Always~Hinny

Chapter sixty seven

A week had passed and preparations and planning had been made and finished. A large assembled group of witches and wizards stood alongside Ginny, Hermione, the Professors of Hogwarts, and what remained of the Order of the Phoenix, and they apparated just outside of Azkaban.

"You know the plan." Lily's voice rang out clearly over the silence. "We are not leaving without them. Let's go."

Lily strode through the anti apparition charms and past the entrance into the almost deserted prison. With the group right behind her, she determinedly walked through the dark halls to where she knew her husband, son, and other friends were being held.

"You should be more careful." Ginny whispered.

"No. They're weak and will realize they have no chance of making it out of here. Alive." Lily muttered the last word under her breath and Ginny fell silent once more.

"Here we are. Are you ready?" Hermione whispered as they prepared to round the last corner before reaching the beginning of their defense.

"Yes." Lily looked for others to confirm, and led the charge out into the open. The wizards standing there were taken by surprise and had fallen quickly, but managed to set off an alarm beforehand. The numbers of people at Azkaban had grown larger than expected, but Lily knew it was too late to back down now. Even if it wasn't she would never leave. Not when she was this close to her family.

Chaos ensued as many more witches and wizards flooded into the hall. Spells were cast back and forth but the smaller crowd managed to keep pushing forward.

"No!" Ginny gasped as Professor Slughorn was blown backwards.

"Focus!" Professor McGonagall urged and deflected a spell that almost hit the distracted girl.

"Sorry!" Ginny turned to face forward and joined back in.

"Come." A female voice rang through the hall, and the defenders retreated to gather behind her.

"Hand then over now if you want to make it out of here alive." Lily threatened.

"Funny. You're acting like you're in a place to bargain right now." Romilda smirked.

"Fine. I challenge you to a duel. Right here. Right now. If we win, we get our people and you be punished. If you win, we'll give ourselves up as prisoners." Lily said defiantly.

A flicker of fear flashed across Romilda's face but it was gone as quick as it came. "Deal. To the death."

Lily nodded.

"Are you crazy?" Ginny hissed.

"No. This is what needs to happen. It's the only way this will end." Lily shook her head determinedly. "Besides, I did survive Voldemort didn't I?"

"Lily?" A raspy voice came from a side prison cell, and what seemed to be James Potter came to the bars. He had to grip on to the cell to keep himself upright and his body shook from the effort.

"James?" Lily whispered.

"Let's go." Romilda stepped forward and gestured for her people to move to the side.

"Mom?" Harry groaned and dragged himself to the front in the cell opposite of his father's, and squinted at his mom. "Ginny?"

"Oh my gosh Harry." Ginny covered her mouth with her hand and felt weak in her knees. His clothes were completely covered with blood and he was in a heap on the floor, using a wall for support to sit straight and see her.

"Let's finish this." Lily gestured for everyone behind her to move out of the way, and held her wand out in front of her.

"If that's what you want." Romilda whipped her wand out, and they began.

Lily decided to downplay her strength to begin, and deceive Romilda to think she was winning. Little did the girl know, Lily looked small but she was one of the best duelers in the Order of the Phoenix, and knew what she was doing.

The only sound filling the hall was the one of spells being cast back and forth, being either deflected or missing.

"You're weak!" Romilda shouted.

"No. You are." Lily said quietly, and unleashed the extent of her power. She unleashed spell after spell, taking multiple steps forward and putting her whole body into each spell she cast.

Hermione and Ginny stood beside each other and watched in awe how much force and strength laid behind each one. Romilda's reflector spells grew weaker and with one last spell by Lily, nothing was produced by Romilda and she went crashing into the ceiling, falling with a thud to the floor. Lily walked up to her collapsed figure on the ground and checked for a pulse.

"She's gone." Lily announced. Romilda's followers ran in different directions, but Lily didn't care. She rushed to James' cell and opened it, embracing him. Ginny opened Harry's cell and collapsed into his open arms.

"I'm so sorry it took so long for us to get you out." She whispered.

"Hey. Look at me." Harry frowned and winced as he brought his hand up to touch her face. "All that matters is we're here now together."

"I love you." Ginny gazed into the emerald colored eyes of the man she adored since the day she met him.

"I love you too. And I will love you...always."

A.N. I can't believe I got here, but this book is finally complete. I may eventually add a sequel to this book after all of the editing if you guys want me to. Thank you all so much for reading and if you ever want a friend to talk to, I'm always here!