Hermione stared numbly at the slain body of the snake like creature that had been Voldemort. He looked smaller somehow now, frail and weak - it suddenly struck Hermione that Riddle must have been at least in his sixties.

"Are we sure he's dead?" Ron asked awkwardly.

"He must be." Harry replied "There's a body, there wasn't a body last time was there?"

He addressed the question to Snape but Snape didn't answer, instead he was rolling up the sleeve of his left arm to reveal a bare forearm. The Dark Mark had vanished – Voldemort's magic had died with him.

"He is dead." Snape confirmed.

Snape's words shook Hermione out of her state of shock and she hit Harry hard on the arm.

"Oww" Harry rubbed the spot where she'd struck him again "What was that for?"

"Don't you ever do something like that again Harry Potter!" She ordered him crossly trying to keep tears at bay as she remembered his body crumpling to the ground from the killing curse.

"What die?" Harry attempted to joke but it fell flat.

"You coming back better have been part of the plan the whole time." Ron warned seriously.

Harry and Snape looked at each other and Harry replied "It was."

Hermione got the feeling they weren't hearing the whole story "But why didn't you…" She started but was cut off by a very angry and very familiar voice.

"SEVERUS SNAPE! You step away from those children right now!" Professor McGonagall was charging down the path towards the lake with her wand aloft and wearing a terrifying expression of righteous anger.

She was followed by Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott of all people. All of the group had their wands raised and directed at Snape as they ran towards them and a second later Hermione realised they had awoken Hagrid for the half giant was also bounding towards them quickly catching up thanks to his long strides.

Hermione craned her neck to the castle and saw many of the windows were lit.

"Snape! You despicable, lying traitor, how dare you…" McGonagall ranted and in her haste she almost tripped over the dead body of Voldemort. "Is that…is that…"

"Oh dear" Hermione said and lit her wand to add to the light given by the moonlight "Hello Professor McGonagall."

"Alright Neville." Ron and Harry greeted cheerfully.

"Blimey" Neville whispered, his eyes widening at the sight before him.

"Is that..." Flitwick began.

"...You Know Who..." Hannah whispered in awe

"...dead?" Hagrid finished in astonishment.

"Harry defeated him" Hermione explained brightly.

"And we helped" Ron added.

"You helped defeat Voldemort Severus?" Professor McGonagall questioned in consternation "That's impossible."

"I had no idea you were so fond of the Dark Lord Minerva." Snape drawled "Had we known we would have waited for you to say goodbye."

McGonagall glared at him scathingly "You cannot just keep switching sides whenever..." she begun but it was hard to hear the rest of the tirade of the multitude of questions that suddenly burst forth from the others.

"Where have yer been Harry?" Hagrid asked "I was worried. Running away from the Lupins like that..."

"Where's Luna? Did you manage to get into Azkaban?" Neville asked.

"Are we sure he's dead?" Hannah looked warily at the body.

"But how?" Flitwick spluttered "Killing curses have never worked on He Who must not be Named before."

"Have you three been hiding the castle the whole time?" Sprout shot off quickly "Severus, you were on our side? Does this mean that Dumbledore is not really dead?"

Sprout's last question drew everyone else's attention and they instantly fell into a hushed silence waiting for Snape to answer.

"Dumbledore is dead." Snape answered heavily "I killed him...

"At his own request" Ron piped up and then only slightly cowed from Snape's glare at his interruption added "He was dying anyway you see."

"Ron's right" Hermione supported "Dumbledore's portrait told us himself."

"Dumbledore's portrait is awake?" McGonagall was taken aback.

"And as irritating as its real life counterpart was." Snape snapped "But we don't have time for this. You can question the portrait and investigate my allegiances at length later. In three hours the sun will rise and Death Eaters will wake to find that their Dark Marks have vanished. It will not take them long to work out that the Dark Lord is dead."

"Snape's right" Harry agreed "We don't have much time to catch them before they go underground."

"Or carry out reprisal attacks" Neville added darkly "They did last time." And Hermione remembered that the Longbottoms had not been tortured until after Voldemort had fallen the first time.

"Very well, Hagrid summon the Order" McGonagall ordered taking charge in a very business-like fashion.

"Right o', Pr'fesser." Hagrid said and thundered of to his cabin, the ground shaking as he went.

"Filius, Ponoma we will need to make sure no news of this reaches the outside world until we no longer need the element of surprise. You will need to cut off the floo network and guard the Owlery." McGonagall paused thoughtfully "It might be worth keeping an eye on the Slytherins as well, do you have any objection Professor Snape?"

"None whatsoever."

"Very well, ask Horace to help you, we should be able to rely on him now the danger is gone to the school"

Sprout and Flitwick both nodded "Of course" and "Right away Minerva" before hurrying back up to the school.

"Longbottom, Miss Abbott we will also need you to summon Dumbledore's Army" then McGonagall frowned sternly "But only those of age."

"Yeah, only those of age." Harry and Ron agreed quickly and Hermione knew they were both thinking of Ginny and perhaps Luna too.

Neville and Hannah nodded and were just about to return to the school when Snape stopped them.

"One moment Longbottom." He demanded striding up to tower over Neville which was difficult considering Neville seemed to have grown a lot since Hermione had last saw him. Snape managed nevertheless as his black cloak billowed impressively and he gave Neville a cowering sneer. "I have something to say to you."

"Longbotton, you have been a nuisance since your first day at this school; you have been abysmal in classes, disrupted lessons, destroyed school equipment and in general been an embarrassment to your peers, your house and this school." Snape hissed and several people took an intake of breath at the sudden apparent cruelty "This year you went further, you have vandalised the school, attacked teachers, broken every rule possible and brought others into your disreputable behaviour. You have been rude, belligerent and have attempted to sabotage almost every attempt I made to protect the student body of this school, succeeding at several times to put other children in danger."

There was a tense pulsating pause during which time Neville gulped "Ye...Yeah well..." He started obviously more bravely than he felt "What are you going to do about it?"

"I tell you what I'm going to do about it." Snape hissed dangerously "I'm going to make you...Head Boy."

"You and who's arm..." Neville started to fight back before Snape's final words sunk in and he went very pale. Hermione thought he was going to faint, Hannah evidently did too for she held his arm in support "Hea...Head Boy?"

Harry and Ron burst out laughing and even Hermione couldn't help but smile.

"Yes it is a tedious and time consuming role that is a fit punishment for all the trouble you have caused me." Snape drawled casually "Miss Abbott has been just as must a delinquent so I suppose she should be Head Girl."

Hannah gave a high pitched squeak "Really?" she asked excitedly.

"I cannot think of two students who deserve it more." Professor McGonagall echoed. Harry, Ron and Hermione all congratulated the pair heartily "I do feel sorry for Miss Parkinson and Mr Nott."

"They will get over it." Snape said carelessly "They will have enough to worry about after tonight."

"Speaking of which...what do we do with that?" Ron nodded to Voldemort's corpse that still lay between them on the ground as Neville and Hannah ran back up to the school.

Hermione met Harry's eyes as they looked at the body with contempt. She knew what he was thinking - that Voldemort could not rise again.

"Incendio" They both pointed their wands at the corpse and it burst into blood red flames.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Snape and Professor McGonagall watched as the flames burned and shrivelled away grey snakelike skin and robes until Voldemort was no more.

oOoOoOo

"You're mad. We're about to fight Death Eaters and you..." Ron spluttered in astonishment "You are absolutely barking."

They were walking down the stone spiral staircase from the Headmaster's office where they had gone to tell Dumbledore's portrait the good news. Whilst they were there Harry had also filled them in on the Deathly Hallows.

"So if Wormtail hadn't have disarmed Draco and you hadn't run into Wormtail..." Hermione said stringing together the trail of the Elder wand "Even if Dean hadn't fallen unconscious on the boat and just given your wand back to you...wow...we were really lucky."

"It was fate, Harry was always meant to do the Dark Lord in" Ron shrugged "It said so in the prophecy."

"Harry's just told you that's not what the prophecy meant" Hermione scolded him "And there's no such thing as fate."

Ron ignored her and turned to Harry in exasperation as they walked to the staff room "But did you have to destroy it?" He complained "You could have given it to me. I'm stuck with Carrow's stinky wand till I get mine back from Luna."

Harry had broken the Elder Wand in two after using it to repair his own Holly wand in the Headmaster's Office. He told them after the fight he would put the pieces back in Dumbledore's grave.

"I like my wand" Harry said loyally "Besides that wand was more trouble than its worth."

"But it would have been fascinating to test it out just a little." Hermione bemoaned even though she knew Harry was right "To see if the legends are true. I still can't believe that The Tale of Three Brothers was based partly in fact...I wonder if the library has any books on the Perevells."

Ron and Harry smirked. "One thing at a time." Harry advised pushing the door open to the staff room.

Hermione had never been inside the staff room before; it was warm with a roaring fire and squishy arm chairs that reminded her of the Gryffindor common room. Except that the crests of all four houses hung over the fireplace and the curtains and hangings were a deep rich purple.

It was also much bigger than the Headmaster's Office which was fortunate because it was currently bursting to the seams with members of the Order, Dumbledore's Army and Hogwarts staff.

In the centre was a large table where Kingsley, Snape, Remus Lupin and Mr Weasley stood muttering over long scrolls of parchment, some of which looked like maps. Mrs Weasley was standing by the fireplace having a very heated discussion with Ginny on whether she could fight and Sirius was following Professor McGonagall around as she handed out instructions.

"Do you really believe we can trust him, just like that?"

"For Merlin's sake Sirius." McGonagall rolled her eyes "You heard it from Dumbledore's portrait itself."

In the corner Fred and George Weasley were changing out of their pajamas and into robes and laughing with Lee Jordan. Ernie MacMillan was also dressing having apparently been caught by the summons unawares, he was doing so very awkwardly as he was trying to change whilst levitating his dressing gown in front of him for privacy.

Bill was going around checking people's wands whilst Fleur and Percy were handing out cups of tea and slices of toast.

Professor Sprout, Dedaldus Diggle and Elphias Doge were having a very animated discussion with what appeared to be the barman at the Hog's Head. And Cho Chang, Angelina Johnson and Terry Boot were looking over defense books together and pointing things out.

"Wow, how long were we?" Ron asked quietly apparently as shocked as Hermione that almost everyone they knew had seemingly materialised and begun organising in the short time that they had been in the Headmaster's Office.

Hermione spotted Draco standing off awkwardly to one side not talking to anyone. She felt her heart beat a little faster at seeing him and made a little wave but he looked in the other direction avoiding her eye.

Charlie Weasley was the next person to realise they had entered the room. "OI Everybody! They're here!"

The noisy chatter and serious discussions died down to a hush as the fifty or so people turned to look at them. Then somebody, and Hermione suspected it might have been Neville, began to clap. Other people joined in and before they knew it applause was thundering throughout the room and people were rushing up to congratulate them.

Lots of people started shaking their hands and patting them on the back, mostly Harry but Hermione was hugged by a few people she had never spoken to.

"Good show." Ernie MacMillan praised "Always knew you'd do it. Didn't I say Susan, Potter will do it, didn't I?"

"Can't tell you have happy I am" Sturgis Podmore gushed "When Snape showed me the Dark Mark had gone I'm not ashamed to say I burst into tears."

"About time you showed up." Bill joked.

"Oh you are zo brave" Fleur praised "And zo young, I sought you must be killed because you are zo young."

Mrs Weasley elbowed her way to the front and swept them all up in a big hug "I've never been so terrified, so relieved and so proud." She wept.

Once she had released them Harry almost ran to greet Sirius and Ginny and Ron was nearly crushed in a hug sandwich between his father and Percy.

"I was such an idiot, such a fool." Percy moaned "Can you ever forgive me; I tried to rescue you I really did..."

"That's really alright." Ron said trying to pry himself free so he could go and greet Luna who had just flooed into the fireplace with a much healthier looking Dean.

"Hey Granger!" Fred Weasley came up behind her and ruffled up her already tangled bushy hair "Thanks for saving ickle Ronnikins for us."

"Oi!" Ron yelled somehow able to hear halfway across the room.

"We'll try not to take it too personally that you abandoned us in the middle of the night broken hearted." George added appearing on her other side.

"Not that we worried when you left without a note of course." Fred continued airily "Our Hermione's a free spirit we said, there's no tying her down."

"It's completely like her to just vanish without saying a word."

"No need to panic or call out a search party, Miss Responsibility's just disappeared into thin air, that's all."

Hermione took no notice as they joked either side of her; instead her attention was drawn straight ahead to where Draco was standing by the window pointedly looking out.

George noticed where her gaze was directed and said "Although Fred and I may not have been the most broken hearted." And the two left to join the growing number of Weasleys crowding around Ron.

Hermione took a deep breath and approached Draco, on her way passing Harry and Ginny who were holding onto each other very tightly.

"Hello" She smiled tentatively.

Draco raised his head and met her eyes, his own were closed off "Granger." He nodded perfunctorily as if they were mere acquaintances.

"I…" Hermione stuttered and then suddenly words were gushing out of her "I know what you must be thinking and Fred and George have just told me off but I didn't mean to disappear….You see Dumbledore left this object called a Deluminator to Ron and we didn't know what it was and somehow it ended up with me. But I didn't know what it did, I promise, I was just examining it that night because I was thinking about Ron…not that I think about Ron…he's just my friend and I was only thinking about him because he's my friend and he was in Azkaban. Then somehow the Deluminator took me to Azkaban…" she didn't mention that she heard Ron calling her name through the Deluminator as she didn't think that would help "…I swear I didn't ask it to and I wouldn't have touched if I knew it could do that. Well I probably would have because he's my friend…"she admitted "But I definitely would have told you and the twins first and I would have planned first properly because trust me it was not my intention to arrive in Azkaban unprepared."

She said all of this very quickly and when she was finished waited anxiously for Malfoy's reaction. His face was hard to read, it was a still as stone betraying nothing and the Black high cheekbones did not even twitch.

Finally he gave a careless shrug and simply said "Whatever."

Hermione frowned "Whatever?" she repeated feeling more than a bit irritated at his reaction or lack thereof "Is that all you have to say?"

"Look Granger what you do is your own business." Malfoy drawled as though he was very bored by the whole thing "If you want to run off and save Weasley then be my guest, you don't owe me any explanation. The only reason I'm here is for my parents."

Hermione felt like she had been slapped "You seemed to think it was your business when…" she started angrily but was interrupted a loud banging on the table in the centre of the room and McGonagall clearing her throat.

"Thank you everybody, can I have your attention please." She called everyone to a hush her commanding Scottish brogue "I want to thank you for all coming here tonight, or rather this morning as it soon will be, on such short notice. As you will be aware by now Voldemort…" several people shivered at the name "…has been defeated…" several others cheered "…thank you. But his followers remain at large and we have little time if we are to strike before they realise, that is to say…the game is up. Kingsley…"

"Thank you Professor." Kingsley said before addressing the room at large "Not all of you will remember the chaos that followed the first war, in the celebrations wizards let their guard down and Death Eaters and others that followed Voldemort lashed out or attempted to regain control. They carried out despicable revenge attacks that caused terrible consequences. This time has the potential to be worse."

"This time Death Eaters took control of the Ministry, they introduced their own laws, dark creatures were given unparalleled freedoms to use muggle areas as their hunting grounds – they will not give up without a fight." Snape warned "Some will destroy evidence and claim to have been under the Imperius Curse and some will flee but others will die seeking revenge and there are a few who will attempt to take the Dark Lord's place and retain control of the Wizarding World. They will be a rallying point for others."

"Which is why we need to strike now, before they are aware Voldemort has been defeated, whilst many of them still sleep and have yet to notice the Dark Mark has faded." Kingsley continued and Hermione couldn't help but glance down at Draco's arm, it was covered by a long black sleeve.

Kingsley picked up one of the scrolls from the table "We will carry out three strikes." He announced "Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape will lead the largest team to Malfoy Manor, Voldemort's headquarters to secure the Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy. Lestrange is highly dangerous and will likely try to fight to the death, hopefully by catching her unawares we can prevent that. We believe Malfoy may be more cooperative." His eyes drifted in Draco's direction who shifted uncomfortably.

"Once Lestrange, Malfoy and the headquarters have been secured I will lead a small team to capture Demetrius Yaxley in his home in Chester. The others will split up into pairs and each be assigned a Death Eater to arrest." McGonagall continued.

"Meanwhile I shall lead a team to take back the Ministry of Magic; once the building is secure we will signal that prisoners can start to be brought to the Ministry to be held in its cells." Kingsley announced "We will also call an emergency session of the Wizengamot with the intention of removing Pius Thickness as Minister for Magic and making all of this err…legal."

There was a small titter that went round the room.

"Remus." Kingsley gestured for the werewolf.

"Bill and I will head the final team to Diagon Alley. I will lead a smaller team into Knockturn Alley where Fenrir Greyback and a few other assortments of unobliging werewolves, vampires and hags are based. These too will be transferred to Ministry cells on Kingsley's signal. Once they have been transferred we will rejoin the rest of the team in Diagon Alley outside Gringotts."

"We estimate that by this time word of You Know Who's defeat will have got out" Bill explained "We expect many Death Eaters and other followers to head to Gringotts before their accounts are frozen in order to support them on the run. Unfortunately goblins don't celebrate Christmas and therefore the bank will be open. Also unfortunately they don't tend to listen former employees and will serve anyone unless they are in debt or the account has been frozen by a Ministry Decree."

Bill took a deep breath "This means that until the accounts are frozen we expect a large number of Death Eaters and followers to head to Gringotts first on learning of the fall of You Know Who."

"It is for this reason that we are asking you to please join Bill's team outside Gringotts once you have completed your own missions." McGonagall added.

At some point during the instructions Hermione had a better chance to take in the room around her and she realised that most of the people here were in Dumbledore's Army not the Order of the Phoenix. This, she realised, was not because Order members had not answered the call but over the past two years several had been murdered.

Most of the people fighting tonight had never been in a real duel before.

Hermione looked at Draco who was still avoiding her eye and marched up to Snape "I would like to go to Malfoy Manor." she announced.

"Me too" Harry appeared by her side, along with Ron.

People were milling about now either being asking to be in certain teams or picked by team leaders.

Snape who was looking intently down had his scroll said "Granger yes, Potter, Weasley out of the question.

Hermione smiled whilst Harry and Ron spluttered angry indignations.

"We're just as good duellers as Hermione" Ron said "In fact I reckon we're better than a lot of people here."

"And I've fought Bellatrix before, we know what to expect." Harry argued.

Before Snape could answer however Kingsley appeared and said "Potter, I need you and Longbottom with me."

"But I..." Harry started to protest.

"I know it might not be as glamorous as Voldemort's headquarters or Knockturn Alley." Kingsley drawled "But if we are to convince the Wizengamot that Voldemort has been defeated and new legislation is needed quickly, the boy who lived...twice...can help with that."

"Couldn't I..."

"Plus I need you to vote." Kingsley added casually.

"Vote?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes you and Longbottom have inherited seats in the Wizengamot from your fathers, didn't you know?"

"Rich pureblood families have often held ancestral seats in the Wizengamot" Snape said mockingly "It's your birth right Potter."

"Harry that's really useful… if not incredibly undemocratic and elitest."

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, you were under the impression that the wizarding world was democratic?" Snape mocked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry, it appeared, was still coming to terms with the fact he could vote on laws in the highest legislative body in the country.

"What about me?" Ron asked "What do you need me to do?"

"We need you in Diagon Alley." Snape smirked "Your mother wants you with her."

"Is it just me or are you really starting to miss the old miserable Snape?" Ron muttered as they walked away from the table where others were beginning to crowd to get their orders.

"Well..." Harry started patting his hands by his side awkwardly "It looks like we're going to be split up again."

Hermione and Ron's faces fell as they realised this was indeed true.

"Oh come here" she burst and wrapped her arms around both of them which was difficult to do as both Harry and Ron were much taller than her. They hugged her back.

"Come back safe." She said, her words muffled a little by a mouthful of Harry's jumper.

"We'll see you on the other side." Harry promised quietly.

"And you can both give me my Christmas presents." Ron joked and the other two gave strained laughs as they parted. People were moving about more decisively now lining up against the fireplace to use the floo.

"Posts everyone!" McGonagall called.

.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter and the story so far (both positive and negative reviews welcome)