Author's Notes: Look guys. It's a new chapter. Wait what's that after thi? Another chapter! Enjoy!

December 21, 1996

Early Morning

Even though he was sound asleep, Harry was having the time of his life. His parents had been with him the last two days and Ron kept making snarky comments. He didn't seem to understand what it was like to be without parents and then suddenly to have them again. Hermione often ignored the comments to the point where she just wanted to hex Ron every time he complained about Harry running off to train with James, Remus, and Sirius or to have tea with Lily, Veronica, and Regina. Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Patty, and Grams, as Penny had told Harry to call her, had occupied his time the night before creating potions that might come in handy for the Final Battle. Harry thought it was wonderful to have a family, even if it wasn't the most conventional one around. At least they loved him for him. Just the afternoon before, James told him that he was proud of the man that he had become.

Harry had just rolled over in his bed and snuggled deeper into the warm covers when a screeching alarm sounded throughout the school. Harry scrambled from his bed and quickly threw on the battle robes that Veronica had found in the Gryffindor family rooms. He pulled on the crimson leggings before fixing the sleeves of the crimson tunic which fell to his knees. He quickly picked up the Basilisk leather jerkin and fastened it closed over the tunic. Finally he picked up the various bits of gold trimmed black Hebridean dragon armor and quickly buckled it closed. He grabbed his dragon hide boots and headed out the door. He hopped sown the steps while pulling the boots on one at a time. He reached the common room where Regina was glowering at anyone that dared to come near her. She was dressed in what Harry assumed was Esmeralda's battle robes. The armor itself was a lot like Harry's but the gown under the robes was burgundy in color instead of crimson. Her sleeves were tight along the upper part of her arms and opened into trumpet style sleeves at her elbows. The lower part of her arms was covered by the tight undersleeves that were a deeper burgundy almost black. The corset, that Regina absolutely hated because she thought it was much too tight, was made of dragon hide that had been dyed gold. The rest of the armor matched Harry's in everyway including the black color with gold trim

Regina looked up as Harry stepped or hopped off the last step from the boy's dorms. "Hey, Harry, do you know which idiot thought that it was a good idea to interrupt our beauty sleep?" She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Nope but I'd say that it was old Snakeface." Harry led the group out the portrait and down the stairs that seemed to decide that they needed to move quickly so they stopped moving randomly. Harry stumbled slightly as he stepped off the bottom stair. The teens hurried to the Great Hall to find several adults missing, Sirius and Professor McGonagall among them. Regina saw her mother standing in front of a table with her hand resting on her slightly rounded stomach.

Sirius and Professor McGonagall pushed their way past the teenagers. "What is going on?" Sirius looked extremely upset that his sleep was interrupted or at least as upset at the teenage girls were.

"Voldemort is just beyond the castle wards. He is destroying parts of Hogsmeade and creating a blockade around the castle." Dumbledore didn't look up from the map that was laid out in front of him. "I believe that he is trying to keep the battle until the full moon in two days time. If that happens, we will never win."

"That ain't gonna happen, bub." Logan pulled his cigar from his mouth. "We're gonna meet him head on."

Veronica moved slightly to look at Logan. "Logan, we need to plan this carefully." She smirked as Logan laughed loudly. "Okay, people, places." She looked over at the people milling about. "Did I just stutter? Move it!"

"In other words, it's clobberin' time!" Ben cracked his knuckles and let a bit of grit fall to the floor.

Dumbledore turned to look at Harry and Regina. "Okay, you children stay here. You will be our last defense." Dumbledore jumped as Penny tugged on his beard.

"I don't think so." Penny ignored the outraged look on Dumbledore's face as she turned to face Harry and Regina. "The two of you need to lead Voldemort to the Great Hall and into the circle of crystals that we've blessed and set up over there." She pointed to an almost complete circle of crystals in the very center of the room. "Once he is in there, Paige will orb the last crystal into place. Then you and the girls will recite this spell and that should send him into the hereafter." Penny handed Harry and Regina each a sheet of parchment with a spell written on it.

Harry took the paper and looked over the spell before looking up at Penny. "And if it doesn't, Grams? What then?"

"Use Esmeralda's power that she bestowed onto you." Patty gave Harry and Regina each a reassuring hug before she turned to Severus. "Do you have that potion that you and the girls created?"

Severus pulled out a vial filled with a crystal blue potion. "I do. May I ask why?"

"May I see it for a moment?" Phoebe took the vial from Severus and turned to her sisters. "Where is the athame?" Prue pricked Phoebe's finger while Piper opened the vial. They added the drop of blood to the potion and put the cork back into the mouth of the vial before shaking it up. Phoebe turned back to Severus and handed him the vial. "I want you to take it now."

Severus thumbed off the cork. "You never did tell me what it does."

"Just trust us." Piper smirked knowingly as Severus downed the potion.

"What does it…?" Severus fell to his knees gripping his left arm, the very arm that had the Dark Mark on it.

"What's happening to him?" James was carefully watching his childhood enemy.

Severus was kneeling on the floor and panting heavily as Phoebe worked to unbutton the cuffs of his robes and shirt. Severus tried to move away but the potion had made him too weak. Phoebe kissed him hard on the mouth much to Penny's dismay. "Let me do this." She turned back to the task of pulling his sleeve up to reveal the Dark Mark.

However, the Mark was no longer there. Severus looked up at Phoebe who smiled brightly. "How does that potion work? Nothing I tried ever got rid of it."

"That's because there was something that you lacked." Veronica watched Phoebe kiss Severus again. "Love. The girls asked me what I thought about the power that Voldemort wouldn't know. I said love because he's only ever known hate."

"Which is how he created the Mark to begin with." Harry looked over at Dumbledore who simply nodded. "So when Phoebe put her blood into the potion it created a love based potion that counteracts hate."

"Precisely." Prue smiled broadly at the boy that she was starting to think of as a nephew.

"But I thought that blood magic was considered Dark magic." Hermione looked between the sisters.

"Not all ancient magic is dark. It would depend on the circumstances in which the blood was used." Veronica rubbed her stomach slightly. "In fact, in Wiccan Magic, there are quite a few potions and rituals that use blood or flesh to complete them."

"So there was always a way to defeat him?" Lily noticed that Dumbledore was trying to sneak out of the Great Hall. "YOU KNEW AND YET YOU WERE WILLING TO SACRIFICE MY SON TO YOUR PLANS!" Dumbledore cringed slightly as Lily started toward him intent on killing him.

Veronica held up her hand to stop Lily. "I suggest you leave before my hormones go through the roof." Dumbledore stared dumbly at Veronica. "And I mean NOW!"

Dumbledore hurried out of the Great Hall. Harry ignored the way his mother kept trying to go after the meddling old fool and turned to look at Severus. "How many vials of that potion were there?"

"We had quite a few. I only have eight more here with me." Severus pulled out the eight vials that he had in the same pouch. "Why?"

"If we infused them with our blood, it should help us take out Snakeface." Regina took one of the vials from Severus before looking at Phoebe and Paige. "Right?"

"It couldn't hurt." Phoebe took the athame from Prue and proceeded to prick her finger again before handing the athame to Piper.

One by one, Piper, Paige, Harry, Regina, and Phoebe added their blood to the vials of potion. Kingsley watched amazed that these three young women had come up with a plan and were helping instead of resting on the victories that already had gained. Veronica glared at Kingsley and James and they hurried to get away from her hormone induced rage.

Kingsley followed James up the stairs toward the Astronomy Tower. "Remind me to never piss off a pregnant woman. They're scary."

James's laughter echoed off the stone walls. "That seems to be a lesson that Dumbledore has yet to learn."

Meanwhile back in the Great Hall, Veronica was going over the plan one more time. "Now, you activate Esmeralda's powers, throw the potion onto the floor by Voldemort, and then recite the spell. Together that should take care of him and end this war."

Penny looked around the Great Hall and saw that it was only them still there. "Let's get to our stations." She watched as everyone slipped out of the Great Hall. "Let the battle begin."