A/N: Once again, my apologies for this taking so long. I've had a lot on my mind lately, and haven't had the best couple of weeks. This chapter is extremely dark, and I'm not very good at writing dark type of stuff.

Disclaimer: Le sigh. I still don't own my drivers license, and I still don't own Harry Potter. Go figure.

Chapter 16: Answers

"I knew it!" Hermione exclaimed. She looked at Blackburn, her eyes showing a lot of emotion: anger, disrespect, but most of all, fright. Blackburn didn't say anything. He just looked away.

"You were the one that hit me too, weren't you?" She accused.

"No," Said another voice. "That was me." Holding his wand out, Blaise Zabini stepped into the light.

"Why you little--" Draco stormed over to Blaise.

"Expelliarmus!" Blaise roared. Draco flew back against the stone wall.

"Zabini," Voldemort warned.

"I'm sorry, my Lord." Blaise said.

"Why would you do that?" Ron asked.

"Well, Draco was in my--"

"Not blast Draco, you bloody moron, knock out Hermione," Ron said, his voice full of hate. "She didn't do anything."

"Of course she did. She's a mudblood. Draco's a Pureblood. They're not supposed to be together. It's unheard of."

"Oh. So you were just going to knock her unconscious. That's completely logical." Ron sneered.

"The plan was to kill her, you poor idiot." Voldemort sneered back.

"So what happened?" Harry managed to ask.

"This so-called spy saved her, that's what!" Blaise roared. Blackburn didn't say anything.

"So why haven't you killed any of us yet?" Hermione finally asked.

"Because, you stupid mudblood, why kill you now? Why not surprise all of you when you least expect it?" Voldemort's answer did the trick. Hermione stepped away in fear.

"Anymore questions?" Voldemort sneered.

"Yeah," Ron turned around and looked at Blackburn. "If you're not on our side…is Dumbledore…" Ron trailed off.

For a while, Blackburn did not speak. The trio didn't think he would. Hermione, in the meantime, nervously backed up while keeping her eyes on Voldemort. She lowered down and checked on Malfoy.

"Are you okay?" Hermione whispered. Tears threatened to fall, but they didn't. Draco nodded, but Hermione didn't believe him.

"Go ahead, mudblood, help him. You're all going to die anyway." Voldemort said.

Ron was too busy staring at Blackburn in disbelief to even register the words Voldemort just said.

"Unbelievable," Ron said with a hint of cold laughter. "You're just a bloody coward." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Dumbledore is who he says he is." Blackburn finally replied.

"How? How did Dumbledore come back then?" Harry's voice cracked.

"Like he said. He has phoenix blood in him."

"But that's impossible." Hermione said.

"No, it's not. Many years ago, before he was Headmaster, he had an accident. He lost a lot of blood. When we went to Mungo's, they pumped blood in him from a matching type. But the person was part phoenix. And because of that…well…I think you guys can put things together."

"How could you do that to him?" Ron exclaimed. "He's your UNCLE!"

"Not exactly." Professor Blackburn said slowly.

"What do you mean, not exactly?"

"When Dumbledore came back…he lost a bit of his memory. I-I was a Death Eater in training and--"

"You thought you could take advantage of him." Harry sneered. Blackburn looked away.

"This is all getting quite boring." Voldemort said. Everyone jumped.

"I think…I'm going to kill…you first." He pointed his want at Draco, who stilled.

"Avada--"

"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled. Voldemort screamed in pain as sores began to open all over his body.

"You'll regret that." Voldemort sneered. "Crucio!" Harry fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

"Incendio!" Draco pointed his wand at Voldemort. His robes caught on fire.

There were four students against Voldemort. But he was a powerful wizard against four teenagers.

"There's got to be a way out!" Hermione exclaimed frantically. But the portal had closed already. Voldemort got up from his chair and advanced towards Draco.

"You are a lousy excuse for a Pureblood." Voldemort sneered. He raised his wand up high. Draco was trying to find a way so he wouldn't get cornered.

"Your father tried in vain to raise you to be like him. You had everything, you selfish little brat. But it just wasn't good enough."

"An innocent man was MURDERED for protecting our family!" Draco yelled. Voldemort thrust his wand against Draco's throat and applied pressure. Draco gagged a little and tried to swallow. His eyes were watering, but he refused to blink.

"You don't even deserve the Killing Curse." Voldemort hissed. "You deserve to die slowly. And that's exactly what you're going to do here. Your mudblood girlfriend is going to watch you die."

"Sectumsempra!" A voice roared. Draco winced as he watched Voldemort's robes and body get overpowered by deep cuts. Voldemort whirled around. Professor Blackburn stood there. His arm was outstretched. His look was a look of defiance.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Voldemort growled.

"You will not harm them." Professor Blackburn said angrily.

"Why's that?" Voldemort's voice was full of loathing.

"They are young. They have families." Voldemort advanced on Blackburn. He knew what was coming. He turned to face the students, including Blaise. He opened his mouth to say something, but Voldemort decided he wasn't going to hear it.

"Avada Kedarva!" The jet of green light came spiraling towards Professor Blackburn. The light him in the chest, and down he went.

There was absolute silence. But Harry noticed something.

"He's changing!" He exclaimed. Harry struggled to get up after his Crucio attack, but he was able to get through it. All the students' eyes were on the body. When the body was finished changing, Draco stepped back in fear. The body form in front of them was Severus Snape.

Hermione screamed. Ron turned away and vomited. Harry just stared at the body the way he did when Lucius died.

"Which one's next…" Voldemort looked completely unfazed. So did Blaise.

"What do we do?" Ron asked.

"You wait your turn." Voldemort told them. They had to fight back. They knew it. Voldemort was weakened just a tad, from the cuts on his body.

"We have to fight back." Hermione whispered.

"For your parents." Ron said to Harry.

"For Sirius." Hermione added.

"And Snape." Malfoy finished. Harry didn't respond. His jaw kept on clenching and unclenching. He stared at Snape's body. All those terrible years with him in Potions. All the trouble he gave him. All for what? Before he could think any further, his back had hit the wall. Voldemort had launched the Expelliarmus charm on him. Harry didn't even want to get up. Ron, however, was taunting Voldemort.

"What, is that all you got? You're the most powerful wizard, and all you do is cast the Disarming charm?" Hermione kicked him. Voldemort slowly walked up to Ron, advancing on him.

"Would you like to be next?" He asked. Ron's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"Good. Now, I must take a break. Blaise, keep an eye on them." Voldemort left the room. Blaise smirked at all of them.

"Blaise, why are you doing this?" Draco asked.

"Don't act so innocent, Malfoy," Blaise scoffed. "You were going to be one of us too."

"You really think that I would have gone through with it?" Draco asked.

"You ask this now, when you're in love with a mudblood, and making friends with Potter and Weasley?" Draco didn't say anything. As much as he hated to admit it, Blaise was right. There was no telling what Draco would have done, if he hadn't been made Head Boy.

"You're just a pathetic…hypocrite…mudblood-loving--"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione yelled. Blaise went still and crashed to the floor.

"Merlin, he was getting on my nerves!" Hermione exclaimed. She shook her head, and said in a whisper, "What are we going to do about Voldemort?"

"We…I think you know what we have to do, Hermione." Draco said.

"But…but what about Harry? He…he hasn't gotten up." Draco walked over to Harry.

"Potter, get up."

"What does it matter anyway? We're all going to die here. Voldemort's going to kill all of us."

"Yeah, with that kind of attitude, good riddance." Draco said. Harry said nothing. "You are extremely selfish. You've got a bunch of friends that care about you. You've got a bunch of Professors at the school that care about you. Your parents may be dead, but you know they care about you. They gave their LIVES up for you. And you're just going to throw it all away? You're going to just let your parents die in vain? Voldemort KILLED your parents. That man is the reason you are living with that aunt and uncle of yours." He spoke to Harry firmly. Harry couldn't look at him, but Draco was right. He got up, steadying himself by planting his hand against the wall. Then, he stood up straight and joined his friends.

"When Voldemort comes back in," Draco said softly. "All of us will yell the curse. Our powers combined should kill him. Got it?" Everyone nodded. All they had to do was wait. They were starting to get impatient.

"Now. Who shall be ne--" Voldemorts voice resounded as he walked into the room.

"AVADA KEDARVA!" Their wands each shot out the green light. But the light ended up coming together. Everything seemed to have happened in slow motion. But the green light hit Voldemort in the chest. And then…nothing. Voldemort went down. It was finally over.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco found their way back to the castle. It turned out the area they were in was a secret area in the Forbidden Forest. They were all splattered with blood as a result of Voldemort's death.

Each student carried the body of Severus Snape. As they got closer to the school, they saw the unmistakable features of Dumbledore. He knew what had happened. However, when he saw Severus, his eyes were no longer twinkling. His mouth cast into a sad, defeated look.

"So Joseph wasn't my nephew?" Dumbledore asked. The quartet shook their heads. Dumbledore didn't know what to say. Now that Voldemort was dead, things were different. Dumbledore knew something was going on. He had a lot to think about. When he looked up, Harry looked like he was having another seizure.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. But it didn't last for very long. The shaking stopped. Harry opened his eyes and felt his forehead. The scar was gone.

A/N: Thanks for bearing with me, guys, it means a lot. This was the second to last chapter, so next chapter is the last one.