A pack of werewolves charged at the centaurs, silver arrows felling them one by one.
"RETREAT!" Sharptooth howled, and they obeyed.
The centaurs reloaded their bows, taking potshots at the fleeing half-breeds.
All but one. Firenze sniffed the air, his eyes widening in fear.
His hand trembled as it reached into his quiver, selecting an arrow with a gleaming, bright-blue head.
The night grew dark, the moon and stars seeming to disappear as the horde of Dementors swooped down on the waiting centaurs.
Firenze held on to the happiest memory he could, fighting off the tide of hopelessness and depression, ignoring the screams of his brethren.
He let go, and the arrow flew true.
The Dementor it hit glowed with a bright light for a moment before vanishing, leaving an empty cloak to flutter onto the ground.
His hand reached back into his quiver, searching for another.
As his hand closed on another of his memory-arrows, a freezing wind blew over him.
He froze as dead, alien fingers gripped his face, pulling his chin, opening his mouth.
The Dementor moved in from his side, it's cloak's hood already lowered, its face moving toward him.
Firenze looked into the face of the Dementor, and he screamed.
Lord Voldemort stopped, pausing for a moment at the large doors to Hogwarts.
He detested having to do this, being forced to desecrate His first true home.
But they had pushed His hand.
' Soon they will all know to simply worship me'
The doors flew open at his gesture.
And a large knife flew toward his face.
He deflected it with a wave of His wand but was immediately forced to defend Himself against a barrage of spells flying His way.
His wand twisted and spun, deflecting curses, conjuring shields, pulling statues into the paths of oncoming spells.
He saw an opening and He struck.
Filius Flitwick stumbled, his arm tearing off of his body and flying away, his wand clattering as it rolled into a corner.
He collapsed, his shoulder spouting his lifeblood out onto the uncaring stones.
Lord Voldemort stepped toward him, His wand rising to the gash on His cheek and closing it.
"Nobody has landed a hit on me for many a year. Well done, little man"
And with muscles enhanced by abominable rituals, he stomped on Flitwick's face, grinding his foot through the mess and into the stone.
Gellert Grindelwald looked sharply up at the ceiling.
He held his wand before his eyes, letting it fill his field of vision.
"Well, old friend," he whispered, "shall we?"
And he rose to finally enter the fray.
Horatio twisted out of the way of the Killing Curse, just managing to avoid it.
As he spun, his elbow smashed into the wall and his entire arm went numb.
He dropped his wand.
Dean raised his wand again.
"Die, you fucking traitor! Avada-"
"NOOO!"
Blaise appeared out of nowhere, leaping onto Dean's back.
Dean twisted and turned, trying to get him off, but Blaise held tight, his wand slowly rising to Dean's temple.
"EXPULSO!"
Blaise looked at him over the body, his face splattered with blood and brains and bits of bone.
"I fucking told you, no dying!"
Horatio swallowed thickly, staring at him.
"I won't," he said quietly.
A jet of black light shot in between them, missing the two boys by inches, and Blaise shouted, spinning back into the fight.
Sybil Trelawney stood near a high parapet, looking down at the fighting going on below her.
She threw crystal ball after crystal ball, guiding them with her wand, sending them to the enemies of Hogwarts.
As the battle drew on, the bottle of sherry in her left hand slowly grew more and more empty.
She threw another crystal ball, watching with savage pleasure as it crushed a Death Eater's skull.
A stray spell hit her sherry bottle as she raised it to her lips, smashing it and casting shards of glass into her face.
She fell backward, shrieking.
And she fell over the parapet.
She had a moment of pure relief when she landed on something soft instead of the hard stone she had been expecting.
And then the Devil's Snare, unable to tell friend from foe, began to cover her.
Morag Plunkett found herself unable to scream, as the air in her lungs suddenly changed to chlorine gas.
She fell to the ground, scratching at her throat, her face turning greenish black.
"Killing children now, Minerva?"
Her head spun to the voice, and she snarled.
"No, Severus. Killing Death Eaters and betrayers"
He smiled darkly, bowing slightly in her direction.
"Just so"
And then the fight was on.
Capella walked through Hogwarts, staving off a terrible feeling of wrongness, and fighting everyone she saw who wasn't a friend.
At some point, she had gotten separated from Bellatrix, yet she was still determined to make her proud.
But a strange thought kept niggling at her, kept making her feel like she had been through a battle in Hogwarts, but on a different side.
' Never. Never been here before. Capella's never been here before'
"Tonks?"
She turned with a growl, her wand flashing.
Sturgis Podmore fell, sliced open from waist to collarbone.
"I'm not Tonks," she muttered, feeling her teeth. "I'm not!"
She wanted to find a bathroom, to look in a mirror and make sure there was no writing on her chest. She could feel that there was nothing carved there, but she couldn't be sure without looking. She couldn't be sure, not without tearing her robes.
Bellatrix said she mustn't just open her robes to check. Not in public.
Her fingers ran along her teeth.
"Tonks didn't have teeth. Capella has teeth. I have teeth. I have clothes. I'm Capella. I have to be"
She shuddered, not wanting to imagine what would happen if she wasn't Capella if she somehow became Tonks again.
"No. Not Tonks. Not Tonks"
And then she heard his voice.
"T-Tonks?"
She turned slowly to the side, not wanting to see, wanting to just kill.
His face was horribly burned, the skin on his cheeks all bubbly all gross, and his hair was long, but something about him made her think of happiness.
Something about him made her think of a baby.
"Tonks? It is-it is you! Merlin, it's you!"
She wanted to kill him. But her arm was too heavy to raise.
"I'm not Tonks," she whispered, "I'm Capella"
He looked at her for a moment, pain in every line of his face.
"You-you were Tonks. Do you-do you remember? Do you remember me?"
Against her will, her hand snuck into her robe and started stroking her chest, making sure that no writing was appearing.
"Remus?" She whispered.
With tears pouring down his face, he smiled.
"That's-that's me, Tonks-Ca-Capella. Do you-do you remember us?"
They stood there, staring into each other's eyes, heedless of the battle being waged around them, of the screams of the injured and dying.
"I-I-I'm not Tonks! I have teeth! I have clothes! I'm not Tonks!"
He held his hands up entreatingly, his wand disappearing up his sleeve.
"I know, I know. Please. Capella. Come-come with me. We'll get away from here, save ourselves, and I-"
She knew that she should kill him, that she shouldn't listen to a werewolf's attempts to seduce her.
But she couldn't raise her wand.
"Please! We were happy together, we can be happy again"
She felt something on her chest, a phantom knife running gently along her skin, its edge prickling.
"I'm Capella"
He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of hers.
"You can become Tonks again, if-"
The knife sliced into her chest, her teeth disappeared, her fingertips vanished, and her clothes were gone. She felt a collar clicking closed around her neck and heard Sharptooth's voice.
She screamed.
"I'M NOT TONKS! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The green jet struck his chest, and Remus Lupin fell dead.
She stood there for a minute, breathing heavily.
"I'm not Tonks. I'm Capella. I'm Capella. I'm Capella. I have teeth and clothes, and I'm not Tonks"
She walked away, leaving behind the body of a man who she once loved more than anything.
Harry sat down for a minute, just to stretch out his legs and relax before heading back into it.
Daphne stood guard at the entrance to the room, and in a few minutes, they'd switch places.
Slowly, they'd made their way down from the seventh floor to the third as they fought, running and killing and jumping and cursing.
"Still no sign of Weasley? Or Patil?"
Daphne shook her head, slashing her wand forward and blowing up something just outside the room.
He stood up again, rubbing the blood out of his eyes.
"This is so fucking amazing. Here, babe. Sit for a minute"
"HOLY SHIT! SIR, IN HERE! SNAPE, HERE!"
Harry ran forward at her shout, arriving at the door just in time to help her catch Snape when he stumbled.
He looked a mess, his robes torn and burnt all over, bits of bone poking through his left arm, a thick, deep gash across his chest.
"Daph! Do something"
She stared at Snape for a long second.
"Come on! You're better with all the healing stuff than me!"
"Give me your hand," she said, her tone brooking no argument.
He held his left hand out to her, wincing as she drew her wand across the palm, leaving a long, thin cut.
She muttered as the blood dropped, making it glow silver as it fell onto Snape's chest and face.
Slowly, the chest wound closed up, the cuts on his face healing as well.
"Can't do much about the arm. I can splint it, I guess, but that's it"
"I'll deal with it"
Harry all but jumped at the sound of Snape's voice.
"Fucking hell! What happened?"
"McGonagall happened," Snape said with a groan, "I would stay clear of her if I were you"
He nodded, his eyes wide.
"Thank you, Miss Greengrass. I'm quite certain you just saved my life"
Daphne just smirked.
"Just-guard me, for a bit. While I deal with this arm. Then we'll move forward"
Rookwood walked through the castle, a small army of children under the Imperius ahead of him.
He heard someone vomiting loudly from up ahead, and pushed one of his frontmost servants ahead.
Colin Creevey looked up, his arms still around the tiny body in front of him.
"C-C-Cormac? Pl-please, I-I need help, De-Dennis is hurt, and-"
Cormac only fought for a split-second, his mind crushing easily under Rookwood's control.
He raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Slowly, the tide of battle forced all the combatants into the Great Hall.
Outside, one of the Giant's had fallen, its arm smashing through the castle walls in its death throes.
And in the kitchens, Pomona Sprout stood over the crying, praying children, her hands absentmindedly stroking a clay pot.
The Dark Lord stood in the center of the Great Hall, the stones around Him all scorched and broken, some of them melting into lava from the fury of the duel.
From Voldemort's fury as he faced off against Gellert Grindelwald.
Spells flew faster than onlookers' eyes could track, a deadly fireworks show.
Fiery animals appeared and vanished, blades and whips flew, as the titans of magic fought.
Neither of them moved more than was necessary, their body only shifting or twisting an inch.
And they fought, unseen magic burning the air, power crackling around them.
Near their lord, George Weasley and Padma Patil stood, both of them shaking as they fought, their wand movements clunky, their every action seeming to be forced through pain. Still, they fought, as Rookwood sent spells over the heads of his Imperius'd slaves, who themselves attacked Grindelwald's chosen.
Bellatrix Lestrange and Minerva McGonagall circled, their duel one of leaps and jumps, Transfiguration and Conjuration.
Bellatrix tossed her hair back, laughing as she deflected another of McGonagall's curses back at her.
Harry, Daphne, Snape, Blaise, and Horatio walked into the Great Hall together.
Just in time to see a spell fly under Bella's outstretched arm and collide with her chest.
She gave a small "oh" of surprise, the exclamation somehow audible over the screams of war.
And she fell forward, landing with a thud.
Harry, Daphne, and Snape all acted simultaneously, casting Killing Curses at the Transfiguration Professor.
And from the other side of the room, Capella did too.
As McGonagall fell, Capella ran forward, wailing as she fell to her knees next to Bella's corpse.
The Dark Lord noticed, and His eyes widened.
"What's the matter, Voldemort?" Grindelwald taunted, "did you love her?"
Voldemort growled, slashing His wand and opening a pit under Grindelwald's feet.
Grindelwald managed to close it, swinging his hand up just in time to blast aside a stone serpent.
"Come now, Voldemort. Surely you can do better than that" his free hand shot forward, droplets of blood streaming over his spell toward the Dark Lord.
Voldemort growled, throwing His own hand out, His own blood meeting Grindelwald's halfway between them with a small explosion, as a pillar rose from the stone floor and blocked the curse that had been headed his way.
"So you have learned," Grindelwald said, "But I will not be beaten. Not by you. Not while I bear the Deathstick"
Voldemort's eyes widened, and he attacked with renewed vigor.
A fiery snake shot from His wand, followed by a swarm of bees. He raised His wand as Grindelwald vanished the snake, a whip trailing from the tip.
He cracked it toward Grindelwald.
A large stone flew from the wall, intercepting the whip and dragging the Dark Lord's wand toward the floor.
The swarm of bees changed into a swarm of daggers, and Grindelwald raised his Wand to blast them at his enemy.
And one of Rookwood's puppets finally succeeded, his spell taking George Weasley in the face and blasting his skull open.
Immediately, Padma vomited, her wand falling from her fingers.
A Killing Curse took her in the chest.
And Grindelwald stumbled.
He managed to deflect the Dark Lord's next spell, his Wand spinning up and around. But as he stumbled again, his arm clearly shaking, a large stone flew from the wall behind him, colliding roughly with his back.
And as he fell, the Dark Lord's wand slashed downward.
The Elder Wand flew through the air, landing smoothly in the Dark Lord's hand.
"Thank you, Gellert," He said, His voice full of unholy triumph, as He passed His yew wand to His left hand, "truly, you have Lord Voldemort's gratitude"
Before Grindelwald could even respond, the Dark Lord's wands flashed, His arms crossing each other in an X shape.
The once upon a time Terror of Europe was decapitated, his head rising high into the air.
The entire crowd fell silent, no one daring to break the moment.
His wands flashed again, and the ground below Voldemort rumbled, stone rising in a large mound, pushing Him high above the crowd.
And when He spoke, His voice echoed through the entire castle, every person there hearing it as clearly and loudly as if He was speaking in their ear.
"I offer one final chance for surrender"
In the kitchens, Pomona Sprout swallowed, tears flooding down her face as she gently placed the pot down and stood, beginning to make her way to the doors.
"Lay down your wands, stop fighting, swear allegiance to me, and you will live. Every person who continues to fight from this point on will be displayed as an example to all others who would stand against me. Their suffering will be beyond words. Lay down your wands, and I will accept your surrender"
The crowd slowly moved as someone walked through it.
Professor Sprout reached the foot of the Dark Lord's makeshift podium.
She fell to one knee, drawing her wand and placing it on the floor before her.
"On behalf of Hogwarts, I declare our surrender"
No one shouted at her, no one disagreed.
One by one, the defenders of Hogwarts kneeled, placing their wands in front of them.
A great cheer erupted from the Death Eaters.
The stone continued to rise around the Dark Lord, forming itself into a throne.
He sat on it, His fingers rubbing over the smooth wood of the Elder Wand.
He sat on His throne in the ruined wreckage of the Great Hall, and His gleaming eyes roamed over the crowd of loyal warriors and subjugated enemies.
His eyes paused for a moment on Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass, their bodies wrapped around each other in a kiss of perfect ecstasy.
Outside, the sun began to rise, a new day dawning.
And Lord Voldemort smiled.
It was the twenty-third of February, the year of our Lord nineteen ninety-seven, and Europe was entirely in Lord Voldemort's hands.
As was only right.