Wormtail approached Harry and me, I scrambled to find my feet, to support my own weight before the ropes were untied. Wormtail raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad ofmaterial gagging Harry and me, and then, with one swipe, cut through thebonds tying us to the gravestone.

 There was a split second, perhaps, when Harry might have considered running for it, but his injured leg shook under him as hestood on the overgrown grave, as the Death Eaters closed ranks,forming a tighter circle around us and Voldemort, so that thegaps where the missing Death Eaters should have stood were filled.

 Wormtail walked out of the circle to the place where Cedric's bodylay and returned with Harry's wand, which he thrust roughly intoHarry's hand without looking at him. Then Wormtail resumed hisplace in the circle of watching Death Eaters. 

"Where is Emma's wand?" asked Voldermort "find it. She cannot duel without a wand."

One hand trying to support Harry, I used the other to bring out my wand and grip it tightly in my hand. Voldermort smiled his cold smile. 

"You have been taught how to duel, Harry and Emma Potter?" said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.

At these words I remembered, as though from a former life,the dueling club at Hogwarts I had attended briefly two yearsago. . . . All I had learned there was the Disarming Spell, "Expelliarmus" . . . and what use would it be to deprive Voldemort of hiswand, even if I could, when I was surrounded by Death Eaters,outnumbered by at least thirty to two? I had never learned anything that could possibly fit me for this. I knew I was facingthe thing against which Moody had always warned . . . the unblockable Avada Kedavra curse — and Voldemort was right — our mother was not here to die for us this time. . . . We were quiteunprotected. . . . 

"We bow to each other, Harry,Emma" said Voldemort, bending a little,but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry and me. "Come, theniceties must be observed. . . . Dumbledore would like you to showmanners. . . . Bow to death. . . ." 

The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort's liplessmouth was smiling. Harry  and I did not bow. We were not going to letVoldemort play with him before killing him . . . we were not goingto give him that satisfaction. . . . 

"I said, bow," Voldemort said, raising his wand — and I felt my spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending me ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever. 

"Very good," said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wandthe pressure bearing down upon me lifted too. "And now youface me, like a man and of course--woman . . . straight-backed and proud, the way yourfather and mother died. . . . 

"And now — we duel." 

Voldemort raised his wand, and before Harry or I could do anythingto defend ourselves, before we could even move, we had been hit again by the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was so intense, so all-consuming,that I no longer knew where I was. . . . White-hot knives werepiercing every inch of my skin, my head was surely going to burstwith pain, I was screaming more loudly than I'd ever screamed in my life —And then it stopped. 

Harry and I rolled over and scrambled to our feet; we were shaking as uncontrollably as Wormtail had done when hishand had been cut off; we staggered sideways into the wall ofwatching Death Eaters, and they pushed us away, back towardVoldemort.

 "A little break," said Voldemort, the slit-like nostrils dilatingwith excitement, "a little pause . . . That hurt, didn't it, Harry, Emma? Youdon't want me to do that again, do you?" 

We didn't answer. We were going to die like Cedric, those pitiless red eyes were telling us so . . . we were  going to die, and therewas nothing we could do about it. . . but we weren't going to playalong. We weren't going to obey Voldemort . . . we were not going tobeg. . . . 

And I, for one, was not going down without a fight. 

"I asked you whether you want me to do that again," said Voldemort softly. "Answer me! Imperio!"

 And I felt, for the third time in my life, the sensation that my mind had been wiped of all thought. . . . Ah, it was bliss, not tothink, it was as though I were floating, dreaming . . . just answerno . . . say no . . . just answer no. . . . 

I will not, said a stronger voice, in the back of my head, I won'tanswer. . . . 

Just answer no. . . .

I won't do it, I won't say it. . . .

 Just answer no. . . .

"I WON'T!" 

And these words burst from our mouths; they echoedthrough the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly asthough cold water had been thrown over me — back rushed theaches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over my body — backrushed the realization of where I was, and what I was facing. . . . 

"You won't?" said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters werenot laughing now. "You won't say no? Harry, Emma obedience is a virtueI need to teach you before you die. . . . Perhaps another little doseof pain?"

 Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry at least, was ready; withthe reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground, taking me with him; we rolled behind the marble headstone ofVoldemort's father, and we heard it crack as the curse missed us. 

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, children," said Voldemort's soft,cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Doesthis mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry, Emma? Comeout, Harry, Emma . . . come out and play, then . . . it will be quick . . . itmight even be painless . . . I would not know . . . I have neverdied. . . ." 

I could not talk, I closed my eyes took a deep calming breath and thought. I thought about all the memories of me and Harry, every feeling, every laugh, every tear, every fight.  . .and then I felt it. The connection. Like someone was checking if two string tied on other ends of the room were secure.

Harry?

Emma?

"Harry--Harry I love you." Those needed to be the last words I said to him. 

"I love you too, Emma."

"Harry--"

"Emma promise me something--"

"anything."

"Promise we're not going to die crouching here like children playing hide-and-seek; we're not going to die kneeling atVoldemort's feet . . . we are going to die upright like our parents, and we are going to die trying to defend ourselves, even if no defense waspossible. . . .Promise?"

"I promise."

 Before Voldemort could stick his snakelike face around theheadstone, Harry and I stood up . . . I gripped my wand tightly in my hand, thrust it out in front of me, and threw myself around theheadstone, facing Voldemort.Voldemort was ready. 

As Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!", I yelled "Stupefy!" Voldemort cried, "Avada Kedavra!"A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as jets ofred light blasted from Harry and mine — they met in midair — and suddenly my wand was vibrating as though an electric charge weresurging through it; my hand seized up around it; I couldn't havereleased it if I'd wanted to — and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. I, following the beam with my astonished gaze, saw thatVoldemort's long white fingers too were gripping a wand that wasshaking and vibrating. 

And then — nothing could have prepared me for this — I felt my feet lift from the ground. Me, Harry and Voldemort were being raised into the air, our wands still connected by that threadof shimmering golden light.We glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch ofground that was clear and free of graves. . . . The Death Eaterswere shouting; they were asking Voldemort for instructions; theywere closing in, reforming the circle around Me, Harry and Voldemort,the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing theirwands —

 The golden thread connecting Me, Harry and Voldemort splintered;though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beamsarced high over Me, Harry and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around us, until we were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals,their cries strangely muffled now. . . . 

"Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters, and I saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Harry's and mine; I held onto my wand more tightly,with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. "Donothing unless I command you!" Voldemort shouted to the DeathEaters. 

And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. . . . Itwas coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibratingaround Me, Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound I recognized,though I had heard it only once before in my life: phoenix song. 

It was the sound of hope to me . . . the most beautiful andwelcome thing I had ever heard in my life. . . . He felt as thoughthe song were inside him instead of just around him. . . . It was thesound I connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost asthough a friend were speaking in my ear. . . . 

Don't break the connection.

 I know, I told the music, I know I mustn't . . . but nosooner had I thought it, than the thing became much harder todo. My wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever . . . andnow the beam between us and Voldemort changed too . . . it wasas though large beads of light were sliding up and down the threadconnecting the wands — I felt my wand give a shudder under my hand as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily our way. . . . The direction of the beam's movement was now toward us, from Voldemort, and I felt my wand shudder angrily. . . .

 As the closest bead of light moved nearer to Harry's and my wands tip,the wood beneath my fingers grew so hot I feared it would burstinto flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder my wandvibrated; I was sure my wand would not survive contact with it;it felt as though it was about to shatter under my fingers —

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