“Severus, please go with Lily alone. If the meddling coot lets me go, I will meet you at the Three Broomsticks for lunch, all right?” Harry whispered to his best friend.

Severus sighed. “He won’t let you go. He probably wants to make sure you will be well rested and prepared for tomorrow morning. Do you need anything from Hogsmeade I can bring for you?”

Harry sneered. “Yes please, Christmas presents for you, Lily, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius, Remus, James and the dragon.”

Severus sneered “Of course. Take care of yourself Harry!”

Lily was as disappointed as the other two, maybe even more because she couldn’t understand the reason behind Dumbledore’s decision.

After accompanying his two friends to the gate, Harry went to Dumbledore’s office – the Gargoyle opened with ‘the power of love’ – and he entered. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Pomfrey were already waiting for him. Harry who had already been upset before, became really angry and hissed,

“What is it? Am I only to do the dirty work now? May I not have a little bit of fun like all other students?”

Dumbledore sighed. “Harry, my dear boy…”

“Don’t give me dear boy Professor.”

Pomfrey gripped his arm and handed him a phial. “Drink this please.”

“NO!” Harry cried angrily.

“Harry, it is only a calming draught and we need you to drink it in order not to have to force feed you,” McGonagall said calmly.

Very reluctantly, Harry agreed and calmed immediately. Now nothing really mattered anymore. He even let his Great Grandfather pull himself over to his guest bedroom where he was told to sit on the bed.

“Now Harry, I want Poppy to check on you to make sure you are really fit and well to do your stunt tomorrow morning. What we are planning is very dangerous and I do not want to have any risk of losing you on the way,” Dumbledore said sternly.

Harry only shrugged and just let things happen.

Pomfrey waved his wand over him a few times and finally said, “He is completely fine, although he seems to be a little tired. I would prefer to give him a few Potions in any case.”

Dumbledore nodded affirmatively and she handed Harry two phials, one of them he could recognize as Pepper-up Potion. The other one... he eyed it suspiciously, but he really didn’t care and just gulped it down. Within seconds, he was asleep.

“Harry, time to wake up my boy!” Harry blinked. Where was he? What was he doing here?

“Professor?” he asked and reached for his glasses.

“Yes Harry, you are in my guest bedroom. You had to rest for a while, don’t you remember? But now, we have to go down for dinner. You already missed lunch today,” the professor said grinning.

And suddenly Harry’s memory came back. Angrily he eyed this Grandfather.

“Don’t let yourself get so upset again, Harry, otherwise I have to force feed you another calming Potion” Dumbledore advised his Great Grandson and smiled fondly at him. Together they went down to dinner in the Great Hall.

-----

“Harry! Where have you been all day?”

“In Dumbledore’s guest bedroom. Pomfrey force fed me a sleeping draught,” he mumbled.

“What!” James cried angrily. “What does he think he is doing?”

“We bought lots of sweets and are going to have another party tonight in the common room, because we have still butterbeer left from the party last week,”

Sirius beamed.

Harry who had so far only pushed around the food on his plate mumbled, “Sorry lads, I’m still tired and I’m going back to bed.” When he retreated from the Great Hall, he didn’t notice the five pairs of eyes who were watching him concernedly. He went to bed and didn’t even wake up when the party got so loud that McGonagall came and threw a temper tantrum in the common room.

“You are very irresponsible. It is not more than six days ago that I told you not to hold any more parties here without my permission. You will all be in detention tomorrow! You will meet in the Transfiguration classroom immediately after breakfast, and I will have Mr. Filch come and tell you what each of you will be going to do for the day. I am very disappointed!”

“But Professor.” Lily went over to her. “What about Harry? He was not participating tonight. He has been asleep since dinner.”

McGonagall eyed her suspiciously, said, “I will see to that,” and went up to the sixth year’s boys dormitory to look after her Grandson. He was fast asleep. She put a hand on his forehead to check for a fever, but he seemed to be fine. On her way back out of the common room, she told Lily, “Harry is exempted from detention tomorrow.”

-----

Harry woke up very early the next morning. He felt very refreshed and awake, but his stomach grumbled. After thinking about going flying as Icicle for a while, he abandoned the thought because he didn’t know yet how much energy this would take out of him, and he decided on walking down to the kitchens for an early breakfast.

When he entered the kitchens, he was stunned. The Headmaster was sitting there drinking cocoa.

“Harry! Good morning my dear boy” his Great Grandfather beamed. “Would you like a cocoa as well my boy?”

“No. I would like to have breakfast please,” Harry addressed the house elves, and said to his Grandfather “I am very hungry, as I somehow missed lunch and dinner yesterday.”

“I am very sorry, Harry, but I really thought it was necessary to let you rest for a while yesterday. How do you feel today?”

“Great. As much as I hated it yesterday, I think it helped a lot. Do you think we could start immediately after breakfast, or do we have to wait until breakfast in the Great Hall is finished?”

“Twinkle!” Dumbledore called his house elf and explained to Harry, “Twinkle is my own house elf and normally lives at Dumbledore Manor. But when I’m here, there is not much to do at the manor, so Twinkle often stays at Hogwarts with me. “Twinkle could you please go and wake Minerva, Severus Snape, and Poppy and tell them to come to my office at 6 o’clock; that’s in half an hour. Thank you.”

“Of course Professor,” Twinkle replied and was gone with a pop.

When they arrived at Dumbledore’s office, the other three were already waiting for them and had made themselves comfortable in the guest bedroom where they were just having breakfast.

“Good morning. I’m sorry to wake you up so early, but Harry and I met at breakfast in the kitchens and Harry preferred to start immediately,” Dumbledore apologized to the three.

“No problem. Harry, are you well and ready?” McGonagall looked worried at her Grandson.

“Yes of course,” Harry replied.

“Harry, what do you want us to do? How can we help you?” Severus asked worriedly.

Harry sighed. “In fact, you cannot really do a lot. I will lie on the bed, occlude my mind and try to establish a connection to him. I know that it works because I already tried on Friday evening…” he ignored the gasp that came from McGonagall and Pomfrey, “… and succeeded in connecting to his mind. But at that point I stopped because I was alone at the time and it was too dangerous. So I would like you to watch me. I don’t think he will be able to defend himself, because firstly he couldn’t do it the last time, and secondly he doesn’t even know about my scar and our connection. But in case I have real problems, I think you will know and be able to help me. Professor Dumbledore could use Leglimency on me to join our conversation, or you could try to wake me up. But please only interfere if you can sense that I’m really in danger.”

“And how do we know if he has gone?” McGonagall asked.

Harry sighed again. “As you know, when he dies, his Death Eaters are going to die as well. The last time I could save Severus from the Death because I somehow included him in the people I love, but this time fortunately it will not be necessary. However, the students who already bear the mark will be gone. I’m sorry for them, but…”

“I thought you had hated me?” Severus asked unbelievingly. “Then why did you save me?”

“YOU hated ME, Severus. I am not capable of hating people. And you had never done any physical harm to me – on the contrary, you had saved my life more than once – and were on the light side at that time, so why should I have let you die?”

“All right Harry,” Dumbledore threw in. “But before you start I want to give you something.” He handed him a necklace with a phoenix pendant, which held the Dumbledore family’s crest. “This is a protection necklace like all magical families give to their children. When you are in real danger, Minerva and I will know immediately.” He noticed Severus looking astonished from one to another. “Severus I would like you to swear a wizard’s oath to me that you won’t tell anybody of what you are going to hear here today. Can you do that for me? And in case you are wondering, Harry has sworn one too the other day, and Poppy has already known for a long time and is bound to secrecy by her profession.”

Severus watched them curiously and said, “I herewith swear by my magic not to tell anyone about what I learn here in this room today”.

“Fine, thank you Severus. Hardly anybody knows that Minerva and I are married, and nobody except from the five of us now know that Harry is our Great Grandson. Alright Harry, shall we start?”

-----

Harry gave a nod and went to lie down on the comfortable bed he already had spent the last day in. He had to try hard to stay calm. Although he had managed to do this before, what he was going to do was very dangerous. The only real advantage he had was that Voldemort didn’t know about their connection.

“Sorry, could you please put yourselves under a silencing spell, because I really have to concentrate very hard,” he addressed the others for a last time before he occluded his mind and tried to force the connection to Voldemort.

Yes! That’s right. He was in Voldemort’s mind. ‘Okay, Harry stay calm, you know what you have to do and you already did it before. You can do it,’ he tried to convince himself, before he began to address Tom.

The others could hear him say, “Hello Tom, can you hear me?”

“Yes. Who are you, and where are you?”

“Nice to meet you. There is no need for you to know my name, is there? You can call me Icicle, and I am just here.”

“Where?” Of course, the others could not hear Voldemort’s answers but the whole conversation was clear by what Harry said, so they tried to relax and listened. So far, apart from Harry’s livid scar everything seemed to be fine.

“Never mind Tom.”

“I am Lord Voldemort.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Tom Marvolo Riddle, a nice name for a half blood.”

Voldemort was really getting angry now. “Don’t call me that!”

“Right. That’s why I’m just calling you Tom. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I have something you don’t have. LOVE. I love my parents who died for me, I love my Great Grandparents who are still alive, and I love my friends, Severus, Lily, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Sirius, James and Remus. I love all students here at Hogwarts now and in the future, I love all the teachers, Madam Pomfrey and I even love the teachers who hate me. I also love you Tom and your Death Eaters when you die and leave the world in peace. I love the whole world. Good bye Tom.”

For a few minutes that felt endless, Harry seemed to be in utmost struggle. Pain and exertion was clearly written in his face, and his scar was bleeding freely. Finally, Harry relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

Pomfrey rushed over to the bed and waved her wand over him several times before she relaxed and said, “He has depleted his magic completely. Apart from that and his head wound he seems to be fine.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, I feared that would happen. He told us it happened that last time, and he had to stay in the Hospital Wing for nearly a week. But he can stay here, at least until he wakes up. Now, what are we going to do? We should check on the Death Eater students within the castle without letting anyone know. Severus could you go back to Slytherin and look for Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe or Goyle without attracting any attention? These four are certainly Death Eaters, because Harry watched their initialization. About other students I can only guess.”

“But Albus, breakfast is going to start in five minutes. We can just go down to breakfast and watch out. Pettigrew should be affected as well in case something really happened,” McGonagall contradicted immediately.

“You’re right as usual, Minerva,” Dumbledore said pensively. “Poppy, maybe you should return to the Hospital Wing in case some of the Death Eater students will be brought there. Severus, would you mind staying here with Harry while we go down for breakfast? I will ask Twinkle to bring some more tea for you.”

“Alright Professor, thank you. And please tell me as soon as you have new information,” Severus asked worried.

“Of course my dear boy,” Albus said calmingly.

-----

When the two professors reached the Great Hall, it was in an uproar. The Slytherin table was nearly completely empty, and only Professor Sprout and Madam Hooch were sitting at the Head Table. At the Gryffindor table, the Marauders were missing. McGonagall sighed.

“Albus, it seems to have really happened. I’ll be going to the tower to look for the Marauders.”

“All right Minerva. Take him to the Hospital Wing and bring the other students here. Later on we will have to notify the parents.”

“Of course Albus. I’ll help you,” she said and hurried up to Gryffindor tower.

She went straight up to the sixth year’s dormitory, where she saw three students towering over one other who was lying on the ground.

“What happened exactly?” she asked in her normal strict voice.

“Professor!” James exclaimed. “We really don’t know. He suddenly gripped his arm and seemed to be in a horrendous pain before he collapsed like this. Is he dead?”

McGonagall sighed. “I’m afraid yes.” She took Peter’s left arm and rolled his sleeves up,

“What are you doing Professor?” Sirius asked and gasped, when they could see the fading Dark Mark on Peter’s arm.

“What happened, Professor?” Remus asked carefully.

“Voldemort and all this Death Eaters seem to have gone, thanks to your classmate Harry. Please go to the Great Hall for breakfast, I’m sure the Headmaster is going to tell you more. I will take Pettigrew to the Hospital Wing.”

When she came back to the Great Hall, Dumbledore whispered, “Minerva, could you go and stay with Harry? Please send Severus down, I am going to tell the students as soon as he’ll be with us.”

-----

As soon as Severus reached the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood and addressed the students. By then all students apart from the dead Death Eaters had arrived.

“As most of you probably know we have found ourselves in a time of war during the last few years; the war against Tom Riddle AKA Lord Voldemort or the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Even some of our students were Death Eaters. During the last few years Voldemort and his followers have killed many innocent people and were threatening to throw the wizarding world into a long-term war of horror and death. Today one of our students, Harry Pane, has managed to vanquish Voldemort for good. Although nobody has yet found his body, we believe that he is dead and cannot come back. His Death Eaters are gone as well.

Unfortunately, for a few of you this means that one or even both of your parents and maybe also one of your friends here at Hogwarts has died. As far as I have heard, there are eight students, who have died this morning. This is indeed very sad, but please remember that it was their own choice to be on Voldemort’s side and hope together with me for a future in peace. I hope to be able to give you more detailed news at lunchtime.” With that, he stood and left for his office to contact the Aurors.

-----

When Harry woke up, he noticed that he still was in Dumbledore’s guest room. His Great Grandmother was sitting in a chair next to his bed reading a very old looking book. She was startled when Harry suddenly asked, “Is he gone for good?”

She hadn’t even noticed that Harry had woken up. “Yes my dear. You did it!” She smiled fondly at him. “How do you feel Harry?”

“I’m fine, but I’m very tired, and my head hurts. How is Severus?”

“He is all right, he is very glad that you could save him from taking the Mark, but he had to go home for his father’s funeral. Most of the students who had to return now will stay home until after Christmas, but Severus told us he didn’t want to leave you alone and would be back as soon as the funeral was over. I’m going to get Poppy to check on you.”

“No”, Harry groaned, “not the dragon. Just let me go back to sleep.”

McGonagall sighed. “Harry, she only wants to help you and everyone else does as well. You have been asleep for more than two days and I want her to see you while you are awake. You don’t have to worry that she will take you with her; you are allowed to stay here in Albus’ guest room until you are fully recovered. Today is Wednesday, and on Friday, the evening before the students leave for their winter holidays, we will have a Voldemort demise party with participants from several European countries, the ministry and many others.”

Harry groaned. “I have already had that three months ago, when I vanquished him for the first time. Surely, they will have a press conference as well… You know how happy I was here because of not being famous, and I don’t want to lose that. Do you think I would be allowed to sleep through the whole event?”

His grandmother frowned. “I can’t imagine what that would change. Albus had to tell them your name anyway. So they are surely going to ask you questions and to keep on thanking you. Minister McNeill has already floo-ed to Hogwarts three times in order to talk to you, but so far, Albus, Poppy and I have been able to keep him from you. But I’m afraid you will have to talk to him soon.”

Harry sighed. “All right. I will – hopefully for the last time – do what everyone is expecting from me. But first I need a headache Potion.”

McGonagall went into Dumbledore’s office, and a minute later Pomfrey and Dumbledore came into Harry’s room.

“Harry, my boy! Congratulations!” His Great Grandfather greeted him happily.

“Well done Harry,” Pomfrey said and waved her wand over Harry. She gave Harry two Potions, and within seconds, Harry was asleep again.

The next time he opened his eyes, Severus, Remus and Lily were sitting next to his bed and smiled at him.

“Hi Harry, time to wake up finally,” Severus said. “You’re just in time for the party which will start in an hour.”

“Severus! How are you? Is everything okay?” He looked piercingly at his best friend.

“Yes, Harry, I really have to thank you. I feel as if I was finally alive again.” He gave Harry a small smile.

“I think we all have to say thank you Harry,” Lily said smiling at Harry as well.

“Harry, I have brought your robes and everything, maybe you should get up, take a shower and dress in order to go to the party. I’m sure we will have much fun tonight!”

Harry looked curiously at Remus. “Fun? Are you sure?” Harry asked sarcastically. The last time he had to endure the remise party – in the future – had been horrible, and only the thought of it made his stomach churn.