Chapter 25: Burn with me
Fred had never felt so ambivalent in his life as when he ported into the headmaster's office around late afternoon the next day. The last hours had been the most intense and wonderful hours of his life and he was still reliving them in his head over and over again. But a few moments earlier he had said his goodbyes to his wife and he was not sure, if he would ever see her again.
Malfoy waited for them at his desk and looked at them with an arrogance that made the impression of him being his father perfect. If Fred hadn't known that it was in fact Draco on the chair, he would have been easily fooled.
"Good evening headmaster," he greeted the wizard with a grin and a bow. "I hope you like the office better than I did."
Draco raised his brows questioningly. "Can't imagine why you didn't like it. All this attention from the staff and the kids. It's positively delightful," the young wizard stated and his voice was dripping with sarcasm.
Fred snorted. "Yeah, exactly. Could you talk to McGonagall, Flitwick, Harry and Neville? We can't duel the ark lord in the corridors. It would be too dangerous for the kids. And we can't evacuate, as it would easily give us away."
Malfoy nodded. "Potter and I thought we should just bring him up here. The office is well warded and far enough away from all the common rooms. And you can be sure that all of the students will scatter away, as soon as they see me with him in school. Most of them aren't complete morons, after all."
Snape's portrait behind him snorted, but didn't comment otherwise.
"Isn't this place a bit too small for a duel?" George asked behind him with a frown. "What if we damage some of the portraits or something else? We could totally wrack the place."
The portrait of professor Dumbledore looked at him with twinkling eyes. "Don't worry Mr Weasley. Those frames are literally indestructible, much to some peoples annoyance. And never forget that duelling in a room like this can have its merits. There is enough cover around here do duck the most damaging curses and you can be assured, that Tom is not a welcome person in these walls. The castle's magic knows that and might act accordingly."
Fred agreed. "Alright. George and I will accompany you under Harry's cloak. If anything goes wrong we don't want you to be without support. Harry and Neville will wait here for us."
Malfoy nodded. "Minerva and Flitwick will keep an eye on us as well and join us if possible in the fight, as soon as it breaks out. Did your wife agree with the task we discussed for her?"
George hummed in agreeance. "She wasn't too happy about the idea of playing prison guard for your father and the others. But I think she was glad, that she could be in the castle at all and join us in the fight, should things go wrong."
"My mother will join her in the dungeons," Draco added with a nod. "She wasn't too thrilled on the prospect either, but as she is happy to be with my father for the time being, she didn't make too much fuzz."
"I guess than all is set. Gentlemen, good luck." With that Fred took the invisibility cloak from under his robes and put it over George and himself. Draco stared at the spot where they stood just a moment earlier and nodded.
"Alright, let's end this."
Malfoy strode across the grounds with an arrogance that must have been a special Malfoy family trait. I was almost painful for George to watch but it had the desired effect. No one dared to approach him on his way down to the Hogwarts gate and gave him a wide berth instead, which was really useful as they didn't have to avoid running into somebody while hidden under the cloak. Because moving under the damn thing as a duo without tripping over each other's feet was almost impossible, even for magical twins. Hopefully they wouldn't be to slow on the way back to the office.
"Stay behind," Malfoy hissed in their direction before he stepped to the gate. Then, with one last look in their direction he took his father's wand and pressed it on his left forearm. Fred held his breath but for a moment nothing happened. He felt his brother shiver next to him with anticipation. But before he could even send a calming thought through the bond, the sound of apparation caught his attention and a dark clad figure appeared in the grass accompanied by a massive brown snake. Fred hadn't seen the dark lord during the battle of Hogwarts but there was no doubt, that it was him. His skin was almost unnaturally white and seemed paper thin, so that the blood vessels below were clearly visible. His head was bald and at the place where the nose should have been in his face, there were only two long slits, that enabled him to breathe. But the most unsettling were his red, snake-like eyes that scanned the area with such a predatory gaze, that Fred was afraid to be spotted even when they were hidden by the cloak.
"Luciusssss," they heard him hiss into Malfoys direction. "We hope you have good reason to call me here. You know that I can be most displeased to be bothered with trifles.
Malfoy sunk to his knees devotedly and bowed his head. "I have cause to believe, that you will be most pleased with me my lord. I had the good fortune to get hold of Potter, when he tried to sneak into the castle. My lord was very wise to send his little blood traitor allies back to Hogwarts."
For a moment Voldemort didn't react at all but stared at the kneeling Malfoy before him with calculating eyes. Fred hoped feverishly that he wouldn't try to use occlumency on him, as he didn't know how versed Malfoy was in the discipline. "Very well," he finally said after what seemed like an eternity. "Where did you store this little present for me my faithful servant?"
"He's unconscious in my new chambers. I left Alecto and Amycus with him, but I doubt the boy will wake up in the next hours. I was quite… thorough."
"Take me to him, Luciusssss…" Voldemort hissed again and petted his snake's head affectionally.
Draco nodded and bowed this head again, before he got up from the ground and slowly strode in the direction of the castle. The dark lord followed him with a calm grace and Nagini at his side und Fred swallowed heavily. Now there was no way back. They'd have to go through with this, no matter what happened.
Hermione hated the dungeons and being forced to watch three unconscious death eaters with no other than Narcissa Malfoy wasn't really improving her mood. At least she knew that the boys were fine, as her new necklace supplied her with glimpses of Voldemort, the snake and Malfoy as they strode towards the castle. Everything was going according to plan and for Hermione it almost felt too good to be true. She couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong, even if she couldn't exactly place it. But she held herself upright and alert and watched the room with wand in hand. Just as the boys reached the corridor to the headmaster's office, she heard it, an almost silent shushing noise that was creeping nearer and nearer. Hermione would have missed it, if she wasn't on high alert and a look towards Mrs Malfoy showed her, that the woman didn't find anything out of order. But Hermione had a sinking feeling what it was and she couldn't help the goose bumps spreading on her skin.
"Watch out," she whispered to the other witch, before pointing her wand in the direction of the noise. It wasn't a moment to late as Mrs Malfoy had just raised her wand, when a gigantic snake slid around the corner into the room. Hermione didn't wait for a signal, before she fired the first curse. She and Snape had discussed the best strategies for battling the snake just a few weeks ago and so the cutting curse and Snape's septumsempra flew easily from her lips. But the snake was an agile and fearless beast and leaped towards them after the first curse missed its target and the second one connected with her thick skin. It wasn't of any use though, as the Snake didn't even seem bothered by it and just moved towards them with predatory determination. Hermione rushed backwards, casting a shield on herself as she moved. But Narcissa stood her ground fiercely and whipped her wand in the direction of the beast and a chain of green flames erupted from the tip that connected with the long body on the ground. The snake hissed dangerously, before she turned around to the older witch and attacked. She leaped from the ground without even a second of forewarning and just as Mrs Malfoy stumbled backwards, the strong jaws of the beast closed around her leg. It was over in seconds. Narcissa fell on the ground like a puppet, her eyes wide with pain and terror, before her body started convulsing violently on the floor. But Hermione couldn't help her, couldn't do anything as the snake had already turned around to her in the knowledge, that her other prey wouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. Hermione had to bring the beast down as fast as possible but there didn't seem to be much that would be able to harm this vessel of the horcrux. Hermione didn't know if the dark lord had cast additional protections on it or if the dark ritual which created such a thing made it almost indestructible to begin with, but her gut told her, that she was running out of options. Would the twins be able to sense that something was wrong and come to her aid? Or were they already fighting themselves? Hermione didn't know and she didn't have the focus to find out though the bond. She needed her full concentration for the fight at hand.
A flick of her wand summoned three hand sized arrows filled with basilisk venom. She and the twins had prepared them weeks ago with the purpose of taking the last horcrux down. Now it was time to test their effectivity. Hermione sliced her wand through the air once more and banned the arrow towards the snake. Two of them hit the beast on the back and even stuck to his skin, but other than that nothing seemed to happen as the snake didn't show the slightest reaction.
There was only one way to end this, Hermione decided with a regretting look towards the dying woman next to her and the unconscious inhabitants of the cells. But there was nothing else she could do.
"I'm sorry," she said towards the other inhabitants of the room before she took the necklace and ripped it from her throat. She set her mouth into a hard line as the silver chain fell from her fingers and clattered to the ground next to her feet. And a second later the first spark of fiendfire left the tip of her wand.
George eyed the snake in front of them with distrust as it slithered across the ground. The animal seemed to be protected by something like a violet globe that surrounded it from every direction. There was no saying how they would be able to get through that thing but they would have to try anyway. And he had the sinking feeling that it would be anything but easy.
Voldemort moved into the castle with silent grace and George could have sworn that the man was floating and not walking on his own two feet. But it was hard so say with these long black robes. The halls of the castle seemed totally deserted but he knew that this couldn't be the case. Their family and the professors would be nearby and keep watch over them, even if George wasn't able to see them. But the knowledge that there were others that would join them in the fight was somewhat relieving.
They arrived the entrance to the headmaster's office all too soon and Morty the gargoyle opened the way for them without waiting for a password. He also nodded at them silently and let them through, before closing the passage right behind them.
As Malfoy had promised, Harry was on the floor of the headmaster's office and looked dead to the world. Next to him were the doppelgängers of the Carrow twins and George couldn't help but wonder who had taken Harry's place as ugly death eater witch.
"Well, this is certainly a very nice trap you prepared here Draco," the dark lord said in an almost bored tone and studied the scene in front of him. "I would certainly be inclined to forgive you your impertinence and grant you a painless death just for the fact, that you really brought me young Harry Potter. Even though the boy is far from unconscious, I fear."
At that Harry leaped to his feet and stared at his greatest enemy with hard green eyes. "Hello Tom, it's so nice you came looking for me," he said in an almost cheerful tone that George could only admire. Well, the boy had fought the wizard more than once and lived, but that was not something he could say for himself. "Say, what gave us away?"
At that Voldemort gave a cold humourless laugh. "I can always tell who of my marked servants is calling me," he supplied with an almost amused grin. "Even though the servant in question is currently under the influence of polyjuice." George cursed inwardly. The bastard must have kept this bit of information a secret, as Snape would surely hinted to the error in their plan otherwise.
But Harry didn't even seem surprised and just nodded calmly. "I see. But you came anyway, and you brought your little pet. You must be very sure of yourself."
"I could say the same for you, Potter. But know, I will not be beaten by a hand full of school boys!" With that the wizard leaped into action. Nightmarish, dementor-like creatures erupted from his wand and flew towards Harry and the others, who tried to shoot them down with stunners and cutting curses. But the other Carrow sibling flicked their wand in their direction and a moment later four little white mice fell to the floor instead. And George knew instantly that it was Minerva, who was fighting at their side. He didn't wait for Voldemort's next move and emerged from under the invisibility cloak to throw a hand full of small glass beads on the floor. For a moment nothing happened but then an animated copy of himself appeared on each spot and pointed its wand on Riddle. At the same moment he ported himself into Riddles back and shot an array of electrical bolts towards the wizard. They impacted with his back with a fizzing sound, but nothing else happened. Shouldn't these things just stop his heart? Merlin, what if the bastard didn't have one to begin with?
"Very amusing," their enemy commented before summoning a violent storm, that threw him and the others off their feet and banished his animated copies at the same time. Damn. George groaned on the floor but scrambled back to his feet as fast as he could. But Voldemort was staring at them with a gleeful smirk.
"Where's the snake?" Neville asked behind him with something like panic.
"You mean the nice little illusion I let myself follow around?" the dark wizard asked, while shooting a purple curse towards Neville, which ripped him from his feet and left him unconscious at the floor. "Did you really think I would bring her here with me into a trap? Well, I must disappoint you. Nagini is playing downstairs and found herself a nice little mudblood snack. I'm really sorry for your mother Draco, but I think she might have gotten in the way."
George's body froze to ice at these words, while his heart thrummed violently in his chest. "Hermione!" he shouted and threw a modified cutting curse towards the wizard, but the curse was blocked with a bored flicker of Riddle's wrist. It was a nightmare. His wife needed him, but they had no chance to get to her, as the fight with Voldemort himself needed their full attention. The next minutes flew by in a haste of shielding spells and curses that came from all directions. His cry for Hermione had broken all their resolve and everyone attacked at once. He couldn't have named all the spells that were cast, but somehow they had managed the impossible, because suddenly the dark wizard stumbled and looked at them with wide eyes. That was all invitation Harry needed. In a flurry of motion his friend was suddenly behind Voldemort and a large Basilisk tooth gleamed in his hand. "That is for my parents, you bastard," he shouted before he slammed it down into the neck of his enemy. It was an unholy scream that filled the room, as ink black blood oozed from the wound, while smoke poured from the wizard's eyes and mouth. It lasted only a second, before it was all over and a pile of black clothes covered in thick black liquid was all that remained of him-who-would-never-again-be-feared.
"We did it," George gasped just as his knees gave out and he slid to the floor. "We got him."
But Fred was already on his way to the door. "The snake!" he shouted before he ripped the door open and ran outside. And then it hit George like a bludger into the stomach. He could no longer feel his wife. Where her presence had been in his head strong and calming, was now nothing but emptiness. He staggered to his feet with a tired groan and rushed to the door. "Somebody stay with Neville and get him to the infirmary," he shouted before stumbling through the doorframe. "The rest of you follow me. We need to get to the dungeons." And George feverishly prayed that they wouldn't be too late.
Battling Voldemort's snake with fiendfire was an entirely different thing then burning Bellatrix' dead body with the spell. Where the latter lay unmoving in front of her, the snake was determined to kill her, before the flames could even touch it. Using the spell in small doses was completely useless as the snake simply moved aside or dodged her spells, like it was driven by a human mind. Knowing that behind these yellow eyes lured the mind of the most evil wizard in existence was nothing short of terrifying. But Hermione would be damned if she wouldn't at least drag the damn beast down with her.
The decision was made in a split second. It was a ruthless move but it was the only thing she could think of. Hermione whipped her wand through the air and a moment later a wall of fiendfire grew around the snake. It was taking all of her energy to control the flames and stop them from breaking free but it seemed to be working. The snake hissed furiously inside of his prison as the walls of flames crawled closer and closer. With a last act of power Hermione willed the walls of fiendfire to tighten further and finally the horcrux gave a shriek of rage and pain before lighting up like a torch. Hermione quenched the flame walls immediately, but it was already too late, because there was nothing she could do about the winding and burning snake on the ground, that threw the sparks of fiendfire across the room like candy. It was a matter of seconds, before even the walls had caught fire and the floor around her was going up in flames.
"That's it," Hermione realized with horror and with a last act of desperation she tried to crush the flames with her magic, but it was all for naught. As the last sparks of her magic left through her wand she could feel the blackness take hold of her mind and pull her down, as her magical core bled out. "The boys will be so sad," was the last thing that came to her mind, as her body hit the floor. And somewhere far away she could hear the cry of a phoenix.