Chapter 19 ? The End Draws Near

There is quite a bit going on here and its mostly a transition chapter. I'm getting things ready for the final few chapters.

All canon characters belong to JKR.

As always thanks to June for all of her help.

Chapter 19 – The End Draws Near

The weeks passed. With Rodolphus' help, Hermione was able to use several pieces of the Riddle estate to incorporate into the model of the Riddle home now being kept in Albus' office. Every room in Voldemort's ancestral home had been reproduced exactly to scale, and every single room in the model had a piece of the original room set into it. Hermione created a spell that enabled anyone to enter the home through the model, which was now a direct connection to the home. This was tested by Lucius when he was Summoned, as well as Severus disguised as Higgenbottom. The Dark Lord was none the wiser. He was always waiting for his Death Eaters in his large ballroom; therefore he had no way of knowing exactly which way they had come in from. He was also less wary, because he was so preoccupied and entrenched in his outings to the Muggle world.

The time came, however, when Voldemort finally reached a decision about his coup de grace that would bring the wizarding world to its knees and rid it of all who are not worthy. He kept the date of his invasion to himself for a time, not wanting to reveal it to any of his Death Eaters, simply because he never truly trusted any of them. He had no idea that many of his own were having second thoughts about their master.

While he'd originally thought about beginning his attack at Hogwarts, the Dark Lord decided it would be best if he first sent waves of Death Eaters to two of the central hubs of the wizarding world, Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. With those two locations under attack, the Ministry would no doubt send Aurors, thus leaving little manpower for any attack on Hogwarts. Voldemort thought this was the perfect plan. What he didn't realize was that he had three Death Eaters who were now actively working against him; he would have no element of surprise.

On the third of December, Voldemort had called all of his high-ranking Death Eaters to his home for the announcement. Higgenbottom was not a high-ranking follower, but he was brewing several batches of Voldemort's stamina potion. The Dark Lord felt stronger than ever. He had no clue that what he felt was in illusion. Severus and Hermione had reworked the potion so that with one word, during the final battle, Voldemort's power would begin to decrease significantly. It would allow Harry to meet him on a more even plane.

As the ballroom of the Riddle home filled to capacity, the Dark Lord walked to his throne. Along with him he dragged a woman on a leash. She was the only prisoner alive from the St. Mungo's attack, other than the escaped Neville, and he was looking forward to new prisoners soon.

"We are close, my followers, very close," he said. "In three weeks we will be hailed as conquerors. I have decided to send groups of attackers to Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley on Sunday morning, December twenty-third. The rest of you will form the third group, to accompany me to Hogwarts a few hours later, while the Aurors are busy with the other two groups. The school will by that time be almost empty during winter break. We must take Hogwarts. It will serve as my new home and the central location for the new order of the wizarding world. No one can stop us, no one."

Lucius looked towards the potions laboratory entrance; he noticed a shadow and knew it was Severus listening. He then scanned the room and caught sight of Rodolphus who looked on with a blank expression.

As they all listened on, Voldemort began to separate those in attendance into three groups. The group going to Hogwarts included Lucius, Rodolphus, Goyle senior and his son, and Crabbe senior. Crabbe's son had been Voldemort's most recent victim several days prior; his crime was that he'd arrived five minutes late.

As Voldemort dismissed those in attendance, leaving them with the task of gathering those lesser Death Eaters that had been assigned to them, Lucius and Severus nodded towards each other, their signal that they would speak of this at an Order meeting that evening. Rodolphus was in a small group of Death Eaters speaking in hushed tones. Lucius noticed they seemed nervous, and decided to ask Rodolphus about the gathering at a later time. Right now he needed to get back home and tell Albus to call the Order members for the impromptu meeting.

After Lucius left, Severus finished his final potions and delivered them to Voldemort. While he knew the Dark Lord would summon him one more time before the battle, Severus decided he would not come. This would be the last time anyone would see "Higgenbottom" at the Riddle home. The potion was doing its job, Lucius and Rodolphus were gathering information, and there was little more he could do at this point. The rest would be up to Harry.

He returned to Hogwarts. Slowly and deep in thought, Severus walked to his rooms. The time was drawing near, and he wondered now if he would make it through the battle with his life. A year ago he really wouldn't have cared what happened to him. Living or dying, it made no difference to him. But now, things were different. He had Hermione to think about.

"Hermione," he whispered to himself as he stopped and leaned against the wall. What would she do if anything happened to him? Worse, what if something happened to her during the battle? She'd made it abundantly clear to him that she wasn't going anywhere. While he did make her promise to stay away from the inner core of the battle, she would still be there, and anything could happen. He knew that if Hermione died during the battle, he would soon follow her; there was no life for him if she were not there to share his joys. He also decided that should he die, she would be provided for.

He'd sold his small home at Spinner's End years ago and purchased a two-story Victorian near Hogwarts. Severus spent most of the year at Hogwarts, and had managed to save a good amount of money for what he'd hoped to be his future after all of this Voldemort business was over and done with. There was a small shop space he'd had his eye on for a while in London. He lived in the Wizarding world, but more and more he wanted to open a small shop in Muggle London. It would be something small where people could come and read a book, or have a cup of tea or coffee, perhaps with something to eat. During his time with Hermione, he'd often thought of asking her to venture into this new life with him, but if it happened that he didn't make it through the war, he wanted Hermione to have the opportunity to carry the dream for both of them.

As he reached his room, he heard soft music playing on the other side of the door. Hermione loved her music, and he found that he had also grown to like some of her music tastes. Gripping the knob, he opened the door and found her grading papers while sitting on his favorite chair, next to the fire.

"Hello, love." Hermione smiled and set her work down, and crossed the room. She noticed a worried look on his face. "What's wrong, Severus? Did something happen this evening?"

Severus kissed her and held her tightly.

"He's set a date." Severus pulled back from her and looked into her eyes. "December twenty-third."

"That's only three weeks from today," said Hermione in shock.

The Order had hoped to have more time to prepare. They both knew that if the battle was to begin three weeks from that day, it would make sense to attack Voldemort before then and try to catch him off guard.

"Severus, do you think we have enough time to plan a first strike in such short time? There are just so many things that need to be done."

He took Hermione by the hand and walked to the chair she'd risen from earlier. He sat down and moved her to sit on his lap.

"I don't know, Hermione. At this point, I think our greatest advantage is knowing where and when he will attack. We may as well wait for him to come to us."

Hermione looked at the clock on the mantle. "Come, we are to meet Albus and some of the others in Albus' office."

He kissed her again, and they both Flooed to the Headmasters office.

After leaving the Riddle mansion, Lucius stopped by Hogwarts to set up tonight's Order meeting with Albus, and to give him a report of what Voldemort had announced. He then arrived back at Malfoy Manor in much the same condition as Severus had, deep in thought. When he walked into the house, he heard the others coming from the dining room.

"Lucius, you've just missed dinner," said Ginny as she approached him. Ginny had been living fulltime at Malfoy Manor now for two weeks, and at least once a week everyone ate together.

Draco and Harry stood hand-in-hand, as Neville stood behind them with a young woman at his side. Neville had stayed in the guesthouse with Draco and Harry for a week after his rescue from Voldemort, but then moved back to his home. New wards surrounding his property allowed him to feel safe and know when any intruders were about the grounds. But Neville was alone, and often was a guest at the Malfoy home.

"I'm sorry, but..." Lucius noticed the young woman and knew to keep his words vague. "My business meeting ran a bit late."

"Is everything all right, Father?" asked Draco.

Lucius nodded. "Yes, we can speak more on it in a bit. Neville, who is this lovely young lady?" asked Lucius. He knew that Draco and Harry must have made it possible for the young lady to enter the warded home, so they had some trust in her.

Neville nervously approached Lucius with his friend. Lynnette was aware that she was in a different world, but she did not realize she was in the presence of a man who had at one point made it his life's mission to assist the Dark Lord in his extermination of Muggles.

"This is Lynnette Wilkins, sir. She's a Muggle from America. She's now living in Britain. We've recently met. Um..." Neville nervously looked from the young lady to Lucius. "She's...she's my girlfriend."

Lucius smirked; he was quite amused. His feelings towards Muggles had changed, but he realized that the young Longbottom was clearly afraid of what his reaction might be. It also gave Lucius a warm feeling in his heart knowing that the young man might have brought the woman here for his approval; it was much like a child would wish for the approval of a parent. Lucius knew that Neville was a good man, whose life had changed at such a young age. Much of that was due in part to his own deeds. Bella gave her life to save the boy, to make up for her taking his parents from him. It was now Lucius' task to continue what his sister-in-law had begun.

Like the perfect gentleman that he was, Lucius took hold of Lynnette's hand and bowed gracefully, and kissed the back of her hand.

"I am quite please to meet you, Ms. Wilkins. Welcome to my home."

Lynnette smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. You have a lovely home."

"You are welcome here anytime." Lucius stepped back and began to take off his cloak. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to change. Draco, Harry, I need to speak with you regarding my meeting."

Draco and Harry nodded, knowing this was their cue to ready themselves to meet with the rest of the Order tonight.

Lucius took Ginny by the hand and they both walked up to their room.

"We should be getting along. Lynnette has an early day tomorrow," said Neville.

"All right, mate. Thanks for stopping by," said Harry as he and Draco accompanied the two to the edge of the property.

"You see, Lynn, I told you Mr. Malfoy would like you," said Neville quietly as they reached the point of Apparition.

"He looks quite nice," Lynnette said, smiling.

They waved goodbye to Harry and Draco before Neville Apparated with her.

Draco and Harry held hands as they walked back towards the house.

"Lucius looked a bit worried," said Harry.

Draco squeezed his hand.

"Dad has been telling me we're getting closer and closer to all of this ending." Draco stopped and turned to Harry. "I'm afraid, Harry. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Harry shook his head. "Nothing is going to happen to me. For the first time in my life I really think that I can beat him."

"You'd better, because I'll never forgive you if you go and die on me, Harry Potter."

As the two young men embraced each other, Lucius watched from his bedroom window. He felt Ginny's hand on his shoulder and turned.

"Ready?" he asked.

Ginny nodded and they walked down to the entrance hall. Once Harry and Draco joined them, they all Apparated to Hogwarts.

When they arrived in Albus' office, they were in time to hear Ron in mid-rant.

"It doesn't make any sense," stated the youngest Weasley son. "By catching them off-guard we'd lose the opportunity to capture a good many of his Death Eaters. We could spend the next ten years trying to track them down."

Lucius, Ginny, Draco and Harry entered and sat near the rest of the Weasley clan. Arthur quietly told the newcomers what they had missed.

"Ron is right, Albus," chimed Remus. "I understand that this is the best way of keeping our losses down, but in the long run, think of how many people could die at the hands of rough Death Eaters."

Severus stood and walked towards Albus' desk. "Albus, they all make good points. And I have to say, I agree. I want this to end once and for all. I don't want to spend my entire life looking over my shoulder."

Albus rubbed his face. He'd begun the meeting with a plan of early attack, yet the younger wizards made a good point. They wanted to sit back and let Voldemort bring the fight to them. It made sense.

"We have the date, Albus, so we are more prepared than they are. We know what is coming, they do not," offered Lucius from the back of the room.

Albus nodded.

"Very well, then we shall wait and we shall prepare." The old wizard stood and walked around his desk. "Arthur, we need every Auror from every point on this earth to be here and ready. Above all, it is imperative that the school not be breached."

Before everyone left, Albus and Arthur assigned everyone to a different group. Bill and Charlie would accompany Moody to Hogsmeade, where they would meet with other Order members and one hundred Aurors in different locations throughout the town. Remus, Tonks and Kingsley would join Arthur and the Weasley twins at Diagon Alley.

Albus, Minerva and the rest of the teachers would keep the school from being entered. Molly, Ginny and Hermione would also be inside the school. Severus and Lucius would be in charge of the grounds. It was important to make sure the fighting was kept outside the castle. Draco and Ron would protect Harry, to make sure that nothing got in the way of him reaching Voldemort.

Albus approached Lucius as Order members began to leave. "I had hoped to use the model of the Riddle house, but our work seems to have been for naught."

"Not necessarily," said Severus from behind them. "The Riddle home is his sanctuary. If he does survive the battle but we destroy his home, he cannot have anything to go back to."

Lucius smiled. "He will have nowhere to hide, nowhere to regenerate."

Albus nodded and looked at the small model of the Riddle home on the table next to his desk. "I will destroy the house then, when the fighting begins. We must make sure that Nagini is also destroyed." Albus walked away and left Severus and Lucius to themselves.

"Lucius, I need a favor."

"You need only ask, Severus."

"I need to speak to your solicitor. There are a few things I would like to..."Severus looked around, making sure Hermione and Ginny were still on the other side of the room talking to Minerva and Molly. "I need to make some arrangements."

Giving him a knowing look, Lucius nodded.

"I understand. I will have him contact you tomorrow."

The following day, Severus received an owl from Maximilian Oberon, Lucius' solicitor. Maximilian was paid to keep secrets, therefore Lucius made it very clear that no one was to know of his contact with Severus, who was still believed dead. Severus communicated his needs to the solicitor, who prepared the documents and met him at Malfoy Manor. There, Oberon and Lucius witnessed his signature on the documents.]

Severus felt relief wash over him as he Apparated back to Hogwarts. If he died during the final battle, he knew that Hermione would be taken care of. He would now be able to concentrate on the task at hand, and ready himself for the defeat of the Dark Lord.

For his part, Lucius had already met with Mr. Oberon. The majority of his properties and wealth would be distributed between Draco and Ginny, with a small portion going also to Neville. He hadn't said anything to Ginny about what he'd done, as he felt she would worry if he thought he was going to die during the battle. But the fact was he did feel his own mortality more and more in these days leading up to the planned date of Voldemort's attack.

The hours passed, and so did the days. Before they all realized, the eve of battle was finally upon them

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I still have a few more chapters, so this isn't quite going to finish in the next chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading.