"Lies."

Marina couldn't control her body; she put her wand up to Lucius' chest and fired a spell that pushed him to the ground. He didn't say anything before he waved his wand around him and disappeared, probably getting out of the castle before her anger got the best of her and she hurt him more. It was not like she wanted to hurt him. She just lost control sometimes.

"Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies." She repeated the words as she paced the corridor.

Please let it be a lie. There was no way she had killed the woman who had taken her in when she was a child. The woman who had raised her when her mother wasn't there. The woman who had held her and dried her tears when she was lost. The woman who had given her all her knowledge and advice. The woman who would never break apart from a hug. Lucius had to be lying. He probably wanted to make her head spin so that she wouldn't be able to fight Tom if it came to that.

So many deaths. Only sufferings and bodies left after Tom's wrath. She looked down at her Dark Mark and nearly puked. Without her wanting to, with her mind screaming no, she dug her nails into her arm and scratched around the black skull until blood was pouring.

"Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies."

Someone took a grip around her wrist. They mumbled something about her needing to calm down. She looked up and met Ron's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Hermione, who stood behind Ron, asked worryingly.

Marina looked between them. "You heard about the fire at Malfoy Manor. Do you know who died in it? Were the names published in the papers? Did the Order say something?"

"A dozen people, but-"

"Narcissa." She gritted her teeth together. "Did Narcissa Malfoy die in the fire?"

Ron's eyebrows shot far up his forehead. "We thought you knew..."

Perhaps Ron and Hermione had gotten used to drying other's tears and calming them, as Harry had been unsteady for the last year, for they were able to help Marina get rid of the pain in her chest quickly.

She tried to gulp her misery and not think about her grief when Harry came walking down the stairs from Dumbledore's office. Everyone looked at him, but he looked at the floor. Trails of tears had cut through the ashes on his face.

"We won't let you give yourself up," said Ron, his tear-filled eyes scared but determined. "We'll keep fighting."

"No," answered Harry.

Marina realized that he knew; whatever had been in Snape's memory had taught him that he was a Horcrux. So she tried, and at the same time revealed that she knew about him being a part of Tom, "We can still beat him if he has a Horcrux, Harry, we don't have to kill him. We just need to get him somewhere he can't hurt anyone."

He shook his head. "No. It doesn't work like that. You know it." He looked at his two best friends now. "I think I have known for a while now - that I have to give myself up - and I think you have, too. Voldemort wants me to go to the Forbidden Forest. I don't have much time."

It didn't hit Marina that he was actually going to die before Hermione burst into tears and threw her arms around him. Unlike her, he had no Horcrux. When he closed his eyes, he wouldn't open them again like she had. He was about to sacrifice his life to end Tom.

"I'll go with you!" Hermione cried.

"No," he said. "It's too dangerous. He'll kill you."

Marina tried to ignore how fragile her voice sounded when she spoke, "He can't kill me. I'll follow you to the forest."

"Are you mad?" roared Ron.

"Hey, we saw that Voldemort had the locket around his neck," Harry said. "When he is going to kill me, he'll get distracted, and Marina can sneak up on him and get the Horcrux. She'll borrow my Cloak. We- you need that Horcrux to win."

"Yeah," she went on to support his words, "and he doesn't even know I'm alive. He'll kill either of you in an instant."

"And the snake?" Hermione whimpered.

Marina put Nagini down on the ground behind a statue of stone that hadn't been brought to life, and put a Sleeping Charm on her. Nobody would find her while she was in the forest, and Tom couldn't see where she was.

Harry asked, in Parseltongue so that Hermione and Ron would not understand him, "Are you worried what's going to happen to you when she dies?"

Marina nodded. She hissed back, "But we have to kill her anyway. She is, after all, Tom's Horcrux, and we need to destroy every Horcrux he has made." She then spoke normally to Ron and Hermione, "We'll take her down when I come back and the locket is destroyed."

There was a moment of silence. Ron hugged Harry one last time. None of them spoke. They didn't need to.

Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak over him and Marina, and they descended through the floors, at last walking down the marble staircase into the Entrance Hall.

"Do you want to say good-bye to anyone?" Marina asked him as he looked back at the castle. She tried to imagine how devastating the rest of the Weasleys were going to feel when they heard that he had given himself up. But Harry shook his head, and she understood why. It would be too hard to look at them now, and they would presumably beg him to stay, which would only make it worse.

Neville nearly walked into them. He was one half of a pair that was carrying a body in from the grounds. Marina glanced down: the body belonged to Colin Creevey. He was tiny in death.

She looked at Harry again when Neville and Oliver Wood had carried Colin away, and then reached out to take his hand. She felt his fingers tremble, and him making an effort to control them. He was so scared.

They moved on, passing Hagrid's hut that loomed out of the darkness. Marina felt a dull blow to her stomach when tears began to roll down Harry's cheeks. She didn't want his last thoughts and words to be about death; she had come to help him calm down and feel less anxious before going into the forest. They had been apart for months, so she now looked through her memories in search of a happy or funny moment she could tell him about to distract him. However, every memory she had made the last year could be linked to sorrow.

So, desperate to make him cheer up, she chuckled, "So what are you planning on doing when you get to him? I'd tell you to punch his nose - oh, wait..."

He gifted her a weak smile. "I have missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too," she answered, and reached out to wipe away one of his tears. "In fact, I missed you so much that I had to dress up like you." She recalled the day at the Manor, trying to push the thought of Narcissa out of her head. "Your eyesight is so bad that I couldn't see a thing. I sorta regret all those times we play-dueled and I threatened to Accio your glasses."

A short laugh. It was enough to make the tears stop for a minute. "Dressing up as me was brilliant, but I would've preferred to have you by my side instead." His voice shook.

"What, third wheeling Ron and Hermione wasn't fun?" She could feel his muscles relax a bit. "Wow. I thought watching them snog for eight months would be quite amusing."

They were getting dangerously close to the edge of the Forest when he lost his smile. "You said you were killed, right?" He gulped. "Did- did it hurt?"

"No." They stopped walking, and she turned to him. "No, I didn't even notice it. Suddenly it was over."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

Her heart sunk. "I'm sorry I let him get inside my head." If Tom hadn't seen them hiding at Grimmauld Place that January day, everything would have been different.

"And... and afterward..."

She understood what he was asking: what happened in the afterlife? But she wouldn't know. Darkness was everything she had seen - a black pit like a deep sleep - but she hadn't been visiting the real afterlife. She had been somewhere between life and death. Besides, would it calm him to hear that he was about to face eternal darkness? Of course not.

"I saw everyone and everything I loved." Marina was almost scared of how easily lies dripped off her tongue. "You'll probably get sent to a Quidditch pitch right away..."

"Quidditch? I was thinking I'd see you," he said, then turned serious. His eyebrows knit together, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small ball. "Wait..."

"What's that?"

"It's the first Snitch I caught," he explained. "Dumbledore gave it to me."

"I open at the close," she read the words engraved in it out loud. "Did he want you to use it before your death?"

Breathing fast and hard, he put the Snitch up to his lips and whispered, "I am about to die."

The metal shell of it broke open. She pointed her mother's wand at it and murmured, "Lumos." Inside the Snitch, laid a black stone.

"The Resurrection Stone," Harry huffed. They looked at each other as he took the stone out of the ball, and turned it over in his hand, three times.

She could hear slight movements around them and twigs snapping. Bringing her hand up to his face to wipe away his last tears, she nodded slightly. Her eyes and touch left him, and she looked around. Those surrounding them were neither invisible nor truly flesh, she could see that.

Sirius was tall and handsome, dressed in the robe he had been wearing when they fought Death Eaters at the Ministry, and he had fallen. His hands were tucked deep into his pockets as he grinned. He looked younger than she had ever seen him.

Lupin stood beside him. He looked healthy. There were no bags under his eyes, and his hair was thicker and darker. The suit she had been gripping and crying on an hour ago fit him better now.

Behind him stood a man that was exactly the same height as Harry. His hair was untidy and ruffled.

"Is that your father, Harry?" Marina said. "Well, you look a lot like him. You're almost identical. Except the-"

"Eyes," Harry responded. "Yes, I know. I've got my mother's eyes."

Marina, who hadn't even seen his mother, responded with a shrug. "I was going to say that you were missing his style, but okay."

Harry's father snickered. "Nice."

Why hadn't she expected him to reply? She felt blood rush to her cheeks. Perhaps a part of her had believed the people surrounding them were only recollections or figures. Harry laughed when he saw her turn red.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Potter," she pressed out.

A woman stood behind Harry. She had bright red hair and green eyes like Harry's. It calmed Marina to look at her gentle smile. "You're so brave," she told Harry.

"You are nearly there," said Harry's father.

Marina could tell that Harry was still filled with fear by the way he reached for her hand again. He whispered, "You promise it didn't hurt?"

"I promise," she breathed.

"Dying? Not at all," said Sirius. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

She turned to him, and a playful smile crept on her lips. "Okay, Uncle, I get what you're trying to do, and I will let you continue with it, but I just need to address the elephant in the room before you proceed: where were you when I died?"

Harry laughed again. That was all she had wished for. Seeing his mother chuckle, too, was a bonus.

"He will want it to be quick," said Remus once the laughter had died out, and Harry had grown anxious again. "He wants it over."

Both Marina and Harry turned to him. Harry was the one to speak. "I'm sorry, Remus. Right after you had your son... I'm so sorry..."

"I am sorry, too," he answered. "Sorry I will never know him... but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."

Marina looked at him. She wanted to tell him that she was going to keep an eye out for Teddy, make sure that he grew up healthy... However, she wasn't sure if she would ever get the chance to. If Nagini died, she would probably go down with her.

"I never wanted any of you to die for me," Harry spoke. She turned to him again. She had never expected any of them to die young. By the end of the night, they would most likely be two corpses. "You will stay with me?"

"Until the very end," answered his father.

Harry turned to Marina. One last time, he held her face in his hands. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best not to burst out crying.

"I know I swore I'd marry you..."

She put her hands over his. "You're the love of my life, Harry."

"I'm sorry we didn't have more time together." She opened her eyes and met his as he spoke. "I want you to keep fighting. I want you to win against Tom, and live long and happy."

He gave her one last kiss. It was of blood, dust, and salty tears. Then he stepped out of the Cloak.

"Harry..." Her good-bye hung from her lips.

"Stay close to me," he said quietly. And he set off.

James, Sirius, and Lupin followed right behind him, but Marina and Lily walked further behind. Marina did it to have control over everything that was going on. She supposed Lily did it because she felt her pain. She glanced and smiled her way, and stepped with her so she wouldn't feel lonely.

The Forest where Harry would be offered eternal sleep was dark and seemed to never end. They arrived in the heart of it with a gush of wind.

Tom stood tall, most of his followers falling in an awkward formation behind him. Some of them were still masked and hooded, while others showed their faces. Marina stared at them. These were the men and women she had used to look up to; the ones who had trained her, bowed to her, called her Dark Lady. Now they were about to kill the person she loved the most.

She saw Fenrir, chewing his long nails; Goyle, who she had nearly tortured at the Manor; Crabbe, looking at Harry with hunger in his eyes; Lucius, his eyes sunken; lastly, Draco. He looked similar to how he had looked during their sixth year when they were fixing the Cabinet: tired and defeated.

Tom hadn't noticed Harry yet. His long, white fingers curled around his wand. "I thought he would come. I expected him to come."

Bellatrix emerged from the dark. "My Lord..." Marina felt her chest fill with hate and disgust.

"I was, it seems... mistaken," said Tom.

"You weren't," said Harry loud and clear. He didn't sound afraid at all.

He dropped the Resurrection Stone to the ground. To Marina's surprise, his parents, Sirius, and Lupin did not disappear; they still surrounded her as she watched him walk to his death.

"HARRY! NO!" Hagrid's voice was easy to recognize. She twisted her head his way. He was bound and trussed, tied to a tree nearby. His massive body shook the branches overhead as he struggled. "NO! NO! HARRY, WHAT'RE YEH-"

"QUIET!" screamed Tom. He flicked his wand, and Hagrid was silenced.

Bellatrix had lunged forward, and was now dancing and spinning in front of Harry. "There you are! Now we can kill you like we killed your pretty little girlfriend!" She pointed her wand at him. "Tell me, boy, how does it feel, losing everyone you love, knowing that you are the reason why they die?"

Harry was looking at Voldemort. If he had an opinion on Bellatrix's attitude, he didn't offer it.

Marina took several steps forward. She could glimpse the locket around Tom's neck, shining in the little moonlight that reached it in the deep forest. How had Harry expected she would be able to retrieve it? Was she supposed to jump and take it when he said the Killing Curse? There was no way she could. There were Death Eaters all around him. Someone would understand that she was there.

Tom tilted his head to his side and smiled. Marina gave a great shiver when she realized that that was the same motions she had performed before killing the Death Eater that had attacked her in the castle. Tom was, after all, the one she had believed to be her father for many years. She had adopted many of his habits.

"Harry Potter," he said, very softly. "The Boy Who Lived has come to die."

He raised his wand. Marina covered her ears, not wanting to hear the Killing Curse leave his lips. She saw his mouth move, but before she could see the green light leave his wand, she had turned and set off.

She ran as far as her legs could carry her, then she collapsed on the ground.

She balled up the front of her jumper, forced it into her mouth, and screamed. She cried until her throat began to hurt, and she knew it would soon be gone. Open your eyes, she told herself. Pinch your arm. This is only a nightmare. You're going to wake up soon. He will be in your arms. You will kiss him again. Yet the sun woke, and she didn't. It's not a nightmare if you can't wake up.

All the emotions she had held back in front of Harry poured out of her. She hit the cold, hard ground with her fists.

A twig snapped. It wasn't her doing. She was sure the sound came from behind her. Elbows on her knees, her hands wrapped around the ends of the Invisibility Cloak, making sure she was completely hidden, she sealed her lips shut, trying to not make any noise.

Her first thought was that she had screamed loud enough for the Death Eaters to hear her. She was far away from them, by the edge of the forest again she supposed, since the trees around her were thinner and there was more light that shone on her, but maybe her voice had traveled with the wind and reached them.

After two minutes - she had counted the seconds, trying to hold her breath - she dared to stand up and look around. Her mother's wand was still in her pocket. If any Death Eaters were near her, she could manage to draw it and stick her hand out from underneath the Cloak.

Finally, her eyes found him: the nearly transparent Sirius standing by her side.

"Why can I still see you?" she asked. Her voice didn't sound like her own anymore. It was too raspy. "I shouldn't be able to see you anymore."

Harry had laid the Resurrection Stone down on the ground before he had died. Why was she still able to see a ghost, then? When she thought about it, she began to wonder why she had even been able to see and communicate with the ghosts of Sirius, Lupin, Lily, and James in the first place. They had shown themselves to Harry. They lived inside of him - inside his head. The only reason why she should be able to see ghosts, or spirits of those who had passed away, would be because she was walking the fine line between life and death.

Her theory was confirmed when, from behind Sirius, came another young ghost walking toward her.

She immediately recognized the new ghost. How could she not? It was like looking in a mirror. He had the same raven hair like her, the same brown eyes, the same dark look. Regulus looked handsome and charming even in death.

"I'm so proud of you, Marina," he whispered, his voice firm and deep. She gazed at him, worrying that if she looked away, he would disappear. He was very young; he didn't look older than her at all.

"Someone killed Nagini," she guessed. That was why she could see them: her Horcrux had been found and destroyed. Since it had been the only reason why she had been kept alive, she was going to die now. And she wasn't afraid. "Am I going to join you?"

"No." The voice that spoke now, did not being to Regulus nor Sirius, but she did recognize it, for it was silky and light. It reminded her of summer, autumn, and the ocean; caves, cold hands, and warm laughter. Like she had told her after she had retrieved her out of the water, she spoke, "Your story isn't over yet. You can't escape it by turning yourself into a beautiful corpse."

Marina tore her eyes away from her father to look at her mother. Her knees nearly gave out when she saw that she was ghost-like, too.

"Mum! No! What-"

But Marina didn't really need to ask her mother what had happened to her. She cut herself off before she could.

Darya had been the one who helped her recover from her death. She had devoted her life to studying Horcruxes, and to get revenge against Tom for killing her family and the love of her life. She knew that Nagini was her daughter's Horcrux, and that she would die if she died. And now, after Nagini had been killed, Darya had become a ghost. She had sacrificed herself for Marina's life.

"You still have miles to go," Darya said. Marina wanted to scream and ask her what she had done to her the seven months she had been asleep after her killing - what magic had she used to give her life? But she didn't ask. She listened as her mother continued, "You need to get back to Hogwarts."

"The locket," Regulus spoke. "It's around his neck. You need to destroy it."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Marina cried.

"You always find a solution," she heard Sirius say.

Turning, she found herself searching for Lily and James. They were still with her. She looked at them, both of them smiling gently to her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save Harry." The words fell out of her mouth. "Your son was the most wonderful boy I have ever met."

"It wasn't you who took his life, Marina," Lily answered. She spoke her name so beautifully. But no matter what the mother told her, she could not stop the guilt.

James parted his lips. "It's not over." Cold rushed through her body. "You'll be with him again."

A blend of confusion and hope stirred in her chest. Did he mean she would see him in another life? That they would be together again in the afterlife, like he and Lily was? Like Darya and Regulus was?

She heard a cry coming from afar, and she was certain that it did not belong to any of the spirits. It was Bellatrix's whiny, penetrating voice. The Death Eaters were marching toward the castle. She needed to get away quickly.

Remus was standing beside Sirius now. Turning to him, she whispered, "I'm going to make sure that Teddy grows up healthy and happy. I'll watch over him."

Bellatrix cried out, "What are you doing, you idiot? Put on the glasses, he needs to be recognizable! They need to see that their stupid hero died a coward!"

Marina rushed now. She had to get to the castle. Finally, she turned to her parents. "I won't be seeing you again, will I?"

Her father whispered, "We will always be with you."

Sirius had the last words. "Go. Get the locket and the last laugh."

Before running away, she saw Regulus walk to stand beside his brother, who threw an arm around his shoulder. They grinned her way. Then every ghost disappeared.

She reached Hogwarts long before Tom. It had to be around five or six in the morning, for the sun was about to rise. The air was cold and damp, the grass below her feet slippery. There were no more dead bodies outside of the castle; they had been carried away. Glass, blood and lost wands covered the stairs that lead to Hogwarts' entrance.

Just before she could enter the Great Hall, Tom's voice echoes around the castle, crashing upon her eardrums. Harry was dead, he announced. He told an untruth about how he had been killed while running away and trying to save himself. The Death Eaters had won the battle, and they were bringing Harry's body to the students of Hogwarts to shove the corpse as a trophy. Furthermore, Tom asked every man, woman, and child to come out of the castle and kneel before him. Those who did not join him would be slaughtered.

Marina was going into the last fight against him once he got to the castle. She ran to the kitchens so she could do it with Kreacher by her side.

Once she had invited Kreacher to join her, and he had accepted, they made their way out again. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak off her and put it in her pocket next to her mother's wand. She wanted Tom to see her. She craved his shock and panic when he realized that she was still with him. He who had sold her lies, mocked her name, made her play his game, and killed her love, was going to see his end. That was the only thing that kept her flame alive.

Who had Tom convinced himself he had killed? A monster? He had murdered a child. Yet he made it sound like he had defeated Merlin himself. He looked prouder than ever when he approached the castle. Those who had survived the battle had gathered in front of the Entrance Hall to face their vanquishers, and see the truth of Harry's death for themselves. Marina blended in with them, keeping her head low. Kreacher stood right beside her.

The Death Eaters spread out in a line facing them. Tom's red eyes looked around the crowd as he smiled and laughed. Hagrid was standing behind him, his face sunken. In his arms, laid Harry's corpse. Marina did not want to look at it. She needed to be brave and strong. But she got a glimpse of it. He looked peaceful, laying there with his eyes closed. Some nights, when they had stayed at Grimmauld Place and shared beds, he had fallen asleep before her, and she had stayed awake longer than needed to look at him resting beside her, his face wiped of worries and pain. This reminded her of those nights. He wasn't hurting anymore.

"NO!" Professor McGonagall leaped forward. Bellatrix responded with a sick laugh.

The moment Marina looked around the crowd of survivors, chills went down her spine. Not one face reflected hope. Everyone realized that the war was over, that the good guy had lost...

"No!"

"Harry! HARRY!"

Ron and Hermione's voices were worse than McGonagall's. Their cries acted like a trigger, the crowd of survivors took up the cause, screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eaters, until-

"SILENCE!" shrieked Voldemort. There was a bang and a flash of bright light, and silence was forced upon them all. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Marina felt her jaw clench and her blood boil. Never had she hated Tom more.

"You see?" He kicked Harry's body. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" yelled Ron, and the charm broke. The defenders of Hogwarts were shouting again.

A more powerful spell extinguished every voice again. "He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Tom lied, "killed while trying to save himself... From this day forward, you will all put your faith in me. Come forward and join us! Or I will slaughter everyone here. Only those who kneel will be spared."

Kreacher looked up at Marina with a look that said now? She shook her head. Not yet.

Neville Longbottom stepped forward. Tom was quick to Disarm him. "Well, I must say that I had hoped for better," he said, and his followers fell into a fit of laughter. "And who might you be, young man?"

"It's Neville Longbottom, my Lord!" Bellatrix gave a delighted chuckle. "The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"But you are a pure-blood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Tom asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists.

"So what if I am?"

"You show spirit, and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over!" Neville spat.

Tom waved his wand. Seconds later, out of one of the castle's shattered windows, the Sorting Hat came flying to his hand. "There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School. There will be no more houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone."

Tom was clearly utterly surprised when he heard the Slytherin house yell out in protest. His silencing charms hadn't been able to hold them back. He looked at them, his smile disappearing. Marina had never felt prouder of her brothers and sisters. She heard students from other houses whisper, and watched them turn to the small crowd of Slytherins who had survived the battle.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," Tom said, ignoring the yells.

Professor Sprout tried to run forward and help Neville, but a Death Eater made her fly backward into the crowd again. Tom pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the Hat on to the boy's head, so that it slipped down below his eyes.

Marina could see the look in Tom's eyes: he was about to do something horrible. His tongue had barely formed a curse when she looked down at Kreacher. "Now!"

Many things happened at the same moment. Tom jerked his head her way, clearly recognizing her voice. While he was still surprised and distracted, Kreacher Apparated to his side, and clasped his hands around Salazar's locket, tearing it off from around his neck. Bellatrix was the first one to notice the house-elf, and she sent the Killing Curse his way, but three other house-elves, including Dobby, jumped in front of her and made the curse reflect and fly up in the sky. Kreacher Apparated back to Marina and handed her the locket. She instantly put it inside her jumper, as she had done with the basilisk fang.

"YOU!" Tom roared. He had still not found her in the crowd, but his anger took over him, and he pointed his wand at random people and fired at them. The professors of Hogwarts stepped in front of their students and shielded them, and those standing close to Marina created a formation around her so she could hide.

In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him. Then a storm was created in Marina's chest: behind Neville and Tom, she could see Harry move slightly. James' words suddenly made sense. She pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and handed it to Kreacher. "Give this to Harry quickly!"

She blinked, and Kreacher was at Harry's side, giving him the Cloak. He wrapped it around himself before Tom could even notice that he was alive.

"HARRY!" Hagrid screamed. "WHERE'S HARRY?"

The house-elves of Hogwarts came running out of the Entrance Hall, charging toward the Death Eaters with kitchen knives. Some of Tom's followers tried to stun them, but they wouldn't stop. Distracted by the small creatures, they seemed to forget to attack Harry, who had most probably run away from them while under his Cloak. Tom yelled out in frustration.

One of those who were circling Marina turned to her. He held up his wand, and panted, "Go into the castle. Get away from him. We'll stop him if he tries to follow you."

The others around her turned to her and either nodded or hummed in response, all reaching for their wands. She saw Cedric, who she had not seen since Cho's death, among them. He shouted, "I'll follow you. I got your back!"

The two sprinted into the castle while the rest of the survivors turned to Tom again. Professors had picked up a duel with him, but she couldn't see which part that was gaining a victory.

This was the start of how it would all end. She knew it. They were just a Horcrux away from the final fight.

How was she going to destroy it? It wouldn't help to smash it. She reached into her jumper and found it. She looked at the serpentine S, inlaid with glittering, green stones, and turned the locket around in her hand, trying to open it. It wouldn't open with the use of her hands. Since there was a snake on it, she wondered if it would open if she spoke Parseltongue...

She opened her mouth. But nothing came out - not a single hiss. She was no longer Parselmouth. She was free from Tom's chains. How was she going to destroy the locket, then, if she couldn't even open it?

Marina sped down to the dungeons. The only thing she could imagine would destroy the Horcrux was a good mix of powerful potions and spells.

The Potions classroom was so cold she could see her own breath. She walked to the closest cauldron and dropped the locket into it, thereafter lighting a fire under it.

Very quietly, she said, "Snape, if you can somehow watch me from the afterlife, I sincerely apologize for what I'm about to do."

Running to the shelf behind her, she grabbed every flask she could reach, and threw them all in the cauldron, glass and colorful drops flying everywhere. This was years of work she was destroying in seconds. Flames and smoke rose, and she began to cough violently. The whole scene was very chaotic. Marching through the smoke, she aimed her mother's wand at the locket drowned in purple, green, and blue liquid.

"Bombarda! Bombarda Maxima! Confringo! EXPULSO!"

The cauldron did not explode, but the table did. It happened with so much force that she was knocked down. She felt her back hit the floor, potions meeting with her clothes.

Up from the cauldron, toward the ceiling, an outline of Tom rose. It wasn't Voldemort's body, but Tom Riddle's; the body that had been her Boggart for many years. Unexpectedly, his face twisted inside-out. She was now looking at Harry, who was bleeding, wounds across his chest. She realized that Tom was showing her everything she had once believed to be her Boggart, trying to scare her, intimidate her, so she wouldn't be able to destroy the Horcrux.

"Stupid Tom!" she yelled over the loud explosions. "You can't frighten me anymore. You have nothing more to unnerve me with! You have already made me live all my nightmares!"

It was still Tom's version of Harry she was looking at. He looked rather angry, his teeth bared, veins popping out of his neck. Did Tom assume her greatest fear was Harry turning against her now?

"Will you die already?" she snapped. She got up and pointed Darya's wand at the cauldron on the floor. "Fiendfyre!"

Harry turned into the sixteen-year-old Tom again, who rapidly crumbled to the ground. A scream like the one she had heard in the Room of Requirement hours before rang in her ears. She had destroyed the Horcrux.

"Okay, enough fire now," she spoke to herself, "Aguamenti!" But the water did not kill the fire. "HEY, ENOUGH, AGUAMENTI!"

She remembered that she had used Fiendfyre to light the fire at Malfoy Manor. And there had been a reason why she had used it: the flames that were created when using it were impossible to control. Before they could escape the destroyed Horcrux, she placed a lid on top of the cauldron and begged that it would be enough to keep the fire contained.

How ironic it would be if the girl who had played with fire all her life had died by flames. How many headlines Rita Skeeter could make of it: the girl who had made fire her symbol had died burning and begging. She was mortal now, after all. She could die any minute. But the fire stayed in the cauldron.

Within a minute, she had rushed up the stairs again. "Cedric, are you still with me?"

He was standing there, still alive and whole, guarding the entrance to the school. "Yes, I think so - STUPEFY - but the battle is - DEPULSO - very much - ORBIS - alive."

She ran to his side to get a glimpse of what was going on outside. Students were dueling Death Eaters again, only this time with raging house-elves as armors, and Voldemort was now battling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once; Hermione and the Weasleys were bringing down Fenrir Greyback; Bellatrix was fighting Luna and Ginny, and shot a Killing Curse so close to Ginny that she missed death by an inch. Quickly, Marina ran to the two, joining them in the fight.

"Look who's alive!" Bellatrix said, almost cheering. "Come to help mummy?"

The anger that ran through Marina's veins made her push Luna and Ginny out of the way. Bellatrix was hers to kill. "Come to murder you," she corrected.

"Like I murdered your uncle?" Bellatrix stuck out her tongue. "Like I murdered your family before I took you? How I enjoyed killing your grandmother, your aunt-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Bellatrix only moved to the side, and the curse flew past her while she smiled. "Crucio!"

Marina cast an invisible shield. The red light reflected back to Bellatrix who waved her wand and made it vanish. She then slashed her mother's wand through the air, red and blue coming out of it. It was if Bellatrix was the only one left in the world, for she only saw her, and she needed to end her. "Imperi-"

"Oscausi!" Bellatrix screamed.

Another shield. Marina's eyebrows shot up. "I think you forgot that you taught me that one, Mum. Remember that? I recall you telling me that I needed to be a little more confident when casting it. Like this: Oscausi!"

The dark charm sealed Bellatrix's mouth shut, skin covering the area where her lips should have been, and she was muted. But it didn't stop her from battling. She twirled her wand in her hand, lights shooting toward Marina.

Then, what shouldn't happen happened: Darya's wand snapped in two.

Marina looked up at Bellatrix, worry taking over her body. The cruel woman, her own family, was waving her wand in circles, a light of both red and white forming. Marina closed her eyes, knowing that she couldn't defend herself in any way. She would have to take the pain, accept whatever it was that Bellatrix was going to send her way. Everyone knew Bellatrix liked to play with her food before eating it; torture had always been her favorite hobby...

"STUPEFY!"

During their fifth year, Marina had made Neville practice the stunning charm on a picture of Bellatrix, but now, he had used it on the actual Bellatrix. She had been so distracted with punishing Marina that she hadn't seen him fly toward her. Now, she laid on the ground, her eyes closed.

It seemed like every student, professor, and Death Eater had stopped their fights to look as Neville's grandmother strolled to Bellatrix. She glanced down at her as she laid there, unconscious, and happily said, "Avada Kedavra!"

Tom screamed; Marina turned and watched McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley blast backward, flailing and writhing through the air, as Tom's fury at the fall of his most loyal follower exploded. He raised his wand and pointed it directly at the Longbottoms.

Marina heard Harry yell, "Protego!" He was now standing in front of her and the Longbottoms, throwing the Invisibility Cloak off him while his Shield Charm expanded around them.

"Nice one, Mrs. Longbottom," said Marina to the elderly woman as calmly as she could. "Excellent work, really. But could you maybe step back so that you won't get hurt?"

She and Neville walked to join the crowd of students who had now won against the Death Eaters, and they disappeared into the large crowd.

"You alright?" Harry hurried, helping Marina stand up again.

"You're alive," was all she could whisper back. She held his hand for a split second, feeling his skin warm and soft. Then, they both turned to Tom.

This was the end. Tom looked at them, and together, they moved in circles.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help!" Harry said loudly to the hundreds of people that were watching them. "It's got to be like this."

"Potter doesn't mean that." Tom smiled. "That isn't how he works. Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter? Your precious little girlfriend?"

Marina looked into his wide, red eyes. "He can't do that. I'm mortal, Tom, just like you. Nagini is dead."

"You should be dead then!" he hissed.

"Oh, but I'm not, and I don't think you'll be able to understand why I'm here now, alive and breathing. Of love, you know nothing. And love is the reason why I'm here today."

Her mother had loved her so much that she had dared to end her, and then take her place in the afterlife. Tom would never understand that. When he was a soul without a body those years after he killed Harry's parents, no one took his place.

"I am the reason why you're here today!" Tom screamed. "I made you immortal! I helped you! I raised you!"

"No." She shook her head. "My real parents are the reason why I'm here today. My father dying in hopes that you would be mortal again, my mother protecting me..."

"Blood doesn't make family!" His large nostrils flared. "When they weren't there, I took you in and watched over you. It was I who protected you!"

Marina walked closer to him, still wandless. "I never wanted you in my life! I didn't ask to be controlled, for you to make me your Horcrux! I'm not a toy, a doll, or a servant. You taught me how to kill, not to love you as a father figure."

"You will never understand love." Harry aimed his wand at Voldemort. "That's why you are losing. Marina turned against you when she realized what love is - when she understood that she could not get it from you, but from people here, far away from you."

"Love?" Tom spat.

"You don't understand it. That is why my mother dying to save me is something you will never understand," Harry answered.

"Everyone is dead because of you, Potter - because of the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't kill anyone else tonight," said Harry. "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 hurting these people-

"But you did not!"

"-I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They are 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. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

Was that so? Marina suddenly felt much more confident walking closer to Tom without a wand.

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare!" Harry answered lightly. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

"You think you know more magic than I do?" Tom snarled.

Harry stopped circling Tom. "I know that you didn't have Albus Dumbledore killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."

Marina heard many people in the crowd gasp. Tom's eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry. "What childish dream is this?"

"Severus Snape wasn't yours. Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledores from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it because of the thing you can't understand. He asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He agreed that there were other women, of purer blood, worthier of him-"

"Of course he told you that!" Harry cried. "But he was Dumbledore's spy the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"

"It matters not!" Tom pressed out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's! I crushed them as I crushed your mudblood mother! But it all makes sense in ways that you do not understand! Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me. He intended that Snape should he the true master of the wand. But I got ahead of you, little boy - I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine!"

"Wrong," Harry simply said. "It's not yours." Tom was gripping the Elder Wand very tightly when he continued, "The wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Snape was never the master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed-"

"Tom, can you actually try to listen for once?" Marina screamed. "Snape never beat Dumbledore! The death was planned between them!"

"The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died," Harry explained. "The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, and the wand gave them its allegiance..."

Tom's chest rose and fell rapidly. Marina thought back to the night of Albus' death. She had traveled to the Manor... Dumbledore had followed her... He and Tom had battled... And then Narcissa had Disarmed him.

"The wand was Narcissa Malfoy's," declared Harry. "But that was until she was killed in the fire at Malfoy Manor."

Blank shock showed in Tom's face for a moment, and then it was gone. "You believe you are the master of the Elder Wand, Potter?"

"No. It wasn't me who lit the fire."

Marina could feel her body tremble when she spoke, "It was I who killed the last owner of the Elder Wand."

Tom immediately aimed the Deathstick at her, but Harry stepped in front of her, reminding him that he couldn't hurt her after he had sacrificed his life for her and the rest of the students of Hogwarts.

"Disarm him, Marina!" a voice coming from the crowd shouted. Was it Cedric? "If it's yours, you'll be able to Disarm him!"

But she didn't have a wand to Disarm him with. She looked at the crowd, lost. Hermione was standing in the front row, pointing a finger at Bellatrix.

Marina walked up to the woman's corpse and snatched her wand out of her grip. It would work excellently in her hand since they were family. She looked at Harry, then Tom, who did not act. He was too proud to say that he had made a mistake - he was a coward until the end.

"Expelliarmus!"

The Elder Wand flew high, dark against the sunrise, spinning toward its master. The most powerful wand in the world was hers.

Tom stood in front of her and Harry, wandless, weak, cowardly.

"It seems like one of us could survive, after all, Tom Riddle," said Harry. "Alarte Ascendare!"

For a moment, she saw the sixteen-year-old Tom that would appear in her dreams fly up toward the sky, and then he plummeted to the ground again as Voldemort, whining like a dying animal. His body seemed to shrink when he brought his knees to his chest, whispering something she could not hear.

Marina walked to stand beside Harry. She put the Elder Wand in her left hand, and held it between their bodies. "Together?" she said.

"Together," Harry answered, and took a grip around the wand.

Marina Black and Harry Potter had always been opposites. Marina had been the dark, Harry the light, showing the raw and the warm. Marina had been a tigress, Harry a lion, circling each other, teeth and ambitions bared. Marina had always been ice, Harry fire, her making people fear her cold, him making her crave the burn. Marina thunder, Harry lightning, both frightening in their own way. But in this moment, when they fought together, they were one: fire on fire, both striking like lightning, a doe and a stag together. They aimed the Elder Wand at Voldemort, his hand on top of hers as she gripped the wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort's arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle was dead, and his killers stood with a shared wand, staring down at him.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended, and then the tumult broke around the victors of the war as the screams and the cheers of the watchers rent the air. The sun rose steadily over them and the castle. Marina turned to Harry, jumped into his arms, and kissed him as hard as she could.

It was over. It was all over.

The celebration of the win moved to the Great Hall. People were crowding around them, shouting words they did not understand. Slughorn was standing behind them, crying and mumbling something about how the children of his most promising students had won the war.

Voldemort's body was moved and laid in a chamber far away from the soldiers that had died for their school. Peeves flew around the Hall, singing a victory song of his own composition about Voldemort's death. McGonagall had replaced the house tables, but nobody was sitting according to house anymore: the last of the Slytherins had sat down beside the Gryffindors, the Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws surrounding them, all smiling and laughing. Everything would change now.

Luna walked up to Marina and Harry, asking if they wanted peace. When they nodded, she pointed out of the window, screaming nonsense, and everybody turned to it. Harry slid the Invisibilty Cloak up over them.

After a while, exhausted and drained, Marina and Harry were sitting on the staircase that lead down to the dungeons. He laid his head in her lap, closing his eyes, obviously very tired, and she ran her fingers through his hair.

Kreacher and Dobby came out of the kitchen. They asked if they needed anything, to which Marina replied with a wish for something to eat, suddenly feeling hunger like a large hole in her stomach. They ran into the kitchen again, nearly tangling their thin legs and falling.

"What now?" Harry asked quietly. Marina had to smile. They had just finished the battle they had waited for for years, and he was thinking of what they were going to do next.

"I don't know," she whispered back. "We'll go back to Grimmauld Place. Fix it, maybe, since the Death Eaters blasted it."

"I'd like that."

"Raise Teddy," she continued, "Remus made us his godparents before he died."

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, green eyes meeting brown. "We'll let him live with us in London."

"Only if we remove the painting of Walburga," she answered quickly. They both chuckled softly, sleepy and worn out.

He reached his hand up to her cheek. "And everything will be alright."

She thought about spending the rest of her life with him, getting married, raising a child. Finally, she could love him in peace and wash away the taste of war and bloodshed. Rolling up the sleeve of her jumper, she saw that her Dark Mark had been replaced with a scar.

"And everything will be alright," she repeated.