Marked

The moment the Portkey transported them and the shoe dropped to the ground, Hermione felt regret at dragging her friends into this fight to the death. There were bodies and pieces of fighters scattered around them on the ground. Blood was splattered against the trees and soaked the grass in great puddles. Before they could take stock of what was happening, the fight spread to absorb the group in its chaos. Over the growing melee, Hermione caught sight of three people outlined against the house and then she lost track of them as she was swept into battle, ducking and firing as Death Eaters descended on the small group.

Without a second's thought, Harry crawled to sit in front of Neville. Pain continued to thunder behind his eyes with nearly unbearable intensity. His eyes widened on the pale form standing in front of him, at once different from the Voldemort he'd met when he was fourteen, but familiar. Fitting as they'd met more than once in Harry's dreams, their connection altered by little more than a small change in Harry's past.

"So protective, still," Voldemort said. His voice sent a chill through Harry. "Nothing you can do will keep me from killing both of you." He extended a claw-like hand over both boys and laughed softly as their pain increased. "I'm afraid bravery will get you little but a faster death," Voldemort said. He squeezed his hand into a fist and both boys struggled to breathe. "In your case, that may seem a blessing." He relaxed his hand and lifted his wand again, grinning as both his victims screamed in response to the pain radiating from their scars.

Harry's eyes closed and he crouched closer to the ground, barely conscious in his fruitless attempts to block Neville from Voldemort's view. Steeling himself, he gripped his wand, opened his eyes and raised it, only to have Voldemort knock him back. He tried again, only to be knocked to the ground a second time, screams tearing from his throat.

"We are long past the time when we can pretend you have the power to win, Potter." Voldemort bent over him and forced Harry to open his eyes. "Dumbledore may have known you would fight me together, but he never knew your true weakness would be overconfidence in the very powers I gave you."

"We are not the weak ones," Harry said. His voice was raspy, but he felt himself growing stronger as Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "Until a few days ago you were practically bedridden." He cleared his throat and raised his wand. "Dumbledore knows we can take you down and your arrogance is the best weapon we have."

Voldemort laughed and stepped back, moving his arm in a sweeping bow. "What a beautiful speech to portend your death. I shall make sure to tell your mother of your grandiose monologue just before I kill her." He took another step back and his thin lips stretched over his teeth in a grin. "Are you going to stand and die like a man, then?" He released them from the spell and watched with amusement as both picked up their wands and brandished them in his direction.

Neville's hand shook but his eyes were steady as he readied himself to fight. Slowly, Harry stood and pulled Neville to stand next to him. The other boy was trembling, but balanced himself on one leg with Harry's help. "I don't care if we die today," Neville said. "It'll be worth it if we can take you with us."

In unison, the three raised their wands and began the fight that would end with at least one of them dead.

A Death Eater knocked Lavender back and she fell, unconscious. "No!" Tonks put a Shield Spell around her, turned and quickly hit her attacker in his side, splitting open his black robes. "You want to kill someone, Carrow," she said, advancing on him with her wand drawn, "You'll find it a hell of a lot harder to kill me."

At her words, the heavy-set man turned to her; he clutched his side, his face narrowed in rage. "What's one little girl's life for another?" he asked just before raising his wand. A bright flash of purple lit the end of his wand before zigzagging through the air. Tonks jumped out of the way and barely kept herself from screaming as the spell hit an Auror standing behind her, catching him by surprise; Kingsley's intestines shot out of his midsection in a bright red clump, covering the ground before him in a mess of entrails and blood before he collapsed on top of it in a heap.

Screaming, she advanced on the Death Eater, anger at what had happened to her coworker blinding Tonks to everything but the man she was about to kill.

He was weightless. It had taken mere seconds, but Voldemort had broken down Harry's carefully constructed mental barriers and was forcing his opponent to bow using the Imperius Curse. Harry let go of Neville and focused his energy on blocking the connection until the weightless feeling left him.

"It's going to take more than that, Voldemort," he said, panting. "You don't have it in you to kill both of us."

"Ah, but you still don't understand, Potter," Voldemort said. He raised one hand and sent Harry to his knees, screaming. "I don't need to fight you to destroy you."

"Parvati, watch out!" Hermione screamed and tried to protect the girl as a tree branch nearly three times her size was brought down on top of her. Hermione was too late to stop it from hitting Parvati altogether, but the branch had scarcely come down on top of Parvati's leg before a blast from nearby shattered it. Hermione turned to see Ron running up beside her, his hand covering a bleeding gash on his cheek.

"Are you all--" Before he could finish his sentence, Ron was interrupted by a shouted spell from a Death Eater coming from behind a tree. The caster was felled by Sirius in a series of quick spells.

"Into the woods," Sirius said. He glanced at Parvati. She lay against the tree, unconscious and mostly hidden by what was left of the branch that had fallen over her. "Now!" he shouted, turning to face a group of fighters running towards him. Neither student listened and stayed to fight as Sirius struggled to protect the unconscious girl from being murdered as she lay helpless.

Voldemort screamed in frustration; his shock at Neville turning a spell back on him was short-lived as the boy quickly grew tired. Harry raised his wand and reinforced the spell that had temporarily held Voldemort at bay. He began pulling out reserves of energy he didn't know he had, forcing every bit of strength he possessed out through his chest and arm and wand until he felt his entire body thrumming with power. The pain he'd been feeling lightened and then disappeared altogether, forced away as Voldemort began to buckle beneath the strength of the spell.

Neville rejoined Harry, wand raised, his own energy focused as the two advanced on the powerful older wizard. With another primal scream, Voldemort raised his wand in their direction and sent a blast of magic strong enough to rock the earth beneath them. Both boys began to weaken considerably, but held their ground, their screams merging into one as their bodies were taken over, shaking, by the power flowing between them before it stopped, spent, and released them from its hold. There was a blast of light bright enough to blind three pairs of unseeing eyes and then all three collapsed.

"We have to stay and help," Hermione said. She frowned as Ron pulled her further away from the field surrounding the house. "There are still Death Eaters who haven't been caught."

"Wait." Lavender entered the trees just behind Hermione. She was limping but moving quickly in spite of her injuries. She caught up with them in seconds and them walked briskly beside them as they watched the ongoing battle from the thin shelter of trees at the edge of the property.

"We have to hide further back," Ron said. "Sirius wanted us back here for our protection."

"Parvati is still back there," Lavender said. She raised a hand to wipe tears from her face and smeared her cheek with blood.

"He's protecting her," Ron said. He turned in a circle, his wand held out before him. Satisfied that no one had followed them, he redoubled his grip on Hermione's arm and began pulling her back again, not releasing her until they were barely close enough to hear the anguished screams of the fighters still in battle.

Hermione rubbed the place on her arm where Ron had grabbed her. "I still say we can't be here for long. Harry and Neville may need us."

"They have to fight him alone," Lavender reminded her. "Didn't you see them?"

Hermione nodded. "They were at the corner of the house." She sniffed. "I couldn't tell if they were winning," she said in a small voice.

"Of course they will," Ron assured her. "They trained far more than we did and we've barely been hurt." He glanced around at the three of them, noting that Lavender didn't appear to have an injury more serious than the gash on her leg and Hermione was only suffering from a handful of cuts and bruises on her face and chest. He had been Stunned at least twice and then protected by Aurors until he was able to fight again. Harry had been right. Their training didn't matter much when it came down to it; they had all been pretty damn lucky.

"I want to go back," Hermione said. "I don't care what Sirius said. They could need our help. And I can't stand not knowing."

"Me either," Lavender said. "Come on, Ron," she pleaded, "You know we didn't go through all of this to hide behind trees while everyone else fights."
"Fine," he said, facing stares from both girls. "There can't be many of them left anyway and--Hermione!" Instinctively, she ducked and a bright red blast hit the tree at the level her head had been seconds before.

As the Death Eater emerged from behind a tree, Ron raised his wand and shouted a spell. He watched in horror as blood spurted in a wide arc and the man's head fell from his body and rolled towards them. Hermione shrieked and leapt back; the head stopped just before her feet.

She grabbed Ron's shoulder and turned him to face her. "Where did you learn that spell?"

"I don't..." He stepped back as the head moved on the ground again, the lifeless eyes seeming to stare out at them. "It was written into that advanced potions book Harry had. I had no idea it would do that." Glancing at the head again, Ron turned suddenly and vomited down the front of his robes.

"Come on," Lavender said, grabbing Hermione's wrist. "I don't see anyone else. I want to check on Parvati. I'm not sure she's safe where we left her." Hermione nodded. After waiting for Ron to clean the front of his robes, they made their way through the woods back to the house. The fight appeared to be over and no one alive was still around. Bodies of fighters were scattered all over. The teens stepped over them, careful not to disturb the dead from either side.

"She was right here," Ron said, pointing to the bottom of a tree. A note of panic had crept into his voice. There was little left of the branch that had fallen on their friend to mark the place where they'd seen her last. "Where is she?"

As if in answer, Sirius Apparated in several feet away with a loud crack and approached the teenagers. "I'm so sorry we had to leave you like that," he said. "It was safer to get you out of the way as the battle was winding down. They were getting more desperate. Then the Aurors needed everyone they could to get the injured to St. Mungo's. That's where we took your friend."

"Is she all right?" Lavender asked.

Sirius nodded. "She's one of the lucky ones. I think it was just a break." He glanced around at the group. "Are any of you seriously injured? Never mind, it doesn't matter," he said. "I've got to get you checked out anyway." He began reaching for Hermione's hand.

"Wait," Hermione said. "Where are they?" She began looking around frantically, her eyes searching the outskirts of the property. "I haven't seen Harry or Neville since well before we went into the woods."

"They're still on the other side of the house." Ron followed as Hermione ran from the wide expanse of trees and across the field, ignoring the carnage as they raced to find out what had happened to their friends. As they rounded the corner of the house, Hermione caught sight of Voldemort and then Harry and Neville in the distance. All had their wands drawn, the two boys nearly huddled together as they faced their common enemy. Ron pulled up beside her and held Hermione back as they watched the scene unfold. There were several bright flashes of light and then all three figures in the distance collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Hermione fell to her knees next to Harry. Ron tried to pull her back by her shoulder and she shook him off, throwing herself over her boyfriend's body as she shouted his name over and over. She began pounding on his chest with one hand. "No," she repeated as Ron grabbed for her again. "He's not dead. We can bring him back. We can save him. Voldemort didn't destroy--" She broke off then and turned to Voldemort's body. The lifeless pale husk lay curled on the grass in a heap, the bloody eyes unseeing. Hermione kicked at his head; her foot met his skull with a heavy thud. When Ron tried to pull her away a second time, she didn't resist, turning into his arms as they both cried for their dead friends.

A minute later Lavender had joined them, but Hermione could feel none of the sympathy she knew she should be feeling for what the other girl had lost. She felt little more than latent rage and a cool determination that she would do everything she had to do now that the worst had come to pass, providence help anyone who tried to get in her way.