"They're all gone," Johnny heard his Aunt Lily's voice in his head. "The Horcruxes, this is your chance, Johnny."

Johnny awoke on the cold, hard floor of the Great Hall. A battle was going on around him as he sat up, confusion written on his face. The last thing he remembered was getting hit by the Killing Curse, so how was he alive? Johnny didn't have time to figure out the answer, as he saw Voldemort in the centre, aiming his wand at Molly Weasley.

"Protego!" roared Johnny, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared him down.

The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of: "Johnny!"

"HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once. The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Johnny looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other.

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

Voldemort hissed.

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

"Nobody," said Johnny simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. One of us is making it out alive, Tom."

"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 it was you who killed the wolf inside, not the human?" asked Johnny. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Johnny 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 didn't strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but them 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, stepping out to stand beside Ron, who clapped him on the back, just as continued Johnny and Voldemort circled, and stared into each other's eyes, blue into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? Johnny and I were ready to die to stop you from hurting these people-"

"But you did not!" Snapped Voldemort, taking his eyes off Johnny for a second.

"-We meant to, and that's what did it. We've done what my Aunt Lily 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, Tom, do you?" Spoke Johnny, in a low cold voice. "Everyone standing in this room, my fiancé and my child can't be harmed by you."

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare," said Johnny. "Harry and I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. We know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

Voldemort didn't speak, but prowled in a circle, and Johnny knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerised at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Johnny might indeed know a final secret....

"Is it love?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Muddblood Aunt 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 Johnny, 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 Johnny, and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humorless and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.

"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 Johnny, "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, not moving from his place besides Ron, "a better wizard, a better man."

"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

"You thought you did," said Johnny, "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 and Johnny as in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle, "I have seen it, and he will not return!"

"Yes, Dumbledore is dead," said Johnny 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 didn't strike, and his red eyes didn't waver from Johnny's .

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry, finally stepping besides Johnny. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you starting hunting down my mother. And you never realised it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort didn't answer. Harry stepped out, and Voldemort and Johnny continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other apart. Pun intended.

"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 realised," Harry said as Voldemort's nostrils flared, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"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 family, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, 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 boys- I reached the wand before either of you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong!"

"Yeah, it did." said Johnny. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you think what you've done... Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle..."

"What is this?"

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

"It's your one last chance," said Johnny, "it's all you've got left... Be a man... try... try for some remorse...."

"You dare-?" said Voldemort again.

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

Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Johnny 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, Grindelwald, 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 the 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 recognised 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 realising exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance..."

Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Johnny 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, Grindelwald, it makes no difference to you and me. We duel on skill alone... and after I have killed you, I can kill Potter, and then I can attend to Draco Malfoy..."

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

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

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Johnny. "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-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. Johnny heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:

"Avada Kedavra/Expelliarmus!" Johnny and Voldemort yelled at the same time.

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. Johnny saw Voldemort's green jet meet his spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling, spinning through the air toward the master it wouldn't kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Johnny 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 Johnny stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Johnny as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Harry, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Johnny couldn't hear a word that anyone was shouting, couldn't tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Defeated the Dark Lord, the reason it was over at last.

The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. Johnny was an indispensable part of the mingled outpourings of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration. Reports that the Imperiused up and down the country had come back to themselves, that Death Eaters were fleeing or else being captured, that the innocent of Azkaban were being released at that very moment, and that Kingsley Shacklebolt had been named temporary Minister of Magic.

They moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away form the bodies of Evan, Lupin, Colin Creevey, and fifty others who had died fighting for them. McGonagall had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in the corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth. After a while, exhausted and drained, Johnny found himself sitting on a bench, alone.

"Johnathan!" Called a voice, and Johnny's head snapped up to see McGonagall striding towards him. "How're you feeling, son?"

"Brilliant," Johnny grinned, holding up the Elder Wand. "I'm technically the most powerful man in the world."

"I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," McGonagall said, taking the seat beside him.

"I'd love some," Johnny replied.

"I'm here to offer you the job that Dumbledore promised," said McGonagall, causing Johnny's mouth to drop. "Among making you Head of Slytherin and Deputy Headmaster, as the other teachers refused the role."

"I'd love to, Professor," said Johnny, his eyes wide as McGonagall hugged him.

"Please, Johnathan," Professor McGonagall smacked his arm as she got up. "We'll be working together, it's Minerva now."

Johnny was left alone again, that was until he spotted Tonks a few seats down from him, her knees brought up to her chest.

"I'm sorry about Evan," said Johnny softly, taking the seat next to her. Tonks looked up at Johnny, and he could see the sadness in her eyes. He wrapped his arm around Tonks's shoulder and pulled her into him, letting her cry into his chest.

"You'll be there, to help raise Teddy, right?" Tonks asked, pulling away to look up at Johnny.

"Of course," Johnny rolled his eyes playfully. "I'm the Godfather."

Tonks laughed at his Italian accent, and kissed Johnny's forehead as she got up to talk to Charlie Weasley who had just arrived. Johnny stood up himself, waving at Selena, Nick, Kieran, Axel, Sam, Gabrielle and Mia who were huddled corner. He greeted people as he passed, and finally made it to Ron and Harry, who were sat between Fred and George.

"Will you come with me?" Johnny asked the two of them. They stood up at once, and together he, Ron and Harry left the Great Hall. Great chunks were missing from the marble staircase, part of the balustrade gone, and rubble and bloodstains occurred ever few steps as their climbed.

Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:

"We did it, we bashed them, wee Grindle's the one,
And Voldy's gone moldy, so now let's have fun!"

"Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" said Ron, pushing open a door to let Harry and Johnny through.

"Where's Hermione?" Johnny asked, a pit of hope in his stomach.

"She did what you said," said Harry, patting Johnny on the back. He pulled out a piece of old, dusty parchment and handed it Johnny. "She's gone to Australia with Winona and Evelyn, and asked me to give you this if we survived."

"Cheers," said Johnny, a lump in his throat as he, Harry and Ron walked across the courtyard, the sun on their faces as they gazed around and the s wrecked school.

"Oh that reminds me," said Harry, pulling out the Invisibility Cloak and Resurrection Stone out of his pocket. "That's where I disappeared to before the whole fight, went and got these for you."

"For me?"

"Well yeah," said Ron, standing beside Harry. "In the Lovegood's place you aid you wanted all three Hallows, so here you go."

"U-uh wow," Johnny said, gobsmacked as he held all three of the Deathly Hallows in his hand. "I- thanks."

"No problem," Harry smiled as the three continued to walk onto the bridge.

"So what now?" Ron asked, looking down over the edge. "We helped save the Philosophers Stone."

"We saved the school from a giant Basilisk," Harry pointed out.

"We saved an asshole from getting the Dementors Kiss," said Johnny, causing the three boys to wince as they remembered Jakob.

"I survived a deadly Tournament and Johnny and I escaped Voldemort again," said Harry, moving on with haste.

"We formed a secret Army and invaded the Ministry," said Ron, like it was a casual experience.

"We fought in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower," said Johnny, looking back up at the place he called home. "Then we defeated the Dark Lord."

"We, I think you mean you," said Harry, him and Ron sharing a laugh.

"No, I meant we," said Johnny, the three best friends engaging in a group hug.

-----

Johnny stepped off the plane in Sydney Airport, the sun scorching his skin as he put his sunglasses on, getting ready to walk to the baggage claim and then out of the customs so he could finally see Hermione, Winona and his family. It felt like forever, waiting in the queue to get his passport checked. He opted for confunding everyone in the room to get passed, but opted not to.

Once he made it outside, he waved down a taxi.

"Where at, mate?" Asked the taxi driver after Johnny set his suitcase down next to him, and his rucksack on his lap.

"Uh, 16 Beach Street," said Johnny, glancing down at the note Hermione has written. The taxi driver nodded and set off, the two making small conversation with each other as Johnny took in the sights Sydney had to offer.

"Any particular reason you're here?" Asked the driver.

"I'm here to get my family back."

"Well good luck to ya, mate," said the driver as he pulled up and Johnny paid him the correct amount. Johnny stepped out of the taxi with both his bags and looked around. The house was lovely, medium sized and right next to the beach too. Johnny took a deep breath as he crossed the road, heading directly for number sixteen. He knocked the door twice, and turned away to hide his face.

"Can I help you?" He heard Hermione ask from behind him.

"That depends," said Johnny, a smile creeping up on his face as he took of his sunglasses and turned to face her. "I'm looking for Hermione Granger, my fiancé, about your-"

Johnny didn't get to finish his sentence, as Hermione pulled him into a passionate kiss, her hands planted firmly on his cheeks. Johnny responded just as eager, lifting Hermione off the floor as his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Hermione, darling-" the voice froze and Johnny and Hermione pulled away from their kiss to see Evelyn stood in the doorway with Winona cradled in her arms.

"Hey mum," Johnny smiled, walking forwards. Evelyn cried as she embraced her son tightly, being careful not to crush Winona.

"You're supposed to be dead," Evelyn cried, gripping her sons shirt tightly.

"Well it turns out Tom wasn't the Master," said Johnny, letting go of Evelyn and taking his rucksack off, and setting it on the table. Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows, but like Hermione, her jaw dropped when Johnny pulled out the Elder Wand.

"Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower," Johnny explained to them, placing the wand on the table, before producing the Invisibility Cloak and Resurrection Stone. "And I disarmed Draco the night we escaped Malfoy Manor. Which makes me-"

"The Master of the Elder Wand," Evelyn and Hermione whispered in unison as Johnny took a growing Winona into his arms.

"I didn't Harry and I didn't die when the Killing Curse hit us, because the wand knew it was loyal to me, and so was Harry, so the wand spared us, and destroyed the Horcrux that was inside Harry's head," Evelyn and Hermione laughed in astonishment, embracing Johnny tightly, but not tight enough to harm the baby, and Johnny felt the first smile appear on his face in weeks. He got his family back.