A Reflection of Himself

Ron shuffled awake in his bed, rubbing at his eyes, trying to clear his blurry vision and remove the cobwebs from his brain. From their beds, Neville and Seamus also awoke, hearing the alarm, not quite sure what was going on at first.

"Wha- what's going on?" Ron asked, watching Harry move toward the door.

"It's the alarm," Harry said, trying to keep his voice steady. "The alarm that means Voldemort is here."

For a second, Ron didn't say anything. Too shocked to speak, he finally stuttered, "C-can you be sure?"

"My scar is hurting like crazy," Harry said with forced calm. "Come on. If you're gonna help, you'd best get your wands and prepare yourselves." He cast his friends a serious glance and then proceeded out the door.

"Wait up!" Ron exclaimed, hastily grabbing his wand and following Harry down the stairs. Neville and Seamus weren't too far behind.

In the common room, most of the Gryffindor students had already gathered. Many of the younger ones looked terrified beyond belief, gazing around with confused and horrified eyes. Some of them were touching paintings as they had been instructed and were being transported to safety, but others seemed transfixed and unable to move.

Hermione and Ginny found Harry, followed by Lavender and Parvati. Other members from Gryffindor who were in Dumbledore's Army gathered around Harry expectantly, awaiting his order or whatever he was about to do.

Taking one last look around the common room, Harry yelled to the remaining children, "Go on! Touch the paintings! They're portkeys; they'll take you to safety!"

Knowing time was of the essence, Harry left the common room, only to come face-to-face with McGonagall. Clad in her nightcap and gown, she nearly jumped when she saw Harry.

"Mr. Potter!" she exclaimed. "I was just on my way-"

"No time, Professor," Harry replied in a hurry. "I have to find him."

She only nodded, saying, "I'll check the common room and make sure everyone is safe. I'll be joining you soon thereafter."

With a curt nod, Harry moved down the hall, keeping himself against the wall. No one said a word, and the other students held back, leaving Harry his space. As they moved through the castle, other students trained to fight joined them, and by the time they reached the main entrance hall, the entire assembly of the DA were with Harry, ready to back him up.

Glancing back at Ginny, he whispered, "You don't have to do this, you know."

"Harry Potter," Ginny replied sternly, but with worry and care in her voice, "if you think for one minute that I'm just gonna let you fight Vol- Voldemort alone, you're dead wrong. Don't even bother trying to convince me otherwise."

In spite of the grave situation, Harry smiled a little. "All right, then. Just promise you'll be careful, all right?"

When she nodded, he quickly kissed her and then said to the others, "Be careful. Remember everything you've learned. This is it, I'm afraid."

Swallowing his words, Harry entered the entrance hall.

In the entrance hall, Harry saw the members of the Order. Apparently, they had all been notified just as Dumbledore had said they would be. Whatever amount of tiredness they may have felt before was now gone, and now they steeled themselves for the impending battle. Across the way, Harry's eyes locked with those of Sirius. Standing next to him was Lupin and next to Lupin, Tonks. Then, seeming to materialize out of thin air, Dumbledore appeared in the midst of them.

"The time has come," he announced to his allies at large. "You know what awaits us out there. Our worst fears have now been realized and have become a reality. I now must ask of you what I hope no one will ever have to ask of you again, should you live. I ask you to fight with your entire being, your bodies and souls. You, my friends, have a goodness in you that far exceeds any amount of hatred Voldemort and his followers may harbor. Give it your all, and if that should mean your very lives, then you have gone down fighting, not cowering like your enemy."

With the end of Dumbledore's speech, Harry made ready to leave the castle. As the door opened into the blackness of night, a chill tore through him. Taking one last look behind him into the castle, he saw everyone who had come to mean something to him over the years. That is, everyone expect Snape.

Where is Snape?

Looking back at Dumbledore, Harry searched the old, wise wizard's face for some sort of understanding, some sort of comfort. Those blue eyes that had been the source of such things for so long for Harry no longer seemed so. Instead, Dumbledore's eyes, like the rest of him, appeared worn and tired, like an old, overused toy left battered around the edges.

"You know what you must do, Harry," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Yes," Harry replied hollowly, moving out into the darkness.

The chill of the night air tousled his hair, and Harry gripped his wand harder. Behind him, he could feel the presence of the others following him. The two opposing sides were drawing nearer. Once within range of hearing, Voldemort's cold voice sounded in the equally cold air.

"Dumbledore!" he bellowed with a terrible hissing undertone. "Come forward and fight like a man! Stop hiding yourself and the boy and face me!"

Dumbledore was every bit a man and more. "Here I am, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, coming to stand next to Harry. "But I'm afraid if you want to fight Harry, you shall have to deal with me first."

"Not a problem, you blundering fool," Voldemort sneered. "I assure you, I have waited a long time for this day, a long time indeed... too long! Death Eaters, attack!"

With hardly any warning, the blackly-clad Death Eaters darted toward the Order of the Phoenix members, who were trying to shield the students as much as possible. Hexes and curses, anti-hexes and counter-curses began flashing through the air, voices bellowing out on either side.

Harry made to approach Voldemort, ready to put an end to this insanity once and for all, but Dumbledore stepped in his way.

"No, Harry, not yet," he insisted.

"What are you doing, sir?" Harry practically pleaded. "Stop trying to protect me! You know I'm the one who has to face him!"

"I know that, Harry, but I cannot just stand here and do nothing."

Before Harry could protest further, Dumbledore approached Voldemort, and they began dueling. Anger boiling inside at both Voldemort and Dumbledore, Harry glanced around, feeling like the world was spinning. Trying to keep his eyes on everyone at once proved impossible, but he couldn't imagine losing Sirius again or Ron or Hermione or especially Ginny, among practically everyone else.

Suddenly, Harry heard Voldemort's cruel voice bellow, "Crucio!" Turning back to Dumbledore and Voldemort, Harry saw the unbelievable. Dumbledore was on the ground, twisting in a horrific display of agony from the Cruciatus. Voldemort, looming over him, hissed, "Ah, finally, the day has come when I have proven myself more powerful than even you, Dumbledore. Finally, you are at my feet, cowering like the fool that you are. Your goodness will be your undoing, and you will suffer long and hard for your treachery."

Dumbledore did not cry out. Beyond reason by this point, Harry intervened, stepping in front of Dumbledore, his wand out as he yelled, "Expelliarus!"

Voldemort, taken by surprise, was pushed back only slightly, but his wand was still in his hand. The Cruciatus had stopped, though.

"Well, well, well," Voldemort said lazily, eyeing Harry like a snake appraising its dinner, "Harry Potter has come to the rescue. Do you truly think you are any match for me, boy?"

"We'll see, won't we?" Harry ground out.

"Oh, yes, that we will, but first, he dies." Voldemort gestured toward Dumbledore, who lay on the ground, unmoving.

"No!" Harry bellowed. "It's me you want, not him!"

"So, you want to fight now? You're so anxious to die, Potter? Very well, I can draw out your death as well. Neither you nor the old man deserve the mercy of a quick death. Not after all you put me through."

"Stop talking!" Harry yelled. "If you wanna fight me, then fight me!"

Apparently not amused by Harry's attitude, Voldemort grew tight-lipped and aimed a burning hex at Harry, who quickly blocked it. They began dueling, the use of countless hexes being used. The sweat rolled mercilessly down Harry's brow, and his hair was damp and sticking to his head. His glasses kept slidig down his nose, and he felt his head spinning as his short breaths came in quick spurts. Muscles aching, he began to wonder how much longer he could keep at this. The overwhelming need to produce a spell powerful enough to destroy Voldemort ate away at Harry's brain, further causing it to ache uncontrollably, and he wondered if he truly possessed the power to destroy Voldemort.

Finally, a combination of the Cruciatus and a hex that caused suffocation hit Harry squarely in the chest. In his weakened state, Voldemort disarmed him, Harry's wand flying into his grip.

Soon enough, Voldemort had lost his patience for drawing out the death of his enemy. With his wand raised, he glared down at Harry. Looking up at Voldemort with blurred vision, Harry thought, Maybe he's just grown too powerful. Maybe... maybe I've already lost.

Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the inevitable. Then, he heard two words that ended life: "Avada Kedavra!"

In a swirl of robes and confusion, a figure from Harry's left and a figure from Harry's right moved in front of him at the same time. Catching a quick glimpse of the figures, he realized that the figure on his right was Dumbledore, and the figure on his left was Snape. He didn't have a second to react as the green light from the spell seemed to hit both figures directly in front of him, providing a shield for Harry. Feeling like he would fall over again if he didn't steady himself and face Voldemort, Harry didn't realize the implication of what had just happened. At least, not at first.

Voldemort was laughing a horrible, high-pitched shrieking noise. "The end of my nemesis, the great white wizard, Albus Dumbledore, and that traitor I had suspected for a long, long time, Severus Snape!" he cried crazily. "They may have protected you, Potter, but now it's your turn to join them!"

Harry couldn't see the eyes of his friends and allies looking on in absolute horror, transfixed by the sheer magnitude of the evil scene before them. He couldn't look at the ground, either, and see what he knew was there - the dreadful truth sprawled out on the ground in the form of human bodies.

"NO!!!" Harry roared. "MURDERER!! YOU'VE TAKEN AWAY ENOUGH INNOCENT LIVES! NO MORE! NO MORE!"

Inside himself, Harry felt something beyond his anger gaining control, growing stronger with every word he shouted. It overtook his mind, his heart, his soul, and he willed himself to focus on it completely, forcing himself to search for the darkness that was Voldemort's plagued mind. In that darkness, Harry sought long and hard to find what he was looking for: a terrified boy within.

"YOU'RE PATHETIC! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A SCARED, LITTLE BOY, TOM RIDDLE! AN EVIL ORPHAN WHO COULDN'T ACCEPT THE TRUTH! A YOUNG MAN WHO TURNED TO DARKNESS INSTEAD OF LIGHT WHEN GIVEN WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN THE POWER TO DO SO MUCH GOOD! A MAN WHO'S NOT EVEN A MAN ANYMORE, BUT A CREATURE WHOSE LIFE IS BEYOND SAVING! YOUR BLOOD ISN'T EVEN YOUR OWN ANYMORE! EVERYTHING YOU ARE YOU'VE TAKEN FROM OTHER PEOPLE, FEEDING ON WHAT YOU THOUGHT WERE THEIR WEAKNESSES, THINKING THAT LOVE WAS A WEAKNESS, BUT LOVE IS THE GREATEST POWER OF ALL!"

Harry could feel his mind becoming one with Voldemort's, and Voldemort, try as he might, could not keep Harry out of his mind, out of his blackened heart, our of his lost soul. Harry's love, so powerful, so white, so pure, was like white-hot fire to Voldemort. He felt himself burning within, the blood that was Harry's blood beginning to boil, destroying his inhuman body from the inside-out. Screaming in utter and complete agony, Voldemort's grip on the wands loosened, and they dropped to the ground. Writhing in the pain that he had caused so many people for so long, the love of everyone innocent came back with a vengeance to destroy their destroyer. A great and terrible thing, love was the power that Harry had in such vast quantities that Voldemort possessed not.

With one long, drawn-out cry, Voldemort exploded into nothingness. Nothing remained. The Death Eaters, now left helpless without their master, were mostly stunned by the Order members, among which was Peter Pettigrew, who Sirius had stunned, even though Lupin had stunned him first.

Harry stood there, feeling drained. With a glance around the battlefield, he felt his knees buckle under him as he fell gracelessly to the ground. In an instant, people were at his side, expressing their gratitude and concern.

Blinking, Harry asked in a hoarse voice, "Is it over? Is he really gone?"

"Yes, Harry," Lupin said, relief evident in his voice, albeit sounding very exhausted. "You did it. You destroyed him."

Harry reached for his wand and tried to stand. With the help of Ginny and Ron, both left remarkabley unscathed, Harry looked around the grounds. He saw the bodies of a few Death Eaters and felt his chest constrict when he noticed that Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mundungus Fletcher were among the deceased. Unable to see far in the darkness, Harry looked at his feet and saw what he feared had become a reality.

Lying on the ground not too far away was Dumbledore. Running to him, Harry tried shaking him, but the old wizard didn't move.

"Harry, no," Hermione said gently from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's-"

"He's not dead!" Harry cried, feeling his head spinning and his eyes growing warm. "He just can't be..."

"I'm sorry, Harry," Tonks said softly, coming to stand nearby. "He took the killing curse for you."

"I'm afraid it's true," Sirius murmured, not wanting to believe the truth any more than Harry or anyone else did.

Harry felt hollow inside, as if he had exhausted every ounce of love he had when defeating Voldemort once and for all. He couldn't bear to look on the body of the man who everyone had believed to be the most powerful wizard of the century. Now, his eyes rested on the dark form of Snape.

"No," Harry whispered, shaking his head. "Don't tell me... Isn't it bad enough? Why-"

No one answered his questions, but he couldn't hear them, anyway, even if they tried. He felt like he was drifting somewhere far off and away, anywhere but here on this bloodied battleground.

He was willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, for me, and now, I'll never have the chance to thank him. I knew Dumbledore would have, but Snape... and no one said anything. Feeling an overwhelming guilt well up inside him, Harry whispered, "Take me away from this nightmare. Make it end."

With everyone mourning the loss of Dumbledore, who could think to give a man clad in a Death Eater robe on the outside but clad with honor and loyalty inside a second look?