Stylistic Harmony

Chapter Thirty Four
Hermione and Ginny descended the stairs, they could hear the noise in the kitchen escalate as they got closer, Harry's voice rang out barking orders at people. They looked at each other, the plan that they had come up with was risky and if they were able to pull it off, it would be nothing short of a miracle. Hermione's nerves were tingling in anticipation, she had been too long without the feel of Draco's skin on hers, without the buzz she felt when they were as one. Next to her, Ginny was feeling the same sense of anticipation, her conviction that Blaise was the one she wanted was stronger then ever and by the end of night, hopefully, they'd be together again. They entered the kitchen silently, and took their place at the table, next to Ron and his brothers, Bill and Charlie who had arrived whilst they had been upstairs. Hermione wasn't really paying attention to those around her, her mind otherwise occupied going over the information she knew, the last Horcrux was Voldemort's snake, once that was targeted the Dark Lord would know that his Horcruxes were being destroyed. The snake would have to wait until the last, opportune moment, she felt no qualms in telling this to Harry, if it destroyed Voldemort the faster, it was all the better for her and Draco. She wasn't sure at this point what the other item was, it could be one of two things, the clasp of Gryffindor's, or the locket of Slytherin's, seeing as she had no idea where either of these items were, the completion of her plan was unlikely to happen tonight; which in turn meant that she may have to wait longer to once again truly be with Draco. She did, however plan on giving as much information to Draco and Blaise as possible to aid their hunt for the last pieces of Voldemort's fractured soul.
"HERMIONE!" Her head whipped up at the sound of her name, Harry was looking directly at her, so angry she could practically see smoke pouring out of his ears. She raised her eyebrows,
"Yes?" He huffed at her nonchalance, waved it off and asked her directly,
"Did you find the coins?" His tolerance for her was on a tether, and he felt a now all to familiar stab of murderous rage. His impatience at finishing this with Malfoy was clouding his judgement of what was truly important, and he needed it out the way before he could hope to succeed in destroying Voldemort. Hermione stood up, fished the fake Galleon out of the pocket of her jeans and flicked it towards Harry. He snatched it out the air and said the charm to activate it. Hopefully Neville and Luna would receive his message and start rallying the dregs of the DA together to strengthen the defense at the castle. He turned to the people who remained in the kitchen, the Order; Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt, and others; the Weasleys, minus Fred and George who were meeting them at the school; and finally Ron, Hermione and his Ginny. He looked at them, all of them willing to fight for the cause, even Hermione, who he truly believed, no matter what had corrupted her, would not condone the slaughter of innocents. Pride, mixed with humility, swelled in him, he opened his mouth to say something at least, not quite knowing how to put what he was feeling into words, what if some of them didn't come back? What if they died and he never got to thank them? He started to speak, but Lupin sensing what he was about to say, raised his arm, cutting Harry off,
"No. No goodbyes. We're with you Harry, and thats where we want to be. We'll see you on the other side." With that he grabbed Tonks' hand and apparated them both away. Ron chuckled lightly,
"Well," he said, "Sums it up, don't you think?" The remaining people laughed, then all of them disapparated out to face the army of darkness.

The school was in an uproar, the teachers were trying to keep the students calm but the younger ones were panicking. All the houses bar Slytherin were gathered in the Great Hall, various Aurors were loitering at the back on high alert waiting for signs of the first wave of attack. McGonagall was frantically trying to retain some sense of order but was failing miserably, as soon as the students had found out what was coming they had spilt, the older ones rallying, wanting to stand and fight, the younger ones huddling to each other, scared out of their wits. In one corner, a select group of students were readying themselves, as soon as he had felt the coin in his pocket burn, Neville Longbottom had awoken his house, those who had been members of the DA had immediately begun preparing, Dean and Seamus had run to warn Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Neville himself had begun to gather together the younger students, ready to lead them to safety, before Professor Vector had appeared to escort them all to the Great Hall. They had gathered together the rest of the DA, Luna, Ernie, Justin, Susan and others, and were currently how best to help. Currently the hall was a disaster zone, students were everywhere and the teachers had lost control. No-one was listening to a word McGonagall was shouting, and it seemed nothing would call the students of Hogwarts to order. The doors to the Great Hall slammed open, and every head in the hall turned to look, the frantic chatter ceased immediately as a group of people made their way into the hall. At the head was Harry Potter, the change in the boy was astounding, gone was the somewhat naive little boy that had walked into this hall six years previously, the crowds parted for him and he walked to the front. Folding his arms over his chest, the Order of the Phoenix fanning out behind him, he said, quite calmly,
"You were saying Headmistress?" McGonagall looked almost as shell-shocked as her students, but regained her authority and cleared her throat,
"Yes, well, thank you Mr. Potter. Students of Hogwarts, tonight the Dark Lord has made it his intent to attack this school. I know this is frightening for many of you and that is why I require your absolute cooperation in getting you all to safety. Please follow the instructions of your heads of houses and make this as smooth as possible. I ask the prefects to help as much as possible. First to third years will follow your Head of house, do not stray and go silently. Fourth to seventh years, your prefects will lead you out," She was cut off by Neville who called,
"What if we want to fight?!" Harry turned at the voice and smiled, Neville inclined his head in his direction, an understanding passing between them, McGonagall started again,
"I cannot stop those of age fighting if they wish, any other seventh years who feel that they want to stay and help may do. But none others." It was Ginny who spoke this time,
"What about us?!" She indicated the other sixth years who were part of the DA, Luna stepped to her side, defiance in her usually dreamy expression, "We want to stay and help!" McGonagall turned to Molly Weasley and her husband, who said,
"If she wants to fight, I cannot stop her. She's as stubborn as her mother." Molly smiled wanly, McGonagall sighed,
"Very well, sixth years, I give you the same choice. Stay and help? Or go to safety, I strongly advise that you choose the second option." About half of the sixth year went to stand by Ginny and Luna. McGonagall nodded, a strange sense of pride swelling in her at the passion of the students towards their school. She indicated to the teachers to begin the evacuation of the students. The hall began to rapidly empty, Harry watched as the students were led from the hall, all of them looking so scared, he hoped beyond hope that they would get to safety fast enough. He looked behind him and saw the members of the DA looking over at him. He went over to his peers and beamed, Neville clapped him on the back,
"Good to have you back mate! Anything we can do, let us know." Harry nodded,
"Cheers Neville, I need you guys to go with Ron and Hermione. Surround the entrance hall, anything that gets in, destroy it." Harry was tapped on the shoulder, Fred and George had arrived, arms weighed down by varying defensive gear. In the mayhem of the evacuation, unbeknownst to everyone around her, Hermione slipped out of the side door, clutching the ring on the chain round her neck she ran as fast as she could to the Slytherin dormitories.

With the rest of the school busy with the evacuation and readying themselves for the attack, it was easy for Draco and Blaise to slip in unnoticed. They moved silently through the darkened hallways, making their way to the Slytherin common room. Reaching the portrait, Blaise whispered the password and the painting swung forward permitting them entry. The whole house was awake, the prefects having been on patrol in the corridors had seen the rest of the student body moving towards the Great Hall. They had hurried back and awoken the rest of their house, speculating what was going on. As soon as the portrait slammed shut behind them heads began to turn, on seeing Draco and Blaise, the students chatter died down. Pansy Parkinson rushed forwards and threw her arms around Draco, nuzzling his neck. Draco made a disgusted snort and dislodged Pansy arms from around his neck,
"Get the fuck off me Parkinson!" She looked hurt for a moment but regained her composure,
"Baby, what's going on? Nott saw all the students rushing to the Great Hall, and," she lowered her voice, "Our marks have been burning all evening. Is it tonight? Is he attacking now?" Blaise sniggered, then stepped towards Pansy, grabbing her arm, he yanked her sleeve up and drew one long finger over the mark writhing on her arm,
"Didn't you realise Parkinson? Or is your head so full of air that you can't feel anything. You idiot of course its tonight." He dropped her arm as if holding on to it any longer would affect him in some way. Turning his attention to the students in front of him, who looked a mix between awe and fear at the sudden appearance of their revered Princes. Draco shoved Parkinson out of the way and stood, feet apart, arms crossed to face his house,
"All of you, listen up! The Dark Lord os on his way here now wit an army behind him. He sent Blaise and I here to rally for your support. Those who want to fight against Potter and his merry band of idiots are welcome to do so. Anyone else, get the fuck out of here before you get yourselves killed." There was a scuffle as some students pushed forward to get out of the common room, some younger students, those disillusioned by having Death Eaters for parents remained behind, along with all the seventh years and some sixth. Draco turned to address the younger ones, he grimaced then snarled out, "Do you really think that you're capable of fighting highly trained Aurors? This isn't a classroom anymore this is war, its not a fucking game. Get out of here." They stood their ground against him, his anger rose, eyes turned dark and the people in front of him recoiled in fear, he growled, "Do I have to make myself any clearer? Get the fuck out of here. NOW!" Blaise came to stand by him, leaning close, he whispered,
"Draco, do you really think that this lot stand a chance against Order members and Aurors? They are going to get themselves killed." Draco turned to look at Blaise,
"Of course not. I'm hoping that they are gonna realise it and get out of here before they get killed," He straightened up and addressed everyone, "Fan out, spread yourselves through the corridors. You know these halls better then them. Use it to your advantage. Move it." The remainder of the people scurried out of the room, on her way past Pansy stopped in front of them,
"What were you to whispering about?" Draco sneered in her direction, grabbed her arm and and pulled her toward him, spitting out,
"Thats none of your fucking business Parkinson. Get out of my sight before I kill you myself!" The anger in his eyes, made her squeak in fear, wrenching her arm out of his grip she stumbled past them and out of the door. The two man turned to each other, Blaise said with a grim smile,
"Fancy a drink before we go get slaughtered?" Draco chuckled lightly and nodded. Blaise walked off and up the stairs to Draco's dorm room to get the Firewhiskey. The blond looked around the room, taking it in, getting the last glimpses of his childhood before crashed from beneath him. His guard was down, so the frantic hammering on the door made him jump about six inches, he pulled out his wand and slowly opened the door,
"DRACO!" She screamed before flinging herself into his arms.

The gates to the castle shook, metal begun to twist and bend, seemingly destroying themselves. They finally snapped and broke, swinging forwards on their hinges. The Dark Lord stepped through them, a triumphant look on his face,
"Burn it to the ground my friends, burn it and kill everyone that gets in your way!" He raised his wand and summoned his most fierce-some subjects, the Dementors. Hundreds swooped down, bringing with them a cold, clammy darkness, they moved silently over the grounds, freezing everything in their wake. He Who Must Not Be Named called up to the decaying figures, "Make them," he paused, a soft almost human smile on his face, he purred out the word, his voice caressing it, "make them suffer." Only then did the Dark Lord smile inhumanely, his true psychotic nature revealed as he crowed in triumph, "GO MY BROTHERS! KILL!"