sounding close to tears. "Tell me, Tom, how does it feel to be at the other end of the wand? How do you like being tortured? You don't like it, do you? Yet, you find pleasure causing others pain."

Voldemort began crawling away from Harry, towards his wand.

"You're all alone, Tom." continued Harry. "You have no one and nothing. That's what happens when you don't care for anyone. No one will care for you in return."

Voldemort was a foot away from his wand.

"Sure you have your followers, but it's not the same as having people that actually care for you,"

Harry turned to his friends.

"My friends, you have always stood by my side. Even in the darkest of times. I couldn't ask for anything more from you."

Voldemort's fingers closed over his wand. He slowly began to rise to his feet.

"I have truly been blessed to have such good friends, and I can't thank you enough for all that you've done."

Voldemort was now on his feet. He turned to Harry, who had his back turned.

"Now, I must do what I've been destined to do for several years."

Voldemort raised his wand and opened his mouth to say the spell.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" cried Harry, turning around, with his wand pointing at Voldemort.

The spell hit Voldemort in the chest, just as he was about to cry out the very same curse.

Voldemort flew backwards and landed several feet away. His wand flew out of his hand again.

But only his robes fell to the ground. There was no body. Voldemort was gone.

Or was he? There was something inside the robes. It came crawling out.

Harry recognized what it was. It was the very creature Wormtail had dropped in the cauldron three years ago. It looked at Harry and hissed. Harry saw that the creature's tongue was actually a snake that looked just like Nagini, which hissed at him too.

The creature began crawling away. Harry pointed his wand at it.

"Avada Kedavra!" he cried.

The creature was struck dead. And out of the lifeless body came a shadow. It looked like

a ghost, but it was more solid. And it was all black, almost like smoke.

It turned to Harry. Its face was flat and snake-like and it's eyes were blood red. It was Voldemort's life force. Harry had reduced him back to the weak bodiless being that he had become the night his parent's were killed.

"NO!" cried Voldemort. His voice seemed to come from every direction. "This can not be happening to me!"

"It's over, Tom." said Harry, picking up Voldemort's wand. "Your reign of terror ends now. There's only one thing keeping you alive."

Harry snapped Voldemort's wand in half.

Voldemort cried out in rage as his final Horcrux was destroyed. The final piece of his soul rose out of the wand and vanished.

Voldemort howled in pain. The only thing keeping him alive was now gone.

Voldemort's dark life force began to implode, almost as if he was being sucked inside himself. Then it erupted in a flash of light. Voldemort's screams echoed through the night.

Then it was over. Voldemort's cries silenced. His life force was gone. It was finally finished. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort was dead.

No one moved or made a sound, as they took in what had happened. Voldemort was gone. Killed before their very eyes.

Harry tossed the broken pieces of the wand away. He turned to the Death Eaters, wondering what they were going to do.

Finally, one of them stepped forward. His wand fell from his hand, and he dropped to his knees in defeat. Soon all of the Death Eaters followed him. Dropping their wands and collapsing to their knees. Their master was dead. And he had been a fake all this time. Poisoning their minds with lies. Now, with truth revealed, their master truly gone, and everything they had been fighting for had been for nothing, they didn't want to fight anymore.

Even the giants backed down. Voldemort had been the one who promised them their rights, but now he was gone.

The enchanted bodies of the Inferi fell to the ground lifeless. No longer under Voldemort's control.

The Dark Mark shining in the sky vanished in a puff of smoke. The war was finally over.

Harry turned to the others, and smiled at them. After a few seconds of silence, everyone began cheering. The realization that the war was finally over dawned upon them. Harry suddenly found himself being hugged by everyone.

"Harry, you did it!" cried Hermione.

"Way to go, mate!" said Ron, patting him on the back.

Ginny threw her arms around him and kissed him. "I knew you could do it."

Hagrid came and wrapped all four of them in a bear huge. Tears were pouring down his face. "Yeh did it, Harry. Oh, if only Grawp were here."

"Don't be sad Hagrid." said Harry. "We have all suffered loses. But they did not die in vain. If it hadn't been for Grawp, I would be dead now."

Hagrid sobbed harder, but couldn't speak anymore.

Harry looked at the Death Eaters and giants. "What will happen to them?"

"They will receive a life sentence in Azkaban." said Lupin. "As for the giants and the dementers, with Voldemort gone, they'll probably go back to the way they were before. But enough about them. Harry, you were amazing out there."

Harry smiled. "I couldn't have done it with out all you help."

Lupin smiled at him. "Your parents would be so proud."

Harry smiled more broadly. He looked back at the cheering crowd. Now with the war finally and truly over, they could get back to they're lives.

A stab of regret came upon Harry as he realized that this war had been his whole life. Now with it over, he would have to start over. But now he would do it on his own. With the prophecy fulfilled, he could walk his own path. And he couldn't ask for better friends to do it with.

There was a small chirp. Harry looked down. The baby Fawkes was laying by his feet. Harry bent down and picked him up. He didn't know where Fawkes had come from. He hadn't seen him since the night Dumbledore died. But if it hadn't been for Fawkes, Harry wouldn't be alive right now.

"Come on, lets get out of here." said Lupin. "We need to report this to the minister at once. If you thought you were famous before, Harry, you haven't seen nothing yet."

Harry laughed at the reality of Lupin's words.

"Yeah, I guess your right." he said.

They walked off into the sunrise. Ready for the next journey of their lives.

(A/N: Well that's it for 'Harry Potter and the Search for the Horcruxes'. I hope you all enjoyed it, and thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, it really means a lot to me. I am currently starting a sequel call 'Harry Potter and the Dawn of a New Era'. Unfortunately I will not be able to update as fast as I did with this story, with school starting again and everything. Thanks again to all my readers.)