April 19th 1998
No matter how Hermione tried, she could not refute Draco's theory. "Crap, this isn't good."
"Can't you do what you did with the diadem?" Draco asked.
"I can, but if Harry finds out before we can warn him …" Hermione groaned. "You know Dumbledore's left Harry some kind of message telling him he needs to die or something."
"Well, Dumbledore wouldn't know about the spell you just used, would he?" Draco asked fairly. "I assume it was one of the spells from Salazar's journal?"
"It was," Hermione said, "but he told us that there were several ways of destroying a Horcrux without destroying the vessel. We couldn't use them, because we don't have the power, but Jen or Dumbledore could manage it."
"Well, we won't find him by standing here," Draco said. "Come on."
Drawing their wands, they left the Room of Hidden Objects to re-join the fight.
It was clear immediately that the situation in the castle at deteriorated immensely; the walls and ceilings were shaking and dust filled the air.
Lighted wands were approaching the doors and it was a matter of time before Hogwarts was breached completely.
Down on the third floor, they found Ron and Ginny, standing at the broken window, sending jinxes and curses out at the approaching army.
"We've dealt with the diadem," Hermione said, sucking in a breath as Grawp appeared out of the Forest, lumbering towards the Death Eaters with a roar.
"Let's hope he stops on some of them," Ron said, as the screams grew louder.
"As long as it's none of our lot," Ginny said, firing a well-aimed hex and knocking at least two Death Eaters off their feet.
"Good girl," Jen said as she joined them. "They look like they're breaching the North Battlements; they've brought giants of their own."
"We've had to abandon the plans," Ron said. "We never anticipated anything on this scale. The flight teams are a no-go anyway, because of the Dementors."
"Jen, you need to get out of here," Draco said.
"Not until I find Remus," Jen said firmly. She might have said more, but a curse hit the side of the castle and they all ducked as the window frame shattered.
"What's the new plan?" Hermione shouted over the noise.
"Fight!" Ron shouted back. "Jen, go home!"
"I can't," Jen answered.
"Jen …" Hermione began.
"No, I can't," Jen repeated. "I'm in labour; there's no time, and I can't Portkey – it's too dangerous."
Hermione cursed. "Come on!" She dragged Jen into one of the alcoves abandoned by a suit of armour, setting up a protective bubble of enchantments.
"That's all we need," Ginny said, frowning. "Will she be okay?"
"I want to know what she's even doing here," Draco said. "Remus can handle himself; she's not usually this …"
He was cut off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable sounds of duelling filled the already dust-filled air.
Ginny's heart sank.
The Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts.
"You two stay here!" Ron yelled, sprinting away.
We need to find Harry, Draco said privately. Hermione and I think he might be a Horcrux.
Ginny cursed out loud, but any other panic would have to wait, for at that moment, Fred and Percy backed into view, both duelling masked and hooded men. Where the hell did they come from?!
Might be seventh years if they got up here so fast, Draco suggested, as they ran forwards to help.
Jets of light flew in every direction as they forced the Death Eaters back; as one of the men turned, his hood slipped and they recognised him as Albert Runcorn, former High Inquisitor and Headmaster of Hogwarts and current Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Percy's immediate boss, proving Draco at least half-wrong.
Percy didn't show any sign of surprise. "By the way, Runcorn, did I mention I'm resigning?" He cried, sending a hex at him.
"You're joking, Perce!" Fred shouted gleefully, as the Death Eater he was duelling collapsed under the weight of three Stunning Spells. "You're actually joking! I don't think I've heard you joke since you were …"
The air exploded.
They had been grouped together – Ginny, Draco, Fred, Percy and the two Death Eaters, one Stunned, the other coughing violently – and, in that moment, when danger had seemed, if only temporarily, at bay, the world was ripped apart.
Ginny felt herself flying through the air and all she could do was hold on as tightly as possible to her one and only weapon. Draco's hand grasped her wrist and pulled her to him in mid-air, covering them both with a Shield Charm; she could hear screams and yells, without a hope of knowing who they belonged to.
And then, just as suddenly, it all stopped, the world reduced to pain and darkness.
Ginny found herself and Draco half-buried in the wreckage of a corridor that had been subjected to a horrific attack; cold air told her that the side of the castle had been blown away and there was something warm trickling down her cheek.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked shakily, helping her to her feet.
"Yeah, I think it's just a small cut," Ginny said, wiping the blood from her face. "Where's Hermione and Jen?"
As she asked, both women came into view, emerging from the dust that hung in the air like fog.
"Are you both okay?" Draco asked. "Where's the baby?"
"We've given her as much protection as we can," Jen answered, her face white. "She's going to have to stay there." She healed the cut on Ginny's head. "Are you both alright?"
"We're fine," Draco answered for both of them.
A shout went up behind them, and they stumbled together over the stone and wood, towards the horrible cry that seemed to echo through the corridor, expressing an agony that no curse could home to match.
"NO!" Someone was shouting. "Fred – no!"
And Percy was shaking their brother, who was lying, eyes closed, in the middle of the rubble, the ghost of a laugh still echoed on his face.
"NO!" Ginny fell to her knees, collapsing onto her brother's chest, feeling Draco rest a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, hearing him offer tentative words of apology to Percy,
Then, amazingly, she realised the flesh beneath her was moving. "He's alive!"
"What?" Percy choked out.
Ginny brushed the dirt from her fallen brother's face, trailing her fingers down to his neck, to the pulse point and, sure enough, a faint beating was evident below her fingers. "He's alive, He's got a pulse; he's breathing."
Jen cast a quick diagnosis spell. "He'll be fine. Excuse me." She sprinted into the darkness of the school, to be replaced by Ron, who had fought his way back.
At the sight of his brother, he fell to his knees, face pale and grime-covered.
"He's alive," Ginny whispered. "He's just unconscious."
But then a body fell pass the hole blown into the side of the school, vanishing on the way – it was one of theirs, but they were alive, at least for now –and curses flew in at them from the darkness.
"Get down!" Draco shouted. He and Ron had already grabbed Ginny and Hermione and pulled them to the floor, but Percy stayed where he was, shielding Fred from further damage.
"We've got to move!" Hermione said sharply, but Percy shook his head.
Ron seized his older brother's shoulders and pulled, but Percy wouldn't budge. "Percy, there's nothing we can do. Even if we could get him to the hospital wing, there's no one there – why didn't his Portkey activate?"
"He gave it to an injured student," Percy said hoarsely. "They didn't have one."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, get out of the way!"
Ron, Hermione and Ginny finally managed to wrench Percy away and Draco sent a jet of green light at Fred that caused him to vanish.
"Where is he?!" Percy demanded.
"Ravenscroft Manor," Draco said. "It's a Malfoy transportation spell. Why must you insist on complicating things that are really quite simple?"
"Simple?" Ginny repeated. "Last time you used that spell, you were unconscious for two weeks."
"I'm not half-unconscious this time," Draco reassured her. "And I've been practicing."
Hermione screamed and, as everyone spun around, they didn't need to ask why: a monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall.
"REDUCTO!" The spells collided, and the monster was blown backwards, its legs jerking, vanishing into the darkness.
Ron ran to the hole to watch its descent. "It brought friends! The Death Eaters must have infiltrated through Aragog's nest!"
Hermione ran to his side and they fired Stunning Spells down at the leader, knocking it into its followers so they all fell into the darkness.
More curses came soaring over Hermione's head, so close she felt them lift her hair as they passed. "We need to move! Now!"
Draco had pushed Ginny ahead of him, and he, Ron Hermione and Percy ran after her into the next corridor, which was swarming with people, whether friends or foes, it was difficult to tell.,
"ROOKWOOD!" Percy yelled, sprinting after another Death Eater, but Draco pulled the rest of them behind a tapestry on to a hidden staircase.
"What are we going to do now?" Ginny asked in a hushed voice as they huddled a few steps down.
"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "Where's Harry?"
"I saw him briefly," Ron said. "He went to Dumbledore's office to see if he left anything that could help us."
Hermione gave a little moan.
"We need to get to him," Draco said firmly.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Harry might be one of them," Hermione said. "We need to find him, before he figures that out as well, and does something stupid!"
Before Ron could respond, the tapestry was ripped away to reveal to Death Eaters.
Before they could even raise their wands, Hermione reacted. "Glisseo!"
The stairs beneath their feet flattened into a chute and all four hurtled down it, unable to control their speed but fast enough to avoid the curses that flew harmlessly over their heads.
They shot through the concealing tapestry at the bottom and spun around. While it was only Quidditch reflexes that kept the others on their feet, Hermione had been ready and pointed her wand at the tapestry. "Duro!"
There were two loud crunches as the tapestry turned to stone and the Death Eaters pursuing them crumpled against it.
They ran down the next staircase to the first floor and found themselves in another corridor full of chaos. The portraits were crammed with figures, screaming advice and encouragement, while Death Eaters, masked and unmasked, duelled students.
Every now and then, one of the students would pull a Dark Mark distractor from their pocket and throw it into the fray; like the Detectors, they sought out the Dark Mark and, unlike the Detectors, attached themselves to the Death Eaters' arms, distracting them and allowing the students to get a few shots in.
Fred and George must have brought supplies with them and got them dispersed before the Death Eaters got in.
They dropped to the floor as a green light flew over their heads and struck the wall behind them, sending pieces of stone flying everywhere.
Ginny screamed as one piece hit a student in the back of the head, but his Portkey activated before he hit the floor.
The foursome raised their wands at once, ready to strike, but the duellers were weaving and darting around so much that there was a strong risk of striking their own side if they cast curses.
As they waited for an opportunity to act, Peeves zoomed over them, dropping Snargaluff pods on the Death Eaters' heads, which were suddenly engulfed in wriggling, green tubers like fat worms.
"Brilliant, Peeves!" Hermione cried.
Peeves gave her a salute. "Don't mention it, your Ladyship."
Dean made the most of the Death Eaters' momentary distraction, knocking one of them out with a Stunning Spell, while Parvati hit the other one with a Body-Bind Curse. The two students darted forwards and clapped Portkeys to the two men, transporting them away.
"Let's go!" Ron yelled, and the four of them pelted, heads down, through the midst of the fighters, slipping in pools of Snargaluff juice, towards the top of the marble staircase into the Entrance Hall.
There were more duellers all over the stairs and in the Hall, Death Eaters everywhere they looked: Yaxley, close to the front door, in combat with Addie; a masked Death Eater duelling Sirius right next to them. Neville emerged from nowhere with a few other DA members, all brandishing armfuls of Venomous Tentacular, which looped itself happily around the nearest Death Eater and began reeling him in.
"Split up!" Hermione shouted, as she and Ginny veered off to the left. "We could use the Map really."
"Harry has it," Ginny said. "We should have made more copies."
They turned down one of the side corridors, only to come face to face with Fenrir Greyback.
The two young women backed up hastily, brandishing their wands.
"Well, well … all alone, ladies. Can't be safe on a night like this."
"We've got wands and you don't," Ginny said, far more bravely than she felt. "There's two of us and one of you. I think we have the advantage."
Greyback grinned, showing yellow, pointed teeth. "Guess again, sweetheart."
"Leave them alone," Remus warned from behind them.
"Ah, Remus," Greyback greeted, as though they were old friends bumping into each other in Diagon Alley. "No missus today? What a shame. I hear congratulations are in order."
Remus narrowed his eyes. "Stay away from my family." He firmly pushed Hermione and Ginny behind him. "That includes them. They're right; you're outnumbered."
"Taken your potion tonight?" Greyback asked gleefully. "I know I have."
Three pairs of eyes turned automatically to the window, where the full moon was emerging.
It was suddenly very obvious why Jen had come to the castle that night and why she refused to leave.
Remus froze. "Girls, run! Now!"
Neither needed to be told twice.
Turning on their heels, they sprinted back the way they'd come, reaching the staircase at the same time as Ron and Draco.
"We can't find Harry," Ron told them, ducking a Slicing Hex that hit a Death Eater behind them.
"It's a full moon; we need to find Jen," Hermione said, putting up a Shield Charm.
To her horror, before anyone could do anything, Sirius and Addie fell in quick succession, the latter with a painful scream. The Portkeys they were wearing activated almost before they hit the ground and they vanished.
Ron grabbed Hermione's arm before she could move. "Don't do anything rash." He pointed his wand at Jen, who was duelling another Death Eater. "Help me out here!"
Three other wands aimed, four voices chanted: "Accio Jen!"
Summoned out of the path of a Killing Curse, Jen flew towards them, managing to land on her feet. A howl down the corridor told her more than Hermione or Ginny could, and she sprinted off, transforming mid-stride.
As soon as she and Moony made contact, their bond would force his human mind back into control, which would get rid of half the danger at least, and hopefully they could then deal with the other half; Greyback with control was somehow even more terrifying than the idea of Greyback without it.
"Ready?" Draco asked grimly.
Ron nodded. "Let's do this."
The quartet sprinted down the marble staircase; glass shattered to their left and the Slytherin hourglass that recorded house points spilled his emeralds everywhere, so that people slipped and staggered as they ran.
Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground and a grey blur sped down the stairs to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.
"NO!" Hermione shrieked; with a deafening bang from her wand, Greyback was thrown backwards from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown.
As her Portkey activated, her attacker hit the banisters and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on the top of his head and he crumpled to the ground and lay still.
"I have more!" Professor Trelawney cried from the top of the stairs. "I have more for those who want them! Here!"
With a movement like a tennis serve, she heaved another enormous crystal ball out of her bag, waved her wand through the air and caused the ball to fly across the hall, flying through the window.
At the same time, the heavy wooden front door burst open and more of the gigantic spiders forced their way into the Entrance Hall.
Screams of terrors filled the air; the fighters scattered, Death Eaters and students alike, and red and green jets of light flew into the midst of the oncoming monsters, which shuddered and reared, more terrifying than ever.
However, with a great effort, they began to retreat under an onslaught of spells, as both sides joined forces momentarily.
Ginny and Draco ran forwards to help drive them back, fighting their way to the front of the crowd, but progress was impeded just outside the door by a monumental foot, which swung down out of the darkness and made the ground on which they stood shudder.
They looked up.
A giant stood before them, twenty feet high, its head hidden in shadow, nothing visible but its huge shins, illuminated by the castle light.
With one brutal, fluid motion, it smashed a giant fist through an upper window and glass rained down on the, forcing Draco to expel a shield to cover them.
"Merlin!" Hermione screamed, as she and Ron caught up with them.
"DON'T!" Draco yelled, seizing her wand arm. "Stun it and it'll crush half the castle!"
"HAGGER?"
Grawp came lurching towards them; only now did Hermione truly appreciate that Grawp was indeed an undersized giant.
The gargantuan monster that was currently trying to crush people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar. The stone steps trembled as he stomped towards his smaller kin, and Grawp's lopsided mouth fell open, and they launched themselves at each other with the savagery of lions.
"Come on!" Ron yelled. "We need to find Harry!"
But Ginny was still, staring out at the grounds in horror, and it wasn't long before the others realised why. The air had frozen; their breath caught and solidified in her chest.
Shapes moved out in the darkness, swirling figures of concentrated blackness, moving in a great wave towards the castle, their faces hooded and their breath rattling …
Ron, Hermione and Draco closed in beside her, their shared warmth doing little to cut through the sudden chill.
"Where's Harry when you need him?" Ron muttered. "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver terrier leapt out of his wand, running at the Dementors, followed by two winged horses, Hermione's Grim, and a dozen others from inside the castle, scattering the Dementors and driving them away.
Suddenly, the shouts from inside the castle changed. Draco glanced over his shoulder and immediately pulled the other three off the steps and into the shadow of the building.
The Death Eaters were flooding back into the Forest, none of them taking any notice of the students, even the ones firing curses after them.
No one was naïve enough to believe this was a surrender, which was proven a few minutes later, when a high, cold voice filled the air, sending a shiver of dread through everyone who heard it.
"You have fought valiantly. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. You have thirty minutes. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for half an hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that time, you have not come to me, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the battle myself and I shall find you and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. Half an hour."
Silence fell over the grounds, broken only by the sounds floating out form the castle.
"Harry!" Hermione called. "If you can hear me, don't you dare! There's another way!"
"Do you think he'll do it?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know," Ron sighed. "No. No, he wouldn't He wouldn't be that stupid."
Harry had not waited for Voldemort to make his offer. He was already walking through the Forbidden Forest, his Invisibility Cloak folded up under his robes.
As each step took him closer to death, he seemed to get lighter.
No wonder Dumbledore had treated him like a weapon – he was never expected to survive.
Part of him wished he could have said goodbye, but it was easier this way. They would only try and talk him out of it, and this needed to happen tonight.
There was a plan, and Draco would stick to it, with any luck.
Once Harry was dead, they could kill the snake and Voldemort would be mortal.
With the prophecy fulfilled, anyone could finish the Dark Lord off.
"Master …"
That was Bellatrix, up ahead.
"Be quiet, Bella. Never let it be said that I am not a man of my word. Potter will come."
Bellatrix knew better than to question her master, but her silence spoke volumes.
A twig cracked under Harry's feet, but he didn't care.
He was not looking to hide his approach.
Sure enough, when he entered the clearing, all eyes were on him.
Voldemort's lipless mouth curved into a cruel smirk. "Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived."
Harry held his wandless hands at his side and said nothing.
"And no Dumbledore." Voldemort laughed humourlessly. "Does he have that much faith in his hero or does he truly believe that I would not take advantage of his absence."
Again, Harry didn't answer.
"I'm disappointed in you, Potter," Voldemort said. "I expected you to put up more of a fight. Still, the prophecy ends tonight. Avada kedavra!"
The green light sped towards him and Harry closed his eyes, thinking of his friends, his family, his parents … the baby god-sibling he would never meet … and Hermione, the way her smile lit up her eyes and her laugh lifted his soul.
Her face was the last thing Harry saw before he died.