Chapter Thirty One

At Potter Castle, Molly had collapsed upon hearing the news that Ron had died attempting to protect Harry and Ginny.

"Why did this happen?" asked Molly when she finally stopped crying.

"Cho Chang has been causing problems all term. It was her fault that Harry and I broke up in the first place," explained Ginny.

"Molly, unfortunately Cho took her own life after Ron died so we may never know why it happened," added Harry.

As they were talking, the rest of the family, including Percy, arrived at the castle and quickly gathered around Arthur and Molly to comfort them.

"What happened?" demanded Bill, once he had made sure Fleur was comfortable.

"Now that everyone is here, let me explain everything," stated Harry, who went on to tell them what had happened between them and Cho this term.

"Unfortunately, it seems Ron wasn't aware that we can detect magic around us and knew the curse was coming," finished Harry.

The family spent the evening re-living memories of Ron as he grew up and decided that they were going to celebrate his life, instead of mourning his passing on.

"Molly, Maxim has prepared Ron's body. Would you and Arthur like to see him?" Harry asked them a while later.

"Thank you, Harry," Molly replied as they left the room slowly. Harry guided them down the stairs to the room that Maxim had set aside.

The rest of the family followed a little later and spent some time with the body before leaving again to return to the sitting room and preparing for the funeral later that evening.

"Harry, we would like to bury Ron at the Burrow," Arthur said once they had left the room.

"Certainly, I will ask Ranok to send a guard to make sure the house and garden is secure," replied Harry, who immediately dispatched Xavier with the request to Ranok.

"Thank you for taking care of this, especially after everything that happened between you."

"Arthur, that is all in the past. Ron has more than made up for it with his actions recently. Putting his own life in danger to protect Ginny is more important to me than anything else he could have done," explained Harry as they walked quietly around the castle.

"I am sorry that you were never to get back the friendship that you once had with Ron. I know that once he realized just how stupid he had been and what he had lost that he made an effort to really change."

"I know. I am sorry too that we never had the chance. It does make you realize just how important it is never to let these things get in the way. That is twice recently we have been taught that lesson and it doesn't make it any easier," replied Harry kindly.

"Unfortunately that is the curse of us redheads. We tend to act before we think," Arthur said. They both chuckled a little as they thought of their respective wives and just how true that was of each of them.

"How is Molly doing?"

"Surprisingly well, actually. I thought she would be more upset, but I think she is trying to stay strong for the rest of the family," explained Arthur.

"Well, it goes without saying: if there is anything you need, just ask," Harry told him before they walked into the sitting room where the rest of the family was.

"My Lord," said one of his younger Death Eaters.

"What?" replied Tom angrily as he still didn't have a clue what the Prophecy meant.

"We have determined what the Prophecy means."

"Well, get on with it then," demanded Tom, who was fingering his wand angrily.

"It is a fake. We spoke to a Muggle Priest and he told us that in the old days to know someone meant to sleep with them," said the Death Eater quietly.

Tom sat there, looking confused for several minutes before he exploded with wrath.

"I don't care what it takes. Bring me Potter, his bitch or their friends and don't bother returning if you don't have at least one of them," Tom screamed before dismissing them.

Most of the Death Eaters who had been there quickly disappeared, knowing the chances of catching any of them were slim.

"My Lord, I have additional news," stated the only Death Eater, who was brave enough to stay around.

"Go on," replied Tom.

"Ronald Weasley died today, protecting his sister, who was attacked by Cho Chang," she reported.

"I see and what use is that to me?"

"They will be having a service for him very soon. I thought it would be an opportunity to attack them."

"Very well. Take whoever you need and deal with it," order Tom before disappearing.

As soon as he got back to his room, he threw up as his mind went back to the mental image that the Prophecy had conjured up.

Afterwards, he went back to researching the formula that he had been working on before the attack that left him unconscious for so long.

Later that evening, the Weasley family, as well as friends from the Order and Hogwarts were all gathered in the back garden of the Burrow for the service.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," Arthur said once everyone had settled down.

"This is a day that no parent ever wants to imagine, but sadly we are here now to remember the life of our youngest son, Ron. Let us not focus on the sadness of his passing, but instead let us remember the good times we enjoyed with Ron.

"It is no secret that Ron had a falling out with Harry and Ginny over the nature of their relationship last year. But this year things turned around and Ron was able to apologise and ask for forgiveness. It isn't surprising to us that Ron would sacrifice himself for Ginny or Harry and he will forever be remembered for doing so. Ron always felt inferior to his older brothers, but when it really counted, he stood up as any one of them would have and made us all proud.

"We will never forget Ron and as we commit his body to the ground, we can rejoice in the fact that he has gone on the next great adventure as a hero."

The coffin was slowly lowered into the ground as Arthur finished speaking and a tombstone appeared. Arthur slowly returned to his seat as Harry got up and addressed everyone.

"Ron was my first real friend. We met on the Hogwarts Express and have been friends ever since. While last year was very tough for a number of reasons, we were able to get past that. I will always remember the adventures that Ron, Hermione and I had together.

"Who would have fought that three first years would defeat a Troll, get past all the protections around a hidden object and then face Voldemort himself and survive? Or a year later face a fifty foot Basilisk and survive? While Ron wasn't there at the end in either case, it was his courage and strength that allowed me to be there. If it hadn't been for Ron's broken wand, then we would have been Obliviated by the fraud Lockhart and I would have never been able to rescue my beautiful wife, Ginny, from the Chamber of Secrets.

"Ginny and I have visited the place that Ron is now and can reassure you that he is not in pain or suffering. His uncles will most likely have already pranked him. Now they will be plotting on how to get you all back when you finally arrive, which I am sure they will be shouting loudly now-better be a very long time from now.

"To our friend, brother, and son, you will never be forgotten and will remain in our hearts forevermore."

With that, Harry and Ginny transformed into their Phoenix forms, surprising a number of people who had never seen it before and took off into the air to be joined by Fawkes and Xavier. The four Phoenixes flew in formation as they honoured the memory of Ron and, as with Severus, lit an Eternal Flame on top of the tombstone.

The family and friends celebrated late into the night, completely unaware that Death Eaters had attempted to interrupt the service and had been obliterated by the Goblin Warriors around the Burrow.

Just as Harry and Ginny were preparing to leave, Ranok arrived to talk with them.

"Harry, I wanted to advise you that, during the service, a group of Death Eaters arrived and attempted to attack the Burrow. It seemed that they were aware of the service today."

"Thank you, Ranok. I suspected that they would try something. After all, it is no secret where the Weasleys live. And it would have been not a surprise at all that they would hold the funeral here," replied Harry. "Although I am surprised at how fast they learned of this. Someone else has been involved in this whole affair. I just hope we find out who it is and soon."

"We took care of them and you won't have to worry about them again," announced Ranok with an evil smile.

"I am sure Tom will be pleased," Harry stated with an equally evil smile.

Harry and Ginny returned to their room in Potter Castle and were soon fast asleep.

Early the next morning, Voldemort was livid.

"Where are they?" screamed Voldemort when none of the attackers returned.

"I'm sorry to report that they were wiped out by the Goblin guards protecting the Burrow," reported one of the few Death Eaters that remained.

"Has there been any progress with the Giants?" Voldemort asked.

"Parkinson was too heavy handed with them and upset them," reported the Death Eater. "We attempted to regroup and communicate with them, but they will not talk to us. I have heard reports that Potter and his whore visited them not long after Parkinson upset them."

"Have they joined his alliance?"

"We don't know. They will not talk to us. Parkinson was ripped in two during his last attempt."

Voldemort was growing angrier by the minute. He didn't know why, but nothing he was doing recently was working. Potter had already wiped out eighty percent of his Death Eaters and they were not able to find new recruits.

He also knew his time was running short. Whatever the idiots had done during the last ritual had not worked as it should have done. Unfortunately he wasn't able to determine what went wrong as Lucius was the only one who had been involved the whole time.

With this in mind, he had begun working on a new plan, something he hoped would make a difference for the future.

Realizing that the Death Eater was still there, Voldemort turned to him.

"Don't go anywhere. I will be back shortly."

Voldemort left the chamber and returned to his potions lab where he had been preparing several complex potions.

At Hogwarts the next morning, Harry and Ginny were walking down to breakfast when they spotted Albus talking to an middle aged Chinese couple. They guessed that they were Cho's parents, but didn't want to approach them.

"Ah, here they are now," Albus said as Harry and Ginny came into view. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I would like to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Chang. They would like to talk to you before leaving."

Albus showed them into a classroom nearby so they could have some privacy while talking.

"Good morning. I am sorry for your loss," Harry said as he shook Mr. Chang's hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," replied Mr. Chang as he took Harry's hand.

"We are sorry for what happened to Mr. Weasley," Mr. Chang said as they took seats.

"We knew that Cho was obsessed with you during the summer, but never realized just how serious it had become. She told us just this Christmas that she had dealt with the obsession and that it was no longer a problem.

"When Professor Dumbledore contacted us last night, we searched her room. It would seem that she was not working of her own accord.

"We found this journal hidden in her desk. I guess she suspected something might happen this term as she normally kept this very close," finished Mr. Chang before handing Harry the journal.

"We shouldn't read this. It was her private journal," replied Harry as he attempted to hand it back.

"I believe this is relevant to what happened. The information inside should help identify what was happening to her," replied Mr. Chang as he refused to take back the journal.

Dear Journal,

Harry won the Triwizard Tournament today. He was injured during the win and Voldemort returned, but he was still brave. I wish he wasn't seeing the Weasley bitch. I don't know what he sees in her. If it wasn't for that hair, you would think that she was just a boy.

Dear Journal,

Mar. visited today. She told me that she may have a way for me to win over Harry. She is going to visit again in a few days to let me know the plan.

Dear Journal,

Mar. visited again today. She told me that Harry would be visiting Diagon Alley on Friday and to be ready.

"Whoever Mar. is, she must be a Death Eater," stated Harry. "They were the only ones, other than the Order who knew when we would be in Diagon Alley."

"Hmm, we need to find out who it is," Albus said. "Mr. Chang, do you have any idea who Mar. could be?"

"Sorry I don't. I know Cho had a visitor several times this summer, but we never found out her name," replied Mr. Chang.

Harry looked down again at the journal to see if there were any other clues.

Dear Journal,

We saw Harry in Diagon Alley as Mar. said we would. I remember walking behind them for a while and then waking up in St. Mungo's. The nurses said I had been hit by a powerful Bat Bogey Hex, but I have no memory of it happening.

"Why would she not remember?" said Mrs. Chang, speaking for the first time.

"Sounds like she was under the Imperius Curse," Albus replied.

"Well, if that is the case, it would explain why she acted the way she did. Let's see what other entries there are," added Harry as he continued to read.

Dear Journal,

I followed Harry down to the Quidditch pitch today. Yet again I woke up in the hospital wing and don't remember anything else.

Dear Journal,

Mar. gave me the formula to the love potion today. I am going to steal one of the first year's cauldron to brew it so they cannot pin it on me. I hope this works. It is killing me to see Harry all over the Weasley bitch so much.

Dear Journal,

I don't know what went wrong, but now Harry has left Hogwarts and Weasley knows that I was responsible. It felt like she was searching through my memories when she approached me. I didn't realize she was so powerful. I will never stop loving Harry, but am not sure I can pursue him any longer.

"That's interesting, so she attempted to stop. Let's see what happened as obviously that didn't happen," stated Harry.

Dear Journal,

I think I am losing my memory. Morag asked me why I was talking to Michael Corner when I had told her several times that I hated him. The next morning he was found dead. I don't remember talking to him.

Dear Journal,

Mar. got angry with me today when I said I didn't want to be involved with the plan any longer and was not going to chase after Harry. I don't remember what happened after that, but woke up feeling very sore throughout my body.

Dear Journal,

I betrayed Harry today. I don't remember doing it, but Professor Umbridge thanked me for providing her the information on Dumbledore's Army. Once Harry finds out, he will never even give me another chance. I wish I had never told Mar. I liked Harry. Everything has gone wrong now.

"That was the last entry, Mr. Chang. It would seem that she stopped writing a while before Christmas. Unfortunately we don't have enough information to go on at the moment, but we will get to the bottom of this. I can promise you this: when we find out who was doing this, they will be punished, severely," stated Harry as he looked up angrily.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. I am just glad that Cho wasn't doing this herself. It did seem rather out of place for her."

"If there is anything Ginny or I can do, please let us know," Harry said as he shook Mr. Chang's hand again before opening the door to lead them back to the Entrance Hall.

Just as they walked around the corner, a group of Ravenclaw students walked past as breakfast had just finished.

"That's her," stated Mrs. Chang as she pointed at Marietta Edgecombe.

Suddenly pandemonium broke out in the Entrance Hall as Marietta attempted to escape. A number of students had to dive out of the way as a volley of curses flew from the wands of Mr. and Mrs. Chang. Thankfully they were only using Stunners as several students were not fast enough and were hit when the spells missed Marietta.

Harry held back from attacking as he knew his anger wasn't under control and the result would have been disastrous. Ginny didn't have any reservations and sent an extremely powerful Stunner towards Marietta as she made it to the main doors. The result caused quite a few people to have a new respect for Ginny as Marietta was blasted over a hundred meters across the courtyard before landing in a heap.

Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Slughorn had arrived to see what the commotion was and quickly revived the fallen students. Once they realized that Albus was there and dealing with Marietta and the Changs, they forced everyone else to continue to their first lessons.

Albus retrieved Marietta from outside the main doors and then, with the Changs, returned to his office. Harry handed over the journal and left Albus to deal with the aftermath.

Harry and Ginny headed to the kitchens as they had missed breakfast and, after their morning run, were starving.

'I don't believe this. Why didn't we see the signs?' asked Ginny as she slowly ate the breakfast that had been served.

'We were too busy trying to avoid her to notice. It would seem that Marietta was a lot better at this than anyone would have suspected.'

'Now I feel terrible for what happened with Cho. She didn't deserve to die like that just because someone else was controlling her actions. I wish there was a way to stop the Imperius Curse,' stated Ginny.

'I am sure if we put our minds to it, we could find a way. Just think how useful that would be,' replied Harry, suddenly intrigued with the idea.

They continued to eat breakfast as they thought of ways they could potentially block the curse.

Albus waited patiently with Mr. and Mrs. Chang for Aurors to arrive so they could get to the bottom of what had really happened. Albus had also sent a message to Madam Edgecombe as she would need to be present for the questioning.

As soon as Madam Edgecombe walked in, she saw Marietta unconscious and bound in a chair and confronted Albus. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Madam Edgecombe, yesterday afternoon, two of our students died during an unprovoked attack on another student," started Albus.

"What has that got to do with Marietta?"

"Unfortunately, we have discovered that one of the students who died appeared to have been under the Imperius Curse. We have reason to believe that your daughter was responsible for this," replied Albus.

"HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE MY DAUGHTER?" screamed Madam Edgecombe in a rage.

"Madam Edgecombe, will you please calm down? We will quickly get to the bottom of this. If Marietta is innocent, then we will release her," stated Dumbledore, letting a little of his power flow over the room.

"I don't agree to this," stated Madam Edgecombe.

"Due to the seriousness of the case, you cannot stop us from questioning Marietta. The law requires that you be present, but we don't need your permission," stated Kingsley as he produced a bottle of Veritaserum.

"Who are you?"

"Auror Shacklebolt, Madam Edgecombe. We will be questioning her using Veritaserum. Any evidence gathered may be used in any case against her."

Madam Edgecombe could see that she wasn't going to win this argument, so she backed down.

Kingsley approached Marietta and then fed her three drops of Veritaserum before reviving her.

"Please state your name," Kingsley asked.

"Marietta Edgecombe," she replied in a monotone voice.

"Are you friends with Cho Chang?"

"No, she was just a puppet."

"Why?"

"She wanted Harry Potter and we wanted to split him from the Weasley bitch," replied Marietta.

"Who is 'we'?"

"Madam Umbridge, Mr. Parkinson, Pansy Parkinson, Malcolm Baddock and I," replied Marietta, who was trying to stop herself from talking.

"Have you ever used the Imperius Curse on Miss Chang?"

"Yes."

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"Yes."

"Miss Edgecombe, you are under arrest for using an Unforgivable Curse and for being a member of an illegal organization," stated Kingsley.

Kingsley escorted them all out of the office, advising Madam Edgecombe that Marietta would be held at the Ministry until her trial.

Mrs. Edgecombe was stunned by what had happened. She knew her daughter had been disappearing regularly, but never suspected that she was involved with the Death Eaters.

She didn't even look back at her daughter as she was escorted from the building. As soon as Madam Edgecombe got back home, she packed up her things and disappeared. She knew perfectly well that when news got out about Marietta, she would never be able to life down the embarrassment.

Voldemort returned from his potions the next day and was surprised to see the Death Eater still waiting.

"I need you to find a Muggle male about my height, who is in good shape. Whatever you have to do, make sure the body is not damaged in any way," ordered Voldemort as he paced around the room.

"My Lord, why do you want a Muggle?" asked one of the Death Eaters stupidly.

"That is none of your concern! Just do it and make it quick," spat Voldemort before torturing him.

The Death Eater quickly left the hideout and went to carry out the task he had been assigned. Meanwhile, Voldemort returned to his Potions lab and continued to add ingredients to the bubbling cauldron that sat in the middle of the room.

"It will soon be time," Voldemort said to himself as he stirred counterclockwise three times.

He had not told any of the Death Eaters about his plans. He had finally discovered how Harry had been getting his information. He also knew that something had happened recently that changed the nature of the link between them. It seemed that he had more control over it than before. He planned to use this control to his advantage before destroying it completely.

The New Marauders, Albus Dumbledore, and Minerva McGonagall all stood around the grave of Cho Chang as the coffin was lowered into the ground.

They had spoken to Mr. Chang after Marietta had been dealt with and requested permission to attend the services for Cho.

"Thank you for coming," stated Mr. Chang after the service. "Would you please join us back at our house?"

"Of course," stated Harry, knowing the others would attend.

Mr. Chang gave them the directions to the house before he Apparated away with Mrs. Chang.

Harry and the others arrived a few minutes later to see the rest of the Chang family celebrating the life of Cho. They were a little surprised by the reaction of the family as they expected some hostility, but none of them showed any.

"Harry, thank you again for coming and celebrating Cho's life with us," Mrs. Chang said a while later. "It really means a lot that you could look past what happened and were willing to come."

"It wasn't Cho's fault what happened. She didn't deserve it and shouldn't have had to die," replied Harry kindly. "I am just sorry that we didn't realize sooner. Maybe we could have done something to help her."

"Please don't blame yourself. We didn't react quickly enough either," stated Mrs. Chang. "We should have realized something was wrong when she was spending so much time with that girl, instead of studying. She was always so committed to completing her studies before."

"There are many people who could be blamed for not seeing what was happening to your daughter," Albus said as he joined the conversation. "The teachers and I have been very lax in monitoring the activities of the students and it seems that we have been too generous in assuming that they are acting appropriately. That is something that we will be changing very soon. Unfortunately it is too late to help Cho, but hopefully it will help others."

"Mrs. Potter, can you please express to your family how sorry we are that your brother died? While it may not have been Cho's fault in the end, it is still her actions that caused it and we will never be able to right the wrong that has been done," Mr. Chang said a little later.

"I will talk to them this evening, Mr. Chang. Everyone is slowing coming to terms with what happened. Ron died honourably and we will never forget what he did," replied Ginny sadly.

They continued to talk late into the evening with the Changs and their family before returning to Hogwarts.

Harry and Ginny still had not worked out what had changed in the link to Tom's mind. All they knew was they still had access, but based on what they found out during the meetings, it didn't seem that they knew every time Tom summoned his Death Eaters.

'Xavier, please can you tell Albus that Tom is meeting with his Death Eaters again?' Harry said, before they laid on the bed and entered their minds.

As they entered the door, they noticed that everything was even more organized than the last time they had been there.

'It looks like Tom's been busy,' Harry said to Ginny as they continued to their normal vantage point.

"Ah good, we are ready to start," stated Tom as he paced in front of the few followers he had left.

"My friends, it seems that we have been fighting a losing battle. Each step we took was thwarted before it could begin. At first, I thought we had another spy in our midst," Tom hissed before looking at each of the Death Eaters menacingly.

"However, I have recently learned how they have been getting the information and therefore the identity of the spies."

Harry and Ginny were suddenly very nervous.

"It seems that when I attempted to kill Harry Potter when he was a mere child, I created a link to his mind, which he and Mrs. Potter have been using to spy on us. Right this minute they are both watching us and I am sure they will report back exactly what happens to the old fool Dumbledore."

Harry and Ginny looked around quickly to determine if anything had changed with the link. They were not sure if Tom could trap them somehow and what that would mean.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I have no intention of allowing you to continue to spy on me. I cannot stop you this time, but after today, it will no longer matter," announced Tom as he looked into a mirror.

'Ginny, we need to get ready to get out of here fast. I have no clue what Tom has planned, but don't want to take any risks.'

Ginny made her way to the door and opened it. They knew with the wards in place that Tom would not be able to get into their minds and now that the link was forced opened, they should be able to escape without any issues.

"My friends, I need to know that you are all behind me," announced Tom.

"Of course, my Lord," each of them replied immediately.

"Excellent, then bring out the body so that we can begin."

Harry watched as Tom performed a series of complicated wand movements and incantations over the body that the Death Eaters had brought out. Harry noticed that, during the whole thing, Tom never once looked at the body.

As Tom continued, Harry noticed that everything around them in Tom's mind was starting to disappear.

'Oh Merlin, he has found a way to transfer his memories and magic to a new host,' stated Harry before jumping up and racing back to the door.

As soon as they exited, they sealed the door and quickly woke up.

'Xavier, I need you to go to Ranok immediately and ask him to gather as many Goblin warriors as he can and meet us at Hogwarts," Harry ordered as he changed into his battle robes.

'Phoenix Battalion, please report immediately to Hogwarts,' Harry then ordered before grabbing several items from his office and then flashed directly to Albus' office. Ginny also disappeared to gather the New Marauders and everyone else who had been training with them.

"What's going on, Harry?" asked Albus as soon as Harry arrived.

"Tom knows about the link and is planning to do something that will terminate it. While we were watching him, we noticed that his memories were disappearing. The Death Eaters brought out a body and I can only assume that he has found some way of transferring his memories and magic to that body."

"Did you see the body?" asked Albus.

"No, he was very careful never to look at the body," replied Harry. "We have to attack now. I have already sent a message to Ranok and we need to gather as many troops as we can."

"How will we get there?"

"Severus left us a Portkey to Tom's main hideout. I am almost certain he will be there."

Albus dispatched a number of Patronus messages as they made their way down to the courtyard. When they got there, it was packed. There were at least a thousand Goblin Warriors, two hundred Phoenixes, the New Marauders, a few members of the Order who were nearby and most of Dumbledore's Army.

"We have learned that Tom has found a way to transfer his memories and magic to a new body. We have to act now if we have any hope of stopping him. If he manages to get away, then we will never know what he looks like," announced Harry.

"We have an advantage that Tom doesn't know about. However the attack will not be easy. We will almost certainly meet resistance along the way. You all know what needs to be done. We cannot allow Tom to escape.

"A small group will travel with me using this Portkey. Once we have arrived, the Phoenix Battalion will transport everyone else to the same location and will deploy throughout the complex. We don't know how many Death Eaters Tom has left or the layout of the complex. They will have the advantage, but we cannot allow them to stop us.

"Where possible, please avoid killing anyone unless it is absolutely the only option. Also, if you are injured, use the emergency Portkeys that are being passed around. They will return you to the infirmary.

"Remember the Death Eaters will not hesitate to use the Unforgivables. Make sure you are aware of everything that is happening around you at all times," finished Harry.

Everyone acknowledged Harry's orders and prepared for transport to the battle.

Harry transfigured the Portkey into a large rope and told everyone with him to grab on. The New Marauders, Albus, Minerva, Ranok, Harry and Ginny's Elite Goblin Warriors and ten other Goblin Warriors all grabbed the rope.

Harry activated the Portkey and they all disappeared.

Tom was reaching the final stage of the process when alarms started ringing around the hideout.

"What is that, my Lord?" asked one of the Death Eaters.

"Someone has activated an emergency Portkey. It must be Potter. That traitor Severus must have left his. Whatever happens, you cannot allow them into this room until the process has been completed."

The remaining Death Eaters immediately left the room and set up a perimeter.

Meanwhile, in one of the side rooms, Harry and the others looked around before Harry sent a message to the Phoenix Battalion to deploy.

Moments later, flashes of light filled the complex as the large force arrived. The Death Eaters took up their positions and started fighting, but knew they were vastly outnumbered.

"Get back and tell our Lord," ordered the senior Death Eater.

The Death Eater disappeared as the others continued to throw every curse they could towards the advancing attackers.

"It is useless to resist," stated Albus as he approached the largest group of Death Eaters.

"We will never let you win," replied the Death Eater before throwing a string of deadly curses at Albus, all of which were absorbed by a shield.

"Potter is here," shouted the Death Eater as they looked around, trying to find him.

The Death Eaters put up a good fight. They were not going to let anyone past them. They were working in groups so that a constant barrage of curses flew out from their position.

Harry realized quickly that it was a stalemate and it became clear to all of them that the Death Eaters didn't want anyone to get into the room.

Harry backed away from the fight so that he could focus his power on creating anti-portkey and apparition wards around the room behind the Death Eaters.

As soon as the wards were established Ginny and he flashed behind the Death Eaters.

"Looking for me?" asked Harry. As soon as they spun around, Harry and Ginny launched a volley of curses so quickly that none of them had a chance to even erect a shield.

With the resistance gone, Harry and the others made their way towards the final door, they could already sense a number of people in the room.

Harry signalled to the others to wait as Ginny and he inspected the door for several minutes and were very surprised that there was nothing protecting it.

"Something's not right, there is no protection on this door," stated Harry.

"Maybe they expected to be gone already," replied Albus.

"There are still some people in there, remember we don't know what Tom looks like so we will need to take out as many people as possible. We don't want to risk him escaping somehow," Harry told them before turning back to the door.

Harry grabbed Ginny's hand before sending an extremely powerful blasting curse at the door. The blast which disintegrated the door sent a shockwave around the room knocking out several of the Death Eaters hidden nearby. However there were still enough of them to make getting into the room difficult.

As soon as the door was opened the group of Elite Goblin Warriors charged forward, as they entered the room they sending out a wave of curses in every direction. The battle was fierce but short, several of the Warriors were cut down by the curses from the Death Eaters who where spread out around the room. As the Warriors battle the Death Eaters the others in Harry's group were able to enter and quickly finished off the remaining Death Eaters.

Harry and Ginny started checked the bodies of the Death Eaters, as the others looked around the room. Most of the Death Eaters had died during the fight but several were still breathing. Harry used Legilemens on each of them to determine which one was Tom.

"Here he is," announced Harry after checking his fifth Death Eater, he quickly bound Tom with Phoenix magic to ensure he couldn't escape.

"Is he alive?" asked Albus.

"Yes, but he is losing blood rapidly, I doubt he will survive much longer," announced Harry as he dragged the body next to his old one.

"Will he really die this time?" asked Hermione.

"I believe so," Albus told them. "I was just reading some of his notes and when he transferred to the new body he took over the soul that was already there. His old one was too damaged from all the Horcruxes so it was the only way for him to do it.

"Can it really be that easy?" asked Harry slightly shocked that Tom was be that careless.

"I don't think he expected you to find out until it was too late," added Ranok.

"We need to be sure," Harry said as he revived Tom.

"Hello Tom," stated Harry calmly.

"Don't call me that, my name is Lord Voldemort," spat Tom in reply.

"Not for very much longer," replied Harry.

Harry could see Tom struggling against the bonds.

"It is useless to resist, Tom. Not even you were strong enough to break Phoenix magic when you had your old body."

"You can't kill me, Potter," spat Tom weakly as he felt himself getting dizzy from the blood lose.

"I don't need to Tom, you have already lost too much blood. We already know that your old Horcruxes are useless now so it is only a matter of time," stated Harry.

For the first time since leaving Hogwarts when he was sixteen Tom felt fear as he felt his life slipping away. For the first time he realized just how pointless his fight had been, he tried to cheat death and now as he stepped over the boundary to the next life he knew he would have to account for everything he had done.

With his dying breath he said one single word, something that shocked everyone in the room "Sorry."

Harry and the others searched the whole place and destroyed everything they could. Most of it related to rituals that Tom had performed on his old body, they wanted to make sure that no-one would be able to do them again.

It was soon very clear that Tom had made certain to leave no evidence of where he was planning to going after performing the transfer ritual.

"We need to take Tom's old body back with us," stated Harry as they finished up searching the hideout. "That way we can show the world that Tom has finally been defeated and we don't have to mention anything about the transfer."

The others quickly agreed and they all swore and oath never to reveal everything they had learned while in the hideout.

With that, the large force disappeared from the hideout and returned to Hogwarts. To ensure no one could ever use the hideout again, Harry and Ginny caused a magical explosion, which leveled it.

As soon as the force arrived they were surrounded by reporters who had arrived at Hogwarts when they heard that Harry and the others had disappeared.

"Mr. Potter, is it true that he-who-must-not-be-named is dead?" someone asked.

"Yes, we can confirm that the man who called himself Lord Voldemort has been defeated once and for all," replied Harry as he summoned the body for them to see.

The cheer that filled the room was deafening as everyone started to celebrate.

Before anyone else could ask a question Albus stepped forward. "As you can see Lord Voldemort is dead. I would request that you give Mr. Potter and the others who were involved in the battle some space. When they are ready I am sure they will be happy to speak to you."

The reporters quickly disappeared so they could get back to their offices and publish the news that most of the Wizarding World had been waiting a long time for.

Epilogue

The Wizarding World enjoyed an extended period of peace following the death of Tom Riddle. The Council of Magic decided, with Amelia, that they would release limited information of what Tom had done and how he had survived when Harry was one.

Harry sent the Phoenix Battalion back to the Phoenix Realm as they were no longer needed.

Harry and the others finished out the school year by passing every one of the OWLs by such a large margin that they were all given the option of skipping their sixth year. All of them decided to take the option, leaving all the New Marauders preparing for their seventh year together, much to the displeasure of some of the professors and amusement of the others.

During the summer, Albus and Minerva, Remus and Tonks, Fred and Hermione, Bill and Fleur, and Harry and Ginny each had the wedding of their dreams at Potter Castle. Amelia had sponsored a law that allowed werewolves to marry, due to the availability of the new potion that stopped the transformations. The law also provided funding to ensure that the potion was available to everyone who needed it.

The other surprise for everyone was the relationship that developed between Sirius and one Petunia Evans, who had filed for divorce from Vernon shortly after meeting Lily's portrait for the first time. The meeting was very unpleasant to start with, but eventually Lily could see that Petunia regretted what had happened. Once she agreed to get divorced to show how sorry she was, Lily forgave her.

As the summer progressed, Bill and Fleur had a baby boy, who they named Dominic Ronald Weasley. Remus and Tonks also had a boy, who they named Theodore James Lupin.

Just as they were preparing to head back to Hogwarts for their seventh year, Ginny approached Harry very nervously.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he felt the worry flowing through the bond. He knew Ginny had been keeping something from him, but knew it wasn't anything bad. Ginny wasn't stupid enough to do anything like that twice.

"Harry, I think we forgot to cast the Contraceptive Charm," replied Ginny, without looking at him.

Harry, realizing immediately what she was saying, swept her off her feet and spun her around in excitement. Ginny was finally fulfilling the wish she had made to provide Harry a family of his own, something far more powerful in her mind than any level of magical ability could have provided.

"Put me down, Potter," shouted Ginny, but her laugh ruined the sternness in her voice.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am two weeks along," replied Ginny, relieved that Harry was not upset.

"That is the best news I have heard in a long time."

They celebrated long into the night. Molly was less than thrilled when she got the news, but soon accepted that they were married and therefore had not done anything wrong.

** THE END **

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has followed this story and reviewed. I have another story in the works but won't start posting that until I have more of it written and am happy with the story line. It isn't a bond story but is a Harry/Ginny story