Chapter Thirty-Two

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her, or rather who she was seeing. Eldred Worple stood before her now, looking completely different from the wizard she had once known and trusted.

As a wizard he had been small, stout, with spectacles and had shoulder length shaggy brown hair. Now he stood before her not as a wizard but as a vampire. His eyes were bright red and alert and despite their heated color, they looked cold and calculating. Gone was the kindness that he had once shown to her. He no longer needed spectacles anymore, not since he had gained his impressive vampire skills. He stood tall and straight wearing an elegant suit and was broad and hard, instead of small and stout. His face that once wore creases, showing age and stress was smooth and pale, making him look much younger, to the point that he could now be described as being handsome looking. His shaggy brown hair was now replaced with shoulder length silken tresses that was the color of dark chocolate. Overall this was not the man she remembered. The man she had known and respected was long gone.

He took a step towards her and clapped his hands together, before giving her a malicious looking smile.

"I can see from the look on your face at how stunned you are, seeing me standing here before you now. I am glad, for you see I wanted our reunion to be a surprise." He said calmly, as if there was nothing more natural in the world for him, than to stand amongst hundreds of angry vampires before a big battle. "Surprise." He said sarcastically, with a false excited sounding voice.

Once the shock of seeing Eldred Worple as a vampire had subsided, anger began to swell inside of Hermione. After all he was the reason why the Volturi was now at War. He had been the one to order all the death and destruction in the vampire world. He had also been the one to send those soldiers into the village where Morvin had lived. It was because of him that Morvin had been changed at such a young age and had been repeatedly beaten and abused. In Hermione's eyes that was something that could not be so easily forgiven.

"How could you do this? How could you turn your back on the wizarding world and cause all of this destruction? What happened to the man I knew and respected?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

The mask fell from Eldred's face for a moment, as he glared angrily at Hermione.

"You dare stand before me now and ask those questions or have you forgotten everything so easily." His glare turned into a snide smile as he went on to say, "Just like how you had forgotten all about me after the Volturi left Hogwarts that day."

Hermione opened her mouth ready to protest against his accusation but quickly closed it again, when she realized he was right and telling the truth. After the Volturi had visited Hogwarts, she had been thinking only about herself and the decision she had made to leave with them, that she didn't once stop to check on Eldred. She hadn't even paid him a moment's thought afterwards, as she became swept away first by Severus, then by Remus and Dora's wedding and then finally by her decision to leave Hogwarts and go with the Volturi. In the end she had let Eldred down, in more ways than one.

"Eldred I am so sorry. I should have done more for you." She admitted feeling guilt at her actions, or rather her lack of actions.

Eldred started laughing while looking around his group of soldiers, amusement dancing in his bright red eyes, as his gaze was once more drawn back to Hermione.

"You're sorry." He said still laughing. "Do you hear that everyone she is sorry?" He said causing the group around him to start laughing as well. Hermione watched as the amusement in Eldred's eyes quickly vanished and his face turned dark, as his laughter immediately stopped, quieting the others as well. He glared at her once more as he hissed out, "It is far too late for an apology from you now. You asked me how I could turn my back on the wizarding world, the answer to that is easy, they turned their backs on me first." He clasped his hands together behind his back before he began to pace in front of her. All Hermione could do was listen intently as he said, "You see I never really fit in with those people, I was always an outcast in their world. I didn't find my place in this world until I met Sanguini. He introduced me to the vampire world and I felt more at home with them than I had ever felt before. Sanguini promised to change me after my latest book was published, but he never got the chance too." Eldred stopped pacing and turned a heated glare towards Hermione. His eyes were burning with anger and she could feel his pain and hatred radiating from every part of him. "Sanguini never got that chance because you came along Hermione. He told me that the moment he saw you in the Department of Mysteries he wanted you as his own, that's why he turned you. But what we didn't know at the time, was that the attraction he thought he felt for you was actually misplaced. Sanguini felt a pull towards you, which he believed was attraction, but it actually turned out to be the pull a maker feels, when they first see the human they are going to change." He stopped what he was saying and gave her a smug look before continuing on. "I can see by the look on your face that you are confused, so let me clear that up for you. A maker is a vampire who turns another. Some in the vampire world call this pull destiny and some say it's all about the genes and biology, but who really knows for sure. The only thing we know for certain was that Sanguini felt this compulsion to change you, which he did. But that was the first mistake made. The second mistake was mine for agreeing with Dumbledore to meet you. If I hadn't agreed to that then things would have been fine, our lives would have remained the same." Eldred's voice grew grave, as pain crossed his features.

Hermione took that moment of silence to try and digest everything that she had just heard. So Sanguini had felt a pull towards her, which he had thought was attraction but it wasn't. It was the pull between a human and their maker. The moment he saw her it became his destiny to change her. That made sense in Hermione's mind, but it also brought up more questions than answers for her. She turned narrow eyes towards Eldred then asked,

"I don't understand, how has changing me got anything to do with any of this?" She gestured towards the group of vampires as she spoke, indicating the situation they now found themselves to be in.

Eldred whirled around to stare at her, as if he had forgotten that she was even there. With a twisted curl of his lips he said,

"It has everything to do with you my girl. You were the catalyst that caused all of this to happen. You and that mate of yours." He said with a snide smile, when he saw the shock written all over Hermione's face. "Oh yes I know all about you being the leader of the Volturi's mate. Did you know that while you were in Romania I sent him a lovely little gift and letter? I do hope he liked it." Eldred said with an amused smirk.

Vladimir and Stefan who were standing at either side of Hermione sniggered at Eldred's words, as if they were also in on the little joke.

Hermione's whole body stiffened at his words, as she looked straight into Eldred's eyes. She tried to perform legilimency on him but for some reason it didn't work. Frowning at not being able to get the answers that she sought, she asked,

"How could you know about that?"

Eldred started laughing once again, he was having great fun in toying with her. He wanted nothing more than to see her whole world come crashing down around her, just like his had come crashing down around him.

"Would you believe me if I said that it was a lot easier than I could have imagined?" He grinned. "After the Volturi had left Hogwarts, I was so angry and felt so betrayed by everyone. I hated you all for what you had done. You see Hermione I loved Sanguini, and you and that mate of yours took him away from me. I watched him be killed and you done nothing to stop it, you just stood there in all of your powerful glory and done nothing to save him."

Hermione wasn't shocked to hear of Eldred's love for Sanguini. She always felt that there was something strange going on between them. But just didn't know what it was. Remembering the scene of Sanguini's death vividly, she thought back on what she could have done differently, but sadly there was nothing she could have done at the time.

"I'm sorry about Sanguini, Eldred. I truly am but at least your life was spared. The Volturi were never going to let Sanguini go, he had broken their laws and to them needed to pay the price. It didn't matter what I said or did."

Eldred let out a growl of frustration and anger, before backhanding Hermione across the cheek. She growled in return and glared back at Eldred, while the others around her sniggered and cheered in triumph. She would give him that one hit for free as she felt she deserved it, but after that she would not hesitate in retaliating against him.

"You stupid insolent little girl. Do you honestly think I wanted to live after seeing my love, my one hope for a better future be killed in front of my eyes? I would have rather died with him than live my life alone. But you took that choice away from me, just like your mate and his little army took Sanguini away from me." He spat out. "That was your biggest mistake. You should have let me die when you had the chance, for you see I left Hogwarts that day full of anger and hatred wanting only thing, and that was revenge. So I sat there in my lonely house and made plans, knowing that I couldn't do everything I wanted to do as a puny little wizard. I had to find vampires who would change me, vampires who hated the Volturi as much as I did. So naturally I came here to Romania and found Vladimir and Stefan and told them all about my plans to destroy the Volturi once and for all. I bet you can imagine how delighted they were about that. But before I could start implementing my plan, I had to first know if it would work or not. I had to somehow infiltrate the guard, that's where your traitor comes in. This part was much easier to do than I thought. You see all I needed was a charmed diary." He walked back into the tent before coming out holding a green leather bound book in his hand. "I sent its twin to Volterra as a present for Sulpicia, Aro's wife who I believed at the time was his mate. Every day she wrote in it faithfully and everyday her writing appeared in mine. You won't believe all the things she has unintentionally divulged to us, including the fact that you are Aro's true mate, not her. She watched and spied on you everyday, gathering information for me to use. She was even charmed to write a letter to the Romanian cover with information, as a test to see how far I could manipulate her. It didn't take much work on my part I have to say." He smiled at her, a genuine happy and excited smile that sent shivers down Hermione's spine. "This diary has been such a joy to read over these past few months. It has given us all the ammunition that we needed to finally destroy the Volturi. Sulpicia hates you, you know." He said with a small chuckle. "Who can blame her really since you wanted to steal her husband from her? Just like you tried to steal Sanguini away from me."

Hermione shook her head slowly, never once taking her gaze away from Eldred.

"That's not true I never wanted Sanguini like that. My feelings for him was purely friendship, there was nothing romantic between us at all." Hermione said trying to defend herself against his accusations. "As for Aro I spent most of my time trying to resist him, and the feelings that stirred within me."

"Lies." Eldred said tossing the leather book down onto the ground in front of her. "It's all lies. I know about the kiss, I saw you and Sanguini together. You used him and wanted to steal him away from me. You hurt him, just like you hurt poor Severus Snape. That besotted fool was in love with you too and yet you hurt him. You are selfish and greedy and you must pay for your actions."

Hermione held her head high as she gazed at Eldred, her own hatred boiling up to the surface as some of the words he said rang true to her.

"You talk about me being selfish but what about Sanguini hmm. He wasn't as perfect or innocent as you make him out to be, was he? He took my life away from me and changed me into something I never wanted to be. I didn't ask him to have feelings for me, but he still pursued me knowing that I loved another. You blame me for all of this, that's fine, but if Sanguini never turned me then none of this would have ever happened in the first place. In the end he let a compulsion rule his mind and heart, and yet you say that I am the catalyst. But did you ever stop to think that perhaps Sanguini's actions was the catalyst in this?" Hermione knew that she was pulling on straws but she had to say something.

Eldred let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head gently.

"There she goes again, blaming everyone else except herself. So sad really." Eldred gave her a pitiful expression before smiling at her victoriously. "Let us be honest for a moment, you came out of all of this in good stead did you not Hermione? You defeated the Dark Lord, became the only ever known vampire witch in existence, broke the heart of the wizard you claimed to love, moved to Volterra where you met your mate, and was even allowed to keep an immortal child as your own. How is little Morvin by the way? I do hope she is here today, as I wouldn't mind getting to meet her myself."

Those were the wrong words to say to Hermione as anger engulfed her at hearing his hidden threat. Letting out a low growl she charged towards Eldred, who stood still as a statue simply smiling at her, ready to attack and kill him. Before she could get close enough however, her arms were viciously grabbed by Vladimir and Stefan who managed to haul her backwards, away from Eldred. The speed and strength which they used, caused one of Hermione's arms to crack making her cry out in pain, as she fell to the ground and cradled her limp arm with her good one.

"Foolish girl when will you realize that you will not win this battle or this War. As I am going to make sure that every one of you out there dies a most painful death. But don't worry Hermione, you and your mate will be saved until last." He moved towards Hermione and stopped just in front of her, so that he was now looming over her bent figure. "An eye for an eye Hermione. Or rather in this case a death for a death. You and Aro took everything away from me, now I plan on taking everything away from the two of you. First we will kill your friends the Cullen's, as I know how much Vladimir and Stefan want to get their own revenge on them." Eldred said turning his gaze onto the two vampires who were still at either side of Hermione.

"We do indeed. They owe us." Vladimir said with disgust.

"After they are destroyed we will kill the Volturi guard, starting with the three who murdered my love. Santiago, who you don't care much for, Felix and Demetri who you love as brothers." He smiled maliciously at Hermione, when she cried out 'no'. "Oh yes, I will take great pleasure in seeing those three die. But for you Hermione, my greatest pleasure will be when you see me kill your daughter. You will watch on helplessly as I kill the most precious person in your life, right in front of you. Just like how I had to watch the most precious person in my life, be killed in front of me. You will learn exactly how that feels. A death for a death. That my dear Hermione will be your punishment. As for your mate." He said with a snigger before saying, "I will destroy his precious Volturi, everything that he has worked so hard for will be wiped out in front of him. But his punishment will be watching you die. You see the loss of one's mate brings unbearable pain, the likes of which you could never imagine. Your death will be his punishment and I bet afterwards he will gladly follow you into death. I think with regards to Sulpicia, I might just be generous enough to spare her life. After all she has suffered enough by you two already, and she has helped us get this far, unintentionally of course." Eldred pointed his finger towards both Vladimir and Stefan, then down to Hermione. They nodded their heads in silent understanding and helped her stand to her feet, not caring about the pain in her arm caused by the crack.

Hermione grimaced then sent the two vampires a glare before turning her attention back to Eldred.

"Since I am a generous person, I will let you return back to the Volturi and relay to them all that you have heard. You have fifteen minutes in which to do so, after that the battle will begin. But before you go, there is just one more thing that you should know before you leave us." He gave her a triumphant smile, a smile that seemed to hide a secret and filled Hermione with dread. "You wondered why you could not perform legilimency on me, the answer to that is simple. I have always had a good affiliation with vampires, and felt closer to them than magical folk. Once I was changed into the vampire I was always supposed to be, imagine to our delight and surprise in finding out that I am a shield. And not just an ordinary shield but a very powerful one. You may have magic Hermione, you may be the most powerful being in all of existence, but next to me none of that matters. Your powers are useless here. Starting from where the first Romanian soldier stands to the one at the very back, they are all protected by me. Now run along little girl, for your fifteen minutes has now begun." He glanced at his watch and grinned. "Tick, tock, tick, tock."

With that Hermione took off using her vampire speed. She needed to get back to the Volturi army for they were in a lot more danger than they could possible imagine.


Aro watched on helplessly and in fear, as Vladimir and Stefan escorted Hermione through the crowd of aggressive vampires. As they walked deeper through the sea of people, the path behind them closed until Hermione could no longer be seen.

The last thing Aro wanted to do was allow her to go into the vultures nest alone, knowing how dangerous the situation could be for her. But he could do nothing to stop it. If he tried to stop her then not only would he be showing his weakness to his own army, but he would also be showing it to the enemies as well. They could use that weakness against him and against Hermione herself, and her safety was something that he could not risk. So just like everyone else, he stood watching and waiting for her to return to them.

The Volturi army all stood in silence, with no-one daring to speak against Hermione's capabilities. The truth was they were all terrified that she wouldn't return, but at the same time knew that they had to have confidence and trust in her, just like she had asked them too. So it was with heavy hearts that they watched her leave.

Slowly time passed by and still there were no signs of her coming back to them. In fact the atmosphere was strangely calm and an eerie silence had descended on both armies. To look around at all the vampires, you wouldn't think a battle was just about to take place.

The longer Hermione was gone, the more anxious Aro became. What if something had happened to her? What if she was hurt and couldn't let them know? Or worse still what if they had killed her? Despite how hard he tried, he could not fight these worrying thoughts from entering his mind.

Sensing his fears, Marcus stood rigid and tense next to him. He leaned down to Aro and whispered,

"She is fine brother; I can still sense her presence amongst the enemy. Trust in her." Although he spoke reassuring words in a calm voice, Marcus felt anything but calm. Hermione was like a daughter to him, he loved her more than anything else in his life and had to believe that she was alright, because if he didn't believe that then he would fall. She needed him to be strong and not just for her but for Morvin also.

Aro gave Marcus a discreet nod of his head in reply to his words. He was worried that if he spoke out loud, his pain and fears over his mate would become apparent to anyone listening. Again he couldn't show anyone that his weakness was her.

Looking at his watch once more he decided to give Hermione five more minutes, if she still hadn't returned by then, then the battle would begin.

Fortunately for the Volturi army, moments after making his mind up, the enemy army parted again allowing Hermione to come running through. Despite her best efforts at trying to hide her fear, everyone could see the pain written clearly across her face, before they caught sight of her limp arm.

"Hermione you're hurt." Marcus said, taking her hurt arm gently in his hand, so that he could investigate it further. He found a slight crack near her shoulder and let out a low growl of anger. "Who did this to you?" He asked, silently vowing to kill whoever the guilty person was.

She gave him a small reassuring smile before turning her attention to the Volturi army, and relayed everything that had happened and had been said while she had been gone. Wary of the time passing by.

Caius listened intently to her words then frowned in confusion, knowing that there was something that she was deliberately leaving out.

"Hermione I don't understand. If what you say is true, then how could he possibly know all of that about us?"

There were several murmurs of agreement before Hermione sighed and said,

"I didn't want to tell you this for I know how it looks. But remember this person is innocent, they didn't know what they were doing. Apparently Eldred sent a charmed diary to someone in the guard. When this person wrote in the diary, it fed back everything to the one that he owns. That's how he has been gathering the information on us all." Hermione said in a grave voice.

"And who is this person." Aro asked with disgust. Wondering how someone in his guard could be so stupid to trust an unknown object.

"It was me." A familiar voice said from the back of the group.

At her words everyone turned to look at the distraught face of Sulpicia. She hadn't known that the diary could do such a thing, she had just thought it was a beautiful gift from a secret admirer.

"You." Aro said with shock and disdain. "My own wife a traitor." He spat out angrily.

Before Sulpicia could even say anything in return Hermione moved to stand in front of her.

"Before you start calling your wife a traitor." She said angrily to Aro. "You have to understand that she didn't know that the object was magical. How could she possibly know such a thing? Yes, she made a mistake but she is no traitor. Now before anyone else has the chance to say anything, time is quickly running out and there is something important that you must all know." She looked around at all of the faces before her, some of them were the faces of people she loved and cared for, some of them were of people she disliked or didn't know. But all of the faces, were of people who trusted and supported her, and for that she could not lie to them. "Before this battle begins I am going to give you two choices. The choice to stay and fight or the choice to run and hide." At her words there was a collective gasp followed by several confused murmurs. She held up her hand to silence them before saying, "Before Eldred let me come back to you, he told me something important. He let me know that he is a very powerful shield and that all of his soldiers are protected. Our powers, including mine are useless against them. I know because I tried." She took a moment to compose her next words then said, "This battle has been a trap from the very beginning. He knew what he was doing, hence why he made an army full of newborns. He lured us here tonight with only one intention. To destroy us all." She let the words sink into everyone's minds before asking, "So what is your choice?"

"One moment if you please." Aro said stopping anyone from talking. He turned to look at Jane then said, "If you don't mind." Gesturing to the army opposite them.

She stepped forward and looked at the Romanians with disgust before unleashing her power onto them. Watching in both fear and amazement as nothing happened, the army never once moved, they simply stood there grinning knowingly at her.

"It didn't work Master Aro." Jane said and for the first time since joining the Volturi, she felt fear grip her.

Aro sighed and looked grim, knowing that the only chance they had at winning was now lost to them. He turned his attention back to Hermione, and she nodded her head in understanding before repeating her previously unanswered question.

Several unknown vampires ran from the group in fear, while everyone looked on with grim determination. It was Carlisle who finally broke the tension by saying,

"Tonight we will follow you into battle. We will stay."

After that everyone began to cheer and clap, and as one their decision was made. They would follow Hermione into battle and even in death if they had too.

Feeling her pride swell up at seeing all the determined faces looking back at her, Hermione smiled and held her hand up into the night sky. Everyone followed the movement of her hand with their gazes and watched in fascination as she cast the Light of the Phoenix spell once more. This time as they watched it soar across the sky Hermione noticed a slight change to the phoenix. Around its neck was the Volturi pendant, a symbol of unity.

She gasped in shock when she saw the two sides of her being joined as one. She had finally come to accept who she was and that acceptance was now in the sky for all of them to see now.

Pushing down her emotions, she noticed the time and realized there was only a couple of minutes left before their time was up.

Hurrying she headed towards Athenodora who was clutching Morvin close to her chest.

"Thank you for watching over my little girl, but should anything happen I want you to take this." She went into her pocket and pulled out a small hairpin before placing it into Athenodora's hand. "If you find yourself in danger, simply take this in both of your hands and whisper the password." She turned to Morvin and gave her a loving smile. "It is the name of our beloved dragon. This is a portkey and will take you to safety once it has been activated." Dropping a lingering kiss onto Morvin's head, Hermione pulled back and said, "I always wanted a daughter you know, I just never dreamed that I would be lucky enough to get you." With one last kiss, Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and whispered, "I love you." Then without glancing back she walked away from her daughter and headed to her place at the front of the Volturi army.

Wiping away the fallen tears, she shut her eyes and found her center, before turning an angry glare towards the enemy lines. Adjusting her stance, she got into her defensive position and scowled.

"Everyone get into position now. The plan is I will aim for Eldred and once he is destroyed Jane and Alec can use their powers. This army will be destroyed and we will win."

Several cheers went up from her army but at the same time, Eldred's voice could be heard.

"Such a wonderful speech Hermione, but remember a death for a death." At that his army began to chant his phrase over and over again, so that they were now much louder than the Volturi army. The Romanians looked angry and determined, with a maniacal glint shining in their red eyes, they wanted nothing more than to rip the Volturi into shreds.

"Attack." Hermione yelled and all at once both sides ran towards each other, crashing together like waves against a rock. She heard growls and roars coming from all around her, as she punched, kicked, bit, and head-butted all those people who got in her way. She was too focused on trying to reach Eldred at the other side of the army, to notice what else was going on around her. She needed to concentrate and reach her target, otherwise all hope would be lost.

The newborn army were strong, much stronger than she could have ever imagined, and several times she found herself being tossed into the crowd. Her limp arm didn't help matters at all, and only managed to slow her down further.

She felt her anger and magic flow around her, but every time she tried to unleash it, it seemed like her body was simply sucking the power back into her. It was frustrating that she couldn't do anything to stop it.

Despite her arm hurting like hell, she was still able to kill and destroy those enemies who came into contact with her. She was centered and just like what happened with Felix in the dome room that day, Hermione was able to see her enemies come towards her as if in slow motion. Because of this power, one which Eldred couldn't take away from her, she was able to predict and anticipate her enemies' next moves. What she wasn't able to predict though however, was a large male vampire charging at her from behind, when her attention was fully on another. He managed to ram into her back, chucking her to the ground before straddling and pinning her to the dirt. He was so much stronger than she was, and despite how hard she tried to kick out at him, the bulky vampire could not be moved.

Hermione knew what was going to happen the moment he wrapped his large bearlike hands around her neck, knowing it wouldn't take him long to snap it like a twig.

With one more futile attempt, she tried again to buck the large vampire off, but to no avail. Instead he tightened her grip on her throat. Wincing at the pain, she waited for death, but it never happened.

Instead she felt the weight of the vampire being pulled off her body, and when she turned to see what was happening, both Alec and Jane were working as a team to destroy the large vampire.

Hermione watched with awe and fascination as together the twins pulled off the vampire's head before flinging it carelessly onto the ground, as they wore matching smirks on their faces.

Getting to her feet Hermione looked at Jane especially before saying,

"But I thought you hated me?"

For the first time since they had known each other Jane gave Hermione a genuinely warm smile.

"I don't hate you Hermione, not anymore. I did at the beginning I confess but that was until I found out you were my Master's mate."

Hermione looked on in shock before smiling at them.

"Thank you." She whispered, still not believing that Jane of all people had just saved her life.

"No worries. Now go. You have a vampire to kill." Jane said, as she spun around on her heels and began to fight in unison with her brother once more. They made an amazingly brilliant yet vicious little team together.

Hermione shook the shock from her head before taking a moment to look around, as she surveyed the damage all about her. They hadn't been fighting for long but as her gaze drifted over the scenes around her, she noticed that chaos was everywhere. She could feel her heart sink as she glimpsed all of the bodies and remains lying strewn on the ground, not knowing if they belonged to her friends or foes. She watched as members of her army fought those who were bigger and stronger than what they were, and knew that if it continued like this they would lose.

Hermione looked on desperately wondering if all hope was lost to them, when her little beaded bag began to glow red. Looking at it in shock, she opened it up only to be blinded by a red light that was coming from the gemstone of her circlet. Curiously she put her hand into her bag and touched the circlet, and the moment she did, she felt herself disappearing as if by portkey.

Aro and Caius who had stopped to see what Hermione was doing, watched in dread and fear as Hermione vanished on the spot, believing that she had deserted them in the midst of battle.

Feeling his own heart sink Caius shouted,

"Everyone fall back."

The Volturi army did as they were commanded before once again falling back into their previous positions. Taking the place of Hermione, Caius stood in position just as the mocking voice of Eldred could be heard.

"I see your brave leader has abandoned you all to the wolves." He laughed happily before saying, "It's a pity there's no-one to save you now."

Before Caius had the chance to say anything more, there were several loud cracks around them as Dumbledore and several other wizards came to stand by those in front of the Volturi army.

"Actually Eldred that isn't exactly true." Dumbledore said, his baby blue eyes twinkling merrily.

To say that he was shocked was an understatement, but there was nothing the foolish wizards could do. There magic wouldn't work against his power as a shield.

Eldred laughed at this thought before saying,

"This is even better than I had hoped for. Not only do we get to annihilate the Volturi army, but I also get to destroy the Great Albus Dumbledore. You should have stayed in your school old man for this is not your War."

Dumbledore smiled into the glaring faces of the Romanian army before saying,

"When you attacked one of our own you made it our War, Eldred. Hermione may be a vampire but she is also a witch and is still one of us. Tonight the wizarding world stands united with the vampire world. They have our support. Now wizards raise your wands." Albus commanded, in a voice that was so far from his own. "Cast the strongest shield charm that you can." At his order the wizards all complied casting a strong shield charm and watched as they melted into one, similar to what Hermione's normally looked like. "This will hopefully hold and give us enough time."

"Enough time for what, Hermione has gone." Caius said angrily.

Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head, his eyes twinkling brighter than ever before.

"You shall see my boy. You shall see." As soon as he had stopped speaking, an answering yowl came from somewhere behind them all.