The Muggle Who Lived ☆ h.p au

eleven

The Forbidden Forest. May 1, 1998

The two walked hand in hand, although Death loomed over them like a shadow, making both of them tremble. A second seemed to pass like an hour, even though they knew it was just their imaginations wanting to believe so. They wanted to believe seconds were hours so that way, it gave them more time to live.

Harry stopped a bit on the edge of the forest, fumbling with one hand to retrieve something while squeezing Zoë's hand tight. Out of the pouch Harry had around his neck, he took out a golden item, round with outlines on it.

"A Snitch?" Zoë asked, but Harry didn't answer as he placed his lips on the Snitch, and said in a small voice "I am about to die." The shell broke open, and finally letting go of Zoë's hand, took out Draco's wand and lit it close to the Snitch, revealing a black stone with jagged cracks forming shapes of a line, circle, and triangle.

Zoë didn't know what Harry was thinking or what he had just discovered. All her mind could think about was that in a few minutes she would be dead, but a death that will be temporary. What made her tremble was the fact that when her second death arrives, she doesn't know if she will wake again.

She suddenly felt Harry's hand take hers and place it on the stone with his. 

"Turn it three times with me." So together they turned to stone three times. Harry had his eyes closed, but Zoë did not. She gasped as figures of some kind of matter appeared before her eyes. They looked like ghosts, but not quite. In total there were five, a man the same height as Harry with messy hair and round glasses, the man she could somewhat recognize as the man that was murdered that day in the Department of mysteries, the man that she saw dead beside her but much younger, and a woman with long hair and bright green eyes, just like Harrys'.

But at the end of all of them was a taller man with a long white and brown beard with kind sharp blue eyes. Zoë walked closer to him as Harry approached the other four.

"My dear Zoë." Tears rolled down Zoë's cheeks as she stepped closer.

"Father." She breathed out. Slowly, she tried to reach out, but her hand went through Aberforths'. She let her arm drop but couldn't peel her eyes off what stood in front of her. 

"Everything that had been told you has come down to this," Aberforth said, a light smile on his face.

"You understand?" Aberforth nodded.

"Father..." Zoë spoke up again, "will you be there when it happens?" Aberforth smiled.

"Tonight and forever. Not visible to anyone, but there."

Zoë never heard her father calm about something that risked her life, but she knew why. It had to be this way and nothing could change that, not even the emotions of a loving father.

Zoë turned around, spotting Harry looking straight towards the forest. Together, they passed by the dementors surrounding the trees, the semi-ghosts of the people they loved protecting them like Patronuses. Placing the Invisibility Cloak over Zoë, Harry made his way through the forest.

Hearing and spotting Yaxley and Dolohov, the pair followed Death Eaters, who were making their way to Voldemort. Reaching a clear area of the forest, hundreds of Death Eaters surrounded a fire, some masked and some showing their face. The likes of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy were there, but neither looked like they wanted to be there.

"No sign of him, my lord."

Voldemort only stared into the fire, twirling the Elder Wand between his fingers.

"I thought he would come. I expected him to come." He finally said, no one answering him. Zoë gripped the cloak tighter, feeling Tom Riddle's voice make her whole body tremble. 

"I was, it seems...mistaken," Voldemort said. 

"You weren't," Harry said with all the might he had in his body, not wanting to seem afraid. He took the Cloak off his body, The Resurrection Stone slipping from his cold fingers, making his parents, Sirius, Lupin, and Aberforth disappear.

Having gripped it tightly, the Cloak stayed on Zoë. She saw in horror as Harry moved forward, not expecting him to reveal himself like that. Roars of laughter and crying erupted from the crowd of Death Eaters. Only Voldemort stood in his place, his red eyes scanning the area trying to find the boy. 

"HARRY! NO!" Harry turned to see Hagrid tired up to a nearby tree, trying to escape. "NO! NO! HARRY WHAT'RE YEH-?"

"QUIET!" Rowle shouted, casting a spell to shut the half-giant up.

"Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived." Voldemort said softly, his eyes seeming redder under the fire. Harry only stood there, his mind racing with thoughts of wanting this to be over.

At that moment, Zoë lifted the Cloak off her body, seeing Tom lift the Elder wand, wanting to cast the fatal spell. She knew that he wanted to kill Harry not her, so she had to run, had to be hit first.

Finally, she broke into a run. She saw his mouth start to move, and everything seemed to go in slow motion besides her running. 

She finally reached Harry as the flash of green light burst out of the wand. Running in front, the spell reached her, and everything turned dark.

Silence engulfed the forest. No one said a word. Voldemort peered to the ground, where the body of Zoë fell.

"The Dumbledore..." Voldemort said as Bellatrix skipped her way to the body, hitting the side of the face with her foot. She gave out a strong laugh. 

"She can join her filthy family." Voldemort stared at her, causing Bellatrix to quickly make her way back to the group.

Harry kept standing there, refusing to look at Zoë's dead body. If he did he would want to run back to Hogwarts. Instead, he looked straight at Voldemort, who lifted up his eyes from Zoë to his. 

Seeming like Zoë was some distraction already dealt with, Voldemort didn't hesitate to lift the Elder Wand once more, the green light finally hitting his target.