Ace had run into a problem and one he ought to have expected. His general plan for the future was to defeat Voldemort, find his Horcruxes, and end the war in the process of four intensely packed days. Unfortunately for him, the first hurdle of that problem was actually the most difficult. Namely, he had to find the Horcruxes, and to do that, he needed a certain screaming bitch to talk. Which in itself should not have a problem, he'd managed to get enemies to talk after all, he was a pirate for gods sake. Fuck, he'd done it as a child with just a dark look. But the problem wasn't the method in which he could get her to speak but rather the fact that he was completely invisible to one Bellatrix Lestrange.

He stood in her room, furious as she struggled against her binds and swore to every one of her magical gods that existed. She wouldn't escape, Ace was confident of that. But Bellatrix also was clueless to his presence; she had no idea he was there. The woman would see him, couldn't sense his presence in the slightest. Haki truthfully worked, he had carried her before, but he couldn't ask the questions he needed answers for. And plain physical torture… it had never set well in his belly, but he was willing to do it. But he couldn't.

He couldn't ask her the questions he desperately needed. To get the information crucial to Holly's survival and the ending of her war, and he had four days left to live. Less likely for when the guards went to move in the morning of his execution, then he'd… he'd be pulled from this world and forced back into his body. It had happened before, it would happen again.

Ace gritted his teeth and leaned backward. His hand automatically pressed into his stomach, where his insides twisted as the stress built. As the time-line he had left to work with made his fingers shake and his mind rush. Four fucking days, he had four days to live- he was going to die in-

He wasn't scared. He wasn't afraid of death, not his own. He'd known from the moment he could understand the world that he was destined to die. He'd known from moment one that his blood would one day get him killed, and the choice to become a pirate had only shortened his time. Ace knew all that. He wasn't scared of it, not when he'd always known but- but-

"Shit." He sank along the wall and closed his eyes firmly. Ace wasn't scared of his own death, he never had been. But his loved one's end? Nothing had destroyed him more than Sabo's death, nothing had terrified him more than Luffy's. It was why Thatch had shattered him so badly, why he hadn't been able to stand still a moment and dwell on the death of his Nakama. He almost… he almost wished he'd never met Holly. Because if hadn't met her then he'd be facing his death unafraid, he'd have four days, and he'd have accepted that. But meeting Holly… now he had one more person to fear for, and this one should never be facing what the rest of his family had.

"Dammit." He did not have time to analyze his feelings for Holly Potter. He pushed off from the wall and steered toward Bellatrix Lestrange. Ace had to fix the problem in front of him, he needed to figure out how to get information from a woman that couldn't see him without… without forcing Holly to be the one to do the deed. Shit, she'd have to do it, wouldn't she? If he couldn't get the information, then Holly would have to.

He sighed, he hadn't wanted to ask her, he hadn't wanted to put that on Holly. Not that she couldn't handle it, but he'd have preferred she kept her hands clean, cleaner than his anyway. Not to mention few people could actually handle torturing another for information. Needs must but… Ace shook his head and shoved off the ground. He turned, tossed the door open and slammed it behind him to startle the bitch behind. It was a mind game, it all was. She'd be wondering if he was inside or out, she would have no idea, and it would hopefully make her hesitate and fret.

Ace strode down the hall toward the living room and paused when he entered. Holly was sitting on the couch with her face practically shoved into a book. She was mumbling furiously under her breath, and from what he could catch, her angry mumbling involved her friend Hermione figuring something out when she couldn't. His expression softened despite himself and he stopped to just watch her. To watch as she hurriedly wrote in her journal, watched as she swiped her nose, causing ink to coat the spot she'd touched.

He exhaled sharply.

What was he doing?

What sort of self-sacrificing bullshit was he pulling? He was a pirate! He'd had plenty of one night stands before, what made Holly different? No. Of course, he knew the answer to that already, he'd fallen for the girl. For the crinkle of her nose when she was concentrated, for the way she pushed and pushed when it came to training. The way she absolutely refused to judge him no matter how many self deprecating and admittedly good reasons he gave her no to associate with him - not that she had a choice. He had been immediately attracted to her, and it had only gotten worse the more he denied himself. Because he was dying, because he couldn't live with her, because he had a thousand reasons under the sun not to touch.

Ace took a step forward. He was a liar to himself, and to Jimbe, it was more than just a simple 'might be falling for this girl.' No, Ace was head over heels and blind. His crew would have teased him so much over it. But of course he had a habit of doing that. Of denying his own feelings, he'd done it with the crew even knowing passively that he'd join them sooner or later. He'd lasted forever denying his own thoughts, and he was doing it again. Except this time he didn't have the time to adjust, he was a dead man walking.

"Holly."

She glanced up startled; Holly hadn't heard Ace slam the door or even enter the room, not with how much focus she was putting into her research. She had to find a way to travel worlds in four days, she had to develop an entire branch of magic from scratch because nothing existed to help her. She had to create like her mother before her. To do so in four days when Lily had a year to create a spell to protect her daughter. It was stressing her out, but Holly was used to stress. Though admittedly, this was the most stressed she'd felt in ever because it was Ace's life on the line and not her own. But Holly was handling it. She was.

And then Ace said her name in a tone filled with intent, and she looked up and her whole sort of… skipped.

His eyes were dilated, his posture intense, and his entire focus was on her. Holly, she'd never seen such a hungry look before even if her body instinctively understood what it meant. His eyes flicked to her lips and she wiggled slightly in her seat as her own darted down to his chest and back up. Why, why did he need to be shirtless? Why hadn't the damned guards in his crazy prison thought to clothe him, was it to make her suffer?

"Ace?" she voiced tentatively.

"I… am a pirate."

Amusement fluttered in her chest even as he stalked forward. Even as she instinctively set her journal and quill to the side, she had a feeling… the smallest hint that something was going to happen. Holly licked her lips, breathing in and smelling nothing but him. When he got that close? "I'm aware… you mention it every chance you can."

Ace placed his hands on her chair, cornering her in the small space. He lowered his body, so they practically nose to nose, but he didn't touch yet. She could stop this at any moment, she knew that was a possibility, knew he'd pull away if she told him no. She knew it with a type of certainly that made her want it all the more, because he would pull away. He was stronger than her, but he'd never force it, never.

So she said nothing.

"Pirates take what they want." Ace told her as she stared into her eyes.

They both knew it then. One shift, one shift would be all it took.

They breathed together, and Holly's magic eager filled the air. It seemed to scream at her 'finally.' While everything else, everything else in her body and mind screamed 'do it.'

They were doomed, both of them destined to die. Ace in four days if Holly couldn't change it and Holly shortly after to end Voldemort once in for all. They were both running on borrowed time since the moment of their birth. Ace because of his father and blood, Holly because of a sherry drinking prophet.

And… and Ace wanted. And Holly was tired of her a martyr.

"Then do it." Holly dared staring into his eyes while throwing caution and guilt to the wind. So she was going to die, she'd die having been royally properly snogged by a man she loved.

Ace closed the distance them in an instant. And finally, finally, he pressed his lips to her own, and it was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It wasn't the clumsy attempt in the quidditch equipment room or the tearful ambush from a confused Cho Chang. It was… Holly didn't even have the words to describe it adequately. Ace was the dying fire of hope in her chest exploding to life, threatening to devour her entirely. He was one half of a scale in which she placed the world against, and he tipped it. Ace was the one pulling her back from the edge while pressing his forehead to her own, desperately saying: 'please don't go.'

His lips were soft against her own, but it electrified her body. With a jerk, her hands snapped upward, one sank into his hair, and the other cupped the back of his head. She rose halfway in her seat, craving more but found immediately the position was awkward. Her body and magic wanted friction, wanted to press against his body, to finally feel the muscles in his chest that she'd been staring at for months.

Ace seemed to just know what she wanted because his hands left the armrests of the chair and slipped under her back. The broke lips for a moment, a moment for Holly to grab in a gasp as Ace pulled her upward. He lifted her straight off her feet and right off the chair. On instinct, Holly wrapped her legs around Ace's waist as he straightened and held her there effortlessly. She whined in the back of her throat over it, and then Ace's lips were on her again.

His tongue brushed against her lips, and Holly opened her mouth. Hermione had described an open mouth kiss before, once, but Holly was going in blind. She'd never gotten so far before, and she honestly hoped she wasn't wholly screwing everything up. But then Ace's tongue brushed the inside of her mouth, and Holly just went with the flow. She felt Ace squeeze her ass, and Holly nearly squeaked at the feeling even as she lifted her body slightly, pressing her chest to Ace's.

She wanted more. So much more.

She pulled back slightly to take in another breath and caught the utter heat in Ace's face. A smirk that was entirely Slytherin lit up her face as she glanced at him through her lashes. Then she quite plainly, and heedless of any prior arguments against the event said: "more."

His own brow rose as he matched her expression, as his head tilted in a clear 'your wish is my command,' sort of look. She tugged on his hair in slight retribution, but it only seemed to spur him on. Ace leaned back in- and a scream of rage sounded from the hallway. He paused for the slightest moment, but that was all it took.

"Seriously?" Holly wined. She was actually rather pissed off as she shot a look toward the back room.

Ace not putting her down, followed her glance, "I closed that door… isn't it soundproof?"

"it should be…" Holly groaned, "which means the spells are faltering, she's probably using wandless magic to do it. Which means I need to reapply them and stop her or she's going to get out."

Ace scowled and still refused to put her down. "The ropes will hold."

"Non-magical rope Ace, she'll get free of those if she figures out to use her magic wandlessly."

"That'll take a while though," he wiggled his brows at her, and Holly playfully slapped his chest.

"No." She said firmly, "down."

He swore softly and finally lowered her to the floor, revealing just how interested in the situation he'd been. Holly, she couldn't help but look and felt her cheeks positively burn. Ace, utterly unashamed stated: "you're missing out,"

"I'll take your word for that." She brushed her clothes down, thankful that her own clear interest wasn't as visible as Ace's was. Not for the first time she was grateful she was a girl, she never could have pulled off the confidence Ace did in that situation. Regardless, Holly forced herself to look away from Ace so she could head down the hall to deal with the problem. She did actually need to renew the spells. Bellatrix escaping, in general, was bad, but Bellatrix escaping when she was losing her- well, that would be even worse.

Ace followed behind Holly a moment later, and she absolutely refused to look at him. Not because she'd likely turn a thousand shades of red, but because she didn't want to be that nervous virgin that couldn't help but ask, 'what does this mean?' because… because she had no idea. And because she knew what it meant to her. It was, it was the faltering of her resolve. It was the kiss and the sex of a dying woman. A dying woman that Ace did not know was dying.

Holly was terrified to know what Ace would do, say, or think if he did know. If he ever found out… she didn't know how he'd react. She'd had betrayals before, she'd seen how Ron and Hermione reacted to unexpected things, and she couldn't handle it if Ace abandoned her. She wouldn't handle it if he glared at her like Ron had when he'd left. Ace's feeling on the subject mattered more to her than Ron or Hermione's. They'd both try to save her, but they'd both expect it. They'd been given every hint in the world to realize what Holly was and what needed to happen. But Ace… no, she'd never tell him. She'd save him and send him away, and he'd never learn the truth.

So Holly knew what it meant. It was the desires of a dying woman, a fling… it was just a fling.

"There's something you should know."

Holly paused at the door and glanced back at Ace. He was a step behind her, and as she turned, he looked straight at her. Automatically Holly analyzed his expression as she'd done with everyone else in her life. She looked for the typical tells of… of anger, jealously, and all manner of negative emotions Holly had continuously faced. But on Ace, she fond none and it honestly surprised it. Perhaps… perhaps because she was the only one feeling guilty? Because why he'd lied about the timing of his death, she'd lied about her death entirely.

Regardless Ace looked composed; the heat had faded in the face of what they had to do. He looked like his regular self, slightly amused and generally good-natured. But there, there it was, a tiny fissure of guilt and Holly's arched a brow in question over it.

Ace clicked his tongue, his head lifted slightly as he took in a breath, then he dropped it to confess his truth. A relatively harmless one in comparison to Holly's: "I can't get the information from her." Holly felt taken aback a moment, then recalled they were dealing with more than a potential relationship.

"What do you mean?" she still asked, of course.

"She can't see me, so I cannot get information from her. We need to figure out another method to extract the knowledge she has… you will have to torture her, I'll show you have but…"

Holly made a noise of understanding even as she turned away from him and nudged over the door. Passively, as she pressed her hands into the wood, she tested the spells keeping Bellatrix in place. There were faltering as she'd guessed, and Holly would have to replace them shortly. Unless they handled the Bellatrix problem right then which Holly intended to do. She'd waited because she had a spell to develop, and funny how quickly Ace had dragged her attention from that. She'd also waited because Ace had been insistent on handling the information gathering, but now that he couldn't… well, Holly knew of a dangerous but potentially successful manner that did not involve torture.

"I doubt she'll respond to physical displays of violence Ace, she's batty and loyal to him to a fault."

"Hn, maybe I know that. Maybe I just want to get my hands dirty?" Ace taunted her as Holly inspected the wards, her magic brushing against him in a way that he only recently recognized as something she passively did.

He watched for her reaction to the comment even as half his mind dwelled on the kiss. He'd finally given in and had realized in that moment it had been a damned mistake, but not in the way he expected. He'd thought he'd regret it, regret it when he was dying. But now Ace realized he had grossly underestimated what he'd feel after he'd done it.

Ace wanted more. He wanted to feel her body pressed into his in the throws of full blow sex. He wanted her perched in his lap during the quiet nights on the Moby-dick. He wanted… he wanted everything with her. He wanted a wife, wanted children, he wanted to teach her and the children how to sail. He wanted a little house hidden away on one of his father's islands where they could sneak away. He wanted the crew teasing him endlessly because of his tiny witch wife. Ace wanted to steal Holly a ring, for her be amused and teasing that he'd had to steal it at all. He wanted to introduce her to Luffy and have his brother love her as much as he did.

He'd thought it was a quick tumble. A moment to be with Holly before he died, a chance before she risked her life in a war. Instead a single kiss offered him the future. He wanted every piece of her, every chance at a life together, and he'd get none of it.

What had he done?

Holly, in the end, gave him an unimpressed look, and he found himself smiling, unable to keep his joy to himself. "Yeah, because you're so clean." Her eyes darted from his bare feet upward to his filth covered body, reminding him slightly that he had not bathed in a horribly long time.

"Not literally dirty." He protested as Holly tossed open the door revealing their prisoner; he watched her falter reminding him of the state he'd left their prisoner in. Ace leaned up over her shoulder attempting to see her face as she took in the state of Bellatrix Lestrange. Once again, she didn't disappoint.

"Really, Ace? I realize you're in prison, but there are better ways of getting off. This one will probably give you disease." She eyed him slightly, "Then again, I had heard pirates don't bathe, and you aren't exactly disproving that fact."

Bellatrix was stripped to her undergarments and tied to Hermione's bed. Her mouth had been gaged, and as Holly walked in, the woman began to struggle violently. Bellatrix twisted and snarled growling deep in her throat. Muffled violence escaped her lips as her eyes bulged. Holly knew that if Ace hadn't tied Bellatrix down properly that the woman would no doubt escaped just to rip out Holly's throat in revenge.

Ace laughed at her comment, and Holly felt the ridiculous jealously forming in her chest easing. She knew he had to have a reason, but the sight of that admittedly attractive shrew nearly naked because Ace had done strange things to her emotions. Crazy Bellatrix was, but unattractive, she was not. Lestrange had a beautiful body, and even Holly couldn't deny it. It made her… not precisely ashamed of herself, but more aware of where Ace's eyes might stray. He was a pirate after all, she doubted he was as innocent as she was with the physical.

"I'll have you know I bathe once a month!" Ace protested then bust out laughing harder when she gave him a horrified look. "I'm joking! Honestly! I can't believe you fell for that." He entered the room behind Holly and ignored the struggling prisoner for the moment. "Dirt is one of the easier ways to get sick on the Ocean and one of the easiest ways for a disease to spread. We bathe regularly, even devil fruit users." He wiggled his brows at her, "we bathe our whole bodies. And besides, you weren't complaining a few minutes ago now were you?"

Her eyes flickered to his lips and down before her cheeks flamed again. Pouting, she turned her back to him. Eyes softening Ace found himself wanting. "Also," he added, "that shrew is not my type. I prefer-" what was he doing- "more tanned skin and green eyes."

Her eyes widened, and she stared at him. The moment was charged, and they were a step away from giving in, always just a step. They'd been so close only for the bitch to ruin it. Now, Ace reminded her she could take whenever she wanted. Because they both wanted it, they wanted to feel it. They both wanted more.

However, they did have a prisoner to interrogate, so they left the moment drop.

"She's undressed because of those portkey's of yours." Ace once again reminded Holly that he was a strategist, a captain in his own right. He brought up a magical ability she'd mentioned offhand once and kept in mind it could be a mundane item. He ensured Bellatrix couldn't escape, that she did not have one of those items on her by ensuring she had nothing on her. Holly hadn't even thought she might. Moody would have been ashamed at her; without Ace, she might have lost her only advantage and hiding spot.

"Accio, portkey." She cast instantly and heard something come flying from the hallway where Ace had dumped Bellatrix's things. Unwilling to touch it and be sent away Holly let the rather simple pin fly passed her head to crack into the wall. Using another spell Holly banished it back to where it had come while Ace puffed up with superiority. By then, he knew precisely what Accio did and knew he'd proven his point. He'd been right to strip the shrew. Ace turned her way and stuck his tongue out, and Holly on sheer impulse almost surged forward to bite it. Merlin, she really needed to get herself under control.

She made a face at him before refocusing on the original point of coming into Hermione's former room. Bellatrix needed to be interrogated.

"Leave this to me then." Holly finally said as she strode into the room. Ace hummed following her lazily; Holly was confident as she moved, assured she could do… whatever it was that she was doing so, Ace had faith. Had faith and tried to shove back the attraction he felt as she took charge of the situation in one smooth movement.

Holly meanwhile pulled a mask over herself, shoved back all the squishy feelings she had over Ace, and faced down the woman that killed her god-father. While Ace stood lazily behind her. It was odd, Bellatrix couldn't even see Ace, and yet Holly felt utterly secure because of his presence behind her. She felt positively safe. A distant part of Holly realized then that she hadn't felt like that in a very long time. Not since the brief instance that Sirius offered her to move in with him in her third year.

She nearly faltered, nearly paused, turned to him, and admitted everything to him right there. Holly almost told Ace exactly how safe he made her feel and why it was such an enormous deal to her that he did. However, she didn't. Instead, she faced her god-father's murderer with Ace at her back.

"You once told me dark magic was about emotion… do you remember?" Bellatrix had said it the day Sirius died. Holly had been bearing down on her form, trying so desperately to use the cruciatus, to make the bitch hurt for what she'd done. In her chest, there had been nothing but rage, nothing but darkness licking at her magic. She had reveled in it, feeling the euphoria of a dark spell and understood how easy it was to give in.

Holly would genuinely have given in if Dumbledore hadn't shown up right then. She would have fallen in her grief and never would have surfaced. And he, if hadn't shown up, Holly wasn't sure where she'd be, she honestly didn't know. Because Holly didn't mind casting the unforgivables since that moment, imperio was becoming one of her go-to spells out of convenience. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was around to judge her use of it. Ace didn't exactly understand and probably wouldn't care that the spell she was using was a dark one.

In the end… perhaps Dumbledore hadn't actually arrived in time. Maybe dark magic was truly just a different branch, and it was only the reason for using the spell that truly mattered. Or… perhaps she truly was going dark and should be worried about it. Should be, if she wasn't on death's door.

Bellatrix snarled at Holly; she would have spat at her if she could. Instead, the woman clawed at the bed. Holly nodded slightly; she hadn't expected a proper answer gagged or not.

"The cruciatus requires anger… you mentioned that." She pressed her hand against Bellatrix's forehead, "but legillimency requires only willpower… and I promise you, I have more than you." She breathed in, focused her mind, and locked her green eyes with Bellatrix's purple. Then she intoned the words.

"Legillimens."

The headache began immediately as Holly crashed into Bellatrix's shields. It was like practicing with Luna, but so much worse, Luna's madness was controlled, Bellatrix was a storm of pure chaos coupled with active shields attempting to prevent Holly access. Shields built from years of training with her family twisted by the dementors.

Passing the faulty shields was simple, the problem became getting through the madness within. Holly's mind ran in words, she thought out her thoughts and did not picture them. But Bellatrix, like Luna, though in picture and it burned. It was too bright, to random. It wasn't like Luna's swirling colors of memory, of brief images that resembled little to do with the events. But rather a jumble of images that flashed at her out of order and twisted beyond rational comprehension.

To Holly, who thought of memories as words, it was painful to witness. She recalled her memories through words spoken and thoughts to slip through her head. But looking into Bellatrix's mind was like she was living it, and the woman was giving it her all the ensure Holly suffered through the spell cast. Holly was living in Bellatrix's mind as she witnessed jumbled memories of torture. Of the dementors pulling at her soul. As she knelt low before Voldemort with lust in her body. As a man screamed under her wand-

"Holly… you're bleeding."

Holly was thrown immediately, mind ripped at and wrenched apart. Her consciousness was split and surrounded, memories bled through, her own or Bellatrix's Holly couldn't say. She was a little girl sitting on the carpet with the Dursley- Narcissa- Vernon. She had her wand for the first time- great things- no no not that one- it hurt-

She looked toward the dark lord in awe- he was stunning- his power unimaginable. He was a young man before the face of Salazaar Slytherin, and she was warning him to run- she was kneeling before him, begging for his attention, trying to prove herself to everyone who doubted because she was a woman. She would warm his bed, she'd give anything to kiss him-

A hand met her back warmer than should have been natural, contact that had previously been in the same spot only minutes before in an entirely different situation. Holly felt herself gasp even as her mind tumbled deeper into Bellatrix's. She pulled at the connect then, tried to separate her own thoughts from Bellatrix's. Holly latched onto Ace's hand mentally as an anchor in her own body. Then she refocused, she needed the Horcrux, she needed-

Bellatrix stood before a sea of gold with an item so much more precious than the rest. With the care no one knew she possessed, Bellatrix placed it down, the dark lord's soul. A glittering golden cup on a pillow of unimaginable quality-

'The bank.'

Holly wrenched back, cutting the connection as Bellatrix screamed in her head in defeat and guilt. Staggering backward she felt Ace shift, he caught her as her knees gave out and scooped her off the ground into his arms once more. Holly dropped her head against his neck, gasping for air as her head pounded. As she tried to rebuild her tattered shields from what Bellatrix had done.

"Holly?"

They were moving away from Bellatrix, Ace was carrying her from danger, protecting her so she could recover. But it was too late. Something was eating at her shields, something was moving within her to take advantage of the damage temporarily inflicted- something was- "no!"

He shields ripped, and Holly felt her box go limp.

Ace stopped dead staggering when Holly suddenly jerked in his arm, as she suddenly screamed like the devil was at her heels. He shot a look down and froze as her body arched in his grip. Her eyes snapped open as her green eyes bled red, and then she hissed. Ace was reminded of the creature within the locket, the beast that had tried to kill him. Holly, with the red eyes, twisted in his grip, she sneered cruelly, and an eerily familiar expression crossed her face. Voldemort's Ace instantly recognized.

"I see you muggle." Her lips formed the words, but it was not her voice that escaped, it was his.

"Holly…" he exhaled her name in horror. He had no idea what to do, no idea what happened. This was magic, and he was no wizard, he didn't know what to do to fix it. No idea where to take her to repair the damage.

"And I see her- she's hunting them." Voldemort's voice crossed into fearful, "They are mine- must protect- the school- the diadem!"

Holly's body seized, and Ace dropped to his knees, that he knew how to handle. He placed Holly on the ground before her head cracked into his and twisted his body. Without care to the damage he'd do, he slammed his heel into the nearby book-case and sent it skidding away. Just in time too, as Holly's body jerked, if he hadn't moved it, she would have smashed her skull into the wood. "Holly!" He swore, he wasn't Marco either, he had no idea how to help her beyond letting the seizure run its course.

Her body violently shook as Holly's head moved independent of her torso, it resembled a snake as blood-red eyes locked on him. "I see you muggle, the one the fool girl loves." He laughed, the sound overlapping with Holly's voice, "let's see her act when I take what she finds more precious to her-"

"NO!"

Holly slammed down on her shields with a gasp. Utterly panicked, she wrenched her body forward, nearly cracking her head against Ace's and would have if he hadn't moved at the last second.

"No, no, no, no." She panted trying to get her feet under her and found her legs refused to obey. She didn't have the time to relax, she had to tell Ron and Hermione, Holly had to tell them- tell them what she'd seen when they demanded information. Wait no? No. They weren't here, they weren't insisting she shove back the recoil of the attack like always. They were demanding she put what she learned before her own body and mind.

Holly wrenched out of her panic as she caught sight of Ace, who, upon grabbing her attention, reached forward. With the most gentle of hands, he slowly wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her into his lap. Her entire body was shaking from the possessions, the first since her fifth year when she'd been clueless to her connection. When she barely any shields to speak of. Her last since she'd foolishly let Voldemort into her mind and got her god-father killed.

She released a sob and felt Ace's head drop onto her shoulder. Helplessly she swiped at her eyes when they dared to water and did her best to calm down but… but it wasn't easy. She felt filthy. Like she was covered in tar and would never be clean. Voldemort had raped her mind; he'd gotten in and found- and found disastrous information. He knew what they were doing, and she didn't have the time to recover.

Ace, at the same time, pressed his forehead into her shoulder. He inhaled a shaky, relieved breath. Her eyes were green again, she was back but… but she wasn't safe. He'd heard what that thing learned, he knew what they had to do. He'd thought he had more time. He'd thought… for a moment, a single moment that he'd lost her. Gritting his teeth, he, like Holly, shoved it back.

Their time was up.

He pulled back from her shoulder: "What do you need?" he asked, mind whirling with plans, anything to keep it away from the fact that the one kiss he'd gotten from her would be the only one.

Holly's face screwed up as she hastily reassembled her mental shields. They didn't need to be perfect, Voldemort already knew what he needed to, but they did need to keep his emotions out. She didn't have the luxury of time to do more than that. But she did have to do at least that, she needed a clear mind for what happened next.

"He… you-know-who knows we're hunting Horcruxes. Bellatrix, she ripped apart my shields and he read my memories… he's already on his way to the bank- he's… we have to get them first."

Ace sharply nodded: "get what you need, meet me outside."

"O... kay…" what was he doing? Holly watched Ace stand, accepted his hand to help her regain her own shaking legs. Then he turned and marched toward the room where Bellatrix was imprisoned. "Ace?"

"You have what you need from her?" he asked, not facing her.

"Yes…"

"Alright, then I'm going to tie up the loose end."

Realization struck. Ace was going to kill her, end her in a flash. The right hand of the Dark Lord, the murderer of thousands, the one who drove Alice and Frank to madness and killed her god-father. She was going to die, just like that.

Holly stared at Ace's back, at the tattoo there as he opened the room. She stared at the back of the man who was carrying the burdens she couldn't bear. Who was going to kill in cold blood because Holly couldn't. Her hand shook as she mentally swore. That was it then, Voldemort of all people was right, Holly loved Portgus D. Ace. And it didn't even matter because she was going to die to save the magical world that very day and no one would be there to save Ace.

No. Holly swung her hand up, she pooled all the magic she could and latched onto her best memory. The memory of Ace's lips on her own, and the realization that Holly had actually fallen in love. For, the memory, despite being touched by the anguish of what would happen next, was still a good one. And from her hands, her Patronus formed, and it wasn't Prongs.

"Of course." Holly exhaled seeing the creature. Just like Tonks before her, Holly's Patronus had changed to match the memory used to create it. Before it had been her father because she'd used a memory of him. But now she used one of Ace, and her Patronus reflected that.

"Alright, I need to send a message to Hermione Jean Granger," She told the beast, "tell her… tell her that… tell her that the last Horcrux is Nagini and a diadem in the school, I don't know where it is, but it'll be there somewhere. I am going to destroy the last… two, with Ace and… and tell her when the battle is over I need her to do something. A last request." She cast her eyes at the door to ensure Ace couldn't hear her, "I need her to save the life of the man I love."