𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘

ACT TWO, CHAPTER NINE
bye bye bella.

THE GREAT HALL was filled with chaos.

If she was being honest, Penelope didn't really know how she found herself where she was. After all the chaos that had begun outside that Penelope had ignored, she had managed to spot the unruly curls of Bellatrix running into the Great Hall. It seemed like everything had been moved there, anyways.

Basically anyone who could walk was forced inside the Great Hall. Voldemort was in the center of the battle, angrier than normal because Harry was actually alive. Penelope had managed to group up with Venus (who looked quite distraught), Charlotte, Ginny, Luna, and Hermione, them sticking together as they fought their way around the Great Hall.

Yaxley was slammed into the floor by George and Lee Jordan. Dolohov fell with a scream at Flitwick's hand, and Walden Macnair was thrown across the room by Hagrid and crumpled against the stone wall. Ron and Neville were working together to bring down Fenir Greyback, Aberforth was Stunning Rookwood, and Arthur and Percy were flooring Thicknesse. Penelope even saw her dear aunt and uncle running through the crowd — ⁠only they weren't fighting, they were screaming for Draco.

Voldemort was dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at one time. The cold hatred on his face grew more and more as they dodged his spells. Penelope thought about going over there, giving him a piece of her mind for causing all of this⁠—

Then there was the cackle. The fucking cackle. Penelope slowly turned around to see none other than Bellatrix standing there, twirling her wand between her fingers. Her eyes narrowing, Penelope raised her wand and pointed it straight at her mother. Venus, Charlotte, Ginny, Luna, and Hermione all fanned out around her, their wands raised as well.

And together, the group of six began to duel Bellatrix.

Penelope felt red-hot anger surge through her veins. Her and her friends kept throwing spells right at Bellatrix, battling their hardest, but no matter what, Bellatrix kept being equal to them. Penelope honestly found it really fucking annoying.

Then the moment came.

Penelope's eyes widened as she watched Bellatrix send a killing curse like it was normal to try and kill a group of teenagers. The curse missed Ginny by an inch — but Penelope was so fucking over it. Her teeth gritted and she stepped in front of her friends. She could vaguely hear their protests and Mrs. Weasley screaming in the background, but that didn't matter right now. All Penelope felt was rage.

Bellatrix let out her psychotic laugh. "Oh, little Penelope, what are you going to do to me?"

Penelope raised an eyebrow. "You don't know what I can do."

"What will happen to your precious boyfriend when I kill you?" Bellatrix taunted, and Penelope's grip on her wand tightened. "My blood traitor daughter, gone the same way as his brother Freddie?"

"Shut up!" Penelope shouted, her voice seemingly ringing throughout the hall. "Come at me, you bitch. Let's see who wins, shall we, mother?"

Bellatrix laughed again, but Penelope was quicker and sent her first curse. She put out whatever spells she first thought of. Bellatrix kept laughing as they dueled, which only made Penelope angrier and angrier. So much that it was starting to affect her magic. She began to use harsh spells that she wouldn't use in any other situation — but then again, this was life or death. After all, she did promise Ron that she was going to kill her mother.

The crazy smile on her mother's face soon turned into a snarl once she realized that her daughter was stronger than she thought. Jets of light flew from both of their wands and the floor underneath their feet began to crack. Both of them were fighting to win. But Penelope wasn't going to let her. Not after this. Not after everything. And if she died in the process, so be it. Never would there be a world where Bellatrix Lestrange would run free again.

"Oh, my dear Penelope, when I'm finished with you, you'll be the same way as Nymphadora!" Bellatrix shouted. "The poor little cousins, both dead on the ground by my hand!"

Penelope felt hot tears sting at the back of her eyes. "You will never, and I mean never, hurt my family ever again!"

Bellatrix laughed crazily again — the same exhilarating one Sirius Black had given when he had fallen into the Veil back in the Department of Mysteries from what felt like a lifetime ago. Penelope remembered all of the hurt, all the anger she had felt that night, and she channeled that into her final curse.

Penelope aimed her curse right underneath Bellatrix's outstretched arm since she was too busy laughing. It hit her square in the chest right above her heart. Bellatrix's stupid psychotic smile was wiped off her face and her eyes bulged in shock as she stared at her daughter. Penelope casually blew a piece of hair out of her face as she watched her mother topple. She finally fell over, and her Bellatrix Lestrange did not move again.

The crowd roared all around her. Penelope felt a deep sense of satisfaction as she looked down in disgust at the body of Bellatrix. Once and for all, she could finally detach herself from her mother.

Penelope looked down at her mother's body and raised an eyebrow. "Weak."

Suddenly, a high pitched scream rang throughout the Hall. Penelope turned around in shock to see McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn get blasted back. Her eyes widened upon noticing that Voldemort had her wand pointed at her — she means, she understands, she just killed his best Death Eater — and her body constricted in fear.

"Protego!" a familiar voice then shouted.

Penelope looked around hopefully. Sure enough, there was Harry, pulling off his Invisibility Cloak. She then felt arms wrap around her waist, and she looked over to see Ron standing there gathering her in his arms. Penelope allowed him to pull her in close as Harry and Voldemort began to circle each other.

The yells of shock, the cheers, and the scrams were stifled at once. It was obvious the crowd was afraid. Silence rang around the Great Hall as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other. At the same moment, they started to circle each other.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry announced, his voice carrying through the silence. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Voldemort hissed, his red eyes wide. "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," Harry replied simply. "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 . . ."

"One of us?" Voldemort taunted, looking like a snake that was about to strike. "You think itwill 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?" Harry countered. They still moved sideways in a perfect circle keeping the same distance from each other. Penelope watched it, her heart beating against her chest rapidly. "Accident, when I decided to fight inthat graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" Voldemort screamed. He still did not strike, and Penelope felt Ron start to shake against her. "Accident and chance and 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 be killing anyone else tonight," Harry argued. "You won'tbe 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 did it. 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. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

Penelope couldn't help but smirk. He really pulled out the normal name.

"You dare—" Voldemort began.

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

Voldemort didn't speak. He continued to prowl in a circle.

"Is it love again?" Voldemort jeered. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter — and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse."

Penelope knew Venus would. She glanced over at the girl, who looked like she was about to be sick. Charlotte had a tight grip on her arm, as if she was going to restrain her if Venus did run forwards to take the fall for Harry.

"So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

"Just one thing," Harry admitted, still circling his greatest enemy.

"If it is not love that will save you this time, you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?" Voldemort asked.

"I believe both."

For a split second, Penelope saw shock flash across Voldemort's face. However, it didn't last long. He then began to laugh. The sound was honestly way more terrifying than his screams. Humorless and absolutely fucking insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.

"You think you know more magic than I do?" Voldemort questioned. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"

"Oh, he dreamed of it, but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done," Harry replied.

"You mean he was weak!" Voldemort shouted. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he was cleverer than you, a better wizard, a better man," Harry countered.

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did, but you were wrong."

Penelope slightly straightened up. She felt Ron's grip around her waist tighter. The tension in the room was insane.

"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort yelled, hurling the words at Harry like they would cause him to immediately break down. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"

"Yes, Dumbledore's dead, but you didn't have him killed," Harry revealed calmly. "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."

"What childish dream is this?" Voldemort inquired, still not striking and keeping his red eyes on Harry.

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," Harry explained, and Penelope raised an eyebrow. "Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort didn't answer. Him and Harry continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other to shreds.

"Snape's Patronus was a doe, the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized, he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

Voldemort sneered. "He desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him—"

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

"It matters not!" Voldemort shrieked, letting out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand! Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy — I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, it did," Harry agreed. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done . . . think, and try for some remorse, Riddle . . ."

"What is this?"

Out of all the things that Harry had said to him, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. Penelope saw Voldemort's pupils contract to thin slits and the skin around his eyes whitened.

"It's your one last chance it's all you've got left . . ." Harry said. "I've seen what you'll be otherwise . . . be a man . . . try . . . try for some remorse . . ."

"You dare—?" Voldemort stated again.

"Yes, I dare, because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all," Harry voiced. "It's backfired on you, Riddle." Penelope watched as Voldemort's hand trembled on the Elder Wand and she subconsciously moved closer to Ron ⁠ — the moment was coming, she could feel it. "That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed—"

"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"

"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort insisted, his voice shaking with malicious pleasure. "I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! Its power is mine!"

"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you?" Harry asked. "Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard . . . the Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance . . . the true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

Penelope froze and her eyes widened. No fucking way. Draco, the master of the Elder Wand? Her mind spun. It did make sense. That night on the Astronomy Tower, Draco had disarmed Dumbledore . . . he truly was the master of the most powerful wand ever. And he had no idea.

Voldemort blankly stared at Harry in shock for a moment. "But what does it matter? Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy . . ."

Penelope gritted her teeth. No. She was not going to let Voldemort take away another member of her family. Even after all the awful things Draco had done, deep down inside, Penelope knew he was still the same boy she had met on the Hogwarts Express in first year.

"But you're too late," Harry revealed. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him." Harry twitched the wand in his hand, and Penelope stared at the familiar weapon. "So it all comes down to this, doesn't it? Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does . . . I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

A red-gold glow, one the same colors of Gryffindor, suddenly burst across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, and Voldemort and Harry's faces looked like flaming blurs. And at once, the two shouted their spells.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry recited.

Penelope had no fucking clue why Harry only knew one spell.

However, it seemed to work. The bang of the spells colliding was like a cannon blast. A golden flame erupted between them, the dead center of the circle they had been walking, marking the point where the spells met. Voldemort's green jet met Harry's red one, and the Elder Wand flew high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling towards the master it wouldn't kill and who had come to take full possession of it at last.

Harry, using his Seeker skills, caught the wand in his free hand effortlessly. Voldemort fell backwards, his arms splayed the slit pupils of his scarlet eyes rolling upwards. He hit the floor, his body feeble and shrunken, his white hands empty, his snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse. Harry stood there with two wands in his hand as he stared down at his enemy's shell.

Penelope blinked. Well, all right.

There was a moment of silence until the shock of the moment suspended. Screams and cheers filled the Great Hall, and the fierce new sun gave the place a jubilant glow. Ron grabbed onto Penelope's hand and pulled her forwards, pushing through the crowd as they all thundered towards Harry.

Venus was the first one to reach Harry. The two of them stared at each other ⁠ — Venus in amazement, Harry in adoration — ⁠before they surged forwards at the same time and kissed. If anything, the cheers only got louder as they watched Hogwarts' golden couple kiss. Finally, they let each other go. Ron and Hermione hugged Harry next, and then Charlotte and Elijah, and then Penelope. She threw her arms around Harry and hugged him tightly.

The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. However, it was a mix of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration. Penelope placed a fake smile on her face, but she could tell those close to her (especially Ron) knew it was just a cover-up. The prospect of losing Nymphadora, Remus, and Fred all at once was all a little too much.

They had moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away from the bodies of Nymphadora, Remus, Fred, and the fifty others who had fallen. McGonagall had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to Houses anymore. They were all jumbled together, species of different kinds mingling together.

And that's where Penelope found herself sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, her head leaning on Ron's shoulder. She was sitting with Venus, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah as well. It reminded her of the times when they would eat breakfast together before Quidditch matches. That seemed like a million years ago.

"It's over, huh?" Penelope questioned tiredly.

"Thank God," Charlotte commented. "I never want to have the Cruciatus Curse used on me ever again."

Venus rubbed Charlotte's shoulder sadly.

Ron turned his head so that he was slightly looking down at Penelope. "You killed her, huh?"

"I did," Penelope responded simply. "I don't regret it. If that makes me a murderer, then fine, but she deserved it. After everything she did, after Dora . . ." She felt herself get choked up. "I'm glad she's gone."

Ron put his arm around her and pulled her in closer. Penelope nuzzled closer to the boy she loved and closed her eyes for a moment. She knew nothing would ever be the same, but at least the war was over.

☆ 彡

one more chapter . . . oh god