So Close

Harry got up the next morning after realizing Voldemort had seen the final bit of information when the evil wizard had entered Harry's mind. This meant that Harry had to choose whether to go through with his plan or not. If he didn't, Voldemort may realize what had happened and not be so bold in probing Harry's thoughts again, but if he did continue with the plan and fail, well he didn't really want to think about that. Resolving himself to the fact that he would indeed continue with his plan, he quickly dressed, needing to find his friends to make sure nothing got in the way.

He was still lost in thought, trying to make sure he at least had a chance of succeeding when he sat down next to Ron at the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Ron looked at each other intently, knowing something was still wrong with Harry. Even Ginny who was still annoyed with the way Harry had been treating her could tell something wasn't right.

"Didn't know if you'd get up for class or not mate," Ron said, trying to gauge his friend's mood.

Harry raised his head and looked between Ron, Hermione and Ginny, pausing the longest on Ginny. 'This is why I have to do this,' he thought to himself. This resolve lifted his spirits a bit as he realized how important they were to him. Breathing deeply, letting this fact sink in, his expression brightened as he said, "Well you should have thrown something at me you dolt." Harry smiled to make sure Ron knew he was kidding.

"Oh Hermione," Harry continued, "Everyone knows about the D.A. meeting tonight don't they?"

"Of course Harry," Hermione said, still wary of Harry's sudden mood change. "Why?"

"Well, I haven't been sleeping well so I've been reading and found a couple new things I think we should try out," he said taking a bit of toast. Then he looked at Ginny and even though he could tell she was a bit cross at him, he smiled and said, "You'll be there won't you Ginny?"

Ginny thought he almost sounded too cheerful when he asked this but she said, "Of course I'll be there." Looking at the time she said, "I've got to get going. See you later."

Harry again looked intently at her and said, "Goodbye Gin." This caused her to stop and stare at him for a minute before turning to leave.

Just then Ron said, "Damn, I forgot my book. I'll meet you two in class." He quickly got up and hurried out of the Great Hall leaving Hermione and Harry together.

"Is there something wrong Harry," Hermione asked. She was always the one that knew him best.

"I'm just getting tired of not sleeping well, but even Occlumency doesn't stop my scar from hurting," he replied with a shrug.

"I guess we should get to class. You remember that tests start tomorrow," Hermione said still judging Harry's reactions.

"How could I not remember?" Harry joked as the two walked out of the room. Hermione noticed Harry looking around more than usual and also that he seemed to smile more during this walk. She thought about asking him about it but didn't want to bring down whatever was helping his mood.

Before getting to the final corridor for class, Harry grabbed her arm. "What Harry? We can't be late."

Harry sighed and said, "I just wanted to tell you something." Harry briefly paused and said, "Thanks for everything you've done for me over the past six years. You're the best friend I could have ever asked for."

Hermione was obviously shocked. Harry almost never said things like this. "Um... Thanks Harry. You've been a great friend too. Why are you saying this now?"

"Oh, I've just been thinking that you've all put up with me being in bad moods so often and I never tell you how much you all help. C'mon let's get to class," he said with a final tug that brought them to the door.

Ron was already there and they sat next to him, but Hermione kept watching Harry closely for the rest of the class and saw that he suddenly seemed content but didn't seem to be paying attention. After class, the rest of the day seemed rushed and she made a mental note to talk to him about this after the D.A. meeting this evening.

Hermione had gone with Ginny to study in the Library and was going to meet Ron and Harry in the Room of Requirement which left the two boys alone in the common room where, instead of studying, Harry suggested they played chess before the meeting. This time it was very close, but as usual Ron won. "You're getting much better Harry," Ron said proudly.

"All thanks to your coaching," Harry happily said.

"Blimey," Ron exclaimed, "We're going to be late for the meeting. Hermione will skin you."

"Oh man," Harry said. "I need to get a couple books. You go ahead and tell her what I'm doing so she doesn't get too mad."

"Ok," Ron said eyeing Harry carefully. "You're coming straight there aren't you?"

"Where else would I go?" Harry replied. "Get going."

"See you in a minute," Ron said turning to leave.

"Oh Ron," Harry said causing his friend to turn. "You know...Thanks for being such a good friend and everything."

"What? Sure...Get your book before Hermione comes after you," Ron said sounding confused as he turned back and dashed out.

Harry slowly went to his room and sat down on the bed. 'Last chance to back out,' he thought out loud. Looking around, he tried to take in the comfort of the dorm. After a few minutes he shook himself and thought, 'Now or never.' Standing, he dashed out of the dorm and through the portrait, but instead of turning toward the meeting room, he headed to the Entrance Hall, hoping to not be stopped.

Ron was a bit winded as he entered the Room of Requirement to see an annoyed Hermione Granger standing with Ginny. Cho had also just asked Hermione where Harry was so she was standing nearby as well. "Where HAVE you been?" Hermione said, sounding frighteningly like his mother.

"Playing chess, sorry," he got out between breaths.

"Where's Harry?" Ginny asked casually.

"Forgot a couple books," Ron answered and then turned to Hermione. "He's acting a bit queer if you ask me."

This triggered something in Hermione. "What? How do you mean?"

Ron recounted the story of how Harry had thanked him for being such a good friend. "You know, he was a bit odd this morning as well," Ginny added. "The way he said goodbye when I was leaving breakfast kind of gave me the chills."

"You know, he thanked me for being a good friend as well, just before first period," Hermione said, obviously turning something over in her head.

Suddenly she and Ron seemed to think of something at the same time because their heads snapped up and they stared at each other. "You don't think?" Hermione said.

"No! He wouldn't. Would he?" Ron asked.

"What? What's going on?" Ginny demanded.

"Class is cancelled!" Hermione yelled. "Let's go to his room," she added dragging Ron, both of them ignoring the questions from the other members.

"I'm coming too," Ginny said.

"Me too," Cho announced.

"I don't have time to argue," Hermione said sternly as she began to run down the hall, not saying anything else.

When the four of them came into the common room there were protests that a Ravenclaw had come in but Ron just yelled, "Where's Harry?"

No one answered so they continued up to his room and burst through the door. "He's not here?" Ron yelled.

"What's wrong?" Ginny pleaded.

Ron shook his head at Hermione who got a gleam in her eye and said, "Ron! The map!"

"What map?" Cho demanded.

"Harry's map of Hogwarts," Ginny replied. Of course this meant nothing to Cho who had never seen it.

'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' Ron said, tapping the parchment with his wand. It quickly filled in.

"Is that what I think it is?" Cho asked, sounding amazed.

"There he is!" Hermione said. "He's by the Whomping Willow."

"He's gone," Ron added. "Must have just gone under." He stared at Hermione and said, "He's doing something stupid isn't he?"

"What's he doing?" Cho demanded.

Hermione glanced in his trunk and said, "His Invisibility cloak is still here so he's not trying to hide."

"His what?" Cho asked.

"Hermione! What's he doing?" Ginny asked, now very worried.

She looked hard at Ron and said, "I think Harry's gone off to fight Voldemort."

"What did you say?" Cho asked, clearly thinking she heard wrong.

"Ok, someone has to tell Dumbledore," Hermione announced. She looked at Ron who nodded and then added, "Ron and I are going after him."

"You're not going without me!" Ginny firmly added.

Cho however wasn't so anxious. Hermione realized this and said, "Cho. Go to Professor Dumbledore. Tell him we think Harry has gone to fight Voldemort. I think he's going to the Shrieking Shack."

"But he won't believe me?" Cho said.

"Oh, he'll believe you," Ron firmly said. "Ginny you don't have to come," Ron added in a concerned, but not demanding voice.

"There's no way you can stop me," she replied. "C'mon we've got to help him." The four of them ran out and Cho, still shaking her head turned towards the Headmaster's office while the other ones went after Harry.

Harry slowly opened the door that led into the Shrieking Shack and after checking for sounds, climbed through. He went to the next room, seeing it much the same as the time he met his godfather here. 'Fitting' Harry thought. He paced for a few minutes before sitting on the bed to wait. He felt strongly that Voldemort would come after sensing the evil wizard's feelings that morning. His scar had burned badly but he knew it was because Voldemort was happy.

A slight scuffing sound snapped Harry back to attention. He backed against the wall and pointed his wand at the door to the room. He saw the door slowly open and was just about to say a spell when he heard someone whisper, "Harry? Are you in here?"

"Hermione?" Harry said aloud, causing the three friends to burst into the room.

"What are you doing here Harry?" Hermione angrily said.

Panic suddenly set in for Harry. "You've got to get out of here now!" he exclaimed, not knowing when Voldemort would show up.

"We're not leaving you mate," Ron said in a tone that clearly made Harry feel that his friend didn't understand how bad this could get.

"Ok, fine. We'll all go. We just have to go now!" Harry said and started to make for the door when it slammed shut.

Ropes seemed to spring out of nowhere and his three friends were quickly bound, unable to move. Harry's scar started burning as the door slowly swung open revealing a tall, thin, hooded wizard with white face and glowing red slits for eyes. "We meet again Harry," Voldemort said sounding like he was relishing what was to come. Even though they were terrified, somehow his friends kept themselves from screaming. "I expected you to be alone Harry. However this turned out so much better." The wizard stepped into the room. "Now we can leave a witness to your death. That will be so much better, leaving no doubt to the fact that I did it."

"Let them go, I'll go wherever you want," Harry said, trying to think of anything to get his friends out.

"No Harry!" Hermione yelled.

"What have we here?" Voldemort said with his icy voice. "Two pure-bloods and a mudblood. Well, we know who won't live to be the witness, don't we?"

Harry suddenly hurled a curse at Voldemort who blocked it casually. "You really should have joined me Harry. We could have done extraordinary things. Even now, with no hope for survival you continue to fight."

Harry could feel Voldemort begin to probe his mind, but quickly shut him out. "Oh! Don't want me in there do you?" The wizard glanced to the bound students and after a second said, "So, we have your two best friends, and his younger sister. I have a wonderful idea."

"Let them go!" Harry demanded.

"How about this," Voldemort continued. "You watch me kill your friends and then you can follow knowing you caused this to happen." Harry saw Voldemort glance at Ginny

"Harry!" Ginny screamed.

Voldemort flicked his wand at Ginny, causing a red flash to sail toward her.

Harry quickly cast the trust shield spell which was quicker than the other curse, causing a bright golden glow to surround Ginny and deflect Voldemort's curse off, through the wall.

Voldemort instantly turned and yelled 'Crucio' at Harry who fell to the ground, twitching in pain. Feeling like ever muscle was about to explode, he cried out. Suddenly he felt Voldemort trying to get into his mind but as he was attempting to stand and also push the other wizard out of his mind, he caught Ginny's gaze and his mental wall temporarily crumbled.

The next second, the probing stopped, but was replaced by a terrifying laugh. "Well well, this is a very useful bit of information Harry. How did you keep this from me for so long?"

Harry's anger flared and he yelled 'Reducto' and a brilliant red light flashed at Voldemort who only barely got a shield up. There was a loud gong sound as the spell was deflected up and through the ceiling.

"Impressive Harry, very impressive. However, I have other things to deal with first. You must feel very special to hold such an important place in The-Boy-Who-Lived's heart," Voldemort said looking directly into Ginny's eyes. Suddenly another evil laugh. "She doesn't know!" Voldemort exclaimed, looking at Harry. Voldemort stepped closer to Ginny. "You don't know how he feels do you?" Voldemort again said to Ginny who looked both terrified and confused.

Voldemort began speaking as though he was enjoying every second, "There will a witness to the death of Harry Potter. The brother of the girl who holds Harry Potter's heart. And, I have another memory to send you out of this world with Harry. Instead of watching your friends die, I think you should be the one to kill them."

"That's not going to happen," Harry confidently said.

"Oh, I think it will," Voldemort replied, sounding confident as well. "First you'll kill the one you desire, then you'll kill the mudblood and then, your best friend can tell the world how you were killed after taking the lives of the two women he loved."

"You're insane," Harry yelled. "I'll never hurt them."

"Say goodbye to your friends Harry," Voldemort coolly said. Suddenly Voldemort's body became very rigid and Harry screamed in pain. It was the pain he had only felt one time before. That time, he begged for death to take him, but this time he had hoped it would happen but still wasn't totally prepared for the intensity of the pain.

Harry walked toward his friends slowly raising his wand. His eyes that had been so much a part of who he was were now no longer the soothing green, instead they were bright red, open only as slits. He could not hear the screams of his friends and was only vaguely aware of their mouths moving. The voice coming from his mouth was icy and terrifying, "Yes, scream. You see what Harry Potter has brought you? You chose to be his friends and now you will reap your rewards. Fitting you should find out how much he cares for you just before you die at his hands."

The wand that had at one time or another saved the three students was now pointed at the youngest one with an entirely different purpose. Ginny was staring down the end of this wand, knowing in her mind that her life was over. No longer screaming, she stared into the face of the boy she had dreamt about most of her life. No, that was no longer true. This face was not the comforting face she had seen so many times in her sleep. She did not blame her Harry for any of this. Taking a deep breath she softly said, "It's not your fault Harry. I know you wouldn't do this. I don't blame you."

Something inside of Harry opened up at this. Some small part of him that still realized who he was saw the girl in front of him and realized what she said. This small opening in his head caused a familiar voice to appear in his head. 'Pull him in.' As had happened before, Harry understood and focused on how he felt about Ginny and in fact all of his friends.

The threatening image of Harry with red eyes suddenly stumbled a bit, his arm began trembling. However, just as suddenly, Harry stood up confidently again and his arm was once again firm and pointing at Ginny. Then, a slight twitch of his head, followed by a scream of pain and Harry stumbled back a few steps. The arm that was pointed menacingly at the young girl was now bending, slowly but it was moving.

Unable to move her gaze from his face, Ginny saw his eyes flicker. The red seeming to fade. Harry's face was grimaced in pain, but his wand was now pointing directly at his own chest. A voice came out of his mouth, not sounding like Harry, but also not sounding like Voldemort. 'Avada'...

Ginny screamed out, realizing what was happening, "Harry!"

Harry's curse continued, "Keda..."

Suddenly the door to the room flew open and Harry was blown across the room screaming, "Noooooo!"

The stiff body of Lord Voldemort suddenly gave a shudder and vanished. The students all turned to see Professor Dumbledore swiftly entering the room. "Is everyone all right?" the Headmaster asked canceling the spell binding the students, before moving to Harry's body which was now in a lump on the floor.

"Professor!" Hermione exclaimed. "He...Voldemort was just about to kill Harry."

"Is he going to be ok?" Ginny asked.

"He will recover Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said. "I do not believe Voldemort was in control of Harry when I arrived Miss Granger."

"What?" Ron said. "Of course he was he just about used the killing curse on Harry!"

"We can discuss this more once we are back," Dumbledore said as a red flash entered the room. "Please tell her he is coming," Dumbledore softly said to Fawkes, who vanished in another flash of light. Dumbledore placed a small object on Harry's chest and tapped it with his wand. The next second, Harry's body vanished. "I'm afraid we will have to return via the passageway."

As soon as they were in the passageway, Dumbledore said, "I would have thought Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley would have had enough of this passage after your third year."

Most students were already in their common rooms by the time they arrived back in the castle, so they were able to reach the Headmaster's office quickly. Cho was waiting for them when they arrived. "What happened?" Cho pleaded and then realized someone was missing. "Where's Harry?"

Dumbledore put up a hand to quiet the girl and said, "Harry is in Madame Pomphrey's care. He should make a full recovery." Dumbledore stroked Fawkes before sitting down behind his desk, motioning the students to sit as well. "Miss Chang explained how you all decided to follow Harry out of the castle tonight. Can you tell me what happened when you caught up to him? Miss Granger."

Hermione went on to tell everything easily until the time Voldemort showed up. She stumbled a bit here. "He was worse than I ever imagined. I'll never sleep the same again," she said with a shudder.

"But Harry's already had to face him before," Ginny sadly said.

"Now I know why he has nightmares," Ron softly said with a shudder.

Hermione continued until the point where Voldemort possessed Harry. Then Ginny took over the story. At the end, Hermione said, "See, Voldemort changed his mind and was just going to kill Harry."

"I do not believe to be the case Miss Granger," Dumbledore sadly said. "I could tell Voldemort was not in control when I entered. That was Harry."

"But he was going to use the killing curse on himself then?" Ginny said.

"Yes, he was," Dumbledore sadly said. "He obviously had Voldemort trapped inside his mind. He was going to sacrifice himself in the hope of destroying Lord Voldemort."

The students sat in silence for a minute until Hermione asked, "Would it have worked?"

"Possibly," Dumbledore said cocking his head. "However I was not willing to sacrifice Harry in the hope of stopping Voldemort," Dumbledore added. "I hope you agree that was the correct choice?"

"Yes," three of the students said quickly. Then they turned to Cho who hadn't said anything. "Cho?" Ginny said surprisingly. "You think that was wrong?"

"I don't know?" Cho answered, clearly bothered by the events. "If it would have stopped him, I don't know."

Ron started to say something but Dumbledore stopped him. "It was my choice and I am comfortable with the one made. You all showed tremendous courage and loyalty in going after Harry. I had been concerned with the negative feelings he had been carrying around for some time now, but his compassion for all of you obviously pulled him through. I don't know many wizards that could overpower Voldemort once he had a firm grip on their mind."

They all sat in silence for a moment before Dumbledore said, "You may all leave and please do not discuss the events of tonight with anyone."

When the five students reached a point where they needed to split up to reach their respective common rooms, Cho surprised them all by saying. "I can't believe how you all handled that. No one in my house could have dealt with that." After an uncomfortable pause she asked, "He'll be ok, won't he?"

"Of course he will," Ron quickly said. "Harry always comes through."

The three Gryffindors looked at each other, trying to make the other believe what Ron just said. The rest of the trip to the common room was in silence. There were only a couple people still awake so the three made their way to one of the back couches and sat just looking at the floor for a few minutes.

"We actually came face-to-face with V..You-Know-Who," Ron said with a shudder.

"Ron, you've seen him and gotten away. You should start using his name," Hermione scolded, although not in a mean voice.

"I know, I know," Ron said. "V..Vol...Vol... Damn!"

"Voldemort Ron! Voldemort!" Ginny exclaimed. "He did this to all of us. He did this to Harry! Go get his cloak, I'm going to see him," Ginny demanded.