the_debt_of_time

She was ready.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!" a familiar voice yelled at the same time that Voldemort shouted, and
Hermione's eyes opened to see Harry kneeling protectively in front of her.
The bang of the colliding spells was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that
erupted between the two wizards marked the point where the spells impacted. Voldemort's
green jet of Dark magic met Harry's Disarming Spell. The wand flew high into the sky, a
slim dark wand against the sunrise that gently broke through the trees overhead.
Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as
Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, scarlet eyes rolling back. Tom Riddle hit the floor
with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the
snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own curse which
had rebounded, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's
shell.
The briefest moment of silence occurred before the Order and the others burst
through the trees, wands drawn and aimed at Death Eaters, most of whom attempted to
flee only to be stunned, bound, and gagged before they could even think of Apparating.
Hermione sobbed, hugging Harry tightly from behind. "You're alive!"
He turned in her arms to glare at her, clearly irate that she had put herself in harm's
way. "Were you really just going to let him kill you?"
Hermione laughed and kissed his cheeks, unable to be too angry with him
considering he was alive and had just defeated the greatest Dark Wizard of all time. "Why
not? You did!"
Harry's jaw twitched, but he finally broke into a smile and hugged her back tightly,
muttering under his breath about how she was never allowed to do such a stupid thing
again. She thought to argue her point, but soon she felt arms from behind wrap around
her, and Sirius and Remus echoed Harry's statement with vigour.
"Harry, how'd you do it?" Ron asked, his tone filled with relief as he approached
the Hermione hug-fest.
"Elder Wand." Harry held it up. "In the Shrieking Shack, Voldemort killed Snape
because he thought Snape had won the wand from Dumbledore. But the wand wasn't
waiting for someone to kill his Master, only defeat him."