Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The Witch Slayer

Chapter 12: The dark lord

Year 7 - June

Draco stormed into the room of requirement – ignoring the curious looks around him and the confused greetings. He reached Harry and Ron, both of whom looked quite disheveled having just crawled out of the freaky Hog's Head picture.

"Hermione?" Harry asked looking at Draco, confused and skeptical.

"Oh – shit sorry." Draco said and waved a hand over his face, rising half a foot and returning to his natural form. Harry merely rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore the confusion and wand pointing occurring around them.

"Is she here?" Harry asked.

Malfoy shook his head, "She just called – apparently they have a plan." Malfoy's drawl showing clearly what he thought of that plan.

"What is it?" Harry asked, dreading the response. The pair ignored Ron trying to explain to everyone around them that it was cool – Malfoy was not really a proper death eater so everything was going to be OK.

"Apparently they are going to turn all of the potentials into slayers and hope that somehow fixes everything." Draco looked very dubious, "also – they have a 'magic pendant' that Buffy's ex got from an evil law firm that is supposedly going to help."

"So the good news is if it doesn't work then it doesn't really matter what we do here, right?" Harry suggested optimistically.

"Yes – because the world will be hell," Draco rolled his eyes, "she indicated this would be going down about two hours from now – the timing is all very suspicious with you showing up here now. But I did as she asked and I've brought you stakes, holy water, crosses, the works."

Harry nodded, "Thanks – what else is going on? And why were you disguised as Hermione?"

"Well – funny you should ask! I have a message for you. Long story short, it seems that the elder wand has not quite taken a liking to Voldemort so he kindoftriedtokillme. But I survived and Snape gave me a message for you. And for some reason Hermione is the only person I can manage to shift into without polyjuice or other wand waving assistance." Draco shrugged nonchalantly.

Harry's eyes went wide, "What?"

"Yes, I know, the irony. I've spent the last year trying to be the most average soldier in his army so he would just ignore me and not murder me but what are you going to do." Draco commiserated.

"No – I mean – what the hell happened? And what's the message?" Harry asked.

Draco sighed and explained.

About an hour ago

Draco was lucky that the evil overlord he served under happened to be loud and dramatic. His father had received word that Voldemort was going to kill Draco – something to do with Dumbledore's wand not working. Whatever it was, he realized he only had 3 options: 1) Somehow fake his own death; 2) Convince Voldemort the wand was working effectively without killing him or; 3) somehow avoid Voldemort until the whole thing was over.

Unfortunately, he was already being summoned. Feeling his dark mark warming, he figured he'd just go with option 1 and headed out to the shrieking shack where Voldemort had posted up for the time being, "My Lord," Draco said with a deep bow, "you summoned me?"

"Draco Malfoy. One of my most…average soldiers." Voldemort remarked.

"How can I serve you master?" Draco asked, his eyes never leaving Voldemort's feet.

"I'm afraid you will not be able to serve me anymore," Voldemort said regretfully. Draco looked up in (fake) surprise, "It's a bit awkward but it seems by having you kill the old man, this," he brought the wand to eye height and looked at it longingly, "will not obey me."

"I don't understand my lord." Draco responded in (false) confusion. However, Voldemort's incessant need to explain his evil doing gave him just enough time to mumble a protection spell – hopefully one that would save him.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort (dramatically) bellowed and watched with regret as Draco collapsed in a pile on the ground. With all the evil bravado he could muster, Voldemort gathered his minions and stormed into the forest.

"Ugh" Draco let out once he felt 95% sure Voldemort was gone. He opened his eyes and saw a (shocked) Severus Snape standing over him.

"How?" Snape asked.

Draco shrugged, "Magic." He said and smiled at a memory. In reality, it was a wiccan protection spell that put his essence just out of phase, allowing him to survive an otherwise fatal curse. But he didn't really feel like explaining that.

Snape helped him up, "I need your help".

"Of course you do." Draco deadpanned.

Snape rolled his eyes, "I've been watching you – I don't know all the pieces but I know some of them. You are helping the witch slayer are you not?"

Draco was impressed – even Dumbledore hadn't figured it out in the end, "Yes," and because he couldn't help it he added, "but she's a witch who slays not a witch slayer!"

Snape rolled his eyes again, "I need you to give a message to Potter…"

Back in the room of requirement, Harry looked at him expectantly, "and what was the message?!"

Draco shrugged, "he told me to tell you that you are the final Horcrux."

Ron looked upset while Harry appeared defeated. Everyone else looked confused.

"So I'm assuming this means something to you?" Draco brushed his hand over his hair.

"It's something Hermione theorized after Willow met me." Harry responded, which of course did nothing to clear up matters, "Did he say anything else?" Harry asked.

"Well, yes, something about 'that's why Harry and the Dark Lord were always connected' or other drivel." Draco recollected. He looked at the wonder twins and realized he must have said something critical when suddenly Voldemort's voice bellowed throughout the castle demanding Harry Potter's presence in an hour.

Harry looked from Ron back to Draco, "the timing is…"

"Suspicious." Draco agreed.

"Can you help us?" Harry asked.

"Yes, so about that – happy to help. But just can't have this face. So if it's OK with you," and with the wave of his hand his body transformed back into that of Hermione. Draco smiled with a sort of "ta da" as the entire room took a step back, freaked out he was able to change forms with a wave of his hand.

Harry rolled his eyes, "she's going to kill you."

Draco smiled (as Hermione), "I know".

After a quick jaunt to the Chamber of Secrets to liberate a basilisk fang and through the room of hidden things to retrieve some diadem (though Draco continued to have no clue why they were randomly stabbing old artifacts), the trio met up with the rest of the resistance in the great hall. Those who had been in the room of requirement gave Draco a wide berth.

The room was oddly quiet for the sheer number of witches and wizards. A dark sense of foreboding permeated throughout as the fighters of the light realized this would be their final reprieve.

That is, until a sound exploded from Draco's pocket.

Da de dum duh da de dum duh da de dum duh dah! (aka the classic Nokia ring tone)

"How did I not put this bloody thing on silent?" Draco cursed to himself, answering the call, much to the shock of those around him.

"What?" He asked, and then nearly smacked himself because he was still functionally Hermione at the moment. He quickly waved a hand in front of himself and changed back to Draco – causing a lot of panic in the room which Draco conveniently ignored.

"Sorry it's me now. What's up?" He asked the phone.

"Why did you just have Hermione's voice?" Dawn asked curiously.

"No reason. Practicing impressions. I didn't fake my death and then run around the castle pretending to be Hermione." He confirmed.

"We'll – talk about that later – she told me to call you – we're all set up. We expect to initiate the slayers in 20 minutes." She told him.

He turned to Potter, "20 minutes on their end - how many more minutes before your hour is up?"

"15."

"Interesting – our shindig is looking to go down right around the same time - thanks for the heads up. And stay alive! Please Dawn."

"Yeah you too big bro."

He hung up the phone and looked on at the shocked faces, "Yes. That's right. Draco Malfoy – secretly on the side of good. Right. Moving on."

While it was substantially more difficult to help with his face, he nonetheless tried to educate the witches and wizards on the supernatural threat. While most people seemed dubious of him, Harry and Ron's tacit acceptance of him seemed to more or less break the ice.

"Malfoy – have you seen Harry?" Ron and Ginny ran up to him just as he was debating the merits of holy water with Luna Lovegood.

"No," Draco looked around and then looked at his watch, "seems as though he's trying to be 'brave'," he finished in air quotes. The order, realizing Potter was missing began preparing for what was looking to be a final battle, one way or the other. They filtered out of the hall and onto the grounds.

"Harry Potter is dead." Voldemort bellowed. Draco looked at his watch again 2 minutes he thought. He saw his mother and father standing by the death eaters, looking warily into the forest. Draco transfigured his robes into a hoodie and covered his hair so he could stay incognito.

It all happened very fast. Suddenly Neville Longbottom was dramatically halving the wretched snake with the Sword of Gryffindor. Voldemort was only angry for a moment before waving his wand at the sky and lifting his arms in some sort of gesture of omniscience. Clouds covered the sun that was already nearing the horizon. On cue, the vampires came out of the forest, hundreds of them. And then Draco's watch beeped and he felt it and based on the expressions of the witches and wizards around him he wasn't alone.

Something happened to his magic, he couldn't tell you what but he was only 10 feet from Ginny Weasley who went from sobbing on the ground to standing up with a strength he'd only seen in two girls before. "Weasley." He shouted. She turned around somewhat disoriented and he tossed her a stake. She nodded in understanding.

Then Draco noticed there were others – Luna Lovegood and few a girls he didn't know. He ensured they each had a stake and joined their fight. While the order fought the death eaters, he and the slayers worked to keep at bay the forces of darkness.

A few minutes passed when he heard Potter's voice. He wanted to claim he wasn't surprised but he was. The rest of the battle seemed to come to a pause – even the vampires held as the two wizards faced each other.

"Voldemort – it's time to end this!" Potter stalked the dark lord.

Voldemort twirled his wand, "I agree."

"Your snake is dead. You have no more horcruxes."

Voldemort laughed, "you think a child like you is going to stop me?"

"I've stopped you before."

"But this time I'm no longer bogged down by your wand's brother." Voldemort sneered.

"No? But does the Elder wand truly obey you?" Harry asked, the two circling each other.

"It does now. I killed Draco Malfoy." Voldemort looked about ready to cast a spell when Draco, unable to help himself, stepped over within Voldemort's line of sight and removed his hoodie – giving him a jovial wave, before returning to coach the new slayers. "No matter," Voldemort continued, "I defeated him in battle. The wand now responds to me."

"But you are assuming the wand ever belonged to Draco." Harry pointed out.

"He murdered Albus Dumbledore." Voldemort drawled.

"But did he really?" Harry contemplated, "I was there – invisible, but I didn't see Malfoy kill Dumbledore. I saw Draco help him die."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, "I will still defeat you boy!"

Harry gave a small smile in defeat, "You can try. But – I think the wand will still be loyal to Dumbledore."

"You naïve boy – still with blind faith towards that old man. I have the support of the first evil itself!" Voldemort sneered and yelled the killing curse while Harry, being classic Potter disarmed him. Voldemort went down in a green flash.

And then the Dark Lord rose again.

A/N: Oops? One more chapter after this and then a short and silly epilogue.