Rating: T, just to be safe for a tiny bit of course language.
Summary: The morning after the last battle, with flashbacks of the night before.
Title: Blood Red Sunrise
Author: Ashley Graham
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Blood Red Sunrise
-CHAPTER ONE-
Blood stained the now dewy with morning grass. The sun was almost all the way into the sky, turning from blood red to orange slowly. A large mass of bodies were strewn across the vast grounds. A castle stood on its highest hill, the tallest turrets crumbled and caved into themselves as the broken castle continued to unfurl smoke into the violet sky.
The dark forest seemed alit with life, all the trees were shaking their leaves restlessly, but there was hardly any breeze. The dark creatures within it were stirring, attracted by the sent of blood, which hung thick in the air. They dared not leave the shadows of their sanctuary, knowing that some of the wizards were still alive.
The water in the lake churned angrily, and a large tentacle broke the surface before disappearing into its watery depths, almost as if the creature was waving a final goodbye.
Some the dark figures on the ground were stirring, painful moans emitting from their mouths. One particular man, whom lay near the lake, struggled to his feet. His robes were literally torn to shreds, so that only an undershirt and pair of jeans could be seen on him. Even these articles were not in one piece, blood was staining his ripped shirt rapidly, but he seemed not to notice.
His emerald eyes were taking in all that surrounded him. He took off his glasses, wiped them perhaps a little violently, and shoved them back onto his face, as if he did not believe what he was seeing. He kept brushing pieces of his raven black hair out of his eyesight, revealing the lightening shaped scar, which stood out plainly on his forehead.
Then, most suddenly, he fell back to his knees and stared up at the violet sky, which was starting to turn a pale blue with the day. His eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears, as if the weight of the world had been set upon his nineteen year old shoulders. A star was sparkling peacefully, it was only just starting to become hard to see, most of its surrounding companions had been swallowed up by the light. Yet there it was…the same star that had witnessed the end of the bloody war not twenty four hours ago.
In truth, the young man was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, for many years he had kept his burden quiet, it was only on this morning, when reality set in, that it became to hard to hold, and crashed down on him.
A figure approached him from behind, and put a shaky hand on his shoulder. He turned suddenly, seeing only a blur with flaming red hair. He blinked the tears out of his eyes rapidly, so that he could see the image of his best friend clearly.
"Ron, you're alive." He croaked, allowing the second youngest Weasley to help him once again to his feet.
"It'd take more than giants, dementors and Death Eaters to do me in," Ron replied grimly. He looked worse for wear; a cut down to the bone was bleeding madly on his left arm. His face was a bloody mess and he was limping heavily, so that his tall frame was stooped slightly. "But are you all right, Harry?"
The man named Harry laughed a little, but it did not meet his eyes. He was waiting for his friend to ask him the question, the question which could, in its answer change everything that people had fought and died for the night before.
"Did you, did you do it? Is Voldemort gone for good this time?" Ron finally asked quietly.
Harry pointed silently to a crumpled heap of robes some ten feet away. A large snake lay dead in front of the robes, stretched to its fullest length. He shut his eyes tightly as he remembered the final moments of the man who had terrorized mankind for nearly a century.
"You are mine Harry Potter! I can guarantee that you will meet your parents very soon!" Voldemort cackled menacingly.
Harry stood there, wand raised. The dark lord still had no idea that all of his horcruxes except Nagini and of course, the one within the evil man himself, had been destroyed.
"SECTUMSECTRA!" Voldemort yelled with glee, attempting to inflict as much pain as he possibly could on the boy before he killed him.
Harry ground his teeth together as he fought against the immense pain of the curse. Through the blinding pain, he yelled, "AVADA KEDEVRA!" The curse did not hit Voldemort however, but the snake that was stretched at her master's feet, hissing profusely.
Voldemort stopped laughing immediately. He stared down at the dead reptile, and a dawn of comprehension crossed his face, his red, slit like eyes widening slightly. He looked up at the Boy-Who-Lived and said something that even caught Harry off guard, "How did you know about them?"
"Dumbledore has never truly left this school, if there is at least one person who has remained loyal to him."
Before Voldemort could even begin to get angry at the fact that it was Dumbledore who had played a role in the destroying of his horcruxes, even in death; a rush of green light was speeding his way. The last thing the dark lord heard before he died was from the lips of his murderer, "Rest in peace, Tom."
The dark lord was soon nothing but ashes, his fragment of a soul couldn't even keep his barely human body intact. A violent blast emitted from the dead mans wand, sending everyone within a forty foot radius flying backwards. Harry could have sworn that he saw the smoky spirits he had seen in a graveyard five years before (there were many more this time however), soaring up into starlit sky from the splintered wand before he lost consciousness.
To Be Continued…