"POTTER!" Two masked Death Eaters stand before us. But even before their wands were fully raised, Hermione shouts.

"Glisseo!" The stairs beneath our feet flatten and we start to wildly slide down them.  "Duro!" cries Hermione, pointing her wand at the tapestry, and there were two loud, sickening crunches as the tapestry turns to stone and the Death Eaters pursuing them crumple against it.

"Get back!" shouts Ron, and we flatten ourselves against a door as a herd of galloping desks thunder past, shepherded by a sprinting Professor McGonagall. She appears not to notice us: Her hair had come down and there was a gash on her cheek. As she turns the corner, we hear her scream, "CHARGE!"

"Harry, you get the Cloak on," Hermione says, "Never mind us—"

"Seriously we will be fine moving through there," I say but despite the protest he throws the cloak over all three of us. As we hold the cloak over us and run to the best of out abilities together. In the next hall we could see the corridor filled with duellers. Ahead of us Peeves is dropping Snargaluff pods on the death eaters below him. A handful of them land on us but bounce off due to the cloak.

"Someone's invisible there!" shouts a masked Death Eater, pointing. Dean makes the most of the Death Eater's momentary distraction, knocking him out with a Stunning Spell; Dolohov attempts to retaliate and Parvati shoots a Body-Bind Curse at him.

"LET'S GO!" Harry yells we gather the Cloak tightly around themselves and pelt, heads down, through the midst of the fighters, slipping a little in pools of Snargaluff juice, toward the top of the marble staircase into the entrance hall. Once there we see Draco and a masked death eater dueling.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm Draco, I'm on your side!" Draco pleads. I move to help him but Harry does first. Stunning the death eater as we pass. Draco looks for his savior but before anyone else can do anything Ron punches Draco in the mouth.

"Ronald!" I hiss.

"And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!" Ron yells. I sigh knowing reasoning with the boy would prove ineffective. Draco falls back his mouth bleeding.

"Come on he'll be fine," Harry says pulling me along. My attention immediately moves to the duels going on all around us. Neville was moving the plants that would prove useful in battle out while students we weren't fighting were helping wounded peers move to get aid or safety. Ahead of us I see the Slytherin hourglass for house points shatter. Spilling its contents everywhere. Two students fall from the balcony above onto the the ground with the emeralds around us. We a gray blur moves to attack.

"NO!" shrieks Hermione, and with a deafening blast from her wand. Fenrir Greyback is thrown backwards from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown. He hits the marble banisters and struggles to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball falls on top of his head, and he crumples to the ground and does not move.

"I have more!" shrieks Professor Trelawney from over the banisters. "More for any who want them! Here—" And with a movement like a tennis serve, she heaves another enormous crystal sphere from her bag, waves her wand through the air, and causes the ball to speed across the hall and smash through a window.

"Trelawney I think I've refound my love for divination," I chuckle watching her. At the same moment, the heavy wooden front doors burst open, and more of the gigantic spiders force their way into the entrance hall. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Screams of terror fill the air: The fighters scatter, Death Eaters and Hogwartians alike, and red and green jets of light flew into the midst of the oncoming monsters, which shudder and rear, more terrifying than ever.

"How do we get out?" yells Ron over all the screaming, but before any of us could answer we were pushed aside and Hagrid runs towards the spiders.

"Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!" he yells.

"HAGRID, NO!" Harry yells. He sprints out from under the Cloak, running bent double to avoid the curses illuminating the whole hall. "HAGRID, COME BACK!"

But he was not even halfway to Hagrid when Hagrid vanishes amongst the spiders, and with a great scurrying, a foul swarming movement, they retreated under the onslaught of spells, Hagrid buries in their midst.

"HAGRID!" Harry screams, "HAGRID!"

"Harry no!" I scream at him as he runs towards the spiders. "Harry!" Despite my protests he keeps moving. "Come on you two!" We sprint towards Harry.

"Oh my—!" shrieks Hermione, as we catch up with Harry and gaze upward at the giant now trying to seize people through the window above.

"DON'T!" Ron yells grabbing Hermione's hand as she raises her wand. "Stun him and he'll crush half the castle—"

"HAGGER?" Grawp says lurching around the corner of the castle. The realization of the other giant causes Grawp to attack the other giant in horrid savage ways.

"Run!" Harry screams loudly. We all run towards an escape. Fleeing with the others hoping for some form of escape. As we get halfway to the forest we see the black form of Death eaters surround us. We stop at the trap afraid to move.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione says. I look to see him not all together with the current situation. "Patronuses, Harry, come on!" He raises  his wand, but nothing.  "HARRY, COME ON!" screams Hermione.

"Fine," I say moving my wand up hoping for something. Focusing on my happy moments. Fred and I dancing at the Yule ball, Christmas with the Weasleys. The beginning of the wedding. Suddenly my happy thoughts shatter as the memory of Fred's corpse fills my mind. Any attempt to think of anything us just brings me back to the death of Fred and so many others that could be laying dead. My wand barely lighting with the blue light. Staying more a sober dark blue. "I can't do it," I say softly not being able to preform such a charm was a harsh blow. "I can't do it." Ron sensing the sensitivity to the subject attempts to step in. His shining Boston terrier moves a few steps before dissolving. Hermione attempts to. Nothing. "Expectro Patronum! Expectro Patronum!" Nothing.

As the feeling of dread and sorrow fill me I see the a silver hare, a fox, theastral, and a boar fly past us causing the dementors to retreat.  We look to see Luna, Dean, Blaise, and Ernie

"That's right," Luna says encouragingly, as if we were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the D.A. "That's right, Harry... come on, think of something happy..."

"Something happy?" he says his voice cracks. Blaise looks at me encouragingly.

"We're all still here," He whispers to me, "we're still fighting. You've lost so much in your life. Don't let yourself loose this world too." I nod smiling slightly. Thinking on the memories of the DA. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I and or adventures. Dominating the quidditch games. Snowball fights in the winter. Spew. But again the mangled bodies of Moody, Fred, Mikey, Cedric. Everyone I cared for that we lost.

"I can't do it," I say again, "I can't do it anymore." But Harry's stag bursts from the end. Blaise grabs a hold of me attempting to calm my down. I hadn't even noticed my shaky breath and racing heart. He hugs me tightly. "He's dead," I admit to Blaise, "Fred's dead." Blaise pats my back supportively.

"I'm sorry," Blaise says.

"Can't thank you enough," Ron says shakily, turning to Luna, Ernie, Blaise, and Seamus, "you just saved—" But his voice cuts off as a giant holding a club slowly marches towards us.

"RUN!" Harry shouts again, we all scatters, and not a second too soon, for next moment the creature's vast foot had fallen exactly where we had been standing. Harry looks round to see Ron, Hermione, and I were following him, but the other four had vanished back into the battle.

"Let's get out of range!" yells Ron as the giant swings its club again and its bellows echo through the night.

"The Whomping Willow," Harry says, "go!" I sprint quickly behind him with all the anger I could muster. Exhaustion lingering around the corner. As we slide towards it we see the entrance blocked.

"How—how're we going to get in?" pants Ron. "I can—see the place—if we just had—Crookshanks again—"

"Crookshanks?" wheezes Hermione, bent double, clutching her chest. "Are you a wizard, or what?"

"Oh—right—yeah—" Ron says pointing his wand as I bend over panting. Soon the entrance is cleared the tree moves slightly before a jagged halt.

"Perfect!" pants Hermione.

"Wait," Harry says holding us back.

"What now?" I ask him. My tone full of angry from his constant hesitation.

"Harry, we're coming, just get in there!" Ron!says pushing him forward.

Harry wriggles into the earthy passage hidden in the tree's roots. I follow closely behind him. Playing protector despite the developments in Harry's progress. Its a much tighter squeeze than it had been the last time we had entered it. The tunnel was low-ceilinged: We had had to double up to move through it nearly four years previously; now there was nothing for it but to crawl. Harry goes first, his wand illuminated, expecting at any moment to meet barriers, but none came. We move in silence, my focus on the bright light from the end of the wand. At last the tunnel begins to slope upward and I see a sliver of light ahead. I tug at Harry's ankle.

"Put the Cloak on! Now!" I order him. "Nox." Mine and Harry's wands extinguish with the spell and he slips the cloak on. Harry moves towards the blocked exit. All of us being as quiet as physically possible.

"...my Lord, their resistance is crumbling—" we hear Snape's voice say. I scowl slightly at the voice.

"—and it is doing so without your help," Voldemort says in his high, clear voice. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there... almost."

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Potter. I know I can find him, my Lord. Please." Moves past the gap. I roll my eyes harshly.

"I have a problem, Severus," said Voldemort softly.

"My Lord?" Snape says. Voldemort raises the Elder Wand, holding it as delicately and precisely as a conductor's baton.

"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?"

"My—my Lord?" Snape says blankly. "I do not understand. You—you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

"No," Voldemort says. "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand... no. It has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago." Voldemort's tone was musing, calm, yet the source of the voice was inducing panic in my core. While I might have been around countless death eaters, they are nothing compared to the dark lord himself. The knowledge of all the evil he's done makes you fear him. Fear what he plans to do with you.

"No difference," Voldemort says again. "I have thought long and hard, Severus... Do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"

"No, my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."

"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. 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."

"But my Lord, he might be killed accidentally by one other than yourself—"

"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear. Capture Potter. Kill his friends—the more, the better—but do not kill him.

"But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter. You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."

"My Lord knows I seek only to serve him. But—let me go and find the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can—"

"I have told you, no!" Voldemort says, and I catch the glint of red in his eyes as he turns again, and the swishing of his cloak was like the slithering of a snake. "My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!"

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

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

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

"I—I cannot answer that, my Lord."

"Can't you?"

"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius's wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."

"I—I have no explanation, my Lord."

"I sought a third wand, Severus. The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master. I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore."

My Lord—let me go to the boy—"

"All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here," said Voldemort, his voice 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."

Snape did not speak.

"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."

"My Lord—"

"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 be truly mine."

"My Lord!" Snape protests, raising his wand.

"It cannot be any other way," says Voldemort. "I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last."

And Voldemort swipes the air with the Elder Wand. It did nothing to Snape, who for a split second seemed to think he had been reprieved: But then Voldemort's intention became clear. The snake's cage is rolling through the air, and before Snape could do anything more than yell, it encases him, head and shoulders, and Voldemort speaks in Parseltongue.

"Kill."

Hermione quickly covers my mouth with her hand knowing I would attempt to order the snake against it. Letting Voldemort know we are here. Snape let's out a terrible scream. Snape's face losing the little color it had left; it whitens as his black eyes widen, as the snake's fangs pierced his neck, as he fails to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees give way and he falls to the floor.

"I regret it," Voldemort says coldly.

He turns away; there is no sadness in him, no remorse. It was time to leave this shack and take charge, with a wand that would now do his full bidding. He points it at the starry cage holding the snake, which drifted upward, off Snape, who falls sideways onto the floor, blood gushing from the wounds in his neck. Voldemort sweeps from the room without a backward glance, and the great serpent floats after him in its huge protective sphere.

I move past Harry and kick the crate allowing us in. As much as I hated the man for killing Dumbledore, for fighting against everything. I wanted to kill him myself. Harry follows me stopping me from ending the man right there. Snape pulls Harry towards him. As a tear falls from his eyes.

"Take it... take...it," Snape says to Harry.

"Y/n help him," Harry orders. I scoff and place my hand on his arms. Transferring the pain of the snake bit to myself as he looks to Harry.

"Ah!" I scream loudly from the pain, "Hurry Harry! Do something." Snape conjures a flask for Harry to collect the tear. Harry follows the order.

"Look... at... me..." he whispers to Harry. Snape's dark eyes meet Harry's light bluish green ones.

"Harry!" I scream painfully.

"You have your mother's eyes," Snape whispers. After a sudden shutter he collapses. Snape is dead. The pain melts from my body and I collapse. Last second before hitting the ground Hermione catches my arm.

"You have fought," says the high, cold voice, The pain from before of his hissing thoughts burn into my burn. "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."

Then in a slightly lower voice.

"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 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."

Both Ron and Hermione shake their heads frantically, looking at Harry. While I hold myself up. My eyes getting heavy.

"Don't listen to him," Ron says.

"It'll be all right," Hermione says wildly as she looks to me. "Let's—let's get back to the castle, if he's gone to the forest we'll need to think of a new plan—"

But before she can finish I collapse.

I see mangled bodies. Upon them a couple stands out. The faces and features blurred but they distinctly are holding hands.

I see a boy tangled among students hiding. Draco. He looks troubled.

Then Harry walking into a forest. Disappearing. Screams and green flashes loud and present.

"No!" I scream my eyes opening wildly. I see now we were in the school. Harry carrying me on his back. He flinches loudly once I scream.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asks looking up at me.

"Ha-Harry," I stutter, "you something bad is going to happen to you. Please you have to stick with us."

"Okay okay," he says. I'm unable to see his expression. But I can tell he was worried.

"I could see the bodies, a couple died. Fairly young couple," I say to them, "I fear for who it could be."

"Breath," Hermione says calming. Harry stops so I can climb off his back. By then we were seconds away from the great hall. As we walk inside I can see the effects of the war. Looking around to see bodies lined against the wall and injured people huddled together. I walk from the others to Fred's body. Ron and Hermione follow closely behind.

"I'm sorry," I say softly to the Weasley clan as I kneel beside them. I place my hand on Fred's forehand as I run my fingers through his hair. I feel someone place their hands on my shoulders. I look up to see Blaise standing above me. Beside me George cries to his twin. Molly spreads herself over Fred's chest.

I look over to see Remus and Tonks. Hand in hand as they lay lifelessly. The weight of their death hits me particularly hard. Another child made an orphan by this war. My godson apparently. Now and orphan. My eyes fill again with tears as Blaise wraps his arms around me.

"I'm sorry Freddie," I say softly to him, "you didn't deserve this." George sits up and looks at me. I hug him slightly. "You don't deserve this either. I'm sorry George." I pat his back. His tears fall onto my back. He sobs into my shoulder. As his father moves towards him he collapses back to the ground to sob at his brothers death. I stand up and turn to Blaise hugging him. Crying slightly as Blaise hugs my tightly.

"Draco's safe," he says to me, "I thought you should know. He's using a spare wand of mine. Helping us fight against the death eaters." I pull back clearly surprised. My shock covers my face. "He said something about how you always told him to chose the right side."

"He did?" I ask him. He nods.

"He actually did listen," Blaise says, "I'll keep him safe today. Okay?" My eyes trail over the bodies of the people I knew well.

"I wish that would actually work," I sigh sadly. I kneel besides Remus's body. Fixing his robes slightly. His hand still griping Tonks. "Their poor son."

"They had a son?" Blaise asks as he kneels beside me. I reach into Tonk's pocket at pull out the photo of Teddy out. I show him the picture of the swaddled small baby.

"My godson," I say solemnly, "He's.. he's." I lose track as my eyes get heavy again. Hell, this hasn't happened in months and all the sudden in one day it's back.

"Hey hey hey!" Blaise says as I fall back, "Pompfry! Someone one come her!" Sudden it goes black.

I watch as Harry's figure walks into the forest disappearing. I see as he moves stopping as he holds the resurrection stone. Around him the airy shadows of Remus, Sirius, and what I assume to be Lily and James.

I can only hear snippets of the conversation. But nothing sticks out more than his mother's soft comforting voice.

"You've been so brave."

As he moves through the forest to the hoards of death eaters. He carriers himself in a certain fashion that I've never seen Harry do before. This makes me completely nervous. He pulls off the cloak revealing himself to them. He stares down Voldemort as they see him. The death eaters laugh and mock the boy. Is he giving himself up?

"Harry Potter," Voldemort says very softly. His voice might have been part of the spitting fire. "The Boy Who Lived." No one moves. And somehow Harry seems completely calm.  No one moves, as Voldemort raises his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" I scream loudly again. Surrounding me a couple of the Weasleys, Hermione, McGonagall, Neville, and Blaise.

"What Y/n?" Blaise asks in panic, "what is it what's happening?" I see the worry in everyone's eyes. But this wasn't the time.

"Where is Harry?" I ask frantically.

"Why why what is it?" Blaise asks again.

"Yeah what's going on?" Ginny demands.

"Just tell me where he is?!" I snap. Neville steps up.

"Last I saw of him he was heading into the forest," Neville says. I look to Hermione and Ron.

"Help me up," I say to Ron extending my arm out. He helps me up and I automatically go marching outside before the war splitting voice fills my brain in the most painful manner.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together." The pain leaves as the voice stops and I look to Ron and Hermione in terror.

"It's not true!" Ginny says. Instead of responding I sprint towards the forest. As I get outside I'm pulled back upon the approaching masked blurs.

"They will kill you in a heart beat," Draco whispers into my ear, "you dying will solve nothing." I take a deep breath and he steps away from me. I see Hagrid carrying a smaller figure. But as they come closer into view. The limp body of Harry in the arms of Hagrid as he whimpers softly. My lungs empty as my eyes widen. One of my best friends, the one I cared so much for. So willing to give everything for anyone. Dead.

"Harry!" I scream with a broken voice. "Harry no!"

"NO!" McGonagall screams loudly. A manner I've never seen her use. Sadness radiating off her. Bellatrix laughs loudly at our despair.

"No!" Ron screams loudly.

"No!" Hermione sobs.

"Harry! HARRY!" Ginny screams attempting to run towards Harry's body. Arthur holds her back, making sure she doesn't run to the boy. "Harry!"

"SILENCE!" Voldemort screams, a loud flash of red falls over us as he shoots a curse into the group of people. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!" Hagrid gently lays him down on the grass.

"You see?" Voldemort says, "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" yells Ron, and the charm breaks, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguishes our voices once more.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort says and there was relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save himself—"

"He'd never do that you liar!" I scream, "he cared too much." I start to move forward and Neville moves faster. Stopping inches away from the death eaters.

"And who is this?" he says in his soft snake's hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Bellatrix gives a delighted laugh.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," says Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?"

"So what if I am?" Neville says loudly.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over,"  Neville says. "Dumbledore's Army!"

"Dumbledore's Army!" I scream loudly with the rest of the crowd.

"Very well," Voldemort says, "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he says quietly, "be it." Voldemort stretches his arm up and points to the windows behind us. After a few seconds the sorting hat flies past us into no mans land. "There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," Voldemort says. "There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?"

He points his wand at Neville, who grows rigid and still, then forces the hat onto Neville's head, so that it slipped down below his eyes. I grip my wand tightly raising it slightly. But the Death Eaters raise their wands, holding the fighters of Hogwarts at bay.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," Voldemort says, and with a flick of his wand, he causes the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.

"No," I scream lifting my wand. But in that second thirteen different things happen. Grawp  runs towards us in a harsh fashion. Neville breaks the binding curse and pulls the burning hat off his head while I use the opportunity to shoot curses into the death eaters front line. As Neville moves quickly he pulls the Sword of Gryffindor out from the hat and slices through Naginis neck.

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouts. "HARRY—WHERE'S HARRY?" And the chaos covers the crowd completely duels all around me. I stick to the familiar murderer in front of me. The one who took away my father. After a quick spell I hit him in his hurt killing him quickly.

"Haha you bloody ass!" I scream at him. I step back and attempt to find the Weasleys or any other form of support. As I see Bellatrix shoot a spell at Ginny I start to move to Defend her but Molly pushes past.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Molly screams tossing off her cloak. "OUT OF MY WAY!" Jets of light fly from both wands, the floor around the witches' feet become hot and cracked; both women were fighting to kill.

"No!" Mrs. Weasley cries as a few students ran forward, trying to come to her aid. "Get back! Get back! She is mine!"

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunts Bellatrix. "When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"

"You bitch!" I scream attempting to throw curses.

"You—will—never—touch—our—children—again!" screams Mrs. Weasley. But before anything can happen Molly hits Bellatrix square in the chest. Killing her instantly.

As Voldemort screams the ground shakes and I hear a loud scream. "Protego!"

"Harry?" I ask slightly recognizing the voice.

"Harry! HE'S ALIVE!"