"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battles recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour," Voldemort's voice boomed in Danny's head. He instinctively knew that everyone on the Hogwarts grounds had heard that. Including Harry.

Fenton needed to return to Voldemort. He had recalled his troops. But he couldn't disappear. He had his own army to tend to and he had to check on how this side was faring. He also needed some chocolate. He felt weak, dizzy and nauseous from dealing with the dementors. He angled himself towards the courtyard and stumbled as he touched down. Vlad landed a few feet away, despite his blue skin, he looked pale. Danny nodded to the older halfa.

"I must say Daniel. Those creatures are vile," Vlad muttered, picking his way over the rubble towards the Ghost King. Danny sighed and nodded.

"You see why I asked you to help me," Danny remarked tiredly. Danielle landed and collapsed to her knees, her cheeks tearstained.

"Dani!?" Danny called worriedly. He hadn't had a good chance to warn his fellow halfas of the dangers when facing dementors.

"I-I wa-was m-melting," she mumbled shakily. Danny bit his lip worriedly. He helped his clone to her feet.

"Vlad, help her inside," Danny requested. Vlad nodded numbly and supported Danielle against himself. Danny led the way into the castle, following the noise into the Great Hall. A number of seats had been set up along the walls, littered with dusty, exhausted fighters having injuries tended or reuniting with friends and family that survived the night, so far. Danny directed the shaken halfas to a quiet corner before leaving them to phase down to the kitchens. The kitchens were empty. It was a surreal feeling. The kitchens were usually bustling with activity, house elves darting around cooking or cleaning. He glanced at Winky's chair before he let out a soft sigh of grief. A column supporting the floor of the Great Hall and the ceiling of the kitchens had fallen. Directly on to her chair. Danny turned away from the tiny arm and broken bottle poking out of the rubble.

He riffled through the cupboards and found three massive bars of chocolate. He phased back up, pushing the image of the kitchen to the back of his mind. He walked through the hall, in between the rows upon rows of dead bodies, and more were coming. His heart dropped as he saw the Weasleys clearly mourning at one of the blankets. He swallowed the lump in his throat down before continuing. He stopped as he heard a loud sob from the Weasleys. Mrs Weasley despairing over the loss she had suffered. He turned his gaze downwards and swallowed thickly again before realising what was beside him. His breath caught in his throat.

Lupin and beside him his wife, Tonks. Everything froze around him. He dropped down to his knees and covered his face with his hand. His first friend in the wizarding world. Lupin had a son! And Tonks! Teddy was an orphan. Danny sniffed and pushed down his grief.

"Remus, Tonks… I promised I'd always be there for you and your son. And I will be. If you become a ghost, you are always welcome," Danny whispered to them. He knew neither would hear him. They were gone. But he needed to say that promise out loud to secure it in his mind. He got to his feet shakily.

"But I can't mourn you yet. I need to end this war," Danny added quietly to himself. He heaved a deep sigh and shoved down his grief.

He broke a bar of chocolate in half as he made his way back to Vlad and Danielle. Vlad was uncertainly reassuring a trembling, crying Danielle. He handed Vlad a full bar of chocolate.

"Divide that between you two. It'll help, trust me. Then you find Wulf. You've done enough for me," Danny muttered and turned to go.

"Wait, Daniel. You should come with us. You've done enough also," Vlad interjected. Danny shook his head.

"I have a job to do Vlad. Eat that and go home," Danny retorted. He walked away from the shaken halfas and spotted a number of students shivering and crying. He recognised the signs and knew that these people had a run in with dementors. He walked over to them, opening the broken chocolate bar and taking out the half he'd broken and handed the rest and the unopened bar to one of the students.

"Chocolate helps with dementors. Divide that among yourselves," he mumbled before walking away.

The clock was ticking. He couldn't be unaccounted for too long from the Death Eaters. He left the Great Hall and floated into the air. He shoved a mouthful of chocolate into his mouth and duplicated himself before zooming though the castle, looking for any ghosts. He spotted Kingsley walking down the Grand Staircase.

"Kingsley, have you seen any skeleton ghosts?" Danny called, pausing.

"Yes, I did. They were in the hospital wing. We're moving the injured to the Great Hall to be treated," Kingsley answered wearily. Danny shouted a quick thanks before recalling his duplicates and rushed to the hospital wing.

He gasped as he saw Aragon laying to one side, now in his humanoid form, Dora hovering over him worriedly. He was badly injured, an ectoplasm cleaning spell. Danny scanned the room. Over half of his ghostly subjects were injured. Skulker's suit was heavily damaged and sparking. Numerous skeletons had lost or broken their bones, some charred from spells. Undergrowth was burned seriously too, a shock due to the ghost's regenerative abilities. He spotted Wulf, thankfully uninjured.

"Wulf, malfermas portalon por iu fantomo reen al la Fantoma Zono. Vi ĉiuj faris suffice," Danny informed the ghost. (Wulf, open a portal for any ghost back to the Ghost Zone. You have all done enough). Wulf blinked before nodding slowly.

"Ĉu vi certas?" Wulf asked. (Are you sure?).

Danny nodded firmly before crossing the room to where Fright Knight was caring for his horse.

"Fright Knight. I want you all to go back to the Ghost Zone," Danny told the ghost.

"But the battle is not yet won," Fright Knight protested.

"This fight isn't going to be won by fighting. Fright Knight, you and this army are no longer needed. Thank you for coming. Pass on my personal thanks to all the ghosts here. Move the injured ghosts to the Far Frozen, tell Frostbite to tend them for me," Danny instructed. Fright Knight nodded slowly before dipping into a bow.

Danny then phased out of the castle and flew towards the forest. He turned invisible and quickly located Voldemort's camp. It wasn't too deep. Harry should be able to find it. Danny and Snape had had long conversations in the past in the headmaster's office about this time. Snape would find and inform Harry of Dumbledore's plan. Danny trusted the wizard wouldn't fail. Danny was happy for Snape to break the news for two reasons. One was purely selfish. He didn't want to tell Harry that he had to die. The second was that Snape deserved the chance to redeem himself in Harry's eyes.

Danny flew back towards the castle for a short distance and landed on the ground. He stuffed as much chocolate as possible in his mouth before shifting forms and swallowed the rest. His nausea had reduced a lot since he fought the dementors. However he still felt numb with grief at the loss of Lupin, Tonks and Winky. He didn't want to know who the Weasleys had lost. He couldn't handle that knowledge yet. He had to stay as focused as possible until Voldemort was defeated. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, wiping off any chocolate stains on his fingers, and pulled out his twin mirror. He scanned his face. He nodded. He was dirty, bruised and exhausted enough to say he had been busy fighting on the other side of Hogwarts when Voldemort made his announcement.

He pulled out his "wand" and muttered "lumos". The tip of the stick lit up and he began to make his way through the trees towards Voldemort. He emerged into a dark, gloomy clearing and was faced with a number of wands pointed at him.

"Woah woah. It's me!" Danny shouted in alarm, putting his hands up.

"What took you Fenton?!" Yaxley snarled.

"I was on the other side of the grounds. Got trapped by those blood traitors. Sorry," Danny lied.

"Lower your wands! Fenton, stand over there," Voldemort snapped impatiently.

Danny nodded quickly and did as instructed, extinguishing his "wand" as he went. He noticed Lucius and Narcissa nearby, both bruised and pale. The bruises left over from their servitude in their own home due to Voldemort's explosive temper when angered. Bellatrix had been given more leeway during her punishment, clearly Voldemort's favourite. He nodded to them in greeting but they didn't notice him. They were clearly concerned about their son. Danny gasped softly to himself as he spotted Hagrid being restrained a few feet away. The half giant was making certain to avoid Danny's eye. Trying to protect the halfa's cover.

Bellatrix was standing close to Voldemort, watching him worriedly. Danny glanced at Voldemort's snake, still curled up in its protective glowing bubble. He frowned. In order to stop Voldemort, the snake had to be killed. Harry wouldn't be able to get close with Voldemort's guard so high. Unless… Harry wasn't going to go after the snake. Danny's eyes widened in alarm. This mightn't be the final fight. Harry might sacrifice himself to lower Voldemort's guard and enable the snake to be killed. Danny dearly hoped that Dumbledore was right and that Harry's mother's sacrifice would save Harry tonight. Because Voldemort knew Harry would come. And Danny did too. Harry would come to protect everyone in the castle. Especially as one of the Weasleys was dead, a family Harry was very close to. The moment of truth was coming. Danny scanned the clearing, taking note of easy escape routes, who he had to avoid in a fight or chase and where Harry might arrive. He had to be ready. He glanced around the clearing. No one was watching. He shuffled back a few steps and ducked behind a wide tree trunk. He duplicated himself and turned it invisible. He was ready. Now… he just had to wait.

Dumbledore's plan is about to be completed.

Yes, I killed Winky. In the books, Winky is mentioned when the trio meet Dobby in the kitchens and is more or less forgotten afterwards. But I kind of think that this was a mercy for the house elf. She was depressed, an alcoholic and she had no quality of life. But let me know your thoughts.

Until the next chapter.