A/N: Ajd21596 - I love you for that and just for you i will do the end with a 3 chapter special update on Thursday, Friday and Saturday next week!
HiPot-And-News : Awww! Thanks, it's not homage to a particular scene but to all the fluffy rom-coms around the world that make our hearts flutter and hope for the perfect guy to wake up to!
Chelsea always: I hope you enjoy the way things are beginning to unfold!
As I'm sure you can see, the story is almost coming to an end. Thank you all for the reviews and thank you for sticking with me!
As soon as he got back to the castle, Draco met Hermione on the astronomy tower and kissed her deeply
"I love you…" He said
"I love you too… what happened?" She asked
"Nothing… I just need you to know, that no matter what happens… I love you…" Draco said
"Draco you're scaring me…" Hermione said
"We're all going to die in less than 4 days…" Draco said "Can you please just stay with me…"
"We're not going to die…" Hermione said holding his face "I absolutely forbid you from dying Draco Malfoy… In fact if you die, so help me Merlin, I will reach through the veil and pull you back out…" She said
"Promise…" Draco asked
"Promise…" Hermione said
The rest of the night Draco and Hermione spent talking about everything and nothing of consequence.
As Hermione began to doze off Draco kissed her forehead "I'm glad I found you…"
"You're just a lucky pervert…" she mumbled from the folds of his jacket snuggled up into the sleeping bag they had accioed.
Draco smiled as he thought 'Lucky indeed' then suddenly he remembered the forgotten vial of golden potion in his trunk 'Luck…. That's what we need on our side!'
—
Flashback 24th Night
Snape had gone towards Minerva's private quarters
"He's refusing to send the students home…" Snape said accepting the tea
"I'll have the heads of the houses seal the dormitories, I'll also request the elves to help keep them safe…"
"Are we really going to to pretend this is a surprise?" Snape asked irritated
"Yes… How is Young Mr. Malfoy holding up?"
"As good as can be hoped…"
"You know them both best…Do you think Dumbledore can win? I mean despite…" the cursed hand was left unsaid
"I hope he can…" Snape said pensively staring into the fire
They finished their tea in silence as Snape too his leave
—
Flashback 25th Afternoon
"Severus…" Narcissa's called out from her floo
"Blessed Yule… " He said greeting her
"To you too… I need to take Draco to the henge at midnight…" She said
"What's happened?" He asked
Narcissa felt something watching her and spun around cutting off the floo just as Bellatrix walked in.
"Blessed yule sister…" Bella said "where did you rush off to this morning?"
"You know, appeasing those I couldn't invite…" Narcissa said
"You should have thrown a grand ball in the Dark Lords honour!" Bella spat
"A time for that too shall come…" Naricssa said
"yes…" Bella smiled wistfully "I can't wait to wring the necks of the little mudlbloods in that filthy school…. Oh! It'll be the best present ever!" Bella cackled "Don't you just love the new years!"
It was nearly evening when she could finally reach out to Snape again and explain all that had transpired.
—
Flashback 25th Evening
Snape informed McGonagall about the Brassard and about Hermione.
"Merlin help us…" McGonagall said sitting down slowly after listening to Narcissa's plan as narrated by Snape
"The only question that remains is - do we tell the order?" Snape asked
"No… we tell no one the entire plan… We only that ensure Draco Malfoy has a clear path…" McGonagall said
"And so does Harry Potter…" Snape said
They looked at each other the only thought they could think was 'Neither can live while the other survives…'
—
Flashback 25th Night
"What?!" Narcisssa exclaimed
"We found out a while ago… She had her suspicions but when Dumbledore took her to recover the horcrux, they were confirmed…" Draco said gently
"Snape and I were wondering why he took Miss granger instead of Mr. Potter…" Narcissa said
"I know you have been working with the order in secret mother…" Draco said seriously "… I am sure as people who lived through one war, you have more experience, but we believe that he will not come to Hogwarts till Dumbledore is dead…"
Narcissa spun around to face her son "Why? What have you heard…"
"Greyback muttered something undesirable keeping himself restrained and his mission of capture and not kill…" Draco said
"When?" Narcissa asked
"When we were told to lay low…"
"The point is mother… Hermione wants to be the bait to lure him there…" Draco said
Narcissa looked wide eyed at her son
"I know you think we are all still children, but trust us this once like we've trusted you without question…" Draco said sincerely "Believe me when I say, it's a plan I hate, but it's one Harry and Hermione came up with… This is the only way it can end that night mother… if we mess it up, we don't know how long the reign of the dark lord will last this time…"
Narcissa looked at her son with teary eyes. Gone was the boy with the innocent looks who thought of harmless pranks, but there was still hope in his eyes, something she had seen herself and her husband lose when they were not much older than Draco… "What…" Narcissa asked and then steadied her voice "What did you have in mind?"
—
31st Dec Afternoon
The sky was dark and the weather wad gloomy. It's as if nature had sensed the corruption of magic and was waiting for it to be righted.
"Tonight we create history…" Voldemort said to the death eaters "First we will bring the prophecy to an end by killing the chosen one and then we shall claim Hogwarts and the ministry….The dawn of the new year, shall be the beginning of a new era! An era where magic is might!"
Once the cheers had subsided and the followers had dispersed. Snape walked up and bowed to Voldemort "I found her my lord…."
"Who?"
"The other heir to Slytherin…" Snape said and Voldemort's eye's glowed red
—
1 Minute to midnight on 31st December
Draco, Hermione, Blaise, Luna, Ron and of course Harry stood in a circle. Harry and Draco had divided their felix felicis into 6 equal parts. Each vial would give the drinkers a little over 2 hours of luck.
"I know we have a plan in place, but since I'm the only one who's done this before, just trust the potion. Make sure your intentions is clear… the potion will make it happen…" Harry said seriously
"Let's end Voldemort…" Hermione said taking Draco's hand
"Let's end the prophecy…" Harry said and they all downed their respective vials
—
Each common room had one professor on the pretext of letting each house have a chaperoned new year party. The feast had been severed in the common rooms itself and unbeknown to all the students, the castle was getting ready to go to war.
Lupin and Sirius had been returned the map and were in charge of ensuring that everyone was exactly where they were supposed to be.
"Piertotum Locomotor!" McGongall said pushing all her magic into the castle and every single suit of armour came to life. The order had disillusioned and hidden themselves across various points in the castle. Everyone was waiting with bated-breath.
Draco and Blaise entered the Room of Lost things. Snape was waiting for them. They chanted "Harmonia Nectere Passus. Harmonia Nectere Passus. Harmonia Nectere Passus" and the door opened. The First ones thought were Yaxley and Greyback. In the next 15 minutes, over 40 death eaters had arrived in the room of requirement. Nott Sr. and Draco's parent's were the last to step out. Finally the cabinet glowed and Voldemort stepped through it
"Ah Hogwarts…." He said with a smile so wicked it looked out of place with his now handsome face as everyone bowed to welcome him.
"I believe you have a gift for me Draco…" Voldemort asked his eyes gleaming
"I'm on my way to collect it my lord…" Draco said bowing and leaving the room first
"Wait till Draco gives the signal, then kill every single person who stands in your way…" Voldemort said "Severus and I have a special guest who's waiting to meet us…"
—
Hermione bowed to Voldemort as he walked in. She knew Morganna's Brassard had made him most human but she was still a little taken aback to see a man not older than his 30's walking in followed by Snape in to the great hall
"My Lord…" She said bowing
"Potter's mudblood…" Voldemort said snidely "and why on earth should I believe that you are here of your own volition without any ulterior motives…" he asked "Have you not tried for the past several years to thwart me in every way possible…"
Hermione kept her eyes on the ground. "You are right… I'm not here without an ulterior motive…" Voldemort's raised a single eyebrow in contempt "I'm here to beg you to save the life of the man I love…"
Voldemort laughed. A lough throaty maniacal laugh "Begging for Harry's life is not going to save him girl…"
"I was talking about Draco Malfoy…" Hermione said looking up at Voldemort. The smile on his face was replaced by a smirk. "And in return…" Hermione continued "… I will lead Harry and Rod to you…"
"A life for a life… How Slytherin of you…" Voldemort said with a smirk "Severus…" he turned to Snape "Did you know?"
"I suspect my lord but paid no heed for they are children after all…" Snape said snidely looking at Hermione "I doubted Lucius and Narcissa would let Draco sully himself, however…." He continued this time looking at Voldemort "considering her heritage, I believe any house would be honoured to have her…"
Voldemort tried breaking into Hermione's mind and she let all her memories with Draco flood him. After about a minute of staring, Hermione fell to the ground exhausted and Voldemort smiled. "Very well… I am more than capable of brining Harry Potter here myself, but you must ensure he stays here till I can kill him…" Voldemort said viciously and then he put the want to his throat
—
Harry had gone to the Astronomy tower and stood on the edge of it as if to jump off. He ensured Ron went to Dumbledore in hysterics about harry being suicidal and wanting to end the prophecy. As predicted Dumbledore had arrived and in a clam manner asked him "What's this now harry…"
"The prophecy says, neither can live while the other survives… So let the prophecy end… If I die he can be killed…" harry said
"Harry… do you remember what we discussed about Horcruxes?"
"yes…"
"I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but I believe we are out of time…"
"How do you mean?"
"Harry, you dying is not the key… Voldemort has to kill you himself… He has to hit you with the killing curse to kill the piece of soul inside you that needs to die… "
"So you're asking me to walk to the maniac who killed my parents and let him kill me! That was the purpose of the chosen one?!" Harry screamed hysterically all his rage at the old man finally manifesting "All those talks, all that reassurance so that I would feel obligated to die!"
"NO! Not die… never die harry… I believe that an old magic is at play here… your familial magic protected you once, I believe it will choose to protect your soul again… and like it had taken Voldemort's life the last time, it will repeat the same thing again…"
"How can you be sure…" harry said with such venom that it stunned Dumbledore
"Harry… do you… have you lost faith in me?" Dumbledore asked then his eyes went wide as he sensed something. He pushed harry under the invisibility cloak and put a body bind spell on him
"Expelliaramus!" Draco said disarming Dumbledore…
"Good evening, Draco" Dumbledore said calmly
Draco said nothing and just looked wildly at Dumbledore thinking 'Mione… please be alive…'
"Draco, you are not a killer…" Dumbledore said "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts … so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it…" when Draco said nothing Dumbledore decided to chat "you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school which, I admit, I thought impossible … how did you do it?"
"I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one's used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year…" Draco croaked out and Dumbledore mistook is worry for fear
"That was clever … there is a pair, I take it?"
"The other's in Borgin and Burkes," said Draco "they make a kind of passage between them…" he was going to keep talking but suddenly the castle boomed with the voice Voldemort "Dumbledore & Harry Potter I speak directly to you… I have an army of Death eaters here within the castle ready to attack but why must we shed unnecessary magical blood when it can all simply end between the 3 of us… If you dare, come before lord Voldemort in the great Hall. Kneel before me and I might spare the rest of you…"
—
All the new year parties in the cross rooms had stopped as everyone froze in fear. The teachers who were unaware and were chaperoning, pulled put there wands. Some ordered the first and second years to go into their dorm rooms and barricade themselves in. Hundereds of elves materialised at various spots in the castle ready to battle.
"I'll show him how to Kneel!" Sirius snapped and Lupin held him back
"Patience… you'll have your chance to fight…"
—
Draco sighed in relief and collapsed onto one knee as Dumbledore apparated away. After catching his breath he got up and felt around a bit before he bumped into nothing. He reached out and pulled at where he hoped was fabric and he saw harry in an extremely awkward position. He couldn't help ti and let out a snort. Once he'd alleviated the body bind he and cast "mosmodre". the dark mark took shape above the astronomy tower and he felt his own mark burn lightly and he was sure the death eater's would be flooding the halls by the time they reached the stairs "Phase 1… done…" he said to harry who was stuffing the cloak away.
Harry nodded "Great Hall?" he said pulling out his wand
Draco pulled the golden sickle out of his cloak "I have a good feeling about this…"
—
The death eaters were out and the hallways were filled with flashes and bangs. Spells seemed to ricochet off or just miss the boys as they ran.
Blaise and luna were holding fort at the entrance of the infirmary.
Greyback caught harry's scent and tore after the boys with Yaxley in tow.
Narcissa overpowerd Crabbe and Goyel and got out looking for Draco avoiding a fight wherever possible and silently shielding order members she snuck through the shadows. Narcissa rubbed her new ring reassuringly hoping for the best she made her way to the great hall
"Traitor!" Yelled greyback as he saw narcissa shield Sirius and lunged at her as the staircases moved while Yaxley and Lucius locked wands.
Draco saw his vision coming to life as no spell Narcissa hit at greyback was having any effect. His eye's went wide with fear as Harry tugged on his sleeve saying "Draco… we have to move!"
Just as Greyback was about to reach Narcissa a black dog leaped and rammed into him and bit his neck. Draco let out a sigh as Sirius snarled and locked jaws with greyback
Draco ran down with Harry now fearing the visions and wondering if he'd make it out alive
—
Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the floo of the house in Germany
"It's time?" Grindelwald asked
"It's time" Lucius said
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