TTRC: Death

I am special.

Another Sonorus is cast. "You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery." I can see them from here. Everyone stops, listens. Though everyone remains on guard, wands raised. "Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself." A sneer overtakes my face. "I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

I command  another counter spell from the Elder Wand.

Time passes. When the hour is almost up, Harry Potter arrives. He stands, straight and proud, looking at me with no expression.

I raise my wand. My head is tilted as I get a good look at this boy, this boy who many supposed to be my downfall.

"Avada kedavra!"

What I experience next is an echo of what happened the first time I tried to kill Harry Potter. The pain returns, but it is worse, for I feel it in my own body, and I cannot comprehend anything but the pain.

I do not know how much time passes, but my body begins to fail me. Illusions pass in front of me. Through the haze of pain I begin watching events unfold – events I soon recognize make up the Tale of the Three Brothers.

I cannot think. I cannot move. The pain is too unbearable. I can only watch as Death takes all three of the brothers.

That will not be me. It is not a thought, it is a knowledge that burns through me, intensifying the pain. I will not submit to Death.

The pain is gone. My eyes open. I had not realized they were closed. I get myself up, snarling at everyone who attempts to assist me. Narcissa obeys my next command, to see if the Potter boy is dead.

He is.

Finally. My body reacts of its own accord, standing straighter, smirk in place without even having to think about it. I make the half-giant oaf carry the pathetic boy to Hogwarts.

Their screams of grief send a wave of ultimate pleasure through me. They grow louder, but I put an end to that.

"SILENCE!" I command. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet where he belongs!" I watch greedily as the half-breed obeys me. "You see? Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

Someone calls out in defiance. How odd. I recast the Silencing Charm.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds, killed while trying to save himself." The lie is smooth. A boy charges me but I Disarm him. "And who is this?" I taunt. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Bellatrix laughs beside me. "It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord. The boy who has been making all the trouble at school."

"Ah, yes." I smirk. "I remember." Not for whatever he's done at school, but for being the infant who was almost the subject of the Prophecy instead of Harry Potter. "But you are a pure-blood, aren't you, my brave boy?" I inquire softly, dangerously, already knowing the answer.

"So what if I am?" His voice is loud, defiant.

"You show spirit, and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over." My eyes narrow and he grins. "Dumbledore's Army!" the boy shouts, and others in the crowd cheer.

Jaw set, I tilt my head up, nose in the air as I glare at them all. "Very well. If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head, be it."

With a wave of the Elder Wand, I Summon the Sorting Hat. "There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School. There will be no more houses. The emblem, shield and colours of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone, won't they, Neville Longbottom?" My voice is full of venom as I Body-Bind the boy and set the Hat atop his head. "Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me." And I set the Hat on fire.

Chaos breaks loose. None of my enchantments are holding . Everyone reanimates and begins fighting with my Death Eaters. Nagini, no longer beside me, goes to strike at the Longbottom boy, who is charging me with the Sword of Gryffindor –

I hiss in Parseltongue. "NAGINI, back to me, NOW."

But the order is too late and my snake is beheaded. Dimwitted, foolish creature!

"HARRY! Where's Harry?" Hagrid bellows and I nearly burst in my fury.

I fly up the steps into Hogwarts to find Potter, but Kingsley, McGonagall, and Slughorn all hinder me by engaging me in battle.

Nearby, Bellatrix is holding her own against the blood-traitor Weasley mother, taunting her. I focus on a Killing Curse aimed at Kingsley, but it misses, just as the one the blood-traitor casts hits Bella.

"NO," I roar with rage, and all my opponents are blown back as I advance on the elder redhead. How dare she, someone who disgraces the name of pureblood, even think of destroying a Lestrange, a Black! You will know your place before I kill you, I think viciously as I send a violent and painful hex her way.

"PROTEGO!" A shield is put up between myself and the Weasley. I whip my head towards the offending caster.

Harry Potter.

HOW MANY TIMES MUST I KILL YOU, POTTER?!

As everyone else exclaims with joy, we circle each other. Adversaries at the last stand. I sneer as he begins to speak. "I don't want anyone else to try to help. It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

"Potter doesn't mean that." My sneer grows more pronounced. "That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody. 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."

I narrow my eyes. No more Horcruxes? Liar. There is no way he knows about the diadem, let alone found  it. "One of us? You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

He is infuriatingly calm. For a second I nearly succumb to weakness and do things the Muggle way by strangling him, but I restrain myself as he speaks. "Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me? 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," I respond with a voice that thunders through the Great Hall. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight." My glare at him is disdainful. "You won't be able to kill any of them, ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you hurting these people."

"But you did not," I snarl.

"I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

I bristle in indignation. "You dare –"

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

I'm tempted to laugh at him. "Is it love again? Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the Tower and breaking like an old waxwork?" I sneer, digusted. "Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter. Do you believe you have magic that I do not, or else a more powerful weapon?"

"I believe both."

I nearly gnash my teeth. I must stay in control. "You think you know more magic than I do? I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"

He has the tiniest smile on his face. "You thought you did, but you were wrong."

"Dumbledore is dead," I snap. When people are dead, they STAY dead. That is what death IS.

"Yes, Dumbledore's dead, but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant." He is still calm. Confident. It will be your downfall, Potter.

I scoff at the boy. "What childish dream is this?"

"Professor Snape wasn't yours. He loved my mother from the time they were children. As soon as you started hunting her down, Snape became Dumbledore's spy."

Curious. It explains why he asked me to spare her. Still, I laugh. "It matters not! I crushed them as I crushed your mother. Dumbledore was trying to keep his Elder Wand from me. The greatest wand ever made. But I have it now. I am the new master of the Elder Wand."

"No, you're not!" Potter argues.

I smile as though explaining this to a small child. "Snape killed Dumbledore and became master of the wand. Three hours ago I killed Snape, so now I am the master of it."

"That wand isn't working properly for you, is it?" I let the smile leave my face as I glare at him. "Because you murdered the wrong person. Snape was never the master of the Elder Wand because he never defeated Dumbledore."

"He killed Dumbledore." My voice is a low growl.

"Aren't you listening?" I narrow my eyes at his nerve. Now he is speaking to me as though I am the child. "Dumbledore's death was planned between them. Before Dumbledore died on that Tower, Draco Malfoy disarmed him. Draco was then the master of the Elder Wand."

I wave my hand in disregard to the statement. "No matter. I'll deal with him later."

"Too late, Riddle. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him. So now the only question is: does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does… I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

My eyes widen. Quickly, I point the Elder Wand at him. Lies, all lies! I have the power, I have the control, I have the Elder Wand, I am the Master of Death!

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

The wand spins out of my hand as, once again, the curse rebounds. No. No. No.

I am SPECIAL!