AN: This continues from the previous chapter which I uploaded immediately before this. If you've come here from this update - go back a chapter. This update is worth 16K so I've had to split it in half. Confusing, I know.


Sticking the dead man's wand into his pocket, Ron raced up the stairs after his brother. Luna grasped his hand, taking him by surprise. He looked over his shoulder, her pale face determined. He gave her a nod and helped her ascend the steps, bringing her out to freedom.

Or bringing her into the arms of Death.

Let's not have the morbid thoughts right now, Ron.

"Death Eaters up ahead - two." Remus reported from the front. "I'll take the lead. You three take the flanks. Bill, left - Ron and Luna, right."

The orders sent Ron's adrenaline spiking through his body. This really was it. They were about to fight, go to battle. It was the reality of the war, the gritty reality that his mum had so desperately tried to protect him and the others from when the Order had their meetings at Grimmauld Place. It was what Harry tried to prepare them for in the lessons within the Room of Requirement. Unlike what happened in the Department of Mysteries, Ron couldn't afford to get himself injured and cursed. He had to fight smart, follow orders like a soldier… because this was it. Do or die.

His hand tensed around his wand, steeling his nerve, squeezing Luna's hand.

The objective isn't to win. It's to survive.

He could hear Harry's words creeping into his thoughts from one of the many pep-talks Harry gave in front of the D.A. At the time, Ron thought Harry was being a bit of a prat, but soon enough he saw Harry knew what he was talking about. He was a natural leader.

Ron stepped out onto the landing, letting go of Luna's hand. Two men stood at the front door, the doorway open, looking out to the grounds beyond. They spun around, hearing their arrival.

"Wormtail, about ti-."

They reacted fast to the surprise, ripping their wands from their holsters. The Death Eaters were unmasked, dressed in black combat robes, their jerkins tight to their chests while the tails of their robes whipped around their legs as they immediately moved to intercept.

BANG!

A tremendous crash from the room beyond. Ron spun, looking in the direction of the sound.

"Dobby!" Luna gasped at Ron. He nodded then raised his wand as the Death Eaters rushed for them.

Remus went to attack at once head on, throwing a red flurry of curses, forcing them to defend. Bill rushed to the left, moving to flank them, blocking their exit. Ron remembered the orders.

Right. We have to flank the right.

He ran, mirroring Bill. Luna sprung into action, wielding the spare wand that Ron gave her, the blackthorn wand he had wrestled from the snatchers.

"Reducto! "

Her curse reflected off the nearest Death Eater's shield and he looked at her in surprise.

"Shit… Lovegood must've sent word."

Ron gritted his teeth, not correcting them that it had been him who sent word. In position, he looked up, seeing a third opponent sprinting down the stairs. He froze on the marble steps, grey eyes finding blue. Rage burned in Ron's gut as he glared at the bastard.

"Weasley?" Malfoy's face went slack with shock. His eyes widened as he saw Remus and Bill duelling the Death Eaters..

Ron slashed his wand viciously, a severing hex cracking into the marble as he went for Malfoy. Draco thawed, leaping down the steps, his wand out.

"Selwyn, where is my aunt?" He demanded as he rushed down to join them.

"She's gone. Dark Lord's orders."

"Call for reinforcements - I'll inform the Dark Lord."

Malfoy spun on his heel and sprinted for the double doors. Ron snarled, chasing after him.

"Crucio !"

"Look out!" Luna called, grabbing Ron by the back of his robes and yanking him back. The red sizzling blaze of agony zipped across in front of him, striking the door, narrowly missing Ron and Malfoy, who levelled a glare of his shoulder.

Ron turned on the Death Eater who tried to curse him with the Unforgivable. He sent stunners at him, Luna moving to his side, joining the flurry, forcing the man, Selwyn, to defend rather than attack.

"Osseo brackieum!" Remus snarled, using their distraction. Selwyn shrieked as his shins grotesquely snapped and he crashed down to the floor, legs brutally shattered.

Malfoy wrenched the doors open and fled into the room beyond.

"My Lord! We're under attack!"

Bill's reductor curse then ripped through Selwyn, spraying blood on the marble tiles. Ron spun away, his eyes now fixed on Malfoy, adrenaline surging through him. He tore after him.

"Get back here, Malfoy!" He roared. Remus rushed after him.

"No Ron! Voldemort's in there!"

With that, Ron's sense of urgency ramped up. If that was where you-know-who was, that meant it was also where he held Harry prisoner.

"So are Hermione and Harry!" He shouted back over his shoulder to Remus, his eyes finding Luna, who nodded and went to join him. At his back, Bill and Remus finished off the last Death Eater, his body crunching mercilessly against the marble balustrade. His body crashed next to Ron, but he didn't stop to see whether his brother had just dispatched two Death Eaters with uncontained ruthlessness. He sprinted after Malfoy, bursting into the room after him.

Ron skidded before the doorway, taking in as much as he could of the room beyond. His eyes clapped on the chandelier, smashed in the centre of the room - the cause of the loud crash. He then focused on a tall wizard, garbed in all black, striding as he blasted curse after curse.

It was him. The wizard whose name Ron would never dare utter. A man so evil, so dangerous, his childhood had been riddled with nightmares around the stories Bill and Charlie told when his parents weren't around. The monster who murdered his best mate's parents and tried to murder him when he was just a baby.

Lord Voldemort's robes fluttered around him, caught in his power. His wand was raised, pointing downwards. Chairs across from him exploded as he attacked. Ron turned his attention to the table, seeing a figure laid spread out before where a huge throne was set at the head of the table. Dobby stood on the table, his hand sparking as he used his magic. The figure under him violently thrashed, but didn't rise.

Gripping his wand, Ronald Weasley sprinted into the fight, ready at last to face his fears and help his friends.


Only one thing prevented Hermione from blasting the lattice grate into smithereens. Just one. When Harry's arms and legs were snapped out to his sides, splaying him out like a subject on an operating table, ready to be dissected, her wand was out, spell forming on her lips.

But then she saw Dobby.

He was small enough to be hidden from below as he clung to the chain above the ginormous chandelier that sparkled above the marble floor. Hermione's eyes were as round as saucers, her heart jumping in her breast. If Dobby was there, ready to cause the distraction they had discussed before arriving, then it meant Ron, Remus and Bill were in position as well.

Dobby's large green eyes turned to where Hermione was hiding, fully aware of where she was and that she was waiting in the wings. He was waiting for her signal. If he dropped the chandelier, it could be a distraction for her to get to Harry.

But she would have to wait… wait for the cavalry. She would need their backup if she chose to go alone against Voldemort, even under the cloak.

Her gaze went on Harry, her heart wrenching at his desperate attempts to free himself. Whatever spell Voldemort used, he was helpless against it. She could see the distortions where the spell bound him, the air shimmering like a heat haze around his ankles, his wrists, his hips and his shoulders. Around his head too, the air shimmered, trapping him in place so he had no choice but to stare up.

She watched in horror as Voldemort tugged the gag back up into Harry's mouth. Harry let out a yell of anger but it was muffled.

But then she heard the word she feared.

"Legilimens."

Harry went limp as his mind was torn open. His eyes glazed over. Voldemort brought his head over Harry's so close, their faces were almost touching.

She had to intervene.

Drawing in a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do, she burst through the lattice with a powerful reductor curse. To her immense relief, Voldemort was too deep in Harry's mind to notice the part of the wall coming apart. She carefully slipped through the small hole, taking care to cover her body as she crept onto the top of the bookcase. She glanced down, swallowing down her prickle of fear at the twenty foot drop. She cast a cushioning charm on the floor below her

"Now Dobby!" She shouted at the elf.

There was a crack as Dobby used his elf magic to sever the chain. The masterpiece of silver and crystal dropped down from the ceiling. It clinked loudly as it fell.

With an almighty crash, it collided with the marble floor. Her shout had not been enough to stir Voldemort from Harry's mind, but the chandelier worked. The Dark Lord's head snapped up, his visage a picture of rage as his power blasted back his chair, wand raised, searching for the cause of the interruption.

"You…" Voldemort's vivid red eyes were wide when he spotted Dobby up in the rafters. "Potter's pet slave."

Harry thrashed against his restraints, his scream pitched highly through his gag.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Accio Dobby!" Hermione reacted fast, her wand snapping out. Dobby zipped towards her, rocketing away from where the Killing Curse blazed green where the house elf had been dangling moments before.

Hermione had to pull the Invisibility Cloak off her shoulders so she could catch Dobby in her arms. The cloak fluttered away from her, falling slowly to the ground. Dobby slammed into her body, but she caught him.

Voldemort twisted around, his wand catching her in his sights. Not waiting for his curse to fly, Hermione reacted before her mind could engage. She dropped her and Dobby off the top of the bookcase, plummeting down to the ground. Her actions saved them both. At their backs, the bookcase exploded.

Her well-timed cushioning charm caught them, cancelling as their joint forms thudded into it. They landed in a heap on the marble. Ruined books and splinters rained down on them, but Hermione was scrambling up, her magic sparking through her, energising her. Her very essence reacted to the threat before her, the aura of malignance so palpable, it made the shadows appear darker, the light of the sun dimmer.

Lord Voldemort paced around the ruined chandelier, his wand outstretched, his cat-like pupils watching the fluttering descent of Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Harry slammed his hands against the table, the only movement he could achieve. His shouts strangled behind his gag, desperate. He was trying to be a distraction.

"What filth comes to save you, Harry? Such vermin." Voldemort's wand went between her and Dobby.

"Go to Harry, Dobby. Get him to safety."

Dobby vanished, causing Voldemort to snarl. He raised his wand high. As he did, Harry's words from a D.A. lesson long ago whispered in her mind.

A high offensive stance tells you that your opponent is opting for sheer force over finesse. You'll get a split second to react, but don't waste time shielding. Dodge.

Hermione paced with him, making sure she faced him. She caught sight of Dobby appearing behind Harry's head.

"Avada Kedavra!"

She did as Harry taught her those years ago. She threw herself to the side. Her shoulder slammed into the marble, the blaze of the Killing Curse vivid green, cracking against the stone where she had been standing a second before.

The doors leading into the hall were then thrown open with a loud crash. Draco Malfoy swept inside, calling out.

"My Lord! We're under attack!"

Voldemort's head whipped around to the door. Hermione pushed up onto her feet, tearing off to her left to where the Invisibility Cloak had fluttered to the ground. She snatched up the cloak, spinning in time to see Voldemort moving after her, his robes flying around him. She threw the cloak over her shoulders as another Killing Curse bolted for her. She launched herself behind the table, crashing into the chairs. It narrowly missed her.

"Get back here, Malfoy!"

Ron!

Hermione made use of the distraction, peering through the legs of the chairs as she kept low.

"No, Ron! Voldemort's in there!"

"So are Hermione and Harry!"

Hermione pushed up to her feet, knocking a chair as she did. She ran as Voldemort's attention returned to her. He snarled and his wand whipping out. The chairs she passed were blasted aparted as he obliterated everything in his effort to kill her. She screamed.

"I cannot free Harry Potter!" Dobby wailed. Hermione could see Dobby ahead, clicking his fingers, trying to break the spell binding Harry to the table. Harry yelled out from under his gag.

Voldemort smashed the chair in front of her, turning his wand to where he knew she was. His eyes gleamed with intent.

It was then the fight outside in the Entrance Hall spilled into theirs. Remus let loose a roar of furious rage. An almighty blast of orange light bolted through the open doors, making a beeline for Voldemort.

He deflected the combustion hex with an idle flick of his wand, sending it careening over in Hermione's direction. She dived, landing hard on her elbows, as the fireplace behind her exploded, chunks of marble blasting out, showering her with dust and debris. A fine spray of grit covered her. She was visible. She ripped the cloak off herself and scrambled on her elbows and knees, staying low as Remus moved to engage.

Malfoy then backed further into the room, staggering as a curse rippled off his shield. Luna and Ron chased after him. Hermione tucked the cloak under her arm, searching for other Death Eaters, other opponents.

It was just Malfoy and Lord Voldemort.

For now.

She leapt up to her feet, moving to help Remus. The mantlepiece was destroyed, but the hearth was still ablaze. Hermione gripped her wand, twirling it, drawing the fire to her. The flames pulled in her direction, growing larger, twisting into a vortex. She controlled the fire, the hearth now ashes and embers. She contained the fire in a sphere, her control of charms more impressive than ever.

She went to face where Voldemort was duelling Remus and Bill, his intensity superior to them both. He would kill them with ease.

"Incendio maxima!"

She blasted the ball of fire, sending an inferno at the Dark Lord. Not waiting to see the result, she staggered away, rushing for Harry, skidding on the marble. Heat and light flashed on her right as her spell met its target. Remus shouted something but it was lost in the rush of flames.

She crashed down on the table beside Harry, finally making it, chest heaving. She brought her face over Harry's. His wide, dazzling green eyes zoned on her at once. He jerked violently, still trapped. Tears glistened in his eyes as he looked up at her, relief screaming from them

His face was a mess. Tears and sweat streaked down his skin. She used her wand to tear the gag from his face, leaving his mouth wet with spit and blood. She desperately waved her wand, trying to break the shimmering cursed binds that trapped Harry in place.

"The… the table. Destroy it…" Harry breathed

"You're so… bloody brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed. "Reducto!"

Just as Voldemort had obliterated the chairs, Hermione blasted the table apart. Before Harry crashed to the ground, Hermione caught him with a cushioning charm. He scrambled up to his feet, liberated. Harry thudded into her, not hesitating, his bloodied lips crashing against hers.

A cold laugh pulled them apart. Behind them stood Voldemort, wreathed with flames. His wand swept around him as he drew the inferno towards himself, controlling it. The orange and yellow flames darkened as he mastered the element, twisting it to his will, turning it, changing it. Remus and Bill's combined attacks glanced off the contorting sphere of black flames.

"Did you truly believe you could match the majesty of the Dark Arts? Were you really… naive enough… to challenge Lord Voldemort?"

His voice warped and distorted, reverberating around as if magnified. Hermione pulled Harry behind her, raising her wand. He gave a soft hiss of pain as he staggered back. She glanced over. Harry leant forwards, his hand on his lower back.

Voldemort raised his wand and the dark flames surged out from him.

"No one can equal this!"

"SHIELD!" Harry yelled, grabbing Hermione's wrist, pulling it into a defensive stance.

"Protego maxima!" She screamed as the dark inferno consumed the room. Her shield enveloped them, flashing as it intercepted the cursed fire. Harry shouted, his words lost to the roaring noxious fire. His hold on her wrist helped her keep the shield up, his strength hers, his magic enforcing hers.

She saw the cracks in the shield, then a terrible force crashed into them. The shockwave was so strong, it knocked them flying. Hermione screamed as her feet left the floor and she was blasted back. She collided against the wooden panelling, expelling a cry as pain lanced through her from the impact. The remnants of the table blasted back at her. She dropped down into a crouch at once, covering her head with her arms.

Ears ringing from the explosion, Hermione lowered her arms, seeing the inferno had died. Utter carnage was all that was left, Voldemort the only one standing. Harry crawled over to her from where he had been thrown.

"Where is Dobby?" His voice was muffled, her hearing impaired by the explosion.

Before she could answer, urgent footsteps clattered, entering the room. She looked over, her heart sinking as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy appeared. Both took in the destruction, their beautiful dining hall reduced to rubble.

"Prevent any from leaving." Voldemort ordered, his voice deathly soft as he pointed his wand to the door. Narcissa responded, her wand lashing out, slamming the doors shut behind her.

"I am here, Harry Potter…" Dobby pushed out from under a pile of books and shelves that had blown loose from one of the destroyed bookcases. He limped over. He held his arm to his chest, reaching Harry.

"Dobby, you're hurt!"

"Lucius, assist your son with depriving the blood traitors of their wands. You may keep one if you wish to… restore your wizard pride."

Hermione clambered over to Harry and Dobby, gripping both the Invisibility Cloak and her wand. She reached them and Harry's hands grasped her shoulders. She looked up at his face, seeing how thin his lips were from where he was holding back how much pain he was in. She gazed up at his scar, but it was the usual pinkish hue. His scar wasn't hurting him.

"I'm okay… just sore," Harry said, answering her unvoiced question. He looked away from her, squinting as he tried to make out details in his poor vision. Hermione followed his gaze, her heart seizing when she saw Remus and Bill rising to their feet. Still alive. Not far from them, Ron was sitting on the floor with Luna but Lucius and Draco were upon them.

Harry pushed himself up, wincing. She reached up, snatching his hand. She pulled him back down to her.

"Together… Harry… we do everything together."

His hand pressed against her cheek, the hand marked with his blood oath. She searched his face, seeing the firm set of his jaw, the hard glint in his eyes. That damned expression, the one that first made her heart flutter in a different rhythm. He looked into her eyes, his gaze serious, deadly serious.

"I… need you to help Remus and Bill… keep him busy." He flicked his gaze over to Remus and Bill. He then tugged at the cloak under her arm. "Go under the cloak… it's your advantage."

The direness of the situation quelled any protests she had. She trusted Harry. Trusted in his combat instincts. She grasped at the cloak she had hidden under her arm and flicked it out, shaking off the dust. She threw the shroud over herself. Harry's eyes searched her up and down quickly, making sure she was covered.

There was a thunk, a fist striking flesh. Hermione's head twisted around, seeing Ron dropping to the ground. Malfoy stood over him as his father stepped over Ron, ripping his wand from his hand

"I'm… going to help Ron," Harry said, his green eyes squinting over to where Ron was in trouble. "And get a wand."

Fear and alarm burst through her, but she didn't get the chance to tell him it was too dangerous. Not when Remus and Bill circled around Voldemort. Remus raised his wand in a high offensive stance as he shouted.

"This is for James and Lily! Avada Kedavra!"

"Now Hermione!" Harry shouted at her and he kicked off the ground. Spurred into action, she leapt up to her feet while Harry sprinted off towards the Malfoys.

Voldemort turned in a twist of black smoke. Remus's killing curse blazed through his vaporous form. It crashed into the marble, light splashing out. Voldemort reformed, his wand arching upwards. He snarled and hissed in outrage, his voice rasping into parseltongue.

Around Hermione, the wreckage rose up. Vicious shards of splintered wood, pieces of the table that Hermione had destroyed, large chunks of marble from the fireplace, ruined books, it all floated upwards. Voldemort pulled the debris towards him, twisting it into a deadly barrage that he sent around him. A vortex of sharp splinters and rubble. And glass.

Hermione rushed towards the fight with it, invisible, unseen. Bill and Remus were battered with the onslaught. Voldemort swept his wand over to them, tip of his wand igniting acid green.

"Bombarda!" Hermione screamed, lashing her wand out from the folds of her cloak. Her bombardment hex rippled from her wand. It detonated on impact, striking a shield that she hadn't seen Voldemort cast. Her blast sent some of the debris rocketing outwards from the vortex that had formed around Voldemort.

Voldemort twisted around, his robes no longer silk at his feet, warped instead into living shadow that spread around him.

He flicked his wand in her direction. No killing curse blasted out from his wand. Instead, he sent large, deadly sharp splinters and shards ripping in her direction.

She had no choice but to shield. Debris pelted her in all directions, the sound drowning out all else. She screamed when her shield failed, unable to withstand the continuous attack. But now he knew where she was. Large fragments of the table, pieces of bookcase, started to imbed in the marble around her. One at her back, one between her legs, two forming a cross at her front.

He's trapping me!

Panic wiped out everything as the huge splinters formed a tight cage around her. All the while, Remus and Bill deflected and shielded, under attack themselves.

The wooden cage pinned Hermone's right arm to her breast. The cloak that shielded her from view now was wrapped up tightly around her. She couldn't get her wand free from under the folds. Desperately, she tried to cast.

Then across from her, there was a sickening crash. She looked up as Remus flew back, struck in the chest. Voldemort laughed and he twisted his wand, releasing the deadly storm of rubble from his hold. Stone and wood rained down. Bill skidded over to Remus.

He wasn't moving.

Voldemort raised his wand, holding it high… high above his head.

Magic burst out of Hermione and she pushed with all her strength to get her arm free. The spike of mahogany table pressed against her snapped. Pain screamed down her arm, but she didn't stop. She ripped her arm free, hand and wand pushing out. Her eyes stung with the force of her magic as swept her wand up high.

Hermione curled her wrist, arm screeching in pain where she had broken her bone in her urgency. She leant on her pain and her fury.

Voldemort began to curse.

"Avada- ."

"CRUCIO!" She screamed over him. A blaze of red cracked out of her wand heading right for Voldemort, who turned, his spell cancelling. His white face was lit up red.

Then shadows swept up from the ground. His face disappeared in darkness, the cruciatus passing right through him. Hermione screamed out in anguish, her failed curse breaking apart on the shattered marble.

Her scream was joined with a cry of agony. Upon the floor, Remus gripped at a shard of wood, sticking out from his stomach. Bill crouched over him, his hands bloodied.

The shadows rushed for her, obliterating her vision. They roared and roiled around her until then formed at her back. Hands clawed at her covered head. She cried out in terror as Lord Voldemort ripped Harry's cloak off her head and shoulders. Above her loomed eyes of utter evil. She could see her pale, anguished face reflected in the gleaming scarlet.

"It is over!" Voldemort pressed his wand against her neck. "I will drain this mudblood of her filthy blood."

His voice echoed in the sudden silence, the background noise of the other battle ceasing at his words. Hermione turned her head a miniscule amount as she heard thundering footsteps in response.

"It is not over!" Harry's furious voice responded. Hermione held her breath, looking over and seeing Harry, brilliant, bold and brave Harry.

Who now had a wand.


A wizard without his wand might be like a muggle, but that did not make him helpless nor weak. Harry Potter had spent ten years of his life as a muggle, without any knowledge of magic, alone against bullies both at school and at home. He learned young how to survive, how to adapt and pick his fights. The Dursleys may have kept him downtrodden, isolated, and belittled, but they never broke him. The boy who Hagrid saved had been wide-eyed with wonder at the world, his spirit pure, heart full of hope, ready to begin his true life and form friendships that would only make him stronger.

Unlike his wand that was somewhere lost in the wreckage of the mahogany furniture around him, Harry was unbroken. His back, while it hurt immensely, was not damaged beyond repair. He could still move, still fight. His mind, too, was still sharp. Voldemort's mental assault had been miraculously short-lived thanks to his rescuers.

Therein lay Harry's advantage. Voldemort dismissed him as harmless, a threat defanged, dealt with. He was wrong. For once, Harry was the disregarded element, the wandless wizard with a back injury. But pumped with pain-numbing adrenaline, his past experiences full of being the underdog in a fight, he knew precisely what to do.

"Now Hermione!"

Signal given, Harry didn't stop to watch Hermione set off. He couldn't get distracted. He had to trust in her and push down his panic as he sent Hermione into grave peril. For his plan to work, he had to harden himself. For them to survive, they had to fight. All of them.

He might have lost his wand, but there was still another in the room that he knew worked well for him.

Harry pushed off the floor, wooden fragments sticking in the soles of his feet. His back crackled with pain, but he ignored it. His focus fixed on the shapeless blob that he knew was Draco Malfoy. His momentum carried him, dragging him forwards, his legs powering him onwards. He launched himself into a full sprint, arms pumping to get him across the distance as fast as he could.

His vision sharpened as he drew closer, not sharp enough to give him details. He ducked his shoulder down, charging. Then he slammed into Malfoy.

His feet left the floor with the strength of his tackle. Pain blazed down his spine at the impact. He gave a furious cry as he threw them both off their feet, airborne together for a split second. Malfoy's breath whooshed out of him when his back thudded onto the marble. Harry wasted no time as he pinned Malfoy down with his knees.

"Potter!"

Hearing his name snarling out from Lucius Malfoy, Harry raised his head from his victim. Now wielding Ron's wand, the furious father glared at him. But then Ron sprung up, pushing into Lucius.

"Oh no you don't, you slimy prick!"

Lucius staggered back from him, hissing with outrage. His face contorted at the audacity of being manhandled. Draco recovered from Harry's attack, writhing under his weight. His arm came up, ready to blast Harry off him. He responded instinctively. He grabbed Draco's wrist, pushing it down into the ground.

"Get your hands off me!"

His voice triggered a powerful surge of hatred. Harry glared down at the pinned boy, the spineless ferret who participated in his dismantling, who took away his glasses so they could be presented as a macabre trophy. He pulled back his left fist.

And punched him hard in the face. Draco's head cracked to one side, grunting in pain. Harry's hand throbbed at the impact and he snarled. He punched him again.

"DRACO!"

The screech came from the doors. Narcissa. She tore for her son. There was a loud crack, announcing Dobby's arrival. He stood between Harry and Narcissa.

"Dobby?" She gasped in shock.

"Dobby came to save Harry Potter." Dobby raised his hand. "You will not harm him."

Draco's nose bubbled with blood, his nose broken from Harry's vicious attack. His fist was speckled with Draco's blood. Harry took advantage of his daze and wrenched his wand out from his hand. He looked up, seeing Ron only a few feet away. He was pulling a second wand out from his pocket. He searched for Luna, seeing her on the floor, her wand raised over her leg. Her ankle was at a funny ankle.

"Ep- Episkey."

Her ankle reset with a snap. She bit back her cry of pain. A loud roar tugged his attention over to his other side to where Hermione, Remus and Bill were engaging Voldemort. Fear spiked through him. He squinted, making out a lot of movement, but whatever it was surging around them, it obscured them from view.

"How dare you lay a hand on my son, Potter!" Lucius rounded on him. A blaze of white light lashed for Harry, throwing him off Draco. He slammed down on the ground, yelling in pain as his back impacted the marble.

Harry scrambled up to his feet, wiping at his face. He pressed his bloodied left hand on the spot that hurt. He could move perfectly fine so he knew it wasn't badly injured. He could still function and the adrenaline kept the worst of it at bay.

No time. Act. Don't think.

"Stupefy!" Luna cried out from the floor. Lucius deflected. Ron then went to engage.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lucius Malfoy was no push-over. Harry could see out once that Ron and Luna were outmatched. Lucius blasted through Ron's disarming spell with ease, slashing his wand, summoning forth a long, black whip that snapped out, catching Ron in the face. He roared with pain, stumbling back.

Dobby threw up his hand, snapping his fingers. Narcissa shrieked, stumbling back, her wand jerked free from her hand. Lucius's head looked over at the sound of his wife, his attention fixing on Dobby. His face twisted into a snarl.

"YOU!"

He snapped the whip at Dobby. It coiled around his neck. Narcissa's wand clattered next to where Draco was sitting up. He went to grab it.

Luna was faster.

Her stunning charm knocked him right in the face. He slammed back, landing sprawled on the marble. Narcissa tore after her son at once.

Harry's focus was on Dobby.

"Diffindo!"

The whip split. Dobby pulled the constricting cord from his neck. Harry turned his attention on Lucius, lip lifting up to bare his teeth in an almost feral snarl. His fury thrummed out of him, magic and adrenaline surging in his veins.

"Accio wand!" Luna summoned Narcissa's wand before she could grab it.

"Bellatrix made a mistake letting you stay," Narcissa hissed at her, "speaking of which, where is my sister?"

"Not really a priority right now, is it?" Harry sneered, stepping to Luna's side. He glanced over at Ron, who was gripping at his eye with his left hand, breathing quickly. Blood was dripping down his face but he still held the spare wand.

The priority let itself known. Hermione's voice blared from the fight that raged in the peripherals.

"CRUCIO!"

Harry's head snapped over in shock. All was blurred and obscured in his poor vision, details of the duel unclear. He did see a blaze of red tearing across the room. He also saw a dark shape vanish as the curse ripped through the air, sizzling with righteous rage.

He didn't hear the same curse being hissed across from him. Nor did he see the red blaze rushing for him.

But he did feel Dobby pulling him out of harm's way. The curse cracked and popped behind him, missing him by inches.

"You bastard !" Ron snarled. "Petrificus Totallus!"

Lucius deflected and retaliated with bright white slashes. Luna's shield caught them in time, the severing curses cracking against her well-timed protego.

Hermione's scream blistered through the chaos, loud and anguished. It dug into Harry's heart, tearing, breaking.

"Go!" Ron shouted at him. "We've got this covered."

Harry looked down at Dobby.

"Show them what a free elf can do, Dobby." He told him. "Then get Ron and Luna out of here."

"Harry Potter…"

Dobby gazed up at him, then flinched as Lucius continued to attack. Ron and Luna moved together, fighting back.

"It is over!"

A bolt of terror tore through him. It ripped up from his feet through his body. Everything froze, time stopping.

"I will drain this mudblood of her filthy blood." He peered through the blurry haze, his other senses confirming what his sight could not. Voldemort had Hermione.

He was running before he could think. His feet thwacking into the marble. He raised his wand, his furious charge accompanied with a growl that rumbled in his throat. Magic sparked from the tip as he went to fight his mortal foe. His scar throbbed as he approached.

"It is not over!" As he approached, details snapped into clarity. Important details. Hermione, half-visible, pinned in place with large pieces of debris stuck in the ground around her. Voldemort, looming over her, his wand pressed into her exposed neck.

He raised his wand, fury roaring out of him. He reacted before his mind could engage. Instinct made him cast his signature spell. His only thought was to get that wand away from Hermione. That wand that had already taken so much from him.

He would die before that wand took her from him too.

"Expelliarmus!"

Voldemort stepped away from the grotesque cage of splinters, moving to deflect Harry's spell. Harry twisted his wrist, chaining, throwing a non-verbal immediately after his expelliarmus.

One spell careened away, parried. Voldemort's eyes widened when he then saw the reductor curse. He swept his wand up just in time, catching the curse with a shield.

Hermione's wooden cage blasted apart. She used his distraction to free herself. Voldemort turned, his wand lit up with a green spark. Hermione threw the cloak over herself.

"Survive Harry!" Hermione called out to him.

Her message was loud and clear.

Keep him busy.

"I am NOT helpless!" Harry shouted. Lord Voldemort's attention snapped back to him. Harry's scar seared as the connection opened, Voldemort's loathing and fury breaking through his own occlumency shields. Harry's own hatred swelled, his hand gripping tightly on the wand. He focused every iota of his being on the threat in front of him, the specimen of vileness that ruined his life.

Facing him on his feet, Harry felt as if something was making him stand taller. As if magic itself was on his side, his purpose pulling him on his pre-destined path. Before him, the Dark Lord, whom he had been born to defeat. He, the one with the power to vanquish him. The one marked as his equal.

He heard Hermione speaking and saw Voldemort's head twitch in her direction.

I'm the distraction.

Harry raised his wand up to his face in a formal gesture. One symbolic enough to catch his great enemy's attention. A challenge.

"You should have broken me when you had the chance," Harry said to him. Then he flicked the wand to his side, in a neutral stance, waiting. His heart raced but his mind was crystal clear, his adrenaline focusing him once again. Fight or flight.

"You are without your luck and your human shields, Potter. And without your wand."

Outrage blitzed through Harry, his heart stabbing and seizing at the cruelty of the words. But then came Bathilda's advice, her invaluable advice, offered to him after his last battle with Snape. She told him that he should provoke his enemies, make them emotional, and only truly fear those in control.

"So my tactic should be to make him angry?"

"Absolutely, Harry. The enemies you should fear are the ones with total control of their emotions. The ones who keep their focus and never blink. "

Harry threw on a smirk.

Two can play at this game, Tom.

"You forget, I am very good at escaping… and I've learnt a few things since the last time we did this."

He flicked his wand up into an offensive stance and paced to his right.

"You'll forgive me if I don't bow. I've got a terrible crick in my back."

Voldemort paced as well, keeping in step with Harry. His smile was a cold, cruel and vicious thing. He then glimpsed something behind Voldemort. He saw then why Hermione had needed him to be a distraction. Their figures were blurs in the background, but he saw a lot of one colour. Red.

"I will snap you like I did your wand, Harry, and I will break you." Harry's attention went back to Voldemort's eyes, as red as the blood he could see on the marble behind him.

Someone's injured… badly… Hermione needs me to distract Voldemort. She's going to get them out of here.

"But first…" Voldemort continued. "I wonder if you will demonstrate this… power I know not before I kill you as the prophecy demands."

Harry stopped pacing, blood drained from his face. Voldemort laughed at his reaction. Harry flinched at once at the sound. It lashed over his nerves like a cruciatus, sending his skin crawling.

"You thought you came away from my legilimecy unscathed? Cut short as it was, I saw enough." Voldemort laughed, approaching. "Marked as my equal, indeed. We shall see, won't we?"

Harry saw him move, his wand lashing upwards. Voldemort was fast. Harry was faster. He threw himself to the side in a dive so similar to the one he displayed in the Graveyard. The curse that cracked the marble. The blaze of the Killing Curse.

He sprung up, gasping in pain as his back gave an angry scream of pain, the move jostled his tortured spine. He gazed at Voldemort, his heart racing at the close call.

Behind Voldemort, where the blood stained the marble, Harry saw a blaze of blue. The light of a portkey activating. Voldemort twisted around.

"Reducto!" Harry roared, bringing Voldemort's attention back. His spell was easily parried, but it had been a lure. He was the bait.

Harry went on the attack, chaining more and more reductor curses. Voldemort's eyes narrowed as he moved in sync with him, picking up on his cues. As long as Harry was attacking him, forcing him to defend, he couldn't attack Harry back. It took every piece of concentration, every instinct, every sense. Everything around him dialled back as he went into pure survival.

The objective isn't to win. It's to survive.

His own words, his own advice. Right there and then, facing his mortal foe, he put everything he had. His arsenal of school-book curses were pitiful against a Master of the Dark Arts, but he went for speed over brute force.

Then behind Harry, he heard a loud crack. Harry twisted his head around, looking back where the Malfoys had been dealt with. With a wave of relief, he saw that the blobs of Ron, Luna and Dobby were gone. Voldemort let loose a loud scream of anger.

He rounded on Harry, raising his wand.

"It appears your allies have fled, Potter. But no matter… I will dispense of you without an audience if I must." His malice and outrage rising around him, his robes now roiling shadows, twisting around and behind him. Harry snarled, sliding into a high offensive stance.

"Sectumsempra."

Voldemort's wand swept in an expansive arch as the deadly razor thin distortions whistled out of Harry's violent slashes of his wand.

"Arrestosempra!" Voldemort hissed.

The curse froze, glittering and shimmering, visible in the sunlight that streamed from the windows. Voldemort then blasted it apart. Razor sharp pieces of magic shot out in all directions.

"Protego!" Harry yelled out in desperation. His shield deflected the fragments of his dark curse, protecting him.

" Harry! "

The scream ripped through him like a thousand blades. Something solid slammed into the floor only a few feet away from him. His head whipped around, seeing legs exposed behind him, wearing jeans and boots. Blood seeped from the right leg, gushing out from the ankle.

A shrill whine blared through Harry's mind. He side-stepped over at once, his instincts torn in two. Wand raised as he rushed for Hermione as she tugged the folds off the Invisibility Cloak off, her face contorted with pain.

Harry's back-fired sectumsempra had torn through her ankle.

Voldemort laughed. The sound made Harry tremble with rage. His heart wrenching as he moved to stand in front of Hermione, shielding her from him.

Hermione then crawled over to Harry. Their eyes met. Hermione's eyes cleared, focused. She reached up for the glass pendant around her neck, the one she had made to contain a lock of Harry's hair so that a piece of him was always near her heart.

"I will never leave you," Hermione said softly. She brought her wand up and whispered the word that would save them.

"Portus."

The pendant glowed pale blue. Harry's eyes widened. He tore for her at once. Harry dived down next to Hermione. He grasped for the pendant, his hand wrapping around hers. The glass touched his skin. It was enough.

Harry looked over his shoulder as he felt the blessed tug behind his navel. Rushing filled his ears as the portkey yanked him and Hermione away. It drowned out the scream of fury, but it followed Harry, blasting through his thoughts. His scar erupted as escaped. His mind twisting and writhing with colours, just like the world around him. He was screaming as well, the pain and the fire ripping his reality asunder.

He crashed down to earth, rolling on his back where he clutched at his face.

You cannot run from fate, Harry Potter.

The voice wasn't his own. The words were coming out of his mouth, but they weren't his. Hands were pulling his away from his face. Hair was brushing his cheeks. He could feel breath on his skin.

Lips on his lips.

Red eyes burned in the twisting contortions that gripped his body, black and dark, burning, binding…

More screams, more pain. But he didn't know who they belonged to. Him or the creature coiling around his mind, crushing him.

"I love you, Harry… "

He was Harry. That was his name. His body was his body, his mind his. His heart… his heart belonged to her. To Hermone. His fingers curled, flexing around her fingers. His lips responded to her kiss. His magic thrummed, warm, and his vision flushed with light as he pushed Voldemort's mind out of his.

He gasped in a choking lungful of salty air. Peeling open his eyes, he found Hermione's eyes looking back at him. He lifted his hands up to her face.

"I love you too, Hermione… and thank you… for saving my life. Again."


There wasn't enough room in the cottage so they conjured stretchers out on the beach outside. Enchantments surrounded them, concealing them from view, protecting them from the elements. Their occupants sported injuries of varying seriousness. Luna's offers to help those that had arrived in their absence to help went refused. She recognised Mr and Mrs Weasley, but the other woman's appearance filled her with fear. Her long, wavy dark hair, her dark expressive eyes. Bellatrix.

But the woman smiled warmly at Luna and handed her a pepper-up potion.

"I'm Andromeda," she introduced. "I take it that you're Luna?"

Andromeda, as it turned out, looked so much like Bellatrix because she was her sister. The pariah of the family.

Luna observed their ministrations, hugging her knees. Dobby sat with her, glancing up at her occasionally, but they had nothing to say. She listened to the waves crashing on the beach, the urgent voices of the Order members who passed potions to each other, cast healing spells on each of their patients. Patients which replied, most of them, though one was unconscious.

Her gaze fell on each in turn, listing their injuries. Her attention when on the first, the one who Fleur currently stood over, emanating a soft glow as her veela magic enforced her healing spells.

Remus Lupin. Puncture wound to abdomen. Serious loss of blood… critical.

She hadn't seen the large piece of wood that had impaled the man, but she had seen the bloody hole it had left in his stomach. She moved onto the next.

Bill Weasley. Head trauma. Broken ribs.

The eldest Weasley was fixed up, but his parents ordered him to stay down or else. Beside him was his brother.

Ron Weasley. Laceration to the face.

His face was turned away, but Luna could see the bandage over his eye. They were yet to find out if he still had sight in the eye that Lucius Malfoy had nearly taken.

Hermione Granger. Severed achilles tendon, fractured wrist.

Hermione was the only one sat up, her legs crossed, as she pulled something from around her neck. A pouch of some sort. She extended it over to the person laying on the last stretcher. His hand lifted up and took it. He laid dead straight as if in a brace.

Harry Potter. Fractured spine. Nerve damage. Head trauma.

After he and Hermione had arrived, he suffered a horrific seizure. Whatever it was, Hermione managed to get him out of it while she was knelt over him, bleeding from a terrible wound on her ankle. Harry had soon passed out from the exhaustion of his overall ordeal. The crisis squad, as Luna chose to call the adults, rushed over to them and levitated Harry and Hermione over to the others on their stretchers.

Harry's spinal injuries had been faint cracks and easily fixed. Andromeda used the same golden spells that Luna had seen her younger sister wielding when she had healed Harry's cracked skull. It was interesting how both sisters healed Harry for different reasons but within hours of each other.

Though he had no lasting damage from his torture at the hands of Lord Voldemort, Harry had been firmly told to lay still while his nerves repair themselves. Telling Harry to be still was like telling the sun to not rise.

Harry raised his head from his stretcher.

"Luna? Is that you?" He asked, squinting at her.

While they hadn't lost any lives, there were still losses. Harry lost his wand and his glasses. She found it strange, seeing him without them. She never noticed the shape of his eyes before. She got up, walking across the sand to reach the stretchers. Harry's head settled back as she approached. She saw the cut on his cheek, the one Bellatrix gave him after he spat in her face.

He reached his hand up to her. She took it and saw his green eyes sparkling with tears.

"Y-you were right… as long as we are alive, there is hope."

He looked over to Hermione. His face softened, his eyes brightening. She looked over to him, the same look entering her eyes. Luna brought her hand up to her heart, seeing it. Seeing their love for each other.

"There is hope." She said, her face splitting into a smile. Hermione met her gaze and her lips curved up into a smile of her own.

"There is hope," Hermione agreed.


AN: I know the end is extreme cheese, but I wanted to confirm who survived - everyone woooo!

I know I'll likely get the odd person who tells me that it's unrealistic and that Voldemort would have just murdered them all easily. So they have some plot armour. My apologies. Sorry if it stinks to high heaven. We have Christmas with Bathilda soon and some other fluffy gems so the angst rollercoaster will be worth it. I hope!