As the students of Hogwarts departed the castle at the end of yet another year, the headmaster stood on the front steps, seemingly overseeing their departure. However, Severus's mind was on anything but the children leaving the school, and he was totally oblivious to the jolly atmosphere surroundings the students as they headed home for the summer.
Lost in his own thoughts, he became vaguely aware of a presence at his side. Without turning around he knew it was McGonagall, but he didn't greet the older witch. Nor did she greet him, she merely stood beside him in silence and didn't speak until the last student had left the castle and joined the queue for the carriages that carried the children down to Hogsmeade station.
"Is everything alright?" she asked quietly, even though there was no-one close enough to overhear their conversation.
"Just thinking about what's to come," Severus replied.
"Are you worried the plan won't work?" McGonagall questioned. Even though she had faith that Draco knew what was he doing, there was still a part of her that worried that things might not be as simple as her former pupil envisioned.
"There's that possibility with every plan," Severus returned with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But so far it seems to be working. The Dark Lord seemed to believe me when I said I'd seen some of the Order hanging around the school. Like Draco predicted, he seemed to think this was their move."
"Yet you don't seem convinced," McGonagall pointed out. As hard as Severus could be to read at times, she felt she knew him pretty well, and she could sense that he was uneasy.
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid," Severus said with a sigh as the last of the coaches departed and he turned to the older witch he'd replaced as head. "But the thing is, if The Dark Lord is suspicious of Draco, he's going to be the last one to know about it. We could be thinking we're setting a trap for him, when really he's setting one for us."
"Do you think he's suspicious of Draco?"
"I'd like to think Draco has done enough to keep him onside," Severus admitted in a low voice. "But the truth is, we won't know until it comes to the crunch."
"Then let's hope that things are going to go our way," McGonagall returned. "Let's not borrow trouble, Severus. I say we go ahead as though our plan is solid and will work."
"It is a solid plan, and it will work. But only if The Dark Lord still trusts in Draco."
"There's nothing we can do about that, so let's just focus on our part of the plan."
Agreeing that McGonagall was right, and there was no use worrying over something that may not even be a problem, Severus accompanied her back into the castle. The staff were already gathered in the staff room, all of them having already agreed to stay and fight.
"Thank you all for staying," Severus said, knowing full well he was expected to take charge of this portion of the plan. "Now, we need to get moving as we've got a lot to get done today. Minerva and Filius are going to open the floo connection in their offices, and people will start to come through to the castle. Once they start to arrive, we need to ensure everyone has beds for the night, but more importantly, that the castle is as protected as we can get it. However, we are going to have to do it carefully. I don't want anyone to get wind of the fact the castle is occupied."
"You think we might be being watched?" Flitwick asked with a concerned frown.
"I haven't seen any sign of it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry," Severus replied. "I don't trust The Dark Lord, and even though he seems oblivious to our plan, I don't want us to get too cocky. Let's be cautious, and go about our business as quietly as possible."
"Severus is right, a bit of caution is not going to hurt," McGonagall agreed.
"I also want to use The Great Hall as our centre of operations, and I was thinking it might be easier to use a couple of the classrooms on the ground floor as a makeshift hospital wing," Severus continued. "We don't know what exactly to expect, but you can bet your life there's going to be casualties. And I just don't think it's going to be practical using the current hospital wing. So Poppy, could you set yourself up down here?"
"I could," Madam Pomfrey replied with a nod of her head. "But I am going to need some help, both with the move and with treating the injured once things get messy."
"Our numbers will be increasing shortly, we can sort some helpers for you," Severus promised. "And helping you in the hospital wing could be the perfect place for some of the younger people who will turn up."
After going over a few more things that needed doing, Severus then headed off to his office to make his own preparations for the following day. He was going to make sure that once everyone had arrived, that there was no way Voldemort could gain access to the school via the floo or by breaking the anti-apparition wards that were built into the school's security. However, he had to be careful not to cut off the access too soon, just in case The Dark Lord was planning on contacting him about Lucius and Draco's visit.
Fortunately, Voldemort didn't get in touch with Severus, and with any luck he was oblivious to the fact that the school was filling up by the hour. By lunchtime the castle was already bustling with activity, and by late afternoon, a significant portion of the wizarding community were set up in Hogwarts.
"What do you think?" Kingsley asked Severus, as the pair stood in the entrance to The Great Hall, taking in the amount of people the house elves were trying to make sure were all fed. "Is it enough?"
"I have no idea," Severus admitted. "He's likely not going to turn up with an army, but he can soon call on one when he realises it's not just a rebellion from Draco he's dealing with. I think then it could come down to if we can take him out."
"Do you think the Death Eaters will fall if we take him out?" Kingsley asked, looking for some insight into the people they would be battling.
"It's hard to say," Severus replied. "I'm sure some will flee if we can take out The Dark Lord, but others, like Bellatrix Lestrange, will fight to the end. They're the ones we're going to have to look out for."
"Could you give me a rundown of the most dangerous opponents we're likely to face?" Kingsley asked. "I would like to make sure that the more experienced among us are taking on the more dangerous Death Eaters."
"I can give you my opinions on people, but don't forget we're going to have to unmask most of them," Severus cautioned. "Bella might turn up to the battle without a mask, but most of the others will."
"I was going to make it a top priority to see how many Death Eaters we could unmask," Kingsley said. "And any we can't unmask, I was hoping you and Lucius would help identify them."
"I'll do my best," Severus promised.
"Thank you," Kingsley said. "Now let's grab some food. We've still got plenty to do before nightfall, and we're going to need our strength for tomorrow."
"Yes, we will," Severus muttered in agreement, as he followed Kingsley's lead and made sure he had a decent meal inside of him.
For breakfast, the house elves of Hogwarts laid on a buffet style meal, even though everyone was up early and gathered in The Great Hall in anticipation of what the day would hold. Everyone that was but Severus, as he was in his office waiting for Draco and Lucius to arrive by floo. He would then disable the floo network, so no-one else could enter the building.
"Morning Severus," Lucius greeted sombrely as he alighted from the flames in the headmaster's office.
"Lucius," Severus returned. "Are we all set?" he asked as Draco joined them.
"Once Hermione and mother get here," Draco replied. "We couldn't all leave together as it might have proved suspicious. They'll be arriving via the village."
"Since we expected as much, the wards around the castle haven't been fully closed," Severus explained. "Once Hermione and Narcissa are inside, we can close them up and get as much protection in place as possible."
"And what about forces?" Lucius asked. "How much help do we have?"
"A lot," Severus answered.
"Are my friends all here?" Draco questioned. Like everyone else, his friends had been advised to arrive the day before, even though Draco was sure they wouldn't get as warm of a welcome as some other people.
"They're all here," Severus confirmed. "And as with a lot of people, they brought extra support. Did you know they were bringing the likes of Flint and Pucey?"
"No, but it doesn't surprise me," Draco replied with a shrug. "For a lot of people The Dark Lord is a good idea in principle, but the reality leaves a lot to be desired."
Sharing a look with Lucius, Severus couldn't help but agree with Draco's assessment of the situation. Like himself and Lucius, people had been lured into Voldemort's web, only to find the reality of dealing with such a dark wizard too much to handle. So really it wasn't too surprising that a few of the youngsters who would be expected to join Voldemort were choosing to fight against him before they also found themselves sucked into his servitude and heading down a dark path they might be unable to escape from.
Heading down to The Great Hall, the trio joined everyone else in waiting for Hermione and Narcissa to arrive. As they were waiting, breakfast was cleared away and The Great Hall cleared of any unnecessary furniture. In the end, only one long table stood in the centre of the room.
As they were waiting for Hermione, Draco also took the chance to make sure everyone was ready for what lay ahead. At Hermione's request he made sure the house elves knew they were free to leave, but most of them wanted to stay and fight. He also checked that the Basilisk fangs and venom were ready to go, and that Charlie was all set to track Nagini's movements.
An hour after Draco's arrival, the watch post Kingsley had set up in the Astronomy Tower alerted them to an approach from the direction of the village. Heading outside, along with several other people, Draco watched in amazement as Hermione and Narcissa led what looked like most of the village into the castle's grounds.
"What on earth is going on?" Draco asked as the villagers trooped into the castle.
"More reinforcements," Narcissa answered. "While Hermione was getting what she needed from the house in London, I was rallying the people of Hogsmeade. A portion of them have stayed behind to act as look-outs and to provide us with back-up, but most people were only too happy to come up and fight."
"The more the merrier," Kingsley remarked. "I'll get inside and give them a briefing."
"And we need to make this building as secure as we can," Lucius added. "This will be the last chance for anyone to leave."
"I don't think anyone will be leaving," Severus predicted.
Sure enough, no-one wanted to leave when they were offered a final chance to escape from the battle that was about to be waged. They were all ready to face Voldemort and his Death Eaters as they fought for the future and the freedom of the wizarding world.
Everyone who had any sort of ability with wards aided in the protection of Hogwarts, and after a solid two hours work, the castle was as fortified as it was ever going to be. They'd even added extra wards to the castle, so even if Voldemort and his Death Eaters got into the grounds, they would have to work extra hard to get into the castle itself. Which would hopefully mean the castle would stay under their control and they could take the fight to the dark, with the castle providing them protection.
"Are we all ready?" Hermione asked once the castle was fortified and everyone gathered in the Great Hall.
"What's going to happen once we destroy the Horcruxes?" Neville asked.
"Your guess is as good as ours." Draco replied with a shrug. "I'm working on the presumption that he's going to turn up to find out what's going on. But if it doesn't happen, we can send him a message."
"Never mind what happens afterwards, what happens now?" Charlie asked. "How are we planning on destroying these Horcruxes?"
"I know from what Harry said about the diary, that it's not going to be easy. We're destroying a part of Voldemort, and he's not going to give up easily," Hermione explained. "He's going to get in our heads, taunting us and trying to get us to stop. Which is why I suggest we destroy all four at once and work in pairs. We support each other as we do the deed."
"So you want eight volunteers?" McGonagall checked.
"Six," Draco answered. "Hermione and I are taking one of them."
"I'd like to do one," Ginny offered instantly.
"Are you sure, Ginny?" Bill asked his sister. "It's not going to be easy."
"I know, but I feel like I need to do it," Ginny insisted. "I know what happened with our family and Harry was their fault, but it only happened because of You-Know-Who. I need to do something to help."
"You're going to need someone to help you," Hermione said. "And I think it's going to work best if the pairs are two people with a strong connection."
"I'll do it," Neville volunteered before any of Ginny's brothers could offer their assistance. "Ginny and I can handle this together," he said, smiling at the redheaded witch as he took hold of her hand.
"If you want a strong connection, then George and I should do one," Fred offered. "You can't break us apart."
"And Theo and I would also like to do one," Blaise said, nudging Theo who nodded his agreement.
"Unless there's any problems, I say we go with that," Hermione suggested. "I know almost everyone here would be prepared to offer their services, but there's plenty of other ways they're going to be able to help."
"Yes, we can give you all of our support," Kingsley said. "Everyone will stay here, and make sure you're supported."
With decisions in place as to who was about to destroy the Horcruxes, Hermione produced the four items from her bag and placed them along the table in the centre of the room. Four basilisk fangs were then placed next to each Horcrux, along with a small pot of venom, which would be passed along the table and used to coat the fangs.
"Are we all ready?" Hermione asked as she and Draco took their place in front of the first Horcrux, which was the final one they'd retrieved, the bracelet from India. The twins took Hufflepuff's cup, while Blaise and Theo took the brooch and Ginny and Neville were left with the necklace.
"Since we don't know if it's the fangs or the venom that works, we need to make sure the fang is completely coated in the venom," Draco said as Hermione dipped their fang into the venom before passing the tub to George.
Once everyone's fangs were coated in venom, Draco gave the word, and working together every couple set about plunging them into the Horcruxes. Almost immediately, everyone involved in the process was assaulted by the piece of Voldemort's soul they were trying to destroy. All of them experienced visions and heard voices that no-one else could hear, and it was down to the partner they were working with, and the others in the room to make sure they pushed on and ignored the tricks of Voldemort's psyche.
"This is so hard," Hermione gasped to Draco as they worked together to drive the fang into the bracelet and destroy it.
"Keep going," Draco hissed through his teeth. "I think we're almost there."
A few minutes later, there was a crack in the bracelet and Hermione felt overwhelming relief as Voldemort's threatening voice vanished from her head and the smoky vision she'd been trying to ignore vanished. Turning to Draco, she saw his face was also filled with the same sort of relief.
"We've done it," he whispered.
However, they didn't have time to celebrate as they turned to the others to see how they were getting on. Blaise and Theo were the next to get through their Horcrux, followed by the Weasley twins. Then there was only Ginny and Neville left, and with one last final burst of force, they also broke the piece of jewellery they were working on and destroyed the Horcrux.
"What now?" Kingsley asked as a hush descended on the room.
All eyes turned to Draco, but before he could answer the question, his left arm began to burn and he feel to his knees in pain. Crouching down beside him, Hermione tried to help, but she knew that if Voldemort was hurting him there wasn't much more she could do for him other than being by his side. Luckily the pain didn't seem to last too long, and after a couple of minutes, Draco could get to his feet.
"He's coming," Draco announced breathlessly. "It's time."