It was dark and Hermione Granger was afraid. She had come here knowing she didn't have to, that others could have come in her place but knowing that this was her place. That it was her place to be the one to rescue Ronald Weasley. It had always been that way, him and Harry and her all rescuing each other. But with Harry gone they only had each other to look out for and so it fell to her to brave the dark and dangerous halls of Voldemort's very own secret lair. Or not so secret seeing as how she had found it. She prayed once again that it wasn't a trap that she had been able to follow Ron's magic ring so easily. But she knew that it probably was and willingly accepted that price for her friend.
It had taken her a long time to make her way unseen to the main room of the house where Voldemort himself resided. For it was there that he was holding his prize prisoner to grill him for the whereabouts of the boy wonder. But now that she had managed to get here, hidden in the space beside the drapes underneath an invisibility cloak, she didn't have any idea what to do. She couldn't very well march over to Ron, untie him, and whisk him away without anyone noticing and figuring out she had an invisibility cloak! She may have helped foil the dark wizard several times but that didn't mean he was stupid! She watched the emaciated terror of the wizard world lounge in a large chair while his minions fawned over him. She thought furiously, calculating chances and drawing up wild strategies.
Which is why she never even noticed the two men until the other Death Eaters did. Those two new ones just seemed to appear out of nowhere, strolling casually into the room as if they were out on a morning stroll.
For a second everyone in the room just stared at the intruders in shock. Then Voldemort yelled angrily, stirring his men to action. Immediately the two young men were surrounded.
Hermione wondered who they were and what they were doing, as they were obviously not Death Eaters themselves and were dressed oddly in muggle clothing. She couldn't see their faces and she wondered if they were emissaries from some magical community seeking to join the dark lord. It was, unfortunately, becoming more and more common as Voldemort's recent violent search for Harry Potter tended to make some magical communities cave to the dark lord in fear.
And, again unfortunately, Hermione didn't think Harry was coming any time soon. She and Ron both had long ago stopped believing Dumbledore's insistences that their friend had been hidden away for his own good. Both of them rather feared that their young friend had been killed somehow and his death was being covered up or else he had been terribly injured, which was being covered up. So there wasn't going to be any rescue for the two young men who had so callously marched right into the dark lord's stronghold.
On the other side of the room, far back against the wall, Ron had lifted his head to watch the proceedings too. While the redhead had been chained and his wand confiscated, so far he had remained almost untouched. Aside from a few crucios, Voldemort had not yet had time to do anything permanent before being interrupted.
"It's time Voldemort." The dark haired one spoke.
Hermione felt her eyes widen involuntarily. So few were willing to address Voldemort by name.
It had taken Voldemort a moment but he apparently recognized at least one of his visitors now. "Ahh, Potter. So it comes to this, does it? I've been looking for you for a long time but you've come to me."
Hermione felt shock flood through her system and had to bite her lip until it bled. She knew Ron was feeling the same way. So surprised by this revelation, she almost missed Harry's reply.
"Patience is a virtue."
"I see you've brought something I'd misplaced. I was done with that though." Those reptilian eyes flickered to the blonde. Voldemort turned his attention back to his followers. "You may finish with that one."
"I think not." The blonde spoke for the first time and the voice sounded familiar but she couldn't place it, which bothered her. With a negligent seeming flick of the blonde's wand, the Death Eaters were locked into place, frozen and unmoving.
Now Voldemort looked surprised but still not uncomfortable. He stood from his chair and the battle began.
"Dissendium!" Potter shouted.
The Avada Kedavra flowed swiftly from the evil wizard's wand toward Harry, followed a second later by one intended for his companion.
"Morganelli Morgani!" The blonde ducked and shouted and for an instant Hermione could see his face although it took her a second to recognize him. Draco Malfoy. She wanted to pinch herself and make sure she was really awake. This was all too incredible and strange to be true.
"Incendio!"
"Imperio!"
"Diffindo!"
The spells went zinging back and forth as Hermione crept stealthily across the room to Ron, seizing the moment. With half an eye on the battle and fighting her trembling hands, she began working to undo the chains that bound her friend's wrists.
"Who's there?" Ron demanded quietly, trying not to attract any attention.
"Shh! It's Hermione. Do you know where they put your wand? If I could get just one of your hands free, you could help and this wouldn't take as long."
"No idea. Harry…" She knew how he felt, kept feeling her eyes stray back to the friend she hadn't seen for nearly six years. But they didn't have time for that now. Not with Voldemort in the same room.
"Crucio!"
Ron flinched at the sound of that one and they heard the spell hit Malfoy, or rather heard the tortured whimpering moan that was torn from his throat before Harry was able to distract Voldemort and halt the subsequent killing curse that Malfoy would have been unable to dodge in his current state.
"It appears we are evenly matched, you and I, Potter. But why are you prolonging this fight? You know it is for only you and myself. I will kill this one. Did you intend him as a sacrifice for me? To wear me out?"
A sparkling black-shot barrier rose to separate the two allies. Voldemort turned to face his downed victim no longer protected by Potter. But Draco was now standing, tall and defiant.
"You cannot kill me." And then he added with a sneer, "You're only an old man."
"We shall see young Malfoy. AVADA KEDAVRA!" The curse headed straight for him and he made no move to duck. Instead, inches from his face the deadly curse seemed to hit a solid wall of force and simply dissipated angrily.
The blonde took one step forward toward the startled dark wizard. "I am not just Draco Malfoy, Voldemort." He threw a smirk at Harry. "We are Harry Potter too."
"That we are." Harry approved. And then he said a command. A word of magic Hermione did not know, nor did Ron. A word so powerful that the air seemed to warp and burn around it, just as it warped and burned around the beam of searing light that emerged from his wand. The light was so bright that Hermione could not look and could still see it behind her eyelids, could feel the heat of it surround her until she thought she might burn too.
"You don't have enough power in you Potter!" Voldemort screamed out. His voice was strained and it was supposed to have been a shout but it wasn't.
"But mirrors reflect and the reflection's always bigger!" Draco's voice was stern as he added his own word, his own word that magnified the light and shot it at the darkness in the center of the room, breaking it, burning it. The heat, the light, it was all everywhere.
Hermione was screaming and she knew dimly that Ron was too, heard in the back of her head where she would hear it later when she wasn't so busily occupied that Voldemort was screaming too-anguished death throes of defeat and unassaugable disappointment and rage that went on and on and on.
And then it all stopped.
Author's Notes: There will probably be only one or two more chapters of this so let me know what you think. IsDraco's comment about mirrors too tacky? Review!