The Reticulation

Harry dodged a burst of the Avada Kedavra curse from Lord Voldemort's wand as he ran up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower as fast as he could. When he reached the top and saw the view the highest tower in the castle provided, he knew he was trapped. Would he get out of this one? Would he live to see the faces of Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the others again? He always had before, but you never knew...

Harry was wandless, sweaty and quite scared. He could see no way out of his dilemma--not one. Voldemort was out of Horcruxes now, but what good was that if Harry was unarmed? Suddenly a thought struck Harry--Voldemort may have had the wand, but, as a seventeen-year-old, Harry was much physically stronger than the skeletal Dark Lord. If he could make it a physical fight instead of a magical dual...

When Voldemort appeared in the doorway, Harry kicked him as hard he could, knocking the wand out of his hand. Harry continued to throw blows and kicks at the frail, chalk-skinned man, until he lost his energy and collapsed. Harry risked turning his back on the enemy, to grab the wand--brother to his own as it also contained a single feature from Fawkes the phoenix. Harry jabbed Voldemort's own wand into his evil face.

"You have no more Horcruxes left!" Harry shouted. "I have the wand and you don't! You killed my parents and your followers killed Sirius and Dumbledore. You've killed thousands and you forced Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets in her first year. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you now!" Voldemort smiled widely.

"Oh, I shall give you one, Harry Potter," he said. "If you kill me, I'll become more powerful than ever before! I shall have the power to destroy you and the ones you love! And this time, it will be impossible to kill me!"

He's bluffing, Harry though immediately. He's trying to scare you with an empty threat. There's no way he could become so powerful if he was dead.

"If that's true, why are you telling me this?" Harry asked viciously. Voldemort cackled evilly.

"I prefer it this way--man to man--and you are a man now, are you not?" he replied. "But if you'd rather I become almost a god compared to you, then kill me now!" Harry hesitated--what if he was telling the truth?

But what else could he do? Let Voldemort go free? No! He was going to kill him and avenge the deaths of his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory and all the others lost to the war with the Dark Side.

"Reducto!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at the Dark Lord. Voldemort was flung into the wall of the Astronomy Tower and his head was split open like a pumpkin. It was a sight Harry really would have rather died having never seen.

Suddenly, a wonderful feeling rose up in him--Voldemort was dead! After all these years of trying to destroy him, the Dark Lord was finally vanquished forever and the wizarding world was free from his terror. Harry didn't even care that he had done it--the fact that the creature who called himself Lord Voldemort was finally gone was enough for him. He and so many others were free of all the worry Voldemort had created and, finally, he and Ginny could renew their relationship.

It was all over...but there were still Voldemort's final words about him becoming even more powerful in death...

But that was probably just a bluff anyway.