CHAPTER 21:

I would apologize profusely about the lateness of this update, but that wouldn't help anything. Hopefully now that my insane 5-week-long chemistry summer school class is out, I will be updating more often. I love you guys and am so thankful for your patience with me. And thanks to my reviewers from last chapter. I hope all of you love this chapter. Alright, I'm done. Go ahead and read what you've been waiting so long for…

The sun was barely kissing the horizon when Harry jolted out of sleep screaming. He clutched his forehead as Voldemort's fury flashed through his skull, making the skin around his scar feel like it was peeling off the bone.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione exclaimed as she rushed to his side with Ron in tow, and reached out for him. Harry pulled away violently, snarling, his eyes flashing red for a second with the Dark Lord's fury before he was able to shove Voldemort's emotions back. Hermione pulled her hand back in shock. She'd seen Harry stuck in the Dark Lord's thoughts before, but she'd never seen Voldemort flash visibly through Harry like that. "Harry?" she whispered.

Harry groaned, putting his face into his hands and shaking his head jerkily, as if trying to physically shake the Dark Lord's fury out of his head. After a moment, he stopped shaking and looked up into the terrified eyes of his best friends. Hermione thanked Merlin that his eyes were back to their normal emerald hue. "I'm okay," he whispered. "Voldemort knows about the horcruxes and he's furious. He's going to gather his army and head to Hogwarts today. We need to leave now," he said.

"So this is it, huh?" A voice from the doorway startled the three young Gryffindors badly. They all jolted until they noticed Bill and Fleur on the opposite side of the room. Harry must have awoken them as well.

Harry sat up and shakily placed his legs on the floor. He tested his footing, and was thankful to realize that he was strong enough to stand. "Yes. It's time," he said simply.

"I vill alert ze ozzers," Fleur's thick French accent was even thicker when she was scared. She waved her wand and a silvery-white wisp quickly darted out of the end and through the wall. "Ze patronus iz ze quickest form of communication," she said simply, placing her body closer to her husband's. The tall redhead unconsciously wrapped his arms around the petite blonde. A minute later, Arthur Weasley's head appeared in the fireplace on the other side of the room.

"I've sent word to the rest of the Order. We will all be on our way to Hogwarts within the hour," the normally jovial man sounded strained and serious.

"Make it a half hour, Mr. Weasley. Voldemort is very angry and he will be there as soon as he gathers his followers," Harry said gently.

Arthur nodded. "A half hour then. We'll meet you at the school. I've alerted Minerva and she's altered the wards to allow only Order members into the gates."

"Alright. We'll see you there," Harry replied, and Arthur's head disappeared from the fire. Harry directed his gaze to the other occupants in the room and said, "Grab whatever you can't live without and let's go."

No one needed any more prompting, but did exactly as he said. Within two minutes, everyone had gathered a handful of items and met up again in the living room.

Harry turned to Hermione and whispered in her ear while the three Weasleys verified that they had everything they needed, "I'm not strong enough to Apparate by myself at the moment. Would you mind letting me side-along with you?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind," Hermione whispered back. She turned to look at the others and said, "Okay, time to go."

Everyone nodded, and the group disappeared with several loud 'cracks', leaving the room dark and empty.

.ooOoo.

Draco had never seen the Dark Lord so angry. He'd just returned from an hour-long journey, and the second he got into the main dining room that all of the Death Eaters were occupying, he began throwing glasses and plates full of food against the walls, causing them to shatter and their contents to leave toddler-like paintings on the previously immaculate walls. The Dark Lord was evil, yes, but he was typically so composed. Draco had certainly never seen him throw food around a room. If he'd had any respect left for the evil wizard (which he hadn't since the end of fifth year), he would have lost it in this moment.

Once the Dark Lord calmed down a bit, he addressed the room. "Change of plans. We leave for Hogwarts today. I will give you one hour to gather all of our forces and Apparate into Hogsmeade. Kill anyone who crosses your path."

Approximately forty voices saying, "Yes, My Lord" echoed loudly in the room, before an equal number of loud 'pop's followed. Draco's was one of the forty.

We're coming to Hogwarts, Hermione. You have an hour.

.ooOoo.

The second Hermione's feet hit the long walkway leading up to the gates of Hogwarts, she was sprinting. She was happy to notice that the three Weasleys and Harry had the same idea. The group reached the gate in record time. Hermione reached out her hand and the gates swung inward at her touch. As soon as the last of the five Order members was through, they slammed closed again. Thank Merlin McGonagall altered the wards. The group continued sprinting up the path, through the front doors of Hogwarts, and into the Great Hall.

"Headmistress!" Harry exclaimed, breathless, when the group entered the large dining room and saw that McGonagall and many of the other professors were already gathered. McGonagall's face was drawn tighter than Hermione had ever seen it. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and worry, but she was just as held-together as she always was.

"Mr. Potter. Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley," she greeted her three students and nodded to Bill and Fleur. "What can you tell us?" she asked, all business.

"These past few weeks, Hermione, Ron, and myself were out searching for some things that would help us destroy Voldemort. I suppose since he already knows about it, it doesn't matter if we tell you now. Voldemort made six horcruxes. We've destroyed five of the six, and we suspect that the sixth is Nagini, Voldemort's snake. We had to break into Malfoy Manor to get to one of them and Voldemort almost caught us, but we escaped with Draco's help. Now Voldemort knows that five of his horcruxes have been destroyed, and he's furious. His anger woke me up from my sleep a few minutes ago. He's gathering his forces and coming here right now to kill us before we can kill Nagini and kill him. We alerted the Order and came straight here," Harry impressively stated in one breath.

The headmistress looked shell-shocked for a moment before she gathered her composure and nodded briskly, turning to the other professors in the room. "Okay. You heard the boy. The Dark Lord is on his way now. We've been preparing for this a long time and you know what to do. Filius, as soon as the rest of the Order gets here, you need to put the strongest charms you know of on the gate. It won't stop the Death Eaters, but it will delay them. Pomona, surround the grounds with devil's snare and venomous tentacula. Hopefully, those will distract them for a while. Horace, bring the potion bombs here into the Great Hall so they will be more accessible. Poppy, make sure everything is set up in the Infirmary. We are going to have a lot of wounded needing tending soon enough. Hagrid, contact Firenze. If he can get any of the other centaurs to join us, we can use all the help we can get. I will go and talk to the students. The ones that are seventeen and older will be allowed to fight if they wish. Otherwise, I will arrange for them to be filtered out of the school through the Shrieking Shack. Everybody understand? Good. Let's go," she ordered. The other professors rushed off to do as she said.

As quickly as the professors had gone, the rest of the Order arrived, including Remus and Tonks, the Weasleys, Mad-Eye, and Kingsley Shacklebolt. The next person through the doors shocked the three Gryffindors. Severus Snape.

"We got here as quickly as we could, Minerva," stated Arthur.

"Right on time, Arthur. The preparations are getting started. Filius is surrounding the school with protective charms as we speak. I've got to alert the students as to what is happening. I will need some of you to help me filter the underage ones and the ones that do not wish to fight out of the school. I believe that Aberforth is currently inside of the Shrieking Shack to help escort the students to King's Cross. I am hoping that Voldemort will be too busy here to pay any attention to them. Arthur, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, please go up to Gryffindor tower and talk to the students there to find out which of them is willing to stay and fight. Remus, Nymphadora, and Alastor, please go talk to the Hufflepuffs about staying. Bill and Fleur, please go to the Ravenclaws, and Kingsley and I will go speak with the Slytherins. I have no delusions that any of them will wish to stay and help our side. The rest of you, please stay here and keep watch. If anything seems out of the ordinary, alert the rest of us via patronus," she ordered, her lips thin. Everyone nodded and went to do as she had commanded.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Mr. Weasley ran quickly down the winding hallways and up the staircases until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Is it true?" the Fat Lady cried in fear. "Is it true that the Dark Lord is coming?"

"Yes," Harry replied impatiently. "Let us in. We have to alert the others."

The Fat Lady nodded and opened, no more questions asked.

It was very early in the morning, so the majority of the students were still in their beds. Without needing prompting, Hermione rushed up the girls' staircase, and the three men headed up the boys' staircase. When Hermione entered her room, she turned on the lights and yelled, "Wake up! Go downstairs, now!" and sprinted out of the room to do the same in the next room. She ran back downstairs as soon as she'd woken all of the girls. It looked like Harry, Ron, and Arthur had done the same with the boys since they were already downstairs and the other Gryffindor boys were now blearily trudging down the staircase. The girls quickly followed suit. Everyone seemed to wake up more as soon as they saw the looks on the Golden Trio's faces.

As soon as the last person entered the room, Harry stood on a table and said loudly, "Voldemort is coming now." Loud gasps escaped from almost every mouth in the room. "We're evacuating everyone under the age of seventeen and all those who don't want to stay and fight. However, if you are of age and do want to fight, we could use your help. Everyone else, please follow Ron downstairs now and we'll get you out of the school."

Dennis Creevey's mousey voice rose up out of the middle of the crowd. "But I want to stay and fight! This is our war too, even if we are underage. Why shouldn't we have a choice to stay like the rest of you?" There was a loud grumble of agreement from the underage Gryffindors.

Harry's face turned stern. "I understand where you're coming from, but there will be no discussion. You will be evacuated if you are underage, even if we have to do it forcibly. We don't have time to argue this. Now go and follow Ron. He'll take you where you need to go."

The look on Harry's face paired with the threat of force worked surprisingly well for all but one of the underage Gryffindors. Ginny Weasley stood in the front of the now significantly less crowded room with her arms crossed firmly across her chest and her eyebrow raised.

Arthur growled at her, a surprising sound from the usually bubbly man. "Ginevra Weasley, get your butt down those stairs and follow your brother right this second. I will not have you here when Voldemort arrives."

Her father's aggressive tone did nothing but make Ginny stand even taller and her ice blue eyes pierce more deeply into her father's. "There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that you can do to make me leave this school right now, Dad. I will not stand idly by at home by myself, waiting to hear the news that one of my family or friends has been killed. I am staying here no matter what you say," she said firmly.

"Ginevra…" Arthur growled even more menacingly. "Do not make me drag you down there by force. We do not have time to argue about this."

"Try it, Dad. I love you, but I can assure you that you will not find dragging me down there by force nearly as easy as you think it will be. And since we don't have time to argue, don't argue with me. I'm not leaving, and that's final. You can use all the help you can get, remember?"

"Ginevra!"

"No, Dad! I'm not going. End of story. Now let's go down there and help everyone prepare for this war," she said, leaving no room for argument as she marched past her father, Harry, and Hermione to the back of the Fat Lady's portrait.

Arthur bristled one more time before he conceded defeat, grumbling under his breath, "Your mother is going to kill me."

Harry turned from the two Weasleys to see who else had decided to stay, and was shocked to find that every single of-age Gryffindor was standing before him, looking frightened but resolute. Harry's heart began to hurt looking at the faces of his friends standing before him. Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan. Even Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, along with many others. "You don't have to stay. No one will hold it against you if you go home to your families," Harry whispered.

"Yes we do, Harry. We do have to stay. Like Creevey said, this is our war too," Dean Thomas stated plainly. "None of our families will ever be safe if we don't kill Voldemort. We are all here to help with that."

"Let's go kick some Death Eater arse!" Seamus yelled.

Harry laughed as the rest of the room whooped and hollered their agreement, and he was filled with an overwhelming affection for these people that he'd spent seven years of his short life with. He wanted to protect them, but he knew that they were right. This was their fight too, and no one would ever be safe as long as Voldemort remained alive. He nodded his agreement, and said, "Let's go then."

Ginny led the pack of Gryffindors out into the hallway and down to the Great Hall. As they were walking out the portrait hole, Hermione pulled Harry aside and dug inside her bag for something. She pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor and handed it to him. "You'll need this to kill Nagini," she said, and he nodded his thanks. The two walked out of the portrait hole together.

Once the entered the Great Hall, Hermione was surprised to see how many people were there. She saw many of her fellow seventh years from all the houses except Slytherin. All of the professors had stayed behind, and all of the professors that had been given jobs when the Trio had arrived were now back in the Great Hall. The entire Order was in the large room, as well as Firenze the centaur. Hermione was most shocked to see that a large number of other centaurs were there as well. Twenty, if she'd counted correctly. All of the ghosts were in the room, including Peeves the poltergeist, who was gleefully holding what appeared to be smoking potion bottles. Hermione assumed those were the potion bombs that McGonagall had referred to earlier. There were at least one-hundred individuals crowding the large dining hall. Hermione felt her hopes rising. They might possibly have a chance against the Death Eaters after all.

.ooOoo.

Draco was currently in the middle of absolute mayhem. There were screams of horror and pain surrounding him along with flames and flashes of light as dark spells were shot in every direction. The Death Eaters had just entered Hogsmeade and were characteristically attacking everyone who was unfortunate enough to peak their heads out of the spaces they were occupying. No one was paying any attention to the masked blonde, so when Draco saw a young pale face peer out of the darkness of one of the alleyways ahead, he wordlessly cast a stunning spell on the little girl, so she would look like she was dead if any other Death Eater found her, and they would leave her 'lifeless' body alone. Idiots. Why can't you just stay hidden? he thought to himself, rolling his eyes at the villagers' stupidity.

Draco continued trudging forward until he saw the gates of Hogwarts ahead.

Hermione? We're in Hogsmeade, Draco warned.

We're as ready as we'll ever be. Please, Draco, stay as far away from here as possible. I don't know what the Order will do to the Death Eaters they catch. Hermione's voice quavered in his mind.

Understood. Is there anything I can say to get you to stay inside the castle and out of the battle? he asked, already knowing the answer.

No, Draco. There is nothing anyone could say that would make me do that.

Draco nodded in his mind. Please be careful, Hermione. I… I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you. Don't be a martyr, okay? Protect yourself for me.

Hermione's gentle laugh tinkled through his mind, and he sighed, reveling in the sound. I will do what I can, Draco.

Draco was distracted when there was a loud screech from the gates guarding Hogwarts. The Death Eaters had broken through the wards.

We're through the gates, Draco warned.

.ooOoo.

"They're in!" Hermione announced from her place next to the window, pretending like she'd seen the Death Eaters, when she'd really been alerted by Draco.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" McGonagall yelled from the front of the room. "We've all known this day was coming for a very long time. This is your last chance to change your mind before the Death Eaters get here." Everyone stayed right where they were. "Alright. It's time for us to make our stand. Defend the castle from the inside until the Death Eaters break through. Don't hesitate to use any force necessary. We will win this. Evil will not win," she said sharply. Everyone roared at the same time, a threatening battle cry that echoed across the grounds.

All of the castle's occupants went to take their spots. The centaurs stampeded out of the Great Hall and up the stairs to perch themselves on the different towers, giving them optimum trajectory for their arrows, and the other witches and wizards scattered themselves throughout the school. Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Ginny stayed in the Great Hall, along with many others.

Watch out for arrows, Draco. Some centaurs have joined us and will be shooting from the towers.

Thanks, was his reply.

She could feel his presence, feel him getting closer. Her nerves hummed with the thought that she would be seeing him again soon. Her body ached to be next to him, to touch him. She prayed that they would both survive this so she could do just that.

Suddenly, Hermione was jolted out of her thoughts by a voice that made her stomach tumble. Voldemort had found a way to project his voice to sound like it was inside of the school. "Send out the Potter boy and no one will get hurt. All I want is Potter. No one else has to die," the voice hissed.

Hermione looked over and saw that Harry had his eyes tightly shut. He looked like he was in pain, and Hermione knew that he was thinking about everyone dying. She rushed to his side.

"I know you are in there, Potter. Are you really going to let everyone else die for you? You could end this right now and spare all of your friends' lives if you come outside," Voldemort knew just where to hit Harry so it hurt.

"Harry, do not listen to him. Do you really think that he would spare anyone, even if you did as he asked?" Hermione whispered into her best friend's ear, clutching his shoulders like a vise.

Harry's eyes stayed closed tight for another minute, until he said, "No. I don't." When his eyes opened again, they glowed with a determined green fire. Hermione knew then that he wasn't going to do as Voldemort commanded. She breathed deeply in relief.

Suddenly, Ginny appeared at Harry's side and her presence stole Harry's attention. Her iceberg eyes stayed glued on Harry, but she addressed Hermione, "You talked some sense into him, then?"

Hermione smiled. "Yea. He's not going anywhere."

Harry nodded his agreement.

"Damn straight," Ginny growled before she pulled Harry to her and attacked his lips. When they came up for air, both she and Harry were flushed. "You'd better not die today, Harry Potter, because I fully intend to marry you someday, and you'd better not rob me of that opportunity," she stated, clutching the front of his shirt.

Harry's eyes were wide, understanding the threat in the fiery young woman's voice. "Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Good." Ginny turned around and waltzed back to where she had been standing before, right next to a sputtering Ron.

Voldemort's snake-like hiss of a voice echoed inside the school's walls. "Five minutes, Potter. That's all you have before you sign your friends' death sentences."

Harry met Hermione's eyes and she could see the worry in them again. But she could also tell that he wasn't going to give in. If Voldemort wanted him, he'd have to come in and get him.

Before they realized it, the five minutes were up and Voldemort's voice hissed, "Time's up," and there was a horrendously loud 'boom' and all of the walls shook so hard that bits of dirt and brick rained down on the occupants of the Great Hall. This was it. The war was starting.

It's about time, right? haha. 21 chapters down! Oh my goodness, the end is in sight. Let me know what you guys think.

Love,

MBS