The horcrux had raged, writhed, screamed, and then died, burning up when set against the fire of Harry's magic. Harry had sent as much power as he could through to Voldemort himself through that unnatural link to him. When the horcrux had at last perished, Voldemort had been screaming, though Harry couldn't know what had happened to him after. That bridge was, now and forever, burned.
Harry noticed the difference almost immediately, that stain on his soul finally being scrubbed clean. He felt better. When he slowly breathed after it was done, it was like breathing clean air for the first time.
Ginny, noticing this, smiled. "You did it."
"We did it." Harry confirmed. They'd done it- Hermione's plan, Ginny's dream, his faintest, slimmest, wildest chance. This had been it, the culmination of everything they'd done since, god, it seemed like forever ago. It hadn't even been a year, but it felt like a different lifetime.
"Yes!" Luna jumped up and pumped her fist exuberantly. "We did it!"
"Its not over yet." Hermione temporized, even though she too was smiling, the celebration was infection. "We need to finish it. Finish him."
"Are you ready, Harry?" Ron asked him. Harry glanced to him, his eyes registering Daphne Greengrass's presence next to him.
They've really been spearheading the organization of this. Hermione told him. I was more focused on the theoretical aspect of everything.
"As I'll ever be." Harry answered. "Let's do this."
Beneath his newfound feelings of clarity and freedom, Harry knew they weren't out of the woods. Voldemort was still out there, Nagini needed to be killed, he had a legion of Death Eaters at his disposal, and god knew what else… but no matter what happened, he was prepared to face it. Even if he still died, he'd be able to go out without regrets, knowing that he did all he could.
With that morbid thought, they set off. In Harry's absence, his girls and the Order had collected an impressive group to go along with this plan. He was surprised to see most of the of age DA- members with them, and many older Hogwarts students he knew. Neville, sticking close to Hannah, gave Harry a nod of acknowledgment. Then there was Padme and Parvati, Dean and Seamus, Angelina and Alicia. He could practically feel the displeasure that some of his bond-mates felt to Cho Chang's presence, but she had been willing, and they needed every wand they could get. A number of Aurors Harry only vaguely recognized had also joined them. Then there were the Order members- Moody, McGonagall, Flitwick, Kingsley and more. Tonks was trailing behind with Remus, she was walking gingerly, yet seemed determined to take part. The entirety of the Weasley clan had arrived in force- Molly and Arthur, Bill, Charlie, the twins, and Percy, when did that happen?
Right around when Perce's precious ministry became Voldemort's puppet. Ginny snorted.
They immediately met resistance- it would have been nearly impossible to miss the breach in the wards- but Harry and his girls were able to cut a swathe through the Death Eaters. Harry led the way, flanked on one side by Ginny, Fleur, and Luna, on the other by Hermione, Katie, and Susan, with Demelza acting as a rearguard. Bellatrix truly had been Voldemort's most deadly servant. None who remained could quite hold a candle to them when they worked together, and they'd never worked together nearly as well as they did now.
They acted less as 8 separate people, than as a unified machine where each played up their strengths. Some- like Ginny and Katie- struck hard and fast. Others- such as Demelza and Susan- were more cautious and deliberate, pooling firepower for tougher targets. Luna was both an experienced and creative dualist, and tended to find creative ways of disposing of Death Eaters, such as leaving them half buried alive in the walls or floor. In addition to Hermione's increasingly broad spell vocabulary, her fey sight made her an excellent spotter. And then there was Fleur, who shocked their enemies (and their allies) with her newfound ability to transform in and out of her avian form- apparently at will. She was able to leap across the battlefield and get in close while enjoying a large measure of spell resistance- using her allure, her fire, and her claws to devastating effect.
That left Harry himself- objectively the most powerful wizard the light had left, and truthfully he didn't know the extent of his power now, after the most recent rituals. Magic flew from his wand and his hand effortlessly, blasting, cursing, and dismantling all obstacles in his way with ease. His raw power combined with an instinct for combat and no shortage of experience for a wizard of his age.
Other teams split off to clear various sections of the building, but Harry and the coven went straight to the heart, where, according to Hermione's fey sight, Voldemort likely resided. It was a muddle, but the largest concentration of magical power was there. It made sense. Soon Death Eater resistance melted away, save the occasional ambush that Hermione was able to see coming a mile away and were summarily dealt with before the Death Eaters could even get a spell off.
They eventually made it to an imposing wooden door. Remarkably, the door was cracked open, and Harry was able to simply push through. Harry could feel the wards wrap around him as he passed, this room was warded separately from the rest of the manor, he doubted they'd be able to apparate out. If the door hadn't been left open, breaking it down would have been… difficult.
Originally, this would have been the entrance to an elegant sitting room, but it had been… converted. A map of, in a fashion, wizarding Britain lay on the table, bookshelves with books of dark magic lined the walls, sheafs of parchment with notes in Voldemort's scrawl- still recognizable from the writing his diary produced after all these years.
Snape's body laid there limply, cast awkwardly across an armchair like a shed coat. Perhaps he was the reason why the door was left just slightly ajar. Regardless, Harry knew he was dead. He didn't mourn the man, but he didn't feel any sort of vindication either. Snape had been a petty, cruel, vindictive man. He'd also, ultimately, chosen to fight against Voldemort. Both of those were true, and Harry felt that Snape's life, such as it was, was a closed book, one that could be filed away with no particular need to be reopened.
They journeyed deeper into the room, which was clearly magically expanded. Each step they took increased the tension in the air. They all tread cautiously, wands held aloft, jerking at even a hint of movement. Caldrons, potion ingredients, body parts, magical equipment… this wasn't a throne room or a reception area. They'd stumbled into Voldemort's personal workshop. That was why the magic was here.
"I wonder what he was working on." Hermione mused, her ever curious mind processing what she was seeing. Soul magic, necromancy, mind control, rituals. She was certain the more she looked, the more ominous it would be. No one else spoke, the silence seemed too oppressive to break.
And then "Oh my god." Susan choked out "Is that?"
It certainly looked like Voldemort's body. While Harry approached it, the others stood rigidly, wands out and pointing at it like it was a viper about to strike. It was a more than fair reaction, Harry felt. On closer inspection, it was clear that he had suffered an agonizing death, if that was indeed what had happened. His face was contorted in an tormented scream, while congealed blood still leaked from his mouth and nostrils. Welts and scratch marks covered his upper body, as if he'd been trying to scrape his own skin off. It seemed that Harry assault had been remarkably effective. He cautiously placed his fingers to Voldemort's throat- no pulse.
"I don't like it." Harry said at last "It's too easy."
"Indeed." Said a raspy, unnatural, yet hauntingly familiar voice.
While the girls jumped at jutted their wands in the direction of the new voice, Harry deliberately turned calmly toward him. While the person confronting them was standing in Albus Dumbledore's body, this wasn't Albus Dumbledore.
In one hand Tom Riddle gripped Dumbledore's wand, and on the other he wore a serpent ring encrusted with a black jewel. Darkened eyes stared back into Harry's green, and Dumbledore's wizened face twisted into an unnaturally countenance that looked far more at home on Voldemort's almost serpentine features. Power rolled off him, giving Harry goosebumps- the power of two archmages subjugated into one body.
It wasn't that Harry wasn't afraid. He was as terrified as any of his bond-mates. Their fear and determination were mirrors to his own. And that was what he steeled himself with, what gave him the strength to look Voldemort in the eyes calmly, knowing that one of them would die tonight. This was his burden, his destiny. He was surrounded by people he loved, people who would stand with him and fight with him, but they were all counting on him, relying on him. He'd be strong for them, just like they'd been for him.
"Hello, Tom."
-----
Ron couldn't help but watch as Harry and his girls blazed through Death Eaters like they were nothing. They cut through Voldemort's forced like a knife aimed straight at the heart of the beast.
Meanwhile, there rest of them were forced to slowly, agonizingly, beat back the rest. It was fortunate that Harry and company had drawn so much attention that the rest of their forces were at least able to take the initiative, forcing the Death Eaters into a fighting retreat. Ron, Daphne, and a small cadre of Order and DA members drove downwards into the dungeons. That had been their wing's goal- to find any prisoners and get them out.
For Daphne's sake, he hoped they succeeded. If her sister was anywhere, it was down there.
The wide entrance halls turned to narrow corridors, and the fighting became increasingly claustrophobic and brutal. Perhaps recklessly, he charged down a stairwell after a retreating Death Eater, hoping to close the gap between them before he could regroup and set up an ambush that would be impossible to avoid in the tight space.
"Avada Kedavra!" To Ron's surprise, it was a woman's voice muffled by the mask. There were a great many blood supremacist women, but they did tend to stay away from the front lines, though clearly not all of them did so. He'd managed to grab her arm and force her wand upwards, but the tip of her wand nevertheless lit up with the deadly green of the killing curse, which shot into the ceiling with explosive results.
Daphne, who had been a step behind him, launched him forward in a tackle. The three combatants tumbled down the stairs into a heap as rubble closed behind them. Ron briefly grappled with the Death Eater until Daphne took advantage of the situation and stunned her.
"Thanks." He grunted, looking up at her. She was sweating, grimy, and beautiful.
Whatever snappy reply she had line up died on her lips as she breathed in. "Ron." She hissed, suddenly serious "Its him."
Ron tried to catch up. Him could only refer to a few people, and Voldemort wasn't likely to be in the dungeon. No, it could only mean…
"Well, isn't this interesting." Greyback crooned, stepping out from the shadows. "I'm flattered, I recognize your scent too."
Ron shuddered, the memory of his last encounter with the savage man, his teeth ripping into his face, blood flowing, a scar he'd have for the rest of his life. He'd seen Daphne's own scarring on her thigh, where he'd bitten her in his wolf form. Greyback had been grotesque back at the raid on Hogwarts, but if anything he was worse down. His face dripped with saliva and blood, and blood was also caked onto his bare upper body.
"What are you doing down here?" Ron growled, pushing himself off the floor to look up at the werewolf who'd haunted his dreams for months.
"Having fun." He said simply.
Daphne suddenly turned feral "What did you do to her!" She lunged for Greyback, but he lashed out and forced her back into the wall. "If you even touched her I'll, I'll-"
"Oh, I did a lot more than just touch her." Greyback grinned. "Its been fun, having these pureblood spawn to break." It was then that Ron noticed the occupant of the cell Greyback had stepped out of. Draco Malfoy.
Merlin. He actually pitied him. The blonde boy had been awful at school, Ron had hated his guts, but he hadn't wanted this. He was strung up by his arms, completely nude, feet dangling limply just inches from the ground. He was barely recognizable- only by his hair and eyes, everything else was covered in scars or fresh wounds.
"Confrigo!" Daphne roared, but the spell, which should have caused massive explosive damage to anyone who was hit with it, merely briefly staggered Greyback. Werewolves normally were only resistant to magic on the full moon, but then, Greyback was no normal werewolf. Ron scrabbled for his own wand, but to his despair found that it had broken in the fall. The Death Eater's wand was nowhere to be found, possibly having clattered out of reach.
Greyback didn't seem to be in a particular hurry to come to blows, stalking calmly towards them, saliva dripping from his mouth as sized them up. "Bellatrix preferred her little nephew, for sure, but I've enjoyed them all."
"Diffindo! Confrigo! Reducto! Stupefy! Incarcerus!" Daphne launched a barrage of spells at him, the only one that meaningfully phased him was incarcerus. Greyback easily ripped through the sturdy ropes she summoned around him, but Ron took the brief opportunity to rush him. For a moment, the element of surprise allowed him to land a few solid blows, but the old man was just stronger than him. The fight quickly turned on him, and he was smashed against the wall, once, twice, again and again- hand around his throat, breath not coming, vision blurring.
He was dazed and could barely see in front of him, when the assault stopped. Not out of mercy, but simply because Greyback wanted to taunt him. "I'm going to break your little bitch of a sister next. She's never known a man like me, that pathetic little-"
"Crucio."
Ron could finally breathe as Greyback stumbled backward, then fell to his knees, began grunting, and then finally, screamed.
Daphne glared down at him, barely contained rage in her eyes, rage that was being channeled straight into the monster that was now at her mercy. She let him scream, and scream, and scream for minutes, until he collapsed into a pile on the ground. At that point, she lifted the curse, and spat at him. "I wonder if Saint Mungos has room for you next to the Longbottoms. Let's find out."
In hindsight, giving him even that brief respite was a mistake. It was all Greyback needed to throw himself at her legs, toppling her over. "You bitch!" He raged, now rabid, nearly foaming at the mouth "I'll kill you! I'll eat you alive!"
Now Daphne was the one at the disadvantage, and Greyback was done toying with them. A powerful blow to the face had her sprawling back, completely defenseless. Ron acted fast, jumping onto the werewolf's back and wrapping his arms around his neck. Daphne used Ron's intervention to recover and launched herself at Greyback's arm.
Even with both of them struggling against him, Greyback had gone completely feral. In a few moments, he was choking Daphne out even as she wrenched at his arm with all her might, while simultaneously crushing Ron against the wall. All the way, he spewed obscenities, raging about how he would kill them, eat them, devour and defile them and their family. It was all they could do to hold on.
It was then that the rubble blocking the stairwell reassembled itself, revealing on the other side, as fate would have it, Remus Lupin.
The older man's eyes narrowed fiercely as the scene registered with him. Then, with a smooth motion he raised his wand. Greyback surged forward, his struggle with Ron and Daphne forgotten. Both teens held him back, straining to keep him in place. "Boy! Boy! You don't have the stones! You don't-"
Finally, deliberately, Lupin said "Expulso."
Greyback reared back, howling as Lupin's spell did what Daphne's earlier spells couldn't. This one, at last, was powerful enough to pierce his magic resistance and injure him, leaving a deep gouge in his chest. Lupin followed it up with another "Expulso." It was chilling, how calm he was as he said it. In contrast to the fury and frantic struggle for survival that had been the last few minutes- Remus Lupin was quiet steel.
Greyback was forced back again, as Ron and Daphne finally got the upper hand against him and could hold him fully in place as Lupin sent spell after spell in Greyback's chest, until the monster stopped breathing.
Ron fell back into the wall, gasping for breath as relief and a thousand other emotions surged through him. Daphne, however, jerked to attention and started looking through the cells. "Oh. Oh my god. 'Tory." She sniffled. Ron was morbidly curious, but he suspected it would be best to hang back rather than potentially further traumatize the younger girl. "Its gonna be okay. You're safe now. You'll never have to see them again." He'd never seen Daphne speak so tenderly, either at Hogwarts or in the past few months. The things Greyback implied he'd done curdled his stomach. But at least she was alive.
Ron instead, wearily turned to Malfoy. He was grateful when Lupin took charge, releasing him from his chains and easing him to the ground. "We're going to need Saint Mungos for these people." He said. Malfoy wasn't responsive, seemingly catatonic. That was probably for the best. "Assuming we can-" He froze, sniffing the air.
"Accio Wormtail." A small squeal pierced the air as that familiar rat soared into Lupin's hand. "Sneaking away. Of course. Little rat."
By this point, Lupin was joined by a few other order members- including Tonks and Hestia Jones. Forcing Pettigrew into his human form and subduing him was child's play compared to Greyback. "R-remus." He stammered, holding out his bound hands pleadingly "I-I'm so-"
"Silencio." Remus muttered, turning away with disgust, simply letting the man's mouth run uselessly. Hestia pushed past, clearing the cells, while Tonks fell back and produced a scrap of red fabric. Ron recognized it as one of their emergency portkeys. These people would be deposited straight into a safehouse where Madam Pomfrey and a number of volunteer healers would stabilize them until Saint Mungos was cleared of Voldemort's agents.
At that moment, however, Wormtail tensed up- his mouth contorting into a silent scream. The Dark Mark tattooed along his forearm pulsed as if it was alive, and suddenly it was as if the man's life was being sucked out through the mark. Blood vessels bulged and his skin seemed to retract onto his frame as convulsion wracked his body. When he went still, all that was left was a desiccated corpse. Malfoy had suffered the same fate, though with much less struggle on his part.
"What just happened to them?" Ron asked "Is everyone else alright?"
"If you don't have a Dark Mark, you're fine, I'd imagine." Lupin said grimly. Ron could only ponder what had triggered this. Was Voldemort gone or had this, somehow, been a part of his plan? "Come on, let's get these people out of here."