'We stand here today in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. We stand here, surrounded by many and trusted friends. Yet outside of these walls stands he who would destroy us all. A man who stands with the bilge of wizarding society at his back. There is no disgrace which he had not suffered his character to bear, no act so base he has not performed it. No-one who he would not either hold out a wand to for licentious crime, or else kill, lest in taking a moral stance they inflict morality on his friends. There has now for many years been no crime committed except by him. He alone has done that which no-one else dare, for fear of being ripped apart in the court of public opinion. It will not be endured! Today we have stood, and if we did not already have it we have earned his enmity. He is not a man who will forgive. He will not forget. Although our great friend has submitted to his demands, there is no guarantee he could give, no assurance he could offer, that I would take. He has told us he will not attack. Yet he is a man of no honour, worthless and bereft of all proper feeling. He will betray our trust if we give it. In this room we have gathered the most recent victims of his atrocities yet the number of the dead and wounded will but grow if we do not dare to prepare ourselves. There are those out there who say that if we do not prepare to defend ourselves, if we submit meekly we may hope that he will be merciful. We may hope that he will be merciful. Yet I say he has not an ounce of mercy in his broken soul. We must take up our wands to defend this place against the inevitable assault. We have great magical strength in this hall, and I say this to you now.

Never give in. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Yield only to that which we all must yield- good sense! We shall fight. We shall fight here. We shall fight on the bridges and in the courtyards. We shall fight in the halls and the corridors. We shall fight to the end, whatever than end might be. We shall never surrender. For in this place we hold the balance of history in our hands. Should we fail, the wizarding world in this nation, and in all nations, must fall to the lead of the pureblood maniacs who threaten our peace and our long held beliefs. The world will fall to eternal domination and suffering for all. Yet for all that there is still hope. We can win, we shall win and we must win. For there is still hope that in our victory the world will be led to the great and peaceful highlands of long and sunny prosperity. Now that hope rests on you. So at the last I say this. Go! Go now and prepare yourselves. Everyone to their positions. Make them strong, make them secure. Dig in and prepare to defend yourselves. Let no man, woman or child shrink from duty. Let no-one surrender. Go!'

As Marcus concluded his speech the hall broke into spontaneous applause, which continued as they filed out of the hall to the courtyard outside, where it had been decided that they would make an initial repulse of the inevitable. Fired up by the rhetoric, they crafted individual and communal shields, great sinuous barriers and fine gossamer shields to protect themselves from the full onslaught that all knew was coming.

It did not come in the manner that they had expected. Slowly Voldemort advanced, walking side by side with Hagrid, who was carrying something in his arms. A confused murmur came from each of the defenders. This wasn't an attack, this was a calm and confident walk of the conqueror coming to claim his prize. And what was that in Hagrid's arms? Their questions were soon answered.

'You stand here ready to face me. You think you can win, yet against me there is no defence. I bear the elder wand. I have killed your leader. What hope do you have, you little people? I tell you now there is no hope except in me. You have done what you felt you must. But the time for fruitful resistance is at an end. Join me, and I will be merciful. Else.' Lord Voldemort fell silent, but even his silences weer full of menace and threat. What hope could there be? Draco thought of Dumbledore and all his palns. How had they not worked. Harry lay dead in Hagrid's arms. The snake was alive and well, just behind Voldemort and here he was. Then Draco realised it. Dumbledore had left him books on the Dark Arts and Battle Transfiguration. That was it. The old man had known he'd read them- he must have done, and in that he had planted a clue. Draco was meant to fight Voldemort after Harry was gone. Realising this, Draco pulled himself to his full height and made a few peremptory steps towards the dark lord.

'I expected more than this. Who are you boy?'

'Draco Malfoy.'

'Well, you may replace your father in my ranks, given time enough perhaps.'

'No.'

'What do you mean no?'

'I would like to speak further on the point, if I may.'

'Very well, clarify yourself. But remember Lord Voldemort does not look kindly upon unnecessary delays.'

'Quite frankly, my lord I couldn't give a rat's arse for what you think. Who would? I am a pure blood, with blood as pure as anyone who stands here today. Yet who are you? A half-blood whose mother abandoned him and whose father was a muggle. What hope do you have against me, according even to your own beliefs? Harry may be gone, but the spirit of Harry, the memory of Harry lives on. Even now. And so I challenge you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to a duel.'

'You dare use that name?'

'Do you accept the challenge?'

'You dare challenge me?'

'Do you accept?'

'I accept. I command my Death Eaters to stand back while I destroy you. Then, we shall see who is willing to submit.'

Draco stood up and saluted Voldemort with his wand, before bowing, whilst maintaining eye contact at all times. Never let your eye of the ball, or in this case, the dark lord. They rose as one and eyed the other suspiciously, each waiting to see who would go first. Voldemort seized the initiative. He started simply, sending a cruciatus curse straight at Draco, which he side-stepped neatly. The spell rocketed past him and buried itself in the wall of the castle.

'Very good. Let's see what you can really do.' Voldemort taunted before responding with a blast of darkness. The tendrils of black streamed towards Draco who responded by conjuring a vast wall in the way. When the blast of magic hit the wall it melted, yet nothing happened to Draco, who felt it was time to respond. Three rapid flicks of his wrist let Draco do what he wanted- he had soon incited the air itself against Voldemort, rapidly spinning it up from a calm zephyr into a miniature tornado. The quickly rotating wind soon enveloped Voldemort who seemed powerless to stop it. A cheer went up from the defenders of Hogwarts but it didn't last long. With a swish of his wand Voldemort stopped the winds and sent it back to Draco in a hotter form.

As the fires bore down upon him Draco began to panic. There had been nothing in the book about the necessary rapidity of thought required to duel dark wizards. Ignoring this treacherous thought, Draco deflected the fire neatly from its course and sent it back at his opponent, following it with a stunning spell, which he hoped would pass unnoticed for all the fire.

It didn't, but it distracted Voldemort long enough for Draco to get another attack in, this time transfiguring much of the rubble that littered the courtyard around them into a small army of living statues, which formed up in front of Draco, ready to give up their semblance of life for their creator. Every time Voldemort attacked, a statue got in the way, blocking many fatal curses, yet even their number was not infinite and soon the protection they afforded was running thin. It was time to make another move. Draco summoned as much of the lake as he could imagine and tried to dump it on Voldemort, as he had seen Dumbledore do similarly long ago. Soon a globe of spinning water was centred on the dark lord, yet for all of that, within Voldemort was still fighting, he scythed his wand and tried to escape, yet Draco was having none of it, and rapidly froze the water. The ice withstood the strains from within for a moment, before exploding into a thousand pieces, each flying all about the courtyard. Death Eaters and Hogwarts defenders alike took cover against the assault of shards which never came. Voldemort had gathered them up with his wand in a trice and was staring hard at Draco. Then the ice started to move, right at him. Draco brought up a wall of flame to defend himself, but this didn't last long- Voldemort still tore it down and whilst the ice was gone, the water wasn't, and the Dark Lord wanted revenge. He gathered up the water and flung it at draco, who managed to cast a quick bubblehead charm before he was surrounded by water. It pervaded everywhere- never had Draco been so thoroughly wet before. Slowly the cold began to reach him and try as he might he couldn't get out of it, the water was everywhere and no matter what he did he couldn't shift it. Panic began to rise in Draco's mind. Suddenly the water fell away, leaving Draco panting in shock on all fours. Voldemort raised his wand to finish the duel. Draco gave one last glance to Hermione as fate crept up on him.

'I love you.' He mouthed at her.

Hermione smiled back sadly as Draco waited for the killing blow that never came. Voldemort lowered his wand, aiming at the prostrate Draco. Then it happened. As if from nowhere, Harry stood in the way, wand pointed at Voldemort.

' He's back!'

'Run for it'.

'Hooray.'

Noises came from all around as the morale of the Death Eaters broke, leaving a small loyal core behind, who waited for a few moments. Voldemort though felt no concern. So the boy had come back, never mind, he could always kill him again until he was dead for good. Voldemort switched targets from Draco to Harry and without any wish, Harry's wand turned and locked onto Voldemort's. For a moment the two locked in place. Slowly but surely though, the elder wand in the hands of the more experience wizard was winning; then as if woken from a stupor the defenders of Hogwarts attacked. Shacklebolt and McGonagall dominated the right hand side of the courtyard- no-one who stood in their way stayed conscious for long. On the left, Tonks and the Weasleys met similar resistance. Before long the only Death Eater left fighting was Voldemort. In the middle of the courtyard Voldemort stood, slowly winning his fight with Harry, who was struggling for grim death. Draco was still on the ground shocked when suddenly he found himself being yanked to his feet.

'Up yer get, Kiddo.'

'Uncle Noctifer.'

'The one and only. Come on, I think your friend needs a hand.'

'But my wand? Where is it?'

'Here you go. It got swept away in the water.'

'Right. Thanks. Let's give Harry a hand.'

'Right on.'

Noctifer and Draco descended on Voldemort up the courtyard, causing him to break off his attack on Harry. Soon a three way duel was going on and the numbers against Voldemort increased by the second and before long Voldemort could do little but keep off the attacks of his opponents. Then Draco saw it. The snake. He broke off his attack to find Hermione.

'Have you still got those fangs?'

'Yeah, they're in my bag.'

'Great. We need to get the snake.'

'But.'

'Never mind about up here. We finish the snake and he'll be finished for good this time.'

'You think we're going to win?'

'Yeah. How can we lose? He may be good, but there's enough wands pointed at him to make even Merlin go without a fuss.'

'I heard that.'

'You carry on fighting, Marcus.'

'What do you think I'm doing?'

Draco and Hermione crept around the circle of Hogwartians, past the bodies of the fallen and out onto the bridge where Nagini sat. The snake reared up to attack. Draco tried a body bind, but it bounced off.

'Grab a fang each. We're going to have to just stab it.'

'But if it stabs us.'

'Let's try and avoid that.'

'Right.'

Draco circled one way while Hermione went the other.

'You first, Herms. On my mark.'

'Right.'

Draco made gestures at the snake, taking one step towards it and another step back. Slowly the great reptile focussed its attention on Draco alone.

'Mark.'

Hermione dived and connected, the fang sliced into the snake which hissed with fury.

'Run!'

Together they fled away from the snake, which in its death throes was striking out at anything it could find including itself. When they were far away enough from the snake they slowed first to a trot, then a walk.

'Back to the main event then.'

'Yes.'

'Although by the looks of things we may be a bit late.'

There was a silent crowd mingling around Voldemort's body. In the end he had taken several of his final attackers with him and many others were wounded.

'What happened?' Draco asked as they got near.

'I don't know. He just sort of collapsed there. Then he got hit.'

'Thanks.'

Draco hurried over, barging his way through the crowd to where Kingsley Shacklebolt stood over the body of Voldemort.

'Is he dead?'

'I think so. He only got hit by stunning spells, but still. There were so many. Looks like his body has finally given out.'

'As his final Horcrux went.'

'What's that?'

'Nothing much. I was just appreciating the irony that he made all his horcruxes to try and stay alive, to make himself invulnerable, yet in the end all they were was a vulnerability, something that could be attacked to weaken him. Hermione and I destroy the final one and voila, he stops and dies.'

'You said he created horcruxes.'

'Yeah. Didn't Dumbledore tell you?'

'No.'

'Oh.'

'Don't worry about it. Dumbledore didn't tell a lot of people a lot of things, I never imagined that I knew everything. But still.'

'Yeah. It might have been nice to know a biggy like that, eh Kingsley?'

'Yeah. Right.'

Draco looked away from the other wizard. Almost everyone had gone back inside the castle for some reason or other, only Harry and Hermione were left outside.

'Well. What's going to happen now?'

'I don't know. I think for now we let everyone rest, then we clear out the ministry buildings and purge the government.'

'Then everything is back to normal?'

'We can only hope.'

'Who do you think'll be minister?'

'I'm not sure. There aren't many viable options left- most of the department heads from the last days of Scrimgeour are too old, too dead or simply too Death Eater to take on the role,'

'Thinking of running yourself?'

'I hadn't. You think I should?'

'Yeah. You'd be great.' Harry said, joining the conversation.

'Thanks. For the moment though, I think it might be time to go and have a look at how everyone's doing, survey the scene, grab a bite to eat.'

'Sounds great. Just one request.'

'Anything.'

'No potatoes. No onions.'

'We'll have to see what the house elves can whip up.'

'Yeah. Course. Thanks Kingsley.' Harry said.

'Whatever for?'

'For coming. We needed you and you came. It means a lot. From everyone, not just you.'

'It was you who came back from the dead to save us Harry. It was Draco here who challenged Voldemort to a duel when no-one else dared even move. It was Hermione who killed the snake and made the opening that we used to get him. Yes. I saw. Not to mention you seem to have been rather busy the last few months destroying horcruxes- you did say there was more than one, didn't you?- when everyone else and I mean everyone else has been in hiding. I think we all owe you three big time.'

'I'll hold you to that.' Harry said, a grin coming to his face.

'What have I let myself in for?'