Harry furiously glared past the wand tip that was pointing at his scar and felt his nostrils flare in his struggling attempt to not jump on Voldemort and strangle him. He did not want to just kneel before him, asking for an unforgivable curse to blow him apart.
'Tom,' Albus Dumbledore's voice rumbled around the clearing. Voldemort's eyes immediately looked up and around, showing a barely visible glint of fear in his eyes.
'Dumbledore!' He shouted furiously, standing up and forgetting about Harry. 'Do not play your silly invisible games with me! Show yourself!'
Harry watched with small satisfaction as Voldemort spun around, clearly frustrated by the mocking that Dumbledore had begun. He suddenly felt something touch his hands and his bindings. He began to turn his head to look at what was happening when Hermione's voice hissed, 'Don't move!' and she had quickly turned his head back to look forward again with her free hands.
'What are you doing?' Harry whispered from the corner of his mouth.
'Untying you, what do you think?' Ron answered irritably, his back towards him. Their wrists were bound at the back, so he had to turn around to work through the loops. 'Bloody gits made at least a dozen knots … like some ruddy 5 year olds …'
'DUMBLEDORE,' Voldemort roared, looking very displeased indeed. 'ARE YOU GOING TO HIDE BEHIND YOUR CLOAK OR FACE ME LIKE A MAN?' There was a demanding pause, then Dumbledore appeared with his wand at Voldemort's throat, not at all looking like the moderately cheerful and thoughtful Headmaster Harry was so used to seeing. His eyes were vacant, his lips in a tight line behind his pale white beard, and his body held up high and confident. Voldemort blinked, unmoving, and eyeing his wand with almost glee.
'You can't kill me, Dumbledore.' He said, 'You know you can't. Nobody can kill me. I am perpetual. As long as there are mudbloods to be killed, I will live.'
'Almost done … ' Ron muttered, hands growing sweaty. 'Just got one left …'
'Nothing to say? My, my, wonders never cease. I would have thought that you would have said something disgustingly noble by now. "Tom, it's not too late. You can change this, the battle does not have to happen." Well, "professor", I am afraid you have – '
'Please, Tom.' Albus said with a sigh, 'I have no intention of … what was it that you said? Going "noble"? I have had yet to say two sentences and you are already putting words in my mouth. I would very much just like for this to end. That is all an old man can ever hope for - the extinction to suffering and pain.'
Harry suddenly felt his bounds loosen and his painfully swollen wrists tasting the air again. He shook the ropes off and did not hesitate to slowly reach into his back pocket to grab his wand. If Dumbledore could just keep stalling, Harry could quickly say the Avada Kedavra curse before anyone had to get hurt …
Voldemort cackled at Dumbledore's response and glared at the aging wizard. 'You will find the end sooner than you think, I can assure you that.' He took a sharp intake of breath as he suddenly felt another wand tip touch his back. He raised his hand once again as his Death Eaters began to close in. 'No.'
Harry glared daggers to the back of Voldemort's head as he pressed his wand tip further into his robe and deathly skin. He would say the curse, he just needed to focus … one wrong move and it could end with dire consequences …
Lord Voldemort started laughing once again at Harry's pause and took the moment to look at Dumbledore. 'Great wizards do not hesitate, Dumbledore.' And with a small pop, he disappeared and reappeared behind Avery, Dolohov and Malfoy. They stood still, looking unsure of what to do. Voldemort's lips curled into a malicious smile.
'Kill them.'
Arthur Weasley struggled past the running crowd, fighting his way to the lead. His son was out there, his son … Harry … Hermione. Pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose, Arthur braced himself for what came next. Whatever it may be, whatever fate pushed in their way.
'KEEP MOVING!' He shouted encouragingly to the others, who still had their wands energetically waving in the air. Without a moment's hesitation, he and a hundred others burst out of the bushes and into the clearing just as they all heard Lord Voldemort instruct his Death Eaters to kill Harry, Hermione, Ron and … was that Dumbledore?
'AAGGGHHH!' He yelled as Lucius Malfoy began rounding on his youngest son. He ran over and punched him square across the jaw as Malfoy reached over to grab Ron's arm. Not expecting a blow, Lucius staggered and fell to the floor. 'Ron, are you all right?' He asked loudly, helping him up.
'Yeah … I … nice war cry, dad.' Ron said, turning around so that his father could untie him. When Arthur quickly undid his bounds, Ron shook his hands and grabbed his wand. 'I'll see you around, OK?' And before he could say a word, Ron had disappeared.
'What – ' He looked around to see where he had gone but had no chance to make any other sound as he felt a punch on the back of his skull. Falling to the ground, he shook his head to get rid of the temporary dizziness and looked up to see Lucius Malfoy looming on top of him, a dribble of blood running down his lips.
'It's just you and me now, Weasley.'
'Harry!' Hermione cried out before shrieking as a man tackled Dolohov, who had started walking in on her. She looked around before snatching her wand from the ground with a trembling hand. Eyes large and glassy, she looked around and pointed her wand at a random Death Eater that was attacking Kingsley.
'S-stupefy!' She cried out, hitting him at the side with the spell and causing him to turn stiff and fall not unlike a wooden board to the ground. Kingsley gave her a thanking nod and she looked close to fainting in response.
'Where'd he go?' Harry shouted furiously over the cries of spells and pained victims. He turned to his side to consult Dumbledore. 'Professor, WHERE DID HE GO?' But there was no sight of Dumbledore anywhere. Enraged, he roared in vehemence before finding himself in the grip of a Death Eater. Before the stranger could do any damage to him, Harry kicked his captor in the shins and writhed free of his grasp. He turned around quickly and elbowed him in the ribs, forcing him down and pointing his wand in the man's face. When he had fallen, the man's hood had forced itself past his forehead, revealing the terrified, bewildered face of Goyle's father. The bulky man stared up at him in a silent plea, almost daring him to curse him. Not feeling merciful, Harry quickly got up, wand still pointing down. Why did it have to be Goyle? Why could it have not been Voldemort? Angry with the man for not being his nemesis, he shouted, "Conjunctivus!" and speedily walked away as Goyle began writhing on the ground, howling with pain as he raised his hands to his eyes, which were now giving off a lethal sizzling sound.
Hermione walked between one-on-one fights, ducking to avoid spells from hitting her and stepping over numerous of the injured. She was not looking down, however, and she felt herself trip on a bulge in the ground and fell into the dirt with a thud. Spitting the dust out of her mouth, she shook her head and raised her gaze to see what she had tripped on.
Tonks.
After a second of staring, horrified, at Tonks' face, Hermione screamed and quickly shuffled away from the corpse. There was a small hint of a grin playing on Nymphadora's lips and her wand remained in her hand, not wanting to leave the hold of its owner. Hermione felt hot tears brimming her eyes as she raised a hand to cover her open mouth. Tonks was hit with the killing curse. She could tell by the way her eyes had turned a graying green and opened to a pit of emptiness.
'I just wanted your intellectual opinion, Hermione,' Tonks had said to her happily, moments before their leave for the forest. 'What's a "proper" hairstyle for a battle? I was thinking something like maroon with a bit of pinky sheen in it that dropped to about here … or, maybe even put it up into a ponytail … But I always thought girls who wore ponytails were a bit daft, so …'
Tears splashed her robes and forearms as Hermione sobbed and shook uncontrollably under the impacting shock of seeing a loved one's dead body. She felt a horrible sting of dejection steal an inch of her heart, not wanting to believe that someone who had been filled with life and happiness had been so cruelly stripped of it all so soon. Cheeks glazed with tears, Hermione sniffed and slowly clambered back to Tonks, ignoring the ignition of fires and cries of pain that seared in the background. After a moment of hesitation, she reached over and delicately closed Tonks' eyes, bidding her a safe trip to heaven.
A/N: THE FIRST LOSS OF THE NIGHT! Wow! Were you guys expecting that or no? I'm hoping you didn't, because that gives more of an impact. Please review!