"This is impossible..."

"Nothing is impossible."

"The war is going to be over before we even find it!" Draco kicked a trunk making the entire stack groan, the ominous sway made him skitter back a little but the scowl on his face only grew deeper.

Hermione sighed heavily pushing a stray hair back from her face. She had to concede to some of his frustration, "Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle."

"What shou-"

"Quiet." Hermione's ears twitched as a low sound ran up the back of her neck. She closed the distance between them, closing her eyes to focus more on the sound.

"What are you-" Draco grunted when her hand covered his mouth, his own rising to rip it away before his own ears picked up something. A small flush ran down his chest when she pushed past him, her hair tickling the bottom of his chin.

Hermione turned the corner carefully, her wand up at the ready. Her eyes narrowed as her ears told her that there should be something to see. A slow breath stilled her body as she allowed her senses to take over. Footsteps, shuffling and slow, cautious and inquisitive. Two sets, moving slowly. A low murmur ruffled the air but it was impossible to make out their words.

"I think your friends have woken up." Hermione turned to look back over her shoulder, keeping her voice lower than a whispering wind, "Are you ready to step over the line?"

Draco swallowed thickly, his eyes narrowed with concern. He had spoken from the heart but his will to see his words through was wavering. It was too soon, too much to process. His heart was thumping through every vein in his skull as he came into her shadow. His height allowed him to look over the top of her head to follow her line of sight.

"Yeah...I...I can do this..." Draco let out the breath he'd been holding when she moved forward, her stance low and silent. He could hardly believe that this was the same girl he'd gone to school with. The same girl that he'd made a mockery of sending her running off in tears. His hand came to his jaw as he remembered just how early she'd come to push back against everything he stood for. Did stand for.

Hermione looked back over her shoulder holding her hand out for him to stay put while she moved around to get a better position. If she could flank them and separate them, she'd have a better chance of taking them out—permanently. Once she was sure he would stay as she directed she moved further to the left, using the tall stacks to obscure her movement.

"Come on...show yourself..." Hermione used a space in one of the stacks to monitor any movement—finally, after a long pause, she was just able to make out a wand coming around a bend. Her own rose as she waited for them to show themselves before a loud bang from the other end of the room startled all within. The figure she'd been tracking hastily turned obscuring her shot and a low curse passed her lips.

"We're not alone." Hermione looked back where she'd left Draco only to find that he'd not heeded her command to stay put. A sharp snarl covered her lips and she pushed herself up. No doubt whoever just joined them was looking for the same thing they were. Problem was, were they friend or foe?

oOo

Harry tilted his head back in awe at the room around him, so many lost treasures in one room. It seemed endless, boundless and impossible to search. How could he ever complete the task set before him? The castle was beginning its preparations, many had come to stand and fight. Their lives all weighing on his shoulders—his ability to complete the task at hand. A literal needle in a haystack.

"Alright, stay close. Luna, Ginny?"

"We're right behind you." Luna gave Harry a gentle smile, her wand turning in her hand. She'd made the unilateral decision to stay by the elder boy's side. Though Neville had begged with her to flee with the others she had remained firm in her willingness to fight. She'd encouraged Neville to follow McGonagall down to the front doors while she promised to stay with Harry, give him the support he needed in completing his task.

"Right. Keep your eyes and ears open. We may not be the only ones looking for this thing." Harry gave them each a grimacing smile before turning his head and wand in front of him.

Harry could feel his scar beginning to burn the further they walked into the room, a zigzagging maze of paths leading his feet, "It's here..."

Ginny nodded her head but found herself more concerned with an eerie quiet that seemed to press down on her shoulders. It was a feeling akin to being watched. Though she tried to locate the source, she repeatedly found herself coming up with nothing.

"I don't think we're alone Harry..."

"I agree." Luna had come into the elders' line of sight before her head turned around sharply. The make-shift trio found themselves at a forking path, each row blocked.

"Well, it's my lucky day, isn't it?" Crabbe chuckled deeply as he raised his wand on the unwitting trio, "Three for the price of one."

Harry turned on the spot, there would be no way for him to take out all of them at once, and his foolish plan to keep both Ginny and Luna close had unwittingly boxed them in like sitting ducks, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Crabbe chuckled low, unaware that Draco was standing just to the other side of the path he could not see down. His present line of sight only showing his cohorts grinning stance, "I want you." A sharp explosion rocked the tower directly before the lot, the mass of objects swaying and crashing down making Harry, Ginny and Luna scramble apart to avoid being struck.

"Stop!" Draco's voice echoed over the crashing furniture, "The Dark Lord wants him alive!"

Draco's words never reached anyone's ears but his own as Goyle had already begun his assault, his wand aimed for Ginny. The spell he'd cast was easily blocked by his peer sending another stack of debris crashing down. The fiery red-head split off from the group in her pursuit before Luna began her assault on Crabbe, sending the boy reeling back to take a better position.

Draco had only a second to block the spell barreling his way, his eyes going wide as he recognized his own wand firing the spell. The betrayal he felt when his own wand unleashed magic against him was pushed aside as he scrambled to protect himself.

"Wait! Wait!"

Harry snarled as he listened to Draco's pathetic plea, his vision clouded by a wave of anger that wasn't entirely his own, "Get back here!"

"Potter!" Draco tried to circle back to where he'd last seen Granger, hoping by some miracle that seeing her would curb Potter's blood-lust. It was a complex task, kiting Potter away from the group and keeping his ears attached to his skull. Potter was out for blood, and his was running cold.

A sharp scream to the right brought the both of them to a halt, Draco protecting himself behind a stack while Harry turned on the spot, "Ginny!"

Just as he was about to abandon his own mission to go to her aid a sharp pulse ran through his skull. As if dragged by the hand of death itself, his head turned, his eyes going high. There it was. Halfway up a tower of boxes. A choice had to be made but it nearly tore his heart in two to make it until he saw a flash of brown hair moving just beyond the far bend. His heart pulsed and for a second, the figure turned their head towards him, the image—like a ghost—filling his inner eye.

A decision—a trust in what he saw—turned his head back up to where the pain in his skull was guiding him. He could just make out what looked like a jewelry box halfway up the stack and pushed himself forward.

"Potter!" Draco kept his wand raise as the boy began his climb, "Potter there's something you need to know!"

"Shut it Malfoy!" Harry cast a sloppy spell to keep the Slytherin away but it missed its mark.

"Traitor!" Goyle had rounded on them, his shirt splattered with his blood around the collar, "You're dead!"

"No!" Draco felt a chill go down his spine when a flash of green light filled his eyes. Just as he believed that his change of conscious had been too late, he found himself on the ground; the spell darting over his prone form to explode into a pile of objects somewhere behind.

Scrambling to get himself back to his feet, he found his vision blocked by Harry who had dropped down, the diadem in his hand. Though before either of them could fully understand what had just happened, the dark figure Harry had seen just moments before appeared out of no-where, an eerie black smoke rippling out from behind Goyle. What happened next left both of them speechless.

Hermione felt nothing but justification as her blade sunk deep inside the teen's back, her eyes deadened by what she'd done. His blood ran warm down her fingers as his body lurched forward, his knees unable to support his weight as his heart gave its last beat; the pulse of it radiating up her arm.

Her head lifted from the body felled at her feet, her darkened eyes rising with a flash of shame. It should have felt different. She should have hesitated, thought of an alternative solution. Her body reacted on pure instinct, the moment the boy had cast his spell at Ginny her decision had been made.

"Harry!"

Hermione's head jerked to the side, another choice that she would come to regret to be made. The last thing to imprint upon her inner eye was the fear inside Harry's eyes.

"You!" Crabbe had come around the bend, his wand raised high, "Burn you scum!"

The room around them all burned red. A heat and power only Hermione could understand raging down the pathway. Knife still dripping, she spun on the spot her own wand raised high. Her own fire roaring to life.

"Holy Hell!" Draco's heart was ready to jump from his chest as the large inferno burned the air in his lungs. His body felt weak and he was sure he couldn't feel anything below his waist.

Harry had only a heartbeat more to realize what was about to happen. Despite everything inside of him that was screaming at him to run towards the flames, to confirm what he'd believed all along, he knew that the only chance he had to see the light of day again was to turn tail and run.

"Ginny!" Harry pushed off the stack in the direction he'd last seen Ginny. With the air growing thicker, he could feel the world around him becoming darker. A million thoughts were running through his inner eye but his heart was threatening to fall to pieces. Nothing about anything made sense anymore.

"Harry!"

Luna's voice seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. It wasn't until Harry rounded the next pile of junk did he nearly run straight over her.

"Luna! Where's Ginny?"

"Just over there! I tried to carry her but she's too heavy." Luna was nearly out of breath, having run as far as she felt safe to leave Ginny, "What's happening?"

"Potter!" Draco grunted as he pulled Ginny's arm around his shoulder's, her weak thumps into his side not even registering against the adrenaline running through his system. He just prayed to every God that ever existed that Granger knew what she was doing. "This way! There's brooms!"

Harry ground his teeth but decided to choose the devil he knew. His hand took hold of Luna's sleeve to keep her from getting lost in the ever-growing smoke.

Hermione could feel the world around her growing cold, an odd feeling given that she was presently engulfed in flame. The tears that ran down her face at her betrayal turned to smoke as the flamed cycloned around her. The dragon and her phoenix fighting for control. Her will was strong, but her heart was torn.

Her eyes fluttered as she watched her adversary coming closer, pushing against her. She just had to hold him off long enough for Harry to escape. Just long enough.

"Ginny? Ginny? Stay with me okay?" Harry pulled Ginny from Draco and back against his chest as he helped support her over the broom.

"We gotta go!" Draco didn't know why he was lingering, something inside him begged him to stay. His head turned when Lovegood stumbled sideways into the broom stack, her eyes rolling. He had just enough time to grab hold of the back of her shirt before she took a dive to the floor.

"I've got her! Go!"

Harry shook his head but found that he didn't have much of a choice, there was no way he could get the both of them out, "Which way?"

"That way! Go!" Draco pulled his broom up into the air, Lovegood's head rolled under his chin and a harsh cough rattled her frame. He could only guess that she'd inhaled too deeply.

oOo

"You're gonna burn bitch!" Crabbe could feel an immense power filling his soul, the feeling of finally getting his hands dirty. No more talk, no more stupid speeches, he was finally going to become a great wizard.

Hermione sneered at his stupidity, her hand tightened around the knife at her side, the stickiness of blood making the blade jerk. She could buy no more time, her anonymity was not more important than the lives of her friends. It was time to end this.

"Choke on this," Hermione's words were punctuated with a sharp throw of her knife. The blade soared through the flames with lightning speed and deadly accuracy. The boy let out a sharp squealing grunt when the blade landed full to the hilt into his chest. His eyes going wide as his body began to pitch backward not a second later.

His wand clattered to the floor as his body went still but the flame only grew further out of control. The large surge of power that had been reigned in by his incompetence raging forward as the conjured fire broke free.

The large cyclone that had centered around Hermione's ability to control her own fire broke off as the dragon turned its course, racing back towards the doors. Her heart skipped a beat before she pushed herself forward. The scar on her back burned as her phoenix took off after the dragon releasing her wand to fly free on its own course, though her own focus was on getting her knife back.

Hermione's eyes were dead as she stood over Crabbe's body. The boy's sightless eyes staring off into the flames rolling over the ceiling. A slow breath left her chest as she bent down beside him. A sharp grunt pulled the blood-soaked blade free, a small side thought brought the blade against Crabbe's uniform before it was sheathed.

Her head spun as she pushed herself back onto her feet. Everything inside her hurt but she wouldn't allow herself to stop. This was just the beginning. The war hadn't even started yet.

The large stacks of centuries worth of discarded and hidden objects were slowly dwindling to nothing but ash as the flames grew higher and higher. A quick bubble head charm protected her lungs from the large plumes of smoke that were only growing thicker. Her path was ever changing, the air in her lungs felt like glass and her mouth tasted like ash.

Memories flashed over her eyes, endless days of torture, incomprehensible pain. So many hours, days, months that she had survived all coming to this moment. Everything that she had learned, trained for—coming into fruition. It felt odd, to feel so calm about everything. To feel absolutely no remorse about what she'd done. Was this what she had finally become?

oOo

"Here, sit here...Can you breathe?" Draco had made it out first, though just barely. He'd heard a sharp cry coming from behind him but he'd been unable to turn and look, "Lovegood?" Her cheek was hot against his fingers, the light slap he gave her heavy head, set weight on his heart. His eyes ran over her body but he couldn't see anything through the dark fabric of her uniform.

"Crisse..." His chest heaved as he lowered himself completely onto his knees. What could he possibly do? A grimace twisted his lips as he pushed back her long blond hair from her neck searching for a pulse, "Come on..."

Harry and Ginny came tumbling through the open doors not a second later, the broom they'd ridden on full of embers. Their landing sent them stumbling to a stop a few feet away, both of them coughing sharply as they gulped in the fresh air. It was not a heartbeat later that a large roar turned all their heads towards the doors. A dark figure walking as though apart of the flames coming towards them before a large dragon's head opened it's jaws. For a moment, a split of a heartbeat, Draco's eyes locked with Granger's and he knew what she wanted him to do.

"No!" Harry scrambled towards the doors that had slammed shut, his body bouncing against the wood. His fist slammed uselessly into the portal before his anger shifted, "How could you!?"

Draco jolted back but didn't have enough of a mind to protect himself from the first blow. The second and third however were protected by his forearms and he desperately kicked out his legs trying to topple the teen off of him. "It had to be done! That fire would have consumed the school!"

"She was in there!" Harry's heart was thrumming after all this time having believed his best friend had been killed months prior only to see her again.

Draco reeled, "It wasn't real! Think about it!"

"It was! It was!"

"No, it wasn't! That room was for lost items! You made her!" It was a long shot lie, he just hoped it landed.

"No! No! You killed her!"

"Enough! Both of you! Now is not the time!" Ginny pushed Harry off of Draco with her boot, her shoulder possibly broken, "It doesn't matter right now! We've gotta destroy it!"

Harry snarled pushing himself up, tears stung his eyes as he reached back into his pockets, "It's...it's not here..." He shifted on his knees, his eyes turning right into Luna's unconscious form. So many thoughts were struggling for precedence threatening to make his skull explode, "No...Luna?"

Ginny wiped her face as tears spilled over the bottom of her lashes, "Luna?"

A low groan and a weak cough turned the blonde's head, her world felt oddly light and heavy all at the same time. An eerie sort of light flittering just behind her eyes. A slow breath raised them and three concerned faces hazily came into view, "Dad...?"

"No...just us..." Draco wiped a bit of blood from his lip as he came to sit back up, his wand dropping to the stone floor. He turned his head towards the doors that smoke was beginning to billow out of, "Potter...why did you crash your broom?"

"What?" Harry pulled his hand from Luna's cheek to give Malfoy and most confused and curious look.

"Why did you crash your broom?"

"I...my scar...it felt like my skull was splitting..." His head shook back and forth, "Why are you even here?"

"Let's just say, there's more to all this than you could even begin to understand." Draco pulled his gaze away from the doors to look piercingly into Harry's eyes. Like fire and ice, ying and yang, "I think we need to get out of here."

"Like hell, we're going anywhere with you." Ginny shuffled herself forward gently pulling Luna away from the wall and up against her chest.