"It doesn't feel right…being here in your place." Severus Snape said in a strained voice as he paced the headmaster quarters inside of Hogwarts.
He had only arrived moments before, sending his death eater escort to watch the doors outside. He needed to be alone with Dumbledore.
"You deserve the post Snape. At least you can be trusted." Dumbledore's frame spoke to him from the far right corner.
"Yes, yes. But I can't trust anyone else." He muttered ruthlessly, running a finger through his oily black hair. It had grown longer in the past few months. The stress hardly allowed him time to think of grooming.
"I've heard….things." Dumbledore said after a brief pause. "I've taken to wandering the portraits at night. One hears rumors, sees brief encounters. I think I have someone you can trust to get the vial to Harry."
"Sure there are plenty of people who would, but no one is going to let me have a second alone with them without getting myself killed in the process." Snape sighed, finally sitting down in the headmaster's chair. Letting his elbows rest on the desk he closed his eyes against his palms.
"Draco Malfoy would." Dumbledore said simply.
Snape snapped his head up to look at the portrait sardonically.
"Oh yes. I'm sure Draco would love to deliver a vial full of memories to Harry. He loves catching up with him. They're best-ARGH!"
Snape suddenly slammed his hand down on his forearm. The dark mark burned, signaling the summoning of Voldemort. His face became a look of horror.
"Who on Earth would summon him?" Snape asked incredulously.
"Someone has found Harry Potter. Or at the very least Hermione and Ron. You must move quickly Severus. Trust me when I say you can give the vial to Draco and he will make sure Harry gets it in time."
"How can you be sure?" Severus asked hastily, pulling on his cloak and grabbing the vial from the drawer in his desk.
"The same way I was sure about you Severus…love." Dumbledore left the portrait then, leaving Severus to hope he knew what he was doing as he set out to find Draco.
…..
….
…..
Draco had one hand around Hermione as they quickly jogged up corridors and flights of stairs to reach the room of requirement. Draco hoped that by now it was no longer being used as the room of hidden things. Harry and Ron needed to have found and destroyed the diadem by now. They were running out of time.
Hermione listened through a still shell shocked gaze to Draco as he relayed all that she had missed.
"…so I left them in the room of requirement which hopefully if our theory is right was turned into the room of hidden things." Draco finished up, as they finally reached the 6th floor landing. One more flight to go and two corridors until they reached the room.
Hermione stopped for a breath, and Draco let her. Her hands trembled. Only minutes before they had been clawing to push Amycus back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Sweetheart." Draco said softly, brushing his hand against her cheek. "You can do this. Just stay with me and it'll be okay. Voldemort dies tonight."
Hermione opened her eyes and nodded her head.
"I know, I know. I can do this. We better continue…the last classes are out in only a few minutes. All hell is going to break lose once this information leaks. I hope they can get the younger students out in time."
They continued up to the seventh floor, turning down the first corridor. They almost made the turn to the room of requirement when Draco was suddenly pulled by his collar into an empty classroom.
Hermione grasped Draco's hand firmly, pulling out her wand just as the door shut behind them both and they were both disarmed.
The two stood facing Severus Snape who held both of their wands in his hand. Hermione held back a scream, and Draco protectively moved himself in front of Hermione.
Snape and Draco looked each other down for a few moments. Each taking in the other's situation.
Draco noted that Snape had managed to take both he and Hermione's wands, but was not using his in any way toward them…yet. Snape didn't look like he was about to be threatening though. He looked….unsure.
Snape stood bemused watching as Draco guarded Hermione behind him. Dumbledore said he could trust Draco because of 'love'. Now he understood. It seemed that now two death eaters had betrayed Voldemort.
"What do you want?" Draco asked threateningly.
"I need you to give something to Potter for me." Snape slid his hand into his robe, and Draco tensed, pulling a shaking Hermione further behind him. "Hm, I see now why Dumbledore said I could trust you with it."
Snape pulled out a small vile with a shining liquid in it, he handed it over to Draco who took it hesitantly.
"What is it?" Draco asked.
"Memories." Hermione whispered curiously from behind her mate.
"Yes Granger, memories." Snape said resuming his naturally annoyed tone with her. "Way to ruin the suspense by being a know it all."
Draco shot Snape a menacing look.
"Easy." He said, slowly backing away from the two. He laid their wands on the ground a few feet away from them as he continued backing toward the other door. "See to it that Potter get's that. Tell him Dumbledore's office is empty if he wants to use the pensive in there. I'll make sure it's unguarded."
"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Hermione asked suddenly.
"You don't. Dumbledore's portrait said Draco could be trusted to deliver it to Potter. That's all."
"Wait!" Draco cried before Snape could walk out the door.
"The Dark Lord is here Draco. He has just summoned me personally to the shrieking shack. I must go."
"Wait, so you haven't switched sides completely? Does that mean you've been a spy the whole time?" Draco asked.
"It means that I've been doing what I had to for love. Just as it seems you have Draco." And with a swift sound of his cloak whipping the air, Snape was gone.
"That was…the weirdest thing to happen in a long time."
"The weirdest by far." Hermione agreed stunned. "I wonder what the memories contain."
Draco shook his head bemused.
"We at least should deliver it." Draco said finally. "Let Potter decide what he wants to do with them."
They reached down for their wands, and Draco took Hermione's hand as they left the classroom.
"I guess Dumbledore did know he could trust you to deliver it." Hermione smiled up at him.
The corners of Draco's mouth turned up slightly before he turned them down the last corridor. They finally reached the entrance to the room of requirement.
"Do you think it's still the room of hidden things inside?" Hermione asked fearfully.
"I hope not. We're running out of time. Let's hope they've restored it. I'll try to get in."
Draco began pacing back and forth concentrating. A door appeared then, and just in time too as the bell rang to signal the end of classes for the day. Students would soon be piling down to the Great Hall for dinner. Any moment McGonagall would announce the danger and have to begin evacuating. Draco quickly pushed Hermione through the door.
The room was echoing a dozen different voices when he pushed Hermione through, but as soon as Draco showed his face and shut the door behind him the talking stopped.
The couple turned to find all of Dumbledore's Army in the practice room they had used years before. Hermione recognized this immediately, but could see the confusion on Draco's face. She quickly took his hand, which warranted gasps from several of the students.
Harry and Ron quickly flew up the steps toward the entrance and threw their arms around Hermione. They stood back quickly and Harry reached into his robe to pull out a charred looking crown.
"You destroyed it?" Draco asked quietly so only the other three could hear.
"It's done. Now we just need to get the snake….and then Voldemort."
Harry turned toward the crowd.
"Draco Malfoy is on our side now. Anyone who has a problem with that can leave. I trust him, and so should you. He's aided us in this fight several times unbeknownst to you." Harry waited to see if anyone made a move. No one did. "Great, so I've summoned you all with our DA coins for a reason."
Hermione led Draco down with the others letting Harry have the floor. She smiled at a few of the members as they passed. The smiles were all returned. It gave her hope.
"Voldemort is on his way here." Harry continued.
"Actually he's already here. Currently in the Shrieking Shack. I guess waiting his next move." Draco interrupted.
"Okay, Voldemort is already here." Harry took a deep breath. "I have no doubt a battle will begin shortly. We've summoned the order, and they should be here shortly. Tonight Voldemort is defeated."
The group began to clap enthusiastically. They were ready for the fight.
"Ron, Hermione, Draco, and I have all been preparing for this so that when I finally come face to face with Voldemort he will be able to be defeated. But there's one more step we have to take. Voldemort keeps a giant snake with him, her name is Nagini. I can't tell you all why, but the snake needs to die before I can take on Voldemort. When the battle commences I need your first objective to be survival, and the second to kill that snake."
Hermione glanced around the room. The students were confused, but they all seemed willing to accept the mission. A loud boom echoed in the silence.
"It came from outside." Ginny whispered from next to her, trembling.
Another boom sounded through the room.
"It's started." Ron stated firmly.
"Listen." Draco quickly flew up the steps to where Harry was. "Voldemort is already here. He is too into self preservation to come into the battle himself. He'll send in the death eaters first. See how many of us he can pick off. If you see the snake, kill it. Here."
Draco threw a handful of basilisk fangs to half the students.
"Pick a partner with a fang. You two can block and protect each other. The fang is the only thing that will kill the snake."
They watched as the students paired up, and Harry stood quietly at the door.
"Here it goes." Harry said to the group. "Remember all the schooling we've done, all the private training. We can do this. Just stay focused. Survive and kill the snake."
Harry opened the door and the students filed out, wands at the ready.
Finally Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Harry were the only ones left.
"Where were you?" Ron asked Hermione going toward her.
Draco found the momentary distraction to be alone with Harry.
"Here's your invisibility cloak." He handed Harry the silvery fabric. "Listen, I ran into Snape."
Draco filled him in on the memories Snape had left with him.
"I don't know if he can be trusted, but he said that Dumbledore told him he could trust me to give it to you. I guess it's a traitor thing. I have a pretty good feeling Snape was telling the truth though. You might want to go check out these memories before you head into battle. They could tell us something important. It shouldn't take long. We can hold off the death eaters until then."
Harry looked stunned but grasped the vial in his hands and nodded absentmindedly.
"Go now." Draco said, watching as Hermione and Ron were preoccupied in their conversation.
Harry quietly slipped through the doors, handing Draco the sword of Gryffindor on his way out.
Hermione and Ron turned back to Draco as the door shut.
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked.
"He's gone to take care of something important."
"The memories?" Ron asked. "Hermione was just filling me in."
"Yeah, it shouldn't take him too long." Draco said. "You've got a basilisk fang?"
"Yep. Ginny is waiting for me outside. Better get going. You two stick together." Ron quickly came over to Hermione and kissed her forehead, and he shook Draco's hand. "Stay alive."
"We will." Hermione whispered.
They watched Ron exit the room. Sounds of students and order members shouting spells echoed into the room as the door shut.
"Let's go baby." Draco said taking Hermione's hand.
"I'm ready." Hermione said, determined.
"That's my girl."
And together they exited the safety of the room, leaping into the heat of battle.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!