A/N: Okay, so, finals are over! I am finishing this story today and then starting to go fully on 2-3 more stories after this. If you want to get to know Charlotte a little more, then you should start reading Her Dark Enchantment (new chapter of that up today after this), on the last chapter of Bar Elate I'll list the stories I'm starting this summer so that you can put me on your reading list. Now, on to the plot twist, shall we?

Chapter 21

Draco pushed Hermione down to the ground just in time before the green light hit both of them. That spell was enough to send the entire team into a frenzy for the second time that day. Draco pulled Hermione into the indenture within the walls where she had bolted out from.

"Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing here?! How the hell ARE you here?!" He shouted, angrily.

He stepped out to fire a couple spells before coming back in, clearly short of breath. Draco wasn't sure if it was because of the fight that had him winded or the fact that Hermione could have killed herself.

"Long story but I came to bring you something," Hermione said, holding up her hand with the red diamond ring on her finger.

Draco instinctively searched the side of his bag for the ring that she had promised she packed but only to find that it was indeed the ring she had on her fingers. He shook his head in disapproval but he was amazed.

"You sneaky minx," He said, noticing that her smile widened.

He was going to smile back but he realized something; there was still a fight going on! He squeezed her hand in reassurance and with his eyes, demanded that she stay where she was. When she nodded he had gone back to the fight until every last guard on that floor was annihilated.

"Okay, time to move floors!" He instructed the remaining Aurors and went back to grab Hermione's hand, pulling her out of the indenture.

"Do you want this?" She questioned, motioning to the ring.

"As much as I want to take it from you and send you back to Charlotte's…I know you won't listen to me. Just stay by my side, alright?" Draco sternly asked.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be," She said.

Draco sighed with relief and followed the rest of his men with Hermione holding his hand tighter than she had in these past months.

-XOX-

Harry started to open his eyes only to find that his nightmare had come true. The candlelit throne room wasn't enough to light the dark corners of the room where he knew Victoria would be lurking.

"Good to know I only knocked you out for a couple of minutes…for a second, it felt too easy," He heard her laugh from a corner but he couldn't tell which one.

Harry began to sit up slowly and watched the room carefully for any sudden movement. He, more or less, wanted to watch out for that snake that he couldn't seem to see.

"Why didn't you just kill me? What do you want from me?" Harry asked the dark room.

"Revenge," Victoria spat.

At that moment, Harry had felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time and it wasn't his old scar. It was fear. He was scared of her. The plan that he thought was foolproof had turned out to be useless. He didn't even know if the other half of his team was alive. Yet again, he felt responsible for every death that happened under his watch and he still had no clue what they were fighting for.

"Then let's fight," Harry sighed, attempting to stand up but doubled over in pain from his side.

"Not yet," She said, coming out from a dark corner.

Her eyes were clouded over in darkness and he couldn't tell which was scarier; the determined look on her face or the completely black irises. She walked towards him with her hand held out in front of him and he felt a pull of gravity make him sink into the floor.

"There's something I want you to watch first," Victoria said, lightheartedly.

She waved her hand and a drapery of some sort fell to the floor to unveil a very distraught Ron Weasley. He was chained from his wrists and looked worse, if possible, than he had when he saw Harry in the alley way.

"Don't listen to a word she says Harry!" Ron shouted in warning.

"Oh shut up," She rolled her eyes and cast a spell from her hands to make him feel like his insides were on fire.

It was almost like a cruciatus curse but twice as strong. Ron's screams echoed throughout the throne room and Harry was forced to listen to them. Curse after curse was thrown at him until Ron had finally fainted from the pain.

"Now, you're next," Victoria grinned, her smile dared him to disagree.

"I beg to differ,"

A very familiar voice echoed but was masked by the darkness that still existed in the room. Victoria looked up and smirked when she saw who it was.

"You shouldn't beg, mother. It doesn't look good on you," Victoria argued.

Charlotte came out of the corner of the darkness, her wand by her side, and Harry noticed that she looked a little…older. Harry was happy to see her, of course, but she couldn't possibly beat her daughter at this stage in her reign.

"Evil doesn't look good on you," Charlotte snarled, holding her wand in front of her.

Victoria just laughed while Charlotte pointed her wand at Harry. She had cast a protective spell over him, slightly different from the one his mother did years ago, and made it so that her gravity power had no more effect on him.

"You think you could take me? I think you're mistaken," Victoria said, mentally rolling up her sleeves.

"Try me," Charlotte dared.

-XOX-

Draco, Hermione, and the leftover Aurors were beginning to get frustrated as they couldn't find the stairs. They explored every opening that was available to them but none of them led to stairs.

"This is quite frustrating…" Draco said, running his hands through his hair as he looked up and down the hallway that they had been studying for what felt like forever.

"There's no sign of anything…no more guards, no more stairs, and definitely no food," Draco growled.

Hermione, despite the situation, chuckled a little at that and decided to get the fruit bar out of her back pocket but it wasn't there. Instead, she pulled out a folded piece of paper.

Hermione,

Knock on the wall in the middle of the west wing.

Xx,
Charlotte

Hermione started touching the walls but she wasn't sure she was in the west wing. There weren't exactly directions inside the castle that said "you are here" with a red x.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco asked curiously, watching her feel her way up and down the hallway.

"There's a secret door…somewhere," Hermione whispered.

She closed her eyes and tried to use her senses to find the door but she couldn't. She didn't think Charlotte had told her the right floor but the moment that Hermione had pressed on the wall in the middle of the hall, what she assumed to be the west wing, it budged ever so slightly. Hermione's eyes opened wide and she whipped her wand from her back pocket and began tapping on it to get it to open. The moment she tapped on it, the bricks began to rearrange themselves to reveal an opening with a staircase.

"How did you know that?" Draco questioned, staring at her with amazement.

"I'll explain everything later. We have to get to Harry!" Hermione shouted, grabbing Draco by the arms and leading his team up the stairs to a room that didn't seem to be guarded at all.

Shouting could be heard from inside the throne room but no matter how hard Hermione pushed on the double doors, she couldn't get it to open. She did every spell she could think of and even the simplest "Alohomora" couldn't even open the door.

"It's sealed with dark magic," said one of the Aurors behind Hermione.

"Then how do we get in?" Hermione asked frantically, her nerves getting the best of her with every shout from within those walls.

"Don't judge me when I do this," Draco said, gently pushing her aside.

He pointed his wand at the door and whispered something that Hermione didn't recognize. She imagined that all the time he had spent with Voldemort could get him out of the stickiest situations and even break in doors that have been magically bound. The door flew open to reveal a room darker than the hallway that led up to it. Inside, they were astounded to find that Victoria was already fighting with Charlotte…who wasn't supposed to be there at all.

"What's Charlotte doing here?" Draco asked, the team of Aurors gathered and raised their wands to offer some aid to Charlotte.

"I'm not entirely sure but we need to find the crystal orb. That's the only way to truly stop her evil reign," Hermione shouted over the destruction of the throne room.

Hermione searched around for what was to be the crystal orb and realized that she couldn't see anything. She could only see the fight that was unfolding between Victoria and the team of Aurors. Harry was trying every spell that he knew against Victoria but she kept shielding them. She was even shielding the blows from Charlotte who knew more spells than even Hermione had hoped to know. Her heart dropped when she saw that Ron was chained up and looked as if he had passed out time before. Victoria's guards had come out of their hiding and was providing a new challenge to the Aurors. Most of them saw that Hermione was trying to get around them and kill Victoria but Draco wouldn't let them. He protected her and for that she was grateful.

How could all of this happen again? What was this war for? Was it always about power? Hermione looked around at the destruction and decided to try something as simple as,

"Accio drape!"

The moment that she shouted that particular spell, the throne room was filled with this bright blue lighting that almost blinded everyone due to the darkness of the room. Victoria looked over and saw that Hermione had unveiled her crystal orb.

"You little bitch!" Victoria shouted.

Before Victoria had the opportunity to stop Hermione, Charlotte had thrown a protective spell over towards Hermione to counter whatever Victoria was going to throw. Victoria decided to take out her mother once and for all. Victoria took a deep breath in before lifting her hands and slamming them to the ground.

The castle shook underneath all of their feet and knocked everyone on their back. Some were sent flying into the walls and even some were sent flying out the windows that broken under impact. Charlotte had fallen onto her back and didn't have a chance to regain composure before Victoria was standing over her.

"What a distress you've caused my castle," Victoria said, half smiling.

"It was never your castle…it always belonged to me," Charlotte spat.

"Oh, mother…I do hate to see you struggle. Let me fix that for you," Victoria said, grabbing the elder wand from her thigh holster.

Charlotte's eyes widened at the sight of the elder wand pointing her in the face and everyone else around them seemed to stop moving as well. Even her guards were shocked at the Elder Wand having made a reappearance. Hermione saw this as the perfect time to press the red diamond ring against the crystal orb, if only she could get up from her position on the stone.

"Victoria, don't," Charlotte pleaded.

"Goodbye…mother. Avada Kedavra!" Victoria shouted.

A/N: I absolutely understand if no one likes this chapter. It was a bit rushed but I never like drawing out a fight scene. One more chapter left!