{important A/N at the end}

Above the halted courtyard, there was no god.

It hummed the way static did: each breath held in unison, each deadened eye held toward each other in a mass of stares. Harry Potter was dead, Harry Potter was dead, Harry Potter was dead.

Above the halted courtyard, maybe they didn't need a god.

Maybe the Beauregard girls were enough, they all thought, their hands all stained with the blood of those who died tonight. The reaching bodies of Remus and Tonks, together even in death; the blank stare of Fred Weasley, the empty half of a now-broken whole. I did this, Diana thought over and over until the words were no longer words and she was only hollow, leaned against the tight grip of Aberforth Dumbledore. She was no longer struggling from his grasp. There was something freeing in this confinement.

Lord Voldemort, his eyes already flickered back to red, looked on with his Death Eaters by his side.

There was something new. Something had awakened tonight, and it wasn't just her mother.

The words still hung in the stale air: hello, Tom. They were the words of old friends together at last, though it was bitter. More like two friend meeting after leaving on bad terms.

The silence held them in its grasp. Voldemort, the almighty king, could not speak. The Death Eaters, his trusty followers, awaited their leader's instructions. There were none yet.

Aberforth loosened his grasp on the settled girl. She did not run. She was empty. Hollow.

"You didn't think I'd find her, did you? You were waiting to find her yourself," Diana called. She stood now at the head of the remaining rebels, her mother at her side. This was the way it should be. The way it should've always been.

"I surely. . ." he trailed. His crimson eyes swirled. They were burgundy now. "I was planning to, yes, but it seems you've done it for me!"

The Death Eaters laughed, even though he hadn't said anything humorous. Voldemort, his face slicked into a twisted smile, held strong once again.

"You killed him," she said quietly, weakly. Her voice carried with the whispering breeze. "You killed Harry."

"He was trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort replied grandly. "Killed while trying to save himself!"

Diana seethed. "Tell the truth!"

Her voice shook the courtyard. Rattled their bones. The words took her back to an old memory she had watched, the one displaying young Tom Riddle being told of his powers. He had uttered the same words through his young, devious lips.

"You killed a boy for your own siege for power."

It was the woman. The stale air was electric beneath their fingertips. No one breathed, for the queen was speaking.

She took a small shuffled step forward.

"You killed a boy."

Voldemort's arms hung at his side. "I did what I had to do," he said, his voice raspy and raw. "All I have ever done was what I had to do to be great, with you at my side."

"This is not greatness," said Vera, her voice quiet, hidden. "This is tyranny."

"Is there a difference?" he shouted back. His eyes flickered to brown like a dying light bulb. His fists clenched until the sallow skin wrapped around his knuckles was white.

Diana grew red. "You half-blood," she spat, "you are no different than those you wish to rule over, Tom---"

"That is not my name!" he shouted, seething. His Death Eaters cowered. "Do you not see? Do you not see that you serve me? You foolish girl, a shame to our very name, I should kill you along with the weak boy---!"

She swiped her wand like a whip with a shout of rage. There was a blue light beam, headed straight for Tom Riddle, who deflected it with a flick of his wand.

"You horrible girl---" he shouted, raising his wand to strike.

"You will not hurt our child."

The words were a mess of hisses and sharp syllables. Parseltongue. Vera Beauregard stood between them, her eyes alight with a blue fire. She was alight, electric.

"Our child," he spat back in Parseltongue, "the abomination---"

Vera Beauregard, a wand suddenly held tightly in her left grasp, sent a violent streak of red sparks at him. They stuck to his empty hand like a sparkling fire. It sizzled. The scent of burning flesh made them shutter.

He stumbled backward in surprise. He couldn't even hide it: his brown eyes were wide, staring at the woman he loved as if he was truly seeing her for the first time.

"How dare you speak to her like that?" she whispered, but he heard. "How dare you speak to me like that?"

"Vera," he hissed her name in Parseltongue. "What has changed you?"

"I am not the one who changed," she whispered back gently, her eyes pained and softened. She took another step forward; they were just feet apart now. "I'm sorry I could not be here to save you from yourself---"

She broke off, for a great rumble shook them all.

From the forest, what seemed like an army of thundering steps came bounding, swarming out of the forest like a murder of crows, screaming and yelling with bows loaded and axes held high. A greater, shaking force moved them: Grawp the Giant came yelling out of the trees, swatting them aside like bugs.

"HAGGER!" he yelled over the screams of the crowd. He was bounding, stopped by the army of Voldemort's giants that sat behind the great walls that held them. They bounded to the young giant like rearing bulls, and the swarm of hooves and bows and shouts overtook them and the Death Eaters crouched and scurried like frightened creatures as they were overtaken by the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest.

Voldemort's great snake opened his jaws as if to swallow himself, rearing backward and launching toward someone---

Neville Longbottom, equipped with a ruby-encrusted silver sword, swung Gryffindor's sword like a bat at the approaching snake.

In a flash of blood against glinting silver, Neville struck Nagini, and the snake's body fell with a thud---

A mysterious mist created a barrier between Neville and Voldemort before the latter could raise his wand, someone was watching, someone was helping---

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

And then, all eyes were turning back and forth and back and forth searching for the Boy Who Lived, the Boy Who Lived Again, and then everyone was fleeing the giants' footsteps and the arrows of the centaurs; great winged creatures soared from the trees of the forest, their leathery wings spread like a bat's, clawing and picking at the giants' eyes like crows to a carcass; and now the wizards, defenders and enemies alike, were being forced back into the castle by the creatures and beasts raging outside. Everyone was throwing Jinxes and Curses and Diana held tight to her mother's heels, her eyes searching searching searching for the Boy Who Is Alive, yelling his name over and over and over for a response from the boy she loves. They were pushed into the Entrance Hall, a flurry of black cloaks and blood and beams of technicolor light.

And now there were even more streaming up the front steps into the castle, families with families clustered with the shopkeepers of Hogsmeade, the leading centaurs Bane, Ronan, and Magorian bursting into the Hall with the clash of knives.

The door to the kitchens was blasted off of its hinges.

An army emerged with high-pitched battle cries. At the head, there was Kreacher, with the hulking locket of Regulus Black bouncing against his bony chest. The Hogwarts House-elves swarmed toward them, hacking at enemy shins and knees as they shouted odd death omens and stabbing as many feet as they could manage with crazed eyes.

The three Riddles were at the center, shrouded by their own armies. Diana watched George and Lee Jordan slam Yaxley into the stone floor, watched as Dolohov fell and screamed at Flitwick's hand's, saw Walden Macnair being thrown across the floor by a roaring Hagrid. She saw Ron and Neville take down Fenrir Greyback, Arthur and Percy flooring Thicknesse, and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy yelling for their son---

Voldemort was now duelling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley all at once, a dance of fleeting footsteps and shots of light, and Voldemort was filled with so much hate, so much rage, and they were able to dodge his Killing Curses---

Bellatrix was screeching with laughter and she weaved her wand in and out toward Luna and Ginny, and Diana was ready to join until she was shunted aside.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

Mrs. Weasley had eyes of a killer as she threw off her cloak, charging for the black-haired woman. Bellatrix spun, roaring with horrifying laughter. 

"OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, straight-arming Ginny and Luna out of the way, and with a swipe of her wand they began to duel. Her wand slashed and swirled and jabbed in a mesmerizing scene, her opponent on the offensive, her wicked grin turning to a snarl.

A beam of light hit Bellatrix squarely in the chest. Her snarl faltered off of her lips, her eyes flickering out like a snuffed candle.

Voldemort blasted McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn off of their feet---he turned his wand to kill Molly Weasley, the murderer of his lieutenant, and someone shouted Protego!

Harry Potter, standing in the middle of the hall, his Invisibility Cloak in his hand, shielded Molly Weasly with his wand.

"Harry," Diana breathed, her hands shaking, her breath trembling, "HARRY!"

Everyone fell silent. In the middle of the hall, pushed into a large open are by the encircling crowd, there were only four: Harry Potter, Diana Riddle, Vera Beauregard, and Tom Riddle.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry yelled to everyone listening. His voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be just us."

In the middle of the hall, there was no god: there was just the Woman Who Slept, The Boy who Lived, and The Girl Who Must Die. Maybe tonight, as they face Lord Voldemort, they'll be their own gods.

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Hello everyone! I know, this book is really heating up, I'm freaking out just as much as you are. I have been working on an original story - the disclaimer was just posted a little bit ago on @HeidiElle - so if you'd like to check that out and vote on the disclaimer + prologue (I haven't yet posted it, but I will in just a matter of minutes) it would mean a great deal to me! Also, check me out on my instagram - link in bio!