23

AN: I am so sorry about the incredibly long delay in posting this. Midterms and the flurry of assignments afterward took over my life for a few weeks there. However, that will not happen again. In fact, the last (yes, the next chapter is also the very last) chapter will post tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

Thanks as always go to my alpha and beta, Septentrion and Ayerf. *hugs them*

Hermione stood tensely beside Neville and Professor McGonagall, facing the closed front door. They were waiting for a signal of some sort, which would surely come soon. Harry had disappeared nearly an hour ago, and she couldn't imagine that Voldemort wouldn't take the opportunity to show off his conquest. He would need to smash that last bit of hope out of everyone.

She clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm, in an effort not to think about Harry being gone. It was inconceivable, and yet...

An arm came around her, and she looked over at Neville, who was looking just as sad and worried as she felt.

"He said he needed to," he said in a low voice. Despite his tone of confidence, she could hear the question.

She nodded. "Yes, he did need to. And he did it for us. All of us."

He nodded and gave her a squeeze. Neither of them could think of any reassurances they could give beyond that pale token of comfort. Just because he needed to sacrifice himself didn't ease the pain of his loss.

A few moments passed before Neville asked her, "Where do you suppose Snape is?"

Hermione forced herself not to look around and just shrugged. "I don't know. My guess is he followed Harry under the Invisibility Cloak."

She could feel Neville's question, long before he actually said, "You're sure he's on our side?"

She looked up at Neville and waited till he was looking directly at her before saying, "Yes. I would stake my soul on it."

"So the chains and stuff..."

"Was purely for show. He was probably more uncomfortable with the charade than I was. I know he blames himself for every student who was harmed this year."

Nevilled scowled, dropped his arm back to his side and looked away. "Didn't stop the punishments, though, did he?"

"He couldn't. He had to keep up appearances, and he... He was so afraid Alecto was going to report him. He was so sure she suspected him of being a spy, and what with everything Dumbledore planned hinging on him keeping his role secret..."

Neville's face was still so hard. "Neville," she whispered earnestly, "he threw up after he caught out Seamus yesterday he was so upset, and that was before he saw the damage. He blames himself for everything."

Neville's face softened enough to frown, though he didn't say anything. Hermione looked back at the door with a sad sigh. Neville's arm came around her once more, and she leaned into him with a smile, relieved he was willing to accept her defense of Snape at the very least.

A moment later, a silver lynx appeared and said with Kingsley's voice, "They're on the lawn with Harry's body."

Hermione, Neville and the teachers all looked at one another and then nodded. Neville and Dean opened the doors and, with Hermione and McGonagall leading, they made their way down the front steps to meet Voldemort and his army.

They saw a mass of black emerging from the forest, with something floating high over them, like an odd-shaped balloon. As the Death Eaters approached, a wave of gasps rolled through the gathered fighters as they realized that the balloon was actually Harry.

Hermione wanted to retch at the sight, but she kept her head high and breathed heavily through her nose. This was the reason they were fighting today – there was no living in a world where people were treated without dignity or honor. There was merely existence.

Voldemort and the Death Eaters came to a stop, leaving a gap of several meters between the two groups. Hermione noticed with alarm that Nagini was nowhere to be seen. She was distracted from that, however, when Voldemort casually flicked his wand and Lucius Malfoy grunted in pain. Suddenly Harry was falling.

While most of the people on the steps screamed, Hermione cast a cushioning charm. Voldemort laughed at her.

"There is no point in protecting your precious Potter, Mudblood. He is beyond feeling now. You would do best to return to your master's bed and wait to do his bidding."

She raised her head and jutted her chin out, even as her heart beat so fast it hurt. "I have no master. None of us do."

Voldemort smiled cruelly. "So he hasn't managed to break you yet... Perhaps that's for the best. I shall do it for him." He threw a spell at her, but she was expecting it and blocked with a strong Protego.

As if that broke a dam, the battle started. McGonagall and Flitwick sprang ahead of Hermione, shooting curses at Voldemort in retaliation for his attack on her. Within a second, hexes of every color and strength filled the air. Hermione pushed her fear aside and sprang into the fray at Neville's back. Immediately, they were surrounded by Death Eaters. At first she cast shielding charms while Neville threw all the jinxes and hexes he could, taking out a couple of the Death Eaters right away before the others wised up and stopped treating them like kids.

There was no time for thought, only reaction as she fought to keep the Death Eaters too busy to cast the killing curse. Wordlessly, she sent out Stunners, Reductor curses, Expelliarmuses and everything else she could think of in the scant moments between shielding spells.

One Expelliarmus worked, taking her so much by surprise that she nearly missed the opportunity to hit the Death Eater with a Stunner. She did note that his body made a satisfying thud even as she turned to his companion.

There seemed to be no end of Death Eaters, though every now and again, she would have a moment to look around. In those brief moments, she saw McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Vector keeping Voldemort busy. Ginny and Seamus were battling two fierce, elderly Death Eaters, while Lavender and the Patil sisters had taken on Greyback.

But while she was scanning the battleground, her attention was caught by Bellatrix Lestrange, who was casting killing curses left and right. Hermione gasped as she saw Terry Boot fall from a shot to his back.

"Cover me, Neville," she panted, and sprinted for the cover of the front steps. Huddled next to the castle and the stairs, she thought of Ron's arms around her as he comforted her at the Burrow before the wedding. She nearly cried as she realized that couldn't be her happy thought anymore, not now that there wasn't any hope of more.

She sniffed back her tears and resolutely went through her best memories, trying to cast the Patronus with each one. She was curiously unsurprised to find that the first one to work was of Harry asking her to take care of Snape.

Her otter appeared and danced around her playfully, and it took her a moment before she realized she hadn't given it a message or location. She quickly thought the message, 'Next wave now,' and sent the Patronus off to the castle.

That task done, she focused her vision on the battle before her, looking for the best place to rejoin. Her decision was made for her when the school doors opened and dozens of people hurried out. At the same moment, Snape appeared leaning over Harry's body.

Hermione's pulse quickened; the moment was near. She looked around for Neville, but couldn't see him amongst the nearest fighters, so she stood up to get a better view. She was so busy looking for Neville, she didn't see the curse that hit Snape. All she saw was him falling down across Harry.

She wasn't the only one who saw him fall. Voldemort let out a scream of fury at seeing his lieutenant go down, and the wave of magic that poured out of him knocked everyone nearby off their feet. Hermione stumbled at the force of his magic, but managed to keep her feet as she scrambled over the lawn to where Snape and Harry lay.

When she reached them, she felt for Snape's pulse at his neck. She let out a shaky breath to find it was still strong. She hoped he'd only been Stunned.

Moving aside the Invisibility Cloak, she gently worked her hands underneath his torso in an attempt to roll him over, but as she put her weight into doing so, she heard a small groan. And it was not from Snape.

Eyes wide, she looked down at Harry. His eyes were closed, but she swore he was frowning now when he hadn't been before. She immediately withdrew her arms, and his frown decreased. She grimaced at the realization she'd been digging her elbows into Harry's gut.

She frowned worriedly at the two of them, wondering how she was going to get Snape off of Harry, when a curse flew past her ear. Flinching away, she rolled her eyes at herself and nearly slapped her forehead; was she a witch or not?

Pulling out her wand, she lifted Snape and moved him over to the grass beside Harry, turning him over as she did. She also cast Notice-Me-Not Charms on all of them before casting a basic diagnostic charm on each of the men, grimacing at Harry's results. Despite the cushioning charm, he'd suffered several broken bones. Fortunately, neither seemed to have internal bleeding.

Thankful that she'd done her homework before the camping trip, she carefully set Harry's bones and healed them. Almost the instant she'd finished, Harry groaned and opened his eyes. She beamed down at him, and he managed to muster a small quirk of his lips at her in return.

He moved his lips as if he were speaking, but the sound of the battle overwhelmed his voice. She leaned down and put her ear next to his mouth.

"Do I have to wake up?" he croaked quietly.

She sat back up and tried to scowl at him, but her joy at knowing he was alive was so great, she couldn't keep her smile suppressed.

"I'm afraid you do."

He screwed up his face, but nodded. He was about to sit up, when Hermione had the clever idea of covering him up with the cloak. He disappeared from sight, but his using her shoulder to heft himself up to his feet told her where he was.

"What's happened so far?" he asked.

"Voldemort is still alive, and I couldn't see Nagini," she said, pretending she was talking to Snape. "I don't know what happened to Neville. I was looking for him when Snape was hit."

She felt Harry's cloak brush her other arm.

"He's there," he said, then with more urgency, "He's fighting Bellatrix with Ginny and Luna!"

Hermione looked around and, sure enough, there were her friends, battling for their lives. This time, however, it looked like Bellatrix was being kept on her toes. Neville was throwing everything he had at her, fighting with ferociousness Hermione would never have guessed was there. But then, it had been Bellatrix who had tortured his parents to insanity. He might have a bone or two to pick with her.

Ginny was also fighting with a vengeance. Though they hadn't discussed Ron when they were reunited in the Great Hall, Hermione was sure Harry had told Ginny about Ron. All the Weasleys had looked far grimmer than she would have expected, and Molly's hug had had a somewhat desperate feel to it. She swallowed and silently wished her friend luck.

Hermione was surprised that Luna was actually the one who was keeping Bellatrix unstable, however. Hermione watched as Luna threw the oddest hexes, jinxes and charms at the Death Eater. She was sure that one of the ones that hit the witch was a Cheering Charm...

"Was that a Cheering Charm Luna just cast?" Hermione asked Harry. When Harry didn't respond, she said, "Harry?"

She looked around even though she knew she wouldn't see him. "Harry?"

Frowning at his sudden, silent departure, she turned her attention back to Snape. The diagnostic charm hadn't shown anything seriously wrong with him, but Rennervate didn't reawaken him. She cast another diagnostic charm, but again, nothing showed up. It was as if he were only sleeping, except even as she looked, he was growing paler.

She leaned over and rested her head against his chest to make sure his heart really was beating. It was, though more and more slowly.

"Snape?" she said, placing her hands on his cheeks. "Snape, you need to wake up."

He remained completely unresponsive.

"You still have a part to play! So wake up right now!"

She wiggled his head slightly, but still nothing. She looked around to see if anyone who might be able to help were nearby, but only students and Death Eaters were within hailing range. Panic started to well up within her. They were so close to the end! He needed to distract Voldemort! He needed to be there to hold her hand when the battle was over! He needed to yell at her for being such a naïve fool as to believe that he would survive intact.

"Severus Snape! If you think you can die because Harry survived, you have another thing coming!"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took hold of his shoulders and shook him. "WAKE UP!" she yelled.

"Hermione, dear," she heard Molly say through the din of battle, and then she felt the warmth of her hand on her shoulder. "You need to let him go."

She shook her head. "No! He's still alive, Molly! But he was cursed, and now he won't wake up. And he needs to!"

The hand on her shoulder became two that tried to pull her away, but she wrested herself out of Molly's kindly meant grasp, and fell onto Snape's chest, crying openly.

She heard Molly gasp and felt a hand on her shoulder again. She tried to shrug it off, but it remained, patting her. Then poking her.

"Miss Granger," Snape's exasperated voice rumbled from under her ear.

She shot up and looked down at him with wide, blurred eyes. He was looking up at her with a bit of a wry smile.

"While it is nice to know that there is someone who would mourn my death, I think you're being rather premature about it."

Hermione laughed with a tinge of hysteria, and slapped his arm half-heartedly. "You git! You scared me!"

His smile became soft and warm. "My apologies. I see now I should have chosen to be hit with a disemboweling hex."

She hit his arm again, this time with a bit more strength. "Fine, be that way. But rest time is over. There's a war to be won."

His eyes shifted to something behind her, and his smile disappeared. He nodded somberly.

"Molly."

Hermione looked up and saw Molly regarding Severus with a conflicted expression. Hermione smiled up at the matron sadly as she wiped her tears on her sleeve even as she fended of a stray spell.

Molly seemed to make up her mind and stuck out her hand to help him up. "Severus."

He gave Molly almost as warm a smile as he'd given her, and accepted the hand. Once up, he bowed his head, and said, "Thank you. And my condolences."

Hermione saw Molly's eyes fill up, but she sniffed and nodded back briskly. "You'd best get to doing what needs doing."

"Indeed."

Severus raised his wand and looked to Hermione, and Hermione nodded. They set out for the battlefield in step with each other, but didn't go more than three feet before Hermione was grabbed by the arm. She raised her wand to hex her attacker, but aborted her shot when Harry's voice said, "It's me!"

Hermione grabbed Severus' arm to stop his progress. He looked at her curiously, but she gestured with her head for them to retreat again. They made their way to the corner beside the stone stairs, where Harry revealed his head from a crouched position.

"I can't find Nagini. I don't think Voldemort brought her."

Snape nodded. "I believe you are correct."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, looking between the two worriedly.

Snape and Harry looked at each other with varying degrees of worry.

"We can't let Voldemort go," Harry said slowly. "He would just go and make more... artifacts. We'd be back where we started, only without Dumbledore."

Snape nodded again. "Agreed. This incarnation must die today. Perhaps we could send someone out to kill the snake..."

"It would have to be with the sword. Otherwise we're just freeing the fragment, not killing it," Hermione pointed out.

Snape looked at Harry, who shook his head. "Neville has it."

"Then have someone find and contain the snake till we can get there."

Harry nodded while Hermione sent off a Patronus to Kingsley with the urgent message.

"In the meantime, we need to make sure as few Death Eaters make it out of here as possible. I think it's time to use all our forces," Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "We have it all set up. Neville, Snape or I are to send a signal, and they'll start firing."

"Question is, should we make Voldemort the prime target or the Death Eaters, to begin with?" Snape asked.

Harry paused in thought for a moment, then said, "Death Eaters. We need this to be a demoralizing rout for Voldemort."

Snape nodded and looked around. "The most dangerous Death Eaters still standing are Dolohov, Mulciber and Bellatrix." He paused and cringed, then said a quiet, "Fuck."

Hermione looked around just in time to see Luna fall. Bellatrix laughed and threw up a shield to block Ginny's curse, but she wasn't quite prepared for Neville's Blasting Curse. It hit her left shoulder and suddenly, half of her was gone.

Hermione turned her head away quickly, trying to quell the urge to retch. She heard and felt, rather than saw, Voldemort's second blast of rage, though Snape shielded her from half of it.

Swallowing, and trying not to cry in horror, she silently sent four Patronuses to the rest of the teams within the castle, implementing the new plan. She then slid down the wall of the steps and tried to breathe.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice was worried, but she couldn't look at him. She just shook her head.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course she isn't 'okay', Potter!" she heard Snape say from next to her. "She just witnessed a bloody horror, for fuck's sake. I'd suggest you go see if Longbottom is in need of care right now!"

Hermione shook her head again, though this time in denial rather than disbelief. "N-Nagini as Bathilda... w-was more horrible."

She remembered that awful night – probably the most horrible night of her entire life. She still had nightmares about the very concept; she couldn't fathom how Harry dealt with actually having seen Nagini shed the human shell.

Ironically, though, the memory calmed her. That was the evil they were fighting. There were worse things than death, even as gory a death as Bellatrix had been dealt. They had suffered worse. She could fight because she could not give in to such evil. That was not an acceptable option.

She raised her head and looked Snape in the eye. "I'm okay now. Let's go fight."

Snape's wide smile was her reward. She took his hand, and they stood up, ready for anything.