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Blair struggled against the ropes that bound her. Voldemort laughed menacingly while he watched Blair struggle and try to go to her parents, who smiled weakly at her, trying to assure her they were alright. Harry was horrified at the sight before him. He too tried to struggle against the ropes but to no avail. Wormtail made them too tight. 

"Wormtail, untie her."

Wormtail approached Blair and raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of material gagging Blair, and then, with one swipe of his wand, cut through the bonds tying Blair to the gravestone. 

Blair fell to the ground and scrambled to her feet. She stood up shakily and despite the pain on her leg, she tried walking towards her parents, but Voldemort smiled evilly and raised his wand at her. "Crucio!"

Blair bit the inside of her cheek to hold in her screams, but she let out a yelp as she twitched and rolled on the ground. She felt a thousand knives, boring into her skin. She heard the muffled screams from Harry and her parents. Then, it was gone. Blair lay on the ground and panted before she ran shakily and jumped at her wand. 

"Crucio!" This time, Blair let out a yell of pain and writhed, but at least, she got her wand. She turned around and made a small shield wordlessly, and the pain stopped.

Silence came in the graveyard for a few moments. Voldemort looked at Blair with surprise in his eyes before smiling. "I knew I made the right choice with you, Blair Wood. Now, if you do not want your parents here to die, you will not attack and drop your wand." 

Blair hesitated, but when Voldemort was about to point his wand at Blake and Olivia, she immediately dropped it. "Okay, fine. But please. Don't hurt them. Just-just take me instead."

Voldemort started laughing, and the Death Eaters laughed with him. "Did you hear what she said. Just-just take me instead." He mocked Blair. 

Blair clenched her fists tight before starting to think. She needed her wand. She had to get it to be able to save Harry and her parents. 

"Blair Wood. You should know that you're not in a position to ask me, the Dark Lord, for something. And for that, your family shall pay. Crucio!" Blake and Olivia started twitching and screaming against the gags in the same way that Blair was a while ago. 

"Stop it, please! You're hurting them." 

But at her words, Voldemort just grinned and seemed to intensify it. Blair's heart broke at how her parents were in so much pain. She fell to her knees. "Please! Stop." Her voice cracked, and Voldemort finally released the spell.

Voldemort smiled at her. "Well, then. Blair Wood. I'm giving you a choice. Choose one... And one of them will survive." 

Blair looked at him, horrified. Only one? "W-What?" 

"I don't need to repeat it, Wood. Choose one or none will survive." Voldemort said in his cold voice. "Wormtail, let them speak. Let's give them a few minutes, shall we? The Dark Lord is merciful after all." 

Wormtail removed the gags from Blake and Olivia's mouths and untied them. Blair looked at her parents, horrified before turning to Voldemort with tears in her eyes. "C-Can't I die instead? I'll take all the pain. I'll take everything. Please." 

Voldemort merely laughed at her. "Time is ticking, Blair Wood. Make a choice before I choose to kill them both."

Blair limped quickly to her parents. Blake cupped Blair's face. "You know what to do, Little B. You have to save your mother." 

Blair let the tears fall from her face as she shook her head. "No! Let me think. I can save you both." 

Voldemort and the Death Eaters laughed out loud. "Did you hear that, my friends? She says she can save them both. This pitiful girl. Blair Wood, make your choice now."

Olivia shook her head. "No, Blair. Save your dad, not-" 

"Olivia! Stop making this harder for her." Blake said loudly, keeping his own tears at bay. "Blair Aika Wood. You know what you need to do." 

Blair was about to protest when she realized how hard it was for Blake and nodded wordlessly. She was coming out of the graveyard, scarred with the memories of that night, and she was going to lose her father. The thought hit Blair right in the heart, but she had to stay strong. For her mother. For Harry. For her father, who was sacrificing himself for his family.

Blake smiled weakly before turning to the crying Olivia and kissing her on the lips one last time. Their lips met and their tears mixed. It was a painful sight for Blair. She never thought she'd see the day that her father would say goodbye.

Then, Blake turned to Blair and kissed her on the head. "I love you, Little B. I love you, Oliver and your mum. Take care of them, will you?"

Blair nodded shakily and turned to Voldemort, speaking the words she never wanted to say but she had to anyway. "P-Please save my mum." 

Voldemort smiled at her wickedly. "Good choice, Blair Wood." Then, he raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" 

But to Blair's horror, he pointed his wand at Olivia instead. A green beam of light flashed and went flying towards Olivia, and as if time slowed, Blair saw Olivia smile at her one last time and mouthed. "I love you."

"No!" Blake shouted out. 

Then, the green light struck Olivia, and Olivia was lying on the ground, dead. Blair stared into Olivia's blank eyes. Her tears fell out. She did not move and just watched Blake take Olivia's dead body into his arms and cry. She couldn't believe it. H-Her mother was dead?

"I'm not yet done, Blair Wood. Avada Kedavra!" 

Blair felt her whole world crashing down as the menacing green light struck Blake, and he too lay beside Olivia with blank eyes, holding her hand. Blair limped to her parents' bodies and hugged them tight as she cried out for them. 

They didn't deserve this. They were supposed to be at Hogwarts, safe as they waited for Blair to return. She wished that it was her instead. She wished that she wasn't powerful at all so that her parents didn't have to suffer for her. As Voldemort's spells hit her parents, a part of Blair died with them, and she knew it was never coming back. This night would scar her, Harry, everyone forever.

Because of her grief, she didn't see Voldemort raise his wand and point it at her. "Surgant angues. Et occidit potestate. Vitam æternam, per dolorem et certaminis defore." 

Blair felt a pain she had never felt before and screamed out. She felt as if her body was being torn apart, and then, she felt as if there was something being forced inside her, but though this was the most painful pain Blair felt in her body, it couldn't compare to what she felt a few moments ago. Being tricked into thinking that she could save one of her parents, but resulting to both of them dead, cold. 

Blair would never feel the warmth of their hugs again. Blair would never hear Olivia's shouts and motherly advice. Blair would never see Blake grin at her. She would never play be able to play Quidditch with Blake again. Then, Blair's heart broke even more. Oliver. How would she explain to Oliver that it was her fault that they were now orphans? How would she explain to Oliver that they'd never be complete again?

As Blair yelled and lay there, she saw how Harry was untied and handed his wand. He tried running to her, but Voldemort had cast the Crucio spell on him.

Blair kept on screaming out in agony for both her and Harry. "D-Don't!" 

A sudden burst of power came from Blair's body. It blasted Voldemort and all the Death Eaters away. They all fell to the floor while Blair made a small shield around Harry. Everyone looked at her in bewilderment. 

Blair felt the agony fade to a dull throb. Voldemort stood up quickly, and as she met his red eyes, she fell to the ground with a cry. Her chest had started hurting so much that she started gasping for breath. Then, the pain had left her body. Blair felt so tired she couldn't move her body, and she turned her head weakly to look at Harry and Voldemort.

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

"We bow to each other, Harry," said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. "Come, the niceties must be observed... Dumbledore would like you to show manners... Bow to death, Harry..." The Death Eaters were laughing again.

Voldemort's lipless mouth was smiling. Harry did not bow. "I said, bow," Voldemort said, raising his wand — and Blair saw Harry bow though it seemed forced, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever. 

Blair closed her eyes and thought. 'Hang in there, Harry.' Then, Blair moved her hand subtly and held out her palm. She concentrated and muttered under her breath. "Accio wand." Blair bit her lip when nothing happened. Then, she tried again, a little louder this time. "Accio wand!" She felt surprised when she felt her wand zoom into her hand.

Blair gritted her teeth and jumped up as she pointed her wand at Voldemort. "Stupefy!" 

That gave Harry a chance to roll behind the headstone of Voldemort's father, and Blair did the same. 

"James, are you alright?" Blair whispered. 

Harry nodded. "How about you? I'm sorry, Aika. I-" 

"Let's talk about it later. We have to focus now. Are you ready, James?" Blair said with a slight smile on her face. 

Harry smiled back. "Always, Aika."

Then, the two of them stood up and pointed their wands at Voldemort. As Harry and Blair shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort cried, "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry and Blair's — they met in midair — 

Suddenly, Blair's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; her hand seized up around it; she couldn't have released it if she'd wanted to — and a narrow beam of light connected the three wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold.

Blair, following the beam with her astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort's long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating, and she looked beside her to see that it was the same with Harry. 

And then — nothing could have prepared Blair for this — she felt her feet lift from the ground. She, Harry and Voldemort were all being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves...

The Death Eaters were shouting; they were asking Voldemort for instructions; they were closing in, reforming the circle around Blair, Harry and Voldemort, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands — 

The golden thread connecting Blair, Harry and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Blair, Harry and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they 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 Blair 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 and Blair's; 

Blair held onto her wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. "Do nothing unless I command you!" Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters.

And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air... It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Blair, Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Blair recognized, though she had heard it only once before in her life: phoenix song. It was the sound of hope to Blair... the most beautiful and welcome thing she had ever heard in her life...

She felt as though the song were inside her instead of just around her... It was the sound she connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in her ear...
'Don't break the connection.'

'I know,' Blair told the music, 'I know I mustn't...' But no sooner had she thought it, than the thing became much harder to do.

Her wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever... and now the beam between her, Harry and Voldemort changed too... it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands — Blair felt her wand give a shudder under her hand as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily her way...

The direction of the beam's movement was now toward her and Harry, from Voldemort, and she felt her wand shudder angrily... As the closest bead of light moved nearer to Blair's wand tip, the wood beneath her fingers grew so hot she feared it would burst into flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder Blair's wand vibrated; she was sure her wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under her fingers —

She concentrated every last particle of her mind upon forcing the bead back toward Voldemort, her ears full of phoenix song, her eyes furious, fixed... and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way... and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard now... Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful...

Two of the beads of light were quivering, inches from the tip of Voldemort's wand. Blair met eyes with Harry, and it seemed they thought of the same thing. She didn't understand why she was doing it, didn't know what it might achieve... but she now concentrated as she had never done in her life on forcing that bead of light right back into Voldemort's wand... and slowly... very slowly... it moved along the golden thread... it trembled for a moment. . . and then it connected...

At once, Voldemort's wand began to emit echoing screams of pain... then — Voldemort's red eyes widened with shock — a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished... the ghost of the hand he had made Wormtail... more shouts of pain... 

And then something much larger began to blossom from Voldemort's wand tip, a great, grayish something, no two grayish things that looked as though it were made of the solidest, densest smoke... There were heads... then chests and arms... the torsos of Blake and Olivia Wood. Blair's eyes filled with tears.

Blair thought to release her wand and run over to hug them, but instinct kept her clutching her wand tightly, so that the thread of golden light remained unbroken, even though the thick gray ghosts of Blake and Olivia Wood emerged in their entirety from the end of Voldemort's wand, as though it were squeezing itself out of a very narrow tunnel... and the shades of Blake and Olivia stood up, and looked up and down the golden thread of light, and spoke.

"Hold on, Blair, Harry," Blake's voice said. His voice was distant and echoing. Blair looked at Voldemort... his wide red eyes were still shocked... he had no more expected this than Blair had... and, very dimly, Blair heard the frightened yells of the Death Eaters, prowling around the edges of the golden dome... 

She looked back at Blake and Olivia and stared at them as a tear fell out of her eye. "Mum. Dad." 

Olivia smiled at her. "You two have done well. I'm so proud of you both." 

Blake let out a chuckle. "Take care of each other, alright, Little B, Harry?" 

Blair and Harry nodded simultaneously with tears running down both of their faces, and Blair mustered up a small smile for her parents.

More screams of pain from the wand... and then something else emerged from its tip... the dense shadow of a third head, quickly followed by arms and torso... his ghost fell next to Blake and Olivia's and surveyed Blair, Harry and Voldemort, and the golden web, and the connected wands, with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick... 

"He was a real wizard, then?" the old man said, his eyes on Voldemort. "Killed me, that one did... You fight him, kids..."

But already, yet another head was emerging... and this head, gray as a smoky statue, was a woman's... Harry, both arms shaking now as he fought to keep his wand still, saw her drop to the ground and straighten up like the others, staring... The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes.

"Don't let go, now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like Blake and Olivia's as though from very far away. "Don't let him get you, Harry, Blair — don't let go!"

 She and the other three shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while the Death Eaters flitted around the outside of it... and Voldemort's dead victims whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to Harry and Blair, and hissed words Blair couldn't hear to Voldemort.

And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort's wand... and Blair knew who it was. She saw the young woman only from pictures. It was Harry's mother. 

"Your father's coming..." she said quietly. "Hold on for your father, Harry... and for your parents, Blair... it will be all right... hold on..."

And he came... first his head, then his body... tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky, shadowy form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort's wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. 

He walked close to Harry and Blair, looking down at them, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear... 

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments... but we will give you time... you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts... do you understand, Harry, Blair? Please look after our son, Blair."

"Yes," Harry gasped. 

Blair smiled at them weakly. "I will, Mr. Prongs, Ms. Lily." James and Lily smiled at her. 

"Blair..." whispered the figure of Olivia, "we love you Blair." 

"I-I love you too, mum and dad." said Blair, her face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand. 

"Do it now," whispered James' voice, "be ready to run... do it now..."

"NOW!" Harry yelled; Blair pulled her wand upward with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song died — but the shadowy figures of Voldemort's victims did not disappear — they were closing in upon Voldemort, shielding Harry and Blair from his gaze —

And Blair ran as she had never run in her life, she stunned a few Death Eaters as she passed. She didn't care about the pain in her leg, her whole being concentrated on what she had to do —

"Stun them!" she heard Voldemort scream. 

Blair gripped her wand tightly and pointed it at the Death Eaters running at them. "Stupefy!" She didn't look back to see if they got stunned. She dived towards her parents' bodies with Harry close behind her. She grabbed her parents by the arms, and felt Harry's hand close on her wrist. 

"Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine! Get the girl!" shrieked Voldemort. 

She heard Harry yell. "Accio Cup!"

She heard Voldemort's scream of fury at the same moment that she felt the jerk behind her navel that meant the Portkey had worked — it was speeding her away in a whirl of wind and color, and her parents and Harry along with her... They were going back.

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