Hermione closed her eyes when Snape pressed his fingertips against her temples. She could feel the occlumency wall falling firmly into place. It blocked out most everything in her recent memory but left everything else alone. She could tell time was short and thus, hadn't questioned his decision. When he made to step back she reached out on impulse and took hold of his coat.

"I will come back for you..." Her eyes met his with all the strength left in her body.

Snape said nothing but shared the moment with her in silence. A cloud passed over the moon cloaking them further in the darkness beside the shack. It was only then that he pulled her hand gently from his coat, watching as it went back down to her side. She had made him keep the stone. For reasons well outside his realm of emotional understanding.

There was nothing more to say and thus, Snape turned up the old broken steps. He didn't hear Hermione come behind him but he knew she was there. Hidden. He turned his head to the back room where a dim light shined through the thick darkness. He moved slowly, the fear he'd done so well to hide away, pulsing through his neck. There was so much more than himself now, he wasn't alone. He wasn't going to the gallows with his own life in his hands anymore.

Hermione stayed three steps behind, keeping to the walls. The tension was so thick she could have cut it with a knife. Her one job at the back of her mind; hidden behind the shield Snape had put in place.

oOo

Harry ran as fast as his legs could carry him. The memory of Luna's hand buried beneath stone no one had a chance to move. Neville having had gone to her side, having lost Bellatrix in the scramble. His desperate plea for Luna to answer him played on repeat in Harry's mind. He'd left behind the pouch of potions Hermione had made with Ginny, who had joined them not moments later before diving back under the cloak alone. He felt like a coward, a traitor.

The soft grass was wet with morning dew and he took a small tumble down the hill nearly breaking his ankle. He had looked at the bodies he'd passed, though there were so many. He hadn't looked at their faces, rather their clothes. He hadn't seen Hermione among dead so he could only hope she had found a way to remain one of the living.

He'd left Ron behind as well, it was too much for him to tear him away from his family. He'd never even known his own family but their loss was always with him. He didn't even want to imagine what Ron was feeling at the moment. That combined with the knowledge that all this destruction, all this death was on his head.

His eyes turned up to the ominously swaying branches of the Whomping Willow. How had they gotten in before? His tongue actually twitched to call out Hermione's name only to be reminded how alone he was. Hadn't it always truly been this way? Hadn't he always found himself alone at the very end?

He turned on his heel trying to locate something he could send to the base of the tree. The memory having suddenly come to him. He shuffled over a few steps before picking up a random twig and with a sharp flick of his wand sent it hurling into the base. There was a quick if slight groan as the tree shuddered to a stop and Harry pushed himself off diving straight for the base.

oOo

"My Lord, their resistance is crumbling—"

"—And it is doing so without your help."

Voldemort's slow drawl made Hermione's skin crawl. She was pressed against the door frame of the door that had been left cracked when Snape had passed through. Her eyes tracking each of them as they moved as though circling each other.

"Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there...almost." Voldemort paused in his pacing and Hermione had to pull her head back for fear he could see straight through her charm. Her heart was pulsing nearly out of her chest. She had seen the snake, floating in a shining orb just to the far corner. There was no way she could risk taking it out now. Not with so many other variables at play.

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you, Potter. I know I can find him, My Lord."

"I don't need to find the boy, he will come to me." Voldemort turned fully in the direction of the cracked door, though Hermione could not see him. "Where is your pet?"

"My Lord?"

"The mudblood, Potter's Mudblood. Do not play me a fool Severus, ignorance never looked good on you."

"She is here..." Snape swallowed down his words thickly. He could feel another had joined them as well. The unmistakable mental signature of the boy who had plagued the last 7 years of his life. Snape lowered his head but not his eyes as Voldemort pushed open the door Hermione was hiding behind, his face twisting in some sort of grimace of a smile.

"Join us, won't you?"

Hermione felt disillusionment spell she'd cast washing away like rain. Her throat tightened considerably when she started to rise. Her jaw worked silently before she came to her feet with great caution. As she made to come into the room, she had expected the man to move aside to let her pass but he hadn't. Just the light brush of her dirty sweatshirt against his robes made her want to vomit. She kept her head down though, her eyes fully focused on Snape's boots as she followed the tyrant's guiding hand.

"Now then, with the distractions out of the way." Voldemort turned back to the two of them, a smirk twitching at the corner of his lip when the girl slowly lowered herself down onto her knees beside Severus.

Harry's heart was pulsing in his throat, he could just make out the bottom of Hermione's trainers coming into view just beside the crate he was hidden behind. Hermione had come, but she hadn't taken the path he had. His eyes shifted up to the man who stood beside her. His face was paler than he'd ever seen it. His eyes dead and cold as he tracked Voldemort's movements from across the room.

Had Hermione betrayed him? Was she actually under the power of Voldemort? Had he ever truly gotten her back?

"I have thought long and hard, Severus...do you know why I have called you back from battle?"

"No, my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter." Snape's voice sounded tight. His eyes tracking the slow curling and uncurling of the snake inside its magical cage.

"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me." Voldemort motioned with his wand towards where Hermione remained as still as a statue. "I know his weakness you see, his one great flaw."

Hermione winced when cold fingers came up under her chin, her head came up on his command but her eyes didn't dare raise to look into his red eyes. She was sure the vein in her throat was pulsing strong enough to be seen from three towns over. Her entire body felt cold as soon as he'd touched her bare skin.

"He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."

Snape repressed every vile feeling he had deep down to the darkest pit of his mind. He had suspected, but he had counted on the megalomanic to believe himself above the need of someone as low as he believed her to be. She was doing her part well, so well he would have almost believed her to be under the imperious curse.

"Forgive me, My Lord, but wouldn't it be prudent to consider that he might be killed accidentally by someone other than yourself..."

"My instructions to the Death Eaters have been perfectly clear. Capture Potter. Kill his friends—the more, the better—but do not kill him." Voldemort took a step back, his leering eyes sizing up the girl before turning directly towards Snape. "But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter." A heavy weight started to build in the air and all those witnessing the conversation were able to feel it pressing down upon them from some unseen direction. "You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."

Hermione chanced a glance up when the man had moved away again. Even she could tell where the conversation was going. She was running over the possibilities in her mind when she felt something else pressing in from inside. She hadn't realized it, but she had shifted closer to Snape. The back of his knuckles pressed lightly against her temple even now, and she was sure she could feel him inside her mind as well. She tried to still her own rampaging thoughts to try and make out what he was trying to tell her.

He is going to kill me.

We can't...I can't let that happen.

You must...for if he discovers we have the stones now, death will be the least of our concerns.

I don't-

You must, let him believe he has killed me. You must get back to Potter.

What if he actually does? What if I've made a mistake or-

Trust me.

Hermione closed her eyes, tears already filling them.

"My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!" The sudden rise in Voldemort's tone turned the air cold.

"My Lord, there can be no question, surely—?"

"—but there is a question, Severus. There is."

Voldemort halted, and Harry could see him plainly again as he slid the Elder Wand through his white fingers, staring at Snape. The anger broiling beneath the surface was almost too much for Harry to contain. He felt as though he wanted to tear the entire world down to its foundations.

"Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?"

"I-I cannot answer that, My Lord." Snape didn't dare to look away from the man looming before him. Hermione had moved slightly and he could no longer feel her mind pressing against his own. Though he could still feel her, without a physical connection or direct eye contact he could not clearly tell what she was thinking.

"Can't you? All this long night when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here," Voldemort's voice was barely louder than a whisper, "Wondering, wondering, why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform for its rightful owner...and I think I have the answer."

Hermione's brows furrowed tightly, something about what he said simply didn't make sense. Snape had killed Dumbledore, there was no refuting that. He hadn't taken his wand but rather allowed someone else to claim it. If it truly was under Snape's power, wouldn't all that needed to be done was for Snape to relinquish it to Voldemort?

The wand isn't mine.

H-how?

I was not the one to disarm Albus that night.

Then who-

It matters not.

He's going to kill you!

I am not afraid to die.

"Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man, after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant, and I regret what must happen. The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine."

Hermione's head jerked up when she saw that Voldemort had raised the enchanted cage, her eyes darting between the both of them before she hurriedly pushed herself up to her feet. "My Lord! Please! There is another way!"

Harry's heart stopped beating for an undetermined amount time. The box that had been obscuring Hermione from his view no longer shielded her as she came to her feet. She looked nearly as pale as the man who stood in shock beside her. Her plea, her words. She spoke as though...as though she truly was...Harry jumped back when the box that he'd been surreptitiously peering around got slammed back over the hole completely shutting out all light.

Hermione landed hard, the spell that had hit her felt as though she'd run headfirst into a tree. Her world turned fifteen different directions at once before she collapsed down to the side. She felt her back thump heavily into a crate before her legs and arms landed in front of her. She instinctually shielded her head and attempted to curl up into a ball as she awaited the next blow.

"Filthy, disgusting, worthless creature!" Voldemort raised his wand again, the bright green light of the Cruciatus curse shooting out without verbal warning. "You dare address me as an equal!"

Harry was ready to tear the tunnel apart as he listened to Hermione's scream. She was so close he was sure that it had been her body that had pushed the crate over the hole he'd been looking through. His hands opened and closed as he tried to plot the proper course. So many thoughts were running through his mind that he was unable to really get a clear view on what he believed was right.

"No! NO!"

Hermione's screams of pain turned into pleas of pure terror. Harry could only imagine what horror she was witnessing. He needed to do something! Anything! A deep strangled cry met his ears next and he could only guess to whom it belonged. The very thought that he could even scream at all was enough to bring his thoughts to a grinding halt.

Hermione struggled on her knees before Voldemort. The noose he'd tied around her neck had her arched back and her fingers desperately dug into her skin between the rope to try and keep the air in her lungs. Her entire world was shattering down as Snape fell back against the wall. His scream had been short but so much more powerful than anything she had ever heard before. A scream of pure agony and defeat. A true warrior's last battle cry.

Tears ran torrents down her cheeks as she watched the man who had saved her from the next world collapse down. The strongest man she had ever known, broken so completely before her. The snake struck again and again until finally taking hold of his throat in one final strike. She tried to cry out, tried to do anything. She couldn't get to her wand, as she'd strapped it to her calf. She could feel the stone she'd replaced around her neck growing warm as the two halves called out to each other.

"No..." Hermione's voice was a broken sob as Voldemort raised the cage up. The rope around her neck became even tighter. She struggled to get to her feet without the aid of her hands and turned watching the potion kit slip free from her ripped pocket. Her shuffling feet kicked it under a broken chair before Voldemort had a chance to see it.

Almost suddenly the room was quiet. Nearly quiet. Harry swallowed thickly. He could hear only one deep gurgling struggle for breath and feared the worst. With the cloak still in place, Harry hesitantly pushed against the crate. Finding no resistance didn't make his heart feel any lighter. His eyes turned over the room before landing on the crumpled black mass of his former Professor.

Harry couldn't help the tremble in his limbs. He pushed the cloak off his body before slowly coming closer. He could see that Hermione was no longer there. Though he hadn't seen what had happened to her, he could only guess that Voldemort had taken her. His legs felt numb as he came to kneel before the man clinging to his last breaths. a soft shimmering liquid was starting to mix with the tears that ran down his face. Abruptly, a hand reached out, taking a tight hold of his shirt. A deep gurgling noise passed Snape's throat.

"Take them...take them..."

Harry's head weakly rocked back and forth before he tore his eyes away. Frantically, he dug in his pockets before he found the vial he had meant to give to Hermione. It was only half full, he wasn't sure what would happen if he mixed them but he had little choice. He uncorked the vial with trembling fingers before calling the memories inside. Once it came to the top he raised his eyes again.

"Look...at...me..."

Harry didn't dare to do anything else. Green met black, but after a second, something in the endless sea of obsidian vanished, leaving them blank and empty. The hand holding him in place grew lax before falling with a deafening echo to the floor and Snape moved no more.

Harry let out the breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding, tears unknown to him had come to his eyes. So many conflicting images of the man before him battled for precedence inside his waring heart. He took the moment to simply bow his head, letting the ambivalent emotions battle inside him.

Harry remained kneeling at Snape's side, simply staring down at him, until quite suddenly a high cold voice spoke so close to them that Harry jumped on his feet; the vial gripped tightly in his hands, thinking that Voldemort had reentered the room.

Voldemort's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, and Harry realized that he was talking to Hogwarts and to all the surrounding area, that the residents of Hogsmeade and all those still fighting in the castle would hear him as clearly as if he stood beside them. His breath on the back of their necks, a deathblow away.

'You have fought, valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

The voice echoed out against the surrounding Hill side. Harry swallowed thickly trying to think of what he should do when his scar flared to life. The room in which he stood was instantly replaced by trees and he could clearly see Hermione. Her body had been tied to a tree by her neck, though her body was partially obscured by a Death Eater in front of her.

"I speak now directly to you, Harry Potter. Every quarter hour you make me wait, I shall allow one of my Death Eaters to do whatever they please with your friend."

Harry felt the entire world weighing down on him at once. Reality snapped back with concussive force. His eyes looked to the man who have given him his last breath before down at the glowing vial in his hand. He was sure the answers to all his questions laid inside. He just had to make it back to the castle.

oOo

"Help me! Please!" Neville had returned to the hallway where Luna had been trapped. Having been driven away by the fighting, he returned with a small glimmer of hope that she might—just maybe, have survived.

"Luna? Please? Luna?" Neville started to pull the stones nearest her hand away by hand. His mind too distraught to use magic to aid him. Slowly, more hands joined in the task before the largest of the stones started to slowly ascend into the air.

"Luna?!"

Luna lay still, cocooned in the small space. Her body laying brokenly over the stones that had come to create her tomb. Neville could hardly see past the tears flooding his eyes as he crawled into the debris. His hands ran over her back, still warm, before he gingerly pulled her up into his chest. Her small frame sagged against his hold, the blood that had come from her ears, mouth and nose running down into her hair. Neville took a trembling breath, cradling her head in the palm of his hand. She was warm, she was warm.

"Luna?" He pressed his forehead against her own as he let out a deep sob against her blood stained lips. Then, as if by a miracle given by the Fates themselves, he felt the tiniest push of air against his quivering lips. "She's alive! Please! Someone! Anyone!"

oOo

Ron raised his dark eyes to his mother's broken face. George and he had gone to retrieve Percy and Fred from the upstairs corridor. George levitated his twin who had passed out not long after he had discovered Percy's lifeless body. The amount of blood coming from the hole where his eye should have been, painted his skin deep crimson. They lowered the both of them gently down onto the cots hastily being made in the Great Hall to tend to the wounded. Ron's heart nearly wrenched from his chest at his mother's broken cry.

oOo

Hermione quivered with fear and loathing. Voldemort had led her to his camp inside the forest before hastily passing her off to one of his subordinates. Now under the watchful eye of none other than Rudolphus Lestrange, she worried just what sort of insanity the husband of Bellatrix had in store for her.

The rope Voldemort had used to lead her from the shack had been replaced with a heavy steel collar that had blunt pyramids lining the inside. They weren't enough to kill her but like a dog's choke collar, they were enough to deter any quick moments. The chain that had been affixed far overhead had been released. She hadn't remained standing long after that. Her hands and legs had been left free but they had virtually destroyed her sweatshirt in their quick and fruitless search for her wand. She'd curled herself up at the base of the tree trying to keep warm. The cold of early morning left goosebumps over her rapidly numbing flesh and she had to keep her arms wrapped around her chest to keep herself from shivering uncontrollably. The blood replenishing potion was still working its way through her system but the energy potion was starting to fade leaving her painfully aware of just how much damage one could do when it couldn't be felt.

Thus far, her jailor hadn't really taken any interest at all in her and quite frankly she was perfectly okay with that. Her eyes turned as Voldemort released the magical cage from around Nagini. She couldn't make out what he was saying since it was in Parseltongue but if his gentle caress of the snake's head was anything to go by she could guess that he was praising her for killing Snape.

Hermione closed her eyes tight holding the stone tight beneath her shirt. Voldemort had given Harry an hour, the same amount of time she had to try and save Snape. She pressed herself back into the tree, letting out a soft sob. She had promised to return to him. She had promised...