A/N: Here is the next chapter, again, written by Mezzo_E_Mezzo (fanfiction username: MMEEMM) ^_^

Hope you all enjoy :)

Chapter 32 – Shattering

[Longbottoms' manor - Anna]

Anna was at the end of her rope, but finally her efforts had reached Narcissa, giving the woman awareness of the evil spirit attached to her. Anna couldn't do anything else but watch while the pain of the Cruciatus Curse systematically annihilated her senses, but she internally cheered as she witnessed the battle that Narcissa engaged with the horcrux.

Eventually, the cruciatus was lifted as its caster was hit by the backlash of her distorted legilimency, but Anna could do no more than fight to keep her eyes open and focused on Narcissa. Finally, in the center of fallen bodies, Narcissa ripped the locket from her neck with a horrible scream of agony. Anna was glad that Draco, as everyone else, was stunned by her violent and unwilling release of mental power, and the boy could not witness his mother's suffering.

Narcissa tossed away the locket in a far corner of the room, fell on her knees, panting, then raised her trembling wand. Anna understood that the woman had lowered the wards from the mansion before collapsing unconscious on the floor.

With loud noises, Dumbledore and the others entered the room from the main door, finding the entire group of people -enemies and allies- in a vulnerable state. Even the Dementors were vulnerable, choking as if they had ingested something toxic.

Several Patronuses, Expelliarmuses and Petrificus Totaluses later, Dumbledore approached Anna, frozen on the floor but with her eyes wide open.

"My Dear… What happened? Where's Harry?" whispered Albus, casting some medical charms for relieving pain and stiff muscles.

"N-Narcissa… fought t-the horcrux" stuttered the Unspeakable, nodding toward the place where the locket had been thrown. Her gaze was focused one moment, dull the next. Before anyone could touch the evil thing, Dumbledore moved and took it, then came again near the exhausted witch.

"Harry and Jess… taken. Narcissa doesn't know where, I've seen it..." She took a deep breath. "They have Rebekah too. It was a trap for… Harry..."

Albus shot a glance at the unconscious body of Xenophilious, desperately holding his daughter. No surprises there.

He pat Anna's shoulder. "Take a rest, my dear, I'll destroy the horcrux, and we will find a way to discover where they have been taken."

But Anna had fallen unconscious before he could finish the sentence.

O

[Somewhere]

When the Light reinforcements arrived, some hours later, they found David silencioed and immobilized in the prison, exactly where the Death Eaters had left him, but when they took off the spells, they initially thought the counter-spell didn't work, because the man remained absolutely still.

Curt lowered himself to his eye level, and sorrowful eyes met sorrowful eyes.

"He's in shock," Curt announced to the Aurors. Then, whispering to his friend: "You heard everything, didn't you?"

David didn't answer. He couldn't.

Oh yes, he had heard it all, behind the thin walls. The raging interrogation by the Death Eaters, the silence that meant Seth was not answering, the shouted crucios and the other torturing spells, Seth's yelling… then suddenly a crash, more worrying silence… and then the two Death Eaters arguing between themselves about 'who was at fault for pushing too much' and 'let's hope it was the other one, or we will never have the anti-magic spell'.

They were coming for David when the Aurors had entered the castle.

What luck.

Curt made him get up, slowly. They exited the prison with heavy steps.

David didn't need to look up and take in the situation. He didn't see a shocked Mrs. Lovegood rescued by the Aurors from another cell, nor the bodies of the two Death Eaters, or Seth's gently covered by a white sheet.

He already knew that his dearest friend had died for saving his unworthy, lucky ass.

'WHAT LUCK?!' he thought bitterly. 'My greatest luck was having Seth as a friend, and if this potion hasn't understood this simple fact (the magic liquid in his stomach twinkled, as if in response) then it's useless!'

What kind of man can call himself lucky if he has survived his friends, or worse, if his friend has died in his place?! He would have preferred one hundred times dying in his place instead. But he had been, oh, so lucky.

One of the Aurors handed him his cloak that the jailers had taken from him.

With a cold movement, he took the vials of Felix left in his hidden pocket, and threw them against the wall, destroying them in a crash of glass.

He didn't want to be LUCKY anymore. NEVER again.

O

[Monasterium Discidii – Jess, Harry]

"You," Harry almost trembled in hate.

Voldemort evaluated him with his glowing, calculating eyes. "We have never met after that fateful night, Harry Dumbledore Potter… but it is as they said… you are NOT a child."

As if repeating his full name was an attempt to intimidate him, thought Harry, well it wasn't working, although he was nervous because he didn't understand the Dark Lord's intentions.

Voldemort bent down to the boy's level so that their eyes met.

Harry didn't see the usefulness of playing dumb.

"You're right, Voldemort, I am NOT a kid."

Next to him, Jess, although numbed by the spell, could clearly sense something switching in the boy's magic: an extreme focus, deeply intent. As if a foreign instinct inside Harry knew that the wizard that had just entered the room was his only and final nemesis.

Even Wilhelm appeared to see something different. The monk was holding his breath, finally silent after his long explanations. The tension was palpable.

"What do you want? Why don't you just kill me?" spat Harry, glaring at Voldemort.

The wizard smirked maliciously.

"Oh, why would I settle for killing you, when I can humiliate you and all this ridiculous idea of the Chosen One? The boy-who-lived, born in order to defeat the Dark Lord?… I know this isn't the truth. You are born, truth be told, in order to make me stronger."

"That's nonsense!" replied Harry.

"Are you sure, child? You thought you had killed me that night, but then you have revived me instead, and you were delusional about weakening me, because now you're going to give me more power.

"But let me explain why you are here.

"Truth is, it was your blood that has made my new body come to life. So, in a magical way, you are my father." Voldemort broke into high-pitched hysterical laughter, while his words began to dig a feral omen into Harry's mind.

It couldn't be…

"But," Voldemort interrupted his thoughts, "there's something in your blood, in your bloody Light Magic that is conflicting with my Dark spells, and I decided to not ignore it anymore. So, to put it simply, this way I will not only kill you, but in addition I will purify my blood from your influence, irritating brat, just like the one of an undesired parent."

Harry felt his heart plummeting like it was full of nails. Rusty, toxic nails hammered into him.

But at least…

"And you are risking the result of the spell by leaving a stranger here with me? You don't need her, so why don't you leave this woman be? She was caught with me by accident."

Harry felt Jess stiffen at his side, and the woman was clearly about to protest, but Wilhelm spoke first:

"THAT, was an interesting turn of events. You were indeed apparated both in the runic circle by accident, but the spell we prepared for your magic has accepted her too… it has recognised her as if she was a part of you, young Dumbledore. Maybe it's just because you were shielding her with your magic when you arrived… Unusual, but I'm not going against the choices of the rituals' magic. She is going to die with you."

"I'm sick of chitchats, Wilhelm. Let's begin."

"Of course, my Lord."

The monk went to the dark part of the room and moved a curtain so they could see another runic circle, where Voldemort posed himself. Wilhelm took a potion from the table and gave it to the Dark Lord, who drank it, never leaving Harry with his malicious gaze.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy your death, every second of it, Harry," said Voldemort, smirking.

Wilhelm began chanting and Harry froze in fear.

How could they escape? They needed more time for understanding the runes!

What was he supposed to do?

"Quick!" Jess whispered to him, all of a sudden. "Harry, don't panic, and transform into your animagus form!"

"What?! A-Are you sure?" asked Harry lowing his voice.

"Do it now! We'll slow down the ritual! Trust me!"

Luckily, in his training they had practiced the wandless transformation. He was grateful for their abundant caution.

In a few moments, they both shifted, and even the experienced monk shouted in fright and surprise, seeing the snow gryphon and the Peruvian Vipertooth inside the circle. The gryphon moved its wings, but too weakly to fly. Harry tried to move his tail toward the monk, but he found himself exhausted from the transformation. He could barely move.

Voldemort roared, furious. "That brat..." hissed, beginning to rush at them.

"My Lord! Please don't move! The ritual has started, you can't exit the circle nor use your wand, or we will not be able to repeat it!… I… I can continue!"

Voldemort gnashed his teeth, fuming. "Then… GO ON!"

The dragon curled around the gryphon in a protective way, but then the monk continued the chanting, and Harry fell into the darkness.

O

[The Ministry]

Albus was upset, frustrated and furious.

It was all his fault that Harry had been taken. He should not have let him muffle the bond that way, game or not. And now where, WHERE were he and Jess? He really hoped for some help from the Unspeakables.

The Ministry was in chaos, but it had seen worse. Clearly there had been an attack, but in the end Aurors had prevailed against the Death Eaters. There were several corpses lined up on the floor, covered by sheets, and Albus had not the least desire to know how many of them were friends or enemies.

Finally, he spotted a familiar face.

"Curt, for Merlin's sake, I need you!"

"Headmaster? Dumbledore, where are Jess and Anna? We are unable to contact them!"

"This is the reason I am here, my dear boy. We've been attacked by Narcissa, Anna is at St. Mungo's now, Jess and Harry have been kidnapped by Death Eaters and I ABSOLUTELY need your thingy to find them!"

"Our thingy?! You mean the horc..."

"Yes, it is our only hope in finding them, I fear."

Curt darkened. "I can give it a try, but without Seth it will be difficult..."

"What do you mean?" Asked Albus, surprised.

"Seth and David have been taken by Death Eaters, I managed to track them down, but the rescue squad has not come back yet."

Meanwhile Curt guided Albus to the Unspeakable Department, where the horcrux finder was kept

When they entered the meeting room where the machine was, it was already beeping and vibrating. "I KNEW IT!" roared Dumbledore, then he explained to Curt: "I hoped that the radar would react to the last bit of Voldemort's soul. I've come into possession of the locket and I destroyed it, so we might be able to understand where the last piece is now, the one INSIDE Voldemort!"

Curt fiddled with the radar, perplexed. "I am not so sure of it, there's a lot of magical interference, look, the radar is pointing north, but I can't make it more precise, damn it..."

"Perhaps what is left of his soul is too poor for it to be localized exactly?" suggested Albus.

"Wait," exclaimed Curt, "there's another possibility Seth talked to me about… Here, we had reconfigured the radar therefore, on occurrence, it would be able to track down other magical traces related to an identity, but the only few strong enough to be tagged were yours, Harry's and Jess'..."

"You made WHAT?!" blurted out Dumbledore.

"It was only a project, we never tested it..."

"Okay, beyond my moral reservations, it is exactly what we need now, isn't it? Can you make it find Jess and Harry?"

"I think so… just a minute… this was set this way and… oh, how curious..."

"What?!" Albus was exasperated.

"Harry's and Jess' energies… they're together, it's for sure, but… it's just as if they shared the same magic, or almost..."

Albus would be frozen if he wasn't so concerned. "I-I d-don't care! Now, tell me WHERE are they!?"

"I will do more than this, sir. Instead of losing time in deciphering the data, I will project them directly to a Portkey, and it will bring us to them! But together with the reinforcements, if you allow me!"

O

[Werewolves Liaison Center]

There were too many. The Vampires on the other side of the FiendFyre were manipulating it, while Colin was alone, desperately trying to gain control of it against their wishes. His natural gift was not enough if he wanted to save all the people inside the Centre, at least, not at this level. He had to give more power, he had to give so much more of himself.

And, with a desperate glance on Rita and Lupin, who were trying to shield the people from the flames, he knew what was needed.

The violins and the drums of the Overture grew louder inside him, till he let them fuse with him, he let the FLAMES grow inside him and their soft crackles WERE the violins and the drums and the flutes and the bells and the trumpets.

He was not burning, it didn't hurt, but he felt a strange detachment from reality. The sword fell from his hands, he didn't need it anymore, he didn't have real hands anymore.

O o

Rita almost interrupted her protective charm at the surprise and fear caused by the sudden fall of the smoky sword that slammed loudly to the ground. Recognising it, she looked up and saw the radiant figure of his collegue taken by the fire.

"COLIN!" she cried in despair, but unable to leave her place at the risk of costing the lives near her.

But… What was happening? Colin wasn't screaming, he was… dancing? And the FiendFyre was… responding to his movements?

O o

He was made of fire. He was one with it. They were the same creature now, the same conscience. And he was, OH, so hungry, but he could choose which creatures to feed on, and he chose the ones already dead.

With swift, lethal moves, the flames suddenly got far from the werewolves, freeing the way for the exit, and instead went after the slender figures of many surprised and unprepared vampires.

O o

Rita, Lupin and the other ones carrying the protective spells managed to drive the people outside, while the majority of the vampires were killed, and few others vanished, terrorized.

Colin felt his heart relax in joy and relief, but at the same time the conscience of the demonic fire inside him was not satisfied, it craved more. Finished with the undead, there were more lives to be taken, more things to burn to ashes. It felt like an unbearable need, like breathing, but there was still enough human conscience in him for fighting against these instincts.

Colin had full control of the Fire, he WAS the fire now, but he understood immediately that, as long as the fiendfyre was existing no one would be safe. It had to be extinguished, and… him with it, before he lost his senses for the one of the flames. With a painful effort, he gained all the fire, recalling the flames next to him, and the more he gathered, the more he felt himself changing, his essence was changing…

O o

Rita had left the werewolves in the hands of Lupin and Provo, they were now outside and there were no Vampires. The night was highlighted by the gigantic flames devouring the Centre. And, she was shocked to see, at the core of the FiendFyre, a humanoid shape: Colin.

"COLIN!" she called again, but he couldn't hear her anymore.

He had tamed the fire, but at what cost?

And then it happened.

The fire wavered, and began retreating toward the center, toward Colin. Rita saw the flames moving around him, just as wrapping him in regal vests… no, they were... feathers?

The terse dark sky seemed to not be able to contain the now huge forming figure.

It was a phoenix, as wide as a castle, which detached itself gently from the semi-destroyed building and lifted itself above them all.

It opened its huge, beautiful wings. It moved its head down to look at Rita and the others, just like giving a greeting one last time… the music roared all around them, just like a phoenix song played by magical fire.

It closed its wings... and it disappeared, engulfed by itself.

Rita fell on her knees, speechless, while hot tears were running down her cheeks. In the last few years, she had learned to love the Unspeakables as family, and Colin was just like a brother to her.

"Colin..." she sobbed one last time.

The night had never been so cold and silent.

O

[Monasterium Discidii...?]

Jess woke up feeling strangely light. When she opened her eyes, she was in an undefined open space surrounded by fog. There were ruins around her, as if a castle had collapsed on itself, and a gloomy silence engulfed the scene.

She got up slowly, testing her reflexes and her magic, and she found that the numbness and weakness caused by the runic circle was gone.

The air was a little cold, and Jess shivered in her banshee costume, so she conjured her wand like she was used to, raising her free hand and pressing her thumb and forefinger together and bringing her hand straight down, her wand appearing as she did so, very much like a certain fairy godmother.

Wand in hand, now reassured by its comforting presence, she examined her surroundings with a critical eye: every movement in the thick fog seemed to her like an enemy ready to strike.

But where was she? And where was Harry?

"Jess!" a voice called from the fog, making her jump in fright.

The voice was both familiar and unfamiliar to her, her battle instincts fighting with a strange sense of trustworthiness.

She turned toward the direction where the voice was coming, wand aimed.

"Jess!" called the voice again. It was a masculine voice, young, but not too young.

"Who are you? Show yourself!"

All of a sudden, a shadow appeared in the fog from the left. The shape of a man.

"Stop! Or I'll curse you!"

The shadow stopped, and slowly rose his hands, an oddly muggle gesture. It seemed that he didn't have a wand, but Jess was suspicious nonetheless.

"Come now, slowly," ordered Jess.

After a moment, the man came out from the fog. It was a tall, thin man in his thirties with pale skin and black messy hair, green eyes behind a battered pair of round glasses.

Jess stared at him.

He was disturbingly familiar. His face… His eyes… he couldn't possibly be…

"Jess, it's me, Harry."

"Prove it," escaped from her lips. She was almost certain about him telling the truth, but it was never wrong to be prudent. The situation was unbelievable. The whole place could be an illusion of some sort.

The man smiled. The expression seemed not to be usual on his exhausted face.

"My Papa tonight was wearing a Poon costume, wasn't he?"

"Oh Merlin… Harry…" Jess lowered the wand, astonished, remembering his treasured stuffed phoenix. Harry lowered his hands as well, approaching cautiously.

"What happened to you? Why are you grown up?! Is this some sort of future limbo?"

"Ehm… You see, Jess, this isn't exactly my future… it's kind of a part of my past," Harry answered, stopping right in front of the witch.

Jess blinked, perplexed.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I don't get it."

"It's a long story but… you'll understand soon."

And, without hesitation, he hugged her.

Jess inhaled sharply. Instantly, she was overwhelmed by thoughts, memories and feelings. It was just as if she had cast a powerful Legilimens, but…part of the memories, they were… hers?

A different her? Jess remembered violently the scene of the dream where this other Jess walked hand in hand with Harry. She could see her, a translucent shadow, asking for a reunion, that Jess willingly accepted, even if she already knew that the memories would be full of pain, anguish and despair.

And she was right.

She didn't know how much time had passed, if seconds or hours, but she found herself still in Harry's arms, clenching him and sobbing.

"Oh, Harry, how could we possibly have gone so far… Don… Anna… myself… and the time-travel… oh, I refused to believe such an option..."

"I'm sorry, Jess. Papa and I believed it would be best to keep the thing secret. You never know where your enemy's coming from. Of course we trusted you all, but there were so many possible implications in revealing it… We were wounded by betrayal too many times."

"Albus… the bond between you two… it was me… the other me… I am certain of it. And now you have to activate it, Harry, we need Albus here. I am certain that we can defeat Voldemort once and for all."

"What are you talking about? The horcrux..."

"The horcrux is gone, Harry. I had put an alarm for alerting me in such a case, remember? And it rang like hell in my ears while we were in that runic circle, but I couldn't tell it to you right in front of Voldemort! I don't know how, but the horcruxes are gone and now it's just him!"

"Okay, but… how do I call, Albus? I am not even really sure of where we are..."

"Trust me, now concentrate and try to reach for him. We need him."

Suddenly, laughter resonated around them in the fog.

A venomous, familiar laughter.

"We need him immediately, Harry."

O

A green ray of light shot just an inch away from his head, and Albus dodged it, casting back a silent Diffindo that killed the Death Eater.

The battle around the abbey had just begun. The Dark Lord's supporters on one side, and Aurors, Unspeakables, the Order on the other. The morale was already very low from the deaths of Colin and Seth, but with it came unparalleled resolve. The Unspeakables were fighting with pain and fierceness, pushing down the personal anguish and hoping to save at least their leader and Harry.

Curt brandished Colin's sword and was fighting three Vampires at a time. They were exchanging fire shots and the other wizards did not dare to even approach.

Rita engaged in a duel with a large Death Eater, the shock of recent events clearly visible in her expression stuck in a hurt frown.

Frank, together with Remus, Shacklebolt and some other Aurors, were trying to restrain the evil werewolves, while Alice and Rebekah used their powerful Patronuses in order to hold back the Dementors around them, in particular the ones next to the Unspeakables, who now seemed vulnerable to the power of the heinous creatures.

Hagrid was taking care of a pair of giants, helped by Professor Bear and the Weasleys, while Alastor was teaching some good manners to Voldemort's' newest recruits.

One of the most reckless wizards, nonetheless, was David. He cast spell after spell, confronted enemy after enemy, jumping in front of the danger without any hesitation, just in a similar way he usually did, but this time he was not guided by the boldness of luck; he simply no longer cared about being hit, barely cared about surviving.

Albus fought together with Severus and Minerva against the Vampires. They knew that, as soon as Narcissa would wake, she would order the Vampires' retreat, but both she and Anna were under the healers' care at the moment.

They were trying to open a break in order to enter the abbey, but Voldemort had magicked a set of wards that seemed endless. They were layered one inside the other and could only be removed one at a time, a task that Nicholas Flamel, Bill Weasley and Flitwick were dedicated to.

And there, while he was casting an Incendio to extinguish the few Inferi that were approaching, suddenly Albus heard Harry's voice, and he was so desperate in hearing it again that it startled him.

"Papa!" resonated, clear, into his mind. But wait, was the voice different? Was it… more similar to the Harry he used to know in the other future… before the time travel?

And then he saw it. The bond was once again accessible, and not only that. He could see the chaotic magic engulfing it, empowering it, Jess' doing of course, and it was gently calling for him, attracting him, a safe passage through the defences of the abbey. He didn't need to think about a more reasonable explanation.

"A-Albus? Are you ok?"

With a quick glance toward Minerva, who was eyeing him with worry (he had frozen without warning, after all), he answered, both to her and to the calling voice: "I'm coming, Harry!"

And he disappeared.

O

Albus felt like he was trying to apparate in a space too thin for him.

He had a sudden flash of a large room, Voldemort, Harry and Jess unconscious in two different runic circles, and an old, ugly monk deep in a trance, clutching an ancient tome - his eyes glassy while he was chanting. The whole scene was hued by a strange greenish light, the one that Albus had learned to pair with wild magic.

He felt himself drawn to the runic circle containing Jess and Harry, and then all went dark. He almost feared the magic wouldn't work, but, in the end, he landed painfully on the ground and instantly realized this was outside anything he could consider normal. The word 'limbo' instantly came to mind.

"Jess, quick! Shield him!" he heard Harry's voice, the same adult voice that had called him through the bond.

He lifted his head just in time to witness a green light rebounding on a translucent shield materializing a mere inch above his nose.

Voldemort roared, furious. "What are YOU doing here, old man? Did you come to watch Harry's death?"

And then Voldemort dodged a spell Jess aimed at him from behind, then turned to fire back. "You surely are a pain, girl, but rest assured you will meet the same fate as that disgusting husband of yours!"

"Papa!" called Harry, indeed the adult version of him, from behind a crumbled wall on Albus' left. Albus shook himself and ran to Harry's hiding place.

"Harry, where are we? And how are you?… it was the first time I heard you calling me this… with your adult self."

Harry smiled a sad smile at Albus' Phoenix coloured robes. "Jess said that we're in a strange psychic limbo, which is why I finally show my real age. But we have to stop Voldemort. We were buying time, making him talk… you remember how he loves it. In his ramblings, we learned he had had some troubles with dark spells, but it seems that's not the case here. Jess and I think we have to use the chaotic magic. If we combine it all together and attack him, that should work. But I need a wand..."

Albus smirked. "Oh, do you? In that case..." And, after rummaging in his robes, he took out a very familiar hat.

Harry's eyes twinkled. "Stanley!"

Voldemort's old wand in hand, Harry jumped out of his hiding place. It seemed like ages from when he had held a wand, and he felt like an overloaded circuit that needed to free itself.

Jess was furiously fighting against Voldemort. He had accused her of being 'the one that killed his Nagini', somehow recognising her voice, and then he had told her he had made Don die by the hands (the teeth) of a Vampire. From that instant, Jess had moved in a fury, relentlessly attacking him, but it was evident that she couldn't handle the situation alone for much longer.

In an instant, Harry and Albus reached her.

"Now, you pitiful bastard, it's time that you go where you belong, to darkness," declared Harry.

They lined the three wands, feeling an unusual sync between them, similar to Fawkes's song.

Voldemort gnashed his teeth, casting a killing curse even though his wand trembled in his hands, resonating with the chaotic magic.

And then it came.

They cast at the same time, destroying the Dark Lord's defenses like they were as soft as paper.

As hard as he fought, he might as well have been a demon, but it was all for naught. He could not withstand the dense and unyielding power that rushed over and through him like a tidal wave. It tore and ripped him, burned and choked him. The pain went beyond all the agony he had put others through.

And then he crumbled, finally fading into Hell's Abyss.

O

They woke up in the runic circle, inside their actual bodies. The room was devastated, the tables were turned upside down, the curtains in shambles. In Voldemort's runic circle, the only things left were his robes and his wand. At the opposite side of the room laid Wilhelm, as if pushed against the wall from a tornado. He was unconscious or dead, they didn't know.

The three of them were exhausted, momentarily drained out of their magic and energies, piled up upon another. They could barely move.

"Is it.. Is it over?" muttered Jess.

"I think so," whispered Albus.

A minute passed as they tried to regain the strength to get up, processing what had happened.

Still exhausted, Jess spoke. "I can still hardly believe what I saw… and all these years…you two are time travelers. We had always believed traveling a substantial amount back in time was impossible."

"Time is a Mysterious Thing, Mrs. Kringle," commented Albus, smiling sadly as he gave a tearful Harry a tight hug as Jess slowly got to her feet and looked back at what remained from Voldemort.

He was finally gone.

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A/N: Just the epilogue! I will try to post it very soon since it is so short :)

Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing.