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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT:

FINAL FIGHT

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            James had so much anger built up in him for Peter Pettigrew that his first response when he saw the man was to hit him straight into the nose as hard as he could.

Neither of the two men he entered the room with made any attempt to stop him and he knew Remus would understand how he was feeling.

Peter appeared different, almost unrecognisable adult. If you had shown someone a photo of Peter as a seventeen-year-old compared to him now, you'd probably think he was a different person. Of course, everyone changed as they aged but he looked different on a whole new level. He had whisky faded blonde (practically a very light brown) hair that stuck up from his head and pulled his forehead back, unlike the full set of blonde hair he had in his youthful days. He was covered head to toe. James had been the opposite (much like Harry), he had a problem with stopping of growing hair on his head. Even at thirty-eight years old, James still had some similarities of his youthfulness. The man in front of him was barely recognisable.

Well maybe it was because he was covered in blood because of the rate and speed of James' fist intervening with his face.

"James." He heard Remus say so many times that his name sounded like a faded word. "James, you're going to kill him."

"I think that's the point, Remus." Damien's voice replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Well Damien, he shouldn't kill him because death would be too easy."

All James Potter felt in this moment was red. All he saw was red. He was furious. He had waited for this moment since he woke up. This man was the reason behind his son being an orphan. But the problem was that he didn't want to stop. He had no intention of stopping or maybe he did for one reason, that reason was to know why he did what he did. What had James done that had been so bad for him to turn that side? Why did Peter do what he did to them? He hated him, them, his family, so much that he was prepared to let an innocent women die. James didn't care about Peter's reasons for wanting him dead but what had Lily Evans ever done to him? Lily was a pure hearted woman, she never judged, she never insulted unless she needed to, she was brave and lovable, and she was sacrificed herself for Harry.

Damien and Remus' bickering caused James to break out of his momentarily impulsive actions, although it might have been impulsive, it was well needed.

"Will you two stop arguing?!" James roared causing the room to become quiet. He withdrew himself from the man, his fists covered in blood. James wasn't even sure if they were arguing exactly, but the two of them spoke so loudly it was annoying.

"James, please." Peter whimpered, scrambling up off the ground and attempting to stand. He wobbled back down to the ground, unable to stand.

"Sit down." James pointed his wand at his throat the moment the man went to move toward him. "Sit down and don't say another fucking word until I ask you to."

"But—" Peter whimpered.

"Oh, look at that, you've lost already." James hit him again.

Reluctantly, Peter did as the man told him. Even after all this time, he still did as James instructed. Damien stood beside Remus, neither of them seemingly knowing whether they should intervene or what. The two of them stood by the door – blocking it in case Peter decided to make a run out the door. Damien had no idea who the man was or what exactly what was happening.

All he knew was that James Potter was angry and that the look on his face was not something to be messed with.

Damien took a glance at the tall man standing to his right, leaning against the bookcase with his arms folded and an agitated look on his sightly features. Whoever this Peter man was, he had clearly done some sort of wrong on the two of them, Sirius was probably included in the mix as well. Damien turned his eyes away and back towards the scene unfolding ahead of him.

"You are such a coward you know that? You've spent the last two years hiding because you knew what would happen." James shouted, wand at the man's throat. "You're worse than all of them, y'know that? At least all of those death eaters actually know what they stand for. They never pretended to be innocent or shy, at least they're not a fucking shameless coward like you."

Peter let his head hung low.

"It takes a special kind of evil to betray your friends when their back is turned. It takes an even worse kind to give up the location of an innocent one year old boy."

Damien still wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Aurora didn't give many details about what happened in her past life. When he says "many details" he means that she basically told them nothing. The past two weeks had been such chaos that Damien almost forgot about how closed off Aurora was – it wasn't like she opened to him, but he had seen more emotions on her face in these last two weeks than the weeks she was here prior to her family.

Even though her family (the non-blood related ones) had been in Merlen for a good while now, Damien still did not know anything about most of them. He didn't want to know either. He did not care.

"I only have one question, just one simple question, you'll be dead in a few minutes so you might as well answer me honestly and if I suspect your lying, you'll be wishing I killed you with magic." James stated in a low tone, standing in front of him. Peter's low whimpers filled the room. "Why did you do it?"

He had clearly not thought that would be the question James would ask. With wide eyed, the man stumbled out a quick and rushed, "I—I had no choice—"

"Everybody has a choice, so tell me why you chose to give up the location of a mother and her child knowing that death was going to come knocking on the door?" James demanded, jaw trembling with anger.

Peter had been staring at the ground the whole time, sniffling in gently as if trying to catch his breath. James probably damaged his nose whilst hitting him so hard. He stared at the ground for another few moments, collecting his breath, before he looked up at James.

"I wanted to be safe." Peter whispers, admitting the truth in a low tone. Like perhaps deep down he was ashamed of what he had done. He did not regret what he did, but he might have known that his choice was one to be ashamed of. "Voldemort was winning. We were losing. You and Lily had to go into hiding. Remus had to leave the country to go fight. Everyone else was either missing or fighting in the order. Even Magnolia and Sirius had to give their child away and cut off contact with half of us because they were being hunted. He was winning and he promised me I would be safe. Y-You were all moving on with your lives and I had nothing! I was living by myself. I had nothing. If I died, who would have known? He promised that I would be safe. The war was happening and every day someone new was dying. I didn't want to die, I wanted to live."

James examined his eyes for a few seconds, "You're lying."

"I'm not lying." Peter shook his head. "It's the truth."

A frustrated groan left James' lips, like he was trying everything in his power to not kill him, instead her resorted to hitting the man another punch. This time it was on his jaw. "Maybe you've forgotten the number of hours I spent with you when we were kids. We shared a dormitory together for seven years, the four of us were brothers for seven years and you did what you did! You never shared the opinions of blood supremacy and you fucking hated what death eaters stood for. You, Peter, you are the reason I'm not standing here with my wife right now, so I want a fucking explanation that is the truth—"

"It isn't a lie!" Peter shouted. "I-I promise. It's the truth. I was scared that he would kill me."

"Maybe part of it is the truth but you're leaving out something. I believe that you were scared of Voldemort like the coward you are, but something must have drove you over the edge." James kneeled down so he was standing in front of the man. He rose a brow. "Why did you give our location to Voldemort?"

It was the only question that James Potter wanted to know. It's all he wanted to know. He lived a life by himself now without Lily, she was supposed to be here, not James. He only wanted to have Lily here with him and Peter was the reason why he was alone. When James went down the stairs at Godric's Hollow, he never intended to be the one who would live – he died thinking that Lily and Harry would live. For some sick reason, Peter had caused their family of three (which probably would have been a family of four if things hadn't happened the way they did) to be broken apart.

His emotions had been like he was on a rollercoaster. Between wanting to literally murder Peter and wanting to possibly break down into tears, James didn't know which to do. He knew the reason, his eyes were watering was out of frustration and anger for the man in front of him. Not because he pitied him in any way. He hated him. He hated so much that he was shaking with anger.

"Even if you don't think that you owe any of us an answer, there's a boy down there who deserves to know why you took his mother away from him." Remus spoke, it was almost like Remus' words broke through the sliver of compassion from the man. His eyes softened, it was barely noticeable, but they did. "You made two children orphans, Peter."

"What drove you over the edge?" James pressed for the final time. His wand held in his hand.

Peter Pettigrew knew his time was coming to an end, since the moment James Potter took another breath, he knew he would soon be taking his last. Which is why he understood it was time to tell the truth. No matter the outcome, Peter knew that between James, Remus, Sirius, and Magnolia, there wasn't a chance he was leaving his castle alive.

He caught Remus' eyes, full of anger and hurt because out of everyone (including James) it had been Remus whose life had been the most effected. Even though what he did might have affected James' life massively, it was Remus who had to spent years alone and went from having a family by his side to barely surviving through the full moon. Remus had mostly been the reason why Peter knew he had to tell the truth. At times he felt secluded and an outcast from the group of friends he was with, but Remus Lupin had always been the one who made him feel wanted. Remus was definitely not perfect but, in a world, full of bad people, he was definitely one of the good ones.

"You weren't supposed to be the one to die, James." He whispered, like it had been a shameful thing to admit.

James heard the shame in his voice, like it was embarrassing to admit. "What do you mean I wasn't supposed to be the one to die."

"You say you thought of me as a brother for seven years but deep down I know that's a lie. I wasn't like a brother to you, but he was." Peter snarled, head shaking.

"You're talking about Sirius." Remus pointed out, head tilting.

"What does this have anything to do with Sirius?" James asked.

"It was Sirius, it was always Sirius who I intended to die, not you." Peter admitted.

James paused. "What do you mean it was Sirius you intended to die?"

"The night at Godric's Hollow, I had it all planned out. Of course, I knew Voldemort was coming to get you, but I knew Magnolia would bring you back. I never wanted you to stay dead. When Magnolia died... the plans changed, and it was too late to turn back. I needed to frame Sirius."

James felt ill. "What did Sirius ever do to you?"

"And there it is! What did Sirius ever do wrong? He did everything wrong! He was a bad person but you, you never saw his true colours because Sirius Black could never do anything wrong in your eyes!" Peter's tone changed, he didn't seem guilty or even ashamed anymore. If anything, he sounded mad. "You acted like Sirius was some sort of saint who never did a single thing wrong. If you had even paid a sliver of attention to me in the same way that you did for Sirius, you would have known how horrible it was to be his friend. You and Remus might have accepted me as one of you but Sirius? He never did."

James couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Sirius a bad person? Are you having a laugh? Sirius might have had some problems when he was younger, but he always did the right thing in the end—"

"Sirius was a bully from the first day I met him. He was rude to the Slytherin students. He was mean to the girls in school. He was horrible to me. I knew the second that Remus introduced me that he would never take to me and that I would always be an outcast, even though I was a marauder." Peter stated, shaking his head. "Not even a bully, but he was a bad person and bad people like him don't deserve to get their happy endings. I hated Sirius but you never saw that because of how much you adored him."

"Sirius was never a bully."

"You were blinded by him. You still are. He was even horrible to Magnolia and look how that ended up! He got the perfect life, a wife, and a kid. Sirius never tried at anything, he didn't have to try and your friend like I did, and I tried so hard. Sirius was always there for you, he was always off doing his own things, playing by his own rules. But still when you wanted a shoulder to cry on, it was always him. Sirius was the one you went to, and it wasn't fair. Even when he played the prank and almost killed Snape, you still weren't as mad at him as you would have been if it was I to have done what he did."

James listened to his words, and carefully replied. "So just to clarify you did what you did because you were jealous of Sirius? My wife died because of your jealously?"

Peter scoffed. "Jealous? Is that what you think I felt? Don't be foolish, I did it because it wasn't far that someone like him got the life that someone like me deserved."

The wand that James had against his throat moved closer. "Keep going."

Peter shakes his head, it was clear he was going to tell his story whether or not James threatened him. He knew his time was limited. "When we left school, I thought things between us all had changed, especially when Sirius was working so much for the order and was barely around. I started to think that maybe you had actually respected me when you decided to name me secret keeper. I really thought that was a turning point in our friendship. That was until I found out that Sirius was originally supposed to be secret keeper. The funny thing about the whole "secret keeper" thing is that I knew the only reason I was chosen to be it was because Remus wasn't around."

"Or maybe because Sirius thought I was a spy." Remus mumbled.

"Harry was born, and Sirius was named godfather. Aurora was born and Remus was godfather. Actually no, not just Remus but also James and even Regulus fucking Black was named godfather. Regulus Black was a death eater, and he was still named a guardian over that child. Everyone except me, and from that moment I knew it didn't matter how good of a friend I was to you all, you three would never appreciate me."

James clenched his jaw.

"I never intended for Harry and Aurora to be orphans. I thought James would live and Magnolia would too. Sirius would be sent to Azkaban. Aurora would have been fine growing up without Sirius because she would have Remus! And Remus raised her for the start of her life and did a wonderful job. I never thought they'd become orphans." Peter stated. "Aurora would have been fine without him."

"There is no version of Aurora that would be fine without having Sirius in her life." Remus shakes his head.

Peter looks at him for a few seconds, "It doesn't matter. I just wanted Sirius to know what it is like to lose because, he deserved it and had it coming to him for a very long time." His eyes flickered back to James. "I wasn't jealous of Sirius, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let him get the type of life that I deserved."

Remus felt sick. "Sounds like jealously to me."

"Call it what you want, Remus."

Maybe it was hearing how Peter had actually maliciously intended for Sirius to be the one to die, or maybe it was because part of James hoped Peter would simply admit that what he did was wrong, but he had a reason behind his actions. He still clearly believed he did the right thing.

"That's why I did it, not because I believed in what Voldemort stood for, not because I hated you James, but because after all of that time, I wanted the power and appreciation that came with being on the right side."

James had heard enough, he extended his wand and pointed it at Peter's chest, "Goodbye Peter. Avad—"

There was a loud explosion that shook the castle and screams echoed throughout the castle and the door to the classroom opened and a first-year student stood there in his green robes. A terrified expression on his face. James dropped his wand away from Peter who was still alive.

"Mr Potter," A student stated, "It's he who shall not be named, he's here. They've got Hagrid."

James had been so caught up he didn't even realise the amount of time he wasted in here.

"Please sir," Another first year piped up, from beside him. "We need your help. There's too many of them on the staircase and we can't get down."

James knew that his revenge could wait because helping the innocent children of this battle was far more important than killing Peter Pettigrew because in his eyes, the man was already dead. He looked at the two young students, one Slytherin and one Gryffindor, before nodding to them both.

"You were right by the way," James stated towards Peter, giving him one final look. "You never compared to Sirius."

Despite everything that happened, Remus could see Peter's expression when James said those words. Peter rose up, seemingly getting ready to leave, he slowly walked towards the door.

Peter turned to Remus, and he almost seemed glad that it had been him. "Thank you for sparing my life, Remus. You always were kind."

Remus looked at Peter, part of him guilty that he never saw through him. Out of everyone, he spent the most time with the boy.

"Avada Kedavra." Remus said without hesitation and Peter Pettigrew dropped dead.

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Aurora walked up towards the castle, hands clasping at her throat as she felt the swelling of where Luke, no Runskin's hands, had firmly grabbed her throat. She would use a healing magic later and try get rid of the bruising because she didn't want Luke to see what his hands had done. She already knew he would try blame himself when this had been her fault.

Runskin was controlling Luke's body and mind, she reminded herself.

And now, Magnolia and Sirius were in the forest (completely confident that they could bring Luke back) and she was on her way to find Harry.

The place she had just been in. The world covered in insects and debris that almost looked like something from a children's horror book. It reminded her of Aleksander Mansion: it was cold, like freezing. For all the world the level of coldness was like when she woke up from the dead in her coffin. The sky was black like a darkness the sky could go at night-time. She was surprised she was even able to see anything clear in that place. She knew one thing for a definite: that place was not a place on this earth. If she had to take a guess, she would say this was one of the worlds Runskin planned on building. There was no other logical explanation.

The creatures in it most have been formed from Runskin's powers and acted under his demand. Aurora had yet to learn of all this magic as time was not in her favour.

Her jacket hung loosely from her shoulders, and she clung to the feeling of warmness radiating from it. The air had turned cold, and morning was approaching them, it was still dark out but at least this time when she was going to the castle, she could actually see. The slightly baggy loose fighting jeans she was wearing were covered in dirt and blood, and she was sure she must have had dried blood and spider essence all over her hair. She knew her eyes were bloodshot from what had just happened, she was sweating like crazy as well because she had not run like that in a while.

She knew in the grand prospectus of things that her appearance should not have worried her, but she is seeing Harry properly for the first time with his memories in tack.

Aurora couldn't hear the voices that was one good thing. They were quiet, everything was quiet now. Even the castle wasn't as loud as it was. That must have been a good thing, but her mind swayed to where James had been. James was the dangerous one now, he wanted one thing and one thing only: Revenge.

She felt like she couldn't breathe properly. Something bad was happening or going to happen, she could feel it in her bones. Spreading through her body like a freezing cold shiver. She decided she had wasted enough time on her walk and opened a portal inside the Great Hall.

She stood in the middle of the empty Great Hall, it was shattered into pieces, literally. There were dozens of bodies on the ground. Most of them had been very young children wearing their school uniforms. Their expressions all had the same terrified last look with their wands still firmly in their hands. The dining tables had been ripped into halves and there was only one left intact. The four houses' flags had been set on fire, even the Slytherin one which showed that not every death eater had been a Slytherin. There was a faint burning smell. At the very top of the room, where she remembered seeing Remus for the first time, the glass window had been shattered revealing the early morning sky.

Carefully stepping over the deceased, Aurora walked to the very top of the Great Hall and stood in the same spot that the sorting hat had put her into Gryffindor. She looked down at the unseeing people below her.

"HARRY, HARRY!" a voice screamed from outside. She could only hear it because of the broken window that led into the courtyard. It sounded like Hermione. It hadn't even been the fact that they had said Harry's name that caught her attention, but it was the way it was said. Something was wrong.

Aurora closed her eyes for a second.

Harry was fine, the voice in the back of her own head said (her own head, not the one full of other people's thoughts.

She opened them and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"SILENCE!" A voice roared.

She could barely make the words out. People had been yelling, and it had been yells of anger. Aurora pulled over one of the chairs from the professors table and got on top of it, there was only three legs, so she had to balance herself using her magic in the other hand. She looked out into the courtyard, keeping herself shielded.

The students and people of Hogwarts had been stood on one side, guarding the doors of Hogwarts, and on the opposite side had been the death eaters who defaced the castle and its people. The death eaters that slaughtered innocent children. She couldn't see past most of the people, but she knew something was wrong. The death eaters stood... like they were proud...like they had won?

The same voice hadn't stopped yelling. "It's over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Much to her surprise, the voice belongs to Voldemort, who was still very much alive. She squinted her eyes to double check it was him and slowly started to become concerned when he was there with an army of people behind him.

But if Voldemort was alive then where was Harry?

Aurora closed her eyes and focused on Harry but as the seconds passed, she could not feel or see him. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and tried to break into his mind.

Where was Harry?

Hagrid, she found him in the crowd when he moved, standing close to Voldemort. His neck, hands, and feet were covered in chains. The same type of chains that she had worn when she was imprisoned. He was covered in dirt, like he had been dragged through the forest and his black hair was knotted in pieces. There were cuts all over his hands and face and the clothing he was wearing was missing some pieces. There were two death eaters holding the chains around him. For a moment, seeing him alive and well almost brought a smile to her face.

That was until she saw who he was holding in his hands.

The first thing she did, almost automatically was turn her head away and stop looking out the window. She just seen a glance, a quick glance of something and she refused to look again. She closed her eyes again and tried to remain calm.

Because the odds were that if Aurora didn't stay calm then she would end up losing control and maybe killing everyone.

However, if what she saw for a split second had been true, she didn't know if she could keep calm.

But she knew she had to look to be sure. She slowly opened her eyes again and looked back out the window.

Instantly, her eyes turned dark like a small rock being thrown into the ocean, fading into darkness.

Hagrid had been trudging his way over towards Voldemort and was holding someone in his arms. Her throat went numb, and her hands started to shake when she saw the deceased body of Harry in his hands. The size of the giant almost him appear small when he would stand as at six foot three, and she only knew this because she vividly remembered measuring him and James side by side to see which one of them was taller. It was as though every memory of Harry James Potter had started to resurface when she saw him.

She felt violently ill when she saw the scene. Hagrid held Harry in his arms and dropped him in front of Lord Voldemort. He was laying cold stone still in Hagrid's arms, not moving a single muscle and not seeing anything again. His eyes were closed, as far as she could see. His eyes were stone cold closed and for a moment, she half expected to see the green return and find her eyes in the crowd, but they did not. She didn't know how this had happened. She always anticipated when it came to a duel that Harry would be the natural winner. She didn't think Voldemort stood a chance.

Yet Harry Potter lay stone cold on the ground whilst Voldemort triumphed in victory.

Stupid, stupid girl, she thought to herself, replaying her grandparents' words in her head as she stepped down from the chair. She had been so preoccupied with getting Luke back that she disregarded the safety of Harry: the reason she disregarded him was because she was partly scared about the reaction he would have when he saw her. Now, she wasn't going to even get to see him.

And in case it wasn't obvious yet, she needed to see him.

Harry wasn't supposed to die. She wouldn't allow it. Harry was supposed to live and get the life he deserved. He was supposed to come out of this winning. She felt almost numb for a few passing seconds, and all she could feel was her heartrate dropping. She could almost feel it dropping in her chest until she couldn't properly breathe in. She sighed heavily, her chest rising and down as she swallowed. Harry was dead.

Harry is dead.

Tears welled in her eyes as she dwelled on this. This, right here, was the reason why she swore off falling in love with someone. Because of the pain it brought. Even though she was going to bring Harry back in about two seconds, the feeling she felt was not something she wanted to feel again. Times like this made her wish she hadn't fallen for him in the first place. She couldn't handle it. Seeing him on the ground like that, so vulnerable and exposed to the outside world, it made her feel noisome.

Harry is dead.

"Aurora?" A voice shakily asked from behind her.

She turned around and James stood there alongside Damien and Remus. James stood in the middle, looking at her. James' knuckles were bright red, and she knew something had happened, but she did not care.

"Where have you been?" Aurora whispered and it echoed throughout the Hall.

Her question was directed at them all, but James seemed to think it was directed solely at him, "I...we got held up..." He shook his head. "What happened?"

James must have known something was wrong because he tilted his head slightly, like he was running every scenario of what had happened in his head. He sort of swallowed thickly and kept his eyes on Aurora.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked worriedly, examining her expression. Damien shifted beside him.

Her mouth opened to reply but for some reason she couldn't get the words out. She couldn't say it.

The three men watched the girl's expression. She stood at the top of the Great Hall with her arms folded and wearing Magnolia's jacket, she was gripping the sides with her arms folded across her stomach.

Her face was pale, and her hair was hanging down by her shoulders. Her clothes seemed to be covered in some sort of substance and her expression was almost unreadable. She looked a very hard mix between upset and annoyed. She bit her lip for a second and seemed to fidget with the sleeve of the jacket she was wearing. There were tears present in her eyes yet not one of them dropped. Like she was trying everything in her power not to cry.

"Aurora?" James asked, "What happened?"

Her mouth opened and she breathed in a very loud and visible breath. Alternately, she closed her eyes.

Damien stepped forward but when he did, she put her finger up as if warning him not to come any closer. She didn't even open her eyes which was the frightening thing.

Her lip trembled. "It's Harry." The voice break in her tone gave it away.

James' worst fear had been confirmed. Whilst his mind was away with revenge, his son had tried to do the one thing in the world that he shouldn't have had to do alone. He didn't say another word and sprinted out of the Great Hall. When she opened her eyes, her expression was different. It was like the sadness in her eyes got replaced with anger. Her breathing became quicker, and her jaw clenched so hard that they could see the bone become more prominent. She looked rageful, and the men almost believed her anger was directed at him. It was hard to tell what she was thinking because every part of the girl screamed anger.

The floor beneath them begun to shake and the paintings hung on the walls started to fall. Damien and Remus both fell into one another, scrambling away from one another as they tried to keep their balance.

Damien slowly stepped forward. "Aurora, I know you're mad—"

"I'm not mad," Aurora was staring at the Gryffindor table, at one specific spot.

"It's understandable that you're upset, Aurora." Remus adds, trying to step closer to the girl who seemed focused on that one spot. He knew she was replaying every memory of her and Harry sitting in this hall together. He tried to keep his composure over the news that they boy had been killed by Voldemort and it took everything for him to keep his emotions intact.

"I'm rageful." She corrected. "When I walk out of this hall, I want him to be screaming in pain."

"But you can bring him back—" Remus adds in a gentle tone.

"I know that. I'll bring Harry back because there isn't a version of this world where I am living without him." Says the girl through gritted teeth. "But it doesn't make this any easier. My boyfriend is outside and he's dead."

Damien had not seen her like this, but he did not know that something about seeing Harry Potter dead (even though she was going to bring him back) had caused Aurora Black to feel somewhat numb. Like whatever she decided to do now did not matter, only he did. In that moment, Damien and Remus realised Aurora would not be able to face someone getting hurt that she cared about.

Her eyes slowly went red. "So instead of standing here and trying to stop the inevitable, move the hell out of my way."

It was clear, during times like this that Aurora could not be reasoned with and neither men would try and stop her either. She shoved through both and left the Great Hall.

Outside the castle, James Potter burst through the doors, causing the crowd of people to all face him as he emerged down the steps. Hermione and Ron stood at the top of the crowd, shouting pleas for the man to run but the look on his face was enough for them to know that was not going to happen. The ground shook which caused half of the students to hold onto one another.

"Where is my son?" James shouted, his voice carried throughout the school and could be heard inside the castle.

"James Potter! I was beginning to think you were trying to run from me again." Voldemort bellowed out, letting out a loud cackle as the man made his way through the crowd. "I did have a feeling you wouldn't be as foolish to try that again."

James stood in a line across from Voldemort, trying to keep his balance as the ground beneath them was shaking, standing in a sort of protective way over the people behind him, like he wanted to be the one to face the man, which everyone knew would eventually happen. The brown eyes of James Potter saw his biggest fear in the world, and it was his innocent, brave son lying down on the ground with his eyes closed, face pale, and heart no longer beating.

"Potter, come back!" McGonagall's voice echoed in his years.

It was a sickly sight to see his son like that, and it brought memories back to the day he realised he had died himself. For a moment, he found himself standing back in Godric's Hollow when he realised, he was about to die. He realised that was what Harry was going through, he must have given himself up. There was no other reasonable explanation. He should have been there for him, and he was a fool to stay up in the castle for that long while his son was out here, but he didn't have time to dwell on that. He couldn't.

However, James knew that Harry would not stay dead for long which is why he knew he needed to distract Voldemort.

"Come on then, give it your best shot." James extended his wand. "You've done it before."

"Well, I'm afraid you will have to wait, Potter, as you can see, someone else has already stepped forward in "honour of defending the school." Voldemort taunted and the crowd of people behind him set into laughter as Neville Longbottom stood a few inches away from James. James heart sunk in his chest when he saw the bruises on the boys face and the way he was barely able to stand.

He shook his head and rose a brow in Voldemort's direction. "Really? You want to fight more children, Tom?"

The man squinted his eyes slightly as the disrespect of being called by his first name, "None of these wizards and witches standing in front of me right now are children. However, I will "give it a shot" as you put it, as in terms of rank, I do regard you higher than the Longbottom's. Longbottom do not worry, your time will come and perhaps you will prove yourself. James here will be the one to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose--"

However, Voldemort cut himself short, very clever, and unexpectedly as he fired the spell towards James Potter, "Avada Kedavra!"

James took a step forward just as the spell came at him and had been out of Voldemort's cast point, he let out a laugh. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to kill me again."

James had clearly pushed him to far, between being humiliated by James managing to survive his spell and half the school still disobeying him, with the same level of anger he had greeted Harry Potter with moments before, he extended his wand.

"AVADA KEDAVRA." He shouted, this time echoing through the school.

The spell had been heading straight towards James, and everyone could see how the man had almost done it on purpose. The green spark was heading straight towards him, and his death awaited him in a brief second. However, that was until the green spark burst into the air and turned into clouds of purple smoke.

The air was quiet, and no one said any words for several moment as they watched the clouds of smoke float in between both sides. All of a sudden, a loud booming screamed in the distance, like thunder being mixed with some form of electricity that caused it to be louder than a normal type of thunder. Some students let out a scream as the thunder shouted, getting closer and closer. It had been morning time, yet the sky slowly (just by about an hour perhaps) started to get dark. There was a clear panic as mummering's set off.

"What is happening?" Bellatrix screeched. "Master, what is happening?"

The terrifying thing had been that the sky turned so dark that the purple smoke floating in the air was highly visible. Like whoever was doing this was doing it on purpose. The smoke gradually made its way towards him.

"WHAT SORECERY IS THIS?" Voldemort roared as he threw a spell towards the smoke to vanish, but it didn't move.

Steadily the smoke continued to move towards the man.

"If you look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find out." James 'voice echoed throughout the courtyard.

The courtyard had been so dark it was almost impossible to see a single thing, but after a moment of searching, Voldemort saw a set of red eyes in the crowd.

"YOU!" He shouted, letting out a gasp when he realised that the Aleksander girl had not been dead but instead, she was standing at the entrance of the castle with her hands extended at him.

That had been the last thing Voldemort saw before the cloud of smoke circled his vision and he found himself unable to move. The two sides watched as the purple smoke went into Voldemort's mouth and his ears, then his eyes turned purple before they closed.

One good thing about Voldemort being distracted inside the smoke was that it set the fight back into motion and suddenly they heard uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like hundreds of people came swarming over the out of sight walls and pelted toward the castle, uttering loud war cries. At the same time, Grawp came lumbering around the side of the castle and yelled,

"HAGGER!" His cry was answered by roars from Voldemort's giants: They ran at Grawp like bull elephants, making the earthquake. Then came hooves and the twangs of bows, and arrows were suddenly falling amongst the Death Eaters, who broke ranks, shouting their surprise. Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak from inside his robes, swung it over himself, and sprang to his feet, as Neville moved too.

Hermione turned around and looked up at the steps of the castle, where Aurora was standing with her eyes closed and hand extended towards Voldemort as the clearly did something affecting him internally. A proud smile came on the brown-haired girls lips.

Ron had already been looking over towards Aurora, and Damien and Remus who stood beside her, covering her as her eyes remained closed.

In the internal mind of Tom Riddle, he found himself trapped inside a memory he had not thought about for a very long time. It was as though his mind travelled through his childhood complications, he himself screaming and shouting until everything became quiet and he was standing in the middle of his old orphanage that he grew up in. He was no longer at Hogwarts but instead could not move as he was engrossed in a memory.

The boys orphanage had not been a positive time in Tom Riddles life, it had been the opposite. He looked ahead where he saw himself as a young boy sitting in his room, surrounded by five other older boys.

"Pathetic little Riddle, where's your mum and dad now, huh?" One of the boys taunted.

"Not here to save you anymore."

"Probably abandoned him because of the way he acts." A blonde-haired boy says. "Sitting in his room all the time alone.... muttering incoherent words when your mad in the dining hall.... what is it that your mumbling, Riddle? Trying to set us on fire with your mind?"

The other boys laughed. Voldemort's eyes narrowed but it had been like he was frozen and could no longer move.

"His mum and dad probably abandoned him because he thinks he can talk to the animals down in the zoo."

"My dad did not abandon my mum, you pathetic liar!" Tom shouted, rising up from his desk. He had been calm until he heard that comment.

"Daddy issues." Said a voice in the corner of his head. "That's not good, trust me I'd know."

He whirled around and saw Aurora Black standing there by the door, arms folded.

"YOU." He seethed, watching her tilt her head and point at herself. "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ALIVE. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HEAD?"

"Once again, I've managed to outrun death. Must be in my blood or something." She shrugs, glancing at the scene ahead of her. The boys continued to argue with a young Tom Riddle and their voices muffled in the background of Aurora's voice. "honestly why did your dad abandon your mum?"

Voldemort shakes his head. "My life story is none of your concern. It is amusing how you would not face me in reality and instead have chosen to hide away in a memory like this—"

"I choose this memory because it's a sad one for you. I'm still new to mind travelling or whatever but I think judging by your expression, I can see that this is a painful memory, so I think I did a pretty good job. By the way I'm not hiding in your memories, I'm using them to my advantage which is something you would do as well if you have an ounce of the power that I do." Aurora interrupted, switching memories into one where he was being scolded by the headmistresses of the orphanages for causing nasty things to happen to other students. "Let me guess, Runskin promised you he was going to give some of those powers?"

Judging by his expression she was spot on, "I do not need powers from anyone. My magically capability thrives with the-"

"Your naivety is pathetic, do you think Runskin would let you rule beside him? You have no right! Honestly, I'm curious as to what makes you think that. It took you like six years to even get Harry to die and even at that, he won't be staying dead for long. You think someone as calculated and cold as Runskin is going to want you by his side." She shakes her head, jaw clenching. "You've really tested my patience, and since Harry isn't around at the moment to kill you, I guess it's going to be up to me because frankly Tom, you didn't just fuck Harry's life up, but you also ruined my dad's."

She stepped closer. "And I am sick of bad men hurting the people I love." He stared at her as she approached him. "Did you really think you would get away with trying to kill Harry and I wouldn't hunt you down for it? You think I'd let you get away with that? You have gotten away with so much stuff, Lily Potter, James Potter." there was a switch in her expression. "Sirius Black. You have really tested my patience."

She took a final, calculated step towards him. He had no words, maybe because he knew he lost.

"And just to clarify the reason why I didn't do this in front of a big crowd is not because I am afraid," She whispered, "It's because I didn't want to give the children nightmares."

The last thing she saw was a fearful expression from Lord Voldemort and she relished in it for a few seconds, just to see him worried about his future thrilled her. She was reminded of how he played a heavy hand in her torture of the last few months, how he killed so many people that should have been her family, and how Voldemort was the reasoning behind many things going badly. With all that rage buried deep inside her, she looked into the cold red eyes of the man for what she hoped was the last time. He screamed in agony when she brought her hand upwards towards him and her eyes slowly turned red. Not like the colour of strawberries or pure paint but like the colour of blood. The type of dark blood you lost before your life went out of your hands. Dark red like a sea of blood.

"This is for Regulus Black, you prick."

She had him right where she wanted him and he had about three seconds to live, but suddenly something happened, and she was knocked back by a blinding light. He was screaming in brutal pain as his neck begun to turn sideways and he was dangled in the air.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on the floor in the entrance of the castle with Damien and Remus looking at her. She let out a grunt and the two of them let out sighs of relief. She felt an instant feeling of pain on the back of her head and when she itched her neck, she saw blood.

"What...happened?" She groaned, quickly rising to her feet, and holding her bleeding head. "I ... I don't think I killed him?!"

"No, you didn't because Grawp choose to throw a tree at the castle and a piece of the ceiling just came down and hit us." Damien bellowed in anger at the giant outside and Remus resisted the urge to let out a laugh. Damien sent him a look. Her eyes flickered upwards to the ceiling of the entrance where a large chunk was taken out of the wall. All three of them were covered in grey dust. "But you weakened him which is easily as good."

"You should sit down." Remus said, placing a steady hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine. I promise." She stood up fully and wiped her jacket. Damien and Remus exchanged a look when the girl let out a small dry cough, she did not appear well. "I can fight."

"We know you can fight but just take a breather." Damien instructed, bringing his hand up to her forehead. "You're burning up."

She didn't give a shit if she was as hot as the sun. "Harry's dead and I have to bring him back now before it's too late—"

Remus put a finger up, "Well actually about that—"

"Remus, I don't have the time to stand here and talk. I need to go and bring him back."

Damien shakes his head. "Aurora, you're not listening. When you were inside Voldemort's mind, Harry—"

She put her hands on her lips, "Yeah, clearly, I'm not listening because right now my only focus is seeing the boy who I have wanted to see for a year now. I need to bring him back from the dead right now and nothing is more important so if you two will stop-"

"Harry's alive." Damien shouted. "Honestly Aurora you've got to learn to listen."

"But I didn't bring him back? I didn't even get to kill Voldemort—" She stated in disbelief as she looked out the doors of the castle and towards the fight. They were wrong.

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of the stampeding centaurs, and yet it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet.

The last horcrux. Now it was just Voldemort.

Aurora watched Neville Longbottom turn to Voldemort and go, "Who is weak now?"

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted over the chaos. "HARRY—WHERE'S HARRY?"

Aurora looked around the courtyard and she could not see the boy and then just as Voldemort extended his wand with the intention of killing Neville, someone casted a protection spell blasting Voldemort backwards and given the boy the chance to run.

Her heart plummeted in her chest. "I don't see Harry." But deep down she felt his presence.

"He must be using the invisibility cloak," Remus stated, taking his wand out from his sweater as he prepared to go back into the fight. "You can see him, just look hard enough. Magnolia could outsmart an invisibility cloak dozens of times. Part of the reason Sirius was so taken to her was because he couldn't figure out why she saw him using it once."

Grawp yelling almost distracted her, he was standing there, literally flinging death eaters up into the sky as if they were quaffles and not literal screaming human beings. Aurora laughed when she saw that despite the look Damien and Remus gave her.

She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined that there was an empty courtyard with no people fighting, that there was no noise and no distractions. Slowly everything begun to get faded and her eyes flickered open. It was as if the world was grey, and she could only see Harry in the middle of the fight.

He was underneath the clock. Harry is alive.

All panic, worry, and fear set aside when she saw him alive. She felt like all would be good and the idea of happiness was in the horizon.

Much to her utter delight, they had not been lying and Harry really was alive. He is standing the furthest away and throwing spells at the mountain of death eaters flying into the castle but there had been more people joining the fight. Impeccable timing. Must have happened when she was in her trance with Voldemort. There were giants and centaurs all fighting now and from the looks of it, they were winning. Aurora wasn't focusing on them winning.

She was only focused on him. Just him. Like always. She couldn't really care if the entire school was burning down around her, as long as he was safe, she was happy. He was safe and that what brought the small smile to her face. Aurora looked across the courtyard and waited a moment for the boy to look at her because she knew, like always, he would find her eye in the crowd. And when he did, her heart fell into her chest.

For the first time in months, she met his eyes in the matter that she had done for years beforehand. Harry was looking at her and the world around her felt meaningless.

His green eyes caught her grey ones and he looked at her like he wanted to stop the fighting. He looked like he was debating it and when he took a step forward towards her.

"Go." She mouthed causing him to stop in his tracks.

He gave her a pleading look, one like he was begging for her to tell him to come over to her. But she knew she needed to put herself last.

After this fight, they would have all the time in the world. Right now, they didn't matter.

He gave her a very small nod, barely even noticeable, like he was telling her that he understood what he had to do, and she would find him afterwards. She had to look away from him because if she kept looking at him, she knew she would end up running down and giving his identity away. Harry swallowed thickly before disappearing.

(And it took every single ounce of being of Harry in that moment not to run up the steps, grab Aurora's hand and disappear with her. He wanted to. But he knew he couldn't. She wouldn't let him.)

Aurora looked into the sky when she saw something flying over her head, roaring out into the sky.

Chaos reigned. The charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone was fleeing the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearer thundered the reinforcements that had come from who knew where. In the sky, there had been a great winged creature that came flying inside the castle walls. It's wings had been small, but the body of the dragon was large itself.

She examined the dragon flying in the sky and saw a ginger haired man sitting on its neck, gripping the creature.

"That' s Luke's dragon." She breathed, eyes widening. "And the ginger must be Charlie."

The wizards, defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters alike, were being forced back into the castle. Harry was shouting jinxes and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not knowing what or who had hit them, and their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd.

The centaurs Ban, Ronan, and Magorian burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges. The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers, and at their head, the locket of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, his bullfrog's voice audible even above this din.

"Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of the house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"

Aurora watched the small almost defenceless creatures fight for their life's, roaring their previously masters name. Their tiny faces alive with malice, and everywhere Harry looked Death Eaters were folding under sheer weight of numbers, overcome by spells, dragging arrows from wounds, stabbed in the leg by elves, or else simply attempting to escape, but swallowed by the oncoming horde. Hearing the creatures chanting her uncles name caused her to pass as she was reminded of everyone who should have been here fighting today.

"I'm going to find Harry and then I'm going to help him kill that bald headed freak." She whirled around, and for the first time Damien Groman saw a freakishly scary smile on the girls face.

"Am I going insane or was that a smile?" Damien asked once the black-haired girl strutted down the steps and disappeared.

"I think it was a smile...she isn't good at showing emotions." Remus replied, crossing his arms.

"Tell me about it."

McGonagall was standing fighting against three death eaters, and still managing to cast curses on the people. Aurora hoped down from the entrance of the great hall and blasted the three death eaters away from the woman.

McGonagall did not have a single scratch on her head, although she looked pale and tired. "Miss Black, what are you doing?"

She gestured to herself in a very confident way, "I'm saving you, you're welcome."

"I do not need saving but I do thank you for looking out for the people of Hogwarts." The woman says, giving the girl a quick glance. Aurora pretended not to notice the look of concern on the woman's face. "However, whilst you are here, I could use your assistance with something."

"Of course! Anything."

"I need you to get me something important from my chambers and ensure its safety." The woman stated.

Aurora gave her a slight look. "Minnie, we're in the middle of a battle. What thing do you have hidden in your chambers that are so important."

"Not a thing, Miss Black, it is a he." McGonagall stated. "And it is you and Murphy's dog that I was left the life consuming task with minding all these months."

Aurora stares at her for a moment. She did not have a dog anymore. Her heart jumps in a sort of fright, or perhaps shock. "M-my dog? You...you have Otis? But I thought Otis.... I thought Otis died when...I was...Otis is in your chambers?"

McGonagall did not know what had happened to Aurora Black, but she knew judging by the fact the girl almost burst into tears when she heard her dog was alive said enough. Otis had spent the last year being the stray dog of Hogwarts and spending the winter months in the chambers of McGonagall, who for some reason knew that Harry Potter wasn't the only owner of the dog.

The woman saw her expression. "Aurora."

"I need to go and get my dog."

She had disappeared before McGonagall could say another word and Aurora apparated to the top of the Castle where the professors chambers had been. McGonagall's room was at the end of the hallway.

Aurora was at the top of the castle, maybe the most dangerous part of the castle because of how the ground had been gone in half of it. She had to jump across half the broken floor and grip the wall.

She opened the chambers of McGonagall, her hand steadily pulling the door backwards and her heart jumped in her chest when she heard the low growling of the boy. It was a low, not very scary growl. Luke would be delighted. Aurora fully opened the door and sat on McGonagall's bed had been Otis. Otis was a tiny bit bigger than he had been before, he looked the exact same.

Aurora lip trembled and she frowned, "Otis."

The growling stopped instantly when Otis realised his second owner was back for him and he instantly jumped into her arms.

She kissed the top of the dogs head, "You're okay, I've got you."

She tried not to think of Otis much in the last few months, mostly because it was one of the things that felt like it brought out the worst type of anger in her. But once again, it felt like she was getting a small glimpse of her old life back, between getting Luke and Harry back, people regaining their memories of her, and now Otis was alive. However, all she could think about was how happy Luke was going to be that his dog was back.

"Come on boy, let's get you somewhere safe." She mumbled, pulling the dog out of her hands and onto the ground.

She opened a portal to Merlen and gently nudged Otis through it and into her bedroom, knowing Hestia would be somewhere in the castle and ready to ensure the dogs safety. Hestia was probably off making dresses in the castle without a clue what was going on. That almost made her smile.

She closed the portal, catching a glimpse of Otis barking inside her bedroom and remained in McGonagall's chambers for a moment.

Down many floors below her, the battle had been happening in full motion. It was as if Harry dying and coming back again had reset everything into motion.

In the Great Hall, the most duelling had been happening. Harry stood underneath the cloak debating on whether fighting Voldemort was a priority right now. He looked around the Great Hall, searching for her but he couldn't even see one person with black hair, let alone her.

Maybe something had happened to her? Harry questioned himself. What if she had been taking again?

Voldemort was now dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once, and there was cold hatred in his face as they wove and ducked around him, unable to finish him. Bellatrix was still fighting too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she duelled three at once.

The three people she had been duelling were Ginny, Phoebe and Beckham. Beckham was the only one who was equal to her. Harry watched as a Killing Curse shot so close to him that he missed death by an inch.

Harry could not let something happen to Beckham. He had just gotten Aurora back and if Beckham was killed, Aurora would be gone.

He changed course, running at Bellatrix rather than Voldemort, but before he had gone a few steps he was knocked sideways.

However, Harry didn't need to fend off Bellatrix because someone else had stepped into the equation. Bellatrix looked almost taken back to see Alice Longbottom standing there, wand extended and still wearing her shiny wedding ring with a firm look in her eyes.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Alice stated, no sign of humour on her face.

"Some might say I have." Bellatrix replied, eyes narrowing. She looked around. "Trying to put on a fancy brave performance like your son? Pathetic attempt if you ask me."

"Pathetic? What's pathetic is this little performance, aren't you tired of fighting children at this stage? Too scared to duel someone your own age?"

Bellatrix's expression twitched in annoyance but before she could answer the question Alice's wand slashed and twist causing the expression of the black-haired woman to turn into a snarl. Harry watched in horror as jets of lights flew from both of their wands as they begun shouting spells that Harry never even heard. The two of them were fighting to kill.

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunted Bellatrix. "Maybe I will take Longbottom the same way I took poor old Frank. I wonder if he will try and resist the spell like his father did?"

"I think our children are well able to handle themselves." Alice stated.

"Besides, none of you will ever touch our children again." Molly adds, who was standing behind her with one arm holding her wand and the other arm over Ginny and Phoebe.

Bellatrix laughed, the same exhilarated laugh that Sirius gave sometimes. Harry also heard Aurora laugh like that before. It sounded beautiful on Aurora and terrifying on Bellatrix. He took another look around the Great Hall, there was still no sign of her.

He turned back into the fight between Bellatrix and Alice. He knew Alice didn't get involved much in wizarding affairs and perhaps the reason she was late to the battle was because she wasn't sure she could do this again. Alice had been fighting all her life and she was lucky enough to get another chance. Harry was grateful she decided to come here. He watched as Alice hit Bellatrix with the curse straight into the chest and the woman froze, realising what happened. Harry watched as Bellatrix Black's last expression came on her face, for the tiniest space of time the woman seemed surprised as she fell down to her death.

It had been like time slowed down and Harry saw the rageful look in Voldemort's eyes when he turned around. Harry was surprised to see his eyes were bloodshot and he seemed to have been damaged greatly. His right arm had a bone sticking out and there was dried blood on his pale skin underneath his nose, mouth, and eyes. Voldemort threw a spell that blasted McGonagall, Slughorn and Molly across the Hall. He rose his wand to Alice and Harry knew it was time.

"Protego!" roared Harry, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source as Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak at last. The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of "Harry!" "HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once.

The crowd was afraid, both parties, and silence fell through the crowd. Voldemort and Harry met eyes for the final time and at the same moment, to circle each other.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help." Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Voldemort hissed out, "Potter doesn't mean that. That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," said Harry simply.

"Really because I don't see her anywhere," Voldemort hisses, and Harry knew instantly who he was speaking of, and he felt more angrier at the fact Voldemort was trying to use Aurora to distract him. Or maybe he was mad because it was working. "Or perhaps I was wrong to think that. Judging by your expression, you do not know where she is, do you, Potter? How foolish I was to believe that you would know the whereabouts of the one you love, the one you're supposed to protect.... perhaps she is being escorted out of the castle as we speak-"

"Crucio!" Harry interrupted, throwing the spell at the mans chest but Voldemort barely dodged it. A look of surprise came across Voldemort's face. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good." Harry seethed.

"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taunt, and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard. Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind the skirts of greater men and women and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people—"

"But you did not!"

"I meant to, and that's what it did. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them." Harry tilted his head. "You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

In the forest, Sirius and Magnolia walked beside one another, both unsure of what they were walking into. Judging by the bruises around Aurora's neck, she had not broken through Luke in any way. The walked in silence for a long few minutes, listening to the sounds of thunders booming in the sky. The two of them yearned to know what was happening at Hogwarts but tried to keep focused on the task ahead of them.

"Where was she?" Sirius questioned, frowning as he thought of the terrified expression, he caught on his daughters face when she first emerged from the portal. She was covered in an unknown substances with dust particles in her hair.

"Somewhere Runskin is in the middle of making, another world probably." Says Magnolia who had been thinking of it. "When you're in the middle of making another place, the air is toxic until it's fully formed, forms little debris particles. If Aurora had been in that place longer than twenty minutes, the air would have turn toxic and she would have died over there. But I can't figure out what he's making another world for...it's hardly on his list of priorities."

"He must be making it for a reason," replied Magnolia. "Why on earth would he be making another world – which requires an insane amount of energy and time? He's using it for something. Aurora said that there was a spiders over there that were enduros...so he's creating them for something."

"Suppose we'll find out soon enough." Sirius pointed out, looking at the darkness ahead of them. "What makes you so sure this plan will work?"

"Music reaches part of the brain that words can't." Magnolia mentioned, recalling Professor Trelawney saying this to her when she was a young girl. "We've tried words with Luke, and nothing is snapping him out of it. Maybe hearing a song might cause that small bit of him to stop resisting the potion and let us help him."

Sirius reached into his pocket, doubling checking that he still had the potions which he did. Several tubes of them. "I don't care what happens but there isn't a chance I'm leaving this forest without Luke."

"Well, you're going to be very disappointment then." A voice said causing Magnolia and Sirius to look ahead of them where Luke appeared from behind one of the trees.

Both of them instantly noticed how mad he looked which Sirius found weird because Luke Lupin never looked this mad. His eyes were bloodshot, but there were no tears in his eyes.

"Honestly I thought you were smarter than this, Magnolia." Luke stated, tutting lowly as he eyed them. "I've had my fair share of Aleksanders for the night and judging by the loud thunder, I'm guessing Aurora got out of the place, then? Good, her dying over there would have been far too easy a death. I want to make her suffer."

Sirius stepped forward but Magnolia placed her hand out preventing him from doing or saying something he would regret.

"You're not laying another figure on her." Magnolia told him slowly.

Luke laughed, a taunting laugh, "Maybe not on her but I will take great pleasure in getting to know all those people up in that castle who she cares about."

Sirius glared at him, "She's an innocent child, why her? Why did you do all of this?"

Luke, or rather Runskin simply smiled. "Because I can."

Before Magnolia could say anything, Sirius suddenly dropped to his knees and put his hands over his ears, screaming out in pain. An instant overwhelming fear grew in Magnolia because Sirius had a rather high pain tolerance and hearing him screaming in pain took her off guard. Before Magnolia could even take a breath, she was flung backwards, landing on the ground.

Luke walked forward, and extended his hand at Sirius, whose ears were starting to bleed. All he felt was a stinging, burning sensation inside his head. Sirius couldn't move or think, he could only see a blurry figure walking towards him.

"I can and I want to. The same way I can snap your neck like a twig and not have to think twice about it." Luke shouted and Sirius felt the bone in his right arm starting to shift.

However, before it could fully snap, Magnolia flung her hands upwards causing Luke to stumble backwards away from Sirius.

Magnolia's eyes flashed red, "Stay away from him!"

He was mad, it was more obvious now than ever that whatever happened with Aurora had seriously pissed him off. Despite the fact he was wearing Luke like a suit, the look in his eyes looked more like Runskin now than ever. The two of them met eyes and Magnolia felt Runskin trying to break through into her mind, she felt a shiver run along her spin and the inside of his eyes felt like they had stuck to the back of her head. An uncontrollable itch, but she didn't allow him to see into her mind. But he was a far better mind reader than she was, but she could block him.

"Memendo." Luke whispered and suddenly Magnolia was flashed with a dozen of her worst memories, she heard a range of crying: some her own and some others. She saw about seven of her worst memories float through her head, reliving her youth.

Sirius scrambled back to his feet when he heard a muff of pain emit from Magnolia's lips, it was enough for him to gain his momentarily consciousness. His ears rang and he could feel them still bleeding. His right hand stung and he knew he was on the verge of a break. He looked ahead where Luke had his hand extended towards Magnolia whose was trying to fight back but her eyes kept flicking open and closed.

Using his less dominant hand, he grabbed his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Luke paused, his whole body freezing, and Magnolia caught her breath and stumbled back into Sirius arms. He gripped her shoulders as the two of them watched the stunned state of Luke. His eyes remained in the same spot as he froze in place.

"Good thinking...." Magnolia mumbled, stepping forward and waving a hand in front of him. "Pass me the cassette tape."

Sirius pulled the cassette tape out from underneath his shirt, still surprised at how easily Magnolia was able to summon this.

He handed it to her, and she began unravelling the earphones on the top in a quick manner. Sirius turned back to Luke and much to his horror watched as his eyes went downwards towards the wand Sirius had, and before Sirius could react, he grabbed it out of his hands.

Magnolia didn't have a single second to react because the wand in his hands turned into metal and all she saw was silver before she fell to the ground. He hit her possibly as hard as he could, and she felt everything go black around for about five seconds. When she opened her eyes, she watched the Luke pulled the metal piece out from Sirius' stomach.

A scream left her lips when she saw all the life being drained from his face and a gasp leave his lips. Sirius dropped to the ground instantly, holding his bleeding stomach.

It was like time went by slow for a few seconds, she scrambled from the ground upwards to run towards Sirius, but his eyes met hers. Luke walked over towards Sirius and in that moment, Magnolia realised he was consumed by anger and all he wanted was to kill. He was completely distracted that he didn't even notice that he didn't full knock Magnolia out. Sirius was breathing fast, like he was struggling for air. She needed to get Luke away from him, but Sirius looked at her like this was there only chance.

She wanted to save him.

But that meant that there might not be another opportunity to save Luke.

She made Aurora a promise. They did.

And Sirius looked at her, like he intended to keep that promise.

Magnolia rose up from the ground, and with all the strength she had left in her, she flung the earphones around Luke's ears, hitting play on the button.

Inside the mind of Luke Murphy, he sat in an empty hallway trying to remember what had happened. He remembered some things about his life, like his name...where he went to school...his short list of friends...but it was becoming blurry, or it was all blurry. He wasn't sure.

Luke felt sick. His body was cold. He was numb. Nothing in his head made sense. He didn't know how long he was sat in this same position, but he knew it was a long time. Maybe he was dead, he considered. He could think but he could no longer feel, but his thoughts were consumed with trying to remember what happened.

Silence echoed through the hallway. He lay with his back against the wall and his eyes closed.

He struggled to breathe.

Suddenly, he heard music coming from far away and this caused him to pause as he lifted his head in pain. Music, he thought, slowly opening his eyes, he liked music.

He rose slowly from the ground, forcing himself to stand upwards. As he looked around and tried to locate where the noise was coming from. His entire body pained him as hobbled from door to door. He must have been walking ten minutes before he found the sound.

"It's the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls, loneliness calls,"

He walked towards the door that he heard the music coming from, he pressed his ear against it and knew the music was coming here. Part of him wanted to lay back down and close his eyes but another part of him was telling him to open the door.

He reached forward and opened the door and found himself standing in the Hufflepuff Common room, and he was watching himself. He was not alone however, and his heart stopped in his chest when he saw Aurora next to him. Edward and Sammy were there too.

The memory hit him like cold water. They had just finished their exams and spent their lunch celebrating in the common room by Luke showing Aurora the newest muggle song out, which the girl seemed to love judging the grin on her face. That smile, he remembered thinking, could solve any problem.

Luke watched as he extended his hand at the girl, and she intertwined her fingers with his and he spun her. A grin on her face.

"Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody,"

"What's the name of this song, again?" Aurora asked, turning back to Edward and Sammy, who was happily wrapped up in one another's arms dancing together. Luke almost regretted showing her music from non-wizard musicians, she got obsessed quickly. "Who sings it?"

"Whitney Houston." Edward grins. "I wanna dance with somebody."

"Well, it's my new favourite song!" She declared, releasing herself from Luke's arms with a final gracious spin. "Right. Should we head down and say our goodbyes."

Luke remembered that day as being the last day he felt like a normal person. It was the last day he felt like him and Aurora had not changed.

He quickly stepped back out the door, breathing heavily as he looked around. He ran forward but he halted when he saw Magnolia at the end of the hallway.

"Am I alright?"

"You will be." Magnolia smiled. "But we haven't got much time."

"How do I get out of here?"

"You walk through this portal with me, and you'll still have control over your body for a few seconds and when you do, I'm going to...lightly stab you with a needle on your arm..."

Luke's face dropped, "Will it hurt?"

"Runskin's soul is going to be pulled out from your head..so yes."

He sighed, "Then let's fucking do it."

★★★

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of a Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward.

Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body turning human like, feeble and drunken, hands empty and self-shaking. He was dead by his own rebounded curse and Harry stood there with the two wands in his hands.

There was a tiny moment of pure silence, and the shock entered the great hall, and then chaos reigned around Harry, as the screams and cheers entered his ears. Arms wrapped around him, pulling him in tightly from all sides and all he could hear were their incomprehensible shouting. He was overwhelmed as his father shouts echoed all around him and then Beckham, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there. Remus was screaming bloody thrilled.

"WE ARE FREE!"

"YOU DID IT, MY BOY, YOU DID IT!"

"HARRY, IT'S FINALLY OVER."

Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, nor tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, Hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last.

"Where's Aurora?" He mumbled, wiping his eyes. He looked around. He should be happy, but he wasn't until he had her in his hands. "Has anyone seen-"

Shouting continued and the Great Hall emerged into more delight.

"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP?!" Harry shouted, and much to his surprise everyone did as he told. "Has anyone seen Aurora Black? Black hair, grey eyes."

A mummer of 'no' went through the crowd and he turned to Remus, Damien, and James.

Professor McGonagall spoke, "She went to my office to retrieve something for me but that was ... quite some time ago, Potter. I have not seen her since."

"You let her go alone?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Harry, if you seen her fighting then you'd know she doesn't really...need the help." Remus tried to assure him nothing was wrong, but he knew they were just as worried as he was.

"Aurora Black?" Harry heard someone say in the crowd. "Isn't she the one who is wanted now for killing all those muggles?"

"Say that again and your body will be lying next to his." Harry told the boy, gesturing towards Voldemort.

He left the Great Hall in a hurry, but he didn't make it far because he caught a glimpse of something outside that caught his attention. Slowly he walked out into the courtyard where he finally saw her. All worry and panic left. She stood with her back turned away from him, there was about a dozen death eaters bodies lying in a pile and there were two men charging at her. One of them fell to the ground when she extended her hand.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted at the other death eater, before he flung the man back into the castle walls.

With her back still turned and no more people to fight, Harry watched Aurora pause.

"Still haven't learn anymore spells then?" She asked, without turning around.

"Haven't had you around to teach me, have I?" He replied walking down the steps.

She turned around, her new and very appealing short hair giving a small flick as she turns to see him properly. He saw her properly now and his heart froze. Or maybe it restarted again. The same thumping feeling arose, and her veins jumped in joy when grey met green. Out of all the looks that the two of them shared, this one was the one they'd always remember. The two of them were grown now and knew the only thing the other desired was one another. It was them. Her eyes were full of tears and he wished he had not forgotten the existence of this perfect girl and would forever hate himself for doing so.

Without waiting a second, Aurora jumped straight into his arms, almost knocking him back. Her arms wrapping his torso, but he gripped her tighter, her head going straight to his chest. "Don't leave me again.

Harry's hand gripped the back of her head, planted in her hair. "I've got you."

"Is he dead?" He heard her mumble into his chest.

Harry nods and she lets out another exhale. He was relieved that perhaps Voldemort's passing made her feel a bit safer.

"Are you hurt?" He whispered, pulling back, and examining her face. There were speckles of dried blood, but she had not looked hurt.

"I'm fine," She smiled, bringing her hand up and caressing his face and then scar. "Are you?"

He smiled, this is what happiness felt like. "I have you in my arms, I'm more than just fine."

A laugh escaped her lips, a very low one but a real one and he let out a chuckle himself. She stayed wrapped up in his arms, excited for the journey ahead of them.

From behind them, someone cleared their throat, and they turned around as Damien, Remus, and James all came down the steps. She grinned up at Harry.

"A smile on Aurora Black's face? Who knew such thing was possible?" Damien stated, walking towards them.

"I certainly didn't, Damien." James mentions, walking beside him.

"Neither did I."

She rolled her eyes and looked at the entrance of the castle, "Where is Sirius and Magnolia?"

"They haven't been inside the castle yet," James stated.

"They must still be in the woods." Aurora's fear increased, she turned to Harry. "We need to go down and help them. They were trying to save Luke."

"Alright, we'll all go." Harry stated, bringing her hand into his and relishing the warmth. He brought her knuckles up to his lips and pressed a long kiss against them. He would spent the rest of his life kissing her but figured right now wasn't the best time.

Her big grey eyes beamed at him for a moment, and she nodded, accepting the help.

"Right, where in the forest were they?"

"I'll open a portal." Aurora states, closing her eyes. A circular floating piece of mass appeared ahead of them.

Harry's mouth felt open, "We have a lot to catch up on."

"We can spent the night catching up." She winked at him, and he turned red.

They all walked towards the portal.

Harry felt his hand turn cold, or rather the hand in his turned cold. He glanced at Aurora and his heart stopped when he saw the confused expression on her face, like she had been stunned. Her smile dropped, almost comedically fast and her brows furrowed inwards. She stared forward but did not blink. She turned pale within a matter of seconds, like the life was being drained out of her skin and her lips sealed. Her hands twitched several times before stopping fully.

The others stopped walking when the portal closed and the three men turned around.

"Aurora, are you having another vision—"

"Her vision doesn't usually look like that." Damien interrupted.

All movement, even her breathing seemed to stop.

Remus waved his hand in front of her face. "Aurora?"

They had thought perhaps she was getting another one of her visions until there was a loud pop like sensation and her eyes turned red and bloodshot causing an instant yell from Harry. Not like her magic type of eyes, but it was blood filling her eyes. Like her vessels in her eyes were bursting and the second the first crackle came, her eyes went to the back of her head.

Then came a scream from inside the girl's throat, deep down in perhaps the part of her that was conscious and must have felt the pain.

Damien looked around them, thinking someone was cursing her or had thrown a spell but it was empty.

"GO GET MAGNOLIA AND SIRIUS, HARRY RUN GO!" James roared at the top of his lungs, and he attempt to get the girl to open her bleeding eyes properly. Harry never heard his father sound like that before, so urgent. It was easy to forget how much James Potter had cared about Aurora Black (seeing as James cared for people so easily and many were on the list), but his expression told it all. Concerned and fearing for the girl's life, he shouted at his son to get help. It was as if James knew she was not going to be okay.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" Harry shouted. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?"

"I HAVE NO IDEA, JUST GO, AND GET MAGNOLIA. SHE'S....SHE'S DYING."

Harry was frozen as he looked at Aurora. She was stood still in the same spot that she was in for the last fifteen seconds. He thought it had been a joke until he saw the struggled breathes as her lips sealed shut. Her muffled screams echoed through his ears, and this was the first time today he felt fear. He heard a cracking sensation and watched her fingers start to turn inwards. He was only snapped back into reality when Damien practically shoved him away to go and get help. He scrambled to his feet and headed towards the forest.

But then Harry stopped running also and he froze.

"HARRY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Remus shouted, "WE HAVEN'T GOT TIME."

When Harry stopped moving, Remus ran over and much to his horror, Harry was in the same position as Aurora. He was frozen in his spot, and his eyes were twitching to the back of his head. Damien stayed beside Aurora, who was twitching far worse than Harry like she couldn't breathe. However it became obvious that something, the same thing, was happening to them both.

James ran over, letting out a horrified gasp as he saw the state of his son. He already had tears on his face from seeing Aurora vastly dying but seeing his son caused him even more horror.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM?" James roared, "THEY'RE DYING."

"I'M GOING TO GET MAGNOLIA." Was the last thing Damien shouted as he could no longer bare to look at the bleeding face of the innocent child.

Damien apparated into the forest where he was instantly greeted with shouts and screams coming from someone. It took him a second to adjust to the scene, but he was faced with Magnolia and Luke. Magnolia was the one screaming as she shook the body of Luke.

Much to his surprise, Luke was in the same position as Harry and Aurora were in. He was not dead but he in the trapped state of some sort of unconsciousness.

The three of them were dying.

Damien stood in shock for a moment. Magnolia was whispering spells trying to stop the boy from dying but nothing was working. She realised Damien was there and for the first time, Damien saw her panicked.

"I don't ... I don't know." Magnolia whispered in horror as blood came underneath his eyes. "I thought I saved him. I got the potion in him, and I trapped Runskin."

Magnolia held up the box in her hands, that was closed.

"You trapped Runskin in that?" Damien asked in utter shock.

"Yes – he's gone." Magnolia stated a moment of brief happiness at the fact she had gotten rid of him. "But .. but then ... when I turned Luke started choking but he was himself for a moment, I got him back."

"You trapped Runksin... and now Aurora, Harry, and Luke are dying." Damien said slowly, stepping back in horror. He brought his hands up to his forehead. His worse fear was confirmed. "He linked himself to them. Runskin is linked to the three of them."

"What do you mean Aurora's dying?" Sirius asked, from behind them. He was leaning against the tree, gripping his stomach. Magnolia had healed him as much as she could but he still did not feel right.

Damien grabbed the box in Magnolia's hands. "You need to let Runskin back out right now."

"What do you mean let him out? I have him trapped. Runskin is gone now, he can't come back-" Magnolia began.

"Aurora is dying up in the castle right now because she and Runskin are linked. The three of them are linked to him. Her bones are snapping."

That was all it took because Magnolia yanked the box back open and straight away a black dust entered the air again. The same one that burst out of Luke's mouth the second Magnolia put the potion in his bloodstream.

Luke stopped choking and he fell into Magnolia's arms as she realised that the three of them were linked to Runskin.

The black dust went high into the sky and Runskin, yet again, was free and successfully tricked them all again.

★ ★ ★

hope y'all liked this chapter, and so it's revealed that Aurora/Luke/ Harry's lives and linked to Runskin meaning the box is no longer option!

Also y'all know there's gonna be 3 deaths so 😉

the next chapter will take place directly after this one and will show the ministry/ aurora scene that some of you might have already seen and then them all returning to the island!

please vote and comment if u enjoyed <3!