The first snow was already there when Ginny and Hermione made a bloody entrance in the Order headquarters. Hermione was holding her throat, her hand and chest dripping blood. Ginny's wand was casting an orange shield around them. Draco summoned his Patronus to call Harry and Severus without blinking. Ginny turned her head to tell her mom she was ok ,and Draco flinched at the view of her missing ear. The sound of Severus and Harry's in the fireplace felt like a relief.

Severus flew to Hermione, and asked Harry to call for Kreacher and Dobby. Ginny kept muttering the old healing spell she'd used previously on Harry's hand. They all knew how to use it now, and Harry started chanting it to let her explain what happened. Shooting him a silent thanks, Ginny described in a clinical voice. "We were attacked with modified cutting spells. Her artery got sliced, and the magic doesn't hold when I try to fix it. She needs the curse removed first. I didn't want to chance anything and remove my shield."

Severus fingers praid Hermione's hand away from her cut. "It's ok, my love. Me and Ginny both got you. You need to let me see."

Hermione's eyes were wide with terror, but she listened to the man she loved and showed him her throat. The amount of blood made Severus curse profusely. Ginny's statis spell was preventing the blood from spilling at the moment, but he could see the redhead was growing tired. He noticed her missing ear. Her robe movement suddenly divulged something even more gruesome.

"Where the fuck did you two get yourself into, Ginny?!"

Kreacher and Dobby popped out of thin air. Severus' orders were precise, albeit rushed. "Dobby, I need you to go immediately to my private chamber at Hogwarts, and bring my personal blood replenisher, as well as the regeneration potion. Take this ring, this will give you access to Hogwarts as a staff elf. Kreacher, find the wizard who cursed Hermione Granger."

The elf mumbled, but was quickly stopped by Harry. "Go now, Kreacher."

Ginny flopped on the bench nearby, and finally moved her cape out. "Red, where is your fucking arm?" asked Draco, his voice a pitch higher than he would have liked.

"Well the good news is that I grabbed it before Hermione apparated us away. Still four limbs, y'all," answered Ginny. "I couldn't find the ear though, I think it got shredded away."

"What happened, Ginny?"

"The ministry employees Shaklebot fired were meeting today, and we were spying on them. We didn't realize it was a trap set to bait us until we were already encaged in a ritual circle that prevented us from apparating away. The first curse hit my ear. We knew right away they were serious. Hermione attacked and got rid of two of the attackers while I protected us. When I dropped our defenses to blast the circle and apparate away, one of the remaining assholes threw a curse at Hermione. I threw my arm in front of her. Deflected part of it. Not all of it. End of the story."

Severus' deep voice was completely neutral. "How many remain?"

"Another three."

He sighed, "I wish you had been more prepared."

Ginny stopped him right away, raising a tired hand. "We were prepared." She lifted her shirt, revealing a white, shiny undershirt. "I've had those protective shirts made with the silk from the Jorogumos I met in Japan." She gestured to her mother to shut up. "Not a story for today, mom. We were prepared, Severus. It took less than a minute to figure out a way to get out of the circle and the cutting curses aimed at our middle. We did well, all things considered."

Hermione stomped her fist twice on the table in silent agreement. Poppy and Molly looked at each other, lionesses ready to go hunt for those who had hurt their pups. They knew they were needed to keep the shield on Hermione and Ginny going up. The two young women were clearly getting to a point where beds would need to be summoned.

They looked at the three men in front of them, who all sported murderous expressions. No one would hurt those two witches and remain alive. Molly gave them the final word of encouragement. "Kreacher will help you find those men. Make sure they know there are consequences in hurting my daughters."

The three men melted in the shadows, already on the prowl. They were back a couple of hours later, the job finished.

.

They first took care of Hermione, and she was soon sitting, sipping some hot spiced chocolate. Now, Severus was dabbing Ginny's limb with the regeneration potion. "Ready?"

"Wait!" Harry stopped."Can't we give her some pain potions?"

"I've been using enough pain potions lately that I actually need to not use pain potion for a little while," said Ginny, almost nonchalantly. Poppy's nod of approval told Draco that this had been discussed, and touched Harry's shoulder. He positioned himself to Ginny's other side, his hand on her back conveying support and care.

Severus pressed on the stub to reattach the arm, and Ginny threw up under the pain. The pain wouldn't stop, and soon Draco threw a bubble shield around the three of them so Ginny's mom would not hear how much she was hurting. He knew his girl. After the longest 10 minutes Harry had ever experienced, Ginny was clammy with cold sweat but her arm was finally reattached.

Harry dabbed ditany to the hole on the side of Ginny's head. "Why didn't you make those shirts with long sleeves?"

"I didn't have enough silk with the numbers of tuniques we needed to cover everyone."

"You made enough for the entire Order?"

"Of course we did. We only received them a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to test them on patrol this week. Play it by ear, if you see what I mean."

Molly kissed her forehead, and her words were the last things Ginny heard before falling fast asleep. "Of all the jokes you could make…"

-o0o-

Having a plan is necessary for deviation.

That's what Hermione kept telling herself, pondering the options in front of her. On one side, she could follow the plan, and wait until all opportunities were assessed, all alliances secured. No unfinished business…Or she could deviate and take the opportunity in front of her.

Voldemort had decided that burning prisoners would be the theme of his next gathering, and the death eaters had built a massive pit for him, stocked with a roaring fiendfyre. The demented tyran threw a couple of prisoners in the fire, savoring their screams with a sickening smile. When the noise finally died down, he weaved stories of great destinies to purebloods, hypnotized by what the madman was promising them.

Power. Protection. Privileges.

She looked for Draco, already bored, and found him at the right of his father, eyes glazing and reflecting the fire while he remained safely protected in his mind. The dark lord couldn't even see his own followers getting away from him anymore, too obsessed with his own mortality. She looked at Lucius, who was a sore excuse of a father, when she noticed he held a basket with Nagini nesting in it. She almost snorted, thinking about how shitty Voldemort had been lately to Lucius. Voldemort had lost the last of his patience for the man who always promised and never delivered, unknowingly undermined by his own son. Now, he was basically Nagini's babysitter.

A light bulb lit in her head. She tried for a minute to grab Draco's attention, but he was too far inside himself. She decided to take the chance. Wandlessly, she applied a light accio on the basket. That way, gravity would be on her side without her looking guilty.

When they threw the next prisoner in the fire, she used the distraction of his screams to jinx Lucius, making him falter. She didn't need more for him to lose grip on the basket, and she pulled the accio slightly. The basket fell in the fire with its reptilian tenant in a loud thud.

Draco only caught Hermione at the end of her action, and soon was focused on the dark Lord, who just lost his last known horcrux. Something broke in the man.

Voldemort had de-facto died that night with Harry. His horcruxes tethered his soul to earth so he could possess a body. But that's all it was. A possession. He was almost alive. Nagini had been his only attempt at an horcrux since the ritual, and he had regretted the price he paid for her. He looked at Lucius, enraged, and crucioed the wizard.

Draco locked eyes with Hermione, the clear concern that he would be next on Voldemort's shit list etched on his face. But the dark Lord remained fair in his anger - or so he thought - and focused all his rage on the Malfoy patriarch. Soon enough, it was an amalgamation of Malfoy more than a full patriarch...

Hermione felt sorry for Draco, seeing his father being ripped to pieces in front of him. But then she remembered the memories of Draco about his mother, and how many scars both of them sported. She could read Draco's expression for what it really was: grim satisfaction.

With the corpse still warm and twitching, Voldemort turned to Draco. "Long live the new lord Malfoy."

.

Both Harry and Ginny let the new lord Malfoy fuck their mouths that night.

"What a beautiful view," Draco purred, seeing both his lovers licking his cock, Ginny moaning as Harry fingered her. He soon positioned himself behind her.

"Two lords for a greedy girl. You're so wet already, Gin." Harry entered her in one slow push, making her humm around Draco's shaft. They celebrated all night. The morning after, it was a very much in love triad that met with Hermione and Severus who both beamed at Draco's arrival.

"The snake was the last horcrux. Which means the dark Lord is now completely mortal once we destroy the ring. With Draco the new lord of the Malfoy estate, we have access to him any time we want. Do you know what it means?"

Ginny smiled at her friends. "We ride at dawn."