Is it hard to believe that this is the final chapter? Yes, yes it is. After this only the Epilogue is left.

So, enjoy it to the best of your abilities, because there is not much left to enjoy.

From Hogsmeade to Hogwarts turned out to be quite a distance. The snow didn't make anything easier. Draco was still walking first carefully placing each foot before the other one. One would never have been able to tell from the village, but the road between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade was covered in ice.

During the day the snow had been melting and with the cold of the night returning the water the snow had produced had frozen into an uneven layer of ice. It made the trip incredibly slow. So far Draco had been doing quite alright, but Bakura, who had been carrying the relatively heavy sword had tripped once or twice. He did however not complain once.

Draco had taken his mother's wand and started to melt the ice in front of his feet, but the process had taken so long that they in the end settled with walking over the ice. All the while not a word was spoken. In Draco's opinion the albino made for a fine companion.

They were past halfway to Hogwarts, having taken a record amount of time in doing so, when Draco tripped for the first time. If Draco had been asked he would have said that the result of that little fall were disastrous. He fell on his mother's wand, breaking it into two bits quite neatly. He was absolutely speechless. He had hurt himself quite thoroughly when falling and was pretty sure his bottom would be blue soon, but that was soon forgotten when he saw the material damage done.

"No", he whispered and reached out a hand to take the two bits, but then changed his mind. He withdrew his hand and stood up. Why did he need a wand? His memories left him utterly unwilling to use magic anyway, he was almost disgusted by it … How could he ever have relied on it? It seemed so pointless now. Without another word he continued forth. Bakura did not say anything.

The closer they got to Hogwarts the more more restless Draco became. Casting a glance behind himself he saw that the albino was equally worried. Unconsciously they both raised there pace and Draco was pleased to noticed that the ice did not reach all the way to Hogwarts but that it became less and less the closer they got. Soon they were walking on regular, trustworthy ground.

When they came close enough he could derive that no fighting seemed to be going on. Draco could not help himself, he started to run, eager to get closer.

"Hey!" Bakura called out, trying to run while holding the sword, something that didn't really work out for him. He did however not give up and continued to do some sort of attempt to catch up with the Slytherin.

They were just a hundred meters away from the Viaduct Courtyard that led to the Entrance Hall which had taken some severe hits when they heard Voldemort's voice again. Both Draco and Ryou stopped in their tracks and Draco was suddenly very aware of how exposed the stood.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

Draco looked at Bakura who, if possible, had become yet another shade paler. The Slytherin wasn't surprised. He had expected Harry to give up his life, and he if anyone knew that Voldemort changed situations the way it suited him. He knew for a fact that Harry would not flee, two lifetimes had proven that.

"He didn't attempt to run", Draco said for Bakura's benefit, "Harry would never do that."

"He hadn't really given me the impression of a coward", Bakura muttered back.

Draco and Bakura caught sight of the Death Eaters in their victorious procession before the Death Eaters caught sight of them. But even though the distance was large, there was absolutely nothing to obscure them from view. "Let's go!" Draco said and set of to the right, hoping to be able to hide behind the courtyard before the Death Eaters caught sight of them.

Draco could hear Bakura's footsteps behind him and cursed lowly when he noticed that the courtyard was further away than he had believed. Not to mention that the albino was slowed by the heavy sword, even though it had been Draco's idea it surprised him Bakura had not discarded it yet.

"My Lord!" someone, to Draco it sounded like the elder Crabbe, shouted, "the albino! There!" A wide variety of spells, a lot of them green, were shot at the running man. Luckily the distance was a bit too long and most of the spells died away before even reaching them, but a few whizzed past the albino's head.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked, disturbed by the though that it could have been his father who had send that curse at the kind man that just might have killed him.

"Yeah", Bakura said, his voice short of breath as he kept running. Draco grabbed a pale hand and aided the albino who for some reason was still holding on to the sword. Yet another set of curses were thrown their way and in the split second of light those curses caused he stared straight into his mother's horrified eyes. Draco ran faster.

The ducked down behind the stones of which the courtyard was built. Not even from the courtyard itself one could see them, perhaps if one stood underneath the covered colonnade and looked down, but the majority of the colonnade had crumbled during battle so the chance wasn't very high.

Draco and Bakura pressed themselves against the rocks, panting heavily. Bakura was still clutching the sword and seemed only now to be aware of its presence. He sighed, turned around and peaked up carefully. Just for a split second, then he let himself fall down again. "They're coming here."

Draco merely nodded. How was he ever going to survive this? The Death Eaters really did outnumber the people fighting for Hogwarts, perhaps not as much as Voldemort thought, considering the death of those in Hogsmeade … but still. They were going to die. Draco was fairly sure that it hadn't just been his mother who had seen him there. He was now one of the traitors. His only chance of surviving was if those fighting for Hogwarts won. Voldemort would never forgive him, not for this.

Draco looked at the panting man next to him. The same counted for Bakura. So many lives depended on that. He clenched his fists. But if Voldemort lost his parents would be going to Azkaban … and although they actually deserved it, he didn't want them to.

Draco could hear the Death Eaters enter the courtyard and spread out in a line, facing the open front door. The red glow that came from the Entrance Hall could be seen where he and Bakura were sitting, facing away from it all.

"No!" someone screamed and it took Draco a few moment to realize that it had been McGonagall. McGonagall! Draco could hardly have imagined that she was capable of making such a sound. He couldn't help himself, he turned around and made sure he could see what was going on. Bakura followed his example. No one saw them where they peered into the courtyard.

"No!" Granger and Weasley called out horrified.

Draco's eyes fell upon Potter's dead body in Hagrid's arms. Seeing Potter dead felt extremely weird. The turmoil in Draco's head did not help him, he had seen Harry dead before, but this felt different. He did not really know what to feel, most of all it felt as if someone had taken a large chunk out of his insides. He felt as if he was falling somehow.

Bakura's emotions were a bit easier to read. He wasn't crying, but he had tears in his eyes and his expression was plain saddened. "No", he whispered, almost inaudible.

"Harry! HARRY!" the Weasley girl cried out. The Weasley girl Ginny … who his father had attempted to kill …

Her cries seemed to trigger the crowd. They started yelling insults and obscenities at the Death Eaters. They were livid, not only because Voldemort had killed Harry, but also since he seemed to believe that this would be enough for them to give up. The crowd was seething.

"SILENCE!" Voldemort cried, and there was a bang and a flash of bright light, and silence was forced upon them all. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

"The nerve", Bakura said through gritted teeth as Hagrid gently lowered Harry at Voldemort's feet and Draco noted that the Silencing Charm had worked neither on him or Bakura. It surprised him a bit, but he supposed they were out of range, the charm had not been aimed in their direction.

"You see?" Voldemort asked and strode back and forth right beside the place where Harry was laying. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" Weasley yelled and to Draco's surprise the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once again.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds", said Voldemort said, "killed while trying to save himself …"

"How dare you?" someone asked. The owner of this voiced used no magic to make the surrounding people go quiet, they just did. The students, teachers and others who had gathered in the doorway made way for the slim figure of the single most intimidating person Draco had ever seen. "How dare you speak ill of the dead?"

Several Death Eaters took steps back, frightened even though the slim figure had not even made his way through the crowd yet. Even so Draco could not blame them. He had only seen the spirit twice before, Umbridge's inspection and when Umbridge had attempted to kill Tracey. This was completely different. This had to be what it felt like when one met the devil, he was sure of it.

"Atem!" Bakura said, not loud enough for anyone but Draco to hear.

"Atem?" Draco asked with a frown.

Bakura simply pointed at the spirit as an answer. Draco swallowed, so that was his name. The spirit, Atem, did not look angry like he had when he had dealt with Umbridge. His crimson eyes were almost hypnotic, burning with resolution and even though they did not look angry, they certainly looked dangerous. His hands were hanging at his side, but the casualty of it looked like a trap, an illusion. Every step he took seemed like the slow approach of a predator. His head was held high in intimidating resolution.

Everyone backed away in fear, as if a god had arrived in their midst … No, Draco thought, not a god, the devil. Yes, the spirit reminded of a devil. The leather pants and the black tank-top only increased that sensation. He did not care that Bakura claimed he was human, then and there Draco could not believe that.

Atem came to a halt when he stood a little bit into the no-man's-land, facing Voldemort without a hint of fear. He put his thumbs behind his buckled belt and glared. "How dare you proclaim such a disgraceful lie?"

Voldemort smirked, seemingly not impressed by the spirit. "He wanted to leave you all to die and died crying, begging for his life."

A single second pure hatred flared through those crimson eyes, but it was gone so fast that Draco wondered if it had been a trick of the eye. Although they were far closer to the Death Eaters than to the protectors of Hogwarts both he and Bakura had forgotten about staying hidden, they simply watched.

"That's a lie. I went with him", Atem hissed, "he died honorably!"

Whispers went through the crowd behind the spirit. "Then why didn't you stop him?" Longbottom called out angrily and took some steps forth.

"Mister Longbottom, stand back", Atem said and turned his head a bit in the Gryffindor's direction. Then he turned back on Voldemort and said forcefully, "This war ends here!"

Voldemort stroke Nagini's head with a single finger as he laughed. "You are alone, spirit, it matters not how powerful you are, you are merely alone. The fear these people feel for you surpasses their will to defeat me."

Draco wondered if Voldemort noticed the dark tendrils that were gathering around the feet of the man he laughed at. He was pretty sure some of the Death Eaters had noticed it, they were seemingly unconsciously walking backwards. Draco was starting to understand how the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade had become so traumatized.

"That's not true!" Weasley called out, "I've fought at his side before and I'll do it again!"

"No", Atem said, "no one else is going to fight. Too many have died, I won't allow any of you to fight."

Several protesting voices arose among the crowd, mostly students. Granger, the Weasley's and Longbottom protested loudest.

"Don't think I can't make you stand back", Atem said and Draco swallowed. He really was scary. "Not one of you is going to fight anymore."

A figure in purple stepped forward. The spirit who was looking at the Death Eaters did not notice it, not until the figure was almost standing next to the slim figure of the center of attention. Atem turned towards him in order to yell at him, or send him back or whatever he had been planning on doing … but whatever he had been about to say or do didn't happen.

The figure in purple fell to a single knee and bowed his head, eyes closed. "My Pharaoh, at least allow me to fight by your side again."

"Mahad", Atem whispered, barely audible.

A small commotion arose among the Death Eaters and Draco too turned towards Bakura. "Did he say Pharaoh?"

Bakura nodded, not taking his eyes of Mahad who to him was a much larger source of interest. "Yes. Atem used to be Pharaoh about five thousand years ago. Is that Mahad?"

"Yes", Draco confirmed with a whisper, not really interested in the magician. So the spirit had been Pharaoh … A living god. Seeing him there that was not at all hard to believe.

"The Dark Magician … Mahad", Bakura was muttering next to Draco, not at all intimidated by Atem. He seemed to be far more concerned with the magician.

Atem knelt down in the same fashion as Mahad who looked up and the Pharaoh reached out a hand to help the magician to his feet. "The honor would be mine, my old friend."

With a smile the magician accepted the hand and together they stood up and turned back towards Vodemort. The surprise was still evident on the face of the Pharaoh, even though he had his focus completely on Voldemort again. The magician, although by now no one would claim he was emotionless, had put on his expressionless mask again. The two of them together was even more intimidating. The only difference was that with Mahad behind the Pharaoh he did not appear taller than he was anymore.

Voldemort was not amused. "Kill them!"

The Death Eaters obeyed. A very, very large amount of Killing Curses were shot in the direction of the two Egyptians. They did not even seem to react, they stood motionless, the only thing that witnessed of the fact that something was happening was that on Atem's forehead a third eye started to glow. Draco noted that Bakura still wasn't impressed and decided not to say or ask anything.

The curses never reached their target. They exploded in midair in a lot of green, harmless sparks.

Atem whispered something to the magician, but no one but they heard it. The magician merely nodded.

The eye on the Pharaoh's forehead did not fade once. Instead a tiger appeared. Draco was fairly sure it was a tiger, even though it was not really an average one. It had lower fangs longer than its head and its claws and body were on fire. Draco just got a glimpse at it, with amazing speed it ran forth, at Voldemort who attempted to curse the tiger, but the predator simply jumped out of the way without even loosing speed. When it was about to run over Potter it jumped, flying over the boy and Draco was certain the tiger would literally bite Voldemort's head off. It didn't.

A single claw was stretched down, effectively knocking Nagini of Voldemort's shoulders. The Dark Lord turned as the tiger landed with the massive snake underneath one of his even more massive claws. A horrible sizzling sound came from the snake where the claws burned her skin. Voldemort raised his wand to stop the tiger from dealing the final strike, but was not nearly fast enough. Its claws firmly placed on the body and with its teeth piercing the snakes neck he tore the snake apart.

Voldemort screamed, soundlessly, his face contracted in agony. The entire assembly gawked, everyone but Granger and Weasley, who seemed to have expected something alike.

"How did you know?" Voldemort hissed furiously.

The Pharaoh merely shook his head. "I didn't. I still don't. Someone asked me to kill the snake, so I killed the snake. He also asked me to vanquish you, so I will." The ablaze tiger turned and lounched for Voldemort's throat, but before it could come close Bellatrix hit it with a Stunning Spell. The creature vanished.

Then the castle trembled. Bakura and Draco both held on to a pillar, the edge they were standing on wasn't all that wide. The chance of falling of under such a condition was a bit too large. Still nobody noticed them. "What was that?" Bakura asked.

Draco shook his head. He didn't have a single clue. Bakura looked down, still hanging onto the pillar, Draco followed his example and noticed that it actually was quite deep. The miniature earthquake was followed by a roar that came from the depth Draco was staring down into. He could tell, simply by looking at Bakura, that the roar was good news. Then he looked at the Pharaoh, he simply looked plain shocked.

Draco returned to staring down together with Bakura. The fact that the roar had come from there did not really put him at ease. The castle trembled again, less violent, almost unnoticeable. A next roar sounded closer than the previous one. Whatever the cause was, it was getting closer. "What is that?" he asked Bakura anxious.

Before the albino could answer the creature that was responsible for the sound flew past Draco, missing him with inches to spare. It tore down the roof over the colonnade, making rather large pieces of stone fall down upon the two. Bakura did however not seem to care, he kept looking onto the courtyard, although covering his head with his arms.

When Draco was certain that no more fatal pieces of rubble would fall down upon him he too looked up. The first thing he saw was the large, white stomach of a dragon and the downside of its wings. Looking closer he could tell that someone was sitting on the back of the dragon. What in the world …?

The dragon seemed to hoover in the air for about a minute, then it swooped down, straight at Voldemort.

"Mokuba!" three different voices called out. Mahad sounded rather reproachful, but Atem and Bakura shared a certain tone of shock, only in the Pharaoh's voice it was accompanied by horror while Bakura was simply dumbstruck.

Neither Mokuba nor the dragon seemed to care much. They continued on their courses, heading for the Death Eaters head on. Just before it seemed that the dragon would crash into the assembly of Voldemort's followers it spread its wings and pulled up. All the Death Eaters ducked to avoid its sharp claws and were all unharmed. At first the endeavor seemed pointless, but when Draco got a good look at the situation he saw that one major thing had changed. Potter was gone.

The crowd was not far behind, both Death Eaters and Hogwartians broke out into shocked conversation. Naturally they all looked up at the dragon that sailed over the trees of the Forbidden Forest before turning back towards them. When it came closer again it was apparent that the white dragon was the reason for Potter's disappearance. Potter was there, literally in the claws of the dragon who had scooped him up when it had done its little party trick.

It got worse.

As the dragon was circling above them, the Death Eaters too frightened to do anything, the boy on its back, Mokuba, Draco presumed, leaned down and reached out a hand. "Need some help up?" he asked.

At first Draco found it odd that the boy would ask something like that of someone who was supposed to be dead. He soon lost that thought when he who was presumed to be dead took the hand. "Yeah, thanks."

Cries of joy were heard from the defenders of Hogwarts as the foreigner helped Potter to climb onto the back of the dragon. Granger and Weasley hugged each other, both crying tears of relieve. Several others expressed their happiness and not least, their surprise in different ways. Trelawney chose to faint.

The Pharaoh looked rather horrified and perhaps a bit melancholic, though even on his face surprise was the main expression. One shock after another, Draco found himself feeling rather numb, as if nothing was real. He wondered if he was the only one feeling as if everything happening around them was surreal. He hoped he was, it gave one a rather slow reactions and a poor judgment.

The expression on Voldemort's face was that of utter terror, it was almost as if he wanted to deny that Potter could be alive. Truth be told, so did Draco, not because he did not think he deserved to live, but because it was against everything he knew and believed in. The dead didn't come back to life.

Or did they? He looked at the Pharaoh who stood motionless, looking at Potter. He was dead, wasn't he? So perhaps Potter was … but a ghost? No, not a ghost. Something else perhaps? Or perhaps he had once again survived the Killing Curse? It wouldn't be beyond him. Whatever the case, Potter was there, moving, talking, being

The Pharaoh seemed to foresee how the Hogwartians would react. Before they could throw themselves into a head on head fight with the Death Eaters a large cage fell over them, effectively locking them up. Cries of surprise, anger and protest arose. Many attempted to blast the cage away, but to no avail.

The Pharaoh turned to the people trying to get themselves free. "Please, cease those feeble attempts. It will disperse on its own accord soon enough and for the time being every curse that hit it, be it from the inside or outside will only affect me."

Not all people stopped trying to blast the cage, but most did. Paying more attention to Atem Draco could tell that the ancient king was indeed looking rather uncomfortable, as if he was suppressing something that hurt him. He turned to Mahad and whispered something, whatever answer he received, he did not like it.

The white dragon landed in the space between the now captured crowd and where the Pharaoh and the magician were standing. Potter and Mokuba slid of it rather clumsily but landed on their feet. The magician did not waste any time before telling Mokuba off in a language Draco did not understand, probably Japanese.

The Pharaoh sounded far calmer as he addressed Potter. "You have some explaining to do."

"Marik Ishtar kicked me out", Potter muttered as if that explained everything, throwing a disturbed look at the cage.

Mokuba, Mahad, Atem and Bakura were all staring at Potter as if he had said something completely impossible. Draco wondered how those four still could find anything impossible. "Who's Marik Ishtar?" Draco asked the albino next to him.

"Eh, I don't know him very well, I was out for the vast majority of his scheme. He was a tomb keeper, together with his sister and brother, they guarded the Pharaoh's memories. He deserted and became a very accomplished criminal. He too had power over the shadows, but he relinquished them to the Pharaoh and returned to his family. That is what I've been told, anyway, I believe I've only met him twice. Once at the beginning of the Battle City finals and in … the tomb."

"So my dad killed him", Draco stated and clenched his fists.

Bakura did not reply.

"He's afraid of you guys my dad is. He's even more afraid of you than of Voldemort."

Mahad was done yelling at Mokuba and was instead telling the dragon off. It was beyond Draco why he would be yelling at the dragon, it wouldn't understand anyway, but he supposed the magician had his reasons.

Mokuba in his turn was demanding answers from Atem in a low voice. At times he threw dark glances at Draco's father. It was not hard to guess what they were talking about. It almost seemed as if they all were ignoring the Death Eaters who were all rather dumbstruck, but Draco could tell that Atem had the majority of his attention on Voldemort. Voldemort in his turn could only stare at Potter.

Potter drew his wand, ready for anything.

It was hard to tell what set it off. One moment Mahad was talking to the dragon, the next the dragon roared loudly and jumped over the head of the magician, straight at Lucius Malfoy. There was something furious about every movement the dragon made. The dragon did an attempt to close its jaws around Draco's father's head, but missed, if only barely. It attempted again, but was struck with half a dozen spells. It screamed out in pain and with a swing its tail brought about an equal amount of Death Eaters plummeting to the ground.

"Kisara! No!" Mokuba called out and without thinking dashed forth, throwing two arms around one of 'Kisara's' legs. The dragon turned her long neck to look at him and did an attempt to push him away. "I understand, I loved him too! But you can't! Come on, Kisara!"

It was hard to tell, especially for Draco, what happened next. He had told Bakura that his father feared them, feared them a lot. But he himself had not realized how great that fear was. His father raised a shaking wand and aimed it at Mokuba. Mokuba looked up, his face lit up green in the glow of the spell that was starting to produce from Lucius' wand. Then the green glow died away.

Mokuba stood motionless, staring. He was not the only one. Draco was vaguely aware that he had dashed up the courtyard, he too staring at his father, who had just met his end. A sword was piercing through his chest, the blood hardly visible on the black robes.

Lucius Malfoy fell forth, lifeless, revealing the identity of the person responsible for his death. Ryou Bakura stood with shaking hands, covered in blood, amongst the Death Eaters. Without thinking he had dashed forward when he had seen what Lucius was about to do and literally stabbed him through the back to keep him from killing Mokuba.

Draco's mother screamed and Bakura fell to his knees. Crying. Draco himself was crying as he stumbled a single step towards the albino who had just killed his father, but he could not bring himself to go any further. How could this have happened? Bakura, Bakura who had said that he wished that no one was fighting, had just taken a life. And not just any life.

"I'm sorry", Bakura whispered, as if he did not even know he was saying it. "I'm so sorry."

"Ryou", someone whispered and Draco knew that the voice belonged to Professor Muto. The Pharaoh had vanished and been replaced by the young history teacher. Mokuba was still standing motionless.

Voldemort was facing Harry, Draco's mother was facing Bakura, Professor Muto stood alone and Draco saw everything.

Time stopped.

Erm … this was not really the final chapter that I had expected when I started writing this story … but hey, these things have a mind of its own. I'm not really sure if this counts as a cliffhanger, since this is the last chapter before the Epilogue, but it is intended to feel like one.

Come on, this is one of my last chances to haul in any reviews from you.