The Final Battle

Part 4

Many thanks to Aesop for co-writing and editing this!

If you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy.

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Little Hangleton Graveyard:

Harry and Hermione drew their wands and aimed them at the white witch, Hermione looking close to committing murder.

"How did you find us?" asked Harry, in the hope of distracting her long enough for them to formulate a plan.

"You have your friend, Mr Stanley Shunpike, to thank for that," she replied, her eerie smile never faltering. "My forces caught him near Birmingham and brought him to me. It didn't take long for me to get him to talk."

Harry hissed between his teeth, but didn't lower his wand, nor did he ask where Stanley was now, as he could guess. Jadis very rarely kept prisoners after all.

"He wouldn't tell me what it was you two were up to, though," she then said, her smile faltering for a second. "I must commend you. I never thought any of you would have the strength to take such drastic measures before."

"What do you mean?" said Harry, looking at her briefly in confusion, not noticing the cold look on Hermione's face. "What are you talking about?"

Jadis looked at him for a second, but then her red lips once more broke into that dark smile that he so despised. "Ah, I had a feeling it wouldn't be you."

"What? What wouldn't be me?!"

She looked past him and stared at Hermione, whose face at that moment was unreadable, and looked deep into her eyes. Hermione's expression was blank, and she tried to keep her thoughts that way, too.

"If it wasn't Mr Potter then it could only be you. But I must say, I had not thought even you would be capable of such extremes."

"Would someone tell me what the hell you're talking about?!" Harry hissed, his wand trembling in his hand.

Jadis looked up, her dark eyes peering deep into him, her smile wide and taunting. "As I said, my forces found your former comrade, Mr Shunpike, and succeeded in apprehending him. We questioned him, and learned where you two were planning to go, but before he could say anything further…he dropped dead."

"Dropped…?" Harry frowned. "What do you mean he 'dropped dead'? How does someone just drop dead?"

Jadis looked back to Hermione. "Shall I tell him, Miss Granger? Or will you have that pleasure?"

Harry couldn't help but sneak a glance back at Hermione, but his wand never wavered from Jadis and her forces. It was only then that he noticed her expression, dark and full of nothingness. "Hermione?"

She looked over to him finally. "We couldn't risk Jadis finding out. Everything depended on this, so I… I made the others take the Unbreakable Vow."

Harry stared at her, at first not believing what she had said. He knew what the Unbreakable Vow was of course, as Ron had once told him about it. His brothers, the twins Fred and George, had once tried to get him to make the vow when he was about five. Luckily for him, their father had come out and stopped them just in time, and gave the twins a sound spanking afterwards.

It was a magical vow that people swore with the use of magic. Anyone who dared to break an Unbreakable Vow would die instantly.

"You made them take the Vow?" Harry asked Hermione quietly.

"We couldn't risk anyone finding out. I acted as Bonder, and had them all swear that they wouldn't say anything about the plan, but… We were all in a hurry, and I guess I just neglected to have them all swear not to say where we were going."

"A rather large oversight on your part, Miss Granger. I'm disappointed. But the fact that you were willing to sacrifice your comrades in order to keep your secrets shows that there may be hope for you after all." Jadis' blood-red lips curled, and Harry resisted the urge to cast the Killing Curse right at her.

"In the end, we've all done far worse," he said. The Unbreakable Vow was but another to the long list of things he never would have imagined them doing before this war began.

Jadis sneered at him, and held up her hand. Harry couldn't help noticing that it once again had the full number of fingers, but that was no surprise. He had once lost all the bones in his arm, but Madam Pomfrey had been able to re-grow them due to a simple potion. Obviously Jadis could do no less.

She was also holding another wand, but this one was not her own. It was a simple wooden one, which she obviously must be using only as a temporary one for the time being.

"You and your ragtag team of resistance fighters have cost me a great deal, Mr Potter," said Jadis, glaring at him. "Because of you, I not only lost a good number of talismans, including my own wand, which will take me several months to re-create, but you also damaged most of my castle!"

He said nothing at first, and just replied her cold glare with one of his own. "You should be happy. I was hoping we'd burn down the entire place!"

She thinned her eyes. "Why exactly are you here, Mr Potter?"

"Sightseeing."

She moved her wand closer to him. "I won't ask again. What is your reason for being here?!" The other wizards of her police force also aimed their wands in his direction, but made no move until Jadis gave them her permission.

"Hermione and I came here to see if we could find a new place where to establish our headquarters. This area is out in the middle of nowhere, and that house over there is abandoned. It seemed the ideal place." He indicated the old Riddle mansion behind her.

Jadis, however, didn't look convinced, as she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You expect me to believe you travelled all the way out here just to find a new hiding place?"

"Where else is there? You've taken control of nearly every other place there... Urgh!" Harry choked, as he felt the air being crushed out of him, although no one was touching him.

Jadis had tipped her wand slightly up, and Harry felt himself rise up into the air, his throat feeling like it was being squeezed, like he was being hanged by an invisible noose.

"Harry!" screamed Hermione, but she still didn't lower her wand or take one of her eyes off Jadis and her forces.

"What are you planning?!" hissed Jadis, as she twirled her wand. Harry felt the invisible force on his throat tighten, but still he did not answer her.

"Tell me now or I will…!"

"Fiendfyre!" yelled Hermione, and instantly Harry felt a wave of hot air wash over him, followed by a swarm of flames. Jadis gasped in surprise and leaped back from the fire, and Harry instantly dropped back to the earth with a hard thump, but felt his throat loosen and the air return to his lungs.

"HARRY! MOVE!" Hermione twirled her wand, causing the flames around to swerve and grow until they formed a huge horse that immediately started to gallop across the ground, setting fire to everything in its path.

As the giant fire-horse galloped through the graveyard, Jadis' men leaped out of its way while Hermione ran to Harry to help him up. "We've got to get to the grave before…"

Before she could finish, a bright blue light sparked from behind the fire, and the flames were all suddenly extinguished, leaving Jadis standing in its wake, holding her wand up high.

"Did you really think to trick me with the same spell twice?" she said cockily to them, her red lips curved in a dangerous smile.

"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione and Harry both recited, striking their wands out at the white witch. Jadis, however, deflected the spell as she lifted and swung her wand around in an impressive display of twists and curves.

"Seize them!" she commanded her men, as they slowly got back to their feet. "Do not let them escape!"

Hermione quickly re-aimed her wand at Jadis' men while Harry kept his wand on Jadis. "Fiendfyre!" she said, recasting the same fire spell as before and watched as this time the flames took on the form of a giant wolf. The fiery beast snarled and ran forward, its red hot jaws snapping at the wizards as they screamed their last.

"Expelliarmus!" cried Harry, but Jadis was all too familiar with the disarming spell and easily deflected it.

"You should have stuck with the Killing Curse, Mr Potter. It would have been safer!" Jadis rolled away and immediately stood back up and aimed. "Avada Kedavra!"

"Stupefy!" Harry responded to her curse with a stunning spell. He had done this once before during his duel with Voldemort. The Stunning Spell, when cast at the same time as an opponent's Killing Curse, would basically slam into each other thus creating a block that would prevent either spell from reaching their intended targets, so neither would have any effect.

As with Voldemort, Harry's spell slammed into Jadis', and the two magics created a multi-coloured spectrum of red and green sparks that flew everywhere. The light display, however, did not last long, as Jadis leaped aside; taking her wand with her, which of course ended her spell. Harry, meanwhile, just re-aimed and continuing casting, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" He didn't bother with the Killing Curse any more, as Jadis had proved it was no threat to her.

Jadis laughed, as she easily blocked his every stunner. "Do you intend to keep me up with this all night, Mr Potter? Surrender now and I might…"

"CONFRINGO!"

A shout from Hermione, and suddenly the Riddle family grave exploded into a hundred pieces behind Jadis, sending the witch queen flying forward onto the ground, as a large piece of marble struck the back of her head.

"Stupefy!" chanted Harry again, and the spell this time hit its mark without fail, and Jadis flew briefly into the air before crashing down into a few gravestones, shattering them beneath her.

"Harry, go!" yelled Hermione. When Harry turned to look at her briefly in confusion, he saw her eyes.

"Hermione, no. Come with me!"

"Just go!" she replied frantically. "I'll keep Jadis busy! Just get over there and get moving!"

"Hermione…?"

"Harry!" she said in a loud and sudden stern tone. "The mission is all that matters, remember?! You must go NOW!"

Harry stared at her, tears forming in his eyes, but finally he started to hurry over to what was now left of the Riddle family grave. As he raced over, though, a green light flashed behind him, causing him to glance back. Jadis had now apparently recovered, and was sending spells back at them, a murderous look in her eyes.

Hermione was still alive, but had also re-aimed her wand and was firing spell after spell wildly at the white witch, from Stunning Spells to Killing Curses. At that moment, Harry almost didn't recognise his oldest and now final remaining friend. The murderous look on her face was close to that of Jadis, and the fiery anger in her eyes was even stronger than that of Bellatrix Lestrange.

So engrossed was he in the sight of her, he almost forgot what it was he should be doing. Biting back the tears, he forced himself to start running back over to the grave's ruins. He just made it there when, suddenly, the sounds of battle ended, leaving an eerie silence around him.

"Stay where you are!" Jadis' icy voice snapped.

Harry froze where he was, and then slowly turned around. In truth, he didn't even know why he should feel surprise at Hermione's death, but nevertheless he felt the sharp stab of shock and grief in his heart when he turned and saw her body lying motionless at Jadis' feet.

"Don't look so surprised, Mr Potter," said Jadis almost smugly. "After all, I was learning killing curses long before your people even discovered speech. I know of death spells that go beyond anything you can conceive."

"Like the Deplorable Word!" said Harry, staring her hard in her eyes. He took what pleasure he could at the sight of her shocked face.

"How… Where did you hear that word from?!" she demanded.

"STUPEFY!" cried Harry, using her surprise against her. Jadis, however, was ready this time, and easily blocked his attack, but while she was busy blocking that it gave him enough time to grab at the Turner-Amulet around his neck.

"By the way!" he said finally, grabbing the Amulet and dangling it before him. "I have a message for you, Jadis!"

Jadis' eyes widened at the sight of the Amulet. Despite being shattered and then re-built with the parts of a Time-Turner, she recognised something of her own construct, as the talisman was built with the knowledge of her home-world and Narnia, which were unique to this world.

"Aslan sends his regards!" he finished, and gave a quick genuine smile at the sight of her face as it grew even more shocked. And with a quick movement of his finger, he flicked the Turner part of the Amulet.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" she screamed out, as she all but flung her wand at him, but by then it was too late. The moment she needed to cast that spell, was all the time needed for the Amulet's magic to take hold.

The second Harry turned the Amulet-Turner, the entire world around him disappeared, swirling around him in a kaleidoscope of sound and colour. He felt dizzy, as the world shifted and changed like different coloured waters poured together, until finally the swirling stopped…

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The moment the swirling finally ceased, Harry fell to his knees as the dizziness overwhelmed him, and a bright light blinded his eyes followed by a rush of unfamiliar sounds that suddenly roared around him, deafening him. It took him half a minute before his eyes could adjust to the new illumination, and his dizzy-spell passed.

It was really no wonder that Harry had been so overwhelmed, as only a few moments before he had been in a near deserted graveyard in the middle of the night, quiet and dark. He suddenly found himself on what appeared to be a battlefield, the sounds of clashing swords, roars and screams all around him, in the middle of a bright and sunny day.

Blinking rapidly, Harry tried to see what was going on. Gradually, his eyes adapted to the bright sunlight and he was able to see again, and not a moment too soon. Only a few seconds later, two huge Minotaurs with equally huge battle-axes flew through the air at him. Harry dove out of the way, as the great beasts came crashing down to earth with a deafening boom.

Breathing heavily, he looked around and saw a bald giant, wearing a dark gold tunic and wielding a massive club that he was even now swinging at various other creatures (Harry assumed it had been he who had thrown the two Minotaurs at him).

The giant soon had more beasts flying through the air, and Harry sought cover behind some large boulders. He hid between them, watching as an endless array of animals, both mythical and ordinary, some he recognised and others he had never even heard of, fought around him. Fortunately for him, they were all so busy fighting each other that none of them had even noticed him.

Harry soon had his breath under control, but kept his head down. He was not here to participate in the battle, but to prevent Jadis from coming to his world.

As he looked down to his chest, he saw the remains of the Amulet-Turner still hanging around his neck, but it looked as though it had been thrown in a furnace and melted. It was now charred and black, any chance of repair now lost beyond hope, just as Ollivander had warned. Its magic would only work once, and once that was spent then it would never work again.

Forgetting about the Turner, he stared at the chaos around him. A Centaur fought with its sword against a Minotaur and his battle-axe, a warthog with its tusks in a dwarf's leg, some kind of goat-man against something that looked like a cross between a goblin and a house-elf, and a white tiger that was wrestling with a bear. He watched all these and many others until finally he saw her…

Jadis, clad in strange armour, stood off to the side, in combat with another soldier. She wore what looked like a skirt made of chainmail, with leather armour, a long mane of golden fur that hung from her neck, and an odd sort of gold headdress with multiple spikes that sat in her hair. She had two swords in her hands, as she brandished them at her opponent.

As Harry peered closer, he saw to his surprise that her opponent was no more than a boy, even younger than he. He, too, was dressed in armour, though his was a more traditional fashion, like the armours he had seen in British museums. He wore a red tunic with it, which had a gold rim and the picture of a gold lion stitched into it.

The boy fought against Jadis with a sword and a silver shield, and while his skills were impressive for a boy his age, Harry could tell right away that he could never hope to beat her, as her skills dwarfed his. She slammed him down and waited for him to get up, only so that she could toy with him further by stabbing her swords forward in a scissor-type angle, thereby nearly slicing his head off. He survived only by the skim of his teeth, as he bent backwards, narrowly missing the blades.

She continued edging him on for another few moments when, suddenly, a loud roar echoed throughout the whole battlefield. More than a few of the battling creatures paused at the sound, including Jadis and the boy who looked up in wonder, and when they did their expressions turned to shock, disbelief and terror.

Even Jadis, who Harry had only seen shocked a few times in his life, stood with her mouth gaping open, like she had just seen a ghost.

Harry looked over to where everyone was staring, and what he saw made him understand what had suddenly made them so fearful. The thing that had made the roar was nothing less than the largest and most terrifying looking lion that he had ever seen before in his entire life. It was huge, and gave a roar louder than even the dragons during the Triwizard Tournament.

But as he looked at it, Harry could not help but feel a sense of familiarity about the beast, like he had seen it somewhere before. It was terrifying, yes, but at the same time it was also magnificent and beautiful. Plus, it was not the only thing the witch and her forces had to fear, as right behind it was yet another army (reinforcements he assumed) of even more beasts and animals that charged forward.

Pretty soon, most of the witch's army were either fleeing in terror or looking close to surrendering. The only exceptions were the Minotaurs who had yet to stop fighting, as they continued battling their opponents fiercely. Harry could not help but notice that while the Minotaur's fronts were all heavily armoured, their rear ends were bare, leaving them practically defenceless.

Harry tore his eyes away from them and the great lion then and focused his attention back on Jadis, and he did it none too soon. For it was at that moment that Harry noticed something else about her garments. Hanging from her neck, glittering in the sunlight, was the amulet.

It was obviously nothing like the blackened one now hanging around his neck, for it didn't have the Time-Turner connected to it. It was gold and medallion-like, with some images engraved on it, and a crystal in its centre.

Jadis had just struck the boy down again, which seemed to set the lion bearing down on her. It charged at her on its mighty paws, its jaws agape and roaring. She seemed to tear her sight away from the fallen boy and turned back to watch the lion as it raced toward her.

In that moment, Harry could almost see what was happening before it had even occurred. Although he couldn't see her eyes from this distance and angle, he could sense they must be filled with fear, desperation…and planning; a plan for an escape. And there was only one method of escape opened to her; one that Harry knew all too well.

In the span of a few seconds, Jadis seemed to reach a conclusion and reached with her hand up to the amulet around her neck. At the same time, Harry grabbed and pointed his wand at the armoured Witch who would bring endless grief to him and his whole world. He aimed his wand at her and screamed the needed incantation…

"ACCIO!"

In one split second; as Jadis' hand just reached the amulet, it tore itself right off the chain around her neck and went zooming through the air, where it flew straight into Harry's reached out open hand. Jadis had no time to even look shocked or surprised at the theft of her talisman, before the huge lion then flung itself on her, throwing her behind some rocks, beyond Harry's sight.

Harry stood there for a moment, eyeing the amulet in the palm of his hand. He turned it over in his hand twice, observing the strange symbols, before he then simply dropped it to the ground. Then, with a heavy stomp of his foot, he ended the amulet's existence once and for all.

There was a brief flash of light, as he stamped his foot on the cursed talisman, crushing it beneath him. Its crystal fragments shattered, and then, on a final note of assurance, Harry spoke the Blasting Curse, exploding what was left of the amulet into oblivion.

Harry felt lightheaded, as he peered down at the destroyed artefact. At first, he thought it was from sheer elation at having finally achieved his objective, by going back and destroying Jadis' only means of escape from this battle, but as he raised his head, he felt as though he was floating on mid-air. And as his head was raised his eyes looked back to where Jadis had last been standing, and for a brief second they met with the eyes of the armoured boy he had seen Jadis duelling.

For one scattering moment their eyes met, and then…

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Peter Pevensie, formerly of Finchley, now Sir Peter Wolf's-Bane, Knight and future King of Narnia, stood watching. He could do nothing else, as time seemed to slow down around him. The battle seemed strangely distant and unreal, and the only things that existed now were he and the beings in front of him.

Aslan had somehow miraculously returned from the dead, surprising everyone, the Witch most of all. When all had seemed lost, Peter had watched him charging ahead of an army of reinforcements, securing victory for their side against impossible odds. He had felt elation upon seeing him return, with joy so great that he wanted to weep, along with love and gratitude, but now although he still felt those many emotions within him, there was now a darker one, fear.

The fear was not of the Witch, as before, but of Aslan himself. Peter could not help but feel it, as he stood by, watching the great lion devour Jadis right before his eyes. As he did, he remembered Mr Beaver's words when he had described Aslan to him and his siblings, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Never before had truer words been spoken; Peter realised that now. Yes, Aslan was the embodiment of all that was good; of that Peter was certain. But safe he most definitely was not, especially to those who threatened him.

For a moment, Peter's eyes turned away from the gruesome scene, and when they did they caught sight of something else…

"Wha…?" he started to say, as he looked over to a group of boulders, but before he could finish saying the word it was gone.

It had lasted only for a split second; one second it was there, the next it wasn't. But to his last day, Peter was sure he had seen what looked like a human boy in large glasses looking right back at him. It was nobody he knew, and he didn't even know anybody his age who wore glasses, but the boy had been staring at him right before he had faded away into nothing.

Peter stood there for the next couple of minutes, staring at the place where he thought he had seen the stranger, almost expecting him to re-materialise. But the more he thought about it, the more absurd it sounded to him. After all, he and his siblings were the only humans in Narnia. Mr Beaver had told them so; a belief enforced by the fact that whenever a Narnian saw them, they reacted with amazement and wonder.

When he looked back to Aslan, he saw him as he stood up and walked further towards him. "It is finished," said the great lion with a tone of finality.

Peter had wanted to mention to him what he had seen, but before he could his sisters, Susan and Lucy, called out from behind him, and he turned to see them rushing towards him. His relief at seeing them alive and unharmed was so great that he momentarily forgot about the boy, and after they had seen to Edmund and saved his life, everything else seemed unimportant.

In the end, he came to accept that what he had seen had been nothing more than a trick of the light. He had been in the middle of a battlefield after all, and he had heard of soldiers back home hallucinating when under constant fire and faced with the chance of imminent death. Perhaps this had been one of those?

Eventually, Peter came to forget about what he had seen that day, and any time when he did remember, he remembered it as though he were remembering a dream.

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Harry's eyes met with the armoured boys', and he couldn't help smiling as they did.

'We won,' he thought, as though the boy could hear him. As he did, the scenery around him started to fade into a kaleidoscope of colour and sound, as it did when he had first come to this world.

Harry did not break eye contact with the other boy, but if he had done then he would have seen his hands and the rest of his body fading away. But he did not, nor did he even think to look.

'We won, Hermione,' he thought. 'We won, Ron. We won, Professor Dumbledore.'

He kept repeating those words to every person who had ever meant anything to him, in his mind as though they were a sweet melody, as a wave of sound and colour overcame him, bringing him peace. Jadis was dead, and her amulet destroyed before she could use it!

'We won, Sirius. We won, Tonks."

The boy slowly faded from his sight, as the light washed over him.

"We won, Fred. We won, George. We won…'

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Hogwarts; Two Years Ago:

… "Harry!"

"Mm?" Harry blinked the sparkle of colours that were flickering in his eyes, as Ron nudged him sharply. "Wha…?"

"Pay attention, will ya? Dumbledore's talking."

Harry shook his head slightly, and looked up. Dumbledore was in the middle of his start of year speech.

It was the beginning of their fifth year at Hogwarts, and so far the year had not gone off to a great start. So far, he and his cousin Dudley had been attacked by Dementors, resulting in Harry having to use magic outside of Hogwarts, which nearly got him expelled, Minister Fudge now had it out for him just because he refused to believe Harry's account that Voldemort was back, and now it looked like he had sent one of his people to the school for some reason.

The person in question was Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry's undersecretary and now apparent new Defence of the Dark Arts teacher. She had a broad, flabby face, with a wide, slack mouth. She was also wearing a fluffy pink cardigan and a black velvet bow on top of her head, which reminded Harry forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even larger toad.

"Are you okay, Harry?" asked Hermione who was looking at him worriedly. "You seemed a bit out of place just now?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "Just zonked out for a second." The colours were now gone, leaving Harry with clear eyesight, so he just attributed them to a lack of sleep. Those dreams about the dark mansion, the snake and the murdered man were a constant torment.

"Hem, hem," Umbridge suddenly interrupted, as though clearing her throat. It was clear she wanted to speak, and had gone so far as to interrupt Dumbledore in his speech. The headmaster looked taken aback for a moment, but then he sat down and politely allowed her to speak.

"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome," said Umbridge in a simpering voice.

The rest of the school were a lot more surprised at the short woman's interruption than Dumbledore, as no one had ever interrupted one his speeches before, but Harry paid them no mind. As he listened to Umbridge's debut speech, as it were, he was struck by an odd feeling.

The woman was addressing all of the students as though they were only five years old, and then proceeded to talk about things like how the Ministry valued their education, and how there would be changes, some for the better. He also couldn't help but notice that somewhere in her words it sounded like she was badmouthing Dumbledore, but without actually saying it.

After she was finished talking, Hermione commented on how illuminating her speech had been.

"You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" said Ron. "That was the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."

"I said illuminating, not enjoyable."

Hermione then went on to say that she suspected the Ministry was planning to interfere with Hogwarts, but Harry did not pay much attention. He didn't know why, but he had a most odd feeling of relief while looking at Umbridge, as though he was almost glad she was there.

Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Umbridge was bound to cause trouble at Hogwarts for them all, and the feeling of revulsion he got from looking at her didn't help matters much either, but he felt relieved at seeing her there at the head of the Great Hall. He couldn't explain it, but he just felt like they had all just had a narrow escape.

Looking at Umbridge as she sat there, he got a feeling of déjà vu, as though he had gone through this before, but with someone else sitting in Umbridge's place.

He didn't know why, but with Umbridge he felt more…hopeful, as though they had a better chance with her than with someone else, though who that someone else was he had no idea.

After a while, he put it out of his mind and listened to Hermione and Ron as they talked about the Ministry and Hogwarts, until the rest of the school started to get up to leave. Obviously, Dumbledore had just finished his speech and dismissed everyone.

"Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!" said Hermione, as she jumped up, looking flustered.

"Oh yeah," said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. "Hey – hey, you lot! Midgets!"

"Ron!"

As Hermione rebuked Ron, Harry felt another strange wave of relief, happiness and contentment wash over him. And as he reached up to wipe at his face, he found to his surprise, a tear.

For no apparent reason, Harry had started to cry, and for the rest of his days, up to the end of his life, he had no idea why.

The End!