Disclaimer: I own nothing!

~***~

8. Legend

~***~

Harry ended up getting separated from Voldemort in the sudden clash.

Curses and Hexes were flying everywhere – and in the midst of it all, Aurors from the Ministry started apparating in out of nowhere. Harry figured Snape had let them in on the attack –

Harry felt a killing curse bounce off, and jerked his head toward a masked Death Eater with an angry growl, suppressing the urge to hit the bastard with a well - placed bolt of lightning.

"Stupefy!"

The Death Eater went down quickly.

"Harry!"

His eyes widened when he saw his godfather and Remus Lupin bearing down on him, their wands drawn.

"Sirius!"

Sirius black stopped as reached Harry, his long black hair flowing in the storm winds that had sprung up. He was panting, and put a hand on Harry's shoulder for support.

"No time for greetings, Harry – Snape just bought it,"

Stricken, Harry stared at him.

"Voldemort saw him fighting against the Death Eaters – I'm sorry Harry – I didn't arrive in time – "

Remus stunned a pair of Death Eaters who'd been rapidly approaching. "We've got to move!"

"Ginny – where's Ginny?" Harry demanded, forcing his way through the battling wizards, his eyes wild. "Ginny!"

"Harry – he took her!" Ron rushed up, throwing a Death Eater out of his path effortlessly, despite the broken arm he held close to his side. Hermione screeched to a stop next to him, looking woozy, a massive bruise discoloring one cheek.

"He's got Ginny!"

Harry stared at Ron, and barely avoided being crushed by a Giant as it fell nearby, it's impact making the ground shake.

"Harry!" Sirius took his shoulders and shook him, hard. "Snap out of it! We'll get her back!"

Suddenly a cry went up.

"DEMENTORS!"

Shrieks and shouts filled the air, and Harry felt the world come crashing down around him as he turned and saw the hundreds of gray shrouded figures approaching from the misty edge of the Forbidden Forest.

~***~

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The white stag from Harry's wand shot out powerfully, making many of the Dementors scatter and vanish – but more just took their places.

It was useless.

There was no way they were going to make it – half the students at Hogwarts couldn't conjure a Patronus – and most of them were too young to even know what a Patronus was.

Harry watched the swarming Dementors hopelessly, watching his friends and classmates falling - and then resignedly closed his eyes, calling on the monster prowling eagerly inside, and the powers of the order of the phoenix…

~***~

Harry returned to himself with a massive effort.

He was on the ground.

He frowned, and opened his eyes reluctantly.

Why was it so damned cold?

Why was everything so blurry?

"H – Harry?"

He looked up to see a hazy starry night sky above him, and many distorted faces pressed in on him.

"Harry? You all right?"

"Ron?" Harry blinked, and sat up. The sight that greeted him was a grim one. He had to close his eyes against the nightmarishly indistinct scene of fallen friends and foes alike, before he stood up, feeling incredibly weak.

"What happened?"

Ron eyed him cautiously. "Harry, you don't remember?"

He shook his head, looking to Sirius and Remus.

"Harry, you got rid of all the Dementors," Hermione said in an awed, hushed voice over Ron's shoulder. "By yourself!"

"What?" Harry spun in a circle – squinting slightly to see - the army of Dementors was gone…and so, he realized suddenly, were his unwanted powers. He fumbled around for his wand and felt immediately comforted when he clutched it and the familiar tingle went through his body.

"Harry, I can't believe you don't remember!" Ron exclaimed, wincing over the pain in his arm. "You called up the biggest Patronus I've ever seen! It looked like a giant phoenix! It had to a hundred feet high! It was bloody brilliant!"

"It was impressive," agreed a ragged looking Remus.

Harry shook his head, giving up on trying to get a good look at anything. "The powers, Sirius – they're gone."

"What powers?" asked Ron and Hermione simultaneously.

"Long story," Harry muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Of all the bloody luck – I can't see a damned thing without my glasses."

"Oh, wait!" Hermione fished about in her pocket. "Here, Harry – "

Harry took the familiar round frames gratefully, and blinked as he slid them on, everything finally coming back into focus. He looked down at his hand –the Phoenix Mark was gone. "Thanks – how did you know -?"

"I didn't – Ginny had them," Hermione said matter of factly. "They kept falling out of her pocket in the forest, so she asked me to hold them."

"Ginny!" Exclaimed Harry, looking around frantically. "Where did he take her?"

"Well…it's not hard to answer that," Sirius said grimly. "Look."

Harry turned around to look out over the hills behind him – and saw the Dark Mark glittering high in the sky not far away.

He narrowed his eyes.

"He's a bloody idiot, really, giving away his position like that," Ron said in disgust.

"He thinks he's won," said Harry harshly, turning away from the sight.

"He thinks it's over."

"It 'is' over, Potter," came a cold, unsteady voice.

Harry saw a wounded Death Eater standing nearby removing his mask.

Lucius Malfoy teetered drunkenly before falling over, apparently unconscious.

"Maybe for you," Harry muttered again, looking back out over the hills.

~***~

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked away together.

Sirius and Remus very reluctantly stayed behind to help Hagrid and the unhurt students and Aurors move the wounded and critically ill back to the hospital at Hogwarts.

"What are we going to do, Harry?" Hermione asked as they climbed the hills toward the area beneath the Dark Mark.

Harry shrugged. "I'm going to kill him."

Ron and Hermione stopped to exchange looks and had to run to catch up with him.

~***~

"Apparently he didn't think it was as over as we thought," Ron said a few minutes later as they crested a hill and ran into several Death Eaters.

Harry didn't say a word.

~***~



Lost. If anyone had asked Ginny Weasley how she felt at that very moment, which would be the word she'd have used to describe it. Simply lost.

A cold March wind blew across the isolated glen she stood on, and she shivered in the sudden silence - the Dark Mark was glittering green high in the dark sky above her.

It was both a sign of Lord Voldemort's victory over Albus Dumbledore, and the sign of the passing of an age.

Ginny stayed still, bleeding a cut on her hand from where she'd caught herself when she'd tripped, running through the forest. She was exhausted, but unbent and unbroken, surrounded by ten or so hooded Death Eaters who had survived, or weren't lying hexed on the hills they'd left behind…headed by the skeletal form of Voldemort himself. She really had no defense- her wand had been torn from her hands moments earlier and now lay some distance away.

Where was Harry? In the seven years she'd known him, ever since she'd first heard his name, and the legend behind it, met the quiet boy with his shaggy black hair, bright green eyes and ready smile, he'd been with her, if not in body, then in spirit.

She'd watched him so often in those first years, blushing whenever he spoke to her, her delicate heart aching as his gaze passed over her, time and again, knowing he thought of her only as Ron's little sister.

But she'd known, even then, even as a very small child, that Harry Potter would become a very important part of her life, and her future. It had always been her own little secret, and she'd held his gentle, boyish image close until he'd at last began to notice her.

He'd always been a part of her - and yet it felt as if he was truly gone - and she feared the worst. Could he really be dead?

As her dark red curls whipped across her brown eyes and back, her black robes swirling, Voldemort stepped forward from his pack, his tall, thin form silhouetted against the fast moving clouds of the night sky.

Ginny's eyes widened when she saw the burning violet eyes. She took several steps backward, inwardly cursing her fear, feeling more lost than ever…

The wind blew a gust of gray - green smoke, residue from the many battles on the hills behind them, across the space between her and the Dark Lord. Ginny felt a sudden urge to run, but she knew deep down she'd never in a million years make it.

Straightening her shoulders, she reminded herself that she was a Weasley, and also Harry Potter's girlfriend. There wasn't a chance in Hell that she'd be found on her face in the dirt, having tried to run from the dirty old rotter.

She squinted through the smoke as it billowed around her, feeling it sting her eyes and burn her throat as she inhaled it. Her breath choked in her throat as she realized she would be dead in mere moments, gone the way of so many other of Voldemort's enemies - her heart began a painful race in her chest, and she knew that her fear was beginning to overtake her.

When her nemesis appeared once again through the smoke, there was only fear, a fear of Death, and a fear of never seeing Harry Potter again. Harry, where are you?

Voldemort looked impatient, his snake - like nostrils flaring as he grinned coldly, finally hissing at her. "Still missing young Potter, I see…Ah, we need not hash over things not meant to be, eh? A useless venture, considering the foolish lad left you to fall into my hands."

Ginny stared back at him unwaveringly, her heart pounding in fear, her face remaining stoic and cool.

Voldemort looked evilly triumphant as he pulled his wand from the inside of his robe.

Ginny took a last breath and closed her eyes, breathing Harry's name as she felt Voldemort point the wand at her…

Her ears rang with his curse as she heard him shout the words she'd been dreading, and with the noise of the explosion that immediately followed it.

"Avada Kadavra!"

Ginny felt the force of the blast and saw the green light flash through her eyelids before everything went dark, and she felt herself falling…



~***~



Harry struggled up the last hill before reaching the top that overlooked the large glen where Voldemort's mark glittered high above in the sky. His breath wheezed in and out of his chest, and he raised a hand to flick his blood soaked bangs from his eyes, gingerly prodding the wound from a particularly troublesome Death Eater that had almost taken his life at his temple as he surveyed the scene below.

His heart seized up in his chest as he saw Voldemort pointing his wand at a young teen - aged witch with familiar dark red curls - "GINNY!"

Ron caught up with him then, throwing Harry a questioning look before seeing what was taking place below and taking off at a run, cursing and shouting. Hermione practically flew down the hill after him, yelling, her wand drawn.

Thinking furiously, Harry pulled out his wand and yelled, "Accio Firebolt!"

Precious moments later, Harry kicked off the top of the hill on his Firebolt, and was speeding down the impossibly steep slope, past Ron and Hermione, past the Death Eaters, and before Voldemort knew what he was about, Harry had zoomed past the wanker, sending him off balance enough to divert the curse from Ginny - but not totally.

Just as Harry came flush with Ginny, the deadly curse had her sliding down towards the ground, and he caught her up in his arms as he passed, lightning quick, leaving Voldemort screeching in fury.

"Impedimenta!"

The curse missed its mark as Harry rose at an abrupt angle into the air, swerving dangerously. The extra weight on his broom was unexpected, and he had some trouble steering the Firebolt exactly where he wanted it to go. He straightened out, though, and looked down to see Ron and Hermione making a break for it, rushing back over the top of the hill, Death Eaters not far behind, some on brooms.

Cursing loudly, Harry readjusted Ginny safely in his arm and sped down, going into a vertical dive so fast it made his skin sting on his face. The wound on his temple was hammering at him, hindering his thought process, slowing him down, and distracting him. Harry shook his head to clear it, his piercing green eyes narrowing determinedly under the fringe of messy black bangs. Time for a Wronski Feint, Harry…and it had better be your best damned one ever-

He clenched his teeth as he dove, fighting the urge to pull up, and the Death Eaters finally looked up, saw him coming at them at an insane speed, and fled, rushing off in all directions. Harry saw Voldemort cursing his own followers as they ran off in cowardice, leaving him to stand - alone.

One side of Harry's lips pulled up in a slight snarl as he bore down on Voldemort, intent on at least scaring the pants off the murdering bastard.

Voldemort stopped cursing long enough to turn and look up, his fiery violet eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Harry rushing down on his broomstick. He did find the time to point his wand and shout his curse murderously before Harry reached him.

"Avada Kadavra!"

Harry pulled back on the broom handle just before impact with Voldemort, leaning to the extreme left and spinning violently head over heels to escape the green fire as it shot at him, and then used his booted feet to kick back off - on Voldemort's bald white head.

He grinned shamelessly and then sped off, seeing that Ron and Hermione were now at a safe distance.

Voldemort was left screaming his fury in the deserted glen, and Harry had to make marked efforts to avoid the blazing lightning bolts conjured and sent his way.

By the time they had made it back to the relative safety of Hogwarts, rain was hitting them pretty hard, thunder sounding ominously in the distance.

Ron held his sister anxiously while Harry got off the Firebolt, and then they all hurried inside to reach the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey, who already had her hands full with the wounded.

~***~

"She's not dead!" Madam Pomfrey announced incredulously, sounding very startled.

"You said she was hit by a killing curse!"

"She was," Harry said, wincing as he held a pack of ice to his temple. He stood next to Ginny's bed, refusing to be budged as Pomfrey examined her.

"I don't understand – oh dear."

Harry watched as the woman pulled off Ginny's robes – and revealed the blackened charm stone tied on a ribbon around her neck.

"Good thing you gave that to her," announced Hermione importantly from her place on the other side of Ginny's bed.

Ron was on the other side of the room, cursing as Sirius set his broke arm and cast it.

"Good thing Dobby gave it to me," answered Harry, curling a scratched, bloodied hand around the ruined charm stone and placing it on the bedside table.

"Is she all right, or what?" called Ron impatiently over the chaos.

"She should wake up soon," Pomfrey announced a few moments later. "She may experience some side effects, but she should be all right."

Harry felt his shoulders sag in relief. "Thank God."

"I'll go tell Ron," Hermione said dryly, as the boy started shouting again.

"Don't you dare put me in that bed next to Draco Malfoy – I don't care if he 'is' half dead! I'm not sleeping next to that slimy git!"

Harry frowned at Madam Pomfrey. "I thought Malfoy had been coming 'round."

The older woman shook her head sadly. "They always improve the most right before they – well, I came in this morning, and he was unconscious again. There's no telling how long he'll last – or if he'll ever recover."

Swallowing, Harry looked away. He couldn't help but feel responsible.

Draco had always been a pain, but he didn't really deserve to die…

Harry was left alone with Ginny as Pomfrey was called away, and he sat in a chair at the edge of her bed, and buried his head in her lap, so tired he doubted his own ability to ever move again.

That was when he heard it.

'Harry,'

Harry opened his eyes reluctantly, and tried to force the familiar voice away.

'Harry, you know what must be done…'

"I know," he murmured tiredly. "It has to end."

He looked up at Ginny's pale face, and sighed raggedly. He didn't recall ever feeling quite as badly in his entire life as he did at that very moment.

"I love you, Ginny," he whispered, as he dragged himself halfheartedly to his feet again, and leaned over to give her a lingering kiss, still disbelieving that she could actually be alive.

"Wait for me."

In the crowd of teachers, parents, and students in the infirmary, no one noticed the boy who lived slipping out the double doors.

~***~

Ginny woke up slowly, aching in a hundred different places.

She looked around, hardly able to believe she was really alive.

"Harry?"

She saw Hermione lean over her bed.

She had red, puffy eyes, and was sniffing suspiciously.

A cold rush of fear gripped her.

"Where's Harry?"

"Oh God, Ginny…he's gone – he left. He went to find Voldemort. He's gone."

Ginny turned her aching head into her pillow, and then sat up determinedly, although a bit slowly.

"Where's Ron? Is he all right?"

Hermione bit her lip, nodding. "He's fine – he broke his arm, but he'll be all right."

Ginny swung her legs over the bed and Hermione caught her shoulders.

"No, stop – you can't get up yet – "

"I have to go find Harry, Hermione," she pleaded, her eyes full of worry and panic. "Don't you see? I have to try…"

Hermione studied her for a long moment. "I'm crazy, I have to be…but okay. Let's go."

"You don't have to come, Hermione," Ginny said as she carefully stood, her friend helping her dress quickly.

"I have to – you're right – I'd never forgive myself if I let Harry go without trying to help him – " she sniffled again, and helped Ginny towards the door.

"Where did he go, do you think?"

The two girls gasped as Sirius, Ron, and Remus stepped in front of them.

Ron's eyes crinkled as he grinned. He waved his arm in its pristine white cast. "Where do you two think you're going without us?"

~***~



(A/N: So who wants to murder me? ^_^ It's running longer then I thought, the end – but don't they always when it comes to me? Anyway last chapter up very soon. Hope you liked this. ~ Lee)