Serpent in the Lion's Den

47. All But a Memory

{This is the last chapter bar one! Thank you for getting this far in my first fanfiction and I hope you come back for the next! It was so much fun writing this and I hope you all loved reading it as much as I did creating it <3}

The students and staff of Hogwarts stood opposite Voldemort's army, diametrically opposed. Hagrid stood among the Death Eaters, chain and teary, holding a body in his arms which he held tightly to his chest.

"Is that..." Theo asked as he appeared alongside Blaise and Luna behind Draco and the Weasley's.

"Harry" Hermione said, gripping both Draco and Ron's hands tightly either side of her whilst Ginny screamed and tried to run forward, her father and eldest brother struggling to hold her back.

"Enough!" Voldemort shouted and cast a 'silencio' at Ginny who crumpled to the floor, screaming and crying silently, "Harry Potter is dead. I give you the opportunity to join me as from this day fourth, you put your faith in me. Join us. Or die."

"Mione... the snake" Ron whispered and the Gryffindor followed his gaze towards Voldemort's feet where Nagini laid coiled close by.

"Draco!" came a voice from across the field. All those on the side of light looked across to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy as they emerged to the front of the group. "Draco, come!" Lucius ordered and looked despairingly between his son and The Dark Lord. Draco tore his eyes from the body in Hagrid's arms and stepped forward.

"Draco?! What are you doing?" Hermione asked among the voices of his Slytherin friends and Ron, gripping his hand tighter and trying to pull the wizard back towards her.

"Let. Go. Mudblood" Draco shouted and ripped his arm away. He strode through the crowd and across the gap, making his way towards his parents. As he walked, he heard whispers turn to shouts of "Traitor!" and jinxes turn to curses that stung his back and slashed his clothing, but what broke the wizards heart the most were the unmistakable cries of Hermione Granger.

"You liar! YOU TRAITOR!" she screamed through her tears, roughly pushing those who stopped her away until she reached the edge of the gap between the light and dark.

"You know what? It doesn't matter that he's a traitor and it doesn't matter that Harry's dead because people die every single day! Fred, Remus... Neville, they didn't die in vain." Hermione shouted, her eyes steaming with angry tears that locked onto Voldemort's red snake-like slits and she took slow steps forward. "But you will... you will die and perish and be nothing but a memory that everyone hates! This... this is not over!" the witch shouted and pulled out the Basilisk fang tucked behind her and lunged for the snake at the same time that the body from Hagrid's arms rolled onto the ground.

"Potter!" Draco shouted and threw the wand towards Harry as he dived forward and shielded Hermione who missed the snake's head and had fallen to the floor from oncoming spells.

"What gave me away?" the wizard smirked as he caught Draco's wand and threw a curse at Voldemort.

"You twitch like a rabbit Potter; I feel sorry for Weaslette really I do" Draco laughed behind his shoulder as he clutched at the witch and watched the wizard leap behind a set of pillars. "Minnie... are you okay?"

"You... are... an... ARSE!" she shouted and slapped her palms against the wizard's chest before gripping his jumper and pulling his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry I had to make it look believable, will you forgive me?" he whispered as the pair got up and ran towards the duelling students.

"Don't push your luck... but I love you" the witch smiled. "I love you more Minnie" "Piss off... I mean it Draco you're Aunt's going to kill you and I need to find Ron... piss off Love" Hermione laughed and let her wizard go for what she hoped was the last time because after this war, she was never letting him go again.

XXX

"Ron... run!" Hermione shouted and pulled the Gryffindor down the stairs with her. Their plan to kill the snake had failed dramatically and both were now empty handed with no way to kill the final horcrux and no Harry in sight. The snake gained speed as the wizards sprinted down the stairs and away from its jaws until Ron tripped on a collapsed pillar outside the Great Hall, dragging Hermione down with him.

The snake lunged the short distance left between predator and prey and the wizards curled into each other with nowhere else to go. They shut their eyes tight and waited for the sound to stop and their hearts to stop beating. But neither of these things came as slowly the Gryffindor's blinked to find a pile of ash at their feet and a figure standing over them.

Brown eyes and hair, a cable knit cardigan over an ash grey shirt and brown trousers. Neville Longbottom stood stand in front of Ron and Hermione smiling and leaning on a tall slender sword with red gems encrusted into the handle. He leant over and helped up Hermione who leapt into his arms as Ron stood up smiling.

"Neville! But we thought... Ginny and the others saw you die" Hermione exclaimed as Ron slapped Neville on the back smiling.

"I thought I was a goner too Mione, I hit my head as I fell and got knocked out. I woke up and it turned out I'd fallen into the support beams and got stuck." Neville explained, "While I was out, I had a dream that Dumbledore was back, he was in his office and talking to the sorting hat. It seemed so real that when I woke up, I made my way there and when I picked up the hat, the sword fell out."

"I'm so happy you're here and alive Neville, but we need to find Harry. We can win this now all the horcruxes are gone."

"Think Harry's one step ahead Mione, look." Ron said as the chaos around them stilled and every pair of eyes, regardless of the side they were on, stopped onto two lone figures in the courtyard. Harry and Voldemort were locked in a duel, Voldemort's green jet of light entangled with Harry's red, the killing curse against a disarming charm, bad against good, dark against light.

A wand flew into the air and Harry grasped the Elder wand with his free hand as he stared defiantly at Voldemort. Death Eaters cried out in defeat and vanished one by one as The Dark Lord crumbled to ash until there was no trace, no sense of him at all.

He was all but a memory.