The Die is Cast

Hermione and Remus were met by Kingsley, Harry and Ginny. Molly soon joined them.

"What is it? What's going on? What happened?" they all seemed to ask at once.

"A message from Snape. Inside!" Remus barked.

Hermione followed the others to the small room inside the Town Hall where they'd had their first meeting.

"Where's Charlie?" Kingsley asked once they had gathered inside.

"He was with the children; he's probably trying to find their parents," Molly answered.

They all grouped around the table, but no one took a seat. They listened attentively as Remus spoke.

"Snape has been captured, but he managed to send out a message before it happened; there's going to be an attempt against the Dark Lord's life at the Throne Room in two nights – that's inside the Ministry building – presumably by the same pure-bloods Snape told us about. If they succeed in killing the Dark Lord, we can't allow the Ministry to fall into their hands – we have to do something."

It was astounding with how much ease Harry took charge. "Kingsley, what do you suggest?"

"It's what we've been waiting for; we can use the attempt on You-Know-Who's life as a distraction to get inside the Ministry – his soldiers will have their hands full then, and the wards might be temporarily down if the pure-bloods plan to infiltrate the building."

"Are we ready for this?" Molly asked with an edge of anxiety to her voice.

"The Aurors are ready – Harry just has to say the word."

"Good. Remus?" Harry said, turning his attention to the werewolf.

"We should move the children and the infirm into the caves where they'll be protected, just in case something goes wrong."

"Good idea. Molly, you and Charlie take care of that. Kingsley, you and Remus gather the Aurors and any one else who is fit for battle."

"We will have to be in position before the attempt happens; that doesn't give us much time," Remus observed.

"What about the last Horcrux?" Ginny inquired.

"The Dark Lord keeps it close to him at all times; we can dispose of both at the same time," Remus answered.

Harry nodded. "Just make sure that I know when it happens, so I know when I'm clear to fight Voldemort."

Hermione had been anxiously listening to their plan. "What about Snape?" she asked.

The room grew quiet, and everyone turned to look at her.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What about him?"

It seemed obvious to Hermione, and she glared back at Harry. "He's been captured; shouldn't we be coming up with a plan to rescue him?"

"There's no time for that, Hermione. Haven't you been listening? We have less than two days to move this entire village into the caves, gather an army and get it to the Ministry building without being detected," Harry explained.

"I understand that, but we can't just leave Snape. Remus, you can go inside the Ministry building, can't you?"

Remus nodded. "If I have a reason to be there."

"Can't you make up a reason, say you have to talk to Greyback or someone else, and then get a Portkey to Snape?"

Remus shook his head sadly. "Snape would be considered a high-profile prisoner – only the Dark Lord's closest men would be allowed to go near him or even know where he's kept – I don't have that kind of access."

Hermione turned imploring eyes to Kingsley. "Can't you send in an Auror or two ahead of the others, have them sneak in after the building closes, like Harry and I did the time we sneaked into the Department of Mysteries?"

"I'm sorry, Hermione. Security is a lot tighter at the Ministry these days, and it would be too risky now. If they got caught, You-Know-Who might become suspicious and change his plans, and we would have lost our opportunity."

"There has to be another way," Hermione muttered thoughtfully.

"Hermione, for all we know, he is already dead," Harry pointed out.

"Harry!" Ginny screeched.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," Harry said more quietly.

They were the words that Hermione didn't want to hear, what she had avoided considering. She studied the faces of those gathered in the room, looking for a glimmer of hope, but their somber expressions confirmed her worst fears – Harry was right; for all they knew, Snape was already dead.

"Is there anything else?" Harry asked.

When no one answered he continued. "Fine. Let's go to the Main Hall, then, and start dividing the people into those who will go to the caves and those who will come with me. And one more thing: no one leaves the village until we are ready to depart. I don't want to risk any information about what we are doing leaking out."

Hermione knew that it was a sensible proposition, but after their confrontation, she couldn't help but take it personally – perhaps Harry didn't trust her not to go running to she didn't know whom in what he would consider a misguided attempt to save Snape.

The next two days were a flurry of 'round-the-clock activity as villagers gathered their essential belongings, families said their goodbyes, children, the old and the sick were taken to the adjacent caves, and Harry briefed those who were to go with him into battle. Hermione helped Molly and Charlie with the children; she was grateful for the distraction, but her thoughts kept straying to Snape and what he must be going through. She couldn't allow herself to think that he was dead – especially not after the way they had parted.

She often thought about something Remus had said to her after the meeting. He had caught up with her just outside of the building.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. If I thought there was something we could do to help Snape, I would do it, but Harry and Kingsley are right: there's too much at stake, and we don't even know where he is."

Remus at least had the kindness not to say they didn't know if he was alive.

Hermione gave him a sad smile. "I understand."

"I do have to ask you something, though: what does your Patronus look like?"

Hermione thought it was a strange question indeed. "I haven't been able to produce a Patronus since I've been here, but before, it was an otter. Why?"

Remus seemed to consider her words for a moment. "It's just that Snape's Patronus has changed; that's why I didn't recognize it down by the lake."

Hermione was curious. "Changed how?"

"It used to be Lily's doe."

"Lily? You mean Harry's mother?"

Remus nodded.

"Isn't that a little strange, that Snape would have the same Patronus as Harry's mother?" she asked.

"Not 'the same as' – it was the same Patronus. I guess before that, his own Patronus must have been the fox. I'm sure he'll tell you about it when this is all over," Remus had offered with a reassuring smile.

While she and Veera guided the last group of children into one of the caves, Hermione pondered how one person could get someone else's Patronus.

"Veera, do you know how one person can get another's Patronus?" she asked.

Veera smiled shyly. "Only through great love, and great loss."

Hermione frowned – that didn't make much sense, unless Snape had loved Harry's mother at one time, and if that was the case, why would his Patronus change again now?

"Well, that's the last of them; I guess we're ready," Harry said from behind Hermione.

She spotted Harry, Molly, Charlie and Ginny standing by the mouth of the cave, and she rushed to join them.

"I'm coming with you," she informed Harry.

Harry looked stunned. "What? No!"

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because it's too dangerous, Hermione," Harry answered.

"It isn't any more dangerous for me than it is for everyone else."

Ginny reached out to touch her arm. "Actually, it is, Hermione. We've been training for this for years; you've only been here a little over a week."

Hermione couldn't argue with Ginny's logic. Still, she had to make Harry take her along – someone had to look for Snape and help him, and she didn't trust anyone else to do it.

"I'll stay out of the way; I won't take any unnecessary risks," she pleaded.

"Hermione, I said no," Harry said stubbornly.

Remus walked up to join them. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry and Hermione answered in unison.

Harry glared at her, and Remus gave her a questioning look.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked.

"She wants to come along with us," Harry answered before Hermione got a chance to plead her case.

"Hermione, that's not possible. You're not ready for this; we don't know exactly what we'll be walking into, and we'll all be too busy to watch out for you."

Hermione crossed her arms stubbornly, but she didn't argue – she didn't want to be a hindrance, or to jeopardize someone else's safety because they were too preoccupied looking out for her.

Remus put his arm around her and pulled her aside.

"The last thing Snape said to me in his message was to take care of you, and I know he would hold me up to that. He wouldn't want you to risk your life or that of his child for him. I can't allow it." Remus' words were compassionate, but his expression was stern.

Hermione knew she wouldn't be able to change his mind. She nodded her understanding. "I know."

Remus hugged her close. "If I can get to him, I will," he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered back.

She then marched up to Harry and kissed him on the cheek. She had already parted ways angrily with one person she might never see again – she didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

"Good luck," she said to him.

Harry gave her a wide smile and held her close for a moment. "Thank you – I'm going to need it," he said.

"You too, Ginny," she said to the girl next to her.

"Oh, I'm staying."

Harry looked at Ginny in surprise, and Hermione could have sworn Ginny blushed.

"We can't leave the town completely defenseless, just in case," Ginny explained.

"The town won't be defenseless; Kingsley is leaving a dozen Aurors behind, and many of those here might not be fit enough for a long journey before a battle, but they are not exactly helpless either," Charlie pointed out, glancing at his mother who looked ready to single-handedly take on a battalion of Death Eaters.

"True, but one more able body can't hurt. If Harry knows I'm there, he will be able to think of nothing else; I'll be a distraction. He'll be able to concentrate better if he knows I'm safe. This is too important."

Hermione was impressed by Ginny's thoughtfulness – she had grown up so much in the time they had been apart. Harry looked pleased and relieved, and the two embraced. Hermione looked around the cave. She spotted Remus and Veera in a corner. They stood close, talking in low voices, and then they kissed – a long, passionate kiss that made the children giggle and the adults discreetly look away. Hermione felt Snape's absence more keenly then.

She waved with the others from the mouth of the cave as more than two hundred witches and wizards mounted their brooms and lifted from the frozen ground, their combined billowing robes obliterating the afternoon sunlight as they took to the sky.

Their shapes faded into the distance, and the sunlight returned, bathing with its light a valley that looked eerily calm, quiet – empty. Hermione hoped it wasn't an omen.

~*~

Fifteen minutes – Hermione estimated that would be enough of a head start for Harry and the others that they wouldn't notice her presence, but she could still follow their trail. She stole out of the cave and followed the wide path that led to the forest. She had never seen the thestrals, but she had inquired about them and had a general idea as to their location.

The trail narrowed as she reached the trees, and Hermione ducked behind a large evergreen to catch her breath. Her heart was beating wildly, and she caressed the wand strapped to her waist for reassurance. The others had been right; she wasn't ready to join them in the battle, but neither did she have any choice. Remus was only one wizard – if something should happen to him, there would be no one left who cared enough to look for Snape. If she were there, she could concentrate on helping Snape while the others fought.

Hermione dodged between tree trunks and drooping branches, looking for any sign of the thestrals.

"Do you even know where you're going?" a voice called out from behind her.

Hermione whirled around. Ginny stood a couple of yards away leaning against a tree trunk, a broom slung over one shoulder, a small bag over the other.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"I'm following you," Ginny answered with a grin.

"Go back, Ginny, this is none of your business," Hermione spat, turning around and continuing to walk, still angry at Ginny for betraying her confidence.

"If you say so. But I should tell you that, if you're looking for thestrals, you're going the wrong way."

"What is it to you?" Hermione asked, although she did change direction – no point in continuing to walk the wrong way just to spite Ginny.

"I want you to know that I'm sorry, and that I realize I shouldn't have told Harry," Ginny said as she fell into step next to Hermione. "I just wanted him to make sure you were safe – I should have known he was going to go off like a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

Hermione stopped and looked at her friend. "Are you going to tell on me again?"

"No. I'm coming with you," Ginny announced.

"But you told Harry..." Hermione was beginning to understand.

Ginny's grin widened. "I said he would be able to concentrate better if he didn't know I was there. I had a feeling that with or without Harry, you were going to try to help Snape – I couldn't let you go alone."

Hermione smiled her relief – the idea of going alone had been terrifying. "You're a good friend, Ginny."

Ginny's grin widened. "Then we're good?" she asked, tilting her head.

Hermione nodded emphatically. "We're good."

"Then let's go!"

Remus had been right – sometimes all it took was a little forgiveness.

The clearing where the thestrals took shelter during the winter was a few yards ahead. There were only about a dozen of them, and they all raised their snouts at their approach. Hermione rushed toward the herd and nearly walked into the wizard who came seemingly out of nowhere to block her path.

"Charlie!" Ginny screeched. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm following you," Charlie said accusingly.

Hermione gritted her teeth – her plan just wasn't going the way she had envisioned it.

"Charlie, we have to do this. Please don't try to stop us," Hermione said, infusing her voice with as much confidence and defiance as she could muster.

Charlie snorted. "I'm not daft; last time I tried to stop Ginny from doing something, she hexed me, and she still did it! This time it's two against one, but I'm coming with you just the same."

Hermione was both relieved and surprised.

"How did you know?" Ginny asked Charlie as he held one of the thestrals for Hermione to mount.

"You're my little sister. I've known you all your life, and you have never once volunteered to stay behind from anything. I knew you were up to something; Mum told me to watch over you."

"Molly knows too?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

Charlie shrugged. "I guess."

Hermione wondered how Snape managed to keep any of his activities secret around these people, but their concern and unquestioning support tugged at her heart.

"In case I don't get an opportunity later, I want to thank you for this, both of you."

"We best hurry if we hope to keep up with the others," Charlie said, mounting his broom.

Ginny nodded and did likewise. In a few minutes, the three were flying high above the mountains.

~*~

The clouds parted to reveal the looming hulk of the Ministry building. Mostly shrouded in darkness except for the occasional flicker of a torchlight visible through a window, it looked deserted.

"Where are they?" Ginny asked over the roar of the wind in their ears.

Hermione squinted, scanning the shadows around the building and indicating with her thumb that they should go lower.

They circled the building several times before they spotted movement on the roof. Under the cover of a concealment charm, they hovered closer. Four figures dressed in purple robes materialized on the rooftop and quickly disappeared through a small side door.

Hermione glanced at Charlie, and he nodded – that was their way in. They descended on the roof and dismounted. As they suspected, the door was unguarded and unwarded – someone inside must have purposely left it that way to allow the cloaked intruders access. Wands at the ready, they began to descend a narrow flight of stairs.

"Where do you think they would have Snape?" Hermione whispered to Charlie.

"I don't know, but he could be in the Throne Room. Lupin said that's where You-Know-Who holds council with his goons – maybe tonight is Snape's trial," Charlie speculated.

Ginny unfurled a piece of parchment. "Snape made a few of these for our meetings; Remus thought they might come in handy tonight. It's incomplete, but it should give us a general idea of where to go."

Incomplete was an understatement. The hand-sketched blueprint of the Ministry building had obviously been drawn with some very specific locations in mind. It only covered three levels, and most of the areas were unlabeled.

"There!" Hermione pointed at a square near the bottom of the parchment, clearly labeled Throne Room, in the second dungeon level.

Something about the scribbled words caught her attention. "Did you say Snape drew this?" she asked.

Ginny nodded. "Yes, why?"

"It's just that the handwriting doesn't look like his." Hermione distinctly remembered Snape's spidery handwriting from the copious notations he had made on her school essays.

"Snape used a spell to distort the letters. These maps were drawn for missions; it wouldn't do for one of them to fall into the wrong hands and be traced back to Snape."

Ginny swiped her wand over the parchment and huffed in frustration. "It should show us where we are, but the location is not on the map."

She quickly rolled the parchment and returned it to her bag.

"We'll just have to find our way to a lift," Hermione observed.

The stairwell opened into a wide hallway where the bodies of three soldiers in black robes laid crumpled on the floor.

Ginny chuckled softly. "They are making this easy!" she whispered.

"Shhh," Hermione admonished.

They quietly followed the trail of dead bodies that the other cloaked figures had left behind, until they reached the lifts and cautiously descended to the second lower level unimpeded. The three soon came to a balcony that overlooked a massive room. There was no sign of the purple-robed figures, or Harry and the others, but several feet below, Hermione could clearly see Voldemort sitting on a massive throne, surrounded by his Faithful and about two-dozen soldiers. At his feet, a massive snake slithered across the floor, its forked tongue tasting the air.

Lucius Malfoy was speaking – he looked pale and agitated.

"My Lord, with all due respect, perhaps we should consider other possibilities," he said.

The others in the room looked at Voldemort apprehensively as he turned his attention to Malfoy.

"I have been careless in the past; I'll concede that much to you, Lucius. I thought that by cutting off the head, the beast would die. But Severus' betrayal and his entanglement with that girl – Potter's friend – is even more proof that his followers carry on without him. Of course, they are nothing without Potter, but such insolence cannot be tolerated. Frankly, Lucius, I fail to understand how you could not have seen this, considering how close you've always been to Severus."

Lucius eyes grew wide, and his face paled even more. "My Lord, he fooled us all!" he exclaimed.

"Not me! I always knew he was a traitor!" Bellatrix screeched from her chair.

A little smile twisted Voldemort's features. "Of course you did, Bella, and I have not overlooked the fact that it was your alertness and diligence that brought him to justice."

Bellatrix looked immensely pleased with herself. "Thank you, My Lord! You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me at the Crispuses! I could have captured him right there, had he not been holding that little, porky girl! But he had no baby when the soldiers got him." Bellatrix's red lips spread into a too-wide smile that made her appear even more deranged.

"You didn't even know he was going to be there – it was just a coincidence that your husband was out of town and you were visiting with Madam Crispus that night," Lucius observed disdainfully.

"Enough, Lucius! Bella did the right thing by rescuing the child and summoning the soldiers! The Crispuses are most grateful. But that distasteful matter with Severus is finished now; let us speak of it no more."

A tremor traveled through Hermione's body. Snape had been at the Crispuses, trying to get her daughter out of the house, when they captured him! Voldemort's declaration that 'the matter with Severus is finished' had a ring of finality that shook Hermione to the core.

"Snape is not here; where else could he be?" she asked Charlie and Ginny, refusing to acknowledge what deep in her heart she believed – Snape was dead.

The other two seemed at a loss.

"Snape and Lupin have mentioned a maze of dungeons with detention cells in one of the lower levels of the building, but I don't know where," Charlie suggested.

Ginny quickly withdrew the map and the three huddled around it. With a swipe of Ginny's wand, a small dot appeared next to the square labeled Throne Room.

"We're here," she indicated.

On the other side of the page was a cluster of squares labeled detention cells. They were on a different level, and the lift they had taken down didn't seem to be connected to it. Hermione traced the passages on the map with her finger.

"It seems that we have to go up to the ground level, take this lift back down and we'll come out here, right in front of the detention cells."

The others nodded their agreement. They were about to turn around and return the way they had come when suddenly Voldemort rose to his feet.

Hermione, Charlie and Ginny ducked quickly behind the railing and held their breath while they waited. There was a scuffle below, and Hermione chanced a peek in time to see the first streak of light hit Voldemort on his left side, just below the rib cage.

A look of utter shock and disbelief twisted the wizard's features for an instant before chaos erupted. Bolt after bolt of light pierced Voldemort's body. Bella and Lucius sprung to their feet, shooting their drawn wands at the attackers. Nagini reared her head and sank her fangs into the nearest body, unfortunately one of the soldiers who appeared to be trying to protect Voldemort. It was mayhem as the Faithful and soldiers shot curses at each other, none of them certain who the enemy really was.

"Where the hell are Harry and the others?" Charlie shouted over the commotion as he pointed his wand into the room below and fired a red stream of light that hit Nagini on the neck.

Voldemort roared and raised his wand into the air.

Charlie swore softly under his breath.

"Get out of here, Hermione!" Ginny yelled as she too started to shoot hexes down at the snake.

Hermione took one last look over the railing of the balcony, catching a glimpse of purple robes beginning to materialize amongst the crowd, before she whirled around and ran. A bolt of yellow light cut off her progress and bounced off an adjacent wall in the corridor outside. Hermione saw a group of black-clad soldiers quickly advancing in her direction.

Her escape route blocked, she had no choice but to dodge into the nearest doorway. The room appeared to be an empty office, and Hermione quickly located an alternate exit. She stepped out into pandemonium. In every direction, witches and wizards were running, yelling and firing hexes. The flashes of light from their wands were blinding, and Hermione soon joined the foray as she fought her way through a small group of black-robed soldiers. Luckily, Hermione's presence seemed to go unregistered in the confusion – no one seemed to be aiming at a definite target, more concerned with making their way toward the Throne Room – and Hermione managed to break free of the cluster of fighters. She quickly erected a barrier behind her and continued to run toward the lift. Amidst the bedlam, she sighted several of the Aurors from the village making their way towards her.

She pointed to an alternate direction away from her barrier, "That way! The other corridor is blocked!"

The Aurors ran past her with barely a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned around and saw Remus running towards her. The werewolf was sweaty, his face flushed. "Hermione! What are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"I had to come. I had to find Snape – I think they killed him!" she practically screamed.

Remus pulled her into a doorway to avoid another group of Aurors who ran swiftly past them in the direction of the Throne Room. Hermione caught a glimpse of Harry amongst them.

"Gods, Hermione. I'm sorry, but you have to get out of here."

Hermione nodded. "I'm trying," she said desperately.

If she could make it out of that floor, she could use the fighting as a distraction and make her way to the detention cells she had seen on the map. There was still a chance that Snape was there.

"Don't try to Disapparate; the anti-Apparition wards are back up, and the Floo has been shut down. You have to make your way out of the building."

Hermione shook her head. She didn't want to leave the building, but she didn't want to tell Remus that.

"I came in through a corridor that leads to the roof, but that's where everyone is fighting now."

"Then you have to make your way to the ground floor and exit that way. Follow this corridor and keep turning left until you get to the lifts. You shouldn't find too much resistance once you leave this area, but Hermione – be careful, and don't hesitate to blast anyone that gets in your way. Do you understand?"

Hermione nodded.

"Then go!" Remus shoved her out into the corridor and took off in the direction of the fighting.

Hermione ran as fast as her feet could carry her in the direction that Remus indicated, her wand firmly clutched in her hand.

She was almost to the lifts; she could see the doors at the end of the corridor. She visualized the route she had traced on the map. Once she made it inside the lift, all she had to do was ascend to the ground floor, cross the entrance hall to the other side of the building, and use the other lifts to come back down. But something held her back, a sense of impending doom and desolation. Snape was dead – killed trying to rescue her daughter – dead because of her. Goosebumps broke over her skin, and she hesitated.

The hallway and the sounds of the battle receded, and a heavy fog filtered into her head, clouding her thoughts.

She tried to shake off the feeling, but all she could see before her was Harry hanging on the Wall of Traitors, gasping his last breaths, and then the image of Harry turned into Neville, and then Snape, and hundreds joined him – their bodies broken, their mouths open in silent screams. Hermione leaned against the wall and shut her eyes against the images that assaulted her, but that only made them more vivid. Dead – they were all dead. The corridor was cold – much colder than it had been a few seconds earlier.

She looked curiously around, and that's when she saw them – two giant Dementors just around the corner. Hermione panicked. She tried to run but her legs wouldn't obey her; all she wanted to do was give up – lie down in that cold, deserted corridor and let the Dementors take away her pain. Her hand shook with the effort of raising her wand.

All she needed was one happy memory, one drop of undiluted bliss in an ocean of pain and despair. She heard Ginny's voice in the back of her mind: you just need to concentrate harder. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and fought her way through the cloud of sadness that enveloped her. She pictured the town of New Hope as she had seen it for the first time – against the setting sun, wisps of smoke rising into the air – and Snape was next to her, except he didn't look sad or worried; he had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. And her little daughter stood by her side.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered, and the Snape in her embroidered memory smiled down at her and nodded.

At that moment, Hermione pointed her wand at the Dementors and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver mist shot out of her wand and took an unfamiliar shape. Through a haze of tears, Hermione watched a small, silver fox trot through the air, and the Dementors scattered.

Only through great love and great loss. Hermione crawled the few yards to the lifts and hurled herself inside when the doors opened.

When the doors to the lift opened again, Hermione dashed out into blinding crossfire as a small contingent of purple-cloaked figures rushed in through the main entrance of the building and were met by some of Voldemort's soldiers. Hermione spotted a squat figure amongst them, furiously waving a wand in the air, a pink cardigan buttoned over the purple-velvet robes. The figure's hood slipped off, and Hermione recognized Dolores Umbridge. The woman looked even more ridiculous than usual in her purple robes and girlish bow, like a giant, festooned grape.

Hermione knew the moment Umbridge spotted her by the twisted look of rage on the witch's face. The path blocked, Hermione dodged into one of the adjacent hallways and ran with Umbridge close on her heels.

"There shall be no running in the hallways!" Umbridge called out just as a bolt of light shot out of her wand.

Hermione effectively blocked the hex.

"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled, pointing the wand over her shoulder, but Umbridge diverted the spell with a casual wave of her wand.

Hermione continued to run, shooting protective spells over her shoulder.

"You insolent, mouthy, pretentious Mudblood!" Umbridged screeched behind her.

Through a series of turns, Hermione came to a large, empty room with no other visible doors. She was trapped as Umbridge barged into the room after her.

Hermione crouched down in a defensive position and prepared to fight off the other witch, but Umbridge's look of loathing turned to one of surprise when a bolt of light hit her hand and sent her wand flying. By the door stood Lucius Malfoy. His robes were askew, his usually flawlessly-coiffed hair disheveled; a look of rage distorted his admittedly handsome features into a feral mask, and Hermione instinctively took a step back and tightened the grip on her wand.

"Minister Malfoy!" Umbridge squealed. "Well, I was just about to take this traitor into custody!"

Malfoy smiled – a cold, lopsided, mock smile that didn't quite reach his steely eyes.

"Oh, I don't know, Dolores, as tempting a morsel as Ms. Granger is, I suddenly find myself hankering for bigger game."

Malfoy was slowly advancing toward them, his wand trained on Umbridge, and Hermione saw the woman visibly blanch.

"Minister Malfoy, I'm sure I don't know what you mean!" Umbridge gave a little shrug and raised her hands in the air, as if she was at a loss, but Hermione caught the quick flicker of the witch's eyes toward the wand that lay on the floor a few feet away.

"Then please allow me to refresh your memory: Draco, my hand-witch, my unborn child... Do any of these things hold any significance to you?"

Hermione's eyes shifted to the door. Malfoy was standing between her and the way out; she didn't think she could make it if Malfoy decided to turn his wand on her.

"It was for the best, Lucius. You of all people surely understand. Mixing our blood with that of inferior creatures is profane – the thing that woman carried was an abomination!"

"He was my son!" Lucius roared, and a thin stream of orange light shot from his wand as Umbridge launched for her own.

"Accio wand!" Hermione called, and Umbridge's wand flew into Hermione's hand.

Lucius' curse hit Umbridge on the back, leaving a black blotch on the pink fabric of her cardigan.

For an instant nothing happened, and Hermione began to think that the witch had deflected the curse somehow, until she saw the look of terror on Umbridge's face.

Umbridge suddenly clutched at her chest and pierced the air with an agonized scream. Hermione stumbled backward, confused by what was happening. Wisps of smoke emanated from Umbridge's eyes and open mouth as the witch desperately tore at her robes as if trying to get to the skin underneath. Hermione watched in horror as for almost a minute Umbridge wailed and flailed her arms, her skin turning first a bright shade of pink, then an ashy grey as it began to melt off her bones, until finally, with an orange burst of light, her body incinerated, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes behind.

The ensuing puff of smoke cleared, and Hermione spotted Lucius Malfoy standing only a few feet away, his wand trained on her, his eyes wide. The sounds of the battle outside the room were dying down, and an eerie calmness ensued, disrupted only by the occasional blast of a hex and the erratic beating of Hermione's heart.

Malfoy lowered his wand slowly and shuffled to the nearest wall, resting his back against it. The wand slipped from his elegant fingers and hit the floor with a low clatter.

"It is done," Malfoy whispered.

Hermione approached him slowly, discarding Umbridge's wand and lowering her own.

"What's done?" she asked hesitantly.

Malfoy raised the left sleeve of his robes, revealing a faded and shriveled Dark Mark.

"The Dark Lord is dead," he declared.

Hermione glanced nervously toward the door. "The others... the pure-bloods..."

Malfoy shook his head. "They are too few; they don't stand a chance against Potter's army. The Dark Lord's soldiers will give up the fight soon enough without him."

There was no hint of bitterness or even regret in Malfoy's voice – it was as if all the fight had been drained out of him. For a moment, Hermione almost felt sorry for the man, although she wasn't sure why.

Hermione could hear approaching footsteps now, and Kingsley's voice barking orders.

It is done, then, Hermione thought.

"Snape, is he dead?" she dared to ask.

Malfoy seemed unsure. "The Dark Lord wanted him to be captured alive, to make an example out of him, but he was interrogated. If he's still alive, he is in the dungeons, lowest level. Use the lift to the right, last cell on your left."

Hermione barely heard the last words – she was dashing down the corridor, past Kingsley and the Aurors, through rubble and the lingering stench of singed flesh, toward the dungeons. Hermione knew by the way Malfoy had said the word interrogated that he didn't mean questioned, but tortured.

She blasted through the door of the cell with her wand and rushed inside. The interior of the cell was dim, and it took Hermione a moment to locate Snape's form huddled on the floor.

He was bloody and sweaty, his eyes closed. Hermione dropped to her knees and gathered the limp body onto her lap, looking for a sign of life. At first she thought she had imagined it, the slight fluttering of his lashes, until his eyelids slowly opened and his coal-black eyes stared up at her. Hermione almost laughed with relief.

She carefully pushed him off her lap, back onto the floor. "Don't move, don't try to talk. I'll get help."

But his fingers latched around her wrist with surprising strength and wouldn't allow her to rise.

"I tried..." he croaked, his raspy voice barely a whisper.

"I know. I know you tried to rescue my daughter. She's fine." Hermione assured him, trying to break free from his grasp.

"The others?" Snape insisted.

"They are here. We got your message. We won! Voldemort is dead."

She thought the knowledge would bring him some reassurance and he would release her, but his grip on her wrist tightened instead.

His voice was barely above a whisper. "Hermione, always remember – hope."

Hermione frowned. How could she forget? It was the one thing that had carried her through to this point – from the day of the ambush and through the horrors that had followed, that one word written on a piece of parchment that Dumbledore had sent her... a vague feeling of uneasiness stirred inside her, the sensation of having forgotten something but not being sure what.

There was something about the note, about Snape's words. She thought back to the day when she had received the envelope. She distinctly recalled the note being delivered by owl to her parent's home sometime during the summer after her sixth year, and she could remember carrying it in her pocket when she was led onto the train that would take her to the reformation camp, but she couldn't remember having it on her when she was captured, or how she had managed to hold on to it after all her personal possessions had been stripped away in preparation for her transport. It didn't make sense.

She recalled Ginny's words, and something clicked – Snape uses a spell to distort the letters.

"It was you – the note and the memory of how I got it?" she asked in disbelief.

Snape nodded slowly.

"When?" Hermione asked.

"The train station. Only for a moment... but it was too late."

Hermione nodded. "I understand."

By then, the tracking spell had already been placed on her, and even if it hadn't been, as Harry's friend, she was being closely watched – just like with Ron, it would have raised too many questions to have her disappear suddenly. He had given her the only thing he could, even if he had been forced to take the memory away – the hope that one day he would come back for her. She wished she could remember the exact words he had said to her that day.

Snape's eyelids slid closed, and Hermione thought he had slipped into unconsciousness until she heard his voice again.

"Don't go. Please stay with me, only for a little while."

It was ill advised; he was in dire need of medical help, but Hermione couldn't bring herself to pry her arm away from him, so she stayed, for a little while, until she heard people approaching and Remus and Charlie's voices calling out her name.

"I'm here. Hurry!" she called back to them.

"I'm here," she whispered more quietly, looking down at Snape's pale, peaceful face.