Meanwhile Voldemort discovers that the basin in the cave is empty.  He checks all his other Horcruxes and discovers that they are all gone except for Nagini - he doesn't know that Harry too is a Horcrux - and then he assembles his forces for a final assault upon Hogwarts.  His side gains the upper hand, but the prize he really wants has so far eluded him: Harry's death. Snape decides that the time has come to deliver your message to Harry and he offers to bring Harry to Voldemort, but Voldemort has other plans.  He orders Nagini to bite Snape, thinking that since he conquered Snape, who conquered you by killing you, the wand will now serve him.  Believing that he now has what he needs to defeat Harry, he declares a one-hour truce and calls upon Harry to surrender to him to avoid any further bloodshed. 

  Harry finds the dying Snape, takes the memories oozing out every hole in Snape's head, carries them to your Pensieve and learns, among other things, that he must allow Voldemort to kill him.  He tells Neville Longbottom to kill Nagini and then, without even considering the question of who will kill Voldemort afterwards, he surrenders to Voldemort, who casts the Avada Kedavra Curse on him.  But Voldemort's wand will not serve him, because your real conquerer is not Snape, who killed you on your request, but Draco Malfoy, who disarmed you.  The curse knocks Harry out but doesn't kill him.  It does, however, destroy the Horcrux in his forehead.  Evidently the Horcrux could be destroyed without killing Harry because it had flown into his forehead instead of being put there by Dark Magic.  Had you only known that, you could have exorcised it yourself and spared him the agony of walking to what he thought would be his death.

  Harry regains consciousness in time to see Voldemort put the Sorting Hat on Neville Longbottom's head and set fire to it.  He puts out the fire, gives your sword to Neville, who kills Nagini with it, and then gives Voldemort a chance to surrender and show remorse, explaining to him why the Elder Wand failed to kill him.  Voldemort rejects the chance to surrender and challenges Harry to a duel.  He casts the Adava Kedavra Curse, which Harry deflects with the Expelliarmus spell back onto Voldemort, killing him.  Without their leader, the Death Eaters lose heart and are soon overpowered by their enemies.

  The good guys have triumphed and life in the wizarding world takes a decided turn for the better.  Harry and Ron become Aurors, Ginny graduates from Hogwarts and then becomes a Chaser with the Holyhead Harpies, an all-witch Quidditch club, and Hermione graduates from Hogwarts and then goes to work for the Ministry, first to better the working condition of House Elves and then to improve the state of Magical Law Enforcement.  Ron marries Hermione, Harry marries Ginny and they all start families.  When Ginny's first child is born, she retires from the sport to become Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet.

  If you are satisfied with this state of affairs, click on Chapter 50.

  If you want to explore the consequences of a different set of choices, click on the back arrow in your browser until you get to a choice you want to change.

  You have made all the same choices as Albus Dumbledore made in the books.  This is the sequence of choices that leads to the Easter Egg.  If you want to know all the choices you could have made and their consequences, keep reading to the end of this chapter.

THE POSSIBLE CHOICES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

  Your first decision is how to react to Grindelwald's plan to enslave the Muggles.  If you choose accompany him and leave Ariana in Aberforth’s care, you grow power-drunk.  If you choose to ask him to stay with you until Aberforth has completed his education, he becomes your live-in lover and your sister's caretaker, you remain on good terms with your brother and you get teach at Hogwarts.  This is one path that leads to a quick happy ending: you become Headmaster and enjoy following the progress of your students and alumni, especially your star pupil Hermione Granger.  If later you choose to invite Tom Riddle to study at Hogwarts, Grindelwald kills Riddle to protect you and spends three years in Azkaban, during which time you must interrupt your career as Hogwarts Professor, but then you get to the quick happy ending.  If you choose to accompany him and take Ariana with you, your brother and Grindelwald duel, you join in on your brother’s side, your sister is killed, your brother breaks your nose, and you have more choices to make.

  If you don't challenge Grindelwald to a duel, he conquers the world; otherwise you win the duel.  In the latter case, if earlier on you declined to invite Tom Riddle to study at Hogwarts, you get to the quick happy ending; otherwise you have more choices to make.  If you give Voldemort the teaching job he asks for, he conquers the world; otherwise you have more choices to make.  If you make Sirius the Potters' secret keeper, Voldemort kills Sirius and Frank Longbottom but is in turn killed by Alice Longbottom, nobody looks for him, he remains a disembodied spirit and you take the last available path to the quick happy ending.  If you make Peter the Potters' secret keeper, he betrays them to their death and Sirius to Azkaban.  You now have to decide where to place one-year-old Harry - with the Dursleys or with the Weasleys.  The consequence of that choice doesn't become evident until the very end of the story, if at all.

  You now have three chances to tell Harry about the prophecy.  If you do so, he returns with Cedric from the graveyard before Peter finds them and Voldemort never gets his full-sized body back; otherwise Cedric is killed, Voldemort returns and you have more choices to make.  If you choose to teach Occlumency to Harry yourself, he doesn't go to the Ministry to rescue Sirius, Voldemort gets abandoned by all his Death Eaters except Bellatrix Lestrange, falls in love with her, goes into seclusion with her and turns back into a remorseful Tom Riddle.  If you ask Snape to teach Occlumency to Harry, he goes to the Ministry, Sirius gets killed and the Second Vold War starts.

  If you tell Snape not to kill you, he dies, Harry never finds your sword, Voldemort wins the war and Ron, Hermione and Ginny are all killed.  If you tell Snape to kill you, there are three different outcomes.  If you have placed Harry with the Dursleys, there are two different outcomes, depending upon whether you tell Snape that Harry must kill Voldemort first and then himself or else allow Voldemort to kill him.  Harry will obey either set of instructions, but if he kills himself the good guys suffer far more casualties, including Ron, before they finally win the war, whereas if he allows Voldemort to kill him, he doesn't die; instead he survives to kill Voldemort, become an Auror and marry Ginny.  If you have placed Harry with the Weasleys, Ron tells him to let Hermione exorcise his Horcrux, which she does; so he doesn't have to die either way.  He kills Voldemort and becomes an Auror but he doesn't marry Ginny.  Ginny, who becomes a professional Quidditch player with the Holyhead Harpies after graduating from Hogwarts, marries Oliver Wood and Harry marries the Harpies' Seeker after she beats him to the Snitch.

  Turn to Chapter 50.