Voldemort scowled as he walked through the abandoned corridors of Malfoy manor. He had woken up this morning to find the wards poking at him. They did not want him here, but their master did not want to give the Dark Lord cause for vengeance.
Voldemort cast out his magic, looking for the signature that he knew belonged to the insufferable, insignificant blonde.
"Slinky!"
"Yes, Dark Lord sir?"
"Where is Lucius?"
"He gone out earliers today sir, Slinky not know where."
"Of course. Where is the little Malfoy then?"
"He gone to plays Quidditch sir."
"Where is he now?"
"Slinky only knows Quidditch, sir."
"Tell me immediately when either comes back."
"Yes, Dark Lord sir."
Voldemort scowled as the disgusting creature popped away. The little Malfoy needed to be kept on a tighter leash. He would have to move the-
A vision hit Voldemort, causing his head to spin and his body to collide with the wall.
A stabbing pain in his heart, claws digging into his soul, poison sliding through his veins... One of his Horcruxes had been destroyed.
An overwhelming need to protect his soul pieces appeared in his mind, and Voldemort surged to his feet, calling Nagini to him in the snake tongue, Draco Malfoy completely forgotten.

-

"Thanks for coming over guys."
"It's no problem."
"Yeah, once you turn seventeen we can just apparate from here. We'll be able to get searching faster this way."

-

"Harry? Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, just a little... tingly."
"Perfectly normal, Neville and I both went through it. On a wizard's seventeenth birthday, they come into either an inheritance or a magical boost. From what I've read, the Potter family isn't known for its creatures, so I think you'll receive a boost."
"O-okay, thanks P-padma..."

-

As the clock struck midnight, Harry felt a resounding crack go through his skull. Crying out, Harry was swallowed into waves of pain.
Nearly unconscious from the overwhelming feelings, Harry could barely make sense of all the scenery flashing before his eyes. People in different states or forms of pain and injury laid on their beds, on the ground, on the streets, and in hospitals, clinging onto life as death clung to them.

-

Neville and Padma panicked when they saw Harry apparate out of his room with a look of agony on his face, but they had no way to track him other than the 'point-me' spell, and every few seconds Neville's wand would spin in a different direction anyways.
Watching the wand intently, Padma began counting the seconds in between the directional changes, noticing a decreasing pattern.
Within two hours, the directional changes were minutes apart, and Padma believed this was because Harry was finally running out of magic to expend. As he most likely was apparating to different places within seconds of appearing.
Neville dutifully kept his magic flowing through the simple charm and followed his friend across Europe, marveling at the magical strength of his tiny angel.
When Padma and Neville finally found Harry, he was exhausted and delirious. Lying down next to a hospital bed that held a bald woman, his hands glowed blue, even as he struggled simply to keep his eyes open.
The blue glow sluggishly traveled up the bed and seeped into the woman's chest, blazing a brilliant white as it fought off the cancer within her.
Padma and Neville watched in awe as the woman's taut face relaxed in sleep, and her body visibly sunk into the mattress in relief.
Of course, the two snapped out of it when Harry groaned, threw a hand over his face, and promptly fell unconscious.
Quietly walking forward, Neville hefted his little friend up into his arms, noting that he still didn't weight nearly enough, and turned grimly to look at Padma, who nodded and took his arm, apparating them all back to the hellhole house of Harry's 'family'.

-

Harry offered a bottomless bag to his friend, who had been staring at a floating necklace as if it deeply offended him.
Reaching inside, Neville brought out a long, white fang and stared at it in confusion.
"Do you want the honors?"
Neville had no words as he stared down into his little friend's face. Grasping a tighter hold on the Basilisk fang, Neville stalked closer to the offending piece of jewelry.
Within reach of the locket, Neville stopped and took a fortifying breathe, only to freeze in horror as the locket opened up. Fog drifted out of the pendant, which curled up and took shape into two naked figures.
Staring, transfixed, Neville watched as Harry and Padma snogged each other thoroughly, hands roaming their figures, experiencing pleasures neither had every imagined.
"You'll never be enough... He'll never choose you. Afterall, he is perfect... Come, touch me... I can make you everything he could ever desire... Come closer, yes... Touch me..."
Neville staggered forwards, his breathes heavy, his eyes locked on the two figures who were now exploring the joys of intercourse. His mind hazing in anger. How could she? To defile such an Angel has to be a sin. She knew how much he loved his little angel. How dare she?
"Neville."
Just one word, spoken in an innocently sweet voice, and the boy froze in his actions, angry haze stopped in its tracks.
"Wh-what, Harry?"
"I believe in you."
With resolve he had never felt before, Neville stepped forwards once more, but this time with a strong determination. The whispers nagged at his ears, but did not dig their poison into his thoughts again.
Raising the fang high above his head, Neville brought it down to pierce the locket with a snarl, love for his best friend helping extinguish the evil of the Horcrux like water on a flame.

-

"It's so cold here."
"Well, we're at a higher sea level than Scotland, so that makes sense."
"But why did we have to come here?"
"You suggested that we come here. You said that the Himalayas would be a great resource in finding a spell that could off Voldemort. And we've only found an ancient growth charm so far, so we have to go deeper into the mountains."
Padma huffed as she waved her hand, casting a warming charm. She sighed lightly before casting the same on her two idiots.
"Isn't it so cool that they gave us that spell though? Who'd have thought it was actually wizard's that contributed to the Yeti myth!"
"Well, they should have tested it more. You heard them, they haven't figured out all the spell work that goes into it, especially if it has side effects, like growing large amounts of hair!"
"You're just made you can't cast the charm, Padma."
"...Maybe."

-

Voldemort sat in his throne, stewing in his thoughts. His diary had been destroyed by the insipid blonde that was still nowhere to be found. If only the little Malfoy had not left as well, he could... relieve some tension.
Scowling down at the marble floor, Voldemort thought of how to take his revenge. Marking the little blonde as soon as he showed up would show his father just who he belonged to, maybe making him watch as the little blonde was defiled would help his loyalty problem as well.
But what if he knew about his other Horcruxes? What if he was out trying to destroy them?
Images of a locket being burned, screams and shadows writhing around the small object caused terror to grip Voldemort's long gone cold heart.

-

"It's so hot here."
"I swear you are never satisfied."
"I am too! London is a perfectly good place to be."
"Well, we're not there yet, so woman up. We're almost at the apparition point and then we'll be in India. It should be a little cooler there."
"At least we got something helpful from this."
"A ward to trap evil won't be enough to kill Voldemort though, so we have to keep looking."
"I know, let's just get this over with."

-

"Go, go, go, go!"
Students ran like bats out of hell to their headquarters in the Room of Requirement as a group of Death Eaters rounded on their position.
Justin checked Harry's map one more time, recast his silencing charm, and sped down the seventh floor corridor, slipping the door closed behind him just as the cloaked men rounded the corner.

-

"Karma is the action and inaction of the world. For all things you do and do not do, there are consequences. Us monks only hold one spell in our monastery that fits the objective you seek, and it can only be utilized by one who has only ever had good actions."
"Would you be able to show us?"
"Yes. Follow me."
The three British wizards followed the monk deeper into a sacred Buddhist temple.

-

"Malfoy!"
The lithe blonde turned on his heel, wand at the ready as he assessed his opponent.
"Zambini."
Draco internally shook his head. He was in the Potter Castle, and nothing that meant it's occupants harm could enter. The wards had been a real pain to get through, but Draco couldn't say that he didn't feel any safer because of them.
The Italian Slytherin gave a small smile as he caught up, glad to see his friend again, before it dropped into a frown of seriousness.
"Do you think he'll be able to do it?"
"We're here, aren't we?"
"But the Dark Lord-"
"Is only human. He'll make a mistake, and Potter will capitalize on it."
The two walked the silent halls in contemplation for a while, before Draco began to speak.
"I almost hate to admit it, but he played us well."
"Like a fiddle."
"Not only are we safe from the Dark Lord, but he doesn't have a lot of his key players left."
"All of his spies in Hogwarts are here now, and many of our parents took refuge from him as well."
"I have to admire him for his tenacity behind that innocent mask."
"It truly is flawless."

-

Neville stared in awe at all the plants growing in harmony with the building's around them, curving up walls and giving shade to the residents of the empire from the scorching sun.
"Your city truly is magnificent. My friend is a budding botanist, and, as you can see, is absolutely in love with your architecture."
Neville blushed as he looked down, but quickly got sucked into the intricate designs the roots of the thicker plants seemed to make on the cobbled ground.
"Yes, I thank your friend for his admiration. Our people take great pride in the care of our plants. If he ever wishes to come here to study our ways, we would be proud to host him."
Neville sputtered out a thousand words of thanks throughout the rest of their meeting as Padma mentally documented all that the group saw, and Harry spoke with their guide, a man of the ruling nobility.

-

"What've you got there, Neville?"
"It's a letter from my gran. Dumbledore's Will has finally been read, and he left us some things."
"All of us?"
"No, Gran says only Harry and I. Sorry Padma."
"It's not problem, I didn't know him very well."
"But I didn't either..."
"Weird."
"And the things on this list are really random too. I get Gryffindor's sword while Harry, you get his wand and a ring. Gran says the only thing that accompanied them was 'It stopped working for me a while ago.' Whatever that's suppose to mean. But why would he give me a sword? Especially one from Gryffindor? I'm a Hufflepuff."
"Yeah, weird. Maybe you're the only one brave enough to fight for the ones you care for, or something like that?"
"That makes sense."
"Will we have to go back to get them though?"
"No, she sent them ahead in this bag."
Neville gently removed an innocuous bag from the leg of a patiently-waiting eagle-owl, and gave it a pet before it took flight.
Handing the yew wand and rusted ring to Harry, Neville marveled at the beauty that was the Sword of Gryffindor.
Sighing softly at the sight of another destroyed Horcrux, Harry stuck the ring on his right pointer finger before staring inquisitively at the yew wand.
'It stopped working for me a while ago.'

-

"The balance must always be upheld. Tao is a religion based on the harmony of Ying and Yang. It is different than the average belief of good and evil, however. In Tao, we do not believe we must uphold the peace, Nature always has a way. Tao is based upon the celebration of that peace, a love for the harmony that surrounds us. It is true, however, that we have the means of balancing out the filth that Nature cannot touch. When one is so defiled that they no longer rank as of the natural order, they are erased from the present with the help of an old, altruistic spell, one that fits the criteria of your humble request."
The trio exchanged tired, hopeful glances as they walked with the Taoist priest through hallowed halls.

-

'I need a room to find lost things.
I need a room to find lost things.
I need a room to find lost things.'
Harry and Padma looked up with smiles when a large door materialized in front of them.
Walking underneath the safety of Harry's invisibility cloak and silencing spells, the two friends entered the Room of Requirement and found piles upon piles of lost and discarded items.
"How do we do this?"
"Just follow me. I can sense them."
Padma glanced at Harry with question before following him as he weaved between huge mountains of junk.
Coming upon a broken cabinet, Harry pointed to the top, and cast a silent summoning spell. A box, dusty with age, soared down, and landed gently in the wizard's outstretched hands.
Shifting the box to his side, Harry pulled out his bottomless bag and extended it to Padma, who took it with a nod.
Padma grimly took out one of basilisk fangs, and held it in a reverse knife grip, watching the box in Harry's hand as he prepared to open it.
"You've got this Padma."
"Thanks Harry."
Weak smiles were shared before the box was pulled open.
"Knowledge... power... put me on... your head... grant you anything... untold knowledge... I can show you... power... how to win a war... try me on... you'll rule them all..."
Padma shivered, but blocked the voice from her head and swung. The pseudo-knife cut through the central jewel of the diadem like butter, and Padma grit her teeth as an ear-piercing wail trashed her ear drums.
As the last of the echoes faded, Padma registered Harry's happy face, but sad eyes.
"Great job, but let's go, we don't have much time."
"HOGWARTS STUDENTS, YOU HAVE FOUGHT VALIANTLY, BUT YOU HAVE ALSO SUFFERED MANY CASUALTIES. MANY OF YOU HAVE DIED TRYING TO HIDE A COWARD THAT SITS COMFORTABLY INSIDE YOUR CASTLE AS YOU GIVE YOUR LIVES TO PROTECT HIM, BUT LORD VOLDEMORT IS NOT WITHOUT MERCY. IF YOU HAND HARRY POTTER OVER BY THE END OF THE NEXT HOUR, I SHALL NOT CONTINUE MY ATTACK ON YOUR SCHOOL... AND A MESSAGE TO POTTER, I WILL BE WAITING WHERE THE SILVER BLOOD FLOWS, I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE."
Padma turned to look at Harry, who had a solemn look on his face.
"It has begun."

-

"You can't possibly think you'll be going, do you?"
"Of course. If there is only one way to defeat him, I must confront him before even more people are hurt. You heard him, he'll pull back if I surrender."
"That's a whole load of rubbish, Harry! No one would ever make you go against Voldemort, and I sure as hell don't want you to."
"Yeah! Harry, we've been set up here for months, we are willing to stand for a bit longer."
"Thanks guys, I appreciate it, but the prophecy-"
"To hell with the prophecy! Harry, you're life is more important!"
Tears welled in Harry's eyes as his mouth widened into a smile.
"I appreciate it, guys, I really do, but I'm not going to die. I've figured something out, and it'll only work with this one opportunity. Nagini needs to be killed, but it'll only work if someone uses a basilisk fang. Padma, you still have the one I gave you?"
Padma nodded, a suspicious look on her face. She stepped closer to Harry and gently laid a hand on his shoulder in support.
"If everything works out, he should be vulnerable as soon as she is dead. B-but if I mess something up, and it doesn't work... I-I love you guys."
Harry slipped Padma's hand off his shoulder, spun around, and took off at a dead sprint, ignoring the calls for him to come back, the feet pounding the stone floor behind him, and the stunning spells thrown at his retreating figure.
He had always been the fastest of the quartet.

-

"There has been no sign of him, My Lord."
"I had figured he would come."
"And you were not wrong."
"'Arry! No, ge' outta 'ere!"
Hagrid surged to his feet as Voldemort stood from his makeshift throne. Harry glared at Voldemort from the center of a ring of Death Eaters, though it was smaller than the ring that had gathered in the graveyard.
Harry calmed himself with the thought that he had at least helped those people from being hurt more.
"Silence!" Death Eaters pulled the ropes bound around Hagrid's neck taut, cashing the giant to gag.
"Harry Potter... The Boy-Who-Lived, come to die. How long I have waited for this moment. Any last words, Potter?"
"I only hope that all the people you hurt no longer feel the pain."
"That is what you wish to say? How pitiful. Avada Kedavra!"
A green light blossomed from Voldemort's yew wand, and Harry lived no more.

-

Voldemort staggered as the curse hit Harry, and Bellatrix nearly screamed as she quickly took hold of her Lord.
Wrenching out of her hold with a snarl, Voldemort cursed the Lestrange with a crucio.
As soon as the curse was lifted, Voldemort wiped off his robes and stood taller, a smirk on his noseless face.
"I do not need any help. It was merely the weight of the prophecy being lifted from my shoulders. Come Nagini, let us meet the students. Yaxley, have the giant carry the dead boy."
Large tears fell from Hagrid's face as he cradled the delicate body of his brightest student.
"Yeh ha' been such a gen'le soul, 'Arry. Don' worray, Ah won' let 'em touch yeh."

-

Gasps and shouts of disbelief rang through the Hogwarts' grounds as students and teachers alike saw the dead body of their savior.
None cried as loudly as his three closest friends however, as they clung to each other for support.
Voldemort's faction spread out behind him, and a large smile split his face.
"Harry Potter is dead!"
Padma gripped her friends tighter as she glared at Voldemort.
"You monster!"
"Silence, you stupid girl! Harry Potter is dead, and today will be marked as the day you all put your faith in me. No one else can stand before me as a threat, and so it is now time to declare yourselves faithful to my cause, or die a useless martyr."
No one moved, and Voldemort settles into a relaxed pose with a smirk.
"Who will be the first to die?"
Neville gripped his sword with a snarl, bravery filling him without the prompting of his little friend- who was now dead. Because of Voldemort.
"You."
"Nagini."
The large snake was on Neville in a moment. Blind with panic, Neville swung as he nearly fell backwards. The sword nicked Nagini's scales, causing her to hiss in pain. Coiling up, Nagini cautiously watched her prey for a moment before springing forwards, fangs extended. Neville swung once again, and this time, the head of the beast slid from its body, and the body turned to dust before it hit the ground.
"No! Avada Kedavra!"
"Orchideous! Protego Maxima! Voldemort!"
The Dark Lord whirled around with his wand pointed at the origination of the shout, paying no mind to the decaying flowers in front of a shocked boy.
"Harry?"
"Why can you never stay dead?!"
Harry raised his wand, sparks flying in his anger.
"You have tried to kill too many people, and the harmony must be rebalanced! May Mother Magick take pity in your soul. Zǒule, pòhuàile héxié!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The two spells miraculously hit each other straight on, creating a ball of green-blue energy at their intersection. Students and Death Eaters alike watched in awe as their leaders battled it out with pure magic, their wands sparking as more and more was pushed through them.
"How many people have you killed? How many have you hurt? How many loves will you destroy before you realize your mistakes?! You disrupt the balance of nature and call yourself a god! You are nothing but a monster!"
With a scream of unadulterated rage, Harry poured all of his magic into his wand, and the stalemate was broken. Harry's spell obliterated the green light of the Avada Kedavra and zipped towards Voldemort at the speed of light. In mere seconds, the 'Lord' was reduced to a pile of ashes.
With the fall of the menace who had haunted the lives of people for the past two decades, the two armies stood frozen in disbelief. A gust of wind was the only thing that moved in the large landscape.
It gently blew around everyone before it slowly swept the shredded remains of a Dark Lord away, bringing a deep sense of relief and uncertainty with it.