A/N: Get ready for a pre-feels trip (I'm just warning you now especially since the next chapter is full of feels). Hope you guys are having a good week! Also, I just realized that I have over 200 followers on his story! Holy crap on a cracker, you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the love!

Tallyho!

Chapter 22:

As Ron and Hermione resurfaced to the main floor, they saw that many of the corridors were empty now but they could hear yelling and screaming coming from a few corridors away. There were some loud booms and the ground felt like it was shaking occasionally. Hermione and Ron ran to the window to see what was going on. The protective shield was down, the bridge had been destroyed and spells were flying left and right.

The fighting had started.

Hermione wanted to stay and help the others fight but Ron dragged her into the opposite direction and pulled out the Marauder's Map that Harry had slipped into Hermione's bag the night of his rescue from the Dursley's. They looked at it and saw a variety of names on the map but not the one they were looking for. Then, Harry's name popped up on the map. He was near the Room of Requirement. The two took off toward that direction.

As they got there, the door was still visible. They pushed the doors open to find the room that they had entered the school in was gone and replaced with a large room with piles of random objects everywhere. "Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Over here!" he replied. Hermione and Ron followed the sound of his voice and found him standing in front of a large pile of furniture. He was clutching his forehead in pain as he looked to the top of the very precarious pile. "It's up there," he said.

Hermione and Ron looked up. "Great." Ron said. "How do we get up there without getting killed by everything falling over?"

"We're going to have to climb." Harry said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Just trust me on this. Keep an eye on anything below my feet that slips."

The two nodded as Harry began to crawl up the pile. He moved carefully as he watched his footing and made sure he didn't step on something that was loose. He reached up to grab something to pull himself up but accidentally knocked down a chair. As the chair fell, suddenly a flurry of grindylows flew out from the middle of the pile. Harry yelped in surprise but it didn't last long as they just flew away instead of swarming around him and causing problems. He didn't bother to ponder over it much as his scar started to hurt again. He looked up and found a large box that was causing his scar to hurt. He ignored the pain as he reached for the box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful tiara with a large sapphire in the middle, with the head of an eagle on top of it and small diamonds that surrounded the sapphire with a larger diamond that dangled on what would be someone's forehead.

Holding the diadem in one hand, Harry carefully descended the pile and jumped down when he was close enough to the ground. He showed it Hermione and Ron but was distracted by a new voice in the room. "Well, well, well." the voice said.

The trio looked up to find Draco's old cronies Crabbe and Goyle standing in front of them with their wands raised. They hadn't changed much over the years, they were both still chubby and both still had baby faces that didn't match the rest of their moderately bulky build. Both were sneering at the Gryffindors. "The Dark Lord will be very pleased with what we found, don't you think Goyle?" Crabbe said.

Goyle merely nodded and continued to sneer. "Now, why don't you hand that over and save yourself the fuss and just come with us quietly to the Dark Lord?" Crabbe suggested.

"You know you don't have to do this," Hermione tried to reason with them.

Goyle chuckled. "Actually, yes, we do."

He sounded nothing like Draco had the night of the Astronomy Tower. Draco had been scared and looking for a way out. Crabbe and Goyle sounded confident and proud to be working for Voldemort. As if they were proud of the monsters they had become. Hermione barely contemplated the smug look Goyle was giving her before she saw a flash of green coming towards her. She barely ducked out of the way before Ron sent up a shield charm to protect them. The spell fizzled away and Hermione looked to Ron gratefully before he took after Crabbe and Goyle who were now running away from the redhead.

Hermione pulled out a basilisk fang from her bag to stab the diadem but was distracted by Ron's screaming. He came fleeing back towards them, grabbed both of their hands and took off in the opposite direction. "Goyle set the bloody place on fire!" Suddenly, Hermione and Harry could feel the heat coming from the fire that was quickly lighting up everything in it's path. The trio ran into a small opening amongst the piles of objects but immediately were trapped as the wall of flames blocked their exit. They looked around for an escape when Ron noticed a couple of brooms lying on the ground. Ron grabbed one and tossed the other to Harry. Both boys mounted their brooms and Hermione climbed on behind Ron and they rose above the flames. They flew towards the exit while looking for Crabbe and Goyle down below but they couldn't be found. Hermione assumed they had perished in the flames and her heart tightened as she thought she'd have to tell Draco.

They flew faster towards the exit and as the doors opened, Harry and Ron came to a halt as they found themselves back in the hallway in front of the room. Hermione dropped off Ron's broom and stabbed the diadem with a fang before Harry kicked it back into the fire. Voldemort's face appeared in the fire briefly before the doors to the Room of Requirement closed. Harry grunted in pain as he saw Voldemort react to feeling the diadem be destroyed. He saw the Dark Lord gather Nagini and then apparate to the Shrieking Shack where he saw Snape and Lucius waiting for him.

Harry gasped as he was released from the vision. "I know where Nagini is!" he exclaimed. The three immediately took off to the Shrieking Shack. As they got closer to the school entrance, they encountered absolute chaos. Spells were flying back and forth, students and teachers were fighting Death Eaters at all ends, and it was only getting worse. Giants, dementors, and more Death Eaters were storming the school. As the trio forced their way through the chaos, avoiding stray spells and stunning anyone who tried to attack them, Hermione briefly saw a head of platinum blonde hair. She got a glimpse of Draco and saw that he was fighting a couple of Death Eaters with Pansy, Theo, and Blaise at his side. She wanted to run to help him but kept up with Ron and Harry as they made their way outside of the school. They encountered a large amount of dementors as they exited but suddenly a bright light pushed them back. They turned around and saw Aberforth sending his patronus to the dementors and ran away from them as the dementors were temporarily distracted.

When they got to the Whomping Willow, they crawled through the entrance at the base of the tree and found their way into the shack. They heard muffled voices and followed the sound but hid in a room next to the one the voices were in. They listened closely and heard Voldemort and Snape talking. Lucius didn't seem to be in the shack anymore.

"You disappoint me, Severus." Voldemort said.

"What have I done to disappoint you, my Lord?" Snape said, careful with his words.

"You have lied to me on more than one occasion."

"I don't follow, my Lord."

"I know the Malfoy boy is alive, Severus." Hermione's breath caught in her throat. "I also know that he has been working with the Order. And I know that you knew. However, it is no matter; I will deal with him personally. As for you, you have betrayed me, Severus. And I do not handle betrayal well."

Snape was silent. "No words to defend yourself?" Voldemort taunted. "Typical. You're weak. And a traitor. You always have been. And for that you must pay. Sectumsempra."

Snape grunted and then made a loud thump as he hit the floor. Harry wanted to move but Ron but a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Nagini," Voldemort said, "kill." They heard the snake hiss and then begin to attack Snape as he groaned in pain. Hermione put her hand over her mouth to muffle her whimpering as Harry and Ron closed their eyes, wishing it wasn't really happening. Nagini only attacked Snape for less than a minute and then she backed off. Voldemort chuckled. "Come Nagini, we have work to do."

As soon as Voldemort and Nagini apparated out of the shack, the trio ran to Snape's aid, only it was too late. He was too badly injured that any healing they might have tried wouldn't have saved him in time. Harry crouched down next to Snape who was crying. He tried to put pressure on some of the wounds but it was no use. "T-take them!" Snape whispered, motioning to his tears. "T-take t-them to the p-pensieve."

"Give me a flask or something, quickly!" Harry told Hermione. She pulled a small vial out of her bag and gave it to Harry who put it next to Snape's eyes as the tears fell into the vial. When he had enough, he covered the vial and looked back at Snape, tears forming in his own eyes. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Snape barely shook his head as his breathing was growing slower and weaker. He looked at Harry. "You have your mother's eyes," was the last thing he said.

And then Severus Snape was dead.