PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

113 || The Chosen One

A/N: This is the second last chapter. There'll be one more chapter after this one, an epilogue, and then, of course, the sequel!

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There were no exhilarated shouts of, "HARRY!" or, "HE'S ALIVE!"

The crowd fell silent abruptly and completely, afraid of what was going to happen next, as Harry and Voldemort looked at each other, then began to circle one another.

In her exhaustion and shock at seeing Harry alive, Katerina had fallen backwards, but she was caught by Ron and Draco, who were now supporting her as she fought to remain conscious.

"Potter!" Draco yelled, and he tossed Harry his wand, which Harry caught with the skill of the Seeker.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," Harry announced loudly. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

"Potter doesn't mean that," Voldemort hissed. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," Harry answered simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good..."

"One of us?" Voldemort jeered. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" Harry asked. They were rotating in a perfect circle. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" Voldemort screamed angrily. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind then skirt of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you."

"You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare—"

"Yes, I dare," Harry said. "I know things you don't, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

Voldemort did not speak, but continued to prowl, staring at Harry through narrowed eyes.

The pain splitting Katie's face and stomach where Voldemort had cut her was almost unbearable now. She was so weak, so tired, so drained from her battle with Lord Voldemort and her loss of blood, that Draco and Ron we're now supporting all of her weight entirely. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes, to fall away into the abyss, to give in to the sweet relief of death, but she could not leave without knowing that her friends would be safe. She willed herself to hold out just a little longer.

"Is it love again?" Voldemort taunted. "Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him from falling from the Tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter — and nobody seems to love you enough to run forwards this time, and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

Katie knew this was entirely false. She, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Mrs Weasley, McGonagall, Neville, Luna — countless people gathered in that Hall would take the blow of a million curses if it meant keeping Harry from harm.