The Shattering of Souls

well, we\'re in the home stretch now. another chapter down. one more to go. just so you know, i\'m going to state the oh-so obvious here. nothing but a few of the characters within this work of literary fiction are mine. most of this belongs to the lovely and talented j.k. rowling. i am merely borrowing and will, at some point, get everyone back.

please feel free to read and review. there is a small amount of darkness in this chapter. i only let you know in warning. the bunnies have been multiplying like mad the last couple of days and this is the result. i hope you like my effort.

Chapter Twenty Three: The Final Battle
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When the slightly confused feeling left by the use of the portkey wore off, Bri found herself standing before a large, rambling building. It was long past being grand, with windows boarded up and some of the glass gone. The trees were dying, while the grass had grown so high that it looked as if it had not been mowed for a very long time. What was more, the tall grass was brown and dry. Paint was peeling from the building in places, while dirt crusted the surface in others. One end of the large estate house was completely hidden behind the thick, clinging vines of sturdy English ivy. What had once been the empitome of English aristrocracy was now nothing more than a run down, living reminder of what could happen if the Mother was allowed to take back that which was rightly hers.

Malfoy Manor looked deserted and lonely.

Bri drew her wand, clutching it loosely in her hand. The sky, which had been streaked with crimson not all that long ago, was now going dark as storm clouds rolled across it. The sun was already hidden behind a thick layer, the world dimming with the coming battle. She wasn\'t sure if it was meant to be a poetic statement or if it was actually a mere coincidence. Firming up her resolve, she began a slow, steady pace for the door.

Just as she settled her feet on the top step of the porch, the door creaked open. She searched the opening for some sign of Malfoy or Lestrange, but only found a small House Elf standing there. It looked ancient and decrepit, its eyes large with fear and some other emotion that Bri couldn\'t bring herself to consider. The Elf eyed her a moment, then stepped back and left the door open. It was a silent invitation in and Bri didn\'t hesitate. She stepped into the darkened interior. When the door closed behind her, she waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, then found the small Elf was leading her along the hall and toward the grand staircase. Bri followed in silence.

The stairs were crumbling in spots, the marble chipped and gouged as if by wild animals. The balustrade was loose to the touch and Bri picked her way up the steps carefully. Cobwebs decorated the corners and draped from the ceiling in thick strands. There were broken mirrors in spots, while some of the paintings had been torn or ripped from the wall. Broken frames lay in in heaps on the floor. The fine carpets were dirty and Bri couldn\'t help but notice that a few of them were stained thickly with what she thought had to be dried blood. People had died in this hallway. Some kind of duel had been fought here.

Her guide stopped before a pair of thick doors that were scarred with the impact of curses that had been thown haphazardly. Deep gouges marred the beauty of the mahogony wood, telling her that someone had been throwing wild hexes or that they\'d been deflected into the panels. She reached out and touched them, feeling a lingering trace of the cursed magic in them. Her mouth tightened. The doors were made from trees that had once been alive. They hadn\'t deserved to be treated with such a lack of concern.

She looked own at the Elf, who seemed to have been hesitating, giving it a single nod of her head. The little creature took a deep breath, threw the doors open wide, then disappeared before anything else happened. Bri took a breath and stepped into the room beyond the opened doors.

Lucius Malfoy was sprawled in a most negligent manner across one of the arm chairs that still remained in tact. There was a smug look on his face that told her he thought he\'d come out the winner. His snake headed cane lay across his lap, minus the head. That was grasped in his hand, his wand pointed at her. Standing behind him, Bellatrix Lestrange was poised in much the same position, her wand pointed at Bri\'s chest while gleeful hatred burned feverishly in her eyes.

\'My dear Miss Wallace. How good of you to come!\' Lucius drawled with civilized charm that made her skin crawl. \'I mean, I\'d hate to have to kill Severus so soon. He deserves a slow, painful death. He is, after all, my last remaining friend.\'

Bri let nothing show on her face, merely held her wand toward them and sighed. \'Snape is dead,\' she told them flatly, as if it was something all small children and village idiots should know.

\'Do you honestly expect me to believe that? Really, Miss Wallace. I had no idea you were turned on by fucking a dead man,\' Malfoy replied slowly, his eyes lighting on her face to gauge her reaction to his words. \'I am quite certain I could have arranged something that would have suited you in a most satisfactory manner.\'

\'Go fuck yourself, Malfoy. I\'m here. Let\'s get this over with,\' she snapped at him.

\'So eager to die, this one. Let me do it, Lucius. Let me kill her,\' Bellatrix leaned down so that she could speak near Lucius\' ear. Bri watched her with a kind of detatchment that made her feel as if she were witnessing the events second hand, as if it were one of those vidoes that Muggles were so fond of watching.

\'No, Bella. She\'s mine. I intend to show her just who is in control here. First, she can suffer through one of our torture sessions. Then she can watch Potter do the same. You can kill her later, when I\'ve determined that she\'s suffered enough.\'

\'Now, Lucius. I want to hear her scream like her mother,\' Bella pouted, madness plain to see in her eyes. Bri\'s grip on her wand tightened.

\'Later, Bella. I want her to be conscious when I kill Snape. He never should have taken you from me, my dear,\' Lucius snarled, then flicked his wand angrily. A tingling sensation started in her back, but Bri staunchly ignored it. \'For his crime, he will watch you suffer. You see, he stole my property. I\'ve marked you as mine, Bri. I intend to keep you. For a while longer, at least.\'

\'Snape won\'t come for me. The man despises me as much now as he did when I was in his classes,\' she replied, hoping that she put the right amount of nonchalance in her voice.

\'A man who takes you to bed and gives you pleasure so blinding that you call his name in the deep throes of ecstacy? This is a man you expect me to believe hates you,\' Lucius shook his head, his blonde hair shifting around his head as he did so.

\'He was using my feelings as a method of paying me back for what he felt was an injustice I\'d done to him,\' she shrugged. The smile on Lucius\' face suggested that he was having none of it. He looked at her with a blatantly patronizing look on his face.

\'Surely you don\'t expect me to believe that, Miss Wallace,\' Lucius stood, towering over her. Bri merely shifted her gaze to look up at him, her body not moving. He flicked his wand again and she felt a shaft of pain burn along the scars that marred her back. \'Women are ever stupid creatures when their emotions get involved. Narcissa thought she loved me. She still wouldn\'t believe I would end her miserable life at the very moment I cast the Killing Curse.\'

\'No wonder Draco pledged to see you dead,\' Bri replied steadily.

\'Draco was as stupid as his mother. He let his anger cloud his better judgement. It only served to get him a wand in the back,\' Lucius snarled. Obviously, the fact that his son hadn\'t followed in his footsteps was a sore spot with Malfoy.

\'You\'re completely nutters. Do you know that?\' Bri asked him softly.

\'Far from it, my dear girl. Far from it. I am possessed of a knowledge that will see me ruling the Wizarding World. People like you will be ground to dust under my boot heel,\' he promised her. She opened her mouth to speak more, but he waved his wand yet again. This time, the pain that raced up and down her back was so intense that she was driven to her knees. She turned wide eyes up at him, the question there.

Bellatrix laughed and danced out from behind the chair. \'She doesn\'t understand, Lucius. Perhaps you should explain it to her,\' the woman chirped in a demented voice. Lucius looked from one woman to the next, then nodded and moved to kneel before Bri. His hand cupped her chin so she had to look him in the eyes. The look of tenderness belied the pain he was capable of inflicting.

\'You are mine, Bri. When I marked you, I not only scarred it with my blade but with a spell. When I wish, I can inflict excruciating pain upon you. No matter where you are. That scar is tied to me. Watch,\' he whispered the word near her ear. She felt the wand disturb the air as he once more flicked it, then the pain was so deep that tears came to her eyes and she tried pulling from him so she could curl around herself.

\'Bastard,\' she managed to whisper. Her answer came in the form of his hand. He slapped her so hard that her head snapped to the side and she felt the trickle of blood as it worked from her nose down her face to her lips.

\'Ah, ah, my dear. I hold so much you find precious in my grasp and you decide what their fate will be by your behavior,\' he told her softly. He was so close, his lips were almost touching hers. He brushed them against her mouth and the corner of her cheek, then drew back to look her in the eyes once more. \'Bring him!\'

Her eyes were locked in a staring match with his. She refused to look away first, but she didn\'t want to stare at him the rest of the night. A pair of doors on her right opened and there was the sound of scuffling from the other room. A moment later, her heart thundered in her chest. \'BRI!\' Potter\'s voice was full of anger and hatred.

\'Let him go, Malfoy. You have me. I\'m what you want, aren\'t I?\' she asked him, not daring to look at Harry.

\'Oh, I\'m so terribly sorry to disappoint. Potter is responsible for the Dark Lord\'s death. He must die. As must you, because you enabled him to do such a thing,\' Lucius crooned softly, his free hand lifting to stroke through her hair gently. Bri jerked her head back.

Bellatrix laughed, that same mad sound that held the power to frighten Bri. She froze as memories assaulted her. The soft swishing of skirts in the dark. The feel of furry bodies climbing over her. The pain and fear. The lost feeling, not knowing who or what she was. The abuse, constant and humiliating. All of it swirled back to her in a shuddering haze of fear and confusion, leaving Bri whimpering on the carpeting. Suddenly, she was simply nothing again, all that she was gone as the nightmare of her captivity slammed into her and drove her to the very edge again.

\'Bri! Snap out of it!\' Harry cried, receiving a blow to the mouth for his effort.

But Bri was gone. She was replaced with a woman who was nothing and knew nothing. The figure on the floor huddled in on herself, her arms wrapped around her body tightly as she stared blankly at the floor. All she could hear was the deranged laughter in her ear and a silken voice promising her nothing but pain.

~*~*~*~*~

\'YOU!?\' he snarled in disbelief.

The figure in the chair cowered before the absolute hatred in the Potions Master\'s eyes. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall stared at her with a look of utter revulsion on their faces. Lavendar Brown tried to sink as deeply into the chair as she could, hoping it would get her away from the terrifying look in Snape\'s black gaze. Sadly, the chair was more solid than she wanted it to be so she was unable to escape the look he was gifting her with.

\'This, I believe, is the traitor that Miss Wallace spoke of,\' Dumbledore said unnecessarily.

\'Why, Miss Brown? Why would you do it? How could you?\' Minerva demanded shrilly, her obvious disappointment lining her face deeply.

\'He made me,\' she got out on a choked whisper. Her hands trembled as they clutched at the arms of the chair she sat in. \'He told me he\'d kill my family!\'

\'You should have come to me, Miss Brown. I would have gladly helped you,\' Albus stated in a soft, gentle voice. The girl in the chair started sobbing.

\'He was going to kill me. My family. If I didn\'t help him, he was going to kill me,\' she whined, tears rolling down her cheeks. The faint lines of a bruise were visible against her pale skin, letting the three teachers in the room know that Malfoy had likely done worse to her.

\'Where is Miss Wallace and Mr. Potter?\' Dumbledore asked her. Lavendar shook, a smattering of incomprehensible words falling from her lips. It was obvious she was not going to divulge what they wished to know. She was too frightened of Malfoy to do anything but babble in fear. Dumbledore looked to Severus. \'We need to know what to do.\'

\'Leave it to me, Headmaster,\' Snape drawled, then pinned Lavendar with his black gaze. She started when she felt him probing her mind, a gasp breaking the silence while Severus slipped into her head and sifted through her thoughts. And he saw what she was so desperate to keep hidden. The abuse and the violent sex that left her feeling as if she were nothing more than a dirty whore. The curses that sent pain rippling up and down her spine and along every single nerve in her body. The threats of violence to be visited upon her family unless she complied with Malfoy\'s wishes. He searched though it all until he knew all there was to know about the situation. When he withdrew, Lavendar was shaking violently.

\'Take her to Madam Pomfrey,\' Albus nodded. Minerva moved to the chair and helped her up, leading the silently sobbing young woman out of the office. Dumbledore nodded to Hagrid, who slipped out of the room after McGonagall and Lavendar and closed the door behind him. Severus began pacing before him. \'Well?\'

\'She was coerced. He was as brutal with her as he was with Bri, I would imagine. Now he has Potter and Miss Wallace and he plans on killing them both. I believe he plans on killing me, as well. That is what I came here to see you about,\' Severus finally said and settled into one of the chairs before the desk.\' I had a visitor only a short while ago.\'

\'And this visitor managed to slip into your dungeons without trouble?\' Dumbledore lifted a grayed eyebrow. Severus nodded curtly. \' I see,\' Dumbledore gave a half-grin.

\'You know?\' Severus asked, shocked when he knew he shouldn\'t be. The old goat seemed to know every bloody thing that happened in his school. Why he shouldn\'t know about this was unfathomable.

\' I know when someone as powerful as the Draconus enters my school, yes,\' Albus gave him a grin. Severus crossed his arms over his chest. Dumbledore\'s smile faded and he sighed. \'There was no need for anyone to know about Bri\'s parentage. She was unaware of this until the moment she regained her memories.\'

Severus nodded, saying nothing for a moment. \'Her father claims that Bri has saved my life more than once now. And he claims that she loves me,\' he scoffed. He noted that Albus frowned at him. \'Bri Wallace told me to my face that she had been doing nothing more than acting and that she despises me with a passion only exceeded by her contempt for Malfoy.\'

\'And you believed her?\' Albus sounded amazed at this. Severus growled an affirmative answer. The graying Wizard couldn\'t help the laugh that escaped his throat. The look on Severus\' face was comical, but Albus kept as straight a face as he could and went on. \'She was trying to protect herself, Severus. Women are wont to do things of that nature.\'

\'What a completely idiotic thing to do,\' he snorted.

\'Quite. Now, what do you plan to do?\' he asked, his mood growing serious once more.

\'There is nothing for me to do but go after her. Regardless of my feelings for either of them, they do not deserve to die at Malfoy\'s hands.\'

\'Very good, Severus,\' Albus replied, then clapped his hands. In an instant, Dobby stood there with an anxious look on his face. The Headmaster asked him politely to retrieve Professor Snape\'s wand. The Elf was gone in an instant, only to return a few moments later. Wordlessly, he laid the wand in Severus\' hand, then disappeared. \' I will wish you good luck.\'

\'Thank you, Headmaster. But luck will have nothing to do with it,\' he muttered as he reached for the box. Glancing at Albus a moment, he laid his fingers on the carved snakes, then spoke the word he\'d pulled from Miss Brown\'s memories and was gone in an instant.

~*~*~*~*~

Thunder shook the house. The thunder clap was loud. Rain pelted the windows with seeming passion, as if the water drops wished to break through the clear barrier and land inside of the room and flood it. The occasional flash of lightning brightened the dingy room, casting long shadows and creating monsters where there were none. The storm had broken and was now raging outside the deteriorating manor house, threatening to destroy the building in it\'s fury.

\'Come, come, Miss Wallace. Don\'t you remember how to play this game?\' Lucius asked, his hand curled tightly around Bri\'s chin. She stared up at him, her eyes almost empty except for the tears in them. She couldn\'t fight off the feeling of desolation that had come over her, nor could she see fit to find it inside to attempt to protect herself. She was at his mercy and it showed.

\'Please don\'t hurt me anymore,\' she whimpered. Harry glared at both Bellatrix and Malfoy, pulling uselessly at his bonds. Though his vision of the events was blurred by the fact that his glasses had been confiscated, Bellatrix seemed to take great joy in describing to him what Malfoy did to Bri. His hand moved from her chin to her hair, his long fingers twining in the silken strands tightly. Then he yanked her head back so that she was forced to stare up at him.

\'Sweet Bri, that is not how we play this game. I wish to hear you beg and cry in your loudest voice. I want to see you squirm in pain. I want to have you completely at my mercy!\' he finished with a stroke of his wand. Another cut appeared on her bared flesh, a thin line of blood seeping from the gash made by his magic. She lay across the rotting mattress of the bed in the room where Malfoy had thrown her, her blood and other fluids staining the bed clothes. Harry had been forced to watch as Malfoy had used her, the cries she\'d made bringing his rage to a rapid boil. He wanted to strangle the arrogant blonde with his bare hands.

\'Leave her alone, Malfoy!\' Harry snarled. A flick of Malfoy\'s gray gaze saw Bella cuffing Harry upside the head with a hard fist.

\'Yes, Malfoy. Leave her alone,\' the silky voice came from the hall a moment before Severus Snape stalked into the room. Water dripped from the ends of his hair, plastered to his head. His nose funneled more of the liquid to the carpeting beneath him while his robes left a trail of water behind him as he advanced into the room. He was soaked to the bone, his face set in a mask of tired boredom. His wand was drawn and pointed at Malfoy. All eyes turned to him, except for Bri\'s. She merely stared at the far wall with such an unfocused gaze that Harry knew she was no longer mentally with them.

\'Ah, Severus. Come to play the knight in tarnished armor, have you?\' Lucius\' lips curled up in a sneer. His hand once more grabbed at Bri\'s hair and he yanked her head up. The lack of reaction from Snape brought forth a small growl and Lucius moved onto the bed, his hands dragging Bri\'s limp body up in such a manner that she was forced up onto her knees, her naked body on display for the room to see.

There were fresh bruises marring her skin. Bloody scratches decorated her arms and thighs, a pair of bruises forming on her cheek and near her right eye. A trail of pinkish fluid dribbled down one thigh, pattering on the bed cover. One of her arms looked as if it had been wrenched out of socket, hanging crookedly at an odd angle. There was a blank look in her eyes that he knew well and it was all Severus could do to keep the absolute disgust and black hate from polluting his expression.

\' I would never consider playing such a role. I am merely here to stop you and put this entire mess behind me. Once and for all.\'

\'Really?\' Lucius asked, clearly not believing what he\'d been told. \'And here I thought you\'d come to rescue the delectable Miss Wallace from my depraved clutches. She\'s such a wonderful fuck, isn\'t she Severus?\'

Harry watched the dark, blurry blob that he knew was Professor Snape, squinting in hopes of finding out what was happening. Severus didn\'t move, his gaze locked solely on Lucius. Harry felt the air near him stir, the heavy feeling of skirts brushing against his legs as Bellatrix made ot move past him. He locked his eyes on her fuzzy image and launched himself forward. She screamed as she went down, Harry holding tight to her legs with his bound hands. She turned to him, clawing and scratching at his arms, screams of hatred mingled with madness coming from her open mouth. Harry held on, though, hoping to give Snape an opportunity to free Bri from Malfoy\'s clutches.

Lucius casually sent a curse Severus\' way, which the Potions Master blocked easily. There was a loud grunt and then silence. Both men glanced to see that Harry was sitting on Bella, her face buried in the floor while the young man\'s hands held her down. Her wand had fallen away and rolled under the bed where she couldn\'t reach it. The two men turned back to one another. \' It would seem its down to you and I, Severus. I believe that Miss Wallace is done with her fighting.\'

\'Do not count on such a thing. The woman has more fight in her than you give her credit for,\' Severus allowed his eyes to settle half on Bri and half on Lucius. \'Bri, you must snap out of it. Malfoy cannot hurt you unless you allow him. Do not give him that power over you.\'

\'She can\'t hear you, Severus. She\'s lost her mind. Again,\' Lucius chuckled gleefully. \' At first, I thought she was acting the part of a woman with no memory. But now I find that she wasn\'t. She truly didn\'t know where Potter was. I tortured her for nothing. Nothing! Is that not the most amusing thing you\'ve heard?\'

\'Bri! Snap out of it! Now! This is the moment you\'ve dreamt of for months. The chance to put an end to Malfoy\'s reign of terror. To stop Bellatrix Lestrange for good, the woman who killed your mother!\'

Bri heard the words as if from a great distance. As if they echoed down a long corridor. The woman who had killed her mother. She deserved to die. Slowly. Painfully. She would be the one who screamed. The anger built and boiled again. It brought clear, rational thought streaming back into her brain. Bri allowed her gaze to settle on the owner of the voice, seeing Severus across the room. He stared at her, his face impassive. There was a grunt and all eyes turned to where Bellatrix was standing now, her wand once more in hand and pointed at Harry, who was flat on his back on the floor.

\'Put the wand down, Snape. Or the brat gets it,\' she snarled.

\'Kill her, Snape. Kill her now!\' Harry spat, his fingers searching for Bella\'s foot. She laughed, that laugh that had sent Bri off into the world in her mind to hide. Bri scowled. No one else was going to die. Not if she could help it. She glanced for a moment at Snape, then turned and threw herself at Malfoy. The two of them tumbled off the bed with a loud crash, Malfoy muttering a string of swear words as the woman he\'d thought of as little more than a vegetable landing on top of him. There was a meaty sound of fist hitting flesh, then a loud groan.

\'You bitch!\' Lucius\' voice held pain. There was a flash of light and Bri flew across the room to land in a heap at Snape\'s feet. She struggled up on her own, ignoring that he was wordlessly offering her a hand up. Malfoy was longer in getting up, allowing Severus time to slip his robes off and hand them to Bri. She slid into them gratefully, glad to be covered once more.

By the time she was completely clothed, Lucius had regained his feet. There was a small amount of blood on his chin. He glared at them. \'Kill Potter, Bella. Do it now!\' he ordered. The woman\'s wand lifted higher so that it was leveled on Harry\'s face. The smile on her face was wild and as mad as could be. The gleam in her eyes, however, was filled with glee at the boy\'s impending death at her hand.

\'No one dies unless I\'m the one who does the killing!\' Bri told them in a voice that was soft and filled with deadly intent. Three sets of eyes turned to her. Only Severus knew the meaning of her uplifted hand. The look on his face wavered between smug satisfaction and intense concern. He could sense that she meant what she said and she was on the verge of unleashing her magic upon the two of them.

\'You? What can you possibly do to me?\' Bella snarled. Bri turned eyes so blue that they seemed to be lacking in pupils and simply waved her hand. The motion sent Bellatrix flying across the room until she slammed into a wall.

\' I can do whatever I like,\' she replied coolly, turning to look at Lucius. \'Which one of you dies first?\'

\"Neither of them, Bri. The Aurors are on their way. Dumbledore is sending them to take care of these two,\' Severus told her.

\'No! They have to die. Malfoy for what he did to me and all those innocent people. Lestrange for my mother,\' she retorted.

\'Bri, killing someone face to face is so much different than killing them in a time of war. It is more personal. Can you live with what that will do to your mind?\' Severus asked her gently. \'Can you live with killing someone in cold blood?\'

\'This is for my mother. It isn\'t in cold blood. And its for all of those people that Malfoy tortured in an attempt to get Dumbledore to bring us back. It isn\'t in cold blood!\' she snarled, her hand shaking.

\'Ah yes, your mother,\' Lucius smiled at her, flicking his glance from her to Severus and back. He saw the tightening of the other man\'s lips and knew that he knew what was to be said. \'Diana Wallace. Such a lovely woman. Such a lovely whore. Or didn\'t you know? She was a personal friend of the Dark Lord\'s?\'

\'You\'re lying,\' Bri whispered softly. \'My mother hated him with a passion.\'

\'Passion, yes. She had plenty of that. Right up until the moment she died,\' Malfoy said with glee. Bri\'s hard glare faltered a moment. \'Is that not correct, Bella? Severus?\'

\'She was the Dark Lord\'s favorite,\' Bella purred in a voice that was twisted with hate and madness. \'And then, when she wouldn\'t give up her child, he ordered her dealt with. I was only too happy to do so. She stood between me and what I wanted.\'

\' It isn\'t true. She\'d never have anything to do with him,\' Bri shook her head.

\'Tell her, Severus. She\'ll believe you,\' Lucius now sounded bored. Bri turned her head to look at him, the expression on his face enough to tell her what she wanted to know. It was the break, the mistake, Lucius was looking for. He cast the Killing Curse, hurling it Bri\'s way. She stood motionless, in shock and sorrow. She felt the hand shove her to the side and turned to watch as the curse hit Severus dead on in the chest. She watched him crumple to the ground, his wand clattering as it dropped from his lax grip.

The rage consumed her.

Bri turned to face a smirking Malfoy, her hand raised even while tears rolled down her cheeks. \'You will never again hurt another living soul, Malfoy. Avada Kedavra,\' she whispered. She felt the curse burning as it moved up her arm. Putrid green light errupted from her hand, a wide band of her magic arcing across the room to slam dead on into Malfoy\'s chest. The look on his face was one of deep shock and surprise. She watched with deep satisfaction as he dropped like a ragdoll to the floor.

Bellatrix was screaming when Bri turned to her. She heard Harry coughing on the floor and knew that the insane woman had used the Cruciatous curse on him. Scowling, she lifted her hand. Bella called out the Killing Curse and watched with a triumphant, mad gleam in her eyes as it shot across the room toward its target. The majority of the curse bounced off Bri\'s defensive shield, but she was hit. Pain exploded in her chest, blurring her vision. Her hand wavered a moment, then the room once more filled with green light.

Bri never said a word. The curse simply exploded from her hand and slammed into a shocked Bellatrix without being blocked. The woman\'s body landed on the floor with a dull thud. Bri felt a moment of complete joy filling her, then the world spun. She turned to where Severus lay, stumbling to his side. She fell to her knees and took his hands in hers. \'Not you, too,\' she whispered, tears clogging her throat. \'This is my fault. I\'m so sorry.\'

Her hands curled into his, her head laying across his chest. She was slipping into the encroaching darkness. She knew it, could feel it. She thought, for a moment, that she heard his heart beat in his chest. Her fingers scraped something warm and metal clasped in one of his hands. There was a moment when she felt a spark of hope, then the darkness consumed her.

The Aurors arrived only moments later. There were half a dozen of them, all with wands out and ready to use. They were shocked to find that they weren\'t needed. Harry Potter was crawling toward the crumpled bodies of Severus Snape and a woman who was laying on top of him. One corner was occupied by the lifeless corpse of Lucius Malfoy while another was filled with Bellatrix Lestrange.

\'Harry, what happened?\' Nymphadora Tonks asked as she hurried to his side. She helped him sit up, removing the ropes that bound his hands together.

\'All hell broke loose,\' Harry managed, his gaze never shifting from where Bri lay over Snape\'s chest. \'Malfoy and Bellatrix are dead. Bri killed them. But not before they did their worst.\' He hated the feeling of helplessness that consumed him and damned the tears that leaked from his eyes. Tonks was silent. She merely pulled him close to her so he could have some privacy while he grieved.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was there, leading the team of Aurors as they searched the room and checked the deceased. He moved to the two bodies, kneeling down on Snape\'s right side. He put two fingers to the dark man\'s throat and started. \'Quick! Get the portkey out. Snape\'s still alive!\' he ordred. Harry lifted his head from Tonks\' shoulder so he could watch while Kingsley felt Bri\'s neck, too. \'Both of them. Hurry!\'

\'Can you stand, Harry?\' Tonks asked him softly. He nodded and, with her help, got to his feet. He was speechless, watching in silence while Kingsley and another of the Aurors levitated both Bri and Snape. The two of them put hands on the floating bodies, then on an oddly shaped item that had been thrust into Kingsley\'s hand. Tonks helped Harry over and, together, they put their hands on the rubby ducky.

\'Everyone ready?\' Kingsley asked, glancing at everyone. He was answered with a series of nods.

\'Where are we going?\' Harry asked before the portkey could be activated.

\'Back to Hogwarts,\' he was told with a faint smile. \'Dumbledore\'s orders.\'

\'Brilliant,\' Harry sighed, then couldn\'t help but laugh when he heard Shacklebolt mutter under his breath in an embarrassed tone.

\'Horse hockey!\'

The portkey activated and Harry sighed. He was finally going home.

end chapter twenty three.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as always, i wish to give a big round of thanks to my support group. they have been instrumental in keeping me on track and focused and they can\'t know just how much i appreciate them. many hugs and blessings to them all. love you all lots.

special thanks go to Cat this time round, simply because she believes in the power of the written word. love you, honey.

finally, i am my own beta. please don\'t hurt me. i think i got all the mistakes, but one can never be sure.