Chapter 22- Final Battle Part 1 of 2
Tumbling to the floor of Riddle Manor, Hermione's eyes flew open. Draco stood before her, his face unreadable. "Where are they?" Hermione stuttered, her face glanced with suspicion.
"We have to apparate to the meeting place." Draco mumbled, looking rather uneasy. Draco was unsure as to why they were not meeting in the manor. Hermione recognized it at once. They were meeting in the forest where Harry had witnessed Voldemort's resurrection. Hermione clasped Draco's hand as they moved towards the usual portkey, instantly transported to the forest.
"I think they're going to be killing tonight." Draco whispered in Hermione's ear as they moved in amidst the Death Eaters. Snape, who had already arrived, turned to them giving them a warning glare as he overheard their whispers. Hermione and Draco instantly enveloped in the surrounding silence.
"Death Eaters." Came a soft hiss from somewhere behind Hermione. The Death Eaters dropped to their knees before the Dark Lord. Hermione kept her mouth shut tight, her teeth grinding through the process.
"It has been several months since we have killed for fun, so for your amusement I have arranged the attendance of a family of muggles." The Death Eaters murmured their approval.
Oh God. Hermione thought. Draco looked at her sharply but could not make out her expression. He decided not to answer. Voldemort smiled evilly as two Death Eaters led out a weeping family.
~
Ron rose from the ground groggily. For a moment he forgot where he was. It all came back in a rush of memories and he quickly started to the door. "Malfoy must have Hermione under the imperius curse! He brought her to Voldemort to be killed!" He thought panicked. Tears pricked in his eyes as he stumbled out of the portrait hole, racing to the Gryffindor common room. "Harry!" He yelled. His dark-haired friend looked up at him from a squishy chair in the corner.
"What is it Ron?" Harry sat up rather startled.
"Its- Its Hermione," Ron said, short of breath. "Malfoy… he's taken her to You-Know-Who. Or at least I think he did. I saw them disappear. They used Floo powder. Harry!" Harry's eyes widened in shock and fear. Realization dawned on him.
"What were you doing, spying on them?" he asked, eyeing Ron suspiciously as Ron looked frantically through a hidden draw by the couch, grabbed a small without explanation.
"What the bloody hell, Harry! Hermione is gone. We have to save her from You-Know-Who." All Harry's suspicions disappeared. They had to find a way to save Hermione. Ron was not sure where she had gone though. Harry remembered the last time he had run off to fight Voldemort when he thought his godfather was in danger. His blood turned cold at the memory of Sirus's death.
"Listen Ron, you're going to take me to the fireplace Hermione and Malfoy used. I'll use a spell to discover where they went." Ron looked at Harry agape at the complexity of such spell but quickly obliged, swiftly leading Harry to Hermione and Draco's common room.
"You have some explaining to do." Harry mumbled under his breath. Ron's ears reddened but he did not reply. Harry strode into the room straight to the huge fireplace.
"Previos trans." He mumbled, his wand in front of him. Instantly a vision of Hermione tumbling out of a fireplace next to Malfoy, into a house popped into his head. Harry grit his teeth. Ron may be a bit hot-tempered spying on Hermione and Draco, but if he was willing to face Voldemort to save their best friend, then so was he.
~
Hermione let the tears silently make their way down her face. No one could see them under her hood anyway. Voldemort watched in amusement as his Death Eaters destroyed an innocent family. Hermione stifled a sob as Lucius finished off the mother. As much as she wished she could stop him Hermione had been warned to stay in place, and she knew she could not take the lot of them anyway. Instead she closed her eyes.
"Hermione!" Ron called as he stumbled upon the group of Death Eaters. Harry had known exactly where they would be meeting, and they had apparated there immediately. Seeing the hooded figures surrounding five corpses, Ron yelled out Hermione's name frantically, not factoring in Voldemort's presence.
"Ron!" Harry hissed, but the damage was done. All eyes were on them. Suddenly they were surrounded by the bright flashes of curses shooting from every direction, rocketing off the trees throughout the woods.
"Harry! Ron!" Hermione yelled in despair, trying to break away from Draco's hard grip.
Hermione stop it! He yelled in her head as she started clawing him.
"NO!" she yelled aloud. She fell to the ground in agony as Voldemort pressed his mind into hers during her moment of weakness. "No." she repeated weakly as Voldemort shifted quickly through all of her memories before she could stop him.
"I see." Voldemort hissed softly from behind her, jerking out of her mind. "Miss Granger it appears, hasn't been playing by my rules." Draco spun around at his words but ducked as a curse barely missed his face. Cursing, Draco turned to the Death Eaters who were shooting curses in all directions. He tried desperately to shield himself and Hermione from their attacks, pulling her behind a large tree.
"Lucius." Voldemort called through the midst. Lucius Malfoy appeared at Voldemort's side. "It appears that our dear Miss Granger has been working for Dumbledore." Lucius's smile widened considerably and he looked at Hermione in almost an excited manner. "And she has corrupted your son." Voldemort spoke softly. Lucius's eyes widened in disbelief.
"That cannot be master," he stammered, unbelieving of his son's disloyalty. Voldemort's eyes flashed with anger.
"Do not contradict me and stop wasting my time. You are to kill the mudblood while I take care of Potter." Voldemort swept away quickly. Lucius turned back to Hermione to find her running to help her friends.
~
"Harry! We have to do something!" Ron called to Harry unnecessarily.
"No shit Ron!" Harry panted, ducking behind a tree as another curse missed him by inches. Ron had a strange look in his eyes.
"STUPEFY!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the nearest Death Eater. He dropped to the ground stiff.
"Ron! Ron!" Hermione cried, tearing herself from another Death Eater to race to her two best friends. She was amazed they were still standing.
"Oh no you don't." growled a voice from behind her. Hermione felt a hand shoot out, grabbing her shoulder.
"Let go!" she yelled, spinning around to meet face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy. Hermione recoiled at the look of triumph in Lucius's face.
"You dirty mudblood wench!" Lucius smirked, throwing Hermione on the ground and hitting her with the Crucio curse before she could apparate.
"Dragon." She called softly from the ground, where she lay in a heap. She could hear Lucius's laughter, but it sounded like it was coming from a million miles away. She looked down at her dragon pendant and felt reassured. It would turn red any moment…
Harry watched as Ron struggled against the curses being thrown at him as if it was in slow motion. Harry couldn't think, breath, or move thinking, "this is the end. I'm going to watch all my friends die, and then it will be my turn."
"Potter." A chill went down Harry's spine as he slowly turned to face the one who had destroyed his life.
"Voldemort." he replied, staring Voldemort in the face.
"How many times do I need to try and kill you, Potter?" Voldemort hissed maliciously.
"I could say the same to you." Voldemort's eyes flashed. Harry's scar seared with pain as Voldemort's temper rose.
"You are nothing, Potter. Don't you dare think you can look me in the face and insult me. You're nothing more than a little spoiled boy who won't die." Anticipating Voldemort's move, Harry raised his wand the same time Voldemort raised his.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"CRUCIO!" Harry yelled one of the unforgivable curses. He felt the familiar feeling of his wand connecting with Voldemort's, creating a beam of light between the wands. Something was wrong… Harry let out a cry of despair as Voldemort pushed the curse to his wand. There was a blinding light that illuminated the whole woods, then silence.
~
"Where did you get that?" Lucius snarled at Hermione, eyeing the dragon pendant clutched in her hand. Hermione lifted her eyes to meet his.
"None of your fucking business." She spat back. Lucius's eyes were filled with anger as he lifted his wand above his head.
"Time's up, mudblood bitch." Lucius smirked, prepared to use the killing curse on the wand less girl in front of him. His son stepped between them. Lucius blinked, his facial expression remained the same, his wand still raised above his head threatening to...
"Out of my way, Draco or I won't hesitate to dispose of you too." Draco's eyes didn't show a trace of emotion as he looked at his father.
"Leave her alone." Draco said, quietly. Lucius raised an eyebrow.
"Why? So you can be with your mudblood filth for the rest of your life? I won't stand for you to disgrace the family name."
"Disgrace the family name?" Draco snorted at his father's choice in words. "The only disgrace the Malfoy line has experienced was the day you were born."
"CRUCIO!" Lucius aimed at Hermione behind Draco. Hermione let out a startled cry.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Draco cried out. Hermione stared numbly as Lucius fell to the ground, dead. "Are you ok?" Draco quickly crouched down to Hermione, staring into her eyes.
"You killed your father." She muttered softly.
"I told you I'd kill for you." He smiled reassuringly to Hermione while extending his hand to help her up.
"Where are Harry and Ron?" Hermione gasped as the woods filled with silence. She looked at Draco with fearful eyes.
~
Ron's eyes fell on Harry's limp form lying on the ground, under the shadow of Voldemort. Voldemort laughed at his victory only a moment before but was now doubled over in agony. The Death Eaters stopped shooting curses to watch their leader crumble to the ground.
"Master?" A Death Eater approached cautiously to find Voldemort dead and wasting away. The Death Eater screamed, reviving Ron from the horror-struck trance. He ran to Harry's side. Tears fell from his eyes as he pulled his best friend in his arms. He was dead. Hermione approached to see Ron pulling a small vial out of his cloak looking at it intently. Her gaze soon focused on Harry.
"Harry!" she cried out in despair. Ron looked up blankly at her voice and locked eyes with Hermione. Tears welled in his eyes as he tore his gaze away from hers to look down at the deathly pale body in front of him. He knew what he had to do. With one swift motion, the potion came to his lips and he fell to the ground in a heap.
A/N: ok, not exactly what you think. Well maybe it is… lol I don't know. Only one more chapter people! So sorry it's taken so long but I promise I will have the next one up by the end of the week. Thanks SO much for reading and drop me a review if it's not too much trouble. ;)