Dearest Harry - Eileen's Story

The usual thanks to Claudia, who betaed this last night. Laylee is away at the moment and this has only been to one beta so please forgive any mistakes.

A/N absolutely no cliffhanger on this one!

Forty-eight.

Harry hurt! He hurt all over, every bit of him throbbed and ached. He was so fucking fed up with being in pain! He could feel someone warm beneath him. Was he in bed with Draco? No, that didn’t seem right. Then it all came flooding back, the veil, the fight with Voldemort, and Sirius. This wasn’t Draco underneath him, it was Sirius. And the chest upon which Harry was sprawled was rising and falling with each breath that he took. He was alive! Sirius was alive.

He felt hands touching him Grasping at his neck, his wrist, urgently, frantically, checking for a pulse, he felt a spell crackle in the air beside him and then heard a relieved sigh.

He opened his eyes and found he was face down, covered in some sort of sticky dusty mess. It immediately got in his eyes and half blinded him. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, he heard a voice.

“Expelliarmus!”

Harry froze.

He would know that voice anywhere. High-pitched, cold, evil. There was a swishing sound that sounded like arrows whizzing through the air and a few anguished cries as numerous wizards lost hold of their wands.

“Shit!” Harry thought, “Voldemort.”

“Oh dear me,” the evil one continued, “so that is where Harry was. Always the adventurer wasn’t he Severus?”

Harry felt Severus stand up and turn; it had been Severus that was checking him for signs of life, he was still standing very close to him, as if trying to shield Harry from Voldemort.

“I will not let you hurt him.” Severus said, his voice was calm, but he was still so close to Harry that he could feel his uncle trembling.

“Severus, Severus, I have your wand, I have all your wands. How do you think you are going to stop me?

“You are all so stupid, so arrogant to think you could take me on. I am the Dark Lord! I am He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I am Voldemort! I shall….”

“Oh do shut up!” It was Eileen’s voice calm and unwavering, “You always were an arrogant prick Tom Riddle! I never liked you, even in school you always got away with far too much in my opinion.”

“There were several gasps as Eileen spoke, people were obviously shocked at her words although Harry wasn’t sure whether it was because she had interrupted and told the Dark wizard off or because she had used Voldemort’s real name.

Harry was astonished; his gran was at school with Voldemort? How come she had never mentioned it before? He tried to get up; he flexed his fingers and began to move. But then he felt a foot nudge him, he looked up fuzzily to see his uncle’s face, staring down at him, impassively. Almost imperceptibly Severus shook his head.

Harry stilled and waited.

“Shut up old woman! Your time will come and I promise you, you will feel agony more terrible than any pain that you have ever felt,” Voldemort snarled the words at Eileen, almost hissing at her, sounding rather like an angry snake.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, who talks like that?” Eileen said with distain, “agony more terrible than any pain that you have ever felt?”She snorted with laughter, “You never could string a sentence together could you, for all your erstwhile good looks! For a start, Tom Riddle, you have given me more pain than anyone should have to deal with you twisted bastard! You killed my daughter! Took away my son. I’ll not let you have my grandson too.”

Voldemort let out a furious roar. “Shut up or I will make you, you foolish old cow. You are unarmed, all of you, you are at my mercy. The battle is over and I have won!”

Harry took the chance of moving his head really slowly so that he could see something of the chamber, something of what was going on.

Kingsley had his hands up in front of him in mute surrender, whilst a tall Death Eater, brandished a wand in his face. Another had an arm wrapped around Hermione’s neck she was pressed up against the Death Eater that had captured her, facing outwards, she was crying and she seemed filled with despair.

Behind her Harry could just about see Draco, he was seemingly trying to protect his father with his own body, yet another Death Eater, was kicking at someone who was lying prone, whoever it was, he was flinching away from the hard boots, trying to protect himself as he lay beside Draco on the ground.

Harry closed his eyes again and felt anger boiling up inside him. Those bastards, torturing, evil bastards, he had to stop them, he had to, but what the fuck was he going to do this time? They were surrounded, the Death Eaters had indeed appeared to have won. From what Harry could gather Voldemort had all the wands, well except for Harry’s, Harry wasn’t even sure where his was anymore, as he hadn’t used it for ages, he thought Severus must have put it somewhere safe.

Voldemort was speaking again.

“I suggest you make your mother stop her babbling Severus, otherwise I will Crucio her, would you like to see her writhe in pain?”

Harry almost got up then, but Severus gently placed a foot on Harry’s hand, holding him still, apparently he didn’t want Harry to move just yet.

“Mother, do be quiet!” Harry almost giggled at Severus’ words, he could imagine the look on his grandmother’s face and the death glare she was sending her son. Not that any of this was funny, perhaps he was becoming hysterical? How the heck was he going to get them out of this situation alive? If he could somehow incapacitate the Death Eaters then Voldemort would not be a problem Harry thought. He did not want to give up now when he was so very close to killing the bastard. Harry didn’t think Voldemort would have any idea how weak he was right now, now that Harry had destroyed his Horcruxes. Hopefully there was no way that the dark wizard would know that his monstrous creations had all been destroyed, that at long last he had become vulnerable. Not until Harry was ready to use that vulnerability.

“That’s right, Severus, you would do well to obey me and save your mother additional pain.” Voldemort continued, sounding very pleased with himself. “Of course she will feel a lot of pain when I kill you and you must die my little servant, because you betrayed me Severus.”

“No! Don’t you touch hi…!” Eileen sounded desperate.

“Petrificus Totalis.” Voldemort said, idly. Presumably freezing Eileen where she stood. Then Harry thought that his blood might freeze in own veins as Voldemort called for his familiar. Voldemort was calling Nagini in loving, tender tones; of course Harry was the only one who knew what was happening, what he was doing. Everyone else would just be hearing the sibilant hissing of parseltongue.

But there were several terrified gasps in the chamber and one or two screams as Harry heard a heavy slithering sound and presumably Nagini entered the chamber from wherever she had been waiting.

“Tell me Severus,” Voldemort said, in English this time. “Whom shall I let Nagini eat first? Your mother or your nephew?”

When Voldemort said these words, several things happened at once.

Somebody yelled. It wasn’t a scream, it was too raw, too visceral for a scream and Harry sat up.

Everyone was looking at the person who had yelled. It was Neville Longbottom. He was holding a very familiar sword, high over his head and as they watched he brought it down with a swishing noise, followed by a squishy crunch and a spurting of blood. Neville had beheaded Nagini.

The scream of anguish that Voldemort let out was terrible in its intensity and then Neville was screaming in agony as Voldemort threw hex after hex at the boy.

While everyone was watching Neville, Harry grabbed Severus’ arm. He had an idea, a possible way to disable to the Death Eaters. He had no idea if it would work but it was the only plan he had. For a moment his uncle seemed astonished at the action and tried to pull away, but Harry continued to frantically tug at Severus’ sleeve, finally managing to pull the fabric up, revealing the mark that Severus always tried to hide.

“I’m sorry Severus,” Harry whispered, “I have to.” For a fraction of a second the two men looked at each other, Severus’ dark eyes seemed unfathomable but Harry was sure he saw permission in those depths. Keeping his own eyes on Severus’ Harry blocked out the sound of Neville’s screams and concentrated hard.

He placed his hand over the hideous mark on his uncle’s arm and closed his eyes again.

Then Severus was screaming too.

Harry concentrated. He didn’t want to kill these men; he just had to take them out of the battle. He could feel the darkness of the magic in the marks as he let his own magic fly free. They were connected, all of them like sinister, abandoned stations along a broken railway line, and as his magic flowed Harry caught glimpses of the thoughts and feelings of the men that his magic touched. His overwhelming impression was of fear, terrible, awful, all encompassing fear. The men and women that were bound to Voldemort were terrified, full of hatred and pain. At each person, each stop along the line, he gave a sort of mental punch, sending the Death Eater into deep slumber. Then he felt a familiar mind, a soul that he knew well, he gave Draco a mental hug, smiling at the tiny frisson of surprise that he felt from his lover. Then he moved on quickly, by-passing Lucius and Narcissa, continuing on until all the Death Eaters except for the four for whom he had come to know had been rendered unconscious.

Harry opened his eyes; Severus was slumped against him, breathing hard. His face was deathly pale and he was sweating profusely but he was conscious, though he was shaking badly. “I’m so sorry,” Harry whispered again and he squeezed his uncle’s arm gently, sending a little burst of magical strength through his fingers. The room had become totally silent and still as the Death Eaters had slumped unconscious to the ground, one after the other.

Everyone stood watching, on alert. The fact that his minions were all asleep seemed to have finally pierced through Voldemort’s rage and he had released Neville. The other boy had sunk to his knees and was quietly retching in a corner while all around them lay the black crumpled forms of Death Eaters and not one of them moved.

Voldemort was growling softly, like a trapped animal. He had his wand raised and he was peering around seemingly ready to hex anyone that challenged him.

Harry reached out and gently pushed his uncle away from himself. It almost caused him more pain than he stand to push himself up off the ground until he was standing, but Harry did it, he stood. His legs were very shaky, but he didn’t fall. Instead, breathing hard from all his exertions Harry raised his eyes and looked directly into the face of the man that he was going to fight.

“I will kill you now Potter.” Voldemort growled.

“No you won’t.” It was Eileen that had spoken. Voldemort had been so intent on Crucioing Neville that his Petrificus charm must have worn off, setting Harry’s grandmother free. Eileen moved forward again seemingly unafraid.

“No Eileen, stay away.” It was Minerva speaking. “He will hurt you!” Harry was shocked to see that McGonagall had been crying, her face was streaked with dirt and tears.

“Hush, Min,” Eileen said, patting her friend’s hand, “he can’t really hurt us any longer, he can’t kill us all before we overpower him.”

She walked towards Voldemort and Harry’s heart ached with fear and not a little pride to see this tiny old woman standing up to the evil monster who had killed and tortured so many innocent people.

“You are alone;” Eileen said, staring unflinchingly at the distorted face, “you have no-one to help you. You will have to kill me before you kill Harry.”

Voldemort pointed his wand at her to do exactly that but before he could open his mouth to utter the killing curse, Draco stood up.

“And me.” Draco had moved forward now, he shook off his mother’s hand as she reached out to pull him back.

But then Lucius stepped forward too, moving in front of his son.

“I will die before Draco does and I will not let you kill Harry either.” He said simply. Narcissa joined him then, standing beside her husband, their son pushed out of sight behind them

“I would too. I would die before I let near Harry again.” Minerva McGonagall spoke next; she lifted her chin slightly, as if to emphasize what she was saying

“And me,” Molly Weasley joined the others.

“I would die for Harry,” Ron spoke next.

One by one, more and more people moved closer to the evil wizard, each saying the same thing. . Voldemort was looking at them disdainfully and Harry wondered at the overconfidence of the wizard. Any sane megalomaniac would at least be a little afraid by now. But then Voldemort wasn’t sane was he? Hadn’t been for years.

Hermione was the next to stand up and join the others, tearstains still streaking her face and Luna, limping forward, cradling an arm that might have been broken, followed by a small elf, who refused to leave her side. Alastor Moody spoke next, his face grim, then Arthur and Severus. Severus had hauled himself to his feet, drained by the fact that he had been a conduit for Harry’s magic, but determined to speak up none-the-less.

Harry’s eyes filled with tears. They meant it. They really meant it. Each and every one of them meant what they said. They were prepared to die for Harry.

More and more people were standing now

Percy, Ginny, the twins, Neville, white and trembling, but with his head held high, Hagrid and Remus, even though the latter seemed dreadfully hurt. From what Harry could see his face was scarred and distorted and Harry wondered what could have happened. But there was not time to think about that now.

“No.”

Harry moved his feet at last, one foot in front of the other. His legs felt like they did not belong to him, as if he would not be able to move them even if he tried. Given the intensity of the pain, he was sure that some of his ribs were broken. But Harry had had broken ribs before, they would not stop him doing what he had to do this time either.

The rope that was wrapped around him felt too heavy to carry, but Harry did not think that now was the right time to stop and take it off. His glasses were gone, lost somewhere in all the rubble and everything looked blurry, but perhaps that was for the best right now. After all, Harry did not really want to look at the faces of his friends and family in case he saw doubt written there, or even worse, in case he saw love. To see their faces full of love and fear for him might mean that he would not be able to go through with his destiny.

“No-one else is to die for me.” Harry shuffled forward; he was almost doubled over in pain. Walking was painful, moving brought more pain, even breathing was painful beyond all description. But Harry kept moving just the same, onwards toward Voldemort, trailing the rope made of Basilisk hide behind him in his wake.

Voldemort in contrast had frozen. His eyes were narrowed, his twisted features held in a sneer his wand was grasped firmly in his hand. The evil wizard was easily more powerful than anyone else in the room, well apart from Harry that was, but even he must know that he could not defeat them all.

As Harry drew closer the other man’s sneer grew wider.

“Look at you,” he hissed, “is this the so called Hero of the Wizarding World?”

“I don’t know about that.” Harry said in a tight little voice, funnily enough, he thought, it hurt to speak too. “But you are finished, Tom, you will not kill me or anyone else. You are the one who will die today.”

For a second, Harry saw real fear flash in those red eyes, and then it was gone.

The evil wizard towered over Harry. He peered down at him along what passed for a nose in that misshapen face.

“You can’t kill me, boy. I have taken steps, measures that mean I can never be destroyed. Oh you could vanquish me today, but you did that once before didn’t you and I came back again. You know that I will return, sooner or later.”

Harry gave Voldemort a false look of sympathy. “Are you talking about the Horcruxes, Tom? Because if you are, you have to know that they will not help you, they are all gone, obliterated.”

Voldemort was backing away now, shaking his head. But Harry limped on; he had to finish this for good, today, forever. He started listing the Horcruxes; he wanted to check that he had indeed destroyed them all.

There were seven parts of your soul weren’t there, Tom?” he asked, counting them off on his fingers as he had done so long ago in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. “One part still resides in you, but it is weak, fragmented, you have divided it so many times. Your first Horcrux was the diary wasn’t it? You made it while you were still in school, one was the locket that Regulus Black managed to steal and hide away, one was Slytherin’s ring, another one was Rowena’s wand, that’s why you kidnapped Ollivander to make sure that it was safe and would not be found. But we rescued Ollivander and located the wand, that’s gone too now. The final one was Helga’s cup,” Harry watched closely as Voldemort’s eyes flashed in quiet triumph. He felt himself smile, and Harry was glad that he could not see himself right then, because he didn’t think that his smile was a nice one at all.

“Did I forget one Tom?” Harry asked almost gently, “oh I did, didn’t I? Why do you think I’m here today?” Voldemort was still backing away from Harry, which annoyed him immensely as it hurt to walk. But since when had a little pain stopped Harry? So he limped on regardless.

“Did you feel it when the last Horcrux was destroyed, Tom? Because the last one was me, that's why I went behind the veil. That one has gone too.” Considering that the evil wizard’s usual colour was an unearthly white it was strange to see him pale, but he did go paler at Harry’s words, he was almost translucent at the moment, Harry thought. It was fascinating and completely revolting

“I feel sorry for you, Tom.” Harry continued. “Because when I kill you there will be no-one to mourn you, no-one to care. You are not loved by anyone and it could all have been so different couldn’t it? I saw lots of memories of you. You were once so handsome, so charming. People followed you, admired you, gave up everything for you and you threw it all away.”

With the realisation that all his Horcruxes had been destroyed, Voldemort seemed to have finally broken. He was shaking his head, and as Harry got closer started to tremble slightly, “No, stop it, go away. Leave me alone!”

“I wish I could, Tom. But I can’t, I have to kill you, you have forced that upon me, you have taken too many lives, spoiled too many others. I am so sorry,” Harry was surprised to find that he actually meant that. The broken wizard before him seemed more deserving of pity than anything else.

Voldemort lifted his wand with a shaking hand and pointed it at Harry.

Harry smiled at him again, rather sadly this time. “That won’t work I’m afraid. You can’t kill me with curses I am shielded against them, we all are. Didn’t you hear them?” Harry hand swept the room in a great arc wincing at the jolt of pain that shot through his aching ribs.

“They offered to die for me, didn’t you hear that? My family, my friends.” Harry’s voice cracked on the words my family and his eyes burned with fierce tears, his heart hurt. “Just like my Mum did, just like her. And I would have died for them too. I did in fact, I went through the veil, that was a kind of a death. You can’t hurt us anymore.” Harry couldn’t have said how he knew this to be true, but it was, he felt it with every fibre of his being.

Voldemort let out a pained cry, he sounded like a wounded animal.

“Shush,” Harry said, almost gently this time. “You don’t have to fight any more. It is all over now.” He lifted his hand, reached up high and placed it on Voldemort’s face, he could only reach the man’s chin, but that was enough he thought. For a fraction of a second he felt the dry papery skin beneath his finger-tips, then Tom Riddle’s eyes widened for the final time and without making a further sound he crumbled to dust beneath Harry’s touch.

Harry hadn’t known what would happen when he touched the Dark Lord, but he had suspected. The man had broken his soul so many times now, fractured it. He was so bathed in blood, in evil that he could not bear Harry’s touch any longer. Harry hadn’t really known that he wouldn’t even survive his touch, but it seemed as good a way as any to kill him. Harry was just glad that it hadn’t appeared to cause him pain

“Hmm,” Harry said to himself, lowering his hand and looking at his fingers in crazed bewilderment. “Just like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Then he shook his head and immediately wished he hadn’t because, fuck-it- all, that hurt too.

There was complete silence in the chamber. For several seconds no-one moved, they scarcely even breathed, they just stood there staring at Harry, he was well aware of how bizarre he must look, white with dust and covered in sticky ichor. He blinked to try and clear his eyes of dust and feeling suddenly very weak Harry swayed slightly on his feet.

Kingsley’s voice rang out clear and strong, beautiful to Harry’s ears at least because it meant that this was all true and not a dream.

“And either shall die at the hand of the other for neither shall live while the other survives.”

It was over. The battle was over. Harry could have a life now, he really could. He tried to move again, to check on Sirius, who had not appeared to wake yet. He needed to go and see Severus and reassure him that having his godfather back would not change things between them. But he found that he couldn’t move, his limbs were not obeying him any more. Harry knees began to give out and he started to fall.

But before he could hit the ground he felt strong arms enfolding him and he leaned back into that firm, familiar embrace. Draco, it was Draco! Harry’s battle was over at last; he could relax and lean into his lover’s embrace. It was done

Voldemort, the man who had killed his parents, blighted his childhood and destroyed his innocence was dead at last.


A/N The scene with Neville is very probably the only scene in this story which is DH compliant. I thought that Neville deserved his heroism, especially as he didn’t get to kill Bellatrix in this story either.