Hero

Harry stood, his back against a tree just out of sight from the clearing where the Death Eaters and Voldemort stood. He heard voices, but he paid little attention until the cold rasp of his long time enemy reached his ears. Harry slid the cloak off and took a deep breath.



"The boy won\'t come. It seems that I was mistaken." The former Tom Riddle wheezed, his followers deathly silent. Harry took a step out from behind the tree, and to his own shock and pride, his voice didn\'t waver once.



"You weren\'t mistaken."



Harry strode forwards, letting the cracked stone fall in the loam of the forest. He fixated his green eyes on red, noticing peripherally that his parents, godfather and friend misted away to nothing once more. Harry was ready. Ready to face his destiny, hands empty and unwilling to defend himself. He was ready to die, just as his parents did to save him. He was going to save the world, and one small person that made up a large corner of his existence. Voldemort raised his wand in a mockery of greeting.



"I present, the Boy Who Lived. Here tonight, to die."



The last words Harry spoke, in an exhaling breath, was the name of a boy, the son of a Death Eater. He saw Narcissa jerk violently as she recognized the words on Harry\'s lips before the young hero collapsed in the wake of a green jet of light.



*~*~*



"Why would he leave like that? Without telling anyone?" Neville asked, worry and fear etched into every syllable. Draco heard two more people approach, but he kept his head bowed and the snitch pressed tightly to his chest.



"What? Who?" Came the voice of Ron, sitting down next to Neville.



"Harry...He left. He\'s going to fight you-know-who all alone. He asked me to kill the snake..." Neville mumbled, nervesless lips slurring words.



"WHAT!?" Hermione and Ron yelled in unison, ignoring the trembling and sobbing blonde until he looked up at them.



"He t-told me. B-before he left. He\'s the last Horcrux, and has to d-die." Draco choked, uncaring that he had lost his composure in front of three Gryffindors, two of which who despised him beyond all measure.



"Oh Merlin, Harry..." Hermione gasped, sinking to her knees with a hand over her mouth. Nobody asked why Draco was crying, or why he clutched a feebly fluttering snitch to his chest, but in the midst of their shared grief, four came to a truce in their mutual love for the Boy Who Lived.



*~*~*



Harry woke from his dream with Dumbledore, still and quiet as to not raise suspicions. Murmurs floated to his ears of praise and reverence, and then the thin, cold voice barked out an order.



"Check him! You, go see if he\'s alive."



Harry\'s heart jumped to his throat when he heard the order, knowing whomever checked him would find a very much alive Potter. To his shock, a tumble of long pale hair fell across his body and he felt a shaking hand check for a pulse. Finding it, he barely heard the woman\'s voice.



"Is my son alive?" Narcissa barely whispered.



"Yes." Harry breathed back, equally quiet. He felt her nails dig slightly into his chest before retreating.



"My Lord, he is dead." Narcissa announced.



"You there! Oaf, you carry him with us back to the castle. He\'ll be well conspicuous in your arms, won\'t he?" Voldemort crowed in triumph. Harry felt his heart clench at the sound of the sobbing bellows Hagrid emitted before his purposefully limp body was picked up and cradled like an infant.



"Oh \'arry..."



*~*~*



The four students heard the attackers before they saw them. Draco looked up and gasped when he heard the rough cheers on the wind. He scrabbled up to shaking legs and stumbled out the doors like a man who drank too much whiskey. The three Gryffindors followed, then the rest as the noise filtered through the fogged ears of the grieving defenders.



"Harry Potter...is DEAD!" screamed the Dark Lord, his sea of black cloaked Death Eaters fanning out around him. There was a hush in the crowd that gathered just outside the great hall and entrance before it was pierced by a heart rending cry.



"Harry, no!" Draco screamed, finally succumbing to his shaking legs and falling to his knees in the vanguard of the Light. A few white masked adults snickered or openly laughed, pointing to the distraught blonde.



"Oaf, put his body at my feet, where he belongs." Voldemort ordered. Hagrid complied with jerky movements, still sobbing over Harry\'s body. Just then Draco felt someone run to his side and stand firm.



"It doesn\'t matter if Harry gave his life up. We\'re still here! We\'ll fight against you, just like he did!" Neville said clearly, balling his fists at his side.



"As long as we\'re here, fighting his fight, he\'ll never be gone!" Neville continued. A long, beautiful cry came from a glowing creature above, swooping down to the brave boy. Clutched in the phoenix\'s talons was a dusty, ripped hat which was dropped at Neville\'s feet.



"I\'ve won the war, you silly boy. I\'ve killed the great Harry Potter as he ran away like a coward."



"You...you killed him." Draco ground out, finally looking up at the snake-faced man with hard, empty eyes. He distracted the attention to himself, not knowing what Neville planned to do with an old hat, but angry enough with the blatant lie that he\'d be unable to stay silent much longer. Harry felt his heart jump to his throat at Draco\'s angry, but very much alive, voice.



"You killed Harry. But you didn\'t defeat him. He came to you willingly, to die for us like his mother died for him. You think you won? You haven\'t won anything!" Draco spit out.



"Draco, son...come. It\'s time to go." His mother called softly from the side the Death Eaters stood. Draco rose to his feet, standing firm and tall next to Neville. He stared back to his mother and father, then raised his chin slightly.



"I\'m not going anywhere. I made my choice tonight. I chose Harry." Draco replied, balling his fists in imitation of the Gryffindor.



"Harry died, and so will you, blood purity or not. Lucius, you failed to raise a son worth his name or a place in my ranks. Your punishment for this failure is to watch. Nagini." Voldemort said coldly. There was a murmur from the crowd then a few screams as the large snake slid forward. Draco braced his body, defenseless without his wand and his mother\'s long lost in the battle. Had Harry been able to see, he\'d have been proud of both boys for the next actions they took. Draco stared at the body of Harry while the snake was bunching and coiling in a strike, a flinch never passing over his face. A sudden blur from the snake and the boy at his side caught his attention.



"For Harry!" Cried Neville, pulling a long, glittering sword from the hat that Fawkes had brought him. In the snakes mid-strike, Neville swung up furiously. There was silence until the thud of the severed head hitting the ground echoed across the gathering. Pandemonium broke out, spells flying back and forth as Death Eaters broke ranks and charged the defenders. It was then that Harry decided to move. He tossed his cloak over his body then joined the skirmish while under cover, casting every defensive spell he could to counter the attacks while they were slowly driven inside.