I have nothing to say this time. Let the battle begin.
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Chapter 15: The Siege of Hogwarts
Harry sat in Professor Flitwick's classroom watching Hermione help Ginny with the charm the class was learning that day.
"You're saying it wrong," Hermione said. "It's 'dis-pel-ium'. Accentuate the 'pel'."
"Just like win-gar-dium," Harry chipped in with a smile. Hermione scowled playfully at him in response.
"I know," Ginny said tiredly. "It's just difficult."
"Well, the Dispel Magic charm is a very difficult one to learn," Professor Flitwick said, coming over from another student. "Finite Incantatem may be useful for ending self-sustaining spells, but it can't remove positive and negative buffs like 'Dispelium' can."
"I know," Ginny said again.
"Why don't you two take a break," Flitwick said to Harry and Hermione. "You've been in this classroom for hours."
"All right," Harry said, before Hermione had a chance to answer.
"Do I get a say in the matter?" she asked.
"If you really want to," he replied. "But I'd like to talk to you."
"Oh...all right then. We'll be back in a little while."
"Take your time," Flitwick said with a smile as they left the charms classroom.
"So what's going on?" Hermione asked as they walked down the hall.
"I should ask you that," Harry countered. "You've been distant all day. You've hardly spoken a word to me since I woke up, and you're blocking your mind from me so I can't even know what you're thinking."
"Since when are you privileged to my private thoughts?" Hermione retorted. Harry quickly ran around in front of her and stopped, forced Hermione's gait to cease as well.
"Look," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I don't know what I did. It's entirely possible that I did something I don't know about simply because I'm a guy, and if that's the case I apologise."
"It's not something you did," Hermione said, relaxing slightly.
"Then what?" he asked. "Why are you treating me as if I'm Malfoy all of a sudden?"
"Harry..." She looked away and Harry was startled to see tears running down her cheek.
"Hermione?" he said sadly, pulling her into a tight embrace. "What's wrong, love?"
"I was so scared," she said, though it was muffled against Harry's chest. "When you fell unconscious, I thought it was just you having a normal fit or something. Then Dumbledore told me that you had gone comatose and I...I...
"You don't have to say it," Harry said comfortingly.
"I didn't know if I was ever going to get to talk to you again," Hermione said, still crying softly. "You know how you can feel my presence in your head, even when I'm blocking you out?" Harry nodded. "When you're unconscious, that disappears. I felt so empty....so alone."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, Hermione's pain starting to leak over to him, causing the corners of his eyes to burn. "Merlin, I'm so, so sorry."
"It's not your fault," she said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of your robes. "I'm sorry for being short with you."
"Don't worry about it," Harry replied. "We all have a lot on our minds right now."
"I know," Hermione said. "Could we...could we go somewhere private?"
"I know just the place," Harry said, taking her hand and leading her back up the corridor they came until they reached the all-too familiar stretch of wall. They paced back and forth in front of wall until the door appeared, and they wasted no time in entering the Room of Requirement.
The room wasn't overly complicated; there were a few windows overlooking the grounds, allowing the mid-afternoon sunlight to stream in. The only furnishing in the room was a queen-sized bed, with clean white linens on it.
"Show me how much you love me," Hermione said breathlessly as she kissed him.
"I would have no greater pleasure than doing that," Harry replied with a gentle smile.
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"Harry?"
"Mm?"
"Are you okay?"
Harry sighed from the seat he had the room create next to one of the windows overlooking the grounds. Hermione wrapped the sheet from the bed around her naked body and walked over the window, sitting down next to him in the chair the room provided for her.
"Just thinking," he replied in a far off voice.
"About Voldemort?" Hermione asked.
"Somewhat," he answered. When he offered no further explanation, Hermione put her hand on his shoulder.
"What is it you're not telling me?" she asked. Harry turned to face her and she was startled to see tears forming in his eyes.
"When the time comes," he said in a choked voice. "I don't want you there."
"We've had this discussion before," Hermione said with a gentle expression. "There is no way in hell you are fighting alone."
"What if I lose you?" Harry asked looking away. "What if you lose me?"
"I said it once, I'll say it again," Hermione said. "Any world without you in it is not one I want to live in."
"I'll fight better knowing you're safe," Harry pleaded.
"Is that fair of you?" Hermione asked, hurt. "After three months, wondering if you were ever going to wake up, is it fair to ask me to sit on the sidelines watching you fight for your life? This isn't a quidditch match, Harry."
"I know," he replied. "I just don't want anything to happen to you."
"Nothing will happen to me," Hermione said, pulling him into her arms. "We'll be fine. You'll kill Voldemort, then we can get married and have lots of little children running around our knees whilst screaming for more cookies." Harry pulled back from the embrace slightly to look at her.
"We never really talked about a family," he said.
"Did you not want one?" Hermione asked, slightly surprised.
"Of course I do," Harry said. "It's just...I don't know, it'll be strange, I guess."
"You're worried, aren't you?" she asked. "You're worried that since you never had parents to guide you, you won't know how to raise children properly. That's it, isn't it?"
"It's not that hard to figure out when you can read my mind," Harry said with a smile.
"Let me tell you something," Hermione said. "You may not have had parents, but I have had two wonderful ones. Any children that we have, we will raise together, as a family. If we need my parents' help, then so be it."
Harry couldn't help it, he simply pulled Hermione into his arms and held her as tight as he could without restricting her breathing. Hermione smiled, closed her eyes, and put her head on his shoulder. She was just about to make an off-hand comment when she opened her eyes and spotted something odd.
"Harry? What's that?"
"What's what?" he asked, turning around to look out the window.
"That," Hermione replied, pointing at the canopy of the Forbidden Forest. No untrained eye would've spotted it, but Harry's years of seeking a small golden ball with wings, along with Hermione's years of searching for minuscule words in textbooks allowed them to see the slightest gap in the canopy, and whatever that was causing the gap was moving towards Hogwarts.
"There's something coming," Harry said, squinting. "Something big."
They exchanged a glance for about half a second before both of their minds came to the same conclusion and they bolted out of the chairs they were sitting in.
"Accio clothes!" Hermione shouted, dropping the sheet and getting dressed faster than Harry had ever seen her before. They wasted no time in sprinting out of the Room of Requirement and making a beeline for Dumbledore's office. They were almost at the gargoyle when it sprang aside and Dumbledore came running out of it.
"Summon the flute Hagrid gave you for your birthday and follow me to the Great Hall," the headmaster said without waiting for Harry or Hermione to say anything. "Your belongings are in an unlocked trunk in the hospital wing," he said, answering the unspoken question. They didn't argue; instead, Harry pointed his wand in the general direction of the ward and yelled, "Accio Hagrid's flute!" A moment later it was in his hand as he, Hermione, and Dumbledore barged through the double doors into the Great Hall where, to Harry's surprise, the entire faculty was already assembled.
"Everyone!" Dumbledore yelled. "There is little time for explanation. Voldemort has begun his attack against Hogwarts." Immediately a loud murmur rose from the teachers. "At this point in time, we have neither the manpower, or the resources to stop him and his army. Our only hope is to hold them off as long as we can, until Ronald Weasley returns with the ghosts who will fight for us."
"What would you have us do?" Professor McGonagal asked.
"Heads of Houses, use any and all means necessary to bring all your students safely to their common rooms. If, after that is completed, any seventh years wish to fight, they may do so. Once you have gathered the students who will fight, immediately proceed to the seventh floor corridor. Fawkes will be waiting there, tell him your name and that you wish to see me."
"What about after that?" Professor Sprout asked.
"It will become apparent at that time," Dumbledore said. "Now come! We have no time to waste. Everyone who is not a head of house, follow me."
Professors McGonagal, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick all departed immediately, while Dumbledore, Harry, and Hermione led the other teachers up to the Room of Requirement. They arrived there shortly, only to discover that that they had left the door open and the room was still occupied by the lone bed that had been there before they left. Dumbledore arched an eyebrow at Harry and Hermione (who promptly blushed furiously), but said nothing and converted the room into a war room, with a fireplace in the back.
"Harry, Hermione, I have a special task for you two," Dumbledore said as there was a loud crack and Fawkes appeared on his shoulder. "We will need to summon the Order as quickly as we can. I can do most of that through here -" he pointed at the fireplace, "But there are certain possessions of yours that we could certainly use. Namely, the Marauder's Map."
"Sir, what happens if Voldemort's army reaches the grounds and no one is there to meet them?" Hermione asked.
"The castle has wards that will be able to prevent anyone from stepping foot onto the grounds, even from the forest," Dumbledore replied. "But Tom will be able to bring them down in time. That is why haste is of the essence."
"He won't be able to bring down the apparition wards, will he?" Harry asked.
"I doubt it," Dumbledore replied. "Those are ingrained with the very magic the founders used when they built the school, and cannot be turned on or off. They simply 'are'. Now hurry, we have little time." Nodding, Harry and Hermione rushed to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo from the pot that had appeared on the mantle and said, "Twelve, Grimmauld Place," before being whisked away in a flurry of green fire.
=====
When Harry and Hermione returned with the map five minutes later, they were mildly surprised to see all of the Order already assembled.
"Good, you've returned," Dumbledore said. "The map." Harry quickly dug it out and activated it before spreading the parchment out on the table in front of everyone. Sure enough, right before the tree line ended, there were hundreds of dots all waiting just inside the forest. Suddenly, there was a loud crack and Fawkes appeared on Dumbledore's shoulder and sang something in his ear. The headmaster waved his hand and the door to the Room of Requirement opened, allowing Snape and McGonagal to enter along with ten students.
"Ginerva Weasley you go straight back to Gryffindor Tower this instant!" Molly Weasley's voice bellowed when it became apparent that Ginny was one of the ten students.
"Sod off, Mom," Ginny replied in a tone so icy it could have frozen hell. "You, nor anyone else is going to stop me from fighting." There was actually a moment where everyone in the room was silent, waiting for the outburst from Mrs. Weasley to come, but it never came. The fire and intensity in Ginny's eyes was such that Molly actually gave no further argument, and simply returned to looking over the map.
"Now that everyone is here," Dumbledore said. Harry gave a quick glance around the room and saw that both Sprout and Flitwick were already back. "We need to discuss battle plans."
"I think we should attack them head on," Kingsley Shacklebolt said, looking at the map. "We can activate charms to force them into a bottleneck and hammer on them."
"That won't work," Harry replied, causing people to turn their heads and stare at him. "Voldemort isn't dumb. Based on the fact that something is out there tall enough to cause the canopy of the forest to part, he either has riders on brooms, or creatures large enough that a containment ward wouldn't be able to hold. It would be a waste of time and resources, not to mention a lot of people would die erecting the charms in the first place."
"Well, what do you suggest then, Potter?" Snape asked. Harry took a few seconds to look at the map before speaking.
"From what it looks like, the best plan of attack is to form teams," he said. "Station people high up in the castle battlements and astronomy tower. Preferably the students," he said, glancing at Ginny quickly. "Another team should be responsible for getting the wounded to Pomfrey and anyone else skilled in healing. I know it sounds heartless for saying so, but we'll have no choice but to leave the dead until after the battle is over. Everyone else starts in the great hall firing curses onto the grounds. When Voldemort and the death eaters begin to break in, and I promise you they will, that group goes to the entrance hall to engage them in close combat there."
"Harry, we barely have fifty people here," Arthur Weasley said.
"Tis not true, sir!"
Harry spun around and vaguely registered about a hundred distinct pops before the room magically expanded and the entire Hogwarts house-elf population was standing in front of them, with none other than Dobby in the lead.
"Dobby? What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"Dobby saw Master Harry and Miss Hermione rush back for your old school stuff sir, and Dobby assumed that the school was under attack. So Dobby comes to Hogwarts and rounds up all the elves so that we may fight for you like we was not able to in Hogsmeade!" There were squeals and yells of assent from the other elves at this short speech. Harry turned back to those present and shrugged.
"We have more than enough now," he said.
"Very well," Dumbledore said without hesitation. "I feel that a third of the house elves should stay back to help the wounded, a third with the battlements group, and the rest should go with the Great Hall team."
"That's exactly what I had in mind," Harry replied. "Now we need to make teams."
"If no one objects, I will head the Great Hall team," Snape said silkily. Harry surveyed him for a moment before nodding.
"I'm going with him, then," a voice said from the corner of the room. Harry turned and saw Draco leaning against the wall. "What, you didn't really think I wouldn't be fighting in this, did you?" He stalked towards the group of people who were looking at him suspiciously. "After wrongfully holding me prisoner for a month and a half, I should at least be allowed to fight."
"I trust him," Snape said instantly, answering the unspoken question.
"If Severus trusts him, then I do as well," Dumbledore said, closing the matter. "Harry, I think you should be in charge of the battlements team."
"I was planning on being there when they stormed the castle," Harry said.
"That's not the correct way to go about it," Moody growled.
"He's right," Hermione said. "There's a prophecy that says you have to kill Voldemort. We shouldn't get you in harm's way if we can avoid it."
"Quite right," Dumbledore said. "If we can hold off the impending forces long enough for Ron to arrive, then Harry should have no problem coming down and dueling with Tom without interference."
"All right, fine," Harry said, resigned. "I'll take all the students, Hermione, Moody, Tonks, and all the Weasleys with me along with the elves who want to be in my group." Dobby immediately stepped forward, along with about three dozen other house-elves.
"Very well, your group should get into position now," Dumbledore said. "Since it will take you the most time."
"All right, everyone in battlements, follow me!" Harry yelled, and ran out of the Room of Requirement, followed by roughly fifty people. They reached a corridor that split off into two different directions, and Harry stopped.
"Okay, listen up," Hermione said. "Those with the best aim should go to the astronomy tower, since you have farther to fire spells. Everyone else should take up points around the outer wall of the castle."
"I'll lead the outer-wall group," Tonks said. "But more people should be there than up in the astronomy tower, it holds fewer people."
"Ok, the astronomy tower group will be me, Hermione, Moody, Ginny, Dobby, you three, and a third of the elves. Everyone else with Tonks. Move!" The groups immediately split in different directions and Harry led his group of about 20 up the winding stairs to the top of the astronomy tower.
Harry threw open the door and ran to the wall, looking down onto the grounds for any sign of movement. When he was satisfied that Voldemort hadn't broken through the wards yet, he turned and faced his group.
"We made it," he said. "Good. Take up positions so that everyone has a good shot at the tree line." It took everyone about three minutes to get into a formation that Harry was happy with. Sighing, he leaned with his back against the stone wall and closed his eyes.
"What now?" Fred asked from his spot.
"Now, we wait," Harry said.
And so they waited. They waited without moving an inch the entire time. About ten minutes after they were in position, Fawkes appeared next to Harry with a note telling him that everyone was ready and waiting. Harry thanked the bird, who then disappeared quickly. Finally, about half an hour later, there was a crackle from overhead.
"What was that?" Moody asked.
"The wards," Hermione said. "Voldemort's starting to break through them."
"How will we know when he does?" one of the seventh year students asked.
"Trust me," Hermione replied. "You'll know. Get ready."
And she was quite right. Five minutes later there was a sound about ten times as loud as a clap of thunder, and a brilliant flash of white light. When the glare had cleared, Harry saw a wave of black cloaks emerging from the forest, sprinting for the castle.
"Sonorus. OPEN FIRE!" Harry roared, and immediately jets of various colors of light began flying from everywhere around him, shortly thereafter accompanied by more shots being fired from the outer wall. From where he was, Harry could also see many spells being fired from the windows of the great hall. The death eaters, surprised at the fire from all sides, quickly conjured rocks and blasted ditches to take cover in before returning fire. Harry was busy firing spells at a particularly clustered group of black cloaks, when a loud roar was heard, and several dozen mountain trolls emerged from the forest.
"Bloody hell," he muttered. Aiming exceedingly carefully, he pointed his wand at one of them and muttered, "Imperio." His aim was true. Within a minute he had the troll swinging it's enormous club at its kin, and Harry managed to have his troll take down two others before it was killed by the death eaters.
"Good idea, Potter," Moody growled a few feet away. "We should try that again and - what in the hell is that!?"
Harry quickly turned back to the forest and saw one of the most ferocious-looking creatures he had ever seen in his life. The dog-like beast stood roughly fifteen feet tall on its four legs, and looked as if to be a cross between a bull, a labrador, and a newt. Harry was marveling at the sheer size of the thing when it reared on its hind legs (Harry guessed it was about forty feet tall when it did that) and breathed fireball five feet in diameter that hit and shattered a portion of the outer wall.
"Harry...that's a catoblepas," Hermione breathed, her face gone white. "Remember, you thought it would make a good animagus form last year?"
"Holy shit," Harry said, wide-eyed. The words weren't out of his mouth when there was a bang and Fawkes appeared next to him and dropped a scrap of parchment before disappearing again. Hastily, Harry picked up the parchment which bore only the words, 'Play the flute.' Wasting no time, Harry fished the wooden flute out of his robes and let a long, low note sound. Coupled with the Sonorus Charm, it was very reminiscent of a church organ.
The moment the note ceased, there was a roar even louder than the one issued by the catoblepas, and the birds in the Forbidden Forest took flight as there was now a very noticeable indentation among the top of the trees. A moment later none other than Cerebus himself (or, as Hagrid called him, Fluffy) bounded out of the forest and tore after its offspring. It reached the beast in two strides and with a massive paw hit the monster right in the face.
Harry looked on as the catoblepas reared in anger and fully expected to see it attack Fluffy, when suddenly it quieted as its father stared it down. Before Harry could comprehend what was going on, the two mammoth dogs had turned and begun attacking death eaters.
"Cool," Harry said with a nervous laugh, extremely thankful that the beasts were on their side. His victory was short-lived, however, when an enormous fireball blew through the edge of the forest and consumed both creatures. A moment later it dissipated, leaving nothing but the smoldering carcasses of both.
From somewhere many feet below in the great hall, Harry heard the distinct bellow of Hagrid and an enormous jet of green light blew through one of the few unbroken windows left, taking out four death eaters before hitting the forest, blowing the base of a trunk to bits, and causing the tree to fall on another seven or eight.
By this time the mountain trolls had reached the great doors of Hogwarts, and had begun beating against them with their clubs to try and break them in. Most of the death eaters were entrenched on the grounds in various places, when suddenly Harry felt the all-too familiar chill that he associated with death.
"Dementors," he growled. "EVERYONE WHO CAN SUMMON A PATRONUS, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO DO SO!" In response to that, two dozen or so patronuses emerged from various parts of the astronomy tower, the outer wall, and the great hall, along with one that seemed to come from the castle wall itself. Upon closer inspection, Harry saw that it was a phoenix, and surmised that Dumbledore could cast a patronus through solid wall. The great white forms of mist stormed down onto the grounds where a wave of liquid black was making its way towards the castle from the forest.
Harry noted a few minutes later that the Dementors were proving to be a large problem. While the patronuses could keep them at bay, summoning a patronus required all of one's attention, and they didn't last forever. Therefore while everyone was busy re-casting their great misty animals, the death eaters were slowly advancing on the castle. Suddenly, the door to the astronomy tower burst open, and Kingsley Shacklebolt came running through it, quickly crouching down next to Harry.
"We're doing an okay job of holding them at bay," he said breathlessly. "But the trolls are about to break the door down. Once that happens...we won't be able to keep them from getting in the castle."
"I'll send an order for the outer wall team to keep using 'expecto patronum' and we'll come down and help you," Harry said.
"Dumbledore wanted you to stay up here -"
"Holding them off long enough is the most important thing right now, got it?" Harry said urgently. "We can help you." Kingsley ran his hand over his bald head and sighed.
"Hurry then," he said, starting back for the door.
"Kingsley!" Harry shouted. The large black man turned. "Is Hagrid okay?"
"Unconscious," Shacklebolt replied. "That AK he cast drained so much of his power the house-elves had to take him to medical." Harry nodded as Kingsley went back inside the castle.
"What are we going to do?" Hermione shouted to Harry over the din of everyone casting spells.
"We're going to help the others," Harry said. "ASTRONOMY TOWER, FALL BACK INTO THE CASTLE. OUTER WALL, KEEP SUMMONING. C'mon."
He quickly led his team back into the castle and they raced through the corridors until they reached the entrance hall, where everyone in the other group was gathered. Quickly, they conjured up marble statues and other reflective objects to take cover behind, as the door shuddered against the hammering of the trolls. Harry was concentrating on the door when he felt a slight tug on his robes.
"Master Harry, sir?" Dobby asked.
"WHAT?" Harry boomed startling himself. "Quietus. What, Dobby?"
"The house-elves can use magic to send back trolls when they first break though, but it will only work once. 'Tis easily protected against. Shall we use it?"
"Of course," Harry said. Dobby instantly vanished to tell the other house-elves of the plan.
"We'll be fine," Hermione said from Harry's side as the wood of the door cracked. Harry turned and smiled at her.
"Yeah," he said. "I hope so."
The doors flew open with a loud crash and instantly sixty jets of blue-white light hurtled at the front line of trolls stalking into the entrance hall. On impact, they threw the beasts backwards, hitting other trolls and various death eaters along the way. Immediately spells began being hurtled back and forth through the entrance, and it wasn't difficult to tell that this time the death eater's spells were hitting their marks. People (and elves) were falling left and right around Harry as Voldemort's servants slowly pushed forward into the castle.
"Damnit, where the hell is Ron when I need him?" Harry asked no one in particular. As if to answer his question, and bright spot of light appeared on the far horizon, and judging by its rapid increase in size, it was hurtling towards Hogwarts extremely fast. "They're coming!" Harry bellowed. "THE GHOSTS ARE HERE!"
Sure enough, a band of about a hundred ghosts led by Ron flew onto the grounds and started attacking the invading wave of death eaters. A few dozen or so broke off to deal with the dementors, which Harry noted couldn't deal with ghosts as well as patronuses. The ghosts actually seemed to carry the ability to combat the dark creatures, and within a minute, the dementors had fled back into the forest.
The death eaters were now trapped. In front of them lay the castle, and the non-ceasing slew of spells coming at them, behind were ghosts that were sure to end the battle quickly. So they did the one thing that Harry was sure Voldemort would not have approved of: they ran. They ran in every direction, trying to evade almost certain death. The ghosts finally broke through and Ron quickly flew over to where Harry and Hermione were staked out.
"You all right?" he asked., breathing hard. "We heard about the battle from Dumbledore about an hour ago. Flew as fast as we could. Anyone dead?"
"What do you think?" Harry asked as the other ghosts began wiping up the various death eaters who were fleeing.
"Anyone we know?" Ron revised.
"Not that I know of," Harry said looking around the hall. He saw a few house elves laying motionless, many people were missing, probably having been taken to the medic team...and then Harry saw someone he knew. Ron and Hermione followed his gaze and both of their jaws dropped when they saw who was lying motionless on the floor.
Draco Malfoy was staring blankly at the ceiling, unmoving, and quite lifeless. Snape was crouched over him checking for vital signs, but by the look on the potion master's face, there was no help for the blond. Sighing, he closed Draco's eyes with his hand and looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a sad expression.
"Professor -" Hermione began, but was cut off when Snape suddenly convulsed and a splash of blood emanated from his torso. Falling over, it was visible that a long metal spear had been put through Snape's body. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried over to him as he was lying on the floor breathing heavily.
Suddenly, from a ways down the hall, a green jet of light came from nowhere heading right at Hermione. Harry, barely seeing it in time, did the only thing he could do and shoved her as hard as he could away from the spell. They were lucky. Hermione was forced out of the way just in time and the spell impacted on the wall behind them. However, she hit her head on one of the statues and fell unconscious. Harry was about to go to her when he heard Snape's weak voice.
"Potter," he said, spitting up blood. Harry quickly ran back over to the potions master and knelt beside him.
"Snape," he said, though this time the name bore no hatred or malice in it.
"It's the Dark Lord. He's in the castle," Snape said, gritting his teeth which too, were stained with blood. "Potter, he's going after the torch."
"The one in Dumbledore's office," Harry said with wide-eyes. Snape nodded once.
"You must not let him get it," Snape said. "It will give him power to destroy us all." Harry nodded at his former teacher and sighed.
"I'm sorry for all the years of hatred between us," he said.
"Potter, will you shut up and go save the world?" Snape ground out with a sarcastic smile. "After all, it's always been about you, hasn't it?" Harry couldn't help but shake his head as the light dimmed and went out of Snape's eyes. Sighing, he closed the potions master's eyes like Draco's, and stood up to walk over to Hermione.
'I know you're still in there,' he said silently, kneeling over her unconscious form. 'And I know you didn't want me to do this alone. But it's better this way. You'll be safer. I love you, Hermione.' He planted a soft kiss on her forehead before straightening up and facing Ron.
"Look after her, mate," Harry said.
"Of course I will," Ron replied.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Harry said, looking up the hall where the green light had come from. "I have some business to attend to." Ron nodded.
"Harry?" he asked, just as his friend had turned his back. Harry stopped to show he was listening. "Go kick his ass." Though he was facing the other way, Ron knew that his best friend had smiled as he took off running, the shrill laughter of Lord Voldemort echoing throughout the school.
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This one was really fun to write, so I hope you all enjoyed it. Next week, the FINAL CONFRONTATION.