Harry finally managed to swim on an even stroke, his lungs aching. He had to get Hermione…

His hand grasped her arm and he swam to the surface. He took several gulps of air, and then started coughing. He turned around to look at Hermione and he saw that she wasn't breathing.

He swam to the shore and placed Hermione on the grass. He started crying, his heart was beating painfully fast and he felt sick. She was dead, and he didn't tell her how much he loved her. He had ruined everything.

Suddenly Hermione started coughing and Harry almost fainted. He helped her so she could sit. Hermione coughed and coughed, Harry patting her back.

She finally stopped coughing and breathed deeply. She looked at Harry and embraced him. Harry hugged her tightly; he didn't want to let her go. Never.

"I thought…" Harry gasped.

"I did too…" Hermione sniffed. "Oh, Harry, I was so afraid that…"

Harry kissed her. He pulled her close and Hermione embraced him. Harry drew away and looked at her.

"I love you, Hermione, I love you more than anything in the world," Harry ranted. "I had to tell you."

"I love you too, Harry," Hermione said. "I have always done, but you have always been with someone else."

"Forgive me," Harry pleaded. "I have been such a moron, an idiot. Now it's too late."

"You're right," Hermione said.

"You are going to marry him," Harry breathed. "And I know that I can't stop that."

"I would break Ron's heart," Hermione sobbed.

"I would be betraying him," Harry said. He hugged her and Hermione sobbed into his shoulder, pulling him closer.

They drew away and stared at each other for a moment. "We have to…" Harry started.

"There you are," Neville said. He and Raven ran over to them, and Harry drew away from Hermione.

Raven was carrying something, and Harry stood up. "What's that?"

Raven smiled. Her face was filled with dust, and she had small scratches all over her face.

"Look what we found in the basement," she said in a satisfied tone.

Harry gasped and Hermione started sobbing again. Harry had seen her picture…She had long brown hair in it. Now she had it very short. Her face had a lot of bruises and her clothes were ragged. But she was alive.

Marissa Corner was alive.

Later, at Harry's office

"Marissa!"

Cho and Michael ran to hug their daughter. Cho raised her head and smiled at Harry, her face shining with tears. "Thank you," she gasped.

"Thank Raven," Harry said. "She found Marissa."

Cho smiled at Raven and continued hugging Marissa. "We have to…go back," Raven said to Harry. "Longbottom, Lovegood, Granger, Thomas and Creevey will go with us."

Harry nodded and smiled one last time at the Corners. Sometimes his work was worth the sacrifice.

He left the office and ran face to face with Hermione. "Oh," Harry said nervously.

"So…" Hermione said. "Um, what I said at the lake. I meant it, and I'm really sorry that… you know."

"Yeah, me too," Harry said miserably. "Er, we have to, you know, go back there to confiscate the ishels."

"I can't believe the bloody things exist," Hermione sighed. "I guess I had to see it to believe it."

Harry shrugged at her and then she saw Raven walking over to them. "We have to go," she said, cold as ever.

Harry smiled at Hermione and they followed Raven.

At the Navitek's manor

"Gone. They are all gone."

The Aurors and Hermione stared at the destroyed wall. There were no ishels left. (A/N:I know that it seems really stupid that they didn't take the ishels, but they were more worried about taking Marissa back to her parents…)

"Of course," Raven sighed. "The git came back and took them."

"I guess we have to clean up," Harry said. "Dean, Colin… You should go back to the ministry and report this. We'll stay here."

Dean and Colin nodded and disapparated. Harry grabbed a piece of wall and snorted. "Wretched elf."

Luna started shivering and she turned around. "Stephanie?"

Stephanie was standing in the doorway, and eerie yellow light around her. She was smirking at the, she had a triumphant look in her face.

"I'm glad you sent those morons out," Stephanie sneered. "I just needed you. Nosy Aurors."

"Stephanie, what are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"I thought I had the perfect plan. Nobody believed in ishels," Stephanie boasted. "My father did, oh yes, and so did I. I had seen them. My father tried to find them, but he was so stupid that he didn't search enough. So… I had to do it by myself." (A/N: HA! I bet you didn't see that one coming! Argh, who am I kidding? I was so obvious. Darn. Read on.)

"You? But…" Hermione started.

"Ditty could sense ishel sensors," Raven said. "You sent him so he could find one of them, and when he found Marissa, he told you."

"Yes," Stephanie smiled. "So I sent him to work there. The Corners were really stupid and they accepted him. Anyway, after a year of learning their habits, Ditty escaped, and we planned the kidnapping."

"And your father found out," Hermione gasped.

"Yes. Meddling old fool. I had to kill him," Stephanie yawned. "But if he was killed by magic, I would be suspected. So, Ditty, being such a nice elf, helped me. He killed him."

"Stabbed him," Neville said, disgusted.

"Exactly," Stephanie said. "So, I grabbed some hair from the Corner girl. I had some stored Polyjuice Potion, so I added some hairs into it. I fed my father the potion, of curse he was already dead, and he became the girl. I knew that if they found the body, they would think it was Marissa, and I could use Marissa to search ishels for me freely. But then, my plan was about to fail."

"Because of Luna," Raven said. "Ishel sensors are really rare, and you thought that Marissa was the only one alive. And then you found out that Luna sensed them too. Thanks to Luna we decided to check Marissa's coffin and we found out that your father was dead."

"How smart," Stephanie mused. "Yes, it was because of her. So I went to Potter's office and pulled quite a performance, so you suspected Ditty. I hid the ishels in the wall. And then I called Draco Malfoy so he could come into my house minutes before you came. I know Potter dislikes Malfoy so Malfoy could be a suspect too."

"Then you decided to check my house, blah blah," Stephanie continued. "But the second time you came, I was in danger. Marissa had escaped from the basement when you knocked the door."

"So you yelled," Harry said. "You said you had yelled to Ditty… And, you repeated the same greeting that you had said days before, making us think that Ditty had imperiused you."

"Yes," Stephanie chuckled. "Oh, my, I'm really smart. So then you pulled down the wall, which was great, because I would have looked suspicious if I had torn it down myself. So Ditty and I made a big act making you believe he was going to kill me. I was planning to kill you two at the lake, but… You are tougher than I thought, Potter. So when you left to leave the girl I came back, brewed a potion with the ishels and drank it. And now…I'm the most powerful witch in the world."

"Where's Ditty?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I killed him," Stephanie smirked. "I had to. He failed to kill you and Potter. I have no space for a servant like that."

Stephanie raised her hands and everyone drew out their wands. Stephanie cackled at them and shook her head. "Didn't you listen?" She laughed. "I'M THE MOST POWERFUL WITCH IN THE WORLD!"

A yellow light flooded the room and they were blasted away, and Harry hit the wall.

A/N: Just for the record… Stephanie was named after my favorite cousin. Of course, my cousin is way nicer than Navitek, ha ha! Anyway, next chapter is the last one! So be sure to read it! Bye!