Harry Potter and the Silent Siege

Chapter 19

The Hidden Foe

Sirius tried to ignore the ominous groans resounding all around him as he tore quickly through the Forbidden Forest, his wand held out in front of him. Long-distance disapparation was never an exact science even if one did not know precisely where he was going. He sensed he was somewhere near the clearing. If only he could get there a little bit faster.

Sirius stumbled as his foot caught on a stray branch along the ground but he managed to keep his balance in time to stop himself from falling. He could see an opening ahead of him in the trees.

"Point Me!" he cried hoarsely for what seemed like the dozenth time since he had first found himself back in the forest.

Sirius was panting too hard to sigh in relief but he saw that he was indeed heading in the right direction. The last few rows of the forest seemed to go on forever. Sirius knew he was running only on adrenalin now. Ignoring two stray branches that lashed against his face, he sprang hard into the clearing.

"Buckbeak!" he cried.

So fragile was Sirius' emotional state at that moment that tears sprung immediately to his eyes and ran down his cheeks at the sight of his faithful Hippogriff, untethered, but still waiting at the end of the clearing's edge where he had left him.

Sirius stumbled over the grass of the clearing, now flattened where it had been thoroughly chewed by the Hippogriff. He ran hard toward Buckbeak when the Hippogriff reared back his head, exposed his talons, and looked down at Sirius with a severely offended expression.

Sirius stopped and backed up.

"Sorry, old boy," he said, bowing several times. "Do you want me to keep on begging you?" he said, still panting, "because I will. I - "

Sirius stopped talking as Buckbeak slowly bowed in return. He anxiously leaped up onto the back of the Hippogriff and grabbed his hands around Buckbeak's neck.

Buckbeak took a few steps forward but seemed to hesitate. Sirius realized that Buckbeak had not flown much since his wing had been damaged last year and the sharp angle of ascent Buckbeak would need to clear the forest floor would not be easy. Sirius held on tighter and whispered hard into Buckbeak's ear:

"Buckbeak, please. Harry needs us. They're going to try to kill Harry."

Sirius grabbed onto Buckbeak more tightly. Buckbeak took a few steps forward, jumped, and landed with a hard thud that nearly threw Sirius off his back. Just when his rider was at a complete loss, though, Buckbeak jumped again, flapped his wings furiously and sailed up from the clearing into the sky at an alarming angle as Sirius held on for dear life. Once they reached the top of the foliage, Buckbeak drew a sharp but graceful arc through the sky. Sirius grabbed onto his neck and clenched his teeth as he was thrust violently sideways. Finally with a loud squawk and the furious beating of his mended wings, the Hippogriff righted himself and took his rider out in the direction of Hogwarts.

***

Ron shielded his eyes momentarily as a bright blue-white light suddenly filled the alcove. Just as he was beginning to adjust, he felt the Death Eater behind him shove him forward hard. He stumbled and struggled to gain his footing.

When he looked up, he was not very surprised to find himself in the original room. The faces of the Hogwarts founders on the portraits around the room and the house banners had been replaced with the large snake-shaped lanterns. Ron's eyes were drawn to the small table at the middle of the room, the table around which he and the others had guilelessly walked on their last visit. On this table sat a large cauldron over which was suspended a glowing white crystal which spun around emitting an oscillating blue and white light.

It was exactly as Ginny had described it.

And behind the table, flanked by two masked Death Eaters, one of whom seemed to fidget nervously while the other stood still, stood a short, serpentile creature with two fiery red eyes and a horribly emaciated neck. Ron had the sudden impression of an oversized eel that had just sprouted arms and legs.

Ron did not need to wonder who the creature was or however it had once been called a man. He had never spoken its name his whole life and only once, as a small child, had he seen its picture staring out from an old copy of The Daily Prophet his mother had been reading before she had quickly shoved it out of his sight, a ghastly haunted look in her eyes that had frightened Ron as much as the picture itself. And perhaps it was for this reason that Ron had never forgotten that face.

Yet strangely, like a child who finds himself disappointed in finally seeing his normal-looking idol in person, far removed from the glamour and hype of his media image, Ron found that he was not afraid to stand in the presence of the most feared dark wizard in the history of their kind. For now, it seemed as though that fear had a face and a form where before, like its name, it had had none. And so, even though he had little doubt he wouldn't live past this encounter with Lord Voldemort, Ron oddly felt very little fear at all.

Ron's thoughts were interrupted when he was shoved forward again to stand much closer to the round table than he ever would have liked, almost directly opposite Voldemort and the Death Eaters on the other side. Hermione was shoved to his immediate right, but a few paces still separated him. Harry was placed on the far right of Hermione. The gap between the three friends covered nearly the entire width of the long, narrow room. The Death Eaters stood behind them training their wands against any sign of their movement.

Voldemort opened his mouth and spoke in a high-pitched hiss. It took Ron a moment to understand that the sounds he was making were actually words.

"Glorious, isn't it?" he said, looking at the crystal. "It is made from the fused heads of hundreds of Monocellate cobras, the combined psychic power of the most legiliment creatures on Earth. It channels energy, and occasionally matter, but mostly thought. It's also utterly lethal when activated, of course."

Ron looked back at Voldemort and noticed for the first time that he was holding a small torn black book in his hand. He watched him take a long thin reptilian hand and place the book back down onto the table with surprising gracefulness. As Voldemort moved slowly around the table to walk toward them, Ron realized with horror that it was his sister's old diary.

"A very special book," Voldemort said slowly, "and a very special spell. One which you broke, Harry," he added, looking at Harry as if he were a fond nephew. "But like all things Harry Potter tries to destroy, Lord Voldemort brings back to life."

Voldemort tried to smile but finished up looking like the head of a snake ever more eager to strike.

"I've been waiting for you, Harry," he said, inching his way closer to the three of them.

Harry started to grasp his scar in pain again.

"It is so fortunate that you were able to return this book to Lucius here so that he could later on leave it in my own possession again," Voldemort went on, looking at Harry as if studying his pain. "Everything leaves behind a mental imprint for those able to read it. Even after you had destroyed the diary, Harry, I was able to learn what it was it had done. And so, I was able to renew my younger self's friendship with Ginny Weasley, first only in her dreams, and then whenever she had left the castle's protection. But soon, with the help of my most faithful servant, Severus Snape, I was able to prepare a potion to reach into her thoughts even as she lay asleep in this once secure school."

Voldemort stopped inches away from Harry's face. Harry continued to writhe in pain but he did not back away.

"And now that I am here I have been able to use this diary and the crystal much more clearly and secretly than I ever did out in the forest. Ginny has been my eyes and ears, you see. Through her thoughts, I have been watching all of your words and actions since I arrived in this room this morning, Harry. I must admit I'm a little disappointed. It seems you had real feelings for the girl. I had thought a wizard like yourself might be above those things as I was, but no matter. I suppose the sorting hat really doesn't lie after all and I've long since given up hope that you might ever really join my side.

"But I am very grateful for one thing, Harry," Voldemort continued to hiss, flecks of his obscene spittle now showering Harry's face like snake venom. "For many years, I wondered how I could ever make you suffer as much as you made me. I knew you from the day you stopped me from getting the Philosopher's Stone that you weren't afraid to die - just like your mother and father before you. Torture and mind control equally mean little to you. But that I know how much you value guilt and sentimentality, what friends they are to you. Shall I repeat your own words of this morning to you."

Voldemort's tone of voice grew even higher in a mock imitation of Harry.

"'I'm not really afraid to die. I'm just afraid that he'll take away the lives of my friends because of me.'"

There was another sickening rumble around the room. The Death Eaters were laughing again.

"I'm afraid I must deny myself the pleasure of watching you see Ginny suffer, Harry," Voldemort said. "I asked Severus to kill her as soon as you left, you see. I'd be surprised if he hasn't already."

Ron swallowed and forced himself to look away. Emotion flooded back to him so suddenly it was as if someone had flicked on a switch: rage and grief at Voldemort's dispassionate murder of his sister; a growing sense of shame and guilt that had been starting to stir inside him ever since he had seen Harry look at Ginny for what it now seemed had been the very last time; and a panicked fear of what the Dark Lord had planned for the rest of them.

But Ron swept aside these feelings like a dream. If Voldemort was finite, then so was the pain he could cause. He looked over at Hermione and Harry and saw that, although they were putting on brave faces, they were still very much afraid. Ron found himself thinking back to what Professor Nevins had told him the very first day of their class. Was this what it meant to feel brave?

Ron became aware that Voldemort was speaking again.

"But I will torture your two friends right in front of your eyes and you can watch them suffer. And as you watch, you can think how I would have paid them not the slightest attention were it not for their friendship with you, Harry. And how all of your noble plans to save them ended in nothing but their own misery and despair."

Voldemort took a step toward Harry so that he was right on top of him. He held an elongated fingernail in the air like a teacher clutching a decayed piece of chalk.

"And then, Harry," Voldemort finished in a whisper. "You and I will duel. And you will have nothing - "

Voldemort traced his finger over the top of Harry's scar. Harry cried out in pain.

" - at all - "

Voldemort traced a diagonal line. Harry screamed.

" - to stop me this time."

Voldemort ran his finger down Harry's scar to the bridge of his nose with a flourish. Harry screamed and fell to the ground, his hands clenched over his face.

The Death Eaters laughed again, this time loudly. And from their deep raucous bellows came a terrible high-pitched laughter from Voldemort's own mouth, like a serpent screaming for the kill.

Ron stepped back sharply, seized the Death Eater guarding him by the wrist and pulled down hard. There was a satisfying cracking sound. The Death Eater's laughter turned quickly to angst as he looked down in agony at his twisted wrist.

Voldemort and the other Death Eaters whirled around only in time to see the Death Eater's palm open and Ron's wand slip into his hand. Voldemort's own wand was raised in an instant. A bead of green light shot out toward Ron but Ron twisted away at the last moment and Voldemort's curse hit the floor just behind him. Rolling on the ground, Ron pointed his wand at the table behind him and cried:

"Accio Crystal!"

Before any of the Death Eaters had time to react, Ron jumped back and forth like a beetle through a swarm of hex-casting Death Eaters to a point in the room just behind Harry.

Voldemort now stood between him and the crystal. Like a guided missile, the still glowing crystal soared from the table to its summoner's new position which, exactly as Ron had intended, was blocked by the Dark Lord himself.

Several things happened in very quick succession. Ron became aware out of his peripheral vision that the Death Eater holding him had rushed toward him in pursuit and was now lunging for his wand. Ron knew that he would not move, however, and watched as the crystal flew fast toward Voldemort and seemed to all but skirt the edge of the Dark Lord's robes before he disapparated and the stone continued at rapid speed toward Ron. Ron could feel an immense heat rush over him as the crystal soared toward his face. He quickly lurched down toward the floor, knowing that the crystal would follow him. There came a tremendous flash and an explosion of light even inside Ron's instinctively closed eyes. He felt certain for a moment that the crystal had hit him but then he heard a loud scream from just beside him and in an instant before he collided with the floor, Ron opened his eyes to see that the Death Eater's lunging body had been caught between him and the crystal. For an instant, the face and singed body of Buckbeak's executioner Macnair lit up like a white firework. Ron covered his head with his arms and kept rolling on the floor as blue and white sparks raced out in all directions from Macnair.

The rest of the Death Eaters in the room just stared at Macnair, too dumbfounded to speak. Hermione could see Flint's mouth inside his mask open up like a gorilla's. She did not wait for Macnair's death throes to end before shoving all her weight onto Flint's wand-holding arm.

The former Quidditch captain's cry of surprise was drowned in the cacophony of sizzling energy and bloodcurling screams that continued to come from Macnair. The wand he had held fell to the ground. Malfoy turned around in time to see Hermione pick the wand up from the floor, point it at an astonished Flint and cry:

"Rictusempra!"

Flint twisted and turned in the air like a corkscrew and landed with a thud onto the opposite wall before sliding down to the floor in a motionless heap.

Flint had barely finished moving when Hermione heard a strangled curse from her right. Malfoy held his wand in a high flourish and was about to bring an enormous hex down on her when Harry, who had been clutching his scar on the floor in pain, rose quickly to his knees and tugged hard on Malfoy's ankle. Malfoy's face twisted in momentary surprise and he stumbled just enough to lose his aim and send a powerful curse crashing into the wall behind Hermione, removing a large chunk of wood paneling and much of the stone behind it in the process. Harry yanked harder and Malfoy went crashing to the floor.

Hermione ducked just as wand fire from the two Death Eaters who had been guarding Voldemort flew in her direction. Crouched down on the floor, she saw Harry's wand roll out of Malfoy's grip. He lunged for it but Harry brought the heel of his foot down hard onto Malfoy's fingers. With his own right hand, Harry scooped up the wand and swung around to use it on Malfoy when Malfoy grabbed his own ankle with his good hand. Harry shook his ankle away and tried to aim the wand but Malfoy jumped toward the wall and ducked behind a large slab of concrete that had been dislodged from the wall by errant sparks from the crystal.

Macnair seemed to have screamed his last. Where once had stood his body was a bright shining column of light that continued to hiss sparks all over the room bringing destruction in their wake. They were soon joined by the cracks of wand fire coming from all around them. Hermione lay flat on the floor. She looked around to see that Ron was still standing and dodging the fire from both of the Death Eaters beside the table. Hermione quickly threw her own curses at one of the two Death Eaters but she was forced to duck as a spark flew out of Macnair just singing the uppermost strands of her hair. She looked over to the other side to see Harry still in the open fiercely trading hexes with Lucius Malfoy who lay safely behind the cover of a large stone. She whirled back to see Ron's arm sending hexes between the two Death Eaters like a sped-up film. She raised her arm to try and send another hex to the table again when a bright flash of blue light from Macnair flew over her head and hit the Death Eater on the right of the table square in the chest. The impact threw him well down to the far end of the room nearly to the kitchen door.

The acrid stench of burning flesh filled the air and Hermione turned around briefly to see that Macnair's body had now completely vaporized and the crystal had burned itself out. Hermione got to her feet and she and Ron let off a volley of shots in the direction of the remaining Death Eater.

The Death Eater rolled to the floor and dived behind the piece of paneling that was earlier dislodged by Malfoy's wand fire from where he continued to fire the occasional hex at Ron and Hermione.

Ron looked around and was heartened to see that they seemed to be winning the battle. Both Malfoy and the other Death Eater were on the defensive, crouched behind their respective barricades on either side of the room's width, unable to pool forces. Harry kept trading shots with Malfoy and Ron and Hermione continued to gang up against their Death Eater. Finally, one of Hermione's hexes found its target and the Death Eater fell back to the ground with a groan. Ron and Hermione both ran over to take positions on either side of Harry and all three of them took aim at Malfoy.

Ron was certain they would overpower the dark wizard quickly but Malfoy moved with surprising agility and proved an extremely difficult target. The three Gryffindors strafed the wall behind him filling the air with splinters of wood and lung-clogging plaster. They twice blew his barricade into pieces but Malfoy always seemed to find another. Just as they were closing in on top of him and Ron was certain that one of their hexes would find its way home, there was a loud piercing crack.

"Look out!" cried Hermione and pulled Ron down to the ground.

Hermione and Ron landed hard on the floor just as four hexes hit the space they'd been standing like searchlights. Ron spun his head around in horror to see four new Death Eaters standing a few paces apart from the four sides of the table in the center. All of them were aiming at Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Standing just behind the aurors on their right, a little in front of the hallway to the kitchen, stood Voldemort.

"Bloody hell," said Ron. "They can apparate and disapparate!"

Just as surprised, Harry found himself distracted long enough for a shot from Malfoy to whiz past his own ear. Harry threw himself back to the wall, just meters away from Malfoy's own position, and positioned himself behind a large slab of broken away wall just as Malfoy had done.

Ron and Hermione dove to the right as another round of shots seared the floor where they had fallen just seconds before. Ron lunged for the side of the table and steered it over to use as a screen. Hermione screamed as a hex hit the tabletop, snapped it into pieces and sent the cauldron and its evil-looking brew to the floor with a loud clatter. Hermione moved out of the way of the goo as Ron quickly positioned the remaining pieces of table to cover them in all directions. The two lovers exchanged a fleeting glance then positioned themselves on either side of the feeble barricade and shot their own defensive hexes out through the air.

Harry watched in despair as the four Death Eaters flung a barrage of hexes at Ron and Hermione's poor shelter but he himself was more than occupied with Malfoy who had moved slightly away from his own barricade and back on the offensive, his own wand in his hand. But as consumed as he was in his struggle with Malfoy, Harry could not help but notice how Voldemort stood just behind the battle, his wand out but unused, a horrible smile on his face.

***

Snape continued to point his wand slightly up in the air so that it illuminated part of his face. He stared measuredly at Ginny but did not show any other signs of movement.

"If you're going to kill me," said Ginny, "why not just get it over with?"

Snape snorted.

"Why does he want to keep me here anyway? I would have thought he would want to torture and kill me right in front of Harry, just to make him suffer."

Snape stared impassively at Ginny.

"You don't have to say anything. I know he's afraid of me. He doesn't want me in that room with him. I just wish I knew why. I'm sure you do."

"You're awfully talkative for a young girl who once seemed incapable of speech in my Potions lessons."

"You wouldn't understand," replied Ginny, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Perhaps - " Snape began but then froze.

A loud unnatural scream erupted from somewhere down the corridor ahead of them. The scream was followed by a kind of hissing and spitting sound. Snape looked at Ginny and for the briefest of moments she could sense he was as much in the dark as to what had just happened as she was.

And then the air was filled with the unmistakable cracking sounds of wands in combat. Ginny felt her pulse quicken. She found she had almost closed herself off to hope. But could it be that her friends were now fighting back and that they really did stand a chance after all?

She took greater heart when Snape's own eyes widened and his tight-lipped smile fell fast from his face, replaced by a look of great anxiousness. Seeming to forget about Ginny altogether, Snape took out his wand, opened the door that led down the corridor where the others had vanished, and stood hesitantly on the threshold straining his ears to hear the sharper sounds of what was now unmistakably the storm of battle.

Ginny was about to make an acerbic remark about Snape's abrupt change in demeanor when she saw that his back was turned to her and his lit wand rested idly in his hand, forgotten in the rush to more important matters. Thinking back what now seemed a very long time ago indeed to her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes this term with Professor Nevins, Ginny rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, then sprung like a tiger for the wand in Snape's hand.

Ginny's hand landed on Snape's arm. With a vicious grunt, he turned around to confront her. Ginny winced as she felt the hot tip of the wand touch her palm and Snape's bony hands squeeze hard onto her fingers. Ignoring the pain, she pulled down hard, freed herself from Snape's grip and came away with the wand in her hand.

His face contorted in a mixture of fury and surprise, Snape's right hand lunged for Ginny. Before he could connect, however, she jumped a step backwards, raised the wand in both hands, and cried out hysterically:

"Expelliarmus!"

A bead of blue light shot out from the wand and quickly covered the narrow distance between them. It hit Snape's chest and seemed to spread out across the front of his body. The would-be headmaster staggered backwards from the impact and Ginny was sure the wand had done its work but then Snape straightened himself and looked down at Ginny, his arms folded, and the smuggest of smiles on his face.

Ginny stared down at the wand in her hands in shock.

Snape took a step toward Ginny. She felt his menacing breath on her face. She had the sudden impression he was about to try and strangle her with his bare hands.

"Did you really think an O.W.L. student would have the ability to match herself against a fully-trained Death Eater?" he snarled bitingly.

Ginny folded her arms in defiance.

"Actually, yes."

Without warning, Ginny brought her knee up hard into Snape's groin.

Snape's mouth opened wide to let out a soft moan of agonized surprise as he bent over in pain. Ginny quickly ran around the other side of him and pushed hard against the small of his back. Snape fell awkwardly to his knees at the spot where the door to the hallway met the floor. Ignoring Snape's ineffective groans of protest, Ginny turned heel and turned down the hallway to follow the others, Snape's illuminated wand in her hand.

***

After what seemed to Sirius a very long time indeed, Buckbeak's furiously flapping wings began to slow and the Hippogriff passed over the threshold of the school grounds.

Sirius had needed no wand to point him to Hogwarts. He had seen almost as soon as Buckbeak had cleared into the air the enormous Dark Mark that floated sickeningly over the school. At first, Sirius thought he must be wrong about the distance from the clearing to the school but as Buckbeak continued to fly over the monotonous treetops of the never changing forest, it seemed not as though they were getting nearer the school but rather that the Dark Mark was swelling in the sky above them. After minutes upon agonizing minutes passed, each one with Sirius believing he must be directly on top of the castle, he slowly began to realize the enormous height and breath of the mark. Never in the worst days of Voldemort's first reign of terror did Sirius feel as helpless as he did now.

And when he finally cast his eyes upon the castle, what he saw did not make him feel much better. The front entrance seemed to have been blasted open with such force, Sirius felt sure it could only have come from Voldemort's own curse. All throughout the school, smaller sections of the walls had exploded outward and Sirius could see black smoke churning ominously through some of the openings. What worried Sirius even more was how quiet the castle seemed. It was as though its unruly conquerors had already abandoned it, just as they had so many other homes throughout Britain whose terrified occupants had returned to find their houses in ruins and the loved ones they thought they had left safely at home gone forever.

Sirius tried hard not to think about how much it all reminded him of the time he had found the house of his best friend and godson smoldering in ruins, the Dark Mark hanging then over Godric Hollow as it did now over Hogwarts. His robes glowing faintly green in the enveloping shadow of the Dark Mark, Sirius held on even more tightly to Buckbeak as the Hippogriff flew down in sharp circles to land Sirius down right in front of the blown out entranceway.

Sirius dismounted from Buckbeak, leaving the Hippogriff to paw somewhat anxiously at the rock-strewn grass of the grounds. Then, with one last glance at the wreckage outside, Sirius drew out Barnaby's wand, jumped over a fairly large chunk of what had once been the front door, and ran through the opening into the darkened castle.

***

Ginny tore down the hallway, trying hard to ignore her anxiety as the walls seem to close in around her with the narrowing passageway. She could now hear from somewhere in the darkness behind her that Snape had managed to get to his feet and was lumbering after her. All the time, the cracks of wand fire grew louder and louder although the sounds of screaming had ominously stopped. She knew she didn't have the luxury to stop to think about whether it was any of her friends who had cried out.

Ginny was running so hard she almost collided with the doorway. She pointed her wand at the brass handle and screamed loudly:

"Alohomora! Alohomora!"

The door did not budge. Panting hard, Ginny listened to Snape's footsteps echoing nearer and nearer off the walls around her. In desperation, she grabbed the brass knocker with her hand and shoved hard. Such was the force with which she pushed against the already unlocked door that Ginny tripped and fell right into the original room.

"Ginny, look out!" cried Ron's voice.

Ginny briefly saw Ron and Hermione huddled behind a makeshift barricade of what remained of the table that had once stood at the room's center fighting off Death Eater fire from all four corners of the room when she became aware that two of the firing Death Eaters now flanked her on either side and both of them had now turned to aim at her. Ginny ducked to avoid one hex but the Death Eater to her immediate right quickly took aim with another.

At Ron's words, Harry spun around to see Ginny flatten herself to the ground at the entranceway. He forced aside his relief at seeing her safe and alive. He knew she wouldn't remain that way for long if he did not act quickly. Spurred by a rush of urgency greater than that of his own survival, Harry anticipated Malfoy's next move and before the Death Eater could fire, he ended their long duel with a nasty hex to Malfoy's forehead. Malfoy fell back against a hard stone and appeared to lose consciousness. His wand flew out of his grasp and rolled along on the floor behind him.

Harry spun back around toward the entranceway in time to see both Death Eaters take aim at Ginny. He heard a stream of hexes coming from the direction of Ron and Hermione's makeshift shelter but he was sure they had missed their targets because both of the Death Eaters remained standing. Ginny raised her own wand but she didn't seem to know at which Death Eater to point it. Then, with a poise borne of necessity, Harry aimed his wand at Ginny and cried out:

"Levitatus!"

Ginny screamed as she rose in the air, her arms and legs flailing haphazardly at precisely the same moment both Death Eaters struck. One managed to duck but the other was hit in the torso with his fellow's killing curse. The Death Eater who had struck the curse staggered backward for a moment in a shock at what he had done, then aimed his wand furiously at the now falling Ginny.

But that moment was all Harry needed.

"Stufepy!" he cried.

And the Death Eater fell to the ground followed closely by Ginny's own landfall and unnatural cry of pain.

Harry ran down to the far end of the corridor ducking and weaving through wand fire still coming at him from the opposite side of the room. He ran up to Ginny who lay moaning on the floor in pain.

"What the hell did you do?"

"I saved your life - again."

Ginny moaned.

Harry grabbed her up to her feet.

"Can you stand?"

"I think so."

Ginny tested her feet gingerly.

"I think I'm all right. It was just - "

Both Ginny and Harry ducked as another hex flew in their direction.

"Harry! Ginny! Look out behind you!" Hermione cried into the din.

The two Gryffindors whirled around in time to see Snape appear in the entranceway to the corridor directly behind him. They stared at each other for a moment. Then Snape raised a wand in his hand that Ginny recognized as her own. Harry grabbed Ginny and pulled her over to one side. Before Snape could utter a curse, however, two enormous hexes whizzed through the air from Ron and Hermione's position. Snape ducked but the hexes hit home on the stone wall just above him.

There was a large rumbling sound. Snape tried to move out of the way but two very large chunks of stone landed hard on his legs pinning him to the ground. Snape yelped in pain and writhed on the floor desperately trying to dislodge himself. He then covered his arms with his head but was unable to stop a smaller rainstorm of rocks from peppering his body. One slightly larger chunk fell on his head.

Ginny watched as his alarmed eyes slowly drifted into unconsciousness. Then she reached out and grabbed her own wand from Snape's hand and immediately started firing hexes at the two Death Eaters at the other end.

There were now four of them against two, not counting Voldemort himself, of course, who continued to stand there unmoving, letting his Death Eaters do all the work. Harry felt certain they had a good chance against the remaining Death Eaters and they could worry about Voldemort later. Nonetheless, neither of the Death Eaters seemed to find it difficult to hold off their hexes and each got a considerable number of their own in as well.

All of a sudden, another loud crack shattered the air around them. Harry spun around, looking at the room from all sides. He knew that someone had apparated or disapparated but he couldn't see -

"Harry!" cried Ginny.

Harry was still spinning around when Ginny landed a hex from the far corner at the Death Eater who had just apparated directly behind Harry. He fell to the floor immobilized. Harry turned around quickly, picked up his wand, and snapped it in two.

"That's one wizard debt," muttered Ginny to herself.

There was now only one Death Eater left fighting yet he continued to fly hexes at all of them while fending off their own. Ron snatched a quick look behind to see that Harry and Ginny were moving closer together as stray wand fire continued to break away pieces of wall behind them.

"Ginny," said Harry. "We've got to separate. Give him two targets!"

"I know."

Harry poised himself to leap into the far corner but just as he was about to move, he felt Ginny snake her arm around his waist. He felt like he had been unexpectedly splashed in the face with a sensuous rush of warm seawater as Ginny pulled him into a brief but passionate kiss and then pushed him away just as suddenly.

Harry looked down at her, sure that she had stopped his racing heart between beats.

"Just in case," she said.

Harry and Ginny hurled themselves to either side as a hex flew straight down the center of the room to the spot they had both been standing less than a second before. They both straightened and began firing back.

"Bloody hell," muttered Ron.

***

Draco Malfoy paced up and down in the corridor outside the kitchen, too far away from the original room to hear the sounds of battle and chaos that would have told him things had gone horribly wrong for the other Death Eaters. He felt his cheeks flush in anger as he considered how much longer he must wait outside a door no one would think to enter.

No, Malfoy thought to himself as he pounded his foot angrily against the stone wall of the corridor. This had been his father's doing. He wanted him out of the action. He didn't trust him, not after he'd spoken the truth. Malfoy's only consolation was the thought that the Dark Lord was in there right now torturing Weasley and Granger. He imagined their horrible twisting faces as they stared at each other, so close but unable to stop the other's suffering, unable to even care or feel anything but the cells in their body on fire from Cruciatus curse after Cruciatus curse.

But even this happy thought turned sour when Malfoy reflected that it could have been him casting those curses. He had practiced; he was ready. He knew the Dark Lord would be giving each of the Death Eaters a turn at them. His father had known how hard he had trained but he had to have his little punishment.

So he was a liability, was he?

Malfoy kicked hard against another wall again and again as he turned around to pace the side of the corridor just behind the stairs. He could not wish the Dark Lord's plan ill, not when it gave him so much of what he truly wanted, but Draco still hoped that one day his father would begin to finally appreciate his usefulness and the wisdom of his words, that he would one day not dare to insult his intelligence by giving him such a worthless job of mock guard duty. That he -

Malfoy's last thought ended in a flash of light and a gasp of surprise that was quickly cut off.

Malfoy's assailant swiftly bent down to take the wand from out of his fingers.

"Temper, temper," said Sirius.

He opened the door to the kitchen and stepped through.

***

With a loud crash, Hermione and Ron's makeshift shelter exploded into pieces. The lone remaining conscious Death Eater raised his wand to fire again. Hermione and Ron rolled away to either side of the narrow room. The hex missed its target, but in the shuffle, Hermione's wand fell out of her grasp and she inadvertently kicked it away further down into the room. Harry and Ginny let off a hail of hexes that each missed the quickly moving Death Eater but gave Ron and Hermione enough time to reach either side of the room's width in safety. Ron found a safe boulder to lodge himself behind and started to fire at the Death Eater along with the others. Hermione was not so lucky, however, but she pressed herself against the wall on her side and held her out her hand.

"Accio Wand!"

Her wand started to stir from its position on the floor but it just as it began to roll toward her, a sharp streak of green light flew out of a wand at the far end of the room and the wand was incinerated. Hermione looked up in surprise and saw Voldemort look down at his handiwork in brief satisfaction before replacing his wand in his robes, content to let his outnumbered Death Eater continue to fend off the others' hexes. Hermione realized he was only toying with them. She knew he allowed the battle to continue only for his own perverse curiosity, righting things only when they became too unbalanced against him. But she forced herself not to think of this. She knew that they had to keep going; it was all they could do. If Voldemort wanted to kill them, they would just have to make sure he had to do it himself.

"Hermione!" Ron cried suddenly.

Hermione turned around in time to see Ron throw his own wand across the room to her. She caught it instinctively.

"What about you?" she cried across the din.

"I've got cover. I'll manage!"

Ron ducked quickly behind his new barricade just as a well-placed hex blew a hole in the brass snake on the wall just above him. Hermione started to fire back at the Death Eater, desperate to divert his attention away from the defenseless Ron.

Ron took a quick peak out to see Lucius Malfoy's wand on the floor just inches away from where his stunned body lay near Ron. Ron thought of making a move for the wand but as a hex hit the floor just near him, he decided against it and continued to duck behind the wall on his side, hoping the others would succeed in carrying the battle to the Death Eater.

Ron could not see but heard another ominous crack and knew that more Death Eaters had arrived. He glanced a quick look to see that two had now appeared on either side of Voldemort and the other Death Eater and kept firing. The sounds of wand fire grew more intense as the three Death Eaters and Harry, Hermione, and Ginny fired back and forth across the length of the room.

Ginny looked across to Harry and saw his attention fully fixed on throwing hex after hex at the Death Eaters. She slowly edged her way up the wall on her side hoping he still wouldn't notice.

She had seen the wizard who had once been Tom Riddle standing near the door that led to the kitchens at the far end, watching them as though seeing a far-away fight. He was hardly taller than she was however he had stood in her dreams. She knew that his poise and calm was only a façade, a face he wore like the masks of his followers to trick others as much as himself into believing in the fantasy of his power, just as he had tried to trick Ginny.

But he wouldn't trick her again. Suddenly oblivious to the hexes flying around her head, Ginny made her way toward the center of the room, just behind where Hermione was now firing frantically at the Death Eater behind her. She still did not look over at Harry; she hoped he wasn't looking at her and if he was that he said nothing. She was now as certain as she'd ever been that Voldemort was afraid of her. He hadn't meant for her to get this far. Ginny didn't know what power it was she possessed that frightened him so deeply but she did know that while Harry, Hermione, and Ron could handle themselves against the Death Eaters, it was only she who could take out Voldemort. She didn't know quite how but she knew she had to try the only way she knew.

Ginny could swear she saw the eyes of the Death Eater to Voldemort's right widen as he watched her approach but the Dark Lord himself continued to look out to the center of the room. Finally, the Death Eater threw a hex in her direction. It flew toward Hermione first and she ducked. The hex flew over her head and skimmed just over Ginny's but the younger Gryffindor did not falter. She kept running, leaped over Hermione who was still lying on the ground, and ran straight into the path of the three Death Eaters who stood around Voldemort at the far end.

"Ginny!" cried Hermione in amazement.

Harry turned around and saw with horror what was happening.

"Ginny, no!" he cried.

But Ginny ignored them both. She kept running hard and dodged two more closely struck hexes. A broadside of shots came from Harry and Hermione at the two Death Eaters nearest her. They both flinched and ducked and at that moment, Ginny saw a clear shot to Voldemort. She raised her wand to strike.

And the Dark Lord turned around, looked at her, and froze.

Ginny raised her wand to strike but just as the curse reached her lips, she stopped. And in that moment she understood why she could not strike.

Ginny hesitated, still staring at Voldemort, her wand in front of her, not sure what to do. And that extra moment of hesitation proved very costly.

The two Death Eaters standing next to Voldemort recovered their balance quickly. Joined by the third, they each flung a killing curse at Ginny. Ginny threw herself to the floor at the last minute but the curses flew hard into the wall behind her. Large chunks of stone and a brass snake rained down on top of where she was lying. She threw her arms over her head and hoped it would be enough.

"NOOO!" cried Harry.

He watched helpless as the space where Ginny had been standing a moment before was buried in rubble. A large cloud of thick plaster filled the air but when it was gone, nothing stirred underneath.

Harry stared at the spot in disbelief, his wand hanging limply to his side. He did not hear Hermione cry out a warning or notice until it was too late that a hex had been sent in his own direction. A sharp pain suddenly stung his hand and his wand broke into pieces even before it had hit the floor. Harry looked down at his hand and saw it had turned a horrible shade of purple. A sticky, hairy fungus-like substance was sprouting painfully from his palm and spreading quickly up his arm. Harry felt like someone had lit a fast-spreading fire underneath his skin.

He looked up, his vision blurred even underneath his glasses, and what he saw made him feel even worse. Lucius Malfoy had woken and was reaching for his wand. Ron was still crouched behind and could not see him. Harry tried to cry out, even as he felt the rash start to consume the right side of his body, but no sound could come out of his mouth. He watched in horror as Malfoy reached for his wand and closed in right on top of Ron. The other Death Eaters could see what was happening and concentrated their fire on Hermione who desperately tried to fend off three hexes at once.

Ron felt a hand reach over and pick him up from the ground. The next thing he knew he was looking right into Malfoy's face.

"Mr. Weasley," Malfoy hissed. "Won't your father be proud?"

Malfoy raised his wand.

Harry looked over and saw that Hermione was still in no position to help. He was certain Ron had less than seconds to live if he didn't do something immediately. Without realizing he had even thought of it, he reached awkwardly with his remaining good left arm into his right hand pocket. He took the Space Catcher gingerly in his hand and flung it as hard as he could toward Malfoy.

"Avada Ke-"

Malfoy's face twisted briefly in shock as he felt something soft land on the back of his head and then sensed the world pull away in front of him. Before Ron's astonished eyes, both he and his wand vanished into thin air.

Harry tried to grin but his mouth seemed to twitch uncontrollably. His eyes smarted and blurred and he fell to the ground as his legs went numb. He heard the faraway sounds of intense battle and was briefly aware of something large and brown half-running, half-diving before him. He heard a muffled voice, felt a flash of light and then suddenly everything was clear again and Harry could see three hexes streaming hard at him. He ducked and felt Hermione land on top of him.

"Just try and study Herbology better next time, Harry!" came a frantic voice.

He and Hermione untangled themselves as another hex landed in the spot where they had been sitting. Harry saw Hermione throw her wand back to Ron and run dangerously back to the corner of the room to grab another from a fallen Death Eater. Harry could see she was about to move to get yet another for Harry but two well-placed hexes made Hermione duck to the far corner of the room again. It was obvious she had been spotted and couldn't try anything more. For the time being, Harry was defenseless.

Flattening himself against the wall, he spun around as a cry of victory went up from Ron. He looked down to see that the Death Eater to the right of Voldemort was now knocked out on the floor. Another tried to run to take his place but Hermione and Ron landed a hex on him at the same time and he fell also.

Now there was one left again but how many more could apparate in? Voldemort remained just in front of the door that led back to the kitchens, still unmoving. Harry watched warily as Ron and Hermione broke out from their hiding places and tore hard at the Death Eater at the same time, as if they had made up their minds that Voldemort himself might as well not be standing there. Not sure at all of their tactics, Harry nonetheless ran in himself behind their cover, hoping desperately to see a stray wand on the ground. The Death Eater fended off one curse but the others kept coming too close and too fast. Finally, a curse from Hermione hit him in the forehead and he bounded hard against the wall.

All of the Death Eaters had been taken out.

Ron and Hermione pointed their wands at Voldemort. Harry was sure he would make a move but he continued to stand there motionless, his wand still at his side, a smile beginning to form on his lips.

"Very well done," he hissed.

"Look out!" cried Harry.

But it was too late. While Ron and Hermione kept their eyes glued to Voldemort, two Death Eaters apparated on either side of the door to the kitchen passageway. Before they had so much as fully materialized, each had raised their wands at Hermione and Ron.

"Expelliarmus!" rang the sounds of dual curses.

Ron and Hermione's wands flew high in the air and bounced harmlessly off the two walls on either side of the room.

The two Death Eaters trained their wands back at Ron, Hermione, and Harry, all three of whom were now completely defenseless.

Voldemort held out his own wand.

"Well, now," he said. "I really must congratulate you, Harry, and your friends. It's not often sixth-year Hogwarts students can wreak this kind of havoc on an army of fully trained Death Eaters."

He nodded almost imperceptibly to the two Death Eaters who tightened their grips on their wands.

"I think a little reward is in order, Harry," Voldemort went on. "To show my appreciation of your skills, I won't torture your friends for long. After all, we've had a great deal of entertainment already and I'm anxious to get on with our duel."

He looked back to the Death Eaters.

"Three Cruciatus each shall we say and then an Avada Kedavra? And then I will deal with Potter. On the count of three?"

The door to the kitchen exploded open. Two flashes of wand light ejected in quick succession from the darkened opening and the Death Eaters fell to the ground stunned.

Harry looked up to see what army of angels had come in to save them but what emerged from the mouth of the door was a single-figure, his frayed black cloak flailing behind him, his eyes wide and crazed, and two wands in his hand like a gun-slinging outlaw.

"Sirius!" Harry cried.

Sirius flung another curse at Voldemort but the Dark Lord disapparated again.

"Take their wands, quickly!" barked Sirius.

Still stunned, Ron and Hermione reached over and grabbed the wands out of the hands of the two unconscious Death Eaters. Sirius quickly flung Malfoy's wand to Harry and took his own into his hand.

"Get back against the walls!" Sirius yelled again.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry each moved quickly back to the side walls nearest them.

Sirius sprang back and forth like a cat.

"Keep your eyes everywhere!" he ordered. "They could - "

There was a loud crack and three Death Eaters materialized, one on each side of the room. Sirius spun around quickly and took out the one that had apparated just behind Ron before he had chance to strike. That left two on the other side of the room standing on either side of a re-apparated Voldemort. Sirius dived and rolled to avoid a double hex and flattened himself to the wall just behind Harry.

"Merlin's filthy backside!" cursed Ron. "How many more of them are there?"

"Harry," said Sirius urgently. "How many Death Eaters has he used?"

Harry tried to think as he ducked a hex and realized he could scarcely begin to concentrate.

"I - I don't know. What? Can't he just take them from anywhere?"

Sirius fired a hex at one of the Death Eaters that went right of its target and then flattened himself back against the wall.

"No," he replied breathlessly. "All of these Death Eaters came into the building with him in a single spell. That's how they and only they can apparate and disapparate inside the school. Only the spell protects them from the natural defenses that surround the castle."

"Where are they coming from then?"

"Other parts of the building. They were told to report back in at regular intervals. That's how they're coming back. And - "

Sirius dodged another hex.

"And, of course, when he disapparates, he's gone to fetch some more. But there are only so many. Some came in here and others went to other parts of the castle."

"How do you know this?"

Harry winced and ducked as a hex hit the wall behind him and showered him with plaster.

Sirius smiled wryly. "It's a long story, Harry. Snape here?"

Harry nodded and pointed to the far corner of the room where Snape was still pinned on the floor unconscious.

Sirius nodded.

"Good. He's a traitor."

Harry swallowed. "I know. What do we do now?"

"There can only be so many. Just get these and leave Voldemort to me."

"But - " Harry protested.

But Sirius had started to run toward the Death Eaters and away from Harry. Jumping and ducking, he avoided another hex and took a position on the wall further up and out of Harry's earshot. Harry saw several shots headed in Sirius' direction and tried to cover his godfather as best he could.

Sirius continued to edge his way forward. Finally, he reached the middle of the room and thought of taking a shot. The Death Eaters tried to target him although they were still kept busy dodging Hermione, Ron, and Harry's hexes and Voldemort was still not looking in his direction. But Sirius also knew that he wouldn't stand much of a chance of catching the Dark Lord unaware from this distance. He began to edge closer, watching the Death Eaters ahead of him closely, when he felt something grab hold of his ankle and twist hard.

The room tumbled before Sirius' eyes as fell hard to the floor, unable to break his fall. Ignoring the unpleasant sensation of trickling blood down his chin, Sirius looked up to see a Death Eater who had earlier been rendered unconscious sit up from the floor and raise his wand to attack him at close range.

But the movements of this Death Eater were slow compared with Sirius'. Before the Death Eater could strike, Sirius had snatched the wand out of his grasp and tossed it to the side. The Death Eater tried to reach for Sirius' own wand but Sirius pressed down on his face to stop his movement. As he did so, the Death Eater's mask came away from his face.

Both of them stopped immediately.

Then, his hand still gripping the struggling Death Eater's face, Sirius threw back his head and roared with deranged laughter.

"You!" he said, his laughter growing louder. "You!"

Sirius then stopped laughing as suddenly as he had started. His face turned pale and his lip began to tremble. The Death Eater found himself rigid in fright as he looked back up at the cold, haunted look in Sirius' eyes.

Then Sirius put his hands around the Death Eater's throat and began to strangle the life out of him as if it was the last thing left he wanted to do before he died.

The Death Eater squealed like a pig. He tried to move his arms and legs but found they were frozen. Sirius just squeezed even tighter.

"How does it feel, Wormtail?" Sirius hissed. "Do you begin, now, to understand?"

Sirius dug his nails further into Wormtail's neck, oblivious to the sounds of battle all around him, watching in delight as blood started to blossom from out of Wormtail's lips.

And then suddenly Sirius' hands were clutching nothing but air. Sirius fell to the floor. For a moment he was certain Wormtail must have disapparated but then he felt something scurrying underneath his chest. He looked up, his eyes darting back and forth frantically, before he spotted a small rat, its pulse pounding away in its sore neck and a missing paw on its toe.

Sirius dived for the rat but it scurried away underneath a pile of rubble. Sirius started to tear the stones apart but the loud crack of wand fire hissed just over his head and exploded the rubble in his face. Sirius turned around hard as he felt pinpricks of pain erupt all over his face. In a rush of unfulfilled fury, he swung around and landed a hex squarely on the stomach of the Death Eater to the left of Voldemort who landed back hard against the wall. Sirius lowered his head and plunged forward into Voldemort's half of the room. Another Death Eater threw a hex at him. Sirius ducked and rolled. Coming up hard, he pointed his wand at Voldemort and in the same motion channeled all of the loathing that had built up inside him for the last fifteen years for the monster who had killed his best friend and sentenced himself to a life of living hell in one single curse.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort turned around to look at Sirius only as Sirius' curse had traveled all but a hair's length from Voldemort's left temple. Then, as if swatting a fly, the Dark Lord reached out his left hand and caught the energy from Sirius' hex in his hand. He seemed to draw it into his palm in a ball of light where it sat, spitting with energy.

And then, with the faintest of smiles, Voldemort stretched out his hand and flung Sirius' own curse back to him.

Sirius forced himself out of shock just in time to fall to his knees. The curse landed in the wall with the loudest explosion they had heard yet that day. The battle stopped as the whole room turned to watch an enormous gaping hole form in the wall behind Sirius. Then large chunks of rubble began to cascade down. Sirius tried to crawl along, desperately avoiding many of the falling stones, but at the last minute a large brass lantern holder dislodged from the wall and came crashing down. Sirius held up his arm and tried to swerve away but the edge of the holder caught him sharply on the side of the head and he fell to the ground.

Harry watched in horror as the lantern bounced off Sirius and rolled to a noisy halt on the floor, its flame extinguished.

The side of Sirius' head turned a sickly sticky red and blood flew like a river from a deep wound. He did not stir.

"Sirius!" cried Harry.

He sprinted down the length of the room to join his godfather's side but before he could get there a hex from Voldemort's own wand crashed loudly into the wall just in front of him. Seething like an angry fire, Harry aimed a hex at the Death Eater to Voldemort's right and brought him down hard just as his godfather had done moments before.

Before the last remaining Death Eater had time to react, Ron, Harry, and Hermione combined to throw a series of hexes in his direction. The Death Eater tried desperately to fend them all off as Voldemort watched impassively. But then the three Gryffindors began to vary the speed and position of their hexes and finally he had nowhere to run. Harry threw a hex to his left. He moved to dodge but walked straight into Hermione's and fell to the ground.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just moved to turn against Voldemort when there was a loud crack and the Dark Lord disapparated again.

The room was suddenly filled with an eerie silence. The silence was broken a moment later by the sound of loud running footsteps. Harry had started to run toward his fallen godfather again.

"No, Harry!" cried Ron. "He'll move in behind you! You can't help Sirius like this!"

Harry drew up panting. He knew Ron was right.

"Spread out!" said Ron again. "Don't give them an easy target!"

Harry and Hermione nodded uneasily. Harry moved toward the width-wise center of the room near the far end on which he now found himself just in front of the door they had first entered. Ron and Hermione remained at the other side of the room in front of the blown out door to the corridor leading to the kitchen pantry. They moved away from each other in the direction of the walls on the other side of the far width of the room. All three of them pivoted in place and kept looking around in all directions, anxious not to be caught with their backs turned.

Harry tried hard not to think about all that had happened. At least while Ron and Hermione were still alive, there was something worth fighting for. He tried to hard to consider whether they had really immobilized all of the Death Eaters in the room. He tried to count bodies but quickly gave this up. How many supporters could Voldemort have? How many could he have brought with him into the castle? Sirius seemed to have thought they were beatable. Did he know this for a fact? Was he -

A loud crack rifled through the air. Voldemort re-apparated in the center of the room, alone, his wand still hanging by his side, as if unusable.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione each turned around and threw three hexes that hit Voldemort at the same time. His wand suddenly raised in his hand, Voldemort deflected each of them with the grace of an artist brushing a painting on canvas.

Neither of the three tried to fire a second time.

"It seems you have left me without the defense of my Death Eaters," said Voldemort calmly.

Neither Harry, Ron, nor Hermione believed this for instant and each of them continued to look around the room, certain that a fresh group of Voldemort's supporters would apparate behind them at any moment.

"But I think three against one is hardly fair," added Voldemort.

Harry felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. He tightened his grip on his wand and was about to open his mouth to speak when Ron cried out:

"If you want to kill us, go right ahead. But I'm not leaving this spot."

"Neither of us is afraid to die for Harry!" added Hermione shrilly.

Harry wanted to open his mouth again but his throat seemed to have dried up completely.

Voldemort turned around to look at Hermione with the patient regard of a teacher whose ill-mannered student has just spoken out of turn.

"Is that so?" he declared. "So be it then."

Voldemort pointed his wand at the ceiling and flicked it across like a knife.

Hermione and Ron's hands flew to their ears as an ear-splitting crash echoed throughout the room.

"Look out!" cried Harry. He ran forward, his wand pointing to the ceiling.

Ron and Hermione looked up just in time to see three large cracks slice through the tall ceiling from just to their end of the central candleabra right to the edge of the wall underneath which they now stood.

"Run! Run!" cried Harry.

Hermione and Ron stared up the ceiling for a moment longer and then ran forward toward the center of the room just as the ceiling began to collapse above them.

Harry's eyes widened as he saw as the chunks of rock that supported the ceiling were nearly as thick as the height of a grown man. Chairs, tables, and cauldrons plummeted down after them from the Potions classroom high above. Harry watched as Hermione and Ron sprinted toward him but he could see in horror that they would never make it in time. He took aim with his wand at one enormous slab of rock headed straight for Ron's head but Voldemort deflected his beam harmlessly to the side. He could see his two best friends shouting and pointing their wands at the rock but it didn't seem to have an effect.

And above the din of falling rock Harry could still make out the horrible high-pitched laughter of the thing that killed everyone that had ever loved him and that he himself had ever tried to love.

With a final ear-splitting roar, the ceiling crashed to the ground. A thick dust rose from the ground and choked Harry's lungs. When most of it settled, a few moments later, Harry looked out through a thick haze to see that where his friends had once stood there was now only a tall pile of rubble that covered the ground of what had once been an entire third of the room. He didn't see how anyone could have survived under that.

For one last hopeful moment, Harry wondered if Voldemort might have been trapped also but then the Dark Lord emerged through the dust like a horrible monster coming out of the foggy shadows of a nightmare to horrible to consider in waking thoughts.

Voldemort absently brushed a thick cloud of plaster away from his robes and walked slowly toward Harry, his wand outstretched. He stopped a safe distance from the rubble.

"Raise your wand now, Harry," he said. "And tell me the truth. I prefer it this way, don't you? Just you and me, Harry Potter. Just you and me."

But no sooner had Voldemort finished speaking than the sound of shifting rock emerged from somewhere to his left. Harry looked up at Voldemort, expecting another ruse, but he found that if appearances could be trusted, Voldemort seemed just as surprised as he. Both of them looked over toward the sound, each seeming to wonder whether friend or foe would emerge.

Ginny Weasley squeezed out of the last of the large slabs of stone that had pinned her to the ground. She stood up, flecks of white plaster streaking through her long red curls and took in the scene from all of the dreams the Dark Lord had given her.

Ginny did not say a word. Without hesitation, she walked into the center of what remained of the room, stood between the two combatants, and then turned around and pointed her wand straight at Voldemort.