Caught up. I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick,

the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, it did." said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise

you think what you've done . . . . Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . . ."

"What is this?"

Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt,

Nothing had socked Voldemort like this. Harry saw is pupils contract to thin slits, saw the

Skin around his eyes whiten.

"It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left. . . . I've seen what

you'll be otherwise. . . . Be a man. . . try. . . Try for some remorse. . . ."

“You dare --- ?” said Voldemort again.

“Yes, I dare,” said Harry, “because Dumbledore’s last plan hasn’t backfired on

me at all. It’s backfired on you, Riddle.”

Voldemort’s hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco’s

Very tightly. The moment, he knew, was seconds away.

“That wand still isn’t working properly for you because you murdered the wrong

Person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated

Dumbledore.”

“He killed --- ”

“Aren’t you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore’s death was

planned between them! Dumbledore instended to die, undefeated, the wand’s last true

master! If all had gone as planned, the wand’s power would have died with him, because

it had never been won from him!”

“But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!” Voldemort’s voice

shook with malicious pleasure. “I stole the wand from its last master’s tomb! I removed it

against the last master’s wishes! Its power is mine!”

“You still don’t get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn’t enough! Holding

it, using it, doesn’t make it really yours. Didn’t you listen to Ollivander? The wand

Chooses the wizard . . . The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore

Died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from

Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the

world’s most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance . . .”

Voldemort’s chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming,

Feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.

“The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy.”

Blank shock showed in Voldemort’s face for a moment, but then it was gone.

“But what does it matter?” he said softly. “Even if you are right, Potter, it makes

no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill

alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy . . .”

“But you’re too late,” said Harry. “You’ve missed your chance. I got there first. I

overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took his wand from him.”

Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall

Upon it.

“So it all comes down to this, doesn’t it?” whispered Harry. “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.”

A red-glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 587