A/N: Here we go! The end of this story is close! Thanks to all those who have read my story! Thanks to all the reviewers!

I should announce this now, since I have told a few about it. There will be a sequel to this story. I have the planning stages done, and as soon as I get this story done, I will be working on the sequel.

So, with that said, ENJOY!

Chapter Twenty

A Hurricane Named Harry

Hermione hit the floor with her wand drawn and her eyes alert. She noticed that she was surrounded by six Death Eaters. She knew she could take on two, maybe three, but that was pushing the envelope. She turned her head when a Death eater cleared his throat.

"Kindly lower your wand, and I will see to it that none of us here will harm you," Smythe said. Hermione scoffed at him.

"Do you honestly think I will lower my defenses just because you sounded polite? You all are really thick, you know that?" she retorted. Smythe just chuckled.

"Of course not Ms. Granger. We do know better than that. But I do have my orders, and that is to make sure you are unharmed when I bring you before our master," he said. "I have personally guaranteed him that no harm will come to you from when you arrived until I take you to him."

"Ah, but what then? As soon as I walk into the room where he is in, you all will attack, correct?" Hermione countered. Smythe shook his head.

"Perhaps you misunderstood me, but My Lord is the only one who allowed to do anything harmful to you from the moment you arrived," he said. Hermione's pulse sped up in fear. She knew that she had no chance against Voldemort. She hoped Harry was on his way soon.

ooo

Harry burst through the doors of the Auror offices and made a beeline for Ron. After Harry whispered in his ear, Ron turned pale and called for everyone's attention. All of the available Aurors were called in and everyone got seated. Harry stood up and addressed the group before him.

"Approximately ten minutes ago, Hermione Granger was kidnapped by Death Eaters," Harry started. Several people gasped. Sharon looked stricken and a few tears fell. "There was a delivery made by a ministry employee who was under the imperious curse. He is not to be blamed. Please get your selves ready for a breach. Meanwhile I will be interrogating certain prisoners to get our target. That is all for now."

The group broke up after Harry stepped down from the briefing podium. He strode over to the interrogation room that held Joseph. Joseph looked up and shivered at the sight. Harry's eyes were still glowing with power. Harry strode into the room and held out a vial of clear liquid. Joseph took it and placed three drops on his tongue. After a few moments, his eyes glazed over and he started to draw on a large piece of parchment. Harry stood by and watched Joseph draw the entire floor plan of the cottage Voldemort was using. Joseph finished drawing the floor plan and sat down.

"Now we start with the questions," Harry said as he sat down. "What is your full name?" Joseph replied in a monotone voice.

"Joseph William Lovegood." Harry continued.

"Do you know who I am?"

"You are Lord Harold James Potter-Black, sworn enemy of Tom Riddle." Harry nodded and got to the real questioning.

"How many Death eaters are left excluding Voldemort?"

"Six not including myself," Joseph replied.

"Who is the secret keeper for the safe house?" Harry asked.

"Bellatrix Lestrange. Voldemort was very upset to hear she has been captured," he replied. Harry wrote a quick note and handed it to one of the two Aurors that were in the room with him. That Auror ran out of the room quickly and passed the note to Kingsley.

"How well is the safe house defended?" Harry asked.

"Not very well, but it does have some traps along the way," Joseph replied.

"Will you include those on your floor plan you drew up for us?" Joseph nodded and quickly drew in the locations of the traps and what they were. Once those were completed, he passed it out the door to Ron. Ron immediately spread it out for some tactical planning.

"Just a few more questions. Have you ever murdered anyone personally?" Harry asked, trying to see if the man would be facing Azkaban.

"No."

"Have you ever let someone die because of your actions of inactions?"

"Yes," Joseph replied as a tear ran down his face.

"Who was killed?" Harry asked.

"My beloved niece, Luna Lovegood. She was murdered because I resisted joining the Death Eaters at first."

Harry sat back and cursed Voldemort under his breath. That was just like him. Kill whomever you wish, as long as you get what you want.

"Bastard," Harry said quietly.

"I agree," Joseph said. Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Why did you turn yourself in?" Harry asked as his final question.

"I refuse to murder someone just to see another throw their life away being bound to a madman to keep the others alive. I was sent out yesterday to recruit more Death Eaters or he would kill me. I figure it is better to be locked up in here, than be hunted by Voldemort," Joseph said.

Harry stood up and had the Auror bring him to the best holding cell and to get the man cleaned up. He walked back out of the interrogation room and found that the planning was well underway. He ducked out of the headquarters for a few moments to go and get his weapons and supplies from home.

ooo

Hermione was brought out of her room and she was forced down the hall. She took a calming breath, but it did nothing to sooth her nerves. She knew that they were escorting her to Voldemort's room. They turned left at the end of the hall and entered a partially destroyed room. Hermione looked around in surprise at the destroyed furniture in the room. 'So, he must be a bit upset at the latest report in the Daily Prophet,' she thought to herself. She quickly came up with an idea that would get Voldemort upset, but hopefully would not get her killed in the process.

"Ah, the mudblood," a cold voice hissed. Hermione's blood froze in her veins as she slowly turned to see Voldemort standing a few feet from her. Voldemort eyed her with apprehension and grinned. "Welcome, I trust you have been well taken care of?" he asked with false sincerity. Hermione stayed silent, not giving him the pleasure of goading her.

"Defiant until the end, hmm?" Voldemort said. His temper flared when she did not answer again. He noticed that she was staring out at a point just above him, ignoring him completely. "YOU WILL ANSWER ME!" Hermione's plan was working. She blinked like she was just waking up and answered.

"I'm sorry, were you speaking?" She asked sweetly. She made sure to not look into his eyes, as he would tear her mind apart with a glance. He roared in rage and threw the chair he was near across the room.

"You will listen to me, you filthy mudblood. I am Lord Voldemort, no one ignores me!" he seethed. Hermione just looked at her nails and picked at an imaginary hangnail.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Could you please repeat that?" Hermione said.

"Silly little girl, games will not help you now. Remember, it was I who outsmarted your precious Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed angrily. Hermione decided to push him a bit more.

"Yes, I am surprised at that. Who knew a hypocritical half-blood supremacist such as yourself had the stones to pull that off?" she said. Voldemort rushed up to her so close that she could feel his breath on her face.

"NO ONE DARES TO MOCK ME!" he roared. Hermione drove the last nail in.

She brought her knee up as hard as she could and swung her head forward. Her forehead caught him in the nose and she was satisfied to hear a slight crunch from his nose. While he was still reeling from the first two blows, she took a page out of Harry's book and spun around sending her fist into the side of his head. The force of the blow made her hand ache, but she was amazed that Voldemort fell to the floor one hand holding his crotch, and the other trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose.

The other man in the room grabbed her from behind and she threw her head back, hitting him in the teeth. He grunted, but he did not let go. He wrapped a very strong arm around her body and threw an elbow into the side of her head. Dazed from the hit, Hermione's head drooped and her consciousness faded as she heard Voldemort ordering the Death Eater to bring her back to the room.

ooo

Harry stumbled as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. He didn't understand what caused it, but he would find out later. At that moment, he had bigger fish to fry. He was currently walking down a hall deep inside the Ministry to the room that held Bellatrix. Neville was close behind him, being summoned by Harry to help with the interrogation. If it came down to it, they might need to resort to physical coercion to get the answers they needed. Harry didn't have the heart to have Neville miss out on this.

Harry entered the room and saw Bellatrix staring stonily at the wall. The capture had not been easy, and they had not healed the wound Neville had made on her head. She had been cleaned up however, but the cut was still red and fresh. She sneered at Harry and Neville, but said nothing. Harry on the other hand spoke up.

"Nice to see you Bella, I imagine my godfather would send his regards," he said. Her eyes flashed with anger at the comment, but she still was silent. "Ahh, the silent treatment. Well, we will deal with that soon enough."

Harry made a show of pulling out several items from his bag like hydrogen peroxide, gloves, a small club, and more items. He had no real intention to physically torture her, but the threat and the items made it real in her mind. Her eyes flicked over the things Harry had set on the table, and then her eyes flicked over to Neville, who at the current time was cracking his knuckles one at a time with an expressionless face. Neville was having fun playing mind games with her. Harry sat down on the opposite side of the table and laced his fingers together, staring at her with a slight maniacal grin.

"So, Bella. I hear from someone that you are Tom's secret keeper," Harry said. The corners of her mouth twitched in anger. "Ah, so I see it is true. Tell you what Bella, if you tell me where his hideout is, I'll make sure that you are saved from physical harm." Harry still got no response. "Hmm, I guess Tommy 'Half-blood Moron' Riddle actually has an ideal stooge."

"Sod off Potter!" Bella hissed in anger. Harry grinned and knew he had just pushed the right buttons.

"And a temper to boot," Harry said jovially. "So now that we have proven you are not under a silencing spell, let's get to it." Harry flicked his wand and chains wrapped around Bellatrix and held her firmly in place. "Now, tell me what I want to know, or we use veritaserum."

Bellatrix shook her head and refused to speak. Harry calmly stood up, but Bella could see his temper was very thin, judging by the look in his eyes. He motioned for Neville to come closer. Harry grabbed the bottle of the disinfectant and took the cap off. He nodded to Neville and he grabbed her hair, effectively holding her in place.

"Now hold still Bella, your cut looks a bit infected. This will help, but it's going to hurt," Harry said. Her eyes darted back and forth between Harry's face and the bottle as he slowly moved closer.

Just as he was about to put some of it on, she opened her mouth in a gasp bracing for the pain. Harry seized the opportunity to splash her tongue with veritaserum. He set the bottle down and Neville released her. Neville quickly moved to the door and motioned for the Aurors to come in to witness the interrogation. Harry waited until he saw her eyes glaze over. Harry nodded at Shacklebolt and sat back down.

"What is your name?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Are you a loyal Death Eater?" Harry asked.

"To my death, yes I am."

"How was Hermione Granger taken?" Harry asked.

"The plan was set a while ago. One of her pieces of jewelry was created into a voice activated portkey," she said. Harry's brow furrowed.

"How is that possible when she has not been touched?" he asked. Bella laughed cruelly.

"Then you should have checked her better after the Diagon Alley attack," she said. Harry's blood boiled. 'How could I be so stupid to not check her when she arrived back?'

"The plan setup in case we needed leverage against you, though My Lord was tempted to just bring her to him to kill her for sport," Bella said.

Harry's temper finally snapped. His eyes started to glow white and a wind started to pick up anything that was not weighed down and swirl it around the room. His breathing quickened and he fought down the urge to punch the smug grin off of her face. When he stared her down, her grin quickly faded and her eyes widened. Harry grinned.

"Are you scared of me?" he asked menacingly. Though she tried to fight the veritaserum, she nodded in the positive. "Good. Now tell me where he is located."

Bella clamped her mouth shut and struggled to keep it that way to protect her master. Harry approached her and repeated the order.

"Where is he Bella?" Harry said. She was shaking from the strain of keeping her mouth closed. Harry sighed and shook his head. "Well, now I have to forcefully retrieve it. Legilimens!"

Harry plowed into her mind, making sure not to really damage her already fragile mind. Her mental defenses were easy to get past, and he sifted through her memories. He located what looked like a steel door in her mind, and found that this was her real defense. He studied the door for a moment and reached out and lightly touched the door. He received a light shock of energy, but it was manageable. He realized that with the veritaserum in her system, it was impairing her defenses. He grabbed a hold of the door and pulled. It was heavy and it was not moving much. He stepped back and let his power build up. He reached out again and grabbed the door on the edges and pulled as hard as he could. The door shuddered under the strain. He pulled a bit more and ripped the door off of the hinges and tossed it aside.

Outside of her mind, Bellatrix screamed in horror as Harry broke her defenses and entered the part of her mind that held her darkest secrets. She tried to shake free, but Harry had a firm grip on her head, not allowing her to look away. Her body thrashed while Harry's strong arms kept her seated and looking into his eyes.

Harry sifted through the memories and found what he was looking for. He read the note that had the address written on it, and memorized it. He now had his target location. He started to leave her mind, but was blocked by Bellatrix.

"I can't let you leave my mind with that information Potter," she hissed angrily. Harry smiled and pushed her out of the way. He heard her scream in rage and she tackled him from behind. He shrugged her off and whirled around.

"Don't even think for one second that I do not have any strength here, Bella. I have just as much power in your mind as outside of it," Harry said. She answered by trying to tackle him again. He caught her and tossed her hard into the door that was still laying on its side in her mind. "Now you will let me leave, or I will start destroying your memories."

He raised his hand aiming it into the doorway that held her memories. He let a little power build up and form a sphere of energy that would act like a reductor curse. Her eyes widened and she shook her head desperately. Harry lowered his hand a little and looked directly at her.

"Bella, you know it is never too late to leave him," he said quietly. "Do you really want to stay with a monster who would torture you when you asked the wrong question? Would you choose to keep killing for the sport of it?" He noticed her crying and looking lost.

He turned back to the doorway and peered into the jumbled memories. He stepped towards the door and felt her hand on his wrist.

"Please don't," she whispered. He knelt down in front of her. He noticed that she looked like a lost child. "I've had no one ever be nice to me except for him. Not even my sisters would stay with me. He's the only one I ever had to pay attention to me." Harry sighed and ran his hands over his face. He reached out his hand and took hers.

"Bella, I need to ask you. Do you regret killing Sirius?" he asked quietly. "I promise that I will keep your answer to myself." She sniffed and nodded.

"I was just going to stun him and leave him alone. He was one of the few family members I still had at the time," she said. Harry stood up and pulled her with him.

"Bella, I am going to leave your mind now. But first I need to help you fix your door," he said. Harry held up the door while Bellatrix fixed the hinges and the latch that would protect her secrets. She made sure to put the conversation she just had with Harry in there.

"Just in case he does beat you, I need to make sure I survive. If he found the memory of this conversation, he would kill me on the spot," she said. Harry nodded that he understood.

"Make sure to keep up your act towards me to protect yourself, Bella," Harry said. "Just remember what I said. There is always another way and someone who would help you if you did turn away from him. Think about it."

She nodded and he left her mind and slumped in the chair. Bellatrix blinked her eyes and glared hatefully at Harry to keep up appearances. He grinned and she sneered back.

"You're heading to your death, Potter, mark my words," she hissed. He waved her off.

"So you keep saying," he said. He stood up and looked over to Kingsley. "I got what I needed. I can make a large portkey for you, but you all need to wait for my signal, just in case Mr. Lovegood was wrong about his estimation on Voldemort's forces." Kingsley nodded and looked over at Bellatrix.

"What about her?" he asked. Harry looked over at her and sighed.

"She put up a good fight in her mind," he said. "It's best to keep her at the secure location until this is done."

"Will do, when are we mobilizing?" Kingsley asked. Harry consulted his watch and appeared to be making a decision.

"Have everyone ready in an hour," Harry said.

ooo

Everyone rushed off to do some last minute preparations for the coming confrontation. Harry went back to Auror headquarters and consulted with Bill Weasley.

"How fast can you take down some anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards?" Harry asked. Bill smiled and nodded.

"I'll only need about ten minutes," he said. Harry nodded and went back to Ron's desk.

"Ron? How are we looking?" Harry asked as he sat down on the edge of the desk. Ron looked up and grinned.

"Providing the intelligence we got from Joseph is accurate, we will outnumber them six to one. I have two waves; one is the crew that will follow you in, and one for support. Each wave has been divided into teams of three. Two for defense and one that will be the firepower," Ron explained. Harry nodded and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"I'm sure things will turn out. Joseph really wants to help, and it sounds like Voldemort needed the rest of the Death Eaters there to keep him protected and Joseph was the only one available to try to recruit more," Harry said. He stood up from Ron's desk and had an idea. "Fawkes!"

A flash of flame signaled the arrival of the phoenix. Harry stroked Fawkes' brilliant plumage for a moment.

'Fawkes, are you able to get to Hermione right now?' Harry conveyed via his thoughts.

'No, I'm sorry I cannot. I cannot get through a fidelus charm without you being there first. But when you do arrive, I will be able to get there very quickly. So when the time comes, I will escort Hermione to safety,' Fawkes replied. Harry nodded and let Fawkes return to where he had been before Harry called him, but not before reminding Fawkes to be ready at a moments notice.

The next thing Harry felt was what felt like hammer blows landing all over his body. He knew no one was attacking him there, but he could feel it all the same. His mind made the connection a moment later. The Death Eaters were beating Hermione, and their soul-bond was making him feel the pain to warn him that she was in danger. He stood up and ran for the door grabbing the Edge of the Light and making sure he had his wand. He stopped by the door and spun around.

"Change of plans! The attack begins now!" he shouted while his eyes started to glow. He pointed his wand at the long length of rope. "Portus! Prepare to depart!"

He turned on the spot and apparated out of the Ministry building. He landed outside of a decent sized farmhouse only to trip the wards, setting off a loud alarm. Cursing to himself he broke down the front door and charged off.

ooo

Voldemort sat up with a start when the alarms started to wail. He shouted for his lead Death Eater to chain Hermione up outside of the back door. They had been beating her for a bit now, just to make sure that she had suffered for her attack on Voldemort. He realized that Harry must have arrived, and if he did, his backup was not far behind.

Voldemort gathered his wand and walked to the backyard where a bruised and bloody Hermione had been chained to a pole. He twirled his wand in his fingers, waiting for his enemy to show himself. He was not disappointed when a black haired figure emerged from the back of the house.

"Welcome, Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed. "It's time we settled this."

Harry nodded and drew his sword.

"I, Harry James Potter, hereby challenge you to a formal duel, one on one, with no interference from anyone. Do you accept?" Harry said with his sword tip pointed down at the ground. Voldemort smiled and nodded.

"I, Lord Voldemort, do hereby accept," he said. "However, before we begin, I feel I must make sure your mudblood will not interfere." He quickly spun around and aimed his wand at Hermione.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"FAWKES!" Harry shouted. In a flash of flame, Fawkes appeared next Hermione and grabbed her shoulder. The sickly green curse hit the pole Hermione was chained to a split second after Fawkes had removed Hermione from the area. The pole detonated, sending splinters flying in every direction. Voldemort roared in rage and spun back around and faced Harry.

"Now, Tom. It's time to end this!" Harry shouted. Voldemort stared him down and replied.

"Yes it is, Potter. Today is the day that I will be victorious. You have no silly little girl here to help you this time," Voldemort sneered.

"Who said I need help this time, Tom? Trust me; things have changed in the last four years. I wonder if you can deal with it this time," Harry replied calmly. They stared at each other waiting for the other to make the first move. When a few minutes had passed by, Voldemort grew impatient and whipped his wand up to fire the first spell. Harry saw the movement and retaliated in kind. The battle was on.

A/N: This is not designed to be a cliff hanger, but I want to have the battle in a separate chapter and to concentrate on that.