Part 2! Thank you all for your continued support and patience. It was so easy to write during lockdown (feels like so long ago!). With my work back in full swing I have been finding it harder and harder to write content that I am happy with. I hope you enjoy Part 2! Let me know what you think.

Part 2

'No, no, no, it's the only way. The Goblins will not help… they will not… it is the only way… ARIANA!'

The mutterings of his professor had put Harry on edge as soon as he had begun to drink the sinister looking potion; another moment where the old man had overruled Harry and poured the first scoop down his own throat before Harry could object, but the scream of a name he had never heard before from a man who Harry had never heard yell, really made his senses scream out in alarm.

'Just a few more sips professor, you are almost there… Remember? You told me you had to keep drinking.'

'H-H-Harry, I'm, s-s-so sorry my boy… Ariana, n-n-no, NO! Aberforth step back dammit! You shall NOT stand in my way... It is the only way Severus!

'That's it professor, keep going.'

'You shall not take another step Gellert… It is the only way... Ariana watch out!... Death for one, life for all… The Greater Good… S-s-so sorry my boy…Severus, promise me!'

'One more professor, then you can rest, that's it, just one more.'

With the final sip Dumbledore slumped in a heap, his breath ragged and short, his eyes still glazed over. The horrors of whatever he had been seeing lingering in front of him.

'W-water, please Harry, water.' The old man reached out with his blackened hand to Harry who gripped it tightly in comfort.

'Water, of course professor' he said as comfortingly as possible despite the uneasiness of his heart and the warning his brain was sending him in response to what he had heard from his professor's mouth. His first thought was to get water from the lake around them, but the warning Dumbledore had given him earlier in the boat stopped that idea.

'Open your mouth professor.' The old man did as instructed, the fight gone from his body. He looked old, fragile and strangely faded in Harry's eyes.

'Aguamenti.' Harry intoned softly and controlled in order to get some water down his professor's throat without drowning him.

Harry watched as the life slowly flowed back into his professor whose eyes refocused, but held none of the sparkle he had been famous for. 'Did you get it?'

'I did.' Harry replied as he held up the locket. 'But it feels wrong.'

'It will be the - '

'No professor, not wrong in that way, I mean it doesn't feel like a dia-ary.' Harry changed the ending at the last second realising that Dumbledore did not know about them destroying Ravenclaw's Diadem.

Thankfully Dumbledore was still recovering from the poison and did not pick up Harry's change of tone.

'An interesting observation Harry, you held the diary many years ago, but we shall look into this when we are back at the school. Come we must leave, there is much more to do tonight.'

Harry could only nod grimly and help his professor to his feet. There was indeed much more to occur this night, and he only hoped that so far it was all going to plan. He pocketed the locket and steeled himself. He could think of the locket not having the same sense of evil as the diadem later, for now he had to face his mentor's imminent death. Using all of the occlumency training he had undertaken he locked his emotions down hard and helped Dumbledore walk towards the boat.

Unfortunately for them both, Dumbledore stumbled over a loose rock and fell forward away from Harry. He only rolled once, but it was enough for his leg to land in the shallows of the water. Almost immediately hands shot up from the still surface to make it a bubbling mass. Bodies resembling all manners of men, women and children began to climb onto the bank as Harry dragged his professor away from the edge. He was going to die tonight, but not like this.

Dumbledore was slumped, trying desperately to gather his wits to fight and give Harry instructions, but the young wizard was way ahead of him. Leaping to his feet Harry conjured a fire whip and began to lasso it around the island, creating a blazing inferno that burnt any inferi that touched it to ash in an instant. Adding a levitation spell to his fire Harry knew he had only a few seconds before it collapsed around them. He lifted the old man onto his shoulders and hurried towards the boat. As his spell dropped and made a hissing noise as it collided with the water, he cast a shield around himself, Dumbledore and the boat.

Tumbling the groggy wizard into the boat Harry used the spell he had seen Dumbledore use to propel the boat forward and created another ring of fire around the boat as they sailed across the waters. Countless inferi kept trying to grab at the boat and its occupants, but the flames were too intense and all who attacked perished.

At one stage Harry thought he saw an inferi that looked a lot like Sirius reach for the boat, but he decided that his mind had been playing tricks on him as the inferi in question burst into ash a moment later.

Reaching the cave Harry grabbed onto Dumbledore and apparated them to Hogsmeade. Harry wasn't sure they had completed their mission, but he could not focus on that now. Dumbledore was about to die.

-break -

Pansy took the first steps down into the passageway, Hermione following behind her. They had been forced to take the invisibility cloak off due to the narrow passageway not allowing them to stay huddled together.

Breathing steadily the two witches made their way down a long winding corridor in the dark. They did not use lumos in fear that someone on the other end might see it.

After only a minute or so of walking the passageway began to lighten up, flickering, an obvious sign of fire light coming from the other end. Crouching low the two crept towards the exit, the cage with Pettigrew silenced as the Rat tried desperately to warn those ahead of the approaching witches.

Peaking around the corner Pansy spied the source of the flickering light. They were in the Malfoy dungeons. The one place in the Manor she had never been able to visit, but from Draco's description and map, she knew it immediately.

Thankfully there was only one Death Eater present and they were snoring softly. Making sure they were truly alone, Hermione cast Hominum Revilo. Satisfied Pansy pointed her wand and cast.

'Stupefy.' Pansy whispered, her spell hitting true as the Wizard stopped snoring and slumped forward, their head hitting the table with a thud.

Pansy and Hermione crept forward to bound the man who was not wearing his hood. When they lifted the man up to bind him to the chair Pansy let out a small gasp.

'What is it?' Hermione asked, immediately concerned. 'Do you know him?' She asked, worry in her voice as she looked between the man and Pansy. As she did so, she noticed a resemblance between the two. They had the same shaped face and nose.

Pansy nodded slowly. 'He is my uncle, my father's brother. He did not come around often, but he was kind to me. Kinder than most.'

'I am sorry Pansy.' Hermione laid a hand on her friend's arm in comfort. 'Come, let's put him in one of the cells.'

Pansy nodded and after binding the man tight with a few spells, they placed him in a dark corner of a cell and made their way to the exit of the dungeons.

As they were making their way up the stairs they heard a door open from above and a brighter light came flowing down the stairs. Quickly rushing backwards the witches searched for a place to hide, but the sound of boots coming down the stairs quickly made it impossible to get anywhere before they were seen. They needed to stop whoever it was quickly before they could raise an alarm.

A hulking body descended the steps, the burly Death Eater's face showing a moment of surprise as he saw the two teenage witches standing in front of him.

'Stupefy' Hermione cast quickly and accurately, but the Death Eater managed to get a shield in place at the last moment and rolled away.

He was up quickly and had cast two non-verbal spells about the girls. As he stood to fire properly and alert those above him he was shocked to see a solid shield around the girls absorbing his spells while another sailed towards him.

He had not been expecting such quick and accurate spell work as a piercing hex went straight through his throat. His eyes opened in surprise and blood poured down his chest and his body slumped to the floor, a pool of dark red blood growing steadily around where his body lay.

Hermione's shield held firm, the two spells of the Death Eater crashing silently against it. She was just as surprised as the Death Eater to see Pansy's non-verbal piercing hex hit the man in the throat.

As his body hit the floor she cancelled the spell and turned to her friend who looked ashen. Her mouth closed tight, Hermione could see the muscles taught in her cheek and jaw and her eyes laser focused.

Hermione took a small steadying breath. They had prepared for this moment for months and now her friend had taken the step first. Death was inevitable in this war, killing unavoidable if they wanted to ensure the death was not theirs.

She reached out and placed her hand gently on Pansy's wand arm. At her touch Pansy snapped her head to look at Hermione.

'Them or us.' Hermione said strongly.

'I choose us.' Pansy replied fiercely, a fire in her eyes.

Levitating the body and stashing it in the same cell as Pansy's uncle, the girls quickly vanished the blood on the floor and crept up the stairs, silencing charms being recast on their feet to avoid making any noise.

Draco's map was a boon to their mission. Malfoy Manor was built by paranoid minds, the bloodline's survival at the forefront of the design. This meant that secret passageways, hidden hiding places and charmed paintings allowed Pansy and Hermione to move throughout the house without having to walk through the central rooms of the Manor. The dining area, living rooms, welcome hall and main corridors were all avoided as the two witches followed the route intricately laid out by the Malfoy Heir. Draco had played in this house his whole life, made to memorise every escape route possible in case of the most dire of circumstances.

They had made their way to the bedroom suites without any incident and were only a few short doors away from Narcissa's rooms when the sound of movement alerted them ahead. There were no secret passageways to walk through in this part of the house, each room having their own secret exits that could not be accessed from the outside.

Throwing the invisibility cloak over themselves the witches pressed themselves up against a wall hoping that whoever came down the hall would not walk into them.

To their great horror it was not someone coming down the corridor, but something.

Nagini slowly made her way down the corridor, her tongue flicking out as she smelled the air… food was nearby. She knew the scent of her master's followers, those she was not allowed to eat, but this smell was new. It was sweet and delicious, and Nagini was hungry.

Hermione gripped Pansy's hand tightly as Nagini made her way over to where they stood. Their hearts beating in their chests as they held their breaths.

Nagini could not see the food, but she could smell it. She stopped where she thought the smell was coming from and licked the air. Yes, food was close.

Pansy looked at Hermione, her eyes filled with fear. She did not know what to do if Nagini did not leave. It was clear she could smell them, but had not made an attempt to venture closer, perhaps waiting for her prey to move.

Hermione thought desperately of anything they could do, a spell that could incapacitate the snake without alerting the rest of the Manor, but she knew it would be pointless. Draco and Snape had assured them that every protection had been given to Nagini, nothing she could do would be quiet and they could not afford to draw attention to themselves now.

It was when Nagini began to slowly draw closer, her eyes searching for the food she could smell that an insane idea came into Hermione's head. With no other options available and a split second to decide, Hermione grabbed her wand, lifted Pettigrews cage and whispered 'confundus'. She watched as the betrayer of the Potter's staggered around his cage in confusion, opened the cage and dumped the rat on the floor.

Pettigrew stumbled out from under the cloak and drunkenly made his way down the corridor. The movement was enough for Nagini who took off after her prey.

Hermione and Pansy heard a small squeak and then jaws slamming shut. Not allowing themselves anytime to process what had just happened the two witches made their way swiftly down the corridor, their pace a little short of a run.

It seemed Nagini had not turned back as they did not hear or see her returning up the corridor, but they did not slow their pace. They found Narcissa's suite at the end of a long line of doors. The prison placed upon the Malfoy Matriarch was not designed to keep people uut, but to prevent her from leaving and so the door opened easily for the two witches who slipped through quietly and closed the door behind them.

The tall elegant witch, dressed in a floor length acromantula silk nightgown turned from her dresser as she prepared herself for sleep and looked with piercing eyes at the door.

'Reveal yourself, intruder, I do not much care for games.'

-break-

The sound of the cabinet door creaking open echoed throughout the Room of Requirement as the Order and DA members held their breath. Despite the proficiency of the Order members as witches and wizards and the training undertaken by the DA throughout the year, only a handful present had fought actual battles and witnessed death. While the witches and wizards coming through that cabinet were violent masochists who had delighted in torturing and killing people for years. Their test had arrived, and it was not one they could afford to fail. The fate of their lives, their school and their world depended on their ability to ensure the trap worked.

The first two bodies made it out of the cabinet before they encountered Bill's first layer of defence. Without warning and without a sound the two Death Eaters fell in a crumpled heap on the floor. There was no outward sign of any attack or movement, just two marionettes who had their strings cut.

'What the fuck?' the third Death Eater out of the cabinet shouted as he saw his two compatriots lying on the fall. He paused where he was and scanned the room, searching for the attack while the rest of the Death Eaters joined him in the room. None venturing further than the bodies.

'We are not alone.' Came the sing songy voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, the last to join the Death Eater numbers.

'Children, adults, and a wolf' growled the deep voice of Fenrir Greyback.

'Wards. Multiple layers of them.' A panicked and shaky voice stated as they waved their wand over the area.

'Deal with them, and the rest of you be ready for a fight!' Shouted another Death Eater.

The Death Eater who had discovered the wards began to unravel them before he too crumpled to the ground without a sound.

'Someone opened their rat fucking mouth!' Hissed a Death Eater.

'Move!' Demanded Bellatrix who strode forward and waved her wand in a complicated manner. After a short series of movements she unleashed an explosive spell that cannoned into the wards created by Bill. They light up the entire room for a split second before crashing to the ground in an all mighty boom, knocking both Death Eaters, DA and Order members off their feet.

As the bright flash was still diminishing and the ring of the blast was still present in all combatants' ears a second large explosion rocked the Room of Requirement. The cupboard had been blasted apart shooting chunks of wood in all directions, cutting and slicing into the Death Eaters skins. Remus stood tall and proud, his wand arm strong.

'Hello Lupin,' growled Greyback, his wolf attributes also allowing him to recover quicker than the others in the room, and with that, the battle commenced.

Spells flew from the piles of junk towards the Death Eaters who were caught completely off guard by the events of the night so far. Many fell to a different array of spells, while the more ferocious of their number shielded and began to fight back.

Greyback leapt forward, using his strength and speed to avoid spells and charged directly at Remus who wore a similarly feral expression on his face to the monster who had turned him all those years ago.

Bellatrix rallied the remaining Death Eaters, unleashing a wide ranging attack that, while limited in causing too much damage, did cause many of the Order members to stumble backwards, even with both DA students shielding them.

With that moment of respite the Death Eaters began to cast spells in earnest. While they could not see many of their targets they could see where the spells had come from and began to cast in those directions.

Greyback threw himself at Remus, his long claw like fingernails out and ready to strike at the throat. Remus, anger and murderous intent flowing through his bones forgot about his wand and bared his teeth, ready to fight with all he had.

So overcome by his bloodlust at the direct challenge to his position as Alpha, Greyback completely disregarded the smell of the young magicals nearby. As he flew through the air and was about to strike the upstart who dared to challenge him, he felt two spells collide with his torso.

Despite his magically resistant skin, pain ripped through his body. Landing harshly on the cold floor he looked down and roared loudly. The right side of his body had been torn open, his ribs visible as blood flowed freely from his body. The Longbottom boy stood over him with a pale but determined face. The left side of his chest had… a bush growing out of him? He turned in surprise to see the Lovegood child looking at his body with an impish interest.

He tried to stand and lash out at the two children who had attacked him but a foot landed harshly on his face, breaking his nose and slamming him back into the ground.

'I knew you could not pass up a direct challenge Greyback.' Remus spat as he broke the dying wolf's jaw with another kick. 'You will never hurt another child again you sick fuck. Diffindo'. Remus watched in satisfaction as the head of his tormentor rolled across the floor of the room of requirement.

After taking a brief moment to squash the emotions that erupted inside of him seeing the beast who had destroyed his life die, Remus spoke to Neville and Luna. 'Well done both of you. Harry told me that you were all resolved to take a life if necessary, but actually doing it is something else. In time you will need to feel the emotions of what has just happened, but now is not the time. Squash them down and focus on the task at hand.' He paused at the sight of the now fully formed bush filled with flowers now consuming the body of Greyback. 'What did you cast Miss Lovegood?' Remus asked curiously.

'I wanted to create something. He was a vile man who smelt of death. I wanted his death to smell of life.' She said simply, her hand linking with Neville whose face was regaining its colour and his body ready to return to the fray.

Remus didn't have the time to fully dwell on how she had managed to create a bush inside of his body as a large explosion ripped through one of the towering walls of junk, screams filling the air.

The trio turned swiftly, shielding themselves from the falling debris and then launched themselves back into the fight.

Ron and Ginny were surprised by the effect of their older brother's wards. Ron turned to him when the first two Death Eaters fell to the floor, a plethora of questions on his lips. Bill clearly sensed the onslaught coming and silenced Ron with a shake of his head. Ron had never seen his older brother like this, to be fair he hadn't spent that much time with Bill during his life, him being the eldest and he and Ginny at the other end of the family, but he had always been the jovial brother with exciting stories of his adventures. The dangers of his job, now truly settling on the youngest Weasleys.

There was a cold detached look in Bill's eyes and slightly unnerved both Ron and Ginny when they watched the third Death Eater fall, but they gripped their wands tightly, determined to play their part.

The explosion caused by Bellatrix temporarily blinded them, but once again Bill's expertise had shielded them from the worst of the effects. A bright shield had erupted around them as the wards began to break, Bill's knowledge of what would happen when they failed allowed him to act before anyone else could even process what was happening.

The cabinet blasting into pieces spurred Bill into action, he fired three quick spells, felling three Death Eaters who were still recovering from the blast. Ginny and Ron were only second behind, both their spells missing the mark.

'Shield me.' Bill commanded, his eyes not leaving the Death Eaters. Again his instincts, honed through many trials in Egypt and beyond, protecting them from being too impacted by the wave sent forth from Bellatrix.

As her attack subsided Bill immediately went back on the offensive, but this time the Death Eaters were ready. The less abled bodies had already been killed or knocked out of the fight, but Voldemort had not only sent fresh recruits, but many of his battle hardened warriors. The school may be filled with children, but also professors proficient in magic.

The fight began to stall, the limited number of Order Members began to show as the Death Eaters realised that they were fighting a mix of students and adults. With a hissed command from Bellatrix the Death Eaters stopped aiming their attacks at the Order Members they could see, but at the student beside them, causing the Order Members to defend rather than attack.

Bill was forced to defend Ginny from a string of particularly nasty curses prompting him to change strategies. 'Ron, Ginny, curse them with whatever you have. Don't hold back, I will protect you.'

Ginny's eyes wide with fear, her hand shaky, fired off some spells. While most missed, one landed on the arm of a Death Eater looking in the other direction, his arm beginning to burn ferociously causing him to scream out and drop his wand.

Ron, meanwhile, fired a few stunners that were easily blocked, 'Fucks sake Ron! This is not the time for stunners!' Bill growled as he levitated a chair in front of a killing curse meant for Ginny.

Ron nodded grimly. He fought hard against the panic that was threatening to burst from his heart. He squashed the fear and memories of seeing Pansy Parkinson bloody on the stairs and uttered the curse he swore he never would again. 'Sectumsempra' he bellowed, his curse striking true, blood spurting outwardly from the Death Eater who fell back grasping at his chest.

Bellatrix screeched in rage as she saw her husband fall to a curse she knew all too well. Snape was the only one who knew the counter curse and she saw the life leave her husband's eyes, his hands desperately grabbing at the open wound, trying to put it back together.

With pure hatred in her eyes she cast a powerful spell at the three red heads who had dared to kill her husband. It was a curse of her own design, a mix of bombarda and incendio, its effects catastrophic. It flew into the junk surrounding the Weasley children and exploded in a burst of light and shrapnel. Screams filled the air as fire and exploding items rained down on many in the cramped arena.

Bellatrix took the opportunity presented to her and sprinted past towards the exit. A lone student tried to stop her, a weak slicing curse grazing her leg, but the green spell from her wand put an end to their pathetic life. She had Dumbledore to take care of.