Chapter 25: And, In the End ...

A/N: This chapter has been alpha-read by sshg316 and beta-read by Annie Talbot; it is still with Deemichelle and with my Brit-picker, Magically, who is on holiday. I will insert their corrections when I receive them.

Warning for minor character death.

There will be one more chapter after this one, my darlings. Thank you for sticking with me!

The Love You Take

Chapter 25: And, In the End ...

Voldemort stood over Hermione, his wand extended, and looked down into her white, tearful face. 'Has Dumbledore taught you to duel?' he sneered, nudging her fallen wand with one foot. 'Come, stand and fight...even Harry Potter was not afraid to duel with me, little Mudblood...'

Harry woke with a start, reaching for his wand even as his eyes opened.

'Look who's decided to join the party,' Ron said acidly, looking up from his Potions textbook. 'I wish I could drift off in the middle of studying.' He darted a sour look at Lavender, who was assiduously reading over Parvati's Divination notes.

'Less than two months to our N.E.W.T.s,' Lavender replied without looking up. 'You can sleep when we've passed and got our qualifications.'

The Gryffindor Common Room was crowded with seventh-years studying for their N.E.W.T.s and fifth-years studying for their O.W.L.s. The scattered students from the other forms were engaged in recreational pursuits, but most of the students who had remained behind for the Easter holidays were there to prepare for examinations. Harry had been sprawled in one of the squishy armchairs before the fire ... and he had dreamt that Voldemort had Hermione. That wasn't possible, was it? Hermione was with Snape, in Yorkshire, and although Harry loathed his Potions professor, he could not deny that the git was good at keeping students safe.

He sat up, rubbing the heels of his hands against his eyes, and picked up his Charms notes, attempting to concentrate on the theory behind a proper Shield Charm.

A few minutes later, a sleek eagle owl flew in the window, directly to Harry; it dropped a letter in his lap, then wheeled in the air and flew out again. Harry stared at the envelope in his hands, which had a bit of a bump in the middle, as if it contained a hard object. The handwriting was vaguely familiar...where had he seen it before?

With mounting dread, he ripped the envelope open, and a girl's hair slide fell into his hand.

'What's that, mate?' Ron inquired, now watching his friend with some concern.

Harry wordlessly set the slide on the table at his side and extracted the folded parchment from the envelope; as his fingertips touched the parchment, his scar seared with pain. Clutching at his forehead with one hand, he twitched the note open and read.

I have your Mudblood friend, Harry. She begs for her life very nicely. Do not delay. Come to the Centaurs' Clearing in the Forbidden Forest to meet me, and I will release her to you. Come alone, or she will die. It is time for you to meet with Lord Voldemort, wizard to wizard.

Be there before sunset, or suffer the consequences.

Lord Voldemort

With each word Harry read, the pain increased in his head until he was nearly blind with it. The words blurred before his eyes, and he dropped the note as if it burnt him, for he had recalled when and where he had seen the handwriting before: when he was twelve years old, in the diary of Tom Riddle.

Lavender leant past Ron and picked up the hair slide. 'Who would mail you Hermione's hair clip?' she said, perplexed.

Harry stuffed the parchment back in his pocket and stood, moving away from the table, clutching at his head. He hadn't been dreaming ... he'd been seeing through Voldemort's eyes. Tom Riddle had Hermione, and he had sent Harry her hair slide to prove it.

He had to go and get her.

At the decision, the pain in his scar receded, and he was able to raise his head and look out the window. He had to be in the Centaurs' Clearing by sunset, and it was already late afternoon. There was no time to waste.

He turned from the window and found himself nose-to-chin with Ron. Neville stood uncertainly at Ron's elbow, with an obstinate look on his round face.

'What's up, Harry?' Ron asked urgently. 'Who sent you that letter?'

Harry spoke quietly, pitching his words for their ears alone. 'Voldemort,' he rasped.

'What?' Ron squawked, his voice breaking.

'He has Hermione...'

'But she's with Snape!' Ron exclaimed, aghast. 'How did You-Know-Who get her?'

'I don't know,' Harry said, 'but if I don't meet him alone in the Forbidden Forest, he'll kill her.'

Ron scowled. 'I'll bet Snape took her to him,' he snarled.

'Let's tell Dumbledore!' Neville interrupted. 'He'll know what to do!'

Harry shook his head stubbornly. 'He'll never let me go alone,' he said.

'We're not going to let you go alone, mate,' Ron said, his hand closing convulsively over the handle of his wand, sheathed at his belt. 'Are we going now?'

Harry shook his head impatiently. 'Alone, Ron...I can't take you with me.' Panic was rising in Harry; he had to get to Hermione. 'I need you to call for Dumbledore's Army,' he said desperately, glancing from Ron to Neville. 'Organise a defence of the castle...I'm counting on you to do it.'

Neville looked ever more mulish, but Ron nodded. 'All right, Harry...we'll gather the DA. You watch your back, all right?'

'Yeah, thanks,' Harry said, relieved. 'I'll bring her back,' he promised, heading for the portrait hole.

---

Directed thence by a house-elf, Severus entered the underground cavern beneath Malfoy Manor and strode quickly to the Dark Lord. Going down on one knee, he bowed his head and said, 'I have done as you instructed, My Lord. Dumbledore is scrambling to defend Hogsmeade.'

'You may rise,' the Dark Lord replied. 'Morgen will set forth momentarily, and I will proceed with the rest of my plan.'

'Indeed, My Lord?' Severus said, infusing just the right amount of courteous curiosity into his voice.

The Dark Lord's uncanny red eyes rested upon Severus' face. 'I will finally make good use of your Mudblood, Severus,' he said.

Icy fear suffused Severus' body. 'Excellent, My Lord,' he said, thankful for the commonplace tone of his voice. 'In what way will she serve you?'

'I have ordered Dolohov and Wormtail to collect her from your grandmother's home,' Lord Voldemort informed him. 'I have sent to notify Potter that his Mudblood friend is in my possession and that he is to meet me in the Forbidden Forest alone, before sunset, if he wishes to save her.' His chuckle was cold and mirthless. 'I think that should serve to motivate him, don't you?'

Severus nodded blandly, his mind gathering and assimilating information even as he frantically tried to think of a way to prevent this from occurring. 'Yes, Potter is unable to resist the opportunity to play the hero,' he said disdainfully. 'Does he know where in the Forest to find you, My Lord, or will we capture him as he wanders about, searching for you?'

'The centaurs have the space nearest the centre of the Forest,' the older wizard said. 'I have instructed him to meet me there.'

Severus nodded. 'And the centaurs have agreed to ally themselves with us?' he asked, knowing full well the answer to that question.

'No,' the Dark Lord replied shortly, obviously annoyed. 'The centaurs have suffered an unfortunate attack upon their village and have gathered there to protect their mates and their young. Sadly, they have been trapped in a great net and are pinned down, one and all.' His Lordship flicked a speck of dust from his sleeve, apparently bored.

'When do we expect Dolohov and Pettigrew to return?' Severus asked, projecting idle curiosity.

A small frown touched the snake-like face. 'I do not know what can be detaining them,' he admitted.

A cold smile touched Severus' lips. 'Perhaps Grandmother insisted upon tea,' he said. 'Perchance I could go to free my brothers from my grandmother's hospitality,' he added smoothly, distaste for the term brothers causing bile to rise in his throat.

The door to the underground chamber opened, and Severus could hear Lucius' and Morgen's voices. The Dark Lord looked at him for a moment, then nodded his acquiescence. 'Yes, Severus, you may do that. Bring the girl back to me.'

Severus made a profound bow, then turned on the spot and Disapparated.

---

He slipped into the Prince House kitchen from the back garden, looking about for signs of the presence of Dolohov and Pettigrew. Fighting panic, he sought out his grandmother.

The old lady and Scampy met him in the entrance hall, the stained glass window on the landing above bathing the light with jewel-toned colour.

'She is safe, Severus,' his grandmother said bracingly, before he could speak. 'Scampy got her away before the Death Eaters found her.'

Severus turned his eyes to Scampy; there was no need to speak.

'Scampy did as Master Severus asked,' the little house-elf squeaked. 'Miss Hermione knows to go to Hogwarts without being seen and to wait for Master Severus to come for her.'

Severus felt a slight loosening of the seeming block of ice surrounding all of his internal organs. 'And the intruders?' he demanded.

Scampy held out one fist, as if to hand him something, and Severus reciprocated, extending his hand, palm up. Without speaking, Scampy dropped a small, shiny item there. Severus raised it to his eyes, and a grim smile touched his thin lips: it was a silver rat's paw.

'There's no need to investigate the cellars,' his grandmother said comfortably. 'There's nothing to see.'

He pocketed the silver object. 'You're confident that she's safe?' he asked.

'She's a clever, competent witch,' his grandmother reminded him sharply. 'She is fully capable of following your instructions, and I am confident she escaped safely to Hogsmeade.'

Severus thanked Grandmother and Scampy and turned into his Apparition, hoping desperately that Hermione had not seen fit to tarry in Hogsmeade on her journey to Hogwarts...and to safety.

---

Neville stared at Ron as if at a stranger. 'I can't believe you just did that!' he said, backing away from him. 'He's going to get himself killed!'

Ron gave Neville a withering look. 'Use that brain of yours!' he said fiercely, his ears turning an alarming shade of red. 'He was never going to agree to us going with him...we're going to have to follow him and watch his back!' Ron glanced over his shoulder to the table of friends watching them tensely. 'Ginny, go see if he makes it out of the castle and which way he goes. Neville, set the fake Galleon for the DA to meet us in the Room of Requirement.' With a rather becoming air of authority, Arthur Weasley's youngest son straightened his back and said, 'This is it...we're moving against...' He stumbled over the name, but his vivid memory of Hermione's insistence upon using it steeled his resolve '...Voldemort.'

In the next moment, the room was full of people moving in every direction, preparing to march to Harry's defence.

---

When Severus came again to the Dark Lord, he found him in the dining room of Malfoy Manor. The walls of the room were lined with cloaked Death Eaters; undoubtedly, the time was near for the Dark Lord to move into action.

'You do not bring the girl to me?' the Dark Lord said peevishly.

'She is with my brothers, My Lord,' Severus replied simply, his head bowed. 'My grandmother served them tea, then they went upstairs to fetch the girl, and Grandmother did not see them again.' He waited at the madman's feet, relaxing every muscle in anticipation of the anger with which His Lordship frequently met bad news.

'I have no time for this now,' the Dark Lord said testily. 'I shall deal with them later. I do not, after all, actually need the girl to make Potter believe that I have her.' He surged to his feet, commanding, 'Arise!' and Severus instantly obeyed.

The Dark Lord motioned impatiently, and Lucius came forward with a goblet in one hand, followed by Goyle senior, escorting a young witch with a firm grip upon her elbow. The young woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and she bore an unfortunate resemblance to Goyle; Severus recognised her as Gregory's older sister, Gretchen. She appeared frightened, but she was not struggling against her father's grip upon her.

His Lordship reached into his robes and extracted a few hairs, which he dropped into the brownish gloppy substance in the goblet; the contents began to froth and turned a clear shining gold.

With rising dread and disgust, Severus watched Gretchen Goyle willingly take up the goblet and swallow the contents; in mere moments, the large, bulky witch transformed into Hermione Granger. Severus bore down hard to prevent himself from betraying any dismay at this turn of events; he cultivated an air of patient boredom whilst quashing his revulsion.

'We have one hour,' the Dark Lord said, eyeing his fake hostage critically. 'Would you take her for the Mudblood, Severus?'

Severus forced himself to look Gretchen's Polyjuiced form up and down once. 'As long as she does not move about or open her mouth, Potter should be taken in,' he said coolly.

The Dark Lord turned abruptly to face Severus. 'Go to Hogwarts, Severus, to see how Dumbledore's plans progress, and then make sure Potter has set out alone to meet me in the Forbidden Forest. After he had departed, my Death Eaters will attack the castle, so that Dumbledore will be too preoccupied to run after his favourite boy.'

'And where shall I come to make my report to you, My Lord?' he asked.

'Why, to the Centaurs' Clearing, of course,' the Dark Lord replied with the glimmer of a smile upon his lips. 'Do you not wish to see Potter's end?'

---

Severus moved along the periphery of Hogsmeade, Disillusioned, scarcely noticing the furtive lurking of Tonks and two unnamed Aurors behind the Hogs Head. He had seen Morgen and her small group of Death Eaters slinking through the trees on the other side of the town. Undoubtedly, the villagers and their supporters would provide a nasty shock for Morgen's band of marauders.

He hastened along the lane towards the school, his eyes searching everywhere for Hermione. Had she already made it to the castle? Had she found Potter, giving the lie to the Dark Lord's ruse? Or was she in his dungeon quarters, even now, waiting for him to return? Ruthlessly, he repelled the rising desire to see her, to hold her and lose himself in her sweet certainty. She was his standard, not his safe haven...she was his reason, not his reward.

He would do well to remember that.

With a non-verbal incantation, he passed through the chained gates as if he were a mist rather than a corporeal man, and his strides lengthened again, carrying him towards the castle. Constantly surveying his surroundings, he saw a flicker of movement in the distance, just beyond Hagrid's hut, and Fang, the drooling boarhound, bounded across the small garden, barking. The flicker solidified into the figure of Potter, repulsing the joyful advances of Hagrid's unruly pet dog as he struggled to settle the Invisibility Cloak over himself again.

Bugger fucking hell! Potter and that Invisibility Cloak! How was Severus supposed to follow after the boy and keep him out of trouble if he couldn't see him? Well, at least he knew Potter's destination; in this case, it would have to do.

Muttering dark imprecations, Severus mentally checked an item from his list: Potter was setting out alone to meet the Dark Lord.

Avoiding the great oaken doors leading into the castle's Entrance Hall, Severus skirted the building, intending to use the kitchen entrance near the vegetable garden. He narrowly avoided ploughing directly into Ronald Weasley, who stood sentry at the near corner of the ancient stone walls, his arm raised as if to halt a column of marching foot soldiers. Giving Weasley wide berth, he was grimly pleased to see the group of students at his back; they were of that motley group calling themselves Dumbledore's Army. Potter was hopeless in many ways, but there was no denying he had inspired devotion in this lot and had used his dismal so-called competence in defence to train them in duelling skills.

Potter wouldn't be going into battle alone, then. Severus hoped it would be enough.

Severus would have to make sure of it.

He found Dumbledore in the War Room, staring into one of the bowls of gently rippling water, murmuring incantations under his breath.

'What news, Severus?' the headmaster said, never looking away from what he saw in the water.

'The Dark Lord has lured Potter out of the castle,' Severus stated baldly.

Albus Dumbledore tore his attention from the distant movements of the puppets he had set in motion and stared at Severus with sheer disbelief. 'Impossible!' the old man declared. 'I had Dobby check on him...he was dozing over his schoolbooks!'

Severus sneered. 'Do you imagine that house-elf's loyalty to you exceeds his devotion to Potter? Call him and see if his hands aren't in bandages from punishing himself for lying to you!'

Dumbledore sat, as if suddenly bereft of the ability to stand. 'Why did Harry not come to me?'

'He believes the Dark Lord has Miss Granger,' Severus informed him. 'The Dark Lord does not have her, of course; Grandmother got her safely away...but Potter believes it and has set out to retrieve her.'

'I must go to him,' Dumbledore said, reaching blindly for his wand.

'You cannot,' Severus snarled. 'A contingent of Death Eaters will march upon the castle, next...the Dark Lord means to take the school, kill Potter, and begin his reign in possession of the students and teachers who survive the siege.'

Dumbledore looked at him bleakly. 'Who will help him?' he whispered. 'I meant to stand with him ... or die trying.'

A sneer curled Severus' lip. 'We are not always privileged to do what we had intended,' he said bitterly. He looked down at the man who had condemned and forgiven him, denigrated and encouraged him, loathed and loved him, and he felt a moment of his greatest weakness...compassion. 'Leave it to me, Albus,' he said quietly.

Dumbledore lunged across the table, fisting Severus' cloak in one age-spotted hand. 'You'll do this for me, Severus?' he said desperately. 'Lily would thank you ...'

At the mention of her name, Severus wrenched his clothing from the old man's claw and stepped back, out of reach. 'I'll do it,' he ground out, 'if you agree to do something for me.'

'Yes,' the headmaster said distractedly, 'of course, Severus...whatever you need ....'

'Headmaster!' he said sharply and was rewarded by the blue eyes fastening on his face. 'In the event that I die and the Dark Lord survives,' Severus said, 'Miss Granger will still be under the curse with no hope of surcease.'

Dumbledore's nostrils flared, and Severus knew the old man was recoiling in distaste from the mental image of a sexually needy Hermione Granger being sated by her Potions professor. Exasperated, he continued implacably, 'You must provide relief, by the only means possible.'

The headmaster's eyes grew wide with consternation. 'She's just a girl ... so many have already died ...'

Incensed, Severus slapped his palms upon the tabletop. 'I'll have your word, old man,' he snarled.

The aged head bowed into trembling hands, and Severus felt rage mounting in him as the old fool dithered over the inevitable. At last, Fawkes fluttered from his perch, landing with a soft cooing sound upon Dumbledore's shoulder, from whence he proceeded to fill the room with phoenix song. Severus felt his anger recede as illogical hope touched his mind, and as he watched Dumbledore, he saw the old man visibly gather himself and rise to his feet.

'You have my word, Severus,' the headmaster said. 'Go...render Harry all the aid you can...and I shall raise the defence of the castle.'

And then the old man did the unthinkable...he held out his hand to Severus Snape. 'Good luck,' he said simply.

Severus stood like a statue, staring first at the old man's face, then at his hand...what was he playing at? There was no time for these theatrics.

Without speaking again, Severus turned and left.

On the ground floor, he knocked upon the door of the classroom which had been transformed into a replica of a forest clearing, and hearing the invitation, he entered.

Firenze, the Divination teacher, looked at him with calm dignity. 'Professor Snape,' he said formally, bowing his head in respect. 'What tidings do you bring?'

Dispensing with ceremony, Severus spoke bluntly. 'The Dark Lord has your fellows trapped in the Forest, and I think the Light will be in dire need of their friendship before this day is done.' He withdrew his offering from an inner pocket and extended it to the proud centaur. 'Are you familiar with how to use these?'

Firenze approached him and accepted the heavy golden scissors from Severus' hand. 'Enchanted?' he inquired, demonstrating his knowledge of how to use the implement.

'Yes,' Severus replied. 'Hopefully they will suffice to break through the enchanted net within which the other centaurs are trapped.'

Firenze turned aside and secreted the scissors in his quiver before slinging it over his shoulder and picking up his bow. 'You understand that I cannot promise you the cooperation of the centaurs in your human endeavour?' he said gravely.

'I understand,' Severus said, choosing his words carefully, 'but you may yet find this to be not only your opportunity to reach an understanding with your fellows, but an opportunity for all centaurs to show loyalty to Dumbledore for his years of defence of your kind in the affairs of humans.' He shrugged, then. 'Dumbledore understands that centaurs do not share his view of the urgency of the Dark Lord's defeat, but he nevertheless asks for your assistance.'

Firenze regarded him soberly. 'You do not speak for Dumbledore,' he said acutely. When Severus opened his mouth to respond, Firenze held up his hand. 'Your request will, nevertheless, be presented to the centaurs as you have stated it.'

Severus bowed politely and turned to go.

'And Professor Snape?'

Severus stopped with his hand upon the door handle. 'Yes?' he said.

'The heart of the female you love is full of love for you, and because of that, she will fight like a warrior.'

Severus' heart contracted in fear at these words...how he hoped she would steer clear of trouble!...but he recognised that the news was given in good faith, as payment in kind for his intervention on behalf of the centaurs.

'Thank you,' he said and left the room.

---

After walking steadily into the trees for over twenty minutes, Harry felt a sudden jolt of delight, and he knew he was feeling Voldemort's unholy joy and that it could be for nothing good. Determinedly, he continued into the heart of the primeval forest.

At the same moment, Dumbledore stumbled to the window, and Severus paused in the middle of the castle's kitchen garden, his eyes riveted on the sky: the Dark Mark rose inexorably over Hogsmeade.

---

Hermione felt adrenaline flood her body as if a phial of pure energy had been tipped into her bloodstream. Strapping her bag across her chest from shoulder to hip, she took her wand in hand and Disillusioned herself. Madam Prince's words from that morning...about how she lacked the ability to recover from offensive spells, particularly Dark ones...flashed through her mind, but she pushed those thoughts away. Death Eaters were attacking Hogsmeade, and she had to help, if she could.

Beginning to run, she moved through the trees towards the village, every sense alert for danger. She heard them before she saw them: black-cloaked, masked intruders stalking the High Street, blasting open the doors of the businesses and homes and shouting for the inhabitants to come out. The leader of this group of Death Eaters paced in the middle of the deserted street, shouting instructions. Hermione stared at this hooded, masked figure, trying to determine who it was.

But the greater question was, where were the villagers? Why were the businesses deserted at this time of day? Circling back behind the buildings, Hermione moved swiftly along, bent nearly double, trying to keep her breathing even enough not to interfere with her hearing. Thus occupied, she was knocked breathless when she collided with another Disillusioned figure, and the two of them fell in a tangle of confused limbs.

'Stand in the name of Magical Law Enforcement!' a voice ordered her, prodding her stomach with the wand trapped betwixt their bodies.

Hermione gasped. 'Tonks!' she said. 'It's me...Hermione.'

Dropping their Disillusionment Charms simultaneously, the two girls grinned at one another. 'Wotcher, Hermione,' Tonks said. 'Now, get yer arse into the Hogs Head, there's a good girl.'

'Forget it,' Hermione responded, standing again. 'There are Death Eaters in the village...you need every wand you can get.'

Tonks eyed her speculatively for a moment, then shrugged. 'You're of age,' she said. 'Come on, then. I only came this way because you tripped Aberforth's alarm.' And turning with an agility which belied her frequent clumsiness, the Auror led the way back the way she had come.

As they rounded the last building and came onto the High Street again, Hermione could see that the villagers had surrounded the Death Eaters, coming up either end of the street, fanned out so the Death Eaters could not get past them.

'We're aiming to Stun them,' Tonks said, 'then bundle them off to Azkaban to await their trials. But do what you have to do, Hermione.'

'I will,' Hermione promised.

Tonks ran down the street towards the duelling wizards and witches, and Hermione followed her. Hermione was surprised to see that what had seemed like a huge number of Death Eaters when she had first seen them turned out to be no more than fifteen or so, in reality. Spells flashed and banged in flares of primary colours, and Hermione was appalled to see villagers falling to the wands of the trapped Death Eaters. One flash of green followed quickly upon another, and Hermione redoubled her speed; it appeared that the Death Eaters had not received the memo about duelling only to Stun. With a shout of pure anger, she directed a spell at the attacker who had dealt out two Killing Curses in a row.

'Petrificus Totalus!' she cried, and she watched with satisfaction as the Death Eater stiffened and keeled over.

The air was full of noise and screams and moving bodies; Hermione was frightened, but all she could do was focus her wand on the opponents before her. Again and again she cast her Shield Charms, followed by spells designed to disarm or disable; she would not attempt actual harm.

After what seemed an eternity, a great concussive spell blasted from the centre of the battling group, and Hermione and the other defenders were knocked from their feet; only the Death Eaters located in the middle remained standing. A mad, feminine laugh came from one of them, and then there was a rush of flying feet as all Death Eaters save the laughing one scattered in every direction.

'Stand!' the female screeched at their retreating backs, throwing her head back in her rage, and her hood fell, revealing her disordered red hair.

'Morgen,' Hermione breathed, her hand tightening upon the handle of her wand.

The fleeing Death Eaters paid no heed to the threats directed at them by their erstwhile leader, and it became quickly apparent that Morgen felt now that retreat was the better part of valour. Glancing about at the fallen villagers and the Aurors who had moved to bind and transport the disabled Death Eaters, Hermione realised that no one else was paying the least mind to the sole remaining attacker. As Morgen began her solitary strategic retreat, Hermione barrelled after her, intent upon preventing Morgen's escape.

Taking aim as well as she could whilst running at full tilt, she cast a Stunning Spell, only to have it bounce back off Morgen's strong Shield Charm. Now aware that she was being pursued, Morgen whirled to fight, and the sight of Hermione seemed to enrage her.

'You Mudblood whore,' she screeched, casting a spell.

Hermione had the good sense to dive to one side and to roll, which meant that the Killing Curse hit an empty stretch of earth. Infuriated, she leapt to her feet. She cast the DA's variation on the standard Jelly Legs Curse, and when Morgen was immobilised by jittering legs which would not hold her weight, Hermione followed up with a vicious stinging hex, marking the redhead's unblemished cheek with an angry red welt.

'Let's see how you do fighting an armed opponent!' she cried angrily, advancing on Morgen, who was casting Finite Incantatem as she watched Hermione come.

'You dare raise your wand to me, Mudblood?' Morgen shouted, directing a slicing hex at her.

Hermione threw up the Shield Charm she had practiced so frequently that she felt she could cast and hold it in her sleep. The slicing hex failed to reach her, and she darted to one side, sending the same hex back at Morgen, moving ever closer.

'Oh, has the cat got your tongue?' Morgen asked, blocking Hermione's hex. 'No matter...after I kill you, I shall remove it from your filthy mouth with a Severing Charm and keep it as an ornament for my drawing room, as a warning to other jumped-up Mudblood tarts who get ideas above their station.'

Hermione's fury sent a blast of red light from her wand so intense that for a moment it seemed the entire world was bathed in her wrath. The Stunning Spell struck only the weak side of Morgen's shield, spinning her to one side; in that moment, it seemed that Morgen realised fighting Hermione was no sinecure, and she stopped her taunts, settling down to duel in earnest.

Hermione fought to win, fuelled by her loathing of Morgen Singer Leclercq. She felt as if she had swallowed a dose of Felix Felicis; certainty flowed through her wand with every spell she cast. Never had her focus in a duel been so intent. She fought with a ferocity she had never known she possessed, feeling as if she were defending not only herself, but everything she loved; the whole of the war was concentrated now between the two witches who fought one another so desperately: right versus wrong, good versus evil, Light versus Dark...love versus hate.

When Morgen reeled back from a particularly brutal Leg-Locker Curse, nearly losing her footing, Hermione gathered her strength to follow that up with a Stunner, but it seemed Morgen had reconsidered her decision to try her hand at putting Hermione in her place. The older witch cried, 'Tarantellegra!' and turned to run.

Hermione batted the curse away from her as if it were a bothersome fly, and when inspiration came, it was with a blinding clarity that brought a forbidding smile to her lips. It should work...if she just drew her wand through the air, as if tracing a line, she ought to be able to...

Without speaking a word, she gathered all her skill and flourished her wand; blue fire flew from her wand tip and streamed toward Morgen as if Hermione were holding a high-power hosepipe on her. Hermione watched the fire touch ground before Morgen, stretching thirty feet across; with a flick of her wrist, the bluebell-coloured fire grew to be a waist-high wall, preventing Morgen from retreating to the north.

Morgen darted then to her left, and with another flourish, Hermione sent the next firewall to prevent Morgen's retreat to the west. Frantic, Morgen whirled in the other direction, and irritated, Hermione flung the third stream of fire, uncaring of how close it came to striking the red-haired witch.

Morgen, who saw the new streak of blue flames coming for her, tried to outrun it, only to be stopped dead by a wall of fire which flashed up to shoulder height as she approached too close. Startled, she turned back the way she had come, and Hermione jerked her wrist, drawing a new line of shoulder-height fire just before Morgen's fleeing figure. Morgen emitted a high pitched scream, darting now towards the first line of fire Hermione had placed, but that line danced across the earth, flaring to a height above Morgen's head even as its heat pushed Morgen back towards Hermione.

With her teeth bared, there's nothing pretty in the least about Morgen Singer, Hermione decided as she determinedly maintained the walls of fire to the north, east, and west of the other witch. Hadn't Harry always been proud of her speciality, portable fires? Well, her affinity with fire was working to her advantage now...the only course left to Morgen was to run to Hermione.

She began moving in on the other woman, and Morgen seemed to lose control of herself, for she did not attempt to cast a single spell, but ran first this way and then that, looking for a way past the flames which now burned higher with every increase in Hermione's anger. At last, Morgen tripped over her own feet, and falling, she dropped her wand. It rolled away from her, and still, Hermione advanced upon her.

'I hate you!' Morgen screamed, her face twisted with hatred and fear. 'Die, you stupid cunt!' She reached wildly for her wand, only to have a rather grubby Muggle trainer come down on her wrist, pinning her wand hand to the ground.

Hermione, carefully keeping her wand trained on the twisting, screaming redhead, said, 'No you don't, Morgen.' Bringing all of her weight to bear on Morgen's wrist, she bent and picked up Morgen's wand. She looked at the wand which had empowered acts of Darkness and destruction, then looked into the insensate green eyes of its owner. 'You're over,' she said mercilessly, and without looking away from Morgen's eyes, she flung the wand into the towering blue flames nearest to her.

Morgen reacted with such primal ferocity that she was able to dislodge Hermione's foot. 'My wand!' she screamed, scrambling to her feet and cradling her broken wrist to her chest as she ran. She fell to her knees and thrust her other hand into the fire, but the wand had incinerated in the conflagration; there was nothing to retrieve.

Staggering again to her feet, she whirled on Hermione, madness gleaming in her eyes. One hand horribly burned, the other broken, she ran at Hermione, heedless of danger, completely beyond reason.

Hermione brought her wand to bear on the charging witch, feeling every indignity she had suffered at the other woman's hands coursing through her...remembering how Morgen had repeatedly betrayed Severus...and her magic roiled like magma. She could do it: she could bring enough hatred to the fore to cast an Unforgivable Curse, and Morgen would be dead, which she so richly deserved.

---

A nearly inhuman scream distracted Tonks from the report she was giving to Robards, the supervising Auror who had arrived to transport the prisoners to Azkaban. Immediately alert, she whirled around, looking for trouble. The sound had come from the direction of the turnstile leading out into the rocky hills, and she ran that way, her wand in her hand, with Robards at her heels.

She had run less than five yards when she saw the unnaturally blue flames rising into the sky and recognised Hermione standing in the midst of them. As Tonks watched, a black-cloaked Death Eater ran at Hermione, and Tonks did not hesitate; she raised her wand and cried, 'Stupefy!'

The red light shot through the blue flames, and the Death Eater dropped headlong. In an instant, the bluebell-coloured flames fell and extinguished, and Tonks rushed to her friend.

'Did she hurt you?' Tonks cried, even as ropes shot from her wand, firmly binding the Death Eater. She turned and looked closely at Hermione, who appeared pasty and unwell.

'No,' Hermione said. 'No, I'm not hurt...but I feel so odd...' Then she swayed on her feet and fell bonelessly to the ground, incapacitated as surely as if she had been hit by a Stunner, as well.

---

Severus cast another Disillusionment Spell and set out to follow the path taken by the Dumbledore's Army members. He knew that a contingent of Death Eaters were set to march on the castle, but another contingent would be staggered at intervals around the circumference of the Centaurs' Clearing, their mission to permit none but Potter to penetrate to the Dark Lord's position. He knew Dumbledore and the staff could defend Hogwarts; he was less sure of the DA members' abilities to defend themselves.

With anxiety for Hermione nagging at the back of his mind, he set off determinedly to follow Potter's defenders into the Forbidden Forest.

Fifteen minutes of his long-legged strides into the trees brought him to the stragglers of the DA. Dennis Creevey had to hurry to keep pace with the older students, and Longbottom and Ginevra Weasley formed the rearguard, their eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. Nodding with satisfaction that they had themselves in hand, Severus moved soundlessly abreast of the group and looked over each of them as he passed them by. He was pleased to see that none of them demonstrated fear to a debilitating degree; even the most timid of the group looked determined as they marched along behind Weasley.

A strangely echoing voice reverberated from behind them, saying, 'Morsmordre!' Severus whirled, as if expecting to see Death Eaters, but all he saw was the ever-darkening Forest, the trees growing so closely that he was unable to see aught but their trunks and branches.

'Look!' Luna Lovegood said in a penetrating whisper, and Severus was moved to look where she pointed, just as the students did. Up through the tree branches, a patch of the sky was visible, and its twilight hue was tinted a terrible green. Severus knew they were seeing the residue of the Dark Mark now cast over Hogwarts, and his own resolve hardened at the sheer wrongness that such a thing could happen.

'There's nothing we can do about that! Keep going!' Ginevra Weasley ordered them heatedly, and the DA stirred to life again, trudging on towards the Centaurs' Clearing with Severus moving along with them.

'Avada Kedavra!' a guttural voice cried, and Ernie Macmillan fell to the ground, lifeless eyes staring.

A group of six Death Eaters materialised from the murk, and the DA members raised their wands and began casting spells as one.

Severus did not wait to see how effective the students would be against these attackers; instead he shifted behind the DA and sent his spells over their shoulders, moving amongst them like a phantom, silent and unseen. In the wild flurry of spell-casting, it would be impossible to determine whose spell had felled an attacker. His first Full Body-Bind brought down Macmillan's murderer, the vicious Thorfinn Rowle. One of the students successfully Stunned Amycus Carrow, and Severus followed up with a Full Body-Bind on his sister, Alecto. The next hulking figure in black was the elder Crabbe, whom Severus felled with a resounding Stunner. Ronald Weasley needed no assistance to Stun the elder Goyle.

'Tie them up!' Longbottom called, coming forward to begin the job. 'And take their wands!'

Confident that the students would properly deal with the fallen, Severus moved forward, senses on high alert for the next wave of Death Eaters.

---

Harry climbed the steeply rising hill to the Centaurs' Clearing as the crimson rays of the setting sun were fractured by the limbs of the trees which ringed the sacred space. He had passed unseen through three groups of Death Eaters, but standing on the periphery of the clearing at the top of the rise, he saw that only two figures were awaiting him there: Voldemort and Hermione.

His stomach plummeted when he saw his second-best friend trussed hand-and-foot upon the ground at Voldemort's feet. Perhaps he could circle behind them, creep in and free Hermione, cover her in the Invisibility Cloak, and send her out of the Clearing before facing Voldemort. The chances of success seemed slim, but he had to try something.

---

The next group of Death Eaters encountered by the DA included ten of the black-cloaked Dark wizards. Ron felt that he spent far more time casting and holding his Shield Charm than he did actually duelling with the bad guys. Harry had always told them that being able to protect themselves in an attack was half the battle, and the DA had worked tirelessly on Shield Charms. Yet in spite of the fact that the DA members were getting off fewer offensive spells than the Death Eaters, the masked figures were being methodically felled by Stunners and Binding curses.

When the last of the attackers fell and the DA hurried forward to take their wands and tie them up, Ron turned to look suspiciously behind him. He met Ginny's eye, and the two of them demanded in unison, 'Who's there?'

The DA members paused and turned to stare at Ron and Ginny, but all that met their question was echoing silence, until a faint resonance of birdsong reached their ears, bringing feelings of confidence and Light. The eyes of the students stared up into the purpling evening sky to see a great crimson and gold bird fly overhead, streaming songs of hope trailing in its wake, filling its auditors with new determination to move forward to face whatever lay ahead of them.

Turning with their friends, Ron and Ginny helped to tie up the Death Eaters.

---

Along with the students, Severus lifted his face to see Fawkes flying overhead, and noted, even as inappropriate hope flooded him, that the phoenix was on course to reach the Centaurs' Clearing, as well.

For a moment, he was torn; it went against every instinct he had to leave students in possible danger, but it was time for him to make one of the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't decisions which had ever plagued his life.

His black eyes narrowed as he watched the members of Dumbledore's Army methodically shooting ropes from their wand-tips and collecting Death Eater wands. What this lot lacked in offensive capabilities, they had in spades in the ability to defend themselves from unfriendly spells; grudgingly, he had to admit that Potter had prepared them well.

Leaving Dumbledore's Army to the objective of guarding Potter's back, Severus moved forward into the murk at a near lope. His place was with Harry Potter when the boy finally stood to fight the Dark Lord.

---

Harry crept along the edge of the Clearing, five feet back into the tree line, his heart pounding loudly in his ears as he moved from tree to tree. The encircling Death Eaters were staggered at distances farther into the darkness of the trees, so he was able to move along swiftly, without having to go around potential enemy sentries.

He was directly behind Voldemort and Hermione when he heard Fawkes. Hope surged in his chest...help was coming! He watched breathlessly as the great phoenix dodged the jet of green fire Voldemort shot at it, then wheeled in midair and flew at Hermione, as if to bite through the ropes binding her.

'Gerroff!' Hermione screeched, bucking in the dirt, trying simultaneously to scare the bird away and to escape from it. 'My Lord! Don't let it hurt me!'

Harry's eyes narrowed, even as his lips compressed angrily. That wasn't Hermione! Voldemort had succeeded in fooling him again, just as he had done with Sirius, in the Department of Mysteries.

Standing straight, Harry shrugged off the Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it into his pocket before stepping forward into the Clearing, wand in hand.

Voldemort smiled mirthlessly. 'Welcome, Harry,' he said conversationally. 'You've arrived just in time to see me kill Dumbledore's bothersome bird.' Another greenish burst flowed toward Fawkes, and the great phoenix flew obligingly toward the beam of green, opening his beak to swallow the light. Next moment, Fawkes fell to the ground, a pile of ashes.

Harry forced himself to keep his eyes on Voldemort, his mind scrabbling for a plan...any plan...to put the Dark wizard down like a rabid dog.

Voldemort jerked his wand and the fake Hermione was levitated between them. 'Now, Harry,' Voldemort said, still as if they were chatting over tea, 'throw your wand to me, or I shall kill your friend.'

Harry shrugged. 'Do what you have to do,' he said. 'I don't know who that is, but it isn't Hermione. She would never have been afraid of Fawkes.'

The fake Hermione fell again to the dirt as Voldemort sneered at Harry. 'You heard that, did you?' Madness flared in the merciless red eyes, and without looking at her, Voldemort held his wand upon the Hermione look-alike, and the Killing Curse struck the young woman. 'She is of no use,' he explained to Harry, as a sweep of his wand caused the now-lifeless body to be sent flying heedlessly into the trees.

Harry's heart quailed at the effortless brutality, but still he forced himself to keep his eyes on the madman. Gathering his wits about him, he shouted, 'Expelliarmus!'

---

Severus stood over the body of Gretchen Goyle, transformed back to her own likeness in death, and watched in amazement as Potter attempted to use a second-year spell to defeat the greatest Dark wizard of all time. Had the boy lost what passed for his mind?

Voldemort's Protego was accompanied by a laugh. 'Do you imagine you will disarm Lord Voldemort, Harry? You have no more notion of how to stand before me than had your poor, dead, Mudblood mother.'

Potter fired up immediately, as the Dark Lord had known he would. 'Don't you talk about my mother, you murderer,' he snarled, casting a non-verbal spell. 'I loved my mother!' And as he spoke the word love, the spell glowed briefly gold, limning Potter in gilt.

Severus nodded to himself; rather than striking out at the Dark Lord, Potter had cast a defensive spell of some sort. That showed rather more sense than Severus had credited him with.

'What magic is this?' the Dark Lord demanded, frowning at the glimmer which now encapsulated the boy.

Severus frowned, as well. He was unaware of any defensive spell signature resembling Potter's aureate gleam. The boy did not speak, and Severus knew that Potter had no idea how he had created the glimmering golden spell. At any rate, the Dark Lord was unlikely to wish to chat about it. He darted between them, just as the former Tom Riddle levelled his wand upon Harry and said, 'Avada Kadavra!'

Severus hurled himself forward, shouting, 'Now, Potter! Now!' and awaiting the nothingness of death.

---

Harry stared in amazement as his Potions professor materialised out of nowhere, coming between him and the shaft of deadly green light rushing at him with the sound of an oncoming freight train. Acting on pure instinct, Harry thought of the love he had seen in Hermione's eyes when she looked at this man, and the golden capsule bulged outward, covering Snape and pulling him backwards, almost into Harry's arms. As the two collided, the Killing Curse burst on the golden lamina like a water balloon on a brick wall, colouring the world green for a moment, then sliding off harmlessly onto the ground.

'What the fuck are you doing, Potter?' Snape demanded, pushing away from him angrily, but the capsule wouldn't let him go far.

'I think I'm loving people,' Harry replied, not wishing for a moment to imply to the indignant Slytherin that Harry loved him specifically. 'Professor, I think we have to pull Voldemort in here with us.' As Harry spoke, he made an effort to push the enveloping membrane out to capture Voldemort, but he could not project it far enough. 'Help me,' he said, pushing again.

Snape was staring at him as if he were mad, his lips pulled back over bared uneven yellow teeth, through which he spoke. 'What are you babbling about?'

Harry gave Snape an encouraging nudge and began to walk towards Voldemort, who paced back and forth at a distance from them. It seemed that the snake-like wizard was shouting words at them, but they could not hear him within the capsule. 'Come on,' Harry said, 'we have to take it to him.'

Snape did not answer him, but he began to walk with Harry, and as they moved, the protective shield moved with them. 'Try to push it out to enclose him,' Harry told his teacher.

Snape seemed to try for a moment, with no result. 'Are you sure about this, Potter?' he snarled.

Harry closed his eyes and thought of his mother, letting himself feel his love for her. With his thought, the capsule expanded about them, allowing Snape to draw further away from him, which he promptly did.

'How do I push it?' Snape demanded.

'Love him?' Harry said to himself.

'What?' Snape shouted.

Harry pushed again, this time imagining the poor orphan boy in the Muggle orphanage; upon that thought, the capsule expanded again. 'We have to love him,' Harry said again, more firmly. 'We have to love Voldemort.'

Snape looked as if he wanted to hit him. 'You're raving, Potter.'

'Think about him as a little boy with no parents and no one to love him,' Harry said. 'You don't have to like him! Just feel compassion for the little boy ...'

Snape snarled swear words under his breath, but the Slytherin's eyes closed in concentration, and Harry felt the capsule enlarge a bit. 'That's it!' he whispered. 'You're doing it!'

Harry stared determinedly into the red eyes of Tom Riddle, and very much against the older wizard's will, Harry loved him. His effort, combined with Snape's, seemed not to double their results but to quadruple them. The gold-limned membrane billowed towards Voldemort until it enveloped him, as well.

Voldemort's unearthly screams rent the night but had no effect on the golden bubble. Harry slammed his hands over his ears, trying not to hear the anguished shrieks of the one creature on earth so diametrically opposed to love that he could die of it. Snape, he saw, was watching Voldemort's writhing agony with an almost avid fascination on his sallow, ugly face. Harry frowned when the bubble seemed to flicker around them, and he realised that he had ceased to think of love, and was thinking only of how horrible were the death throes of Tom Riddle.

'We have to think about love!' he shouted, leaning close to Snape's ear. 'We have to keep the capsule strong until he's dead!'

Snape did not challenge him, but closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears, just as Harry did. Harry thought of his mom and dad, Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione, Professor Dumbledore, the Weasleys, and last of all, he thought of Luna. He did not know of what Snape was thinking, but between the two of them, they maintained the strength of the bubble until the screams of Voldemort diminished.

Harry opened his eyes and dropped his hands from his ears, staring at the dried up, brittle husk in the place where Voldemort had been. The screams faded into silence, and Harry glanced at Snape. 'What do you reckon?' he asked uncertainly.

Snape threw out his arms in a gesture of dismissal, and the protective spell dissipated, leaving behind glittery gold particles in the air. Without answering Harry, he lunged forward and brought his boot down forcefully on the fragile shell which had once housed Voldemort; the husk shattered into powder, and Snape continued to grind each fragment into dust beneath his heel.

At last, Snape looked at Harry with a manic grin. 'I reckon the bastard is dead,' he answered.

---

In the next moment, a great shout went up, so loud that Severus was tempted to clap his hands back over his ears. A sudden red glow lit the sky, and Severus looked up into the blackness, where a shower of red sparks resolved into the emblem of a phoenix.

'Dumbledore has successfully defended the castle,' he said aloud to Potter.

Now new sounds came from the Forest, and in moments, a swarm of cloaked Death Eaters converged on the clearing, hotly pursued by Dumbledore's Army. Severus quickly secured his hood as Potter leapt into the battle fray. The DA students had fought successfully to join with their leader, but Severus could see that they were showing signs of battle fatigue. Approximately thirty of his one-time colleagues streamed now through the trees, undoubtedly in retreat from the castle defenders and hoping to join forces with the Dark Lord in the Centaurs' Clearing.

They were destined to be disappointed.

For a shower of arrows rained upon the approaching Death Eaters, and a herd of centaurs thundered up the rise from the east, with Firenze in the lead. A great black centaur, the one called Bane, reared and shouted as his fellows attacked, 'How dare you profane the Centaurs' sacred place? You shall pay!'

'Potter!' Severus shouted. 'Get the DA out of it!'

Potter nodded his understanding and began shouting orders, which were taken up and echoed by Weasley and Longbottom. Dumbledore's Army began a retreat from the Battle of the Centaurs' Clearing, even as the accomplished centaur archers were making quick work of the disordered Death Eaters. Not wishing to be taken for one, Severus melted into the trees in the wake of Dumbledore's Army, meaning to see them safely back to the castle. He followed along silently, his mind awhirl with competing thoughts...the Dark Lord was dead, he was alive, but where was Hermione?

Thus distracted, he was taken completely unawares as the youngest Creevey, who had fallen behind the rest of the DA, turned and saw him. When the twit's eyes grew wide, Severus realised he had neglected to replace his Disillusionment Charm.

'Death Eater!' the fourth-year screeched, wildly brandishing his wand, and then Severus knew no more.