CHAPTER SIXTY TWO- The Battle of Hogwarts
"I thought you would like the honor of killing them yourself, my lord," Bellatrix said as she bowed deeply. Hermione scanned all over looking for her daughter and a Weasley. She saw only Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself. "Where is she?" Hermione said, her voice hoarse and stern. Voldemort was not amused by her outburst.
Sudden pain and the sticky, warm feeling of blood came oozing down her cheek. Voldemort had cut her so deeply Hermione wondered if she had a cheek left. "Doesn't… have… her…" Hermione could hear Malfoy mumble next to her. "You are correct, Draco. But I will by sunset. Tie them up, I want them to see their daughter's death," Voldemort commanded.
They were tied back to back on the edge of the clearing. Hermione could feel Malfoy's blood seep into her robes and pushed herself against him as hard as she could to keep pressure on his wound. In the distance Hermione could her explosions and screams coming from the castle.
Irani, Finland
Over two thousand miles away Snape sat in a wooden room with an arctic storm raging outside. He cradled Hermione's small daughter in his arms debating on what to do. Narcissa would not wake for hours… If she woke at all. Snape needed a plan.
Despite the storm, despite the duel he had with Narcissa, and despite a strange man holding her, Isola did not cry. She simply looked up at him with a curious expression. He had never held an infant before but he surely thought that Isola would cry. He only had an hour before the sunset at Hogwarts and needed to make up his mind.
Hogwarts
"My lord… What if Potter does not come?" Voldemort's follower asked. "Then I will find him and kill every soul in that castle! I cannot wait any longer!" Spat Voldemort furiously. The sun was minutes away from setting and in the forest it was already dark. Voldemort was ordering his Death Eaters to be ready to march when Hermione felt a hand touch her.
As everyone was hurrying around, she almost screamed when a hand touched her. "Quiet! I'm under the invisibility cloak!" Ron Weasley had come to their rescue. Hermione sat as still and quiet as she can and pushed Malfoy with her back to stir him awake. Slowly they were untied and Ron put the cloak over the three of them the best he could.
"Idiots!" Ron whispered. "They didn't even see us!" Ron said a little too excited and a little too loud in Hermione's ear. They were yards away from the clearing and in a thicket when they stopped to give Malfoy a break. "They have my wand, let me borrow yours to heal him," Hermione said.
"Oh, want one of these?" Ron said pulling out a dozen wands from his pocket. Hermione looked at him surprised and he said, "Harry likes to take Snatchers wands from them." Hermione chose one at random and set to work on Malfoy's back. She did not do as good of a job as a healer would, but he had stopped bleeding. "You should probably mend your face as well…" Ron said politely.
She had almost forgotten about the gash in her cheek and fixed that as best she could too. "What's the plan?" Hermione asked. "Harry is at the castle with all the others. You should see how many of us there are! We go to him, stand with him, and fight," said Ron. That was as good of a plan as any to Hermione and she helped Ron carry Malfoy back to the castle.
The sun had officially set and it was pitch black. They could hear yelling and screaming coming from Voldemort's camp. "He's too heavy to run with! They'll catch us!" Ron panicked. Hermione didn't want to use magic on because of his injuries but fashioned a stretcher with the wand and flew him alongside next to her.
They got to the greenhouses and hurried to the front of the castle where they saw dedicated witches, wizards, ghosts, and statues everywhere. She even saw giants and centaurs. Hermione also spotted a handful of people with fire red hair. "Atropa!" Hermione exclaimed. The magic folk from the covens had come to join their fight.
"This ends tonight," Atropa said with her family behind her. At the front was Harry standing next to Professor McGonagall and Bill Weasley. They made their way to stand next to him and Malfoy stood as well, leaning on Hermione for support.
Their solidarity was unbreakable and their determination stronger than anything Hermione had ever felt before. Like a gust of unwelcomed wind, Voldemort led his Death Eaters before them. "Your bravery is foolish. Surrender Harry Potter and I will spare the rest of you," he spoke. No one believed him and stood firmly together.
Behind them Hermione heard centaurs draw their bowstrings back, the gifted flyers ready to mount their brooms, and the rest drew their wands up. "Have it your way… Kill them," he said with a wave of his hand to the Death Eaters. Arrows, spells, and rocks threw through the air while Hermione stood next to Harry and Ron with Malfoy still leaing against her, dueling whoever came their way.
She tried to focus on the battle, to ignore the deadly bursts of light and screams, but she couldn't stop looking for her daughter. Ron took a jinx to the leg and fell to on knees causing Harry to stand in front of him.
She was getting tired and scared. People were falling all around her including Death Eaters. Hermione did not know how long they had been fighting but clearly Voldemort had grown tired of waiting. He strode to the middle of the battle and faced Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco.
"You four are the ones I have been most eager to kill. Especially you, Harry," he slithered. He drew his wand and tried to kill them all. With four people blocking his curses he grew more and more angry. The people around them stopped what they were doing to watch the battle of a lifetime.
Harry ordered everyone behind him and moved closer to Voldemort. Ron was still on his knees and Malfoy's weight was bringing Hermione down. Voldemort and Harry were joined together by something unearthly that made the crowd feel uneasy. While everyone was transfixed watching them, no one saw Oliver Wood up on his broom with Neville Longbottom behind him.
Wood dropped Neville behind Voldemort and swung something beautiful and shiny down to the ground. The Dark Lord audibly gasped when he saw his precious snake had been decapitated. Gradually the remaining Death Eaters behind began to flee sensing defeat. Harry took the opportunity to throw one more curse towards the wizard who killed his parents.
Hermione couldn't help herself either and went next to Harry to shoot one last spell too. Ron and Draco stood as well and fired their wands. More and more witches and wizards fired at Voldemort as well.
Harry delivered the final blow and with a look of unbelievable surprise, The Darkest Wizard of all time dropped to the ground and took his last breath.