A/n: Ooh wee ooh. It's the penultimate chapter! Meaning, this is the next to last. And, if I've got time tonight, I'll put the last chapter up as well. Don't hold your hopes up though. The final battle scene is a little anti climatic…sorry about that.

Chapter Nine:

"Jessica! I don't believe you!"

Jess placed the phone back on its hook, Jimmy looking at her in a shocked manner. "You listened in on the meeting?"

Jess smiled deviously. "But of course, honey. Kay never hides anything from me, and she's foolish to think she can."

"But- that's really invading her privacy!"

"Jimmy," Jess replied, her teeth gritted, "The Order's going to take on an army of death eaters led by a demented vampire, at least that's what I'm getting from the little transcripts I managed to get. There is no way that they can do it by themselves, so are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?"

"What, we wake up everyone else in here and go help them out?"

"No, I was thinking of hitting Danica with a potato. Yes, you idiot. Go get Nevaeh and Lauren, tell them to get the rest of the building up."

Jimmy proceeded to walk over to a small switchboard, dotted with red buttons and names of people who lived in the building. Searching for a few seconds, he quickly found the button that was entitled "Lauren" and pressed it down as well as the "Nevaeh" one, causing a beeping noise to emit from the speakerphone.

"Lauren, please come to the front of the building, you're needed, the same with you, Nevaeh. Bring your wands and please get dressed as well."

A few minutes, two tired looking girls came down the stairs. "Whaddya need us for, it's late!" one of them shrieked.

Danica came into the room, holding a tray of several coffees, and placed it down on the table, and looked around the room as she did so. "Look, Taylor and Kay are about to take on a demented vampire and her death eater minions with the Order, and Jess thinks they need more back up."

The girl called Lauren, who had shrieked before, grabbed one of the coffees and took a sip. "Well, I think I agree with you," she said, after putting the coffee down and watching Nevaeh tiredly circle her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. "But what's going on, or do we even need to know?"

Jess raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't think you need to know. Could you get the rest of the building up? We're going to help them out, because…."

"Everyone knows there's power in numbers," the witch called Nevaeh finished, using her wand to send all the doors of the rooms flying open, causing a loud bang as they all opened simultaneously.

"Couldn't have y'all waited?" The girl in the room next to Jimmy's angrily asked in a strong southern U.S accent.

Jess sighed. "No time, Kristine. Listen, everyone!" she yelled to the people angrily grumbling at the top of the stairs. "Get dressed as fast as you can, and bring your wands. You're needed."

A few minutes the bewildered witches and wizards were fully dressed and milling around, muttering amongst themselves, quieting down when Jess shot a blue spark into the air.

"Alright," she said, taking a deep breath in. "We're splitting into groups of five. Anna, Imre, Lila, Rayne, you go with me and Kelly. Kristine, Katy, Jay, Aaron, go with Jimmy and Ashley. Thomas, Ben, Jo, Lucy, go with Nevaeh, Marie is your back up leader. And then Tanya, Connor, Brandon, Mina, you'll go with Danica and Lauren. Everyone hear me?"

There was a loud "Yes!" from the witches and wizards as they scrambled to get to the leaders of their teams.

Jess took in a deep breath again, and then frowned. "Listen to me again, and listen to me well, you guys. What we're going to do tonight will probably get some of you hurt or even worse, killed. If you have to run, run…and just… oh damn it, I'm not good with speeches. Just kick ass tonight, guys."

There was a small murmuring again through the crowd as they stepped out into the garages of the building, Jess directing the leaders of the teams towards different vehicles, mostly just vans.

"Why do we keep vans again?" Nevaeh asked as Marie clambered into the car in the front, the rest of the team cramming into the van's seat-less back.

Marie sighed and tied her dark blue hair back into a ponytail. "Don't ask me Nev, "she replied, shaking her head. "I'm mostly worried we're going to get killed tonight for whatever we're doing."

Jess then leant on the horn of her van and began to pull out of the garage, the rest of the vans following.

Nevaeh let out an anxious sigh as she changed the gear of the van. "I think its best we don't know then, what we're facing. Maybe then we won't be so scared on the way there."

Trianne dodged the swiveling lights and bursts of spells as she ran toward the house's pathway leading out. If anything, she could make it out of the grounds and then maybe she'd be able to get some help, if she kept away from the spells long enough.

She could see a caped death eater coming dangerously close to her before she had time to run. Trianne swirled around as he grabbed her, and kicked him in the side, stunning him momentarily, giving her time to run to the close by exit.

However, she could see a pair of bright lights. Could it be…? It was. Trianne heard her mother's yells and Hermione's cry of "Stupefy!" to the wizard behind her, and Keziah ran to pick her up as more cars approached, Kay letting out a deep and mildly annoyed sigh.

"It's Jess," She called from Paulina's demolished car behind the one that Hermione had come out of. "I think she rounded up the rest of the people in the building."

She opened the car, and one of the people in the vans did the same, Jess coming out to face Kay.

"Jess, this is stupid."

Jess smiled as the teams lined up behind her, the leaders coming to her side. "Look, if anything, you guys couldn't do it yourselves. If you want, I'll get Nevaeh to take Daphne and Trianne out of here." Hermione and Cho nodded, causing the two girls to go to the van that Keziah led them to, and then closing the van doors behind them.

Nevaeh rolled down her window as Kay approached it

"Look," she said, clearly trying to hold back her tears. "Get out of here, and don't come back until we get you or daylight comes. Stay safe, and just drive."

Nevaeh nodded, biting her lip. "Good luck, Kay." She pulled the van out and disappeared into the scenery after a few minutes of driving.

"Oh, what a touching scene!" a Death Eater proclaimed as he and several others walked towards them. He smiled almost evilly and added, "It seems sad I should break it up now…"

Harry had already stepped out of the car, and he recognized the voice almost instantly.

"Malfoy!"

"Potter!" he mocked. "What an unpleasant surprise to see you here, you seriously think you and your friends are going to beat us?"

Ginny rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the car. "We did it once Malfoy, what makes you think we couldn't do it again?"

Malfoy laughed again. "Touché, blood traitor, touché…but this time…"

"This time is no different than the last," Hermione interrupted, folding her arms and tightening her grip on her wand. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the last car unload. If I distracted Malfoy long enough…

"Yes it is mudblood. You know who we've got on our side. You don't stand a chance."

"We don't stand a chance against a power drunk vampire and her dark wizard minions?" Cho questioned, rolling her eyes. "I think you're mistaken, Malfoy."

"Mistaken as I may be, the time for conversation is over." He tilted his head as the Death Eaters by his side. "Always bow before a duel," he hissed to them, his eyes focused on the two muggleborns in the group, Paulina and Hermione.

"I don't bow to scum like you, Malfoy," Harry growled back, raising his wand in cue to for the rest of the group to start attacking. He merely smiled through his mask, before one of the stunning spells hit him and he passed out.

There was an eerie silence throughout the courtyards of the house as the clock struck one, the Order members and LDCRF workers walking through the courtyard to enter the house. A few Death Eaters had deep gashes and bullet holes in them and were presumably dead, while others simply laid still, getting the receiving end of a few stunning spells.

Selene stopped them once they had reached the back door. "Look," she said, using herself to block the door, "its better I take Erika on by myself. I know her better, and I know her weaknesses."

Michael ran up to the front, his eyes still black. "Not happening, Selene, you're not taking her on by yourself."

"Well if you want to get killed…"

Abby came to the front as well. "No, you're both right. The Order members and LDCRF members don't know what they're dealing with, but you're not doing this by yourself."

"Abby, you don't know what you're dealing with either!"

"Well, I probably know more than they do, I'm a vampire as well, or did you forget that?"

Hermione let out a small chuckle, causing the group to look at her confusedly. "She's more like her father than she wants to admit, aren't you Abigail?"

Abby rolled her eyes. "Look Aunt Hermione, it's neither the time nor the place."

Ginny nodded. "But she's right, that's something you would do, wouldn't you Harry?"

Harry let out an angry sigh. "If I was a vampire, yes, I would do that. Just go, the three of you."

Selene nodded and the two of them followed her in. Ginny looked down at the ground, and Hermione placed her arm around her shoulder, while Kay and Taylor, who had bruises beginning to rise on their arms closed their eyes. It was almost over…

Erika cackled as the three came into her chamber, she herself perched on a throne like chair. "Well, well, well, you show up at last. You seem to think you can beat me."

"Think?" Selene retorted. "I know I can beat you."

Erika sighed. "You're just silly sometimes, you know that? In the end, all three of you are going to die." She looked at Abby, and smiled. "That annoying bitch goes down first."

"Not if I get you first," Abby coldly replied, much in the manner her father had replied to Lord Voldemort those many years ago when he had finally defeated him, when Abby had only been a few months old.

"Oh, you're so cute, little one," she laughed, moving with unearthly speed toward Abby, who kicked her in the stomach, allowing her to move out of the way. Erika shrieked unearthly as Selene opened fire on her, finally hitting Erika, but not before she grabbed Abby and threw her across the room, turning to dust as she did so.

Selene quickly went over to Abby, who appeared to be unconscious, in a manner eerily reminiscent of a night a few days ago.

"Abby, are you alright?" she asked, tapping her on the shoulder. No answer. She let out a sigh and placed the girl back on the ground. Abby opened her eyes, and let out a burst of laughter, causing Selene to turn around and sighin a mixture of relief and annoyance.

"That was easy," she said in surprise, seeing the ashes of Erika proceeding to filter through the room.

"Too easy if you ask me," Michael suspiciously added, looking around the room. "Maybe we just beat her clone or something."

"Wait," Abby interrupted as Selene was about to speak. "Do vampires have souls?"

There was an irritated look from Selene, who replied, "Yes."

Abby sucked in a burst of air. "Then I think we only defeated one incarnation of her. My dad told me that You-Know-Who came back through a spell and had a new body. Maybe the surviving followers of her will try to get her ashes or something."

Selene shook her head, clicking a lighter in her pocket, and placing it to the seat of the chair, and then shook her head as she motioned for the two of them to follow her.

"How are they going to find her if the place is in complete ruins?" she wondered aloud to them. Abby merely frowned.

"Don't count wizards out."