harrietpotter: Aw thank you so much! Well, I can't make any promises for this story, but I might consider your request for another one!
Phillyactress: Lol I'm so glad you liked that chapter. I was originally planning on having THIS chapter be part of last, but I decided it was way, waaay to long. Lol, so here you go! Ooh, that's a good idea; I think Herbert will turn up last chapter via awesome entrance! Mmm, cheery pie is MY favorite so I'm glad you think it's good! Lol, no I do not know how to fly an airplane, but one of my friends does! Do you?
SMurphy: Ah come on, you know I love them! Lol, Yes it was a very evil twist to pull in there wasn't it, but it makes you stop and go… "Oh dear…" Lol. And yes, I WILL make those colors work lol; I already have a plan for it and can't wait till the end! See you in school!
Nora01: Ahhh, the secret lays within (scary sort of spooky voice)
ilovefireyredheads: Muahahaha! Yes they will, I'll promise you that since you seem so anxious for it…which is awesome!
Stella9876: Very well done! I think it's obvious who the red eyes belong to, but as you can tell…when do I ever say the obvious straight away lol. It's more fun for me! Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoy the remaining chapter and come back for my others!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K.Rowling, and everything that you recognize in here is NOT mine. Herbert is from the imagination of Philly's, plus my added mannerisms for character! Oaeurs are mine and Ron's spell.

A/N: Hey guys! Do you know what's sad? Next chapter is the last chapter (cries and wipes eyes with many tissues) Here's the deal though, there WILL be a sequel, I promise! I'll start it right after the next book comes out. The first chapter will be a week after, so that you guys can read the NEW BOOK! It will be R/Hr again, and will be in the Romance/Angst section. Also…probably will be rated T, so just look for my pen name in a couple weeks! The last chapter will have the title of the new story so look for it! It's been a pleasure writing this for you guys, the reviews were awesome and I'm so very sad for having to leave it, but hopefully I'll see most of your guy's names again on the next story!
And now….on with the show!
doublelily

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The room was indeed dark, save for the many pairs of yellow eyes surrounding the group. Hermione held her breath for a brief moment before getting the courage to look around. There was only one place where the eyes weren't around them, and that was the door. She felt Ron and Draco each take one of her hands to assure her safety and she could hear Harry stir around behind her. "Don't worry Hermione" he whispered to her.

"Well, well" a strange thin voice came from the darkness. Hermione had a sense of whose eyes the voice belonged to but she was far too scared to see if it were true.

Again the voice spoke, "We wouldn't be trying to escape now would we?" Its thin nature had a hint of sing-song and sarcasm to it.

"Who are you? Ouch!" Stepping on Ron's foot, Hermione cut off anything else that Ron would have said to the strange voice. Ron would have said something he shouldn't have and Hermione wasn't about to put everybody in worse jeopardy than they already were.

"I know who it is Ron." Harry pushed himself from behind Hermione and through the group to the front of the circle. Herbert watched his every move while Dumbledore watched straight ahead to the many pairs of eyes.

Hermione could see the pair of red eyes squint in anger and heard a chuckle. "Ah, Mr. Potter, we meet again. Tell me, which do you prefer, fight and lose or give up…and lose?"

Harry clenched his fists together and sneered at the red eyes, not saying a word. Red eyes cackled again, "So I see you're going to give up? Well, say goodbye to your little pathetic friends Potter."

Harry glared at the red eyes, "You won't do anything to them, you understand? I won't let you…Voldemort" Harry heard Ron shudder and Hermione whisper shrilly, "Oh get over it Ron!"

Hermione looked at Ron, who had gone white in the face again in the name of Voldemort. "Ron, we need to be brave you know that. We have to support Harry!" she whispered. Ron just looked at her in the eyes and squeezed her hand, "It's not that I'm scared of him Hermione. I'm just scared of what he might do to you…Arrgh!"

Hermione watched in horror as Ron was lifted into the air and was held there for a minute, a pure look of terror on his face.

"Put him down!" She screamed at Voldemort and took a step forward, Draco grabbing onto her arm. "No!" he whispered harshly at her.

Voldemort cackled evilly and his voice boomed over Ron's screams of being lifted higher. "What…do you think a little mudblood like yourself is going to take me? I'm the greatest wizard that has ever lived you filth! But, I suppose if you insist, then in all fairness you can fight against my team also." Hermione looked on confused, but still with anger on her face. She wouldn't back down against him, no matter how hard Draco was tugging on her sleeve.

Voldemort's red eyes opened in amusement, like a child at Christmas, "Here…let me show you…"

"Lumos." He said softly but effectively. A small circle of light illuminated him and Hermione held back a scream of terror and disgust. Voldemort's demented white form and snake like eyes were scary enough in themselves, but what frightened Hermione the most was his person. It looked as though underneath the long black robe he was wearing there was a puddle of nothingness, like he had no backbone at all. He was nothing like the last time they all saw him.

Voldemort glided across the floor circling the front of his group, and at all times keeping his front to Hermione. "I give you my Oaeurs, death demons of the underground." He murmured some sort of strange chant in a language completely new. The lights at the back of the hallway lit up and gave the Oaeurs a strange unhealthy look. Draco let go of Hermione's sleeve and she could hear him behind her, "Holy bloody hell…"

"They keep the count up for the underground," Voldemort said in his thin voice, pacing in front of the hundreds of Oaeurs, "They are near impossible to kill, and even harder to catch to do so. Let me demonstrate their power. Yeatseney, come here." He bellowed. A lone death eater came walking towards Voldemort, his head hung in awareness of what was about to happen.

"I am at your service master" Yeatseney stood straight next to Voldemort, hands at his sides, thumbs at the seams of his robe. He looked very much like a choir member ready to walk onstage; however, Hermione highly doubted that they were going to hear the 'Halleluiah Chorus.'

She could see the swarm of Oaeurs moving anxiously in the background, looking blood thirsty and ready to pounce. Hermione noticed their manner as the rest witnessed what was about to take place.

'They almost glide along,' Hermione noted, 'it's like they're in water.' She watched some of the Oaeurs as they looked hungrily at Yeatseney. They did have feet, but only the toes touched the floor.

They were quite ugly creatures. A pale blue color with what looked like splashes of blood on their skin, they were almost transparent. Their long nails were a sickly yellow color and they were covered with just a cape around their necks. You couldn't tell the sex of the creatures and Hermione was very sure that they didn't have a certain sex. The weirdest part of these creatures however was their hair. It was long and green but the ends of the strands were tiny pebbles of the same color. Most had bones in their hair or pierced through they're skin in various parts. They held no wands.

"Get him." Voldemort hissed through his teeth at the Oaeurs. One of the creatures floated towards Yeatseney and placed both hands upon his chest. Yeatseney screamed in agony and clutched his chest just before his eyes popped and he dropped dead. Once he hit the ground his body shriveled up and all that was left was his bones. The single Oaeur picked up one of Yeatseney's arm bones and tied it up in his hair, and grinned then a toothless grin.

Hermione almost threw up and was forever thankful that Draco turned her away. She looked up at him and he shook his head, both thinking the same thing. 'We're in trouble.'

Voldemort still had Ron in the air, whose mouth was just as wide as Harry's, was no longer yelling. Voldemort threw his arm towards the wall and Ron followed the motion, hitting the stone side with a thud. He fell down and moaned in pain before staggering to his feet.

"No!" Yelled Harry, who looked a tad weary of the Oaeurs, "This has nothing to do with them, leave them alone. This fight is between you and me. And you were wrong earlier, Dumbledore is the greatest wizard of all time, and I would like to see you ever beat him. This is between you and me, half-blood versus half-blood."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed in a glare and he swiftly went towards Harry, "That's where you're wrong. This has everything to do with your little friends. If they're dead, then you are far easier to kill. I can't have you being all heroic for them now can I? It brings up your self-confidence, and where's the fun in killing you if I can't torture you first? Voldemort cackled and then suddenly stopped and said in a scary raspy voice most unlike him, "Get them."

The Oaeurs came towards the group and Dumbledore jumped towards Voldemort, circling towards a corner they dueled furiously. As he did this, Herbert yelled towards the group in his Irish accent, "Don't let both of their hands touch you, whatever you do don't let that happen!"

Ron had gotten up and ran over towards Hermione, blocking her off from the death demons, wand out and ready. "Take out your wands whoever has one!" Herbert yelled from the front of the group again and threw his wand to Hermione.

Slowly the Oaeurs came at them, the group backing into the wall where the door was. Harry tried to open it, "It's locked!" he yelled, "Alohamora! Nothing's happening!"

"Then help us Potter!" Draco yelled his fake wand out in front of him. "Damn it, why did I lose my wand!"

One of the demons reached towards Herbert, who blasted it with a spell. The Oaeur flew back and landed on the ground. It was still for just barely a second before springing back to life almost immediately. Hermione's eyes went wide, 'you can't even stop them fast enough to get away.'

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw an Oaeur reaching the other hand towards her arm. She felt a quick surge of pain before Ron kicked the Oaeur in the stomach, making it kneel over enough so that Ron pulled her out of the way.

"'At a boy Weasley!" Herbert yelled over the sudden commotion in the room. The Oaeurs were giving off a sort of humming sound as they moved; telling their victims what was coming.

Herbert jumped as much as he could over to his left to fend off more Oaeurs. He punched one in the face, "Can't take the pain can you, eh?" he yelled as the Oaeur grabbed his nose, "In Ireland we were taught how to take pain!" He hit one with his walking cane. "And we never," Herbert took one's arm back, "ever," broke the Oaeur's back over his knee, "wimp out! That'll teach you never to mess with the Irish!"

Herbert continued to break bones left and right of the Oaeurs and tossed Hermione his wand to fight. Hermione saw an Oaeur backing Harry up against a wall, Harry punching the demon, but to no avail. At the same time, Ron and Hermione raced over to him and pointed their wands. Without knowing what the other was doing Hermione yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" and right after Ron yelled, "Saliscc Turnaro!" The Oaeur went stiff as a board right before his body twisted right in the middle and snapped in half. The demon went bright blue before it disappeared with a wisp of smoke it its place.

"That's it!" They both yelled at the same time right as Draco ran over. "Use your wand Potter!" He turned around just in time to punch one in the nose. "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry yelled, "Saliscc Turnaro!" quoted Hermione. All that was left was a wisp of smoke.

The four ran together to get out of the way of some stray Oaeur, "I can't believe that's it!" yelled Hermione, "All we have to do is make them stiff long enough to break their bodies! That's the only way we can kill them!"

As Herbert fought proudly against the demons alongside Draco who then joined him, the rest were busy at work.

"Petrificus Totalus! Saliscc Turnaro!" "Petrificus Totalus! Saliscc Turnaro!"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" "SALISCC TURNANO!"

On and on they fought until finally they spelled off the last Oaeur, the air filled with bluish gray wisps of smoke, enough to yield their vision for just seconds at a time. Herbert caught up with the four, blood smeared down his cheek but his eyes filled with and Irish twinkle. Coughing Hermione waved away some of the smoke and when it cleared away they saw Voldemort and Dumbledore still fighting.

"Come now Tom, you know very well what happened last time we fought," Dumbledore said calmly speaking for the first time since the arrival of the Oaeurs.

"You think you'll always beat me don't you Dumbledore!" Voldemort yelled, "You're too ignorant to believe that I could get better aren't you!" He circled Dumbledore and a flash of light went from his wand.

Dumbledore quickly put up a shield that the spell ricocheted off of, sending the light into the wall knocking over a statue. It fell slowly to the ground and shattered, its head rolling in between the two duelers.

"You leave me no choice Tom, when you put my students in danger," said Dumbledore and with that shot off a spell. The black blaze caught Voldemort off guard and caught him square in the chest sending him skidding down the hallway. He got up and glided back towards Dumbledore throwing spells from his wand left and right. Dumbledore, the great wizard, set up his shield again and send off one last spell. It caught Voldemort at the neck and sent him once again flying. He hit the closest wall and an eerie squelch echoed through the entrance way. Voldemort took off his robe and what they all saw made Hermione throw up in the corner, Draco patting her back.

Voldemort looked normal-as much as he could- from the head down to the stomach. What made Hermione throw up so was below his stomach where hips and legs would normally be, there was a tiny strand of flesh just hanging there. He literally had the shape of an upside down triangle. Ron turned Hermione around and pointed at where she should look at.

The squelchy noise that had echoed was in fact a stone statues spear going through Voldemort's chest. Yellow blood trickled from the hole in his chest and Voldemort just grinned.

"You may have won the battle Dumbledore, but you haven't won the war just yet. Just you wait, I'll get Potter and you, when you are least expecting it. For I am never…truly…gone." As soon as he said those last three words, he started to disappear, his face, now transparent, was the last to go. Just before the last of him was gone he yelled shrilly, "Get them!"

"Move…now" Dumbledore grabbed hold of Hermione's arm and led the rest to the door. "Alohamora!" he yelled and finally the door burst open, allowing the group to exit the mansion. It was still light outside and through the trees Hermione saw birds flying around. They were moving in a strange pattern, like something was running in between the trunks.

"Hermione look out!" Ron pulled her aside as the remaining death eaters from the mansion ran towards them from the midst of the trees. Herbert cracked his fingers and said, "Those damned death eaters, don't they ever give up?"

Harry said a spell towards the nearest death eater and said with a pant, "Not 'till Voldemort gives them someone to kill." He said with a slight grin, despite the situation, "And since he's MIA at the moment…"

"Harry," Hermione said after saying a spell with Herbert's wand, "this is not the time to make jokes. We're seriously in trouble here ok?"

Back and forth they shot and dodged spells, Herbert taking the old fashioned way of punching and kicking. One of the death eaters kicked Herbert back on his bad leg, causing him to fall to the ground. As Hermione ran by, Herbert grabbed his wand back and yelled "Avada Kedavra!" The death eater that was about to say a spell fell to the ground with thud. The group fought and fought, each using their best wits to defeat the other.

Dumbledore finally rid of the last death eater with a wave of his wand. There was an eerie silence as the group listened to nature. It was safe for now; there were no more at the mansion.

Hermione was leaning against a tree trunk panting and slightly crying, sliding down she put her hands over her face and breathed in and out slowly.

'Is it done yet?'

She heard Ron slide down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She leaned against him and cried silently, a quiet tear rolling down her dirt and blood stained face. He rubbed her back in support and hushed at her, "Shh, its okay Hermione. It's over for now."

"Mr. Weasley is right Ms Granger," Dumbledore walked over to them and offered a callused hand for Hermione to get up. "Let's head back towards Hogwarts now, I'm sure you've missed your beds and a good cooked meal."

They headed back towards Hogwarts in silence; Dumbledore had an unusual calm nature to his walk, after just having fought off Oaeurs and death eaters, not to mention Voldemort.

After a couple minutes of silence, Herbert spent the remaining time of the trip back singing old Irish folk songs in his low bass voice. The rumblings of his throat gave Hermione and the other three a sense of relaxation as their feet crushed small bits of dirt clumps on the path. Hermione looked at Ron and saw that he was deep in concentration, Harry the same. She noticed that Draco was in the back of the processional and slowed down to meet with him. He looked up at her with a saddened look to his face. Hermione just smiled and took his hand. Ron would understand, but for now, this was all that Draco needed, a simple hand to hold.

They all wondered the same thing, why couldn't they fly back? But understood that Herbert and Dumbledore knew how much they needed the walk to solve their thoughts. Hogwarts wasn't that far from the mansion and in due time they would be back to their warm beds and soft pillows, their dreams allowing them to get away for a slight moment from what had happened in the last couple of days.

Hermione heard Herbert's voice echo through her head as she and Draco moved onwards down the dirt road. Before she knew it, they were on top of a hill; the sun was barely set and was jutting out from behind Hogwarts, making it almost glow. They all stopped and looked for a small second as Herbert still hummed that Irish tune.

"Well children, it looks like we're here now doesn't it?" Dumbledore said with a grin on his face, "I expect that a nice bath should hit the spot."

Dumbledore walked briskly down the short road to the castle, Herbert following at his own pace. The remaining four took their time and Harry opened the entrance gate, its hinges creaking in the evening air. Ron looked at Draco and Hermione and gave a small grin, he understood.

"Well," he coughed and rocked on his heels, "Harry and I are heading off, I'm sure our beds are all toasty from the heating pads the house elves put in."

Hermione scowled at Ron, "That's not funny Ron. As treasurer of S.P.E.W you should know very well that…"

Laughing, Ron leaned and kissed Hermione on the cheek, "I'll see you later tonight."

Without another word, Harry and Ron left, laughing on their way up towards the castle, leaving Draco and Hermione there by themselves. Hermione looked at her friend and started walking with him towards the front doors.

"Draco what's wrong?" Hermione asked very softly, looking at Draco, whose head was slightly down and a scowl upon his face. He looked at her and said darkly, "I killed my father Hermione. I may not have liked him, but still…I killed him. That's going to be on my conscious forever, I just know it."

Thinking for a second, Hermione answered, "Herbert told me something after he killed Megan." She stopped and turned towards Draco, making him look at her. "Your father wanted to kill us, you know it, and you were so brave to stop him Draco."

Draco looked up and smirked at Hermione, "You know Granger," going back to the last name, "If you weren't going out with Weasley, you would so be my type." He laughed and put his arm around her shoulders, starting to walk into the castle. Hermione had a sense of despair in her chest; she didn't want to deal with a love-sick Draco.

He seemed to have sensed that in her and chuckled, "Don't worry Hermione. I'm happy that you and Weasley are going out…you fit each other, or however you girls say it. But if he ever hurts you, I'm hurting him got it?"

Laughing, Hermione walked towards her common room as Draco turned right to go to his, "Naturally Draco, would I expect anything less from you?"

"Well goodnight."

Hermione smiled, "'Night."

Walking into the common room she saw that it was empty and realized that it was bed time, even though it just seemed that 10 minutes ago it was evening. She changed into her nightgown and crawled into bed. Hearing the soft snores of Parvati and Lavender she smiled as her head hit the pillow. She started to drift off and had one last thought before her dreams took over, which were going to be of flowers and kittens she figured.

'Back at last.'

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A/N: Is it just me, or does Herbert rock? Lol. (Sings: yay for reviews!)