Hermione's Plan
Where It All Ends
By Chem Prof
Chapter 31, Where It All Ends
“HARRY POTTER.”
A hush fell over the castle and its inhabitants as everyone strained to hear the message. Many of the assembled crowd whipped their heads around trying to determine the source of the voice.
“IT IS TIME, HARRY POTTER. YOUR PERFORMANCE THIS DAY HAS BEEN MOST IMPRESSIVE, BUT NOW IT IS TIME FOR US TO FULFILL THE PROPHECY THAT HAS LINKED OUR DESTINIES. TIME TO SEE ONCE AND FOR ALL WHO HAS THE POWER TO VANQUISH WHOM.”
The sound of an explosion echoed from the village of Hogsmeade beyond the Hogwarts gates, and a thick column of smoke laced with a few tongues of fire rose into view.
“TO COMPEL YOUR PARTICIPATION I HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF THIS VILLAGE AND ALL ITS INHABITANTS. IF YOU DECLINE THEY WILL ALL BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED.”
Fearful looks were exchanged among the students and staff. Everyone knew that Harry would not let that happen. Hermione’s hand, which had instinctively found Harry’s arm when the voice began, now squeezed tightly. This is what they had been training for, and yet it was not the situation or the battleground that they had hoped for. The next words confirmed her worst fear.
“YOU MUST COME ALONE, HARRY POTTER, AND WE WILL DUEL ONE ON ONE. YOU HAVE MY MAGICAL VOW THAT YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED BEFORE WE MEET, BUT ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO JOIN YOU WILL BE KILLED INSTANTLY.”
“No!” she gasped, now clutching onto him desperately. She had to be with him in this final confrontation. All of their plans depended on it. She simply HAD to be there.
“YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES HARRY POTTER. COME TO ME NOW OR I WILL BEGIN TO ELIMINATE THIS VILLAGE AND EVERYONE IN IT.”
Another explosion punctuated this final declaration, and the castle, both inside and outside, was filled with the screams and shouts of its terrified inhabitants. Amidst the turmoil Harry raised a hand and summoned his trusty Firebolt, while his other arm wrapped around Hermione and drew her close.
“You can find a way to come to me,” he whispered urgently. “I know you can do it.” She nodded into his chest, her mind racing to come up with a solution. “I’ll try to hold him off until you get there.”
Finally he released her, and she backed away with extreme reluctance. He mounted his broom and turned to her one last time before he kicked off. “No matter what happens, I’ll love you forever.”
And then he was gone, soaring into the clear afternoon sky. Hermione turned to see that quite a large audience had witnessed his departure, and every girl and not a few boys had tears streaming down their faces, while the rest had looks of stunned panic. But she didn’t have time for any of that now; she had another problem to solve – the most important problem of her life.
Voldemort would have some sort of magical barrier in place that she would have to somehow surmount. And he would undoubtedly be surrounded by Death Eaters with instructions to kill anyone who approached. Stealth was the obvious solution, but in what fashion? Fly in on her broomstick under the invisibility cloak? He would most likely have some means of detecting magical concealment. Then she had it.
“Tonks!” she shouted to the Auror turned Defense Professor who was part of the group surrounding her. All of Harry’s key friends and advisors had stepped forward to join her, and some had begun moving the other students away. “Can you conjure up a piece of official looking Ministry parchment?”
“Sure,” came the immediate reply. “We send out notices all the time. What do you want it to say?”
“It doesn’t have to say anything, just look important. Tie it to my leg.” Tonks gave her an odd look but complied. When she looked up after conjuring the parchment she found herself facing a brown owl where the Head Girl had once stood, and the clever girl’s plan was now evident.
“Here you go,” she stammered, fastening the scrap to the owl’s leg with trembling fingers. “Good luck Hermione.” Then she stepped back and watched the owl take flight out towards the Forbidden Forest.
As Hermione’s animagus form disappeared everyone turned back to ponder their next action. Now Ron stepped forward holding his broom. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
“We can’t, you heard him,” came several immediate replies. Ron shook his head irritably.
“That place is probably filled with Death Eaters. What’s going to happen to Harry and Hermione after they kill him?” he insisted, exhibiting his complete confidence in his best friends’ability to carry out that task. “We can still cover their backs.”
“You’re right.” Surprisingly, Padma was the first to voice her support. “Let’s go.” The flying combat unit mounted their brooms again while the main body of Potter’s Army gathered together to head for the gates and the road to Hogsmeade.
Tracey and Daphne shared a look of dread at the lack of organization, but knew they couldn’t stop the dedicated students from supporting their leaders in any way they could. Their command post would be useless now, since it was configured to repel an attack on the castle. But they hurried back up to the roof to fetch the communications equipment, as it would be as vital as ever to keep in contact during the free-wheeling phase the battle was about to enter.
-ooOoo-
Harry gathered himself together in preparation for battle on the lonely flight into the village. He didn’t see any Death Eaters along the road to Hogsmeade Station, and the streets of the village were deserted. Here and there he spotted some black cloaks huddled at the entrances to some of the shops, and knew that the entire town was being held hostage, just as Voldemort had stated. In the middle of town a ring of fire was blazing away, at least ten feet high and forty feet in diameter. Instinctively he knew that his foe would be waiting for him within. He landed a short distance away, dismounted, and walked resolutely toward the flames. The long quest was nearly at an end; the battle he had been preparing for all his life, first unknowingly and only later in earnest with full knowledge of his ultimate goal, was upon him. He desperately hoped that Hermione would be able to find a way to join him. He had to trust that she would.
As he approached the edge of the fiery wall, it magically parted to allow him to step inside the ring. There, standing in the center waiting for him was his lifelong enemy. Harry paused to regard his nemesis. He looked little different than he remembered from the last time he had seen him in the Ministry atrium – tall, thin, with scarlet snake-like eyes, bearing no resemblance to the handsome teenaged boy who had emerged from the diary in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry reminded himself that the figure before him was not even human, having witnessed it rising from the cauldron in the graveyard as a result of a dark, perverse ritual. Unlike virtually every other member of the wizarding world, he felt no great fear in the presence of the powerful dark lord, as he had spent so much time viewing pensieve memories of their previous encounters and envisioning this ultimate one. He slid his wand into his hand and waited.
“Good afternoon Mr. Potter,” Voldemort hissed. “A fine day to die, is it not?” An evil, twisted grin formed on his snake-like lips and he continued. “By the way, to ensure that you remain for everything I have planned for you this time, rather than making a premature exit, this magical ring that surrounds us is more than meets the eye. It prevents apparation or any form of magical transportation. So that portkey I imagine you’re wearing will be of no use here. Now, if you are quite ready?” Now he too raised his wand and took his stance. They each bowed slightly, never taking their eyes off the other. Harry took a deep breath, calling on the magic around him. This was it.
A hoot from above them interrupted the solemn tableau, as a brown owl came descending into view from the south end of town. Hermione had soared out over the Forbidden Forest and circled wide, out of view of any watchers, to approach the village from that direction. Her ruse depended on everyone passing her off as a harmless post owl. The tactic proved to be successful, as Voldemort smirked when he saw her fly over the flaming walls of his magical enclosure and settle on Harry’s shoulder, extending her leg to him bearing the distinctive parchment of a Ministry missive.
“You needn’t bother reading that message,” he sneered. “It will only tell you what I already know. My forces will have neutralized your pathetic Ministry of Magic by now. You can expect no aide from that direction.” He raised his wand again. “Now, shall we return to …”
Voldemort broke off in shock at the sight before him. In the blink of an eye the innocuous looking owl had transformed into a girl who now stood alongside his enemy, her hand linked with his, an impudent smirk on her face. Incensed at the realization that he had been tricked, he hurled his signature spell at the insolent interloper.
“Avada Kedavra!”
To his astonishment his killing curse impacted against a slab of rock that had sprung up from the ground in front of his target. She had been moving her wand to summon it even before he had finished his incantation. He recognized the mudblood that had been so close to Potter for so many years from the descriptions given by Snape and Pettigrew, and also knew that she had now become his lover. Instinctively, he began to cast another killing curse, only to have to break it off to defend himself from a powerful bone-breaking hex that Potter immediately sent his way, while the shards of stone that had been dislodged from rocky barrier were still flying through the air. He turned it aside with more difficulty than he would have expected, but had no time to ponder the implications of that as spells began flying at him from both of the opponents before him.
Harry and Hermione worked in perfect synchronization as they launched hex after hex at their foe and shielded or blocked the dark curses he returned, while dodging the ones that were unblockable. Deflected spells shot into the sky like multi-hued fireworks and it was only a matter of time before it happened – simultaneously cast hexes from the wands of Harry and Voldemort intersected and the brother wands connected once again. As before a golden thread joined them together and then splintered into a glowing web that enclosed them in a cage of light. Only this time there were three combatants in the cage, not two.
Hermione again linked her hand with Harry’s, making readily available another pool of magical power he could draw from as he struggled to control the beads of light that had formed on the golden thread. With her wand in her left hand she sent a flaming spear hurtling toward their foe, but to neither her nor Harry’s surprise a second wand instantly appeared in his left hand and he blocked it with a quickly raised shield. Then he returned a nasty looking purple flame that Hermione recognized all too well, but she blocked it with a look of fierce determination on her face. Not this time! she thought smugly, allowing herself a moment of triumph. A squeeze of her hand from Harry accompanied a feeling of his admiration for her through their bond, and she resumed her duel with the dark lord.
-ooOoo-
The fliers were the first to reach Hogsmeade. Cautiously, they hovered high above the town as they scanned the empty streets below. They spotted the figures inside the ring of fire, but knew that was not their responsibility. Finally Ron, tired of the waiting, began to lead them down for a closer look. Fifty feet from the ground, approaching The Three Broomsticks at the end of High Street, all hell broke loose.
A dozen wizards in black cloaks suddenly appeared in front of the tavern as disillusionment charms were cast aside, and a dozen streaks of light in a rainbow of colors shot toward the descending broomriders. Ron, out in front, was only able to turn his broom to intercept the golden jet before it impacted, blowing his Cleansweep to smithereens. Nearly half of the riders were similarly hit and began to drop from the sky. Viktor, further back, had neatly dodged the spell that had targeted him with the practiced ease of the experienced seeker he was, and immediately pushed his broom into a power dive toward his redheaded comrade. Charlie, who had likewise evaded his attack, attempted to slow the fall of as many of the other riders as he could, while some of the other brooms, intact but now being ridden by students who had been temporarily stunned, began to soar wildly out of control.
Ron, aware of the ground approaching at a rapid rate, braced himself for the impact as a thought of regret flashed through his mind – regret that he had failed his best friends. But just as he was about to make a large stain on the landscape he was hit from the side by a flying blur as Viktor reached him just in time. But the high speed and additional weight caused the Bulgarian to lose control of his broom and the two of them crashed heavily into the woods at the end of the street.
“Fliers are down! Fliers are down!” Charlie made the emergency call as the remaining students who had not been hit went into evasive maneuvers and returned fire. After a brief but intense exchange of spells the Death Eaters pulled back close to the shelter of the Three Broomsticks, but continued to keep the injured crash victims pinned down.
The main body of students had just cleared the Hogwarts gates when the distress call came in. Tracey immediately designated a group of senior PDA members to go to their aid, and Luna, Lavender, Parvati, Susan, and Hannah locked onto the signal from Ron’s pendant and apparated away. Once there, Luna and Hannah immediately began to lay down cover fire as Lavender, Parvati and Susan hastened to check on the injured.
Susan reached Ron first, and was relieved to find him conscious, but nursing a separated shoulder from his collision with Viktor. Viktor, who had borne the brunt of the crash, had a broken leg but was still firing spells back at the Death Eaters. Parvati quickly immobilized his leg while Lavender shot a relieved look at Ron before tending to Dennis Creevey. For each of the victims they checked that they were able to be safely transported, then slapped a portkey on them and flashed them to the Hogwarts infirmary before moving on to the next.
-ooOoo-
The entire nature of the battle had now changed. Formerly the students and staff were defending prepared positions against an attacking force. Now the roles were reversed and they were the attacking force assaulting the Death Eaters who were holding the town and knew that they would be coming. Furthermore, in their haste to reach Hogsmeade, the advancing students had left their most experienced leaders behind, as Moody and Flitwick were both unable to keep up, one because he had only one good leg, the other because the two legs he did have were just too short. As might be expected, the initial results were not good.
Just as the main force of students hurrying along the road to the village reached Hogsmeade Station, the Death Eaters sprang another ambush. This time an array of killing curses flashed out from both sides of the road, and the eager students leading the charge fell, never to rise again. Near the front of the group Padma, who had been struggling to keep them under control, was alert enough to drop to the ground as soon as she saw the flashes of light. She, and a few others who followed her example, quickly began conjuring boulders and walls for shelter as the Death Eaters continued to pour spellfire into the panicked students.
“Everyone stay down!” Tracey’s voice now shouted in the communicators. “Continue to cover up and fall back!” Fifty yards or so behind the others, she and Daphne, along with Moody and Flitwick, set about preparing a defensive position for the battered army to retreat to. Padma was everywhere, darting fearlessly out to grab injured students and pull them to cover, while continuously maintaining a powerful shielding charm to turn away the hexes that flew her way. Slowly but surely, order was restored to the light side forces.
-ooOoo-
But back at the site of the downed fliers, Lavender, Parvati and the other rescuers could only hear the screams and commands that came over the wristbands. And a few killing curses could be heard being cast over the open channel. Parvati immediately assumed the worst.
“Padma!” she screamed, leaping to her feet. And before anyone could stop her, she disappeared with a crack as she apparated back to her sister’s side.
Only to appear right in front of Padma just as a Death Eater launched yet another killing curse right at the Ravenclaw twin. To Padma’s horror, her sister popped into view only to collapse into her arms with a lifeless stare in her eyes as she intercepted the deadly green curse.
“Parvati! No! No!!” Padma fell to the ground in shock, her arms still wrapped around her twin as Anthony and Lisa raced to her aid, but unable to restore the part of her soul that had just been brutally ripped away from her. Anthony pulled both of the petite Indian girls back behind a wall that Padma had just conjured while Lisa unleashed a furious barrage of hexes that had their attackers ducking for cover.
-ooOoo-
Back at Hogwarts, not everyone had rushed off blindly without a plan. Remus had gathered Tonks, Bill, Fleur, and a number of the Gryffindors and others that had been defending the quidditch stadium and headed for the Whomping Willow and the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. After a long run down the dark passage they emerged from the battered and broken down house near the spot where the remaining downed flyers and their rescue party were still trading fire with the Death Eaters in front of the Three Broomsticks. Remus raised his wrist communicator to his mouth and spoke softly.
“Tracey, are you there?”
After a few seconds a voice sounded. “This is Daphne. Things are pretty crazy here right now. Where are you Remus?”
“I have a group at the Shrieking Shack.” He went on to describe their position relative to the others.
“Hang on,” Daphne instructed. She touched her wand to two runes on the communication box. “OK, you’re on a private channel with Luna. See if you can eliminate the opposition at The Three Broomsticks and then some of you hold that position, while the rest work your way back towards us. A large force of Death Eaters has us blocked by the station.”
Another voice came on line. “Hello Professor,” Luna said calmly. Remus smiled despite the grim situation, as Luna sounded as unflappable as ever. “Viktor and Ron and the other injured flyers have been evacuated to Hogwarts. There are still ten of us here able to fight.” Remus consulted briefly with Tonks and then outlined their plan to Luna while his pink haired wife informed Bill and Fleur and the others in their combat group.
Staying disillusioned, the fighters from the Shreiking Shack quietly moved around behind the unsuspecting enemy. Five minutes later they sprang their own ambush and the dark side forces were quickly overcome. The tide had started to turn in Hogsmeade and the tavern was once more in friendly hands.
-ooOoo-
The scene in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing was chaotic, and about to turn contentious. Ron and Viktor had been healed by Madame Pomfrey, and wanted to leave to rejoin the fight. And if they were going, the other injured fighters fully intended to accompany them.
“Look,” Ron finally insisted more forcefully than he had ever spoken to a teacher before. “I AM going to be with Harry and Hermione at the end whether you like it or not. If I have to fight my way out of this castle I will. Viktor rose and stood next to him, adding his own determination, and the beleaguered school nurse relented.
“Come on, this way,” Ron shouted as he raced for the stairs, heading not for the Entrance Hall but in another direction entirely. Once in the third floor corridor, he tapped the statue of the humpbacked witch with his wand. “Dissendium!” he shouted, and the statue opened to reveal the tunnel to Honeydukes.
Because they knew that Wormtail was well aware of the secret tunnels of Hogwarts, and not being sure how much of that information he had passed on to the Death Eaters, Remus and Tonks had worked diligently to secure the tunnel network during the summer prior to the beginning of the school year. In each one they installed a Dark Mark barrier at the far end. In the event that barrier was breached, there was a triggering ward in the middle of the passageway which would slam down a solid stone wall to seal the tunnel at the castle end. In an emergency the castle could be evacuated by way of these passages, but no one would be able to enter.
Along the way the procession picked up other fighters who had been treated and released from the infirmary, as well as Justin and Ernie who had returned from their sniper nest in the owlry. They informed Ron that Dean and Seamus had gone to rescue Neville and Ginny in the wreckage of the Astronomy Tower. While part of his heart tugged at him to go check up on his little sister, Ron kept to his primary mission to go to the aid of his closest friends. As the group, which had by now grown to more than twenty, approached the end of the tunnel in Honeyduke’s basement, Ron held up his hand for them to stop.
“We need to be quiet from this point on,” he whispered. “Who can do nonverbal stunning spells?” Viktor, Justin, Ernie, and half a dozen others nodded and Ron motioned them to join him at the front. Then they all disillusioned themselves and noiselessly climbed the ladder. Two minutes later the rest of them heard six muffled thumps and the cellar door opened once again and they were waved forward. Up inside the sweetshop silencing spells had been cast and a group of hostage villagers were being released, while the now stunned and bound Death Eaters were piled against a wall. Viktor, Ron, and the two seventh year Hufflepuffs peered out one of the windows and contemplated their next move.
-ooOoo-
Back out along the road near Hogsmeade Station, the bulk of the army was still pinned down, unable to advance past the gauntlet of Death Eaters. Tracey crawled over to Padma, who was curled up in a ball hugging herself, while weeping at the loss of her twin sister. “Padma, you have to pull yourself together,” she whispered intently. “Harry and Hermione need you.” Padma finally looked up and a new expression of determination filled her eyes. Tracey was right. This was what she had spent ten months training for and she wasn’t about to let her best friend down. Daphne joined them as they peered over the conjured boulder they were crouching behind.
“Any ideas?” As they pondered their situation Flitwick scurried up to join them and Padma and Tracey moved apart to make room for the diminutive Ravenclaw head of house.
“Do you young ladies recall the exhibition Mr. Potter and Miss Granger put on for us last summer?” he asked. They all nodded. “Mr. Moody thinks that the apparation technique they employed would be very useful here.”
Padma’s eyes lit up. “Of course!” She had been quite impressed at the speed with which the duo had pulled off the maneuver, popping up repeatedly in different positions and then disappearing before their opponents could shoot a spell at them. “How do you want to work it?” The four of them discussed exactly what sequence of apparation locations they would employ, and then Padma moved over to Anthony and Lisa to fill them in on the plan. She shuddered as she realized that they were the only other seventh year Ravenclaws still able to fight.
Just as they were about to put their plan into effect, they heard a rifle shot, followed several seconds later by another, and noticed one of the Death Eaters along the side of the road fall forward. Deciding that this was a perfect distraction, the six of them disapparated, only to reappear instantly behind one of the lines of Death Eaters.
Reducto! Reducto! Each of the attackers shot two explosion hexes into the backs of the unsuspecting enemy, then popped up seconds later behind the other enemy line on the opposite side of the road and repeated the process. Once more on each side and their foe was completely disoriented and beginning to panic. The remainder of the student army surged forward and the rout was on. Within minutes the army was moving once more toward Hogsmeade, this time with considerably more caution, and Tracey was relaying word of their success to the two other groups who already had toeholds in the village.
-ooOoo-
Ron and the others had noted that a large force of Death Eaters was besieging the building that housed Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. They were leery, no doubt, of getting too close, recalling all too well the fate of the last batch of Death Eaters to attack one of the twins’ joke shops. Just then Tracey’s voice sounded from their wristbands reporting the success at Hogsmeade Station. When she heard their report she mentally berated herself for not having a mirror link to Fred and George. She informed Ron that Remus and his group had control of The Three Broomsticks and instructed him to try to neutralize the forces occupying the other end of the village. From his earlier aerial reconnaissance, Ron knew that Harry and Hermione’s final showdown with Voldemort was taking place in between their two locations, so the best thing they could do would be to isolate that confrontation from the rest of the battle.
Pulling out his PDA pendant, which was second only to Harry’s and Hermione’s in its communication ability, he sent a query to Fred who he presumed was holed up inside the joke shop. He immediately got a message back that they were OK and anxious to enter the fight. His texted reply consisted of two words. ‘Create diversion.’ He trusted that the devious minds of his brothers could come up with something suitable. He was not disappointed.
Two windows of the store blew out and a dazzling array of fiery streamers shot forth, exploding into massive starbursts. While the entire enemy force hunkered down, keeping a nervous eye on their assigned ‘hostages’ the disillusioned force from Honeydukes moved up behind them. When the last firework died out they attacked with a blast of spellfire of their own.
When the occupants of the joke shop heard this, they burst out with wands blazing, diving to the ground while behind them another assortment of flaming pinwheels flew up into the air to draw the fire of any Death Eaters still targeting the building. Once more the hours of training paid off and the light side forces overwhelmed the relatively inexperienced Death Eaters.
Meanwhile the group that had taken The Three Broomsticks had snuck around behind the Post Office and taken out the Death Eaters occupying that structure. With these two victories, the entire west half of the town, including, most importantly, the area occupied by the fiery circle, was under the control of the good guys. The primary mission to ‘cover Harry and Hermione’s backs’ completed, the students and staff established a defensive perimeter and set about to liberate the rest of the village. Fortunately for them, the Death Eaters still occupying the other half of the village were all new recruits, and not accustomed to acting on their own initiative, sat tight and awaited instructions from their master rather than begin slaughtering their hostages.
-ooOoo-
Within the flaming ring Hermione continued to trade spells with Voldemort, but was not able to slip anything past his defenses. This was by far the most difficult foe they had ever faced – the fight with Bellatrix Lestrange had been child’s play by comparison. Not only was he locked in a test of sheer magical power with Harry through their linked phoenix feather wands, as well as dueling her with his second wand, but she could also see that a mental struggle was occurring between the two wizards as well. Harry’s scar was glowing bright red and through their soul connection she could feel the mental attacks and counterattacks being exchanged. She and Harry had managed with some effort to learn to cast spells with two hands simultaneously, but this full-fledged three front combat on Voldemort’s part was an incredible display of magical power and concentration.
She sent a tenuous Legilimency probe of her own at the dark lord but he immediately detected it and repelled it, unlike Pettigrew who had not even noticed her intrusion in a similar situation last summer. She decided to focus on spellcasting, both offensive and defensive, while maintaining her own Occlumency shields and hope they could eventually wear him down.
Harry had come to the same conclusion. His scar burned continuously, but his mental shields were so far up to the task, and he had surprised Voldemort with his own Legilimency attacks. He kept one hand firmly attached to Hermione’s to share magical energy with her, and he could feel the strain Voldemort was undergoing through the vibrations in the golden thread linking their wands. Every time his opponent attempted to pour more magical power into the connection to force the beads towards his wand, Hermione instinctively stepped up her attacks, causing him to divert power back into blocking her.
Right now they were in something of a three way balance, although Voldemort was still focusing most of his attention on Harry. Harry knew, however, that none of his opponent’s curses would hit him as long as Hermione had any magical energy remaining – she would defend him with everything she had. If they could just hold on long enough, they would eventually overcome the dark lord. Even though he had more raw magical power, they were more able to replenish their magic by using the Mayan technique of drawing on the magical energy of the life around them. In a battle of attrition, they had the advantage, if they could only stay with it. The long months of physical conditioning might conceivably be the difference. Or, if they got any sort of a break …
For his part, Voldemort had most certainly not intended on facing two opponents. Up to that point everything had gone according to his plan. The trolls and inferi should have eliminated any opposition outside the castle, and the dragon had likely done serious damage to the structure itself before being subdued. Potter should have been battered and magically exhausted by that time, but his foolish sense of honor would compel him to drag himself to the village where the triumphant dark lord would finish him off once and for all.
The supremely powerful wizard had even allowed for the possibility of their wands locking up again, and had forced Ollivander to make him another wand before the old wandmaker had somehow managed to escape. (Two Death Eaters had been severely punished with the Cruciatus curse for that blunder.) Even if Potter had equipped himself with a backup wand of his own, Voldemort would have still had the upper hand.
He had intended to overpower Potter, but now was forced to deal with an additional combatant. One-on-one they both knew that with his greater power and experience he would eventually be victorious. But now Granger was keeping him off balance, as he couldn’t devote his full attention or full power to subduing his primary foe. Initially he resolved to ignore the impertinent intruder, holding her at bay until his nemesis was destroyed, then killing her at his leisure. She was, after all, an annoying mudblood futilely attempting to aid her companion out of a misguided sense of that weakness called love.
But he grossly underestimated both of his foes. She blocked or countered every spell he threw at Potter. It didn’t seem possible that a schoolgirl could know so many dark spells. Even so, he would have prevailed if he had been able to cast them with full power. But the connection between the two phoenix feather wands was sapping just enough of his magic to keep that from happening. And somehow Potter was able to sense when he was about to cast a curse with his other wand and put maximum pressure on the connection, throwing him off. Not since the last time he had dueled Albus Dumbledore had he faced this ability. He stopped verbalizing his spells, but by then it was too late. Now not only was the mudblood blocking his curses, she was getting in some nasty ones of her own, and Voldemort was on the defensive in a duel for only the second time in more than two decades.
“Crucio!” Hermione had been expecting this attempt and successfully blocked the torture curse aimed at Harry by conjuring another slab of stone which shattered under the impact. Voldemort grew even more enraged. She would certainly be his next target and she readied herself to block it again. But it was not the Cruciatus curse that Voldemort sent her way.
“Imperio!”
Immediately a calm, peaceful, very pleasant feeling washed over Hermione. Now this was nice. Much nicer than whatever it was that she had been doing. And Harry was holding her hand. That made it even nicer. She felt him give her hand a squeeze and she squeezed back.
“Stun Potter.”
Stun Harry? She supposed she could do that. He was standing right next to her after all. But … why would she want to do that? Yes, the peaceful, happy feeling would remain, but if she stunned him he’d probably stop holding her hand. That wouldn’t be as nice. No, she thought, that wouldn’t do at all. Stunning him was not a good idea.
“Stun Potter!”
Well, if it would make this annoying voice go away, perhaps it would be worth it. Then everything would go back to being peaceful and calm again. But … why stun Harry? How would that make things better? She would much rather kiss him than stun him. That would make both of them happy. She gave his hand another squeeze and received one in return.
“You Filthy Mudblood! Why would someone want to kiss something as disgusting as you? Stun Him!”
Look Mr. Annoying Voice. You don’t have to be rude about it. You know, things were really quite peaceful and pleasant here until you started shouting at me. And for your information, Harry certainly enjoys kissing me. We are married after all.
“Marry a Mudblood? What a foul, loathsome, revolting thought! What was Potter thinking?” A shudder went through her, originating from some alien source. “Have it your way, then, go ahead and kiss him. But get on with it!”
You know, I’m not sure I want to do anything that you would suggest. You really are an unpleasant person. Well, I certainly do want to kiss Harry. But honestly, we generally try to avoid that kind of public display of affection. The phrase, ‘public display of affection’ triggered something in her mind, something that this euphoric mood seemed to be suppressing. She and Harry were supposed to be doing something else. Something important. Perhaps this was not a good time to kiss him. No, I don’t think I will kiss him right now. I think he’s busy. Yes, that’s right, he is. He’s busy trying to destroy a dark lord. And I’m supposed to be helping him. She received another reassuring squeeze of her hand from Harry, and knew she had made the correct decision.
“Stupid Mudblood Bitch! Do what you’re told!”
No! The calm, peaceful, happy place vanished and she found herself back in Hogsmeade, facing her raging foe. But before either of them could make another move two distant cracks echoed from the hills beyond the village, accompanied by the amazing sight of Voldemort’s right shoulder and arm being blown away.
-ooOoo-
(Previously, back at the Astronomy Tower.)
Ginny groaned as she gradually regained consciousness. Her head was killing her. It felt like a roof had fallen on it. As her eyes opened and she looked around, she decided that pretty much exactly described what had happened. She and Neville would have been crushed by the top of the Astronomy Tower, except that Neville had shielded them. The sheer weight of the falling debris had knocked them down, however and partially buried them. Then she turned and spotted her partner.
“Neville!” Next to her Neville was lying still and unmoving. She now realized that he had focused the shield on her, and that his legs and torso had been crushed. Desperately, she reached her hand to his neck and felt for a pulse. Yes! He was still alive! She retrieved her wand from her wrist holder and began levitating wooden beams and boulders off of herself and him, but then voices began sounding from her wrist communicator. She had no idea what had happened to her headset – it must have been knocked off. It took a minute for her to piece together the story but the essential part was that Harry had flown into Hogsmeade to face Voldemort alone. No! She had to help him!
Although she had never shared these thoughts with anyone else, the reason she had trained on the sniper rifle was so that she could aide Harry in the final confrontation with the dark lord. She knew that she would not be able to face the evil wizard who had possessed her directly, but this way she could attack him from a safe distance, and most importantly take him by surprise. She had to go to Harry now!
Ginny finished freeing herself, then found her sniper rifle and uncovered it. The spare magazines of ammunition were buried under Neville, but the magazine currently in the rifle was still half full. The headset was still missing so she pulled a pair of earplugs out of her pocket and put them in. Now, how was she to get to Hogsmeade, and more importantly, get within shooting distance without being spotted by Death Eaters?
She paused as more voices sounded from her wristband. Both of the groups of fighters who had gone after Harry had been ambushed. She swallowed hard and fought down the sense of panic when she realized that Ron would have been among the fliers who had been shot down. But regardless if she ever saw her brother alive again, she had to go to Harry’s aide. Ron would have wanted it that way. Hearing about the broomstick fighters gave her an idea though.
“Accio Nimbus 2010!” Taking a page from Harry’s exploits in the First Task, she summoned her broomstick. While waiting for it to appear she spoke into her communicator. “If anyone can hear me, this is Ginny up on the Astronomy Tower. Neville’s hurt bad. Please send someone to dig him out.”
The other sniper teams were still linked to her channel. “We’re on our way,” came Dean’s voice in reply. Just then her Nimbus flew into view and she snatched it out of the air. It was a struggle to handle the heavy rifle by herself, but she was determined. Her broomstick dropped a foot when she hauled it up and slung it over her shoulder, but she quickly regained control and shot out over the Hogwarts grounds.
Realizing that she could not fly directly to Hogsmeade without suffering the same fate as the other fliers, she took the long route over the lake and forest, unknowingly following the same path that Hermione had flown earlier. From high above the forest, having disillusioned herself and the broomstick, she paused while looking over the village in the distance. At one end of the small town were some hills, which offered a clear overlook down High Street. They would be perfect. As she approached, she spotted a small cave nestled into the hills and flew into it. It was clearly deserted, although it had been used at some point in the recent past. As she dismounted her broom and unslung the Barrett, it dawned on her that this must be the same cave that Sirius had hidden in when he came to see Harry during the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Feeling that this was a good omen, she levitated a few rocks into place to rest her bipod on and hastily constructed her sniper nest. From her position it was a bit over half a mile into the center of the village, but well within her effective range. She could see a large ring of fire in the widest part of the street and quickly concluded that her target must be within. Peering through her sniper scope she confirmed her assumption. She was initially surprised to see that Hermione stood alongside Harry, but a moment’s reflection reversed that. After all, where else would Hermione be than by Harry’s side? However, from her training she knew she would have to recalibrate her scope after moving her location and she looked around for other targets.
In the opposite direction from her position she could see flashes of spellfire from near the train station. Once again sighting through the Barrett’s high powered scope she spotted some Death Eaters crouching behind cover alongside the road. Perfect calibration targets. She sighted and squeezed the trigger.
“Aaah!” Ginny cried out in pain from the recoil of the high caliber rifle. In her hurry she had forgotten to renew the cushioning charm on her shoulder! As quickly as she could she cast a pain-numbing charm on her badly injured shoulder, followed by the belated cushioning charm and winced as she sighted the rifle again. Her first shot had missed slightly high and to the right. She made an adjustment and fired once more. A scarlet hole blossomed on the back of the Death Eater and he slumped forward into the road. Bullseye!
Unnoticed by Ginny, her shots and cry had gotten the attention of another creature patrolling the outskirts of the village. A large snake lifted its head and flicked its tongue in her direction, then began slithering towards her.
Heedless of the approaching danger, Ginny pivoted her rifle again and once more sighted on the figures in the fiery ring. For some reason Hermione and Voldemort were not moving, seemingly locked in some sort of struggle of wills. This would be the best shot she would ever get. To give herself an extra margin of error, she decided to aim to the side of Voldemort away from Hermione and bring each successive shot closer in. She had three bullets left. Her first shot just missed his right arm. The second shot ripped into his right shoulder.
Ginny let loose a scream of triumph and pumped her left fist into the air as she watched her hated enemy stagger backward through her scope. But suddenly her view was blocked as a gigantic snake reared up before her, and she tried to swing her rifle up to engage this deadly new threat.
-ooOoo-
Down inside the circle of flame, Harry and Hermione wasted no time taking advantage of their opportunity. The loss of Voldemort’s right arm and more importantly the phoenix feather wand it wielded immediately broke the golden connection with Harry’s wand. Expeliariamus! Projectilius! Hermione’s hex sent Voldemort’s other wand spinning away while Harry, his wand now free again, sent a massive magical spear right through the dark lord’s chest, pinning him to the ground. Reducto! Reducto! Two simultaneous explosion hexes joined to disintegrate the snake like visage and the wizard once known as Tom Riddle once more ceased to exist.
“Annihilato Spiritus!” In unison they chanted this incantation aloud and this time the defeat of the evil wizard had a different outcome than it did on that long ago Halloween night. This time, the misty form that rose from the body that lay destroyed before them would not escape into a far corner of the earth, able to be resurrected at some future time. This time, the soul destruction spell eliminated that possibility forever.
With the death of Voldemort the magical ring of fire he had created to isolate their duel vanished, and the remaining Death Eaters in Hogsmeade screamed as their Dark Marks burned white hot one last time before fading away. All of these Death Eaters had been recruited during the last year, as all of Voldemort’s original followers were now dead or imprisoned. Although each of them had willingly taken the mark (there unfortunately seemed to be an unending supply of wizards willing to succumb to the message of superiority and the lure of power offered by dark lords) none of them were fanatically loyal. As a result, the knowledge that Harry Potter had just destroyed the supposedly most powerful wizard in the world was sufficient to cause them to try to get as far away from The Boy Who Lived as possible. With that thought in mind, every last one of them who was still conscious immediately portkeyed or disapparated away.
Harry and Hermione were instantly set upon by a wildly cheering mob that had gathered just outside the flaming circle and rushed forward as soon as it had dissipated. To everyone’s surprise, however, the triumphant pair ignored them.
“Did you see that?” Harry shouted to her as soon as the soul fragment had vanished. At the very end, just before Voldemort had lost consciousness, Harry had finally broken into his mind, and Hermione had sensed his successful penetration and shot out a probe of her own. The dark lord’s final thoughts had been directed toward his familiar (no doubt because of the Horcrux it housed) and they had briefly caught a glimpse through Nagini’s eyes.
“Yes! What was it?” Hermione shot back, oblivious to the tumult surrounding them.
“It looked like Nagini was attacking Ginny!” Harry replied frantically. “That spot looked familiar but where was it?” Hermione shook her head, trying to recall where she had seen that location before.
“It was a cave …” she began.
“Sirius’s cave!” Harry exclaimed. And right there before the startled eyes of the students still intent on celebrating their victory Harry and Hermione disappeared and were instantly replaced by a jaguar and an owl. Instinctively the students parted as the jaguar sprang forward and raced down the street toward the outskirts of town, the owl winging her way in his wake.
-ooOoo-
Desperately Ginny struggled to bring the heavy sniper rifle to bear on the massive serpent, but her injured shoulder slowed her down and the snake was striking at her before she could fire. She managed to block Nagini’s first lunge with the rifle, and then fell backwards and scrambled to her feet while her wand shot into her hand.
“Reducto! Reducto!” To her horror, the spells merely bounced off the enormous snake, which was somehow shielded from magical attack. The momentary hesitation that gripped her due to this unexpected result proved to be her undoing as the serpent struck again. Ginny screamed as it clamped down on her injured shoulder, but her dragonhide armor turned away the poisonous fangs. She was not so lucky on the next strike, as one of the fangs pierced the skin of her arm beyond her protective vest. Within seconds she slumped unconscious as the deadly venom surged into her body.
The owl overtook the jaguar just as he bounded up the rocks to the entrance of the cave and flew straight at the giant snake, pulling its attention away from the unmoving body of the small redheaded witch. They had both seen Ginny’s hexes repelled by the snake’s enchantment and knew that their wands would be useless in this fight. Once she had it focused on her, the owl swooped down at it, then pulled up sharply into a climb, enticing it into extending its body upward in a futile strike at her. The jaguar seized this opening and leapt on the snake, sinking his powerful jaws into the most vulnerable part of its neck at the base of its skull.
The snake whipped its body back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the large feline predator, but to no avail. The jaguar clamped down even harder, crushing the spine of the serpent. In less than a minute the horrible creature lay motionless on the ground and the witch and wizard returned to their natural forms. They immediately raced over to where Ginny lay, pale and still. Before they could do any more than determine that she was still alive, heavy footsteps sounded behind them as their fellow fighters finally reached them.
“Ginny!” Ron shouted as he pushed his way through the faster students who had reached the scene ahead of him. “Is she all right?”
Hermione rose to her feet as Ron knelt down and gathered his sister into his arms. “She’s still alive but you need to get her to Madame Pomfrey as soon as possible. Tell her she’s been bitten by the same snake that bit your dad. St. Mungo’s knows how they treated him, and we got to Ginny a lot quicker so she should be able to recover.” A swirl of colors signified the activation of a portkey as Ron and Ginny disappeared.
Returning their attention to Nagini, their initial attempts to cut the snake open with slicing and cutting hexes failed, as they had expected. “How are we going to get the Horcrux out?” Hermione mused aloud, while the pops of apparation continued to signal that more and more of their comrades were joining them as word of the situation spread.
Harry’s eyes lit up and he gave her a smile, then stretched out his hand. “Gryffindor!” he called out, and the air before them shimmered as the bejeweled sword appeared. Harry caught it and turned to the long body of the serpent. When he reached out with the tip of the sword to pierce the snakeskin, sparks shot up at the point of contact as the heirloom of Gryffindor contended with the enchantment cast by the slain heir of Slytherin. Calling on his own magic, Harry pushed harder, and slowly the blade penetrated the charmed scales and the sparks ceased, signaling his and the sword’s victory.
With one final thrust he laid the serpent open lengthwise and Hermione and the onlookers leaned forward to see the slightly glowing brooch that they had previously glimpsed only in a pensieve memory. With a silent flick of her wand Hermione levitated the Horcrux from the belly of the snake and settled it on a flat boulder near the cave mouth.
Silently the couple linked hands and regarded the object that represented the culmination of their long and arduous struggle. As their allies from Potter’s Army surrounded them, Bill and Fleur instructed the others in what was to come next and passed along the words of the incantation that would finally put an end to the threat that had so darkened their lives these past several years.
Harry firmly grasped the Sword of Gryffindor in both hands and raised it above his head, but before he began his downward stroke Fred and George stepped forward and raised their wands high.
“For Gryffindor!” they cried. Then Charlie, and Lavender, Colin, Dennis and their other house members present echoed the battle cry, “For Gryffindor!”
Next Ernie and Justin stepped from the crowd, and Hannah and Susan joined them. “For Hufflepuff!”
Now Luna and Padma moved up, along with Anthony. “For Ravenclaw!”
Finally it was Tracey and Daphne’s turn. “For Slytherin!”
Not to be outdone, Fleur’s voice rang out clear and loud. “For Beauxbatons!”
Taking his cue Viktor now stepped up. “For Durmstrang!”
Tonks took her turn and changed the focus. “For the Aurors!”
Bill likewise raised his wand. “For Gringotts!”
Tonks nudged Remus forward and the soft-spoken wizard gathered himself and raised his own wand as the others watched in rapt attention. “For the werewolves, and other persecuted creatures!”
Hermione silently summoned Dobby and when the house elf popped into view she took his hand and joined it with hers on her wand as she lifted it to point at the Horcrux. “For the house elves and all other magical beings!”
Now Harry stepped forward once again.
“For James and Lily Potter, and all the victims of the first war.”
“For Cedric Diggory and Sirius Black and all the victims of the second war.” He paused a moment and took a deep breath.
“For Albus Dumbledore!”
And with that he brought the sword crashing down onto the brooch, cleaving it cleanly into two pieces. For a final time the misty shape emerged and a chorus of voices shouted out the incantation.
“Annihilato Spiritus!”
-ooOoo-
The next several minutes passed by in a blur as pandemonium erupted in the hills above Hogsmeade. There was whooping, shouting, screaming, and crying. Hermione hugged everyone in sight with tears streaming down her face, albeit with one arm since her other arm was firmly wrapped around Harry. The unbelievable sense of relief and release of the moment was making her light-headed.
When she reached Tracey the Slytherin girl excitedly informed her that she had just received a mirror call from Robards. While the Ministry building had been heavily damaged, they had finally succeeded in destroying the last of the invading inferi. This joyful news lightened the happy couple’s hearts even further. Off to the edge of the crowd they spotted Bill and Fleur wrapped up in each other, and next to them Viktor with his arms enfolding a serenely smiling Luna. But just past them Padma stood off by herself looking lost and they quickly made their way over to her.
“Padma, I’m so sorry,” Hermione consoled her friend, while Harry wrapped his free arm around her. The slightly built Indian witch buried her head in Harry’s chest and sobbed.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now!” While Harry held her tight Hermione stroked her back and promised her that she and Harry would always be there for her, whatever the future held. When she recovered her composure she thanked them, then decided to portkey back to the Hospital Wing to look after her sister’s body.
By this time everyone back at the castle had heard the incredible news, and Hermione was anxious to get back to share the story with her parents. With fireworks exploding in the background from a special stash that the twins had been saving for just this event, she and Harry slowly made their way away from the cave into a clear area.
Hermione pulled out her shrunken broom from the pocket on her sleeve and expanded it, then turned and smiled at Harry.
“Can I offer you a lift back to the castle?” He grinned and climbed on the broomstick behind her and wrapped his arms around her, just as she had done so often when flying with him. Leaning close he whispered in her ear as he snuggled up tight against her bum.
“Will I need a sticking charm?”
She giggled and whispered back, “Maybe later.” Then she kicked off and soared out over the village, then across the lake toward the castle. As they approached the entrance, the sun was just beginning to set over the castle spires and Hermione paused and hovered the broom to enjoy the view. Harry gave her a squeeze and she sighed and leaned back into his arms in perfect contentment. Now they could begin the rest of their lifetime together.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
1) There will be an epilogue, but don’t you think this would make a perfect final scene for the story?
2) If the sniper scene in the cave sounds familiar, it is somewhat similar to the ending of Old Crow’s story No Thanks in which Harry shot Voldemort with a high powered sniper rifle, coincidentally also a Barrett M82, from the same cave.
I would also like to thank Bob and Alyx for the inspiration of the final battle chapter from Sunrise Over Britain. It’s not so much that I used any specific scene from that story, but more that it motivated me to write another blockbuster battle description. After End Game I didn’t think I had another one of those in me, but this one ended up being even bigger.