Chapter Twelve

The final battle had finally come. The Light side had bravely assembled in the courtyard, determined that if they should die, they would die together, fighting.

They did not break apart as Lord Voldemort and his army swept over the bridge towards them. They assembled in unbroken ranks, all at least a metre behind their master, all except Bellatrix, who was absolutely determined to stay as close to her Lord as possible.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" hissed Voldemort. "Everyone has gathered here in order to protect little baby Potter? How foolish you all are. Hand Mr. Potter to me and I shall leave everyone in this courtyard untouched."

"You think we'd believe that? How foolish you are. It's not about self-preservation, it's about love. But you wouldn't understand what that is, because you don't have a heart, or if you do, it's long since turned to stone." The brave voice belonged to Lilly.

"Is that so, Miss Potter?" asked Voldemort, his crimson eyes boring into her emerald ones.

"Yes, Mr. Riddle." answered Lilly, her boldness shocking all in the courtyard into silence.

"You dare speak that name to me?" spat the snake-like man.

"Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. Words I've spoken many times and am not afraid to use again. I'm not afraid of the name, Voldemort, but I thought that, seeing as you do not address me as Miss Granger, I will not address you as a false name. Because you've been wrong all this time, can't you see that?"

"Would you like to enlighten me, Miss Potter?"

"You killed my father, because he was the owner of the Elder Wand, correct?"

"Yes."

"But that was futile, it was pointless. You never saw my father cast a Patronus charm, did you, Tom?" She paused, waiting for a reaction, before continuing. "My father's Patronus was a doe, identical to my mother's, because he loved her for nearly his entire life, right from their childhoods. He asked you to spare her, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all. And when she was gone, he agreed that there were other women, more worthy of him."

"Of course he said that! But from that moment on, he was Dumbledore's. He gave up everything to do it, his position, his friends, even...his daughter. But he's been working all this time to bring you down. Protecting me and Harry from you. And it worked. Because he stopped you, tricked you into thinking that he was the one you had to kill. But he wasn't. Because my father never owned the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"Snape killed Dumbledore."

"No, you're not listening to me! My father never defeated Dumbledore, his death was planned between them! Dumbledore planned to die, undefeated, making him the last true master of the Elder Wand. The Wand's power would have died with him. But something went wrong."

"Snape killed Dumbledore. Whether planned or not, he was the master of the Elder Wand."

"Ah, but he wasn't. Because someone else got there first. Mere minutes before Dumbledore died, his wand was taken against his will. By Draco Malfoy."

"No matter, no matter. We duel on skill alone, Miss Potter...and after I have killed you, I can attend to...Mr. Malfoy."

"Too late. My brother got there first. He Disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor. So the Elder Wand was his...until...I Disarmed him in the Forbidden Forest. Yes, you've got the remainder of your Horcruxes, your Parseltongue and your stupid Death Eaters. But you don't have the Elder Wand, because...it belongs...to me."

All went silent as Voldemort stared in disbelief from the most powerful of the Hallows, safely in his hand, to the redheaded sixteen-year-old girl staring defiantly at him. No one spoke, no one moved, many did not even dare to breathe.

Suddenly, the Dark Lord took the Elder Wand and pointed it at Lilly, sparking a chain reaction. Harry immedaitely lept before his sister, shielding her from the jet of green light that had escaped Bellatrix's wand. Ginny ran towards him and jumped on him, pulling all three to the ground, the Killing Curse sailing just past Ginny. Bellatrix stepped forward to try again, but was blocked by Molly Weasley, who sent curse after curse flying at her deranged opponant, which she easily blocked and even taunted Molly with Fred's death and her own. But the curses got stronger and suddenly, Bellatrix found it harder and harder to block them. She let her guard down for a second to glance behind at her younger sister, who was watching in terror, and a jet of red light hit her square in the chest. Her malicious smile froze and her eyes glazed over and Bellatrix Lestrange fell to the floor, unmoving. Three screams of anguish came from the Death Eaters, one of them escaping Voldemort's lips, while Rudolphus Lestrange watched in anguish and Narcissa Malfoy tumbled to the floor beside her, her dignity forgotten as she cried over her elder sister's frozen body.

This sent Voldemort over the edge into despair and he charged towards Molly Weasley, the Elder Wand pointed directly at her back as she checked that everyone was alright. Lilly saw this and screamed as she got to her feet;

"Molly, move!"

The jet of green from the Elder Wand was met by crimson from Lilly's. The battle fought on, neither more powerful than the other, until Nagini, who had been forgotten about for a long while, lept for Lilly's throat. An almighty shriek came from the crowd and Nagini collapsed to the floor, his head landing at Voldemort's feet. The battle was stopped for a fleeting moment to catch a glimpse of who had killed it. There, blood pouring down the left of his face and the Sword of Gryffindor still clutched tightly in his hand, was the last person anyone would have expected to perform such a brave deed. Neville Longbottom.

Turning back towards Voldemort, Lilly realised that he had pulled the Elder Wand back, ready to strike. Thankful that she had such quick reactions, the two jets of light met in the centre of the courtyard once more, though this time was different. The crimson had met the emerald in the centre, but this time, it was advancing forward, pushing Voldemort's curse backwards. Once the curse had been fully pushed back, the Elder Wand was jerked out of the hand of Voldemort and went flying through the air, landing in Lilly's waiting palm. She looked at the wand in disbelief for a moment, then back to her arch-enemy. To her surprise, Voldemort was crumpled, weak and lifeless, in an unmoving heap on the floor.

Silence fell once more over the courtyard, but this time was not broken by a war cry, but erupting cheers of victory. Harry pulled Lilly into a hug as everyone gathered around her, congratulating and hugging her. They all surrounded her, but stepped a little further away to let Ron approach her. They ran towards each other and embraced in a passionate kiss, raising another cheer from the crowd. When they broke apart, they smiled at each other for a moment then lent into a hug, holding each other close.

Later that day, Harry and Lilly-Rose were out on the bridge at Hogwarts school.

"So, Lilly-Rose Potter, you're engaged!" laughed Harry, indicating the small gold engagement ring on Lilly's finger.

"Mum's engagement ring really suits you, you know."

"Are you sure you shouldn't have given it to Ginny?"

"No, she has her mum's old one, it's what she wanted."

"It's so strange, isn't it? To think that Voldemort's gone, that we're both getting married, that half our friends and enemies are dead."

"We'll survive. We're the Kids That Lived." he joked.

"Yeah, I suppose." she laughed.

"She'd be so proud of you, you know. Mum."

"And you. James would too."

"So would Snape. Dumbledore, Sirius, Fred."

"Lupin, Tonks, all of them. We didn't let them down in the end. We did what they died trying to do. We fought, we won, we survived."

"We always have."

"And we always will." they finished together. They stood there like that for a while, Lilly-Rose leaning her head onto Harry's shoulder, as they watched the sun rise on the new day. They were safe at last. Always.

The End