When they arrived at the entrance hall they could see nothing but carnage, in front of them the Death Eaters were fighting. Percy Weasley was squaring up to the minister for magic, Pius Thicknesse.

'Did I mention I'm resigning minister?'

'Did you hear that George? Perce just joked!'

In front of them a wizard in Death Eater robes pointed his wand, ready to cast a blasting hex. Just in time Draco leapt into the fray, pulling his wand out and sending stunning spells everywhere. One hit the wizard who crumpled just as he cast the spell, sending the bolt of magic flying up to the ceiling, where it exploded. Dust came flying down everywhere but nothing more happened.

'That was close.' Fred said.

'Not half. Come on. Stupefy!'

The defenders were being pushed back slowly- the front bridge had long ago been taken from the animated suits of armour by an assault of wizards and giants. The vast doors of the entrance hall had been battered apart and the Death Eaters had made an assault on the upper towers. Slowly dribs and drabs of the survivors came down, some Death Eaters, some the defenders of Hogwarts. Among them was a familiar, if browned, face.

'Noctifer!'

'Draco. How you doing kiddo? It's getting a bit hot round here, eh? Inaedificans' A wall sprung up where Noctifer had pointed his wand, blocking off the upper floors of the castle.

'Don't worry- there's not anyone else up there, Kingsley and I checked. Come on, we're falling back to the Great Hall.'

They struggled to the Great Hall, carefully avoiding the jets of death that were flying around just outside. They had just gained the doors when they were slammed shut behind them, the last groups in.

'Draco. What's the situation round the back?' Snape asked, trying to determine how the school's defences were holding.

'We broke the bridge- they can't come across that way on foot. Tonks and I survived but Marcus Merlinus didn't.'

'Thank you. Noctifer, the upper towers?'

'All taken, we all got out, just about, but there were plenty of injuries. I think we've all gotten down and I walled off the upper floors, but that won't hold them for long.'

A large pounding sound echoed round the hall.

'Thanks you. Can you try and reinforce the doors. I think that's your field.'

'Certainly.' And with that Noctifer whipped his wand out and turned gesturing at the doors which glowed and seemed to thicken. Snape carried on prowling the hall, looking for the leaders of the teams he had sent out. Draco was looking around for Hermione. She had been down here when the Death Eaters had broken in, at least, she was supposed to be. How was she doing? The hall was full of people and Draco couldn't make out Hermione anywhere. Now, where would she be? With Harry probably. Where would Harry be? Knowing him, right in the thick of the action, or in the middle of a crowd of people. There. That was Harry. Draco sidled over, carefully winding his way around the dead and dying lying on the floor.

'Draco. Good to see you.'

'And you. What happened, I thought you had the front?'

'Well, maybe not quite. It was the giants that did the damage.'

'Well, what do you expect, giants is cheating, isn't it.'

'Too bloody right as is werewolves.'

'Ron. How're you keeping?'

'Is this the time for pleasantries, Draco?'

'Of course- if not now, when? We're likely to be dead by lunchtime.'

'Have you seen Lavender?'

'Not recently. What about Hermione?'

'No. What about you, Harry?'

'Haven't seen 'em. I'll have a look on the map if you want.'

'Yeah, that'd be great.'

'Hmm, this map's busy.'

'Well, only to be expected. Tell you what, I'm going to go and have a word with McGonagall, I've had an idea.'

'See you in a mo. I'll give you a yell when I find them.'

'Thanks.'

Draco crossed the hall to the obvious figure of Minerva McGonagall, sat on one of the house benches talking to Professor Slughorn.

'Hello Draco.'

'Professors.'

'Can we help you?'

'Perhaps. When Dumbledore died he left me this book on transfiguration. There's a curious chapter here on battle transfiguration, and I was struggling to make sense of it. It's page 203, I think.' Draco said, handing the book across.

'203. 203. Right, here we go. Ah, yes I see. I'm not surprised you were struggling with that, he's written the whole thing in some sort of shorthand. Essentially it's saying that transfiguration can be used purely defensively, or to create things that can then be used in conjunction with other spells offensively- Galbraithian fire is a good example, you create that, then you can use it as a source for certain fire spells.'

'I see. Thanks Professor.'

'Not a problem. Good luck to you.'

'And you.'

Draco walked away, his question answered. Bugger, that hadn't been as helpful as he had hoped. No true secret then, just an explanation of strategy. Well, it was better than nothing, trapped here in this hall, the only. No, hang on, there was another way in, a way no-one seemed to be watching, the back door. Well, judging by the continual banging on the front doors of the hall, that wasn't an issue, but still, it was worth keeping half an eye on. Draco worked his way around the crowd. Perhaps he could help boost morale a bit. It must have been shaken badly in most cases, getting beaten back here by force rather than by virtue of having finished the job. He'd have to help people keep their spirits up. Once their nerve had gone, it wouldn't be coming back. A pity Marcus wasn't here. That speech he'd made had been pretty good, exactly the sort of thing he'd have to give now. Well, first things first, time to find Hermione.

'We've found her, Harry.'

'Where is she?'

'In the dungeons. She's holding out in Snape's old office, but.

'But what?'

'Fenrir Greyback's outside the door. I think he's trying to get in.'

'The bastard. Well, it looks as if I've got a job to do.'

'Yeah, you do. You need to help me get the snake.'

'Later. Some things are more important even than that.'

'What things? Nothing's more important.'

'Some things are. And this is one of them. Excuse me, I've got a werewolf to kill.'

Draco turned and hurried out to the back of the hall. He was just about to open the door when Snape stopped him.

'Where're you going, Malfoy? Running away like a coward?'

'No. I'm going to save Hermione. She's in your old office and Greyback's outside the door.'

'Well, good luck then. If you do make it back alive, bang on the door three time quickly, then three time slowly, it should open for you.'

'Thanks.'

'Get to it man. We'll probably still all be in here when you get back, one way or another.'

Draco slipped out of the door and looked around. No-one was here. Why not? Now, to get to the dungeons, what was the best way from here? Across the entrance hall, usually, but that was hardly an option , was it, there were who knew how many supporters of the Dark Lord out there, all of whom would love to kill him. Great. Well, it had to be done- like it or not, that was the only way into the dungeons from here. Well, he could always look first and see what was going on. Silently Draco snuck to the door to the entrance hall. No-one was there on the way. Why not? Someone should have been it was only sensible to attack two ways at once, keep the defenders looking two ways so they were all easier to kill. Draco looked carefully around the doorframe into the entrance hall, prepared to pull his head back at the first sign of trouble. That's funny. There wasn't any. None at all. No-one in the hall was even looking at him, and that was no surprise for at the other end was an aggressive mass of acromantula. Just what Draco needed, a distraction. Praying that no-one would look round before he had gotten to the far side, Draco hurriedly snuck across the hall. Nope, no-one on the stairs to the dungeon either. Voldemort must have repositioned his forces to deal with the attack from the forbidden forest. Well, there was some hope at least. Draco flicked his wand a few times in preparation. This was going to get nasty, but it needed doing. He'd never forgive himself if something happened to Hermione. Time to get a move on. He might be nearly through the door by now. On that thought Draco sped up into a quick trot, and then when he saw the office door open he sped up to a full sprint. Where was he? Where was he? What was going on? Draco rounded the corridor, his shoes skidding slightly on the damp flagstones. There was Greyback, sanding there, fighting off a body bind curse. Well done Hermione.

'EXCUTEO' Draco roared, pointing his wand. There was a great flash of violet light and Greyback exploded, his insides becoming his outsides and his outsides his insides. It was a horrible way to go really, and a bit messy too, all things considered.

'Draco.'

'Hermione. You ok?'

'Fine. Thanks for saving me.'

'I'm sure you had it all under control.'

'Just about. I'm glad you're here though.'

'Likewise. Come on. Everyone else is in the Great Hall, but we'll have to sneak in round the back and the entrance hall is likely crawling full of the bastards by now.'

'Shouldn't we just stay here?'

'And do what? There's nothing we can do here that helps.'

'We could survive. We wouldn't have to fight.'

'For a time. Sometimes though, it's better to fight rather than just to continually yield. He might let me live, but you don't stand a chance. I'm not going to stand by and let him do that, and that means fighting. Here and now is our best chance.'

'But they broke in so quickly. We did everything we could, but it was no use, they came and everything went wrong.'

'I know. If it's any comfort we secured the back, they can't get in that way.'

'But we can't get out that way either.'

'No.'

'How's Tonks? Marcus?'

'Tonks is fine. Marcus fell off the bridge though. It take a miracle for him to still be alive.'

'Yeah. Miracles. The only sort I've found that work are the ones you make yourself.' A gruff voice said at the door.

'Marcus! How did you get here?'

'Oh, bit of last minute flying, a lot of rock climbing and then coming in the back door to the dungeons.'

'There's a back door to the dungeons?'

'There is now. What's the plot?'

'We were heading back to the Great Hall to join everyone else. You coming?'

'Think so.'

'Got another one of those speeches up your sleeve? I think one might be called for.'

'Of course. I'm not called Marcus Tullius for nothing, you know.'

'Come again?'

'Never mind. Let's get going.'

'I think you ought to know the entrance hall is full of Death Eaters.'

'Oh good.'

'And to get the door to the Great Hall open you need to knock three times quickly, then three times slowly. Back door that is, not the front.'

'Gotcha.'

The three of them crept back up the passageway, expecting hordes of Death Eaters to come flooding down them at any moment. They didn't come. At the bottom of the stairs they paused to listen. Definitely more people up there now. Then they heard it.

'You have fought bravely. Lord Voldemort values bravery .I order my forces to withdraw. You have one hour to collect your dead and care for your wounded. If at the end of the hour Harry Potter has not surrendered to me, you will all be killed.'

'Cheery chappy, isn't he.'

'Yeah. Well, not much of a strategist at least. I've always held that when you have the enemy by the throat, that's when you should finish him. This is just asking for trouble.'

'True. It should be more than easy enough to whack up some defences. And this time we can all concentrate on the front.'

'What do you think Harry's going to do.'

'I hope he doesn't give in.'

'I sense a "but" coming.'

'Right, because there's no way that he wouldn't do it. Voldemort's pressing all his buttons, isn't he?'

'Yeah. He is. But Harry's not stupid, is he?'

'No. But then, if he felt there was a good reason to go, then he unquestionably would.'

'Yeah, but what sort of good reason could there be?'

'Because the snake isn't the last horcrux.'

'What do you mean?'

'Harry is. Snape's telling him right now.'

'How do you know that?'

'Foresight runs in the family, I've just got mine set to not almost the present- that way I can see what is going on anywhere. Dead useful really.'

'Yeah, I'm sure. And you don't need foresight to know what Harry's going to do.'

'Probably not.'

They emerged from the dungeons as Harry emerged from the Great Hall.

'Hi guys.'

'Harry.'

'You're going, aren't you?' Hermione asked tearily.

'Yes. It's the only way. Get the snake when you can and try and finish him.'

'Of course Harry.'

'Good luck, mate.'

'I'm not sure it's going to make much difference where I'm going.'

'No. I suppose not. See you.'

Draco ran forward and embraced Harry firmly He let go and then Hermione gave Harry a farewell hug. When Harry finally broke away from it, he turned and swinging his invisibility cloak over his shoulders, he set off to meet his fate.