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Captive at Number 12	By : CeliaEquus Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 32439 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I have no claim on the Harry Potter franchise, and am making no money from any of my fan fiction.

Chapter List
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It threw Voldemort and his followers to see two of their best fighting against them, especially when they were supposed to be dead. That gave the Light a big advantage, at least when battle commenced. In fact, they had many advantages thanks to timely preparation. Despite that, they had still suffered a few losses and several serious injuries. Now the Dark had retreated to the Forbidden Forest after an intense starting battle.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Hermione asked. He was staring out across the grounds. Even though the Light was ahead, Voldemort had decided to give Harry an hour to come to the forest and meet him for a one-on-one battle before they stormed the castle again.

“Of course,” he said, playing with the Snitch. “I am ready to die.”

“That isn’t what I m…”

“Look!” Ron said, pointing. The golden ball had opened, revealing an interesting stone.

“It’s from the ring horcrux,” Harry said, looking at it in amazement, tipping it into his hand. “Why did Dumbledore want me to have it?”

“I don’t know,” Hermione said. “But I’m sure it’s important.”

“Yeah.” He rolled it about in his hand, liking the feeling.

Suddenly, however, three ghostly figures appeared in front of him; three figures that he knew well.

“Sirius,” he whispered, looking at the image of his godfather. “Dad? Mum?” They all smiled at him. He quickly turned to his friends. “Am I seeing things?” They shook their heads, staring wide-eyed at the spirits. “Why are you here?”

“Moral support,” Sirius said.

“Emotional support,” Lily corrected, shaking her head. Then she looked at Severus, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. His limp from the debacle at Gringotts two days before had returned with the fighting, but he couldn’t have moved anyway.

“Mum,” Harry said. “He’s done so much for me.”

“I know,” she said. “I can talk to him, just as he can talk to me.”

“Lily,” Severus whispered. He looked terrified as she floated over to him. Everyone – even the most curious – felt that they had to look away from the scene, no matter what happened. James and Sirius turned to Harry.

“You can do this, son,” James said. “We’ll be there with you every step of the way.”

“And I’ll be following you under the Invisibility Cloak,” Ron said, putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder, Gryffindor’s sword at his waist. “You’ll never be alone, mate.”

Hermione noticed that Lily’s ‘ghost’ had led Severus away from the crowd, over to some fallen stonework which had nearly crushed Yaxley. That had been a terrifying moment, when – bless his heart – Fred Weasley had yanked him out of the way in time.

Her mind then turned to the stone. Something Ron had said… that’s right. The cloak. A stone and a cloak. These reminded her of something. The question was: what?

“I have to go now,” Harry said, loudly enough for his mother and Severus to hear. Lily leaned over and kissed the lips of the man who loved her, even after death, and then rejoined her husband and his friend at her son’s side.

“Oh, Harry,” Ginny said, her voice thick with tears. She threw her arms around him. “I love you!”

“I love you, too, Ginny,” he said. “Just be happy when it’s all over, okay?” She nodded even as she cried. “You know this has to happen. Maybe I’ll get lucky again.”

“You’d better,” she said.

Hermione was thinking so hard that she almost missed Harry saying her name. Then she held him tightly, not wanting to let go.

“There’s something I’m missing,” she said. “It feels so important.”

“Nothing can stop this, `Mione,” he said. He gave her an extra hard squeeze before releasing her. “I’ll miss you, sister.”

“Good luck,” she whispered as he – and an invisible Ron – left to meet his fate.

“Hermione,” Yaxley said, touching her arm. “Do you think that Severus…”

She turned around and buried her face in his chest, trying to muffle her sobs as she clung to him. People still found it hard to believe that she could be so affectionate, let alone comfortable, with this man; but Ron, Harry, Severus and Madame Pomfrey were all able to attest to the seriousness of their relationship, and how strong it was. They just skipped over the pregnancy part.

“I don’t want him to die,” she said, shaking her head. “I d-don’t want him to die!”

“Death comes to everyone,” he said, stroking her hair. “And he’s done this before.”

She froze in his arms, and he wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. He noticed Severus coming back to take his place again at Minerva’s side, eyes red but with a twinkle that had never been there before. He even appeared to stand taller, despite the tremble in his lower lip.

“I’ve got it,” Hermione said. She broke away from him. “I’ve got it! I know what the stone is. I know what it all means!” Then she turned and ran out of the hall.

“Hermione!” he shouted, and he raced after her, although she had a headstart and was much younger. She had soon caught up with her friends and was speaking to them. He stayed back, hoping that it was the right thing to do. She returned to his side as soon as the boys continued to walk down to the Forbidden Forest.

“It may not help – and my conjecture is based purely on a fairytale – but it explains a lot,” she said. Then she noticed his dark expression. “What?”

“You ran out of there without a thought to your own safety,” he said, trying to keep his voice controlled, but having great difficulty. “You’re pregnant, yet you thought that it was wise to go haring off after your friends…”

“I may have helped save Harry’s life,” she said. “Yaxley, please. Let’s just go back inside, okay?”

“Fine,” he said. “But…”

“I know.”

They had barely set foot in the Entrance Hall when there arose a war cry from across the grounds. The remaining Death Eaters – and there were still a good number of them, all powerful witches and wizards – came running towards the school.

And so the fighting continued.

It was Neville who saw the green light first. Many others turned in time to see it. Then the duelling ground to a halt as someone emerged from the darkness a few minutes later.

“It’s Harry!” went up the cry. Sure enough, a boy with green eyes, black hair and a lightning-shaped scar walked into the light, with a body floating beside him. A body which looked remarkably like…

“The Dark Lord,” a Death Eater said. Then another, and another, each sounding more shocked than the last.

“The Killing Curse rebounded again,” the boy said, looking around at all assembled. He let the body fall to the floor. “Who wants to surrender?”

There was a long silence after he spoke. The Death Eaters – the active ones – were clearly weighing up their options. The entire Auror department had come to the aid of the party and were prepared to make arrests.

“We are willing to show leniency to those who come quietly,” Kingsley said, taking charge. “Reduced sentences can be just the start of it. If you continue to fight it will be worse for you.”

One by one, they stepped forward and allowed themselves to be bound, speechless with shock. The most powerful among those still standing – Dolohov, Nott, and Rookwood – were sent to Azkaban first. Then the others from the inner circle who were able to walk were taken into custody next, followed by the remaining werewolves. Tonks had killed Greyback after he tried to bite her, Severus had finished off what he had started when he and Rodolphus duelled at Gringotts, and Neville and Mrs. Weasley had taken out Bellatrix.

It was while the Aurors were partway through the last thirty or so remaining Death Eaters that Voldemort showed up, just as the Polyjuice Potion wore off, turning ‘Harry’ into Ron.

The Aurors were torn between helping to subdue the Dark Lord and sending his followers to Azkaban. The decision was soon taken out of their hands.

“Relashio!” Voldemort shouted, freeing some of his Death Eaters. It caused a chain reaction until the rest of them were liberated and fighting back.

“Ron!” Hermione called, running to her friend’s side where he was duelling alongside Lucius Malfoy, who had switched allegiances at the last minute when he saw whose side Severus was really on.

“What is it?” Ron asked, and he Stunned his opponent.

“Where’s Harry?”

“I dunno. I killed the snake while he distracted You-Know-Who, and then came back here with the dummy.”

“Luna destroyed the diadem and Professor Snape did the cup, right?”

“Yeah.” They were now fighting four Death Eaters between the three of them, and the time for conversation was over.

The talk with Dumbledore in the afterlife – or was it between-life? – kept churning in Harry’s mind. Hermione had been right, of course. He hoped that she was right about Yaxley, too, although the pregnancy proved that in itself.

He really did just want to die, and let someone else fight this last battle. But he loved Ginny, and she loved him. He wanted to be a father, and he wanted Ginny to be the mother of his children. To do that, he’d had to be, well, alive. And it was his right to see this through to the end. He may not have been there from the beginning, but he’d been there from his beginning.

When he saw his friends and Mr. Malfoy being overwhelmed by the desperate criminals exchanging curses with them, he ran faster and leapt up the stairs in the Entrance Hall. Unnoticed, he slipped in beside them and soon the four Death Eaters lay prone.

“Harry!” Hermione squealed, and she hugged him. As soon as she let go Ron thumped him on the back.

“Knew you could do it,” he said. “You’re bloody invincible.”

“I know,” Harry replied, grinning. Then his smile faded when he saw Voldemort taking on Severus, Yaxley and Remus. The blood drained from Hermione’s face, and she began to weave her way through the other fighters, though the numbers dwindled, until she reached them. There, she joined the lightshow of silent spells.

In one moment, she stepped on a piece of fallen masonry and stumbled. Seeing this, the enemy struck.

“Sectumsempra!” Voldemort shouted, wand aimed at her. But she never felt the sting as something black blocked the spell.

“Professor!” She dropped to her knees beside Severus while Yaxley tried to kill Voldemort. “Professor Snape, what’s the counter-curse? Tell me, quickly! I won’t let you die.”

“Yaxley, stop,” Harry hissed, grabbing his arm. Remus quickly shielded them.

“He almost…”

“I know.”

Voldemort couldn’t stop his look of disbelief when he saw that Harry had survived a Killing Curse for the umpteenth time.

“But he’s mine now,” Harry said, waving the others away. All duelling ceased as the two opponents faced off, circling each other in the middle of the war-torn hall. The others backed away, although the Aurors took advantage of this by surreptitiously binding the remaining Death Eaters so that they would be ready for transportation.

“You think that you can defeat me again,” Voldemort said, yet he looked wary. “But the traitor has just handed over the power of the Elder Wand to me.” He smiled maliciously. “You have no chance.”

“Don’t you get it?” Harry asked. “Professor Snape never had it. Draco Malfoy won the mastery of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Professor Dumbledore that night.” He could have laughed at the disappointment on Voldemort’s face.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “How many lives do you have left, Harry Potter? Enough to see tomorrow?”

“As long as I have a reason to live, I will.”

Several people in the crowd erected shields when the two men began to spar for a few tense minutes. Then they stopped for a breather, and Voldemort continued to talk.

“And how did you manage to turn my men against me, I wonder?” he said. “Will you throw them away when you are done with them?

“Professor Snape was never your man,” Harry said. “He was Dumbledore’s.”

“He killed the old man.”

“Because Dumbledore was already dying, and asked him to.” He smiled. “Severus Snape loved my mum most of his life. Didn’t you know that? They even have the same Patronus. I’ve seen it.”

“And Yaxley?” Voldemort glanced at him before returning his attention to Harry. “You were one of my best. Why would you leave my ranks?”

“Because I fell in love with a Muggleborn,” Yaxley said. At that, Voldemort stopped moving, and everything went quiet.

Hermione looked up from Severus, who was better already and struggling to sit up. She could feel her heart pounding.

“You did?” she whispered. Yaxley smiled down at her.

“I did,” he said.

“How touching,” Voldemort said, sneering. He had started moving again. “But you have shown through your actions that love is a weakness.”

“Love saved me, and love brought me back,” Harry said. “It’s a strength, not a weakness. You never understood that. When you die this time, that will be it. No one will mourn you. But when I die someday, I know that at least one person will miss me. Can anyone say the same about you?”

“Crucio!” Voldemort shouted. Harry blocked it.

“This is Draco Malfoy’s wand,” he said, still calm. “I won it from him. I have the power of the Elder Wand, Tom. Not you. You can’t win. Just give up. Try to feel… remorse.”

“Never! Avada Kedavra!”

“Expelliarmus!”

The spells connected in a dazzle of green and red; but Voldemort was no match for the Elder Wand’s powers, and red prevailed in a brilliant flash that nearly blinded everyone. When it had ebbed, they saw that the Dark Lord was dead.

“We’ll get you to the hospital wing, Professor,” Hermione said, still trying to stop him standing up.

“I am fine, Miss Granger,” he said, pushing her hands away. “Stop fussing. You healed me, and now I can go and heal others. No doubt I shall be required to brew more potions.”

“Then I’ll help…”

“No, you won’t,” Yaxley said, pulling her into his arms. “You don’t know what the fumes might do to our child.”

“Your child?” Molly asked, staring at them in astonishment. “Hermione, are you pregnant?”

“It wasn’t meant to happen,” she said weakly. She scowled as Severus finally got to his feet. “You have to rest!”

“I may not be your professor at present,” he said, dusting off his robes with as much dignity as he could muster, “but I will take points if you continue to talk to me in that tone of voice, Miss Granger.”

“Git,” she muttered. Then she saw that Mrs. Weasley was still watching her, as were many other people. The rest of the Death Eaters had been sent to Azkaban, fortunately, otherwise they would have had a wider audience.

“You mean, you’re going to have his child?” she said.

“Yes, I am.”

“I… I see.” Then she said no more. Hermione turned to Yaxley.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“What is it?”

“That a witch can only fall pregnant when her wizard loves her back,” he said, and he stroked her cheek. “And that their love is so deep that none can ever part them.”

“Oh!” She beamed up at him. Then her expression changed, and she whacked him on the arm. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’ve been so worried that you didn’t feel the same way…” He pulled her close and spoke into her hair.

“Because I was a coward,” he murmured. “And I truly thought that love was a weakness.”

She sniffled. “Okay. But you have to make it up to me later.”

“Let me start now,” he said, stepping back. Then he knelt before her, prompting many gasps from the crowd. “Hermione Granger, I love you, and if I don’t end up in Azkaban for my crimes… will you do me the honour of being my wife?”

“Bloody hormones,” she muttered, wiping the tears from her cheeks. But she realised that he was waiting for an answer. “Why are you asking? Yes! Yes, I’ll be your wife.”

Rather than having a mass funeral, there was instead a memorial ceremony as soon as Hogwarts was repaired, which was a month and a half later. During the repairs Yaxley had whisked Hermione away to the Ministry’s registry office, with the promise that they would renew their vows in a proper wedding eventually. He wanted them to be married before the child was born, but it would be inappropriate to hold such a celebration while everyone was in mourning. Unfortunately, they couldn’t have a honeymoon until after the repairs, and then the memorial service.

The wizard artist, John Rossetti, had crafted a statue which would stand in the Entrance Hall to mark the fall of Voldemort and the end of the wizarding war to end all wars. (They hoped.)

As Yaxley said, it could never happen again.

“Tell me if you need to sit down,” he said, holding his wife around the waist.

“Ask me that again when I’m as round as a house,” she said. Tears already adorned her cheeks and she was clutching a handkerchief in one hand. Of all the times to be pregnant and hormonal…

“Today we are here to celebrate the greatest victory since the defeat of Grindelwald, and to mourn those who lost their lives while making victory possible,” Harry said. He hadn’t wanted to be the master of ceremonies, but he managed to argue his way down to a short speech. “As long as we remember them, and the great sacrifices they made, they will never have died in vain. This sculpture will stand as a testament to the physical and personal battles overcome to bring a new dawn, a new age of tolerance, to our society and to the world.”

With a wave of his wand, the velvet cover dropped, and everyone saw the monument for the first time.

It was made of sandstone – specifically Yorkstone – in the shape of the rune for peace: two triangles on top, flat sides to each other, and one triangle on the bottom with a diagonal line from the centre. Using a list of all those who had died fighting for the Light – with the exception of Harry, since he didn’t stay dead – Rossetti had carved their names all over the rune in miniscule writing. The statue was mounted on a black, cylindrical pillar three feet high with excerpts of Harry’s speech written in gold all around it

“It was well-written,” Yaxley murmured to Hermione.

“I think Ginny may have helped,” she said. “But they’re really Harry’s words.”

Then Harry called for a minute’s silence while they remembered the fallen. The Hogwarts choir had been practising in secret for this moment. In the spirit of acceptance they had learned a Muggle hymn, and after the sixty seconds was up they began to sing:

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me…

A/N: To all my readers in London… ARE YOU OKAY???

Yes, yes. As always, I suck at battle sequences, or at least battle sequences in fan fiction. If I was making up something of my own for my original stories, that would be different, I expect. Do you know what I mean? I’m having to rewrite the final battle here, based on circumstances other than in the books. `Tis a great burden. Can’t be too different, can’t be too similar. Definitely no point in being repetitive, since I assume that you’ve all read the seventh book. At least I’ve been noncommittal enough for you to decide who survived and who didn’t. Feel free to tell me who you reckon lived and who you think died.

So, as you can see, your requests were granted. He lived. Hurrah! If you want to read the version of this chapter where he dies, PM me with your email address and I’ll send it to you.

And thank you once again for your name suggestions. It was hard to choose, especially since some were actually better than mine, which was Cepheus. As it is, he will not be Cepheus Yaxley, as you will see in the final chapter. And Hermione never uses his first name, by the way, since she – like us – has only ever known him by his last name. Oh, and he hates his first name.

If you like, I can put a link on my profile to a picture of the rune that I found. Just let me know if you want that.
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Captive at Number 12