(Y/N)'s POV

The second before it happened, the others had looked at me in such confusion that in any other circumstance, I may have feared I had grown a new head, but the spell left my wand regardless, aimed towards one of my allies.

But I could not explain my actions, I could not tell them that a seemingly inanimate object had almost willed me into action, that I knew something they didn't, because in truth. I couldn't believe it myself.

We had been grouped together, Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and Percy, the two Death Eaters at our feet, one Stunned, the other Transfigured: and in that fragment of a moment, when danger seemed, temporarily, at bay, the wall beside us was blown apart.

Instinct told me to grip my wand tightly as I was flying through the air, so that my spell might meet its mark. That in the last second, I could move him away from danger, even by inches, hoping it would help.

Out of fear that I had missed I tried my best to keep my eyes open, but it didn't matter much, smoke and dust invaded my vision as a great fissure of rock was carved into a wall beside us.

Cold air told me that the side of the castle had been blown away, a metallic tasting liquid was flooding my mouth, pouring from my nose, I had been blasted the furthest from the epicentre down a hall and beside the tapestry.

My eyes stung, dirt and dust sticking to my skin, caked on my face as blood ran down it. I sat up despite the cries of protest from my body, moving chucks of stone from on top of me. Peering at my friends and hoping I had been fast enough.

And Hermione was struggling to her feet in the wreckage, and three red-headed men were grouped on the ground where the wall had blasted apart. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand as they staggered and stumbled over stone and wood.

I stumbled to my feet and my knees buckled, I clattered to the dusty ground and looked down to check myself, finding that my right ankle was not how it should have been, crooked and strangely shaped.

Maybe it was shock, or worry, but I was yet to feel anything, no feeling of pain hit me, even when I hurriedly pointed my wand to it and said "Episkey!" and the bones seemed to settle in their original resting place.

I felt the rush of cold, and the rush of heat, but nothing close to pain. Sighing, I stood, regretting ever meeting Bellatrix Lestrange. My leg felt strange, as if it was different to how it had been a minute ago, I took this as proof that the wound wasn't entirely healed.

Tripping over some debris, I managed to hobble my way over to my friends, noticing deep gashes caused by rock across my thighs but not particularly caring right now because of the scene in front of me.

"No – no – no!" someone was shouting. "No! Fred! No!" And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them. Both brothers cry of shock and grief filled the air. I began muttering healing words under my breath.

My wand remained pointed at Fred, for a terrifying ten seconds where his condition remained unknown, but not good in any case. Finally daring to breathe again, I tried making him stir, hoping his sleep was temporary "Rennervate!"

Before I could conclude the worst, with a breath of air he raised his head, his eyes open. "Blimey. Bit cold in here now isn't it?" he choked out as blood, fresh and slick, pooled at his hairline, trickling down his face.

Despite the injury, despite the blood and the redness that filled the whites of his left eye, the deep gash across his head, I had never been happier to see Fred Weasley grinning at me. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't heal him.

A body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school, and curses flew in at us from the darkness, hitting the wall behind our heads. "Get down!" Harry shouted, as more curses flew through the night.

He and Ron had both grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the floor, I dived forward, not wanting a repeat o the World Cup, and tried to cover myself as best I could.

Percy lay across Fred, shielding him from further harm, the injury still traumatising him, when Harry shouted, "Percy, come on, we've got to move!" he shook his head. "Perce I'm all right!" Fred called to his unresponsive brother.

"Percy!" I saw tear tracks streaking the grime coating Ron's face as he seized his elder brother's shoulders and pulled, but Percy would not budge. "Percy, we have to get him out. We're going to —"

Hermione screamed, and as I saw what she had did not need to ask why. A monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall: One of Aragog's descendants had joined the fight.

It was an arachnophobes worst nightmare, Ron and Harry shouted together; their spells collided, and the monster was blown backward, its legs jerking horribly, and vanished into the darkness. "It brought friends!" Harry called out.

He was right, but I wished he wasn't, over the edge of the castle through the hole in the wall the curses had blasted: More giant spiders were climbing the side of the building, liberated from the Forbidden Forest, into which the Death Eaters must have penetrated.

There were only a few dozen, seemingly the creatures that had been able to enter castle grounds before I had repelled them, but that did not fill me with any more comfort, one man eating spider in the castle was one too many in my book.

We leaned over the edge of the exposed castle, sending stunning spells and any other curses that would have been helpful in countering the eight legged monsters, they were sent tumbling back the earth with every curse, but more kept coming.

It was hopeless, we had to cut our losses. "Let's move, NOW!" I cried, pushing Hermione ahead of me and hobbling along with Ron supporting me, Harry stooped to seize Fred's under the armpits. "I can walk, I can bloody walk!" Fred cried in protest.

Percy, realising what Harry was trying to do, stopped clinging to his brother and helped; together, crouching low to avoid the curses flying at them from the grounds, they hauled Fred out of the way.

We made it down the corridor, I turned and used a "Reparo!" to fix the hole the spiders were pouring in from. Barring their entry for a while. "Here," said Harry, and we rested for a second in a niche where a suit of armour had stood earlier.

Harry looked to me in concern and I understood, kneeling beside Fred, I looked him over, "How you feeling Fred mate?" he shrugged, "If you say holey I'm hitting you." I said as he smirked at me.

"Like Percy needs to learn about personal space." He said cheekily. "Having trouble hearing though." He pointed to his ear, I nodded, following a trail of blood that had matted his hair, his eardrum had been burst, badly.

"Well, looks like you are twins after all" I smiled, just relieved he was breathing, "What?" he said in confusion, I repeated myself, "Looks like your!-" "WHAT?" he smiled, I frowned at him, "Don't take the mick"

I wrapped his wounds and my ankle with "Ferula" and the space from his ear to eye was covered by a few bandages, his ribs too. "That will help for now, but you need to get to Pomfrey, understand?" he nodded. "You saved my life" he whispered.

I shook my head, not wanting praise for something anyone would have done, "Consider it me looking after my investment in the Weasley's Wizards Wheezes franchise." He smiled brightly and nodded. "Alright, up you get," I supported him as he stood up shakily. "I'll take-" Piped up Ron.

"I can go on my own" Fred said to Ron, who was hovering, scared of his condition. "Are you certain?" "What?" he cupped his ear, frowning, I said "Are you sure?" mouthing the words. I sighed when he said, "Certainly."

I shook my head, "Now you're just milking it. Straight there, No heroics!" He nodded and I cast a disillusionment charm on him, I heard his footsteps clatter off away from the fighting. I turned to the others, who seemed relatively uninjured in comparison.

Malfoy and Goyle had vanished, Blaise too, but at the end of the corridor, which was now full of dust and falling masonry, glass long gone from the windows, I saw many people running backward and forward, whether friends or foes I could not tell.

I was going to ask Percy to escort him, but he was rounding the corner, letting out a bulllike roar: "ROOKWOOD!" and sprinted off in the direction of a tall man, who was pursuing a couple of students, the man who had almost killed his brother.

"Harry, in here!" Hermione screamed. She pulled Ron and I behind a tapestry near a staircase: she was trying to restrain Ron, to stop him running after Percy and Fred. "Listen to me — LISTEN, RON!" "I wanna help — We can't just expect him to go on-"

"Can't say I blame you Ron, but to keep Fred safe, to keep your family safe, we have to get the snake" I tried to grip his shoulder, but he shook it off, glaring at me.

"Easy for you to say. You love a cat more then you love your family! Like you even care! You've just sent him off to his death!" He lightly shoved me.

My face burned in anger, "Don't you talk to me like that. It case you hadn't noticed, I was the one who just saved your brother." I knew he was just in shock and under stress.

I decided to let it slide considering the circumstance but had to grit my teeth to do so. His face was contorted, smeared with dust and smoke, and he was shaking with rage. Hermione came to his rescue, talking sense into him before I had to beat it into him.

"Ron, we're the only ones who can end it! Please — Ron — we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!" said Hermione. "We will fight!" Hermione said. "We'll have to, to reach the snake!"

"But let's not lose sight now of what we're supposed to be d-doing! We're the only ones who can end it!" She was crying, and she wiped her face on her torn and singed sleeve as she spoke.

She took great heaving breaths to calm herself as, still keeping a tight hold on Ron, she turned to Harry. "You need to find out where Voldemort is, because he'll have the snake with him, won't he? Do it, Harry — look inside him!"

As Harry looked inward, Hermione slumped down, back against the wall and sobbed, the exhaustion getting to her, it was all I could do to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, Ron turned to me, tears streaming down his face.

"It will work wont it. It will get him to safety?" It was just like when Ginny was captured, I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I wasn't sure. So, I said "It's the best I could do for him, it's his best shot."

His face contorted into a mix of anger and worry, but he nodded. Harry finally spoke after a tense second of silence, save for the battle around us. He told us of Voldemort's location. "Voldemort's sitting in the Shrieking Shack?" said Hermione, outraged.

"He's not — he's not even fighting?" "He doesn't think he needs to fight," said Harry. "He thinks I'm going to go to him." I smirked, "I always knew he was a scared of me."

"But why?" "He knows I'm after Horcruxes — he's keeping Nagini close beside him — obviously I'm going to have to go to him to get near the thing —" "Right," said Ron, squaring his shoulders.

"So you can't go, that's what he wants, what he's expecting. You two stay here and look after Hermione, and I'll go and get it —" Harry cut across Ron. "You three stay here, I'll go under the Cloak and I'll be back as soon as I —"

I burst out laughing at the thought of Ron trying to fight Voldemort. Or Harry even, without his super wand he was useless. Then Hermione spoke and my blood turned to ice. "No," said Hermione, "it makes much more sense if I take the Cloak and-"

"Don't even think about it," I snapped at her. Before Hermione could get farther than "(Y/N), I'm just as capable-" "- I know you are, which is why you have to stay here and protect these prats as they run around like headless chickens."

"I have to go, I'm the only one who knows how to control Fiendfyre and the only one of the four of us that can actually fight him without being overwhelmed if it goes to sh-" I didn't finish because the tapestry at the top of the staircase on which we stood was ripped open.

"POTTER!" Two masked Death Eaters stood there, but even before their wands were fully raised, I had just enough time to do a panicked little wave as Hermione shouted, "Glisseo!"

The stairs beneath our feet flattened into a chute and she, Harry, Ron, and I hurtled down it, unable to control our speed but so fast that the Death Eaters' Stunning Spells flew far over our heads, we shot through the concealing tapestry at the bottom and spun onto the floor, hitting the opposite wall.

"Duro!" cried Hermione, pointing her wand at the tapestry, and there were two loud, sickening crunches as the tapestry turned to stone and the Death Eaters pursuing them crumpled against it. "See, headless chick-"

"Get back!" shouted Ron, and we flattened ourselves against a door as a herd of galloping desks thundered past, shepherded by a sprinting Professor McGonagall. She appeared not to notice us.

Her hair had come down and there was a gash on her cheek. I had never been so angry and so proud at the same time, proud that all my teachers were such undeniable badasses, but angry to my core that someone had dared to hurt them.

As she turned the corner, I heard her scream, "CHARGE!" "Harry, you get the Cloak on," said Hermione. "Never mind us —" But he threw it over all three of them, I prepared a disillusionment charm as I had before, linking minds with Hermione so I could feel her movements.

We ran down the next staircase and found ourselves in a corridor full of duellers. The portraits on either side of the fighters were crammed with figures screaming advice and encouragement, while Death Eaters, both masked and unmasked, duelled students and teachers.

Dean was face-to-face with a masked Death Eater, Parvati with Travers. We raised our wands at once, ready to strike, but the duellers were weaving and darting around so much that there was a strong likelihood of hurting one of their own side if they cast curses.

Even as we stood braced, looking for the opportunity to act, there came a great "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" and, looking up, I saw Peeves zooming over us, dropping Snargaluff pods down onto the Death Eaters, whose heads were suddenly engulfed in wriggling green tubers like fat worms.

"Argh!" A fistful of tubers had hit the Cloak over Ron's head; the slimy green roots were suspended improbably in mid-air as Ron tried to shake them loose. "Someone's invisible there!" shouted a masked Death Eater, pointing.

Dean made the most of the Death Eater's momentary distraction, knocking him down with a Knockback Jinx; another attempted to retaliate and Parvati shot a Body-Bind Curse at them.

"LET'S GO!" Harry yelled, and he, Ron, and Hermione gathered the Cloak tightly around themselves and pelted, heads down, through the midst of the fighters, slipping a little in pools of Snargaluff juice, sprinting toward the main staircase and the courtyard.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm Draco, I'm on your side!" Draco was on the upper landing, pleading with another masked Death Eater. Harry Stunned the Death Eater as they passed: Malfoy looked around, beaming, for his saviour, and Ron punched him from under the Cloak.

Malfoy fell backward on top of the Death Eater, his mouth bleeding, utterly bemused. "And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!" Ron yelled.

There were more duellers all over the stairs and in the hall, Death Eaters everywhere I looked, but not the one I hoped to find: Not the one I was hunting for.

I saw a masked Death Eater duelling Kingsley right beside us, one advancing on Dean. Students ran in every direction, some carrying or dragging injured friends.

Harry directed a Stunning Spell toward the masked Death Eater; it missed but nearly hit Neville, who had emerged from nowhere brandishing armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which looped itself happily around the nearest Death Eater and began reeling him in.

As we sped down the marble staircase: Glass shattered to our left, and the Slytherin hourglass that had recorded House points spilled its emeralds everywhere, so that people slipped and staggered as they ran.

Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground, and a gray blur that I mistook for an animal sped four-legged across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.

"NO!" shrieked Hermione, and with a deafening blast from her wand, Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown.

He hit the marble banisters and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on top of his head, and he crumpled to the ground and did not move.

"How is that freak still alive?" I said in shock, but noticing that deep scars crossed his face and he was missing an eye "I have more!" shrieked Professor Trelawney from over the banisters. "More for any who want them! Here —"

And with a movement like a tennis serve, she heaved another enormous crystal sphere from her bag, waved her wand through the air, and caused the ball to speed across the hall and smash through a window.

Ron bellowed, throwing the cloak off himself and falling beside her, sobbing. "No, please no!" he begged, whimpering, "No, please!" he choked out and the words struck a chord in my soul.

Forgetting all about the plan to stop Voldemort, I skidded to my knees beside them "Defend us!" I called to the others, Harry and Hermione tossed off the cloak and took stances either side of us with wands at the ready, Ron did not shift.

"Don't worry Lavender, I've got you sweetheart, I've got you...you're gonna be just fine, I promise" I said, trying to keep her awake, but the only thing I could do for her was seal the wounds, the way she got them still left...Complications.

Ron was beside me holding her hand, talking to her, I had to act fast. I looked around and saw nothing useful, I thought to the objects me and Hermionee were carrying and thought of nothing useful. There was only one thing I could think of doing.

"Hermione, Dittany! NOW!" She scrambled to reach for it and chucked me a vial, I uncorked it with my teeth and sighed. With a strain of my wrist, I began pulling Wormtails silver hand off of my body.

"I really hope Snakeface didn't cheap out." I thought, knowing this was the closest source of silver we were going to get in a warzone. But already feeling weaker because of it's loss.

Using my wand to disintegrate the hand into a fine powder as fast as I could with my remaining hand, I mixed the two together with my fingers and used it to seal Lavenders wounds. I had to act fast.

The wounds closed with a low sizzling sound, the silver powder remaining over the woulds as if it was glitter, falling in and sealing the wounds with what looked like silver stitches. "Well, at least they're fashionable." I joked, my mouth running to quell my rapidly growing nerves.

She writhed and screamed in agony, but that was good, screaming meant she was alive. "I know. I know it hurts sweetheart but it'll just be for a bit longer, just a bit." I said, trying to comfort her as Ron spoke to her, whispering words of encouragement that I could not hear.

Ron was having to pin her down as I administered my treatment, it took some time, but we were nearly finished. "We don't have time for this" a cynical voice pricked at the back of my head, as the thought of Voldemort being out of reach crossed my mind.

"What a terrible thing to think" I buried it deep into the darkest recesses of my mind never to emerge again, "I'm making time!" I countered my own selfish thought, thinking back to all the times she helped me, the yule ball, all the fun we had, all the laughs.

I knew for certain; I was not letting Lavender Brown die like this, not while I could still draw a breath, so even as she screamed and cried and begged me to leave her to her fate, I pressed on.

I could feel her distress and pain pounding into my head, like a bailiff at the doors to my mind, which meant my own body was almost begging me to stop. I knew if she survived, she would never be the same.

Eventually, after a minute of perseverance and  healing, Lavender seemed to get a second wind, she sat up with ragged breaths. Her arms flailing to stop the monster from savaging her further, it took her a second to recognise he was not here.

She was unable to speak, but her eyes darted around, first to me, then in a swirl of panic, she tried to back up from the prone body of Fenrir Greyback, but shrieked when her wounds were moved, then she saw Ron.

She crawled over to him and sobbed, he embraced her and let out a watery smile. They kissed quickly, but we didn't have time for a make out session. I had seen these two do that enough times for one life.

I scooped her under the legs and I stopped a passer-by and told them to take her to the hall. I told her to tell Pomfrey what happened and to keep an eye on the injuries in case they reopened, passing her the remains of the mixture within a conjured vial.

On closer inspection, the passer-by was Justin Finch-Fletchly, but I didn't realise that until much later, when the chaos had died down a bit. Honestly I found it better to not look at faces during the battle.

Anyone with a black cloak or a mask was getting cursed, everyone else got a pass but they were one more person I knew in the castle, one more person that could get hurt or die.

I looked to my hands and immediately regretted the fact I was missing one. Crushing stuff was so cool, sighing, I looked to a crumpled suit of armour we passed, I summoned a gauntlet to me and forced it onto the place my hand should have been

Then I transfigured the metal as best I could, thinking to the amazing magic McGonagall had pulled off, what I managed was something barely passable as a hand, that could hold a wand if it needed and twiddle it's fingers, but not much else, the digits of my hand felt hollow and weak.

"Thank you" said Ron weakly. I shook him a bit, trying to get him to focus, "Consider it a final gift from Scabbers" I smiled, softly slapping his cheek, "She's still too good for you." He wiped tears with his sleeve, "I know." He smiled in apology for his earlier behaviour.

We both stood up and dared to share a friendly hug, trying to put this all behind us, looking to the others to reassure them we were ready to move, but as that tender moment passed, I heard it.

It was only for a second, but I'd know it anywhere, even though the grunts of pain and the chaos of the battle. My head swivelled towards it and my mind went blank, my breath seemed to catch, an emotion bubbling up into my chest that I had tried to keep down and to not feed into.

But as I looked towards the face of the man who Dean had been duelling, his mask now freed from his face, the man who I had overlooked seconds ago, standing over what must have been a corpse, thoughts of vengeance flooded my head.

Anger, utter rage coursed through me and I felt like I was the only person in the room apart from him, the others fading into periphery, malice, disgust and hints of elation rose in my throat like an acid burning its way towards my lips.

"DOLOHOV!" I bellowed in a voice that seemed to shake the walls free of the castle, dust imploding around me. But I didn't care, no other voice mattered, no other face was visible to me. Nothing else distracting me in this moment in time, almost frozen in its significance.

His head snapped to the direction of my voice and a sick smile passed his lips, almost amusement. He raised his wand to me in challenge, laughter filled the air, the same laughter that had haunted my dreams for years now.

He flourished his wand around him in a wide arc and every other combatant, friend or foe, was knocked backwards by a sudden force, clearing a path directly to him, before any other thought could stir in me, I was attacking him.

As I charged towards him, it was as if I was seeing in the flashes of a camera, white spots in my eyes, only focused on one thing, one person. One monster I was going to wipe off the face of the earth. He didn't attack back, a sense of joy in his tone.

As I sprinted, I swung my wand arm in a wide arc, a slash of destruction tore through the air in front of me, splitting stone and wood. He held up his wand to parry, and as if the air had dissipated, he cut through it like nothing.

I was content to kill him here, not caring about who was around me or the snake we had just talked about destroying, as far as I was concerned, they were in the way, afterthoughts in my attempts to kill Dolohov.

"Come and get me little boy. Come and get me. Or will you learn from your mother and run while you can?" With a scream that seemed to rip my lungs apart I used every fibre of my being to pour my anger and malice into the air.

Again, and again he countered as I sent any number of curses at him, anything that would hurt, maim, kill, anything capable of the damage that he deserved. But he swiped them away like nothing. Just laughing and cackling as he began to almost skip backwards down the hall.

He was taunting me, daring me to fight him alone, drawing me away from my friends, but I didn't care, I'd chase him into hell itself if it meant I could finally end him. I had forgotten where I was, my mission left behind by Dumbledore, anything other than the man in front of me.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" I said, a promise that I would not fail twice, I would not be denied twice, no matter who got in my way, no matter what he threw at me, how many countless Death Eaters were at his back, this was it. This was our final confrontation.

He seemed to know it too, there was a glisten in his eye that sparked with the same emotions I had, the same sense of finality. We both knew, that regardless of the actions in this castle, regardless of any person in this war. One of us was going to kill the other.

He did not deny my words, his expression changed from amusement to curiosity. From one joy to another, the beauty of a spectacle to the thrill of a chase. He turned nonchalantly and began striding away from me.

"Don't go, it's a trick (Y/N)." Cried Hermione, begging. Ron tried to hold my arm to stop me, but I flung him off me, in my rage I pushed him to one side, and he tumbled to the floor. Harry tried to shout at me and do the same. "We need to end it!" he cried. And he was right.

Hands gripped at my shoulders, at my hands, voices that I knew rang in my ears, even above the chaos, I could hear them all pleading with me, begging me to think, to stay with them, to chase down the Horcrux.

But they didn't understand, this was my Horcrux. A piece of my soul that I needed to reclaim, something that had torn my soul asunder and left me pieces of what I used to be, and until I had killed Dolohov, or he had killed me, I couldn't sleep again, I couldn't breathe again.

They didn't understand, they could never. This wasn't a small battle in a war, it was a fated clash of two forces, destined to reach each other at some point or other. I needed this. Whatever happened, I had to do this.

Without a word I sprinted after him, my lungs burning even more and my legs setting alight as I poured my energy into them, any pain I had was miniscule, any discomfort that traced my body was fuel.

With the purpose of a man possessed, I chased him, through halls, doors, upstairs and down. He cackled and laughed like a madman as he evaded me. Gleefully enjoying the chase as I followed him.

Spells flew all around us, but they were inconsequential to me, they would not kill me, they couldn't, the only man who could was slipping through the castle and loving every second of it. It was as if I willed it into being, until I reached this man, nothing, no force on earth would stop me.

Even as I lost sight of him, I knew where he was, it was like I was drawn to him, as if we were bound together. The chase was finally ended as we entered the trophy room in Hogwarts, the perfect place for a man that enjoyed spectacle.

A room of shining gold and silver, reflecting our lives and the lives of others back at us. Surrounded by the achievements of those who came before me, I would achieve my finest accomplishment. This was the room I was going to kill Antonin Dolohov in. This is where we were always leading to.

I know why he led me here, it was smart on his end, there were no tricks I could pull in this room that he could not see reflected, nothing could catch him off guard.

"Colloportus" I said, waving my wand at the door, which closed with a loud bang as it was slammed shut. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

There were no other words that preceded the duel to come, no witty remark or taunt, just a silence, he looked at me his dark eyes reflected at me a thousand times over by the gleaming trophies. With a small bow, and a raise of his wand. It began.

"Avada Kedavra!" "Reducto!" Both spells exploded from our wands, both with the same intent to kill in their path. Almost by sheer instinct, I moved my head to the right, the green mirror of my own death reflected off a nearby shield.

He ducked low, almost tumbling to the floor as he did. Cackling. "I've dreamt of this. Every day, as you swirled around my head, I dreamt of the agony you made me endure and how I would reflect it back."

Now the room choice made even more sense. "You made yourself the nightmare I could not escape, but it was your mistake boy. I fell asleep to her screams every night, they lulled me to sleep as a symphony."

I thrashed my wand towards him, no verbal spell present on my lips, It was magic brought forth by rage, with a screeching sound similar to a banshee, a white light that blinded us both was caught still in the middle of the room.

With a grunt of great disappointment, Dolohov slunk into the shadows that it threw, a streak of red hit me in the chest, the torture curse racked my body, but it was nothing. Nothing in the wake of my rage.

Then, the magic, still in flux, could no longer contain it's nature, it erupted like a great dragon, flares of light poured out of it, reflecting off the countless shields and plaques, but as contact was made, a great explosion erupted in the room, rattling and shaking the medals and trophies on their plinths.

We were both sent tumbling further from each other, my back clattered against the door I had entered through, his slammed on the back wall of the room, we were ten feet from each other. Both of us sprung to our feet, unwilling to give the other a second of advantage.

We propelled ourselves up, but then remained rooted, there was no retreating, but neither of us wished to retreat, there was only a way forward, but neither of us took it.

A step closer and we would be at disadvantage, a step closer and the other combatants spell would end us before our spells reached them. We both took a single breath to refocus, then glared at each other.

So again, spells filled the room. "Sectumsempra!" the spell impacting his arm, cutting deep into his flesh as if by a sewing pattern "Crucio!" the pain of the spell almost brought me to my knees and made me stumble, it was my body responding, but my brain did not register the pain.

"Am I your nightmare boy? Your lullaby?" he cried as he hissed at the wound I had sliced into him. "Confringo!" he batted the spell aside with a smirk. "Yes. That is what I am. A nightmare of the Dark Lord's design. A nightmare come back to haunt you" he jeered.

I sighed, "Oh just shut up and fight." "As you wish. Avada Kedav-" "Silencio!" I smirked as the spell fizzled out, "Bombarda!" he dove to the floor as the wall behind him exploded outwards as if a shaped charge had detonated against it.

By the time the dust had cleared, he was up and talking again, "She cried you know. Screamed and whimpered before it was over. AS WILL YOU!" he fired purple flames at me and I screamed. "Protego!"

It hit the shield charm and almost got through it, I barely escaped, but my wand arm felt like it was broken. I know he was lying, but in the moment, the disrespect got to me. "Avada Kedavra!" I bellowed and he dodged to the left in an almost exact mirror of earlier.

"There he is, the boy who I have been tormented by, the nightmare I will rid myself of!" He all but hissed at me, a purple lash of light, his own curse was whipping at me. I used my own to counter, not wishing to waste time by uttering the words. Flame bathed me in light and extinguished his.

My knees felt as if I was trying to carry a mountain, my ankle felt like dust, my back felt as if someone was hitting each vertebra with a hammer, my fingers as if a piano had slammed shut on them, my skin felt as if it was being burned by a million cigarettes.

All at once. It was a rush of sensation I had missed wholeheartedly. Of course it was him that would finally make my nerves erupt in exquisite agony, to give me the feeling that had escaped me for months.

No pain had ever reached this peak. It was pure, undiluted, and indescribable. It reminded me of all the torture I wished to inflict on him. We darted, almost prowled, on inverse of each other, never closer, but always opposite.

If he dodged a spell and took a step left, I took one right. It was a duel of footwork more then anything, almost a dance. Despite the room choice, the both of us tried to gain an edge. Dolohov was no longer saying his incantations.

His eyes were locked on me, grinning like a psycho, but his mouth never opened. I was trying my own trickery, first I adjusted my stance, putting my off hand in a position that it obscured my mouth, muttering under my breath whenever I was incapable of non-verbal casting.

I was also trying to catch him off guard, trying to ricochet spells at him from the various trophies and shields that lined the walls, I was trying to blind him momentarily with every chance I got, hoping to give myself a second advantage.

The tension in the air was rising, like two great beasts who were both ready to go for the kill, every spell felt deadly, intentional, precise. Not a single wasted movement or breath, because it would likely lead to our last.

Purple flames licked across my arms, slowly making me ill and sluggish, slashes of fire blistered his, making him wince in pain and discomfort, but neither of us wanted to commit to a final assault, afraid of a counterattack.

I had tried reading his mind countless times, but it gave me nothing substantial, Antonin Dolohov was insane, nobody could refute that, his mind was not that of a sane man, little to no structure present within it.

I had truly dismantled his mind, as he had dismantled my heart. Only flashes of my own face were present within it, the walls of Azkaban a constant fear, every thought he had was negative, he was truly feeling an endless nightmare.

As I tried to access his memory, finding anything to give me an edge, an intention, a plan, a stray thought even. His mind seemed to loop, stuck in a moment of horror over and over, I saw my own face looking down at him and terror grip him.

I smirked happily as I realised that it was me that had done this, left him in near constant fear and regret for all he had done. "I guess the Dark Lord couldn't fix everything I did to you. Fearing me is the only sane thought you've ever had."

He didn't like that. He sent killing curses at me, three in quick succession, I dodged all three by diving to one side and fired a blasting curse back that he also sprawled to avoid.

I wasn't thinking, I was reacting, breathing slowly, and relying on pure instinct. Trusting that every spell I cast would give me an advantage, believing that I would destroy him when the time came. And It did.

I gained confidence for a brief second, he was slowing, so I tried a larger scale spell, "Stupefy" I shouted, intending to miss, as I knew he would, he slashed through the spell with his wand. As he had done before.

As he made this motion, I sent a fire rope out of my wand, it wrapped along his wand arm and burned into him, he screamed in discomfort and tried to pull away as I took a step forward to get enough leverage to pull his wand from his hand, purple flame spat out of it.

My eyes widened as the flame crossed the distance to me, I had to drop the fire rope spell, cutting it at the source, so that new flames expelled from my wand, my charm saving me yet again. A thought crossed my mind for the first time in the duel and I fell to my knees.

I gave him the spectacle he wanted, falling to the ground, and screaming as he promised I would, the backlash of my spell and his too much for me. As he revelled in my self-caused agony, I struck.

"Expelliarmus!" his wand careened out of his hand and across the room, I made him watch as I crushed it into a collection of toothpicks with my own. He snarled at me, defenceless without a wand to protect himself.

I silenced him with binds around his mouth, he was unable to defend. He was at my mercy, and the only mercy I had hadn't entered this room with me. "On your knees!" I commanded. He looked terrified, and rightly so. "NOW!"

He obliged, falling to his knees, stumbling, and fumbling with his hands as he did, still unable to speak, he threw his hands to his head. "Crucio!" he burst into fits of pain, flailing across the floor. His binds not containing the scream that filled the room.

I lifted him into the air with my wand and tossed him back and forth across the room, he crashed into glass cases, suits of armour and trophies before I brought him to a halt. I looked him in the eyes as blood wept from his face, I saw the scars I had left there a few years ago.

I was going to kill him, but my conscience stopped me. "Holy cricket" said an angry voice as Hermione's words repeated in my head. "This isn't you...this is what he's made you." "He's defenceless, she wouldn't agree with it...not like this...it's not worth it."

I grit my teeth. "Don't worry I won't make it quick. You've inspired me Antonin, like you said, I'm your nightmare, and who am I to rob you of that, to grant you the release of a permanent dirt nap? Oh no, that just won't do!"

"How about this. Instead of killing you, I'll beat you within inches of your life, then I'll take you to Azkaban myself, and they'll give you a welcome home kiss? Sound like a plan?" His eyes danced with an unknown emotion.

A sound sent a spark of electricity up my back, laughter. He was laughing at me. My blood boiled at the sound, my own safety rushed out of my head, "What's so funny!" I demanded, freeing his mouth so he could answer.

"Azkaban cannot contain me, I am not a man, I am a nightmare, come back to haunt you, a nightmare that will always haunt you, as it did your mother, until the day you die!" he declared in his insanity. I punched him in the mouth.

He collapsed, still laughing at me. I had yet to see something amusing, so I wrenched him up by the hair, his hot breath on my face as I peered down at him, "What's so funn-" I didn't get the word out

At first, I thought he had punched me, the pain wasn't necessarily terrible, it was bearable even, like a sudden impact, but he drew back his hand, and I saw it was coated with blood. That was when the pain struck.

I felt pain in my stomach that seemed to take root and leave what felt like a fissure in my chest. It dug into me with a stabbing sensation that seemed to divert outwards and up my body. Looking down, I saw it was because I had been stabbed in the stomach. So that was all cleared up.

Dolohov rose, imposing over my hunched form. In an instant I understood, as he had collapsed to his knees, he had fumbled with his hands, reaching for something, I was eye level with his waist and saw a wand. Upon seeing it. I glared at him with a burning hatred.

It wasn't as worn as mine but bore the same characteristics. Same wood, same length. My stomach turned, and not just from the sudden intrusion, I would recognise it anywhere. How could I not? it mirrored my own.

He gloated over me as blood drained from the stab wound and splattered on the floor, his wand conjuring a sharp dagger at its edge. As silver as the trophies that surrounded us. It melted back into the wand as he taunted me.

"I've been waiting for this for all these years, I knew what I had to do as soon as I was free of that godforsaken prison, the Dark Lord rescued me and gave me free reign to pursue you. I've been hunting for you since we last met. I picked up few things on my travels..."

He taunted me, holding the wand up in victory, as I felt my life drain out from the wound I was desperately holding with my fingers, slick with blood that stained the trophy room floor. I collapsed to the floor, unable to take the weight of my body.

"And now I will take everything from her. Everything she had ever loved. Snuffed out by my hand. I am the nightmare that has always come back to haunt you" He gloated, I swear, this guy talked more than I did. I wished he'd shut up!

I expected him to finish me here, but as a man hell bent on a spectacle, on a story, he wrapped his hands around my neck and looked me dead in the eyes, his laughter echoed through the halls, my vision got blurry and it was the only thing that overpowered the ringing in my ears.

As he squeezed tighter and tighter, I didn't even have the strength to hold on to my wand. It clattered to the floor as my hands instead tried to loosen the binds around my neck.

I didn't have my wand, I couldn't focus on anything long enough to defend myself, I couldn't concentrate enough to transform and the blood in my mouth that stopped me from crying out for help, my head felt like it was about to explode off my shoulders from the pressure.

This was it; I was out of tricks. Nothing I thought of could stop the fact that Antonin Dolohov was going to kill me. I stood up to free myself, but his hands remained tight around my throat. The blood just spilled out of me faster.

It could have been seconds or minutes, I couldn't really tell anymore, but eventually, the strength I had left in my body failed me and my arms collapsed to my side. My eyes rolling back as I fell into a sleep I knew I wouldn't wake up from.

It could have been a trick of the light, the gleam off of the glass or a trophy, it could have been the lack of oxygen and my body letting go, but as I looked up, the various metals and awards seemed different.

As I looked at them, they gleamed unnaturally, as if each one was a burning sun that dazzled my eyes. But within the sun I saw in front of me, reflected through Dolohov's eyes. I thought I made out two shapes.

Familiar shapes, the same I had seen on the surface of the water, that's how I knew I was dying, seeing them again like this, it meant it was over, they were calling me. I could see them again.

I saw a light and was drawn to it, compelled to lean toward it, until I snapped to sense, "Nope, not doing that. I know how this song and dance goes. People always say, 'don't go towards the light' so, guess I'm staying here!"

My body had other plans, the corners of my vision had begun to fade, and despite my brain trying to fight, my body was all but finished with the fighting. Despite my earlier conviction to rush into this fight despite the chance of dying. I was scared.

I ran into this fight stupidly believing I could win it. That was the only thought that gave me the confidence to cross the threshold. The only reason I stayed in this room if I had was the prospect of revenge and the fact Dolohov would have killed me regardless.

"NO STAY AWAKE! WAKE UP!!" I tried to will my body. Every pore on my body felt like it was on fire, every ounce of strength I had I siphoned into my effort to stay awake.

My vision blurred and I was on the edge of consciousness. My legs felt heavy, he stared down on me and squeezed harder as I fell to my knees "No...It can be anything, prank gone wrong, old age, a falling piano. Just not him, anything but him."

Flashes passed my eyes, moments, seconds, perfect seconds I wished to relive, going faster and faster as they passed, as if I were on an extremely fast broom watching them pass by. It was dizzying and any moment that passed was burned away.

As they passed, I was met with a brief glimmer of pure white in front of my eyes, my body not even having the strength to remain focused on Dolohov and being more concerned with trying to make room for air to pass through my throat.

Within the light a voice echoed softly. "You need to wake up sweetie" said a voice that soothed me, I knew it instantly, I longed to hear it every day and missed it with everything in me. But I could feel the pain just behind the light and I did not want to enter it again.

I could speak again, think again, but I couldn't handle it. "I can't Mum, it hurts too much, I'm so tired, I don't want to get up anymore, It hurts too much, I can't bear it anymore, I don't want it to hurt anymore..."

Tears were streaming down my face at this point, she quietened me down and pulled me into an embrace that I missed more than anything, "I know baby, I know It hurts but you need to" "No, I don't want to..."

I started bawling and spluttering childishly, wishing I could spend more time in this comfortable place with her. "I need you to get up baby, just one more time, one more time, you can do that for me can't you baby? Do it for me."

And I did. Rising with a strength from an unknown reserve. My eyes awake with the rage of my whole family. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and instead of squeezing like he had, I began to twist, trying to snap his neck.

He caught on and dislodged his hands from my neck, so I rocked my head forwards and plunged it into the bridge of his nose just like my brother would have, it shattered, then, standing up and using the momentum I drove my knee into his crotch, as my Dad would have told me to.

He let out a squeal and in a panic he shoved me backwards, as I stumbled back onto my unsteady legs, I dug my hands into the belt Mum had got me, knowing a trick I could pull. He pointed a wand at me. Dolohov was still confident.

"Any last words you want me to tell your muggle filth father? Maybe I'll send you to him in pieces" I smirked, finding the pouch I needed. "Catch!"

I threw coins at him, they burned into my flesh as I picked them up from my belt, but on the plus side, I had more ammo, seven more golden coins sprouted from my fist. I threw more.

He went to swipe them away with his wand, but as soon as he made contact there was a sizzling sound and a discomforted grunt, yet again, another seven sprouted from thin air. His eyes filled with confusion, I used that to my advantage.

As more and more coins blinked into existence, He had enough and with a great sweep of his wand he sent the coins flying and they were tossed to the floor. In that time, I had closed the distance between us.

I grabbed the wrist of his wand hand and pivoted it away from me, so I headbutted him again and twisted it at an odd angle, wrenching it from his grip. "That doesn't belong to you!" I snarled as I kicked the inside of his knee with a satisfying snap.

Now he was disarmed and beaten, I kicked him in the chest, pushing him backwards into another display case, as he did, I reached down and picked up my brother's wand. Pointing it at him. "Incarcerous." "Petrificus Totalus!" I said in tandem.

He collapsed to the floor like a still statue, falling harshly to one side. I stomped on his face and said "Stay here and think about what you've done. I'll come back to haunt you later." I mocked him as I scooped up my wand and my brothers.

I repaired the wall I had exploded with my brother's wand. "Reparo!" then the rest of the room. I was going to seal the doors shut too, even if he unbound himself, he didn't have a wand to get through them. This thought sparked something.

Then in a stroke of genius, or perhaps, in desperation for survival, a thought rushed towards the front of my skull, a shouting in my ear, "Pay attention idiot!" said a voice similar to mine, another ghost in my ear.

It was alerting me of a memory that was still fresh. The words ringing in my ears, "I picked up few things on my visit..."

My knees bent just in time, I tumbled forwards to all fours, the sudden action meant I was unable to maintain my own footing on my damaged ankle.

I fell forwards as another purple lash illuminated the room, passing across the space I had been moments ago, I had come inches from death yet again. I scrambled for my wand but with a flash of light it was sent flying away from me, Dolohov let out a shrill giggle.

I spun on my knees to face him, he was towering over me, wand poised to attack, not his own, which had been reduced to splinters, not my brothers, which lay somewhere in my periphery, another.

It was a familiar wand, but in unfamiliar hands. I had never asked what it was made of, or how long it was, but I recognised it, it lit birthday candles, it soothed wounds, it stirred sleeping draughts and caught bad guys.

Dolohov smirked as I saw a green tint on the end of her wand. Fear hit me as the wave of energy streaked out of the wand. The urge to close my eyes and accept what was to come had never been further from my mind.

My mother's words fresh in my mind, in that instant, I thought back, to the time I had spent with her, training for this very moment, this exact circumstance. She didn't teach me how to survive the killing curse, I had taught myself that skill. What she had taught me, was how to summon my wand.

My eyes slammed shut, not in acceptance, in concentration as the green flash illuminated the backs of my eyelids. The wood found its way into my palm, again I cloaked myself in fire. Unable to mutter the words, which meant my bones felt as if they were being ground into a fine dust by my muscles.

I opened my eyes again as both the killing curse and the protective flame passed over me, I saw Dolohov's shocked expression and knew I had only moments. He cast another killing curse and I knew my body would give out if I withstood another.

I thought of a different solution. and wrenched a piece of metal from the wood of a nearby silver shield, placing the metal above me as a barrier. The spell dispersed on the sheet, unable to kill an inanimate object, and Dolohov's eyes filled with annoyance and anger.

Wanting to end this, I cursed the metal quickly, a rope of fire wrapped around the metal, I threw my wand arm backwards in a flourish before he could react.

He seemed to freeze for a second in confusion as the metal began to spin behind me, the fire heated the metal until it had an orange tint. He realised what I was doing too late, I wrenched my arm froward with great effort, I launched the piece of metal at his neck.

He let out a panicked gasp, but it was too late, the sheet didn't find any resistance, it was moving too fast and burning too hot, metal hit the flesh of his neck and slipped straight through it, indenting itself in stone behind him.

I watched his body fall backwards and his head forwards, no blood even hit the floor, cauterised by the superheated metal, "Come back from that" I thought and it could have been my mind playing tricks on me, but I thought I heard a little chuckle after those words.

The lethargy hit me soon after, I couldn't even exit the room. Whoever got the notion that you could say some cheesy one liner and walk away after being choked like I had was a liar! I collapsed to the floor, unable to even drag myself any further.

Blood didn't seem to flow in my body, my throat felt as if it was the size of a drinking straw, any oxygen I got wasn't enough, my head was pounding as if there was someone hitting it with a hammer from either side and red and white colours were collecting in my eyes.

I could barely see, I couldn't breathe, parched was laughable, hoarse was somewhere in the past. I gasped and wheezed for breath, any that would fill my lungs, but I found little. My head felt ready to explode.

I was scared, terrified, I had locked thee door, even if I got to it, It wouldn't open, I was going to die in this room, succumbing to my wounds, unable to close them before the life drained out of me. I started to panic.

I didn't want to die, it's a cliché, but I was too young. I was horrified of the unknown. As the darkness claimed me, I was almost brought to tears again, fearing what I would miss, fearing leaving everything behind.

Suddenly I was very aware of my own mortality, something that had seemed to slip my mind, is this how Mum had felt, how my brother had. Did Cedric have time for this dread to fill him. Had even Mad-Eye-Moody, the toughest man I'd ever known, felt like this at the end?

I regretted things, little things mostly. Always bothering Filch, laughing at Krum, ignoring my friends when I could have spent time with them, arguing with Hermione over something or other. Hitting Ron. Shouting at Harry.

Was this what it was like? Dying, was it all just a confusing mess, or was I in for something spectacular? I guess I was going to find out. I'd ask Mum and the others when I saw them. I'd tell her I beat Dolohov like I promised.

But right now, that was nothing to smile about. Could I become a ghost? I don't like the idea of leaving the world of the living right now. I'd ask when I got there I suppose.

Before I did, I tried to claw at the floor to move an inch, but it was futile, I tried to reach a wand, any wand, but found none. So, I knew my last hope was one word, that if I could utter, would keep me alive, if even for a bit longer. "W..."

I coughed up bile and my voice was less than a fleeting whisper. "Wi..." I tried again and a noise like a punctured balloon left my mouth. "Wi...nk...y..."

With a subtle pop in the air and the fluttering of a dress, I fell asleep, all I could hear was ringing as my ragged breath left my lungs and my eyes glazed over.

My mothers voice filled my heart again, singing me to a gentle sleep on the castle floor. As I lulled to sleep the floor beneath me was cold and quiet, it was getting dark, and so cold...