A FINAL CHANCE

By: Shadowedheart89

Disclaimer:I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, nor do I claim to.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Beginning of the End

"Unconscious yet again," Harry muttered. "Why is it that you are always becoming unconscious?"

I had just woken up moments before to find him along with Ron and Hermione standing over me. I also had a huge headache. "Oh, shut up." I glanced around the room and noticed that I was in the same room Harry and I had been in, only someone laid me in the bed and arranged the covers around me.

"He does have a point," Ron quipped. "You've been in the hospital wing more times than Harry has this year. Now that's saying something."

"I would have thought that someone so powerful wouldn't be knocked unconscious so easily," Harry told me, amusement glinting in his eyes. I could sense his relief that I was alright, and it was quite endearing.

"You know, I never had this problem until I met you." I said glaring at him.

He grinned. "How sweet. You get around me and you just begin to faint. I suppose that means I just sweep you off your feet."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. Your boyish charms simply woo me into unconsciousness."

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked changing the subject before our bickering could continue.

"I feel fine except for this headache," I told them.

"Well that is to be expected," Uncle Albus said, appearing behind the trio causing them all to jump. He stood in the door way, his eyes sparkling at us.

"Are you trying to give everyone a heart attack?" I asked laughing, clutching at my heart which was still beating frantically.

"My apologies. I should have announced myself. I was just coming to check in on you and I heard you talking. Can you remember what happened?" he asked while he checked me over, casting charms to make sure I was physically well.

"I was in Voldemort's mind," I said, trying to recall as much information as I could.

"Did you find anything useful?" Uncle Albus asked. I could detect a faint sense of excitement in his voice.

I sifted through the memories in my head, trying to recall what I got from the demented wizards mind. I gasped when it came to me. "He's planning an attack on the school. He is close to being able to discover a way onto the grounds. He is using the children on the Death Eaters to try to infiltrate our side and gain information about the school. He has several Ministry officials under his control. Some of them are under the Imperious Curse, but others have been supports of his the entire time but have just been lying low. I know where he is too."

The tension built as I talked. By the time I was finished, it was almost tangible. The trio stared at me in shock. Uncle Albus just looked calculating, as if he were already putting together a plan.

"Are you sure?" Uncle Albus asked.

I nodded. "His mind was remarkably clear and organized. His thoughts made me wish I could clean my mind out with some extremely powerful soap though. He's so arrogant that he doesn't believe that someone could get into his mind. He was surprised when he realized that there was someone in his head. I don't think he realized that it came from Harry though. He thinks one of his followers betrayed him."

"Do you know when he intends to put his plans into motion?"

"As soon as he can. He wants to wait until after the holidays are over. The more students there the bigger the statement when the school falls. It'll probably be while classes are in session and the teachers are distracted."

"Does he honestly believe the school won't fight back?" Harry asked incredulously.

"He underestimates the students. He does not deem them a threat. He most likely wants them there as a sacrifice. Only the teachers will matter to him," Uncle Albus informed us.

I chuckled and they all looked at me confused. "You would think that being nearly defeated by an infant and being continuously thwarted by a young boy would change his mind about that."

"Even the most brilliant man has his moments of idiocy," Uncle Albus told us sagely. "Are you sure you are feeling well?" he asked.

I nodded again. "I'm fine, I promise."

His eyes twinkled. "Very well. I will have to call a meeting then."

I watched him leave and then turned to Harry. "Did it have any effect on you at all?"

"I had a bit of a headache, but that's about it. I could still feel you in my mind, and then you started screaming and then passed out. Dumbledore and Snape checked to make sure you were alright. They said that you would be fine."

I nodded. "Voldemort shut down at least part of his mind. Apparently I was deep enough in it that it shut me down too."

Ron shook his head. "You two are crazy. You are always running into trouble. Normal people avoid murders, not run after them and get into their heads."

"Well when has Harry even been normal?" Hermione asked causing us all to laugh.

_________

"Legally, you are not adults. You should not be involved in this war. You are too young. Unfortunately, life has dealt you circumstances beyond any of our control," Uncle Albus was saying. After the meeting, he gathered me, Harry, Ron and Hermione in kitchen to speak with us. Both mine and Ron's parents were in the room as well, but they promised they would let us hear everything that Uncle Albus had to tell us.

"We cannot let Voldemort get near the school. Too many innocent students would be put in danger. Many of us have agreed that the best way to approach this situation is to attack first."

"When?" Harry asked quietly. He was looking quite pale and as if he were to be sick at any moment.

"I would like to ask Marlene if she would be willing to enter Voldemort's mind one more time to try to pin point exactly when he decides to attack. I am in no hurry to put people at risk."

I could feel my parents tensing up behind me. They were not happy with this plan, but since I walked away from it the first time practically unscathed, they didn't have much of an argument against it. Besides, it was ultimately my decision. Even if my parents forbade me to do it, I could still go behind their backs. "I'll do it," I answered softly.

He nodded. "Harry, as you know, you have been thrust into the center of this. The prophecy need only be true if you make it. There is no need for you to be there unless you wish it."

"I can't stand back and let people just walk into the battle. I have to be there. I have to do something. If something goes wrong, and someone gets hurt, it'll be my fault."

Uncle Albus looked at him sadly. "You give yourself too much responsibility. You are not the one ordering the deaths of so many people. Do not blame yourself for their unfortunate end. You have already lost too much to this war that is not yours. It is not your duty to end this."

"I have to be there. He killed my parents. I have to make sure he's gone. If I'm not there, I'll never be able to rest in peace. Not that the world would let me."

Uncle Albus nodded, knowing that he wouldn't be able to change the youth's mind. "Marlene…"

"Save your breath Uncle Albus. You already know that I'm going to be on the front line. Nothing you can do will stop me. This is what I was made for."

He seemed to age before my eyes. I could feel his anguish. He was sending children in to fight a war. These were the children that he spent much of his life trying to protect, and now they were the ones that were going to protect the world. It didn't matter that he manipulated them and put them in this situation, he hated doing it, and there was no other way that he could see. "Ron and Hermione."

"We want to be there too sir," Hermione spoke up. "We've been with Harry for years. We aren't going to let him face him alone."

"It is not up to me too allow or prevent you to go. That decision lies with your parents."

"Why doesn't Marlene have to have her parents' permission?" Ron asked.

"They would be hard pressed to stop me if they didn't. I've been training for this my entire life. He's destroyed my family too. I'm not going to let this bastard live," I told them.

A faint twinkle returned to Uncle Albus' eyes. "Marlene is a special case. She knows exactly what she is signing herself up for. Her parents already know as well and have giving their consent."

Ron turned to look at his parents. "I'm going with Harry. He needs us."

"You are too young," his mother told him sternly.

"He won't care how old I am when he comes to kill me. If we don't get rid of him, it will only be a matter of time before he comes after us. It might be too late by then."

"That doesn't mean I will allow you to walk straight into danger when it is not necessary. I may not be able to stop Harry, but I will not allow you to go. You will stay here where you are safe. There are other people that will be there. You don't need to put yourself in danger."

"I'm going with or without your permission. If this fails, no place will be safe."

"You can't do magic outside of Hogwarts. What do you plan on doing? How do you plan on fighting without magic?"

"If he gets his way, there will be no Hogwarts. This is more important than getting expelled from school."

His mother glared at him, her face as red as her son's. She seemed to run out of arguments. She turned on her heal and marched out of the room. Her husband looked at his youngest son with a great sadness in his eyes. "Do what you must," he told him before following his wife out.

Everyone else just stared at Ron, surprised at the passion and logic his put into his argument. No one saw anything like that come from him before.

"My parents still don't completely understand sir. I'm sticking with Harry no matter what they say."

Uncle Albus nodded sadly, the twinkle noticeably missing from his eyes. "Very well. We will check Voldemort's plans in a few days. Until then, enjoy yourselves the best you can."

He left us alone with my parents, who had remained silent the entire time. "Sweetie, are you alright?" my mum asked.

"Yeah. We all knew that it would come to this one day. It will be okay."

My father gave me a hug and a kiss on the head. My mum followed suit and they left us to our own devices.

The four of us just stared at each other, none of us seeming to know what to say. Finally Ginny seemed to ignore her prejudice of me and joined us. "What's going on?"

We all took turns filling her in on what happened over the last day. When we finished she looked straight at Harry. "I want to fight too."

He shook his head vehemently. "No. I learned by now that I can't stop Ron and Hermione, but I won't let you be there. It's too dangerous."

"Then what was the point of the D.A. then?" she asked angrily.

"It was to defend yourself if you were under attack. Not to train you to recklessly run into danger."

"You do it all the time!"

"So? You want to be like me and put everyone else in danger?" he asked angrily.

She rolled her eyes at him. "When are you going to get it through you thick skull? It's my choice. Whoever follows you, it's their choice what they do. You don't put them in danger. They put themselves in it! Voldemort, puts them in it." Ron flinched at the mention of the name coming from his sister's mouth.

Harry and Ginny both stared at each other breathing heavily. I saw something pass between them again. This time there was no mistaking what it was. This wasn't the time to mention it though.

"This doesn't have to be figured out right now. We have a few days left. We should make the most off the time we have," I told them, trying to end the argument.

"We should be training. No matter who's going or not, we should all be prepared for the worse case," Hermione told us logically. Everyone nodded in agreement and they all turned to me. I sighed at the leadership position they assigned me and began running them through basic drills, trying to get them to do the most they could without magic.

_____

"What am I thinking? I can't do this," Harry mumbled later that night. The others went to bed about an hour before but Harry and I stayed up longer to get in more practice.

I cupped his face between my hands to force him to meet my eyes. "I'm going to tell you the same thing my father used to tell me. 'You can only do your best, and nothing more.' You've survived everything else. You defeated him before. You'll do it again."

"It's not like every other time. Those weren't planned. It was just a bunch of dumb luck that got me out of those situations."

"Then you'll have the same dumb luck and get out of this one," I told him, sending him calming energy. "Trust me. Everything will work out alright."

He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me close as we sank into a chair together. "I just don't know what I'll do if something happens to you or Ron or Hermione or Ginny. Or anybody else. I doubt that we'll all get through this alive."

I gave him a squeeze. "Everyone who is volunteering for this battle knows that there is a chance they might not come home. You can't just take the burden on your shoulders."

"I just want this to end," he murmured against my neck. I could feel his lips begin to place soft kisses against my skin, sending chills down my spine.

I groaned and pulled away from him. This wasn't the time to deal with simple teenage issues, but it didn't look like there would be a time to do it in the near future. "Harry, we have to talk."

He looked at me, his wide green eyes full of confusion. "About what?"

"I know about you and Ginny."

He looked even more confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You love her. And she loves you."

His eyes widened. "I don't know what you are talking about."

I chuckled. "I think you do. You just don't want to admit it for some reason." He turned red and suddenly refused to meet my eyes. I sighed when I realized what at least part of the problem was. "Harry, look at me." After a moment or two he did. "It's okay. I'm not mad at you."

"You aren't?" he asked shocked.

I shook my head. "I really like you Harry, but we aren't meant for each other. Besides, I'd be a hypocrite if I were to be mad at you."

"Do you love Draco?" he asked curiously and a bit sadly.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure how exactly I feel about Draco. All I know is that I still care about him a lot. More than I should, especially when I'm supposed to be your girlfriend."

"I figured as much." He started chuckling. "Ron would kill me if he found out."

"Why?"

"Ginny is his little sister. He hates everyone she dates."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"She was dating our roommate Dean. Ron was friends with him until they started dating. Then he kept talking about how he wanted to bludgeon him."

I laughed. "You know, I really don't think he'd have the same problem if it were you with her. He'd know that you'd take care of her. I mean you are like the ultimate good guy, being our savior and everything."

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well this is a hell of a time to figure this all out."

I laughed. "Well there is no time like the present. You should tell her as soon as you can. Who knows when or if you'll be able to get another chance?"

"What about Malfoy?"

I grimaced thinking about the roller coaster the last few days that we spent together was. "That's complicated. I don't know how much I can do about that situation. He and I have both been hurting each other a lot lately."

He frowned. "I'm sorry about how this turned out. Things would be simpler if I didn't care about Ginny so much."

I rolled my eyes. "There you go again blaming yourself. It's not your fault. Even if you didn't love Ginny, it wouldn't change how I feel about Draco. Then this would be even a worse situation. At least now we can both agree that the best thing for us is to not be together. Besides, when has anything ever been simple for you? Or for me for that matter?"

"So are we still friends?"

"Of course. It was fun while it latest, but I have a feeling we are going to be apart of each other's lives for awhile yet."

He grinned. "I think I'm going to head to bed now. I feel better now. Thanks."

"No problem," I told him hugging him before he left.

I made my way to my own room. I tried to sleep, but my mind just didn't seem able to shut down. I kept thinking about what the next few weeks would be like. Undoubtedly it would be filled with intense training. Then it would be the final battle. Hopefully. It was odd to think that in just a few weeks the entire war would be over. For good this time. Not all of the people I cared about would survive it most likely, but we wouldn't have to live in fear any more.

My mind kept drifting to Draco as well. I wondered where he would be during the battle. Would he be summoned to Voldemort at that time? Would he be fighting with me, Harry and the others? I hoped that he would be far from the battleground. I'd hate to have to fight against him, but I would if it came down to it. If he was fighting with me, I'd be too worried that something would happen to him. If Voldemort saw him on our side of the battlefield, he'd be sure to put in the effort to kill him slowly. I wondered if there was something that I could do to help influence his decision.

Finally I gave up the idea of sleep and pulled out some parchment and a quill. I decided to write to Draco, hoping that I'd come up with something to make him listen to me. I worked on it for about an hour, but nothing seemed to come out right. Finally I settled on a simple approach. Dipping my quill in ink for the final time I wrote:

Harry and I are no longer together. – Marlene

I cast a complicated spell that put the parchment on Draco's bedside table so that he would be able to see it when he woke up. Finally feeling a bit more at ease, I was able to drift off to sleep.

____

"Are you ready?" Uncle Albus asked. It was a few days later and we were back in the room and I was getting ready to once again invade the mind of Voldemort, using Harry as a gateway.

"There is no time like the present," I told him before diving in.

I made sure to be much more careful this time so that I wouldn't tip of Voldemort. His mind was much more heavily guarded this time. Large sections of it were closed off. I would have been able to break into them if I needed to but I wouldn't be able to do it without alerting him to my presence. At first I was afraid that the details of his plan of attack was in one of the sealed sections, but fortunately for me, he was discussing his plans with someone.

I sat silently and invisible in his mind as I observed his plotting. He didn't trust his followers any longer, not that he really trusted them in the first place. He did indeed think that one of them had managed to penetrate his mind. Since then he was meeting with each of those that made up his inner circle and telling them slightly different versions of his plan. If his plan was to be foiled, he thought he'd be able to find out who betrayed him this way. He had tortured all of them that had been in his presence at the time extensively, but none of them broke. He couldn't lie to himself however, and I could see the plan shining brightly in his mind.

I quickly and carefully managed to slip back out of his mind without being detected. I wound my way out through Harry's mind and opened my eyes. Harry, Uncle Albus, and Severus were all looking at me expectantly.

"It's set for the second Wednesday after we return. He has been trying to recruit some of the animals in the Forbidden Forest. It seems as if he has gotten close with some. He's hoping that he will be able to convert them completely to his side before he attacks," I told them, rubbing my temples, hoping that the budding headache would dissipate.

"Are you sure?" Severus asked.

I nodded. "He's not telling anyone the real details of the plan. He thinks that he has traitors in his inner circle. He's spreading false information to try to weed out his followers. He's settled on that plan though."

Uncle Albus looked thoughtful. "That means we will have to plan our attack before then. Thank you Marlene, Harry. Severus, we must make our plans." The adults left in a swirl of robes, leaving Harry and I alone.

We stared at each other, taking in the implications of the information. Christmas was in a few days. They would be returning to school shortly after the New Year. That left only have about two and a half weeks before the attack on the school. Our time was very short.

Without a word, we both stood and made our way to the Drawing Room to join the others. Harry moved straight to Ginny and began whispering to her in a corning. I joined Ron and Hermione.

Ron frowned at Harry and Ginny. "Of all the girls in the world, he just had to fall for my sister."

I laughed. "Well I don't think that it was exactly on purpose. But I mean come on, you know that he will treat her right."

"You mean like he treated you?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "He didn't treat me bad. We like each other, but we both have people we care about more. There are no hard feelings. We are still friends."

"Oh just let Harry be happy. If anyone deserves some happiness in their life, it's him," Hermione chastised him.

"So when are you too going to stop being so stubborn and finally start dating?" I asked with a grin. They both turned red and started stammering. "Oh come off it. You both like each other, just go for it. Time is short."

They both looked at each other sheepishly, and I made my way to the kitchen to try to find a snack. When I got into the hallway, the front door opened and Xavier stood there? "What are you doing here?" I whispered so as not to wake the portrait. There had been a lot of people who came and went through the headquarters, but during my time there, I had never seen Xavier.

He grinned at me. "I brought you a present." He stepped to the side and there stood Draco.

He smirked at me. "Miss me, Wizidore?"

A/N - So there are only a few more chapters left. Yay! I'm finally almost done!