Hello once again! Here's chapter 10. I don't know how long it'll be before 11 is up because I have to sort lots of things out in my head, not to mention do loads of homework as well. College is crazy like that! But no worries, it'll be no more than a week. Hope you like chapter 10!! Special thanks to mhaj78, wildchild1017, angieLATgirllfmaoXD, and Aswen for the awesome reviews!! Love y'all!!

Chapter 10-The Extermination

Bellatrix's frozen eyes pierced the terrified students, making them even more immobilized from fear than they already were. Death Eaters surrounded them, most of them unrecognizable. Ron quickly looked for any route of escape, but soon saw that there was none to be found. The Death Eaters closed in on them, swallowing the gap, forcing them into a vulnerable place.

"What do you want with us?" Fred asked bravely.

Bellatrix cackled, "Silly boy. What could individuals as advanced as us want with a bunch of kids like you? You have nothing to give that we do not already have. No, all we need to do is what our lord commanded us. We need you eliminated."

Fred spoke up again. "So this is a battle?"

Bellatrix locked her eyes on his, burning into him with intensity. "This is no battle. This is an extermination."

"What….?" Neville's hopeless whisper was lost among the confusion and turmoil that ensued, for shortly after Bellatrix's declaration, attacks came flying at them from all directions, wreaking havoc.

"What are we going to do?" George shouted as he ushered the younger, inexperienced students to the middle of the group where they would be safest from the attacks.

"Just… fight them off as best as you can." Fred answered as he blocked a curse.

"There are too many! We can't fight all of them. We're outnumbered." Neville said, terrified.

"That might be true, but I am not one to be-how did she put it? Oh yes- exterminated. I am not a bug, thank you very much. I don't go down without a fight." George answered.

Despite the brave words of the students, the truth of the matter remained that the Death Eaters were closing in. They were running out of precious time, fighting would not be enough to save them.

Ron examined the position of the fighters, trying desperately to avoid being hit by fatal curses. The Death Eaters formed a circle around them, eliminating any hope of escape, surrounding them.

Surrounding them…

He had been surrounded once before, in a chess match.

Don't think of it as him having you trapped, Ron. Draco's words came back to him amidst the confusion. Just think of it as an almost sudden death. If either one of you moves, then the opponent can easily wipe the other out.

If either one of you moves…

Ron sighed. He knew he would have to thank that ferret if they all made it out of this alive.

"Everybody get DOWN!" Ron shouted, hoping against all hope that his plan would work.

Thankfully, all of the students heard him and hit the floor. With no target for the spells to hit, they flew across the circle above the students' head, hitting Death Eaters on the other side. Before the enemy had a chance to defend themselves, they were already sprawled on the ground, writhing in agony from their own spells.

Except, of course, for Bellatrix.

"Get up, you worthless fools! They're only a bunch of children!" Bellatrix bellowed angrily, refusing to believe that she had such ingrates for followers.

The Death Eaters were down, they weren't getting up anytime soon.

"Run! Get away while you can!" Ron shouted, bringing havoc and confusion back as students ran in every direction. Soon, the area had been cleared of all students, and only the wounded Death Eaters and the furious Bellatrix remained.

She examined the casualties, cursing her weak followers as much as she cursed the one to blame for her downfall.

"Ronald Weasley… You will pay for this." She swore as she strode off in search of her target.

XXXXXXXX

Ginny awoke sometime later, every muscle aching from overuse. She vaguely remembered seeing black shadows before she collapsed, in an abandoned part of Hogwarts, but now they were nowhere to be seen. She shrugged it off as a bad dream, she must have simply fallen asleep while waiting for Harry, because she was sitting in the exact same place in front of Dumbledore's office that she had been when he'd left her. Surely something so terrible couldn't be anything more than a nightmare.

Surely it wasn't real.

Ginny had resigned herself to waiting patiently for Harry to finish when she heard an enormously loud noise coming from his office. It was as if the world had exploded within those fragile walls, and had to spread its noise for all to hear.

It was then that Ginny remembered…

This wasn't a dream.

Her suspicions were correct, Harry was in danger.

Without waiting one second longer, Ginny ran into the office, striding closer and closer to her own doom.

She strode into the room to see a horrid sight. Harry writhed on the floor in pain, clutching a silver sword like it was his last lifeline. Voldemort clutched at his chest, faltering and breathing rapidly, but remaining on his feet nonetheless. No blood poured out of the wound, perhaps something so evil couldn't be in contact of something so reminiscent of life.

Ginny didn't even wonder why Voldemort was there, or how he had gotten there. All she knew was that Harry was hurt, perhaps even dying.

"Harry!" She shouted and started rushing to his side.

"Ginny, stay back!" Harry bellowed, his voice so ripped with pain it didn't even sound like his own. "He… he will hurt you, too… get out, now…"

Ginny ignored his words, her thoughts consumed by Harry's pain. She rushed to his side, ignoring the enormous threat of Voldemort being so close. She muttered a healing spell, but Harry only continued to cry out. It was no good, this was a wound that no magic could heal.

"You will find that your pathetic spells will not help him now, little girl." Voldemort taunted.

Ginny looked at him with hatred. "You. I thought I was finally rid of you, after throwing that journal away. It seems that breaking one heart wasn't enough for you, was it?"

"Still holding grudges, I see." Voldemort said, feigning thoughtfulness. "Poor Ginny, lost and alone, afraid that the great Harry Potter would never return her feelings. What a pathetic child. It's your own fault for making yourself so susceptible to influence."

"Take that back." Ginny said, trying to sound braver than she felt.

"Are you threatening me?" Voldemort mocked.

"Perhaps. It would be a punishment long overdue." Ginny said, reason overcome by passion and emotion, her only conscious thought to protect Harry.

Voldemort smiled, although there was no joy in it."How lucky I am to be able to duel the girl I overcame so easily. This will be no challenge whatsoever."

"Ginny… what are.. you … doing?" Harry sputtered quietly, still engulfed in pain.

"Saving your life. You're so busy always saving all of us, just shut up and let us do the work." Ginny answered, trying to build her confidence against her growing sense of dread.

Harry started to say something, but it was drowned out by the furious exchange of spells that now enveloped the room.

XXXXXXXX

"DRACOOOO!" Hermione's screams were lost, her throat raw from such pure emotion. The sight before her took away all feeling, only loss was left. She suddenly felt so, so empty, looking upon the pale form before her.

Draco and Lucius lay in a mass of black robes and platinum hair, almost indistinguishable from eachother in the tangle. Both were the pale color of death, both were surely long gone. Blood poured from Draco's chest, his eyes had closed long, long ago. It was the last time she would ever see any life in those eyes, the last time they would look upon the world and see it with contentment as he had in his final moments.

Against her better judgment, Hermione rushed over to him. She knew she wouldn't be able to stomach the paleness of his face, the deadness of his features, but she knew that she couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

She turned him over, the knife sticking out of his chest as proof of his death.

The tears started to flow, held back in their reserves for so long. She held him, not caring about the blood that was staining her robes. He was still warm, he still clung to the memory of life. She rocked back and forth, trying to keep her overwhelming sorrow at bay.

"Why, Draco, why… why did it have to end this way?" She spoke through her sobs. Although she knew he couldn't hear, she spoke the words for herself. She couldn't leave without saying something, anything. She couldn't leave him as if he had never existed.

"I never thought I'd be so heartbroken at your death, but… but… heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe this feeling. I never knew… I never knew a human being could feel so strongly for another. You… you showed me that. You might think of your life as worthless, but you taught me something that no book ever has. You taught me… about love."

Another wave of sobs rushed over her body, and it took her a moment to compose herself.

"Maybe in another time we would have worked. Maybe in another time we could have been happy. But, Draco, just know… Just know that you will always be in my memory. Even when the storybooks have forgotten you… and your gravestone is weathered… you will live on forever within me. You kept your promise, right up until the very end.

"I will… never forget you."

Hermione sobbed, wanting nothing more than to see his characteristic smirk again, wanting to hear that deceitful yet playful laughter from across the Great Hall… wanting to see those beautiful eyes, like the sea after a storm.

This could not be the end.

Hermione heard the slightest, slightest murmur. Looking back on it, she wondered how she had heard it at all, it was so close to silence. But she was sure of what she heard, and it wasn't a sound made from her crying.

Hope shot through her like an arrow.

This wasn't the end.

She quickly checked Draco's neck for a pulse, wondering why she hadn't thought to do that in the first place. His heartbeat was slow and faint, and fading quickly, but it was there, there was no mistaking that.

Draco was alive.

Hermione looked at the dagger, realizing that to heal him she would have to remove it. It shone at her menacingly, daring her to touch it, the cursed item that had brought her love so close to his death. Hermione gulped, reached over, placed one hand on Draco's chest and the other on the cold hilt of the dagger. She grit her teeth, and in one fluid motion pulled it out.

She threw the cursed item aside and began furiously healing Draco, knowing that the spells wouldn't cure him completely but they would draw him back from death's door. That was all she could ask for now. She was exhausted, but she kept casting spell after spell, reaching back in long forgotten recesses of her memory for anything even resembling a healing spell. Through her vigorous healing, his pulse became a little more steady, but it was still teetering on the brink of death. She had to get him to a healer, there was only so much that she could do.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione said as Draco floated off of the ground. She knew that apparating would be the quickest way to get back to the school, but considering Draco's semicomatose state, the risk of splinching was exceedingly high. Plus, she was not very experienced at apparating herself, let alone another person. No, she would have to take him back the good old-fashioned Muggle way.

She took one final look at Draco, gaining strength from his chest rising slightly with each weak breath, and ran like a madman towards the school, Draco floating along behind her.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed. It could have been mere minutes, but it felt like hours. Draco's fragile life was so close to teetering over, each second could mean life or death for him. Her legs protested against such strain, but she pushed them even farther, drawing in as much breath as she could. It would be a hard, long journey considering how out of shape she was, but she would make it. She would make it for Draco's sake.

She could not stand to see him die again.

An agonizing amount of time passed, but she finally reached the school. She pounded up the front steps, taking them two at a time, her legs threatening to collapse underneath her from so much strain. She threw open the front doors victoriously, knowing that now that Draco was safe, he would be okay.

"You!" A voice bellowed from a corner.

Immediately her victorious feeling left her.

"What… do you… want?" Hermione panted, realizing that she had to get Draco help quickly. She didn't have time to waste on this person.

"You are the reason he has turned away! You are the reason our master is fighting for his life now! All because of you, you filthy Mudblood! You will pay."

From a sea of Death Eater corpses stepped Bellatrix. Fury was engraved upon her features, almost as if she had never known any other emotion. Madness danced within her eyes, making the situation much more deadly than it already was. She was a woman gone crazy, nothing left to live for, nothing left to lose.

"Bellatrix, not now, Draco is dying. He … he needs help.." Hermione tried desperately to catch her breath.

"Let him die! He has betrayed us all!" Bellatrix declared ignorantly.

"No.. no, he never betrayed you. Never… He didn't…"

"What would a mere Mudblood like you know about it? Draco might as well be dead to us. He is no use to us anymore. You will not assist this traitor while I am still able to stand!" Bellatrix declared, beconing Hermione into the deadly dance of dueling.

Hermione glared at her, realizing that there was no chance for Draco as long as this woman stood in his way.

"Well, I will knock you down. I will do whatever it takes. I will fight to the death, if I must." Hermione met her challenge with unwavering eyes.

Bellatrix recognized the passionate devotion she saw in those eyes, realizing that she herself had the same measure for her own lord.

It would be an interesting duel indeed.

"Let it begin." Bellatrix declared.

The two women were engulfed in a fury of spells, each one consumed in the other, neither one relenting as the world around them fell into turmoil.