"I need to find Harry-" Nova began but a voice spoke over her. 

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone."

No matter how many times Nova repeated the fact the love of her life is dead, it seemed to bounce off of her. It was surreal, Harry being dead. 

"The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together." 

There was silence from the castle.

"Come," said Voldemort. 

Nova was the first out of the castle. Voldemort striding in front of them, wearing the great snake Nagini around his shoulders, now free of her enchanted cage. 

"Harry," sobbed Hagrid. "Oh, Harry . . . Harry . . ." 

"Stop." Voldemort ordered. 

The Death Eaters came to a halt. 

"NO!" Minnie screamed. 

That's the moment Nova believed Harry to be dead. She knew in her mind he is dead. But somewhere in her shattered heart, Harry is alive. 

"No!" 

"No!" 

"Harry! HARRY!"

These were the cries of Ron, Hermione, and Nova. It was like their voice caused an avalanche for many more began to scream and protest. 

"SILENCE!" cried Voldemort, and 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!"

Nova watched as Harry was placed in the grass. 

"You see?" said Voldemort as he strode back and forth. "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, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once more. 

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort, and there was relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save himself —" 

But Voldemort broke off. Neville stepped forward. 

"And who is this?" he said in his soft snake's hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?" Bellatrix laughed. 

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists. 

"So what if I am?" said Neville loudly. 

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

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army!" he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold. 

"Very well," said Voldemort, and Harry heard more danger in the silkiness of his voice than in the most powerful curse. "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he said quietly, "be it." 

Still watching through his lashes, Nova saw Voldemort wave his wand. Seconds later, out of one of the castle's shattered windows, something that looked like a misshapen bird flew through the half-light and landed in Voldemort's hand. He shook the mildewed object by its pointed end and it dangled, empty and ragged: the Sorting Hat. 

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," said Voldemort. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?" 

He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the hat onto Neville'shead, so that it slipped down below his eyes. There were movements from the watching crowd in front of the castle, and as one, the Death Eaters raised their wands, holding the fighters of Hogwarts at bay. 

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.

Screams cut through the air. 

"STOP!" Nova shouted as she stepped forward. She waved her hand, dousing the flame. 

She walked straight up to Voldemort. She ignored how every single Death Eater wand was pointing at her with ill intentions. She ignored the warnings her fellow defenders gave. 

Nova glared at Voldemort. His cold red eyes meeting her firey honey ones. 

"Ah! Nova Lupin-Black," He grinned sickly. "It's wonderful t see you've chosen the right side-"

Nova spit in Voldemort's face. 

Bellatrix moved to kill Nova, but Voldemort stopped her. He merely wiped the spit off. 

"I will never join you." Nova snarled. "I will not join the monster that took everything from me. You're the reason I don't have godparents. You're the reason I didn't have a childhood. You're the reason I never met my Uncle Reg. You're the reason my fathers are dead. You're the reason my stepmother is dead.

"I will never join the monster that goes against everything I stand for," Nova said strongly. "I will never stop fighting until I see your lifeless body at my feet."

"I'm starting to think she has a death wish . . ." Dorcus stated. 

"You're just now realizing this?" Regulus asked incredulously. 

"Shhh!" Sirius shushed. 

"I will not stop fighting until there isn't anything to fight for. You may think you've won by killing Harry." Nova stated. "But you're wrong. Killing Harry does not ensure victory! Not when some of the best witches and wizards are still standing, still fighting. You sure as hell won't be winning while I'm still breathing. 

"Not when I have a young boy who lost his parents tonight to take care of. Not when my best friends are in danger for who they love. Not when my best friends are targeted for who they support. Not when my best friends are being targetted by the blood that runs through their veins. Because that's my family, Tom." Nova seethed. "I find it rather hypocritical that you, a half-blood, preach of pure-blood supremacy-"

"SILENCE!" Voldemort demanded. 

"NO!" Nova rebelled. "Yes, Harry Potter is dead," Nova stated as tears sprung into her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "You act like that's your only threat, Tom. You were so afraid of an infant, you felt the need to kill him. Even then you failed."

In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle — 

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of the stampeding centaurs, and yet it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to the ground at his feet —

Hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry cast a Shield Charm between Neville and Voldemort before the latter could raise his wand. Then, over the screams and the roars and the thunderous stamps of the battling giants, Hagrid's yell came loudest of all. 

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "HARRY — WHERE'S HARRY?"

Chaos reigned. The charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone was fleeing the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearer thundered the reinforcements that had come from who knew where; Nova saw great winged creatures soaring around the heads of Voldemort'sgiants, thestrals and Buckbeak the hippogriff scratching at their eyes while Grawp punched and pummeled them; and now the wizards, defenders of Hogwarts and Death Eaters alike, were being forced back into the castle. 

Harry was shooting jinxes and curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not knowing what or who had hit them, and their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd. Still hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Harry was buffeted into the entrance hall: He was searching for Voldemort and saw him across the room, firing spells from his wand as he backed into the Great Hall, still screaming instructions to his followers as he sent curses flying left and right; Harry cast more Shield Charms, and Voldemort's would-be victims, Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, darted past him into the Great Hall, where they joined the fight already flourishing inside it. 

And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry sawCharlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pajamas. They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who had remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and homeowners of Hogsmeade. The centaurs Bane, Ronan, and Magorian burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges. 

The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers, and at their head, the locket of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, his bullfrog's voice audible even above this din: "Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"

Nova was thrown back into a wall by Bellatrix. 

"No one hurts my mistress!" Kreacher yelled before moving to stab Bellatrix's ankles. 

Nova got to her feet and apparated into the Great Hall just as Voldemort began to overpower Minnie, Kingsley, and Slughorn. 

She apparated once more right in from of the three adults, casting a shield charm. 

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CHALLENGE HIM TO A DUEL!" Sirius groaned. 

"She doesn't like rules," Alex stated. 

"She gets it from you," Remus blamed. 

Behind Voldemort, Nova saw Neville delivering the final blow to Bellatrix (a/n yes I know it was actually Molly that killed Bellatrix. I just feel like Neville should be the one to kill her). 

Voldemort, out of anger and despair, let out a blast of magic towards Nova. The girl in question was able to keep the blocking spell up. 

By now, everyone was watching the duel. 

Harry, under the Invisibility Cloak, was trying to find the best spot to intervene in. 

"Now, now, Tom, we are taught to control our emotions in pureblood households," Nova taunted. "You would know this, of course, if you grew up in one."

"Avada-"

Voldemort never got to finish his spell. 

A boulder came flying at him, knocking the monster to the floor. 

One after another, they buried the man that destroyed many lives. 

It was silent for a moment. Then Voldemort tried to rise up, but Nova used her Bad Bitch Powers to push him back down. 

"Thanks, love," Harry spoke, shocking everyone. "I'll take it from here."

Nova was too astonished to protest. 

The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of "Harry!" "HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once. 

The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other. 

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me." 

Nova was about to call Harry on his bullshit when Voldemort hissed. 

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?" 

Yeah okay. Nova was gonna let Harry deal with this one. 

"Nobody," said Harry 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?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taut and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will 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?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard?Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?" 

"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two."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," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "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 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?" 

"You dare —" 

"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "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 did not speak but prowled in a circle, and Harry knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized and at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret. . . . 

"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "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 Mudbloodmother like a cockroach, Potter — and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?" 

"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret. 

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

"I believe both," said Harry. 

Nova saw shock pass over Voldemort's face. 

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

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

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

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

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!" 

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

For the first time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one. 

"Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. "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," said Harry calmly, "but you didn't have him 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." 

"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's. 

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "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 did not answer. They continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other apart.

 "Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "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 said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?" 

"Doe obsessed bitch," Nova murmured.

"Ha!" Remus sang. "I told youuuuuuuuuu!"

"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "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," said Harry, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from 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!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let 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 SeverusSnape 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," said Harry. "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?" 

Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. Nova saw his pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten. 

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

"You dare — ?" said Voldemort again. 

"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It backfired on you, Riddle." 

Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco's very tightly. The moment, he knew, was seconds away. 

"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's voice shook 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? 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 allegiance. . . ." 

Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.

"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy." 

Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone. 

"But what does it matter?" he said softly. "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. . . ." 

"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him." 

Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it. 

"Holy fucking shit," Noa breathed out as the pieces came together. 

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "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 burst suddenly 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 so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand: 

"Avada Kedavra!" 

"Expelliarmus!"

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.

Cheers erupted through the Great Hall. 

People surrounded Harry to congratulate him. 

But Nova . . .she went to the Black Lake. She needed her space. 

Harry would come to find her when he's ready.

This means not even ten minutes later, Harry sat beside Nova. 

"Do I get my kiss now?" Harry asked cheekily. 

"No," Nova kept the smirk off her face. "You sacrificed yourself. That was strictly against the conditions."

Harry groaned and laid on his back. 

"I fixed my wand, you know?" Harry looked up at Nova. "It was broken, but I used the Elder Wand to fix it."

The two sat in comfortable silence. They were finally together after months apart. 

"I'm going to raise Teddy," Nova declared. 

"WHAT?"

"What?" Harry asked. 

"I'm going to raise Teddy," Nova repeated. "Andy just lost her daughter. Her husband not too long ago. She has her hands full with Timmy. I'm not going to force Teddy on to her while I can raise him.

"It's not like Andy isn't gonna be there," Nova stated. "I'm not going to steal Teddy from her. It's just . . .she's climbing in age and I don't want Teddy stressing her out."

Nova looked from the horizon down to Harry. 

"I don't expect you to help if you don't want to," Nova said. "I just thought I'd tell you."

"No. I'm going to help," Harry stated firmly. 

"So . . .now that you're a big shot hero," Nova teased. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to relax." Harry stated. "I want a job that I don't haven't worry about my death around every corner-"

"How about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Nova suggested. Harry sent her a look. "What? You loved teaching the D.A. it was the obvious choice."

"What about you?"

"Well unlike you, Mr. Snake-Slayer," Nova began. "I want something fast-paced. I was thinking about going professional as a chaser. Then maybe working my way towards an Auror."

"Looks like my relaxing lifestyle will be filled with worry," Harry joked. 

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Nova laughed sarcastically. "I hope you know, that I was planning on reforming necromancy in order to bring you back."

Harry opened his mouth to respond but Nova spoke again. 

"Then to kill you again."

Harry laughed openly. "I have no doubt."

Nova grinned. 

"I love you."

"I love you too."