Another short Chappie, but the penultimate one. I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter Seventeen

The War

As dawn broke, the sun was covered by a dark mist and a chill rose into the air. The perfect setting for a war. Voldemort led his army towards the castle, breaking down the wards.

He was momentarily surprised to see most of the students, besides the ten Slytherins, three Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs and one Gryffindor already in his ranks. Like their fathers, He was most surprised to see Pansy, Blaise and Draco standing on the side of the light. A rage filled the half human.

"Lucius, Marcus, Cassandra, feel free to kill your children. They are traitor." Voldemort hissed. Marcus Parkinson and Cassandra Zabini thanked their master reverently. "Master, I thank you for the honour of killing my son." Lucius remarked, bowing low to the half blood he called Master.

"Tom, today we end this." A beautiful voice rang across the grounds to Voldemort and his army. "Why, Hermione, how wonderful it is to see you again. There is still time to consider my offer." Voldemort retorted. Hermione scoffed. "Over my dead body. But seeing as that will never happen." She shrugged.

Voldemort let out a vicious snarl and his red eyes glittered dangerously. "ATTACK!" He yelled, shooting the Dark Mark into the sky. His army swarmed forward and soon clashed with the Light, who were all dressed in white robes.

"Good luck everyone. This is the final battle. The battle to decide the fate of the Wizarding world. Not all of us will make it back and I just want you to know that, not matter what, I am proud of every single one of you here." Hermione told her group.

She reached out and took hold of Harry's hand with one hand and Draco's with the other. In turn, Harry took hold of Ginny's and Draco took hold of Pansy's hand. Both girls took Ron and Blaise's hand respectively. One by one, all of the light side took hold of each other's hands, lending support and wishing each other a silent good luck.

"ATTACK!" Voldemort's voice echoed across the ground. Sending one last look at each other, the light side descended into battle.

Harry and Ron were duelling back to back, sticking together and using all the training they had ever been given. They had trained all night, having slept for only two hours. But the adrenaline running through them right now was keeping them going.

Ginny and Pansy had formed an unexpected but formidable team, taking out their victims in the most unusual and effective ways. "You know, Red, you aren't that bad a dueller." Pansy yelled, felling the Deatheater she was fighting with combined Jelly Legs Jinx and stunner. "Thanks. You're not bad yourself." Ginny replied, sending a Bat Bogey at her Deatheater. The two girls smiled and fought on.

As usual, Draco and Blaise were found fighting together, taking out as many Deatheaters as they could. "I need to find Hermione. We have to end this quickly." Draco told Blaise as he saw Marietta Edgecombe fall. "Too right." Blaise replied.

Meanwhile, Hermione was surrounded by four Deatheaters. "You know, in all my years of life, there is one thing I have learnt." A burly Deatheater glared at her. "What's that?" He sneered. "Magical People never expect you to use Muggle fighting techniques." Hermione replied, sending a spinning kick at his head. Her foot collided with his temple and the man fell to the ground.

Hermione sent a low kick to another's groin. He doubled over and she swept his legs from under him. She sent a stunner at him, but his friend revived him. "Fine then, I'll just have to kill you." She snarled, pulling out a dagger she had kept stowed.

She spun round and plunged it into the Deatheater she had stunned's stomach. He gasped and collapsed to the ground as she pulled it out. Hermione put up a shield just in time as a spell collided with it. She turned and threw the dagger, hitting the man in the chest.

The other two were terrified now and Hermione wandlessly stunned them. She turned and ran off to find Draco. They needed to end this before any more blood was spilled.

Draco stunned another opponent when he caught sight of his Father. Lucius sent an evil grin at his son and began to recite the killing curse. Blaise hadn't seen and Draco was too numb to even stop him.

Suddenly, his father stopped and gasped. Blood ran out of his mouth and he looked down with wide eyes. Following his gaze, Draco saw a blade protruding from his father's chest, piercing his heart. Lucius slumped forward and fell to the ground, revealing Hermione Gryffindor.

Hermione wiped her dagger clean and looked up at her love. "Ready to end this?" She asked. "Yes." Draco replied. "That's good. So am I." The two turned to see Voldemort leering at them.

Please Read and Review. I hope you enjoyed this chaper and remember the next Chapter is the last one, where the death of either Hermione and Draco or Voldemort occurs. :(