To Harry, it seemed like an eternity since air had been in his lungs. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was standing, though he couldn't feel his legs at the moment--or any other part of his body, for that matter, except his scar.

It was tearing into his skull at the moment, searing and burning as if a thousand knives were carving into it one after the other, and he wondered how in the world he was managing not to pass out from the sheer agony of it.

But he couldn't move, not even to raise a hand to his forehead in a fruitless attempt to stop the unrelenting pain, and all the while, Voldemort was laughing. He was laughing with utmost glee and delight, a taunting laugh meant to torment Harry.

"So, we meet again, Harry Potter."

That smile was so maddening.

"A little surprised to see me, aren't you? Yes, I'm sure the last thing you would have expected me to take the form of was an owl, and one so like your own, at that. A snake would have been a better guess, wouldn't it?"

Harry couldn't find his voice, though each word from Voldemort's mouth served as fuel to the raging fire within him. Beside him, he could hear Ron's uneven breathing, and he hated himself for ever involving his best friend in this stupid, stupid plan. Hermione had been right. Why hadn't he listened to her?

"What's the matter?" Voldemort said, a look of mock concern on his face. "Cat got your tongue, dear boy? My, my, don't tell me I've rendered the great Harry Potter speechless..."

Suddenly, Harry heard Ron cry out, "Peter!"

A small rat, with a missing paw, had scurried over, seemingly out of nowhere, stopping by Voldemort's feet, his nose twitching furiously.

Voldemort's face broke into a twisted smile. "Ah, yes," he said, "I do believe you're familiar with this rat, aren't you?" He pointed his wand at Peter, and said, "Well, I don't believe there's any need for you to remain in this form anymore."

And in the next instant, Harry and Ron watched the rat's shape slowly transform into a hunched-over Peter, without the dress and the blue wig and the garish makeup. No sooner than he had transformed did he slink over to his master's side, looking ridiculously small next to Voldemort, who towered over him.

"Ron, I heard you shout something-"

Harry's heart leapt to his throat at the sound of Hermione's voice. Ron had spun around and shouted, "Hermione, No!! Get back in there, it's a trap-"

But it was too late. Voldemort had already seen her, because he began to laugh again, sending icy shivers up and down Harry's spine. He turned and saw Hermione frozen at the doorstep, already pale in the silvery moonlight, but even paler now at all that was before her.

"Do step down and join us, my dear," Voldemort said, advancing ever so slightly. "How very rude of us to start the party without you."

"You stay away from her!" Ron yelled, and Harry instinctively grabbed Ron's wrist to keep him from saying any more.

"Ron, no..."

Voldemort narrowed his eyes and his wand arm twitched, but much to Harry's relief, stayed at his side. "I see chivalry is not dead after all, is it, Mr. Weasley?"

Harry was afraid Ron would say something in return, but he didn't. He just hoped Voldemort wouldn't taunt Ron any further.

"Your bravery is certainly impressive," he said, cocking his eyebrow and smiling. "You're lucky it didn't get you killed just now, but I assure you that's where your luck ends. Another show of disrespect such as that one, and..."

He aimed his wand at Ron. Harry heard Ron gulp and Hermione draw in a sharp breath.

"I'm sure you can fill in that blank," Voldemort said. He turned to Peter. "Well done, Wormtail. You've managed to make up for your massive failure earlier..."

Peter hunched over even lower now, as if bowing to Voldemort. "Yes, sir... I did now want to fail you again, my Lord... I wanted to make it up to you-"

"Yes, well, alerting me to their presence here was very good, indeed."

He set his gaze back at Harry, and just when Harry thought his scar couldn't hurt any worse, a fresh wave of pain sliced into him, making him fall to his knees and cry out for the first time since Voldemort had revealed himself.

"Harry!!"

Ron and Hermione tried to help him up, but it was no use; Harry couldn't move from the blinding pain.

"It was all so easy," Voldemort was saying. "There was almost no pleasure in it because it was so easy... I didn't think they would go into the enchanted hut at first, and yet when you told me they did..." He laughed again, and Harry's scar burned even more. "I didn't think they would eat the food, either, and yet they did... And I was so sure Potter would be suspicious of me as an owl, but to my delight he wasn't..."

He came closer to Harry, standing just over him and smiling his maniacal smile. "Brilliant of me to make sure his scar wouldn't give me away, wasn't it Wormtail?"

"Oh yes, my Lord, it was brilliant, my Lord..."

"Shut up!!"

It was Ron. Harry forced himself to look up, though he could barely see clearly now because of the pain in his scar. Ron was pointing a finger at Peter, and Hermione was clutching Ron's arm, as if trying to stop him, her face overcome with terror.

"You weak, spineless traitor!" he was screaming. "How can you live with yourself? How can you bow to this monster-"

"Ron, no, please... stop it..." Hermione was crying.

"Don't you feel anything at all about betraying everything you've ever believed in??"

"Don't speak of things you don't understand!" Peter said. "You don't know anything-"

"Enough of this!"

Voldemort's voice felt like a whip cracking in the air.

"I told you, boy," he said, eyes fixed on Ron. "Any more disrespect, and you would pay. So congratulations. You'll be my first catch of the day." With wand raised, he readied to say his curse, but Peter stopped him.

"My Lord, no!"

Voldemort whipped his head towards a trembling Peter. "Silence, Wormtail, I will not be distracted!"

"But my Lord... he's... he's not the one you want..."

Harry couldn't believe it. What was Peter doing?

"He's just a foolish boy, my Lord... Why waste your powers on him, when it is Harry Potter you want?"

Voldemort laughed incredulously. "Oh, Wormtail," he said, "don't tell me you're actually letting your past with this boy cloud your judgment... We can't have your loyalty wavering now, can we?"

"N-no, my Lord," Peter stammered. He looked at Ron, then back at Voldemort. "Of course not, my Lord, my loyalty is clear, sir..."

The smile that slowly began to spread on Voldemort's face was enough to make Harry's blood turn to icewater. "I'm glad to hear that, Wormtail," he said. "Because then you should have no problem performing the avada Kedavra spell on him yourself."

Peter's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "M-me, my Lord? But I... I..."

"Is that hesitation I detect in your voice?"

"No, my Lord," Peter said. "It's just that... I'm not nearly as powerful as you, sir... I don't know that I could truly do the curse-"

Voldemort reached into Peter's cloak and pulled out his wand, then handed it to him. "Well, you know what they say... Practice makes perfect..."

Peter went into his stance. "Av... avada... Kedavra-"

"No!!"

Harry didn't know how he managed to hurl himself at Peter with every fiber of his body screaming in pain, but he did. He was able to knock Peter over with the sheer momentum of his body, knocking the wand out of his hand, but Hermione's shriek told him he must not have done enough.

"Ron!! Ron!!!"

Somehow in the commotion, Harry caught sight of Ron lying limp on the ground, with Hermione bent over him in hysterics, and suddenly his heart stopped. He could hear himself screaming, a disembodied scream, then he felt a hand pull him up from the ground. And then his scar erupted in pain again, so badly that he thought he would die on the spot.

Through barely open eyes, he saw Voldemort standing over him, wand aimed and ready. "And now, Harry Potter, I shall finish what should have been done fourteen years ago... avada Kedavra-"

He heard screaming. He thought it was his own scream at first, or else Hermione's, but when he forced his eyes to focus, he saw something he couldn't believe.

Peter had flung himself at Lord Voldemort, knocking both of them to the ground. It was Peter who was screaming.

He had absorbed the curse, and his own wand hand was pointed straight at Voldemort. Amidst the screaming, Harry heard a faint, avada Kedavra, and he saw Lord Voldemort twist and writhe on the ground, his screams intermingled with Peter's.

In a matter of minutes, it was all over.

The bodies lay still on the ground, soundless. Though Harry could scarcely believe it, he knew they both had to be dead.

Gathering up what little strength he had left, he dragged himself over to Hermione, who was sobbing. Harry could barely form the words in his mouth.

"Is he..."

"No, he's still alive," Hermione said through tears. "But he's really hurt... Oh, Harry, what are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

"Hermione, don't give up... We'll find a way to make him better, I promise..."

She was still shaking Ron, trying to get him to open his eyes. "Damn it, wake up! This is just like you, Ron Weasley... You'll do anything to avoid telling me you love me, won't you? Well, I won't let you get away with it! You just want to make me cry again, don't you?"

"I... I told you," came a weak reply. "I don't like making you cry..."

"Ron!!"

Hermione pulled him up upright and grabbed him for an embrace.

"H-Harry," Rom managed to say, though it appeared Hermione was nearly choking him, "help... please..."

But Harry was too overjoyed to scold Hermione. Instead, he just laughed, the relief and joy and utter elation bursting through the surface, and he joined in hugging Ron.

"If I ever do anything as stupid again as talk back to a psychopath of a dark wizard, you just do me a favor and kill me outright, okay, Harry?"

Ron was lying in a bed in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, surrounded by dozens of handmade get-well cards, mountains of his favorite sweets, and of course, Harry and Hermione, who had not left his bedside since they had been rescued by Professor Dumbledore out in the woods and were brought back to Hogwarts, where they were met with the very frantic Weasleys and Grangers.

"He'll have to beat me to it first," Hermione said.

Ron groaned. "Do me a favor, Hermione, please just don't say, 'I told you so,' all right?"

"Only if you admit you were wrong, Ron Weasley."

Harry tried, but just couldn't contain his laughter.

"Haha, I'm so glad you find this amusing, Harry. Your best friend is lying in a hospital bed, getting berated by his girlfriend, and you're laughing it up-"

"Girlfriend!!"

Both Harry and Hermione said the word at the same time and exchanged surprised looks. Ron, for his part, turned scarlet.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and flashed a mischievous smile. "Something you wanted to tell me, Ron?"

"Well, er..."

"Something tells me this is my cue to leave," Harry said.

Ron, obviously in need of rescue, said, "No, wait, don't leave, Harry!"

Harry saw Professor Dumbledore appear at the doorway, giving Harry a small nod. "I really have to go," he said. Then he turned to Ron and chuckled. "Sorry, mate, you won't be able to rely on me with this, anyway."

He could hear Ron groaning even as he left the hospital wing. Professor Dumbledore had walked down the hall, and Harry called out to him. "Professor! Professor!"

He turned. "Yes, Harry?"

Harry ran to catch up with him. "Professor, I meant to ask you something."

Professor Dumbledore smiled knowingly, as if already aware of what Harry was going to ask. "Go ahead."

"There's something I don't understand... Peter Pettigrew... He seemed like he was never going to betray Voldemort--I mean, he even tried to kill Ron to prove it, but then... then he saved me... Why would he do that, Professor?"

"Ah, Harry," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes crinkling into a smile behind his half-moon glasses. "Do you recall what I told you a long time ago? When you had told me that you wished you had let Sirius kill Peter when he had had the chance?"

Harry nodded. "You said that someday I'd be happy I spared his life."

"There's your answer, my boy. You see, it's simple. You saved his life, and he knew, no matter how far down the dark path he had gone, that he owed you. He had a wizard's debt. And that is why he gave his life to save you as well."

He patted Harry's shoulder, then turned to leave. Harry watched him walk away and thought to himself that it would probably take him years before he would ever understand everything that had happened.