[seventy three]

When the explosions didn't stop, Hermione was quite positive the Death Eaters were just blowing all the skrewts up to get to the Great Hall much quicker. All of the students that remained to defend the school raised their wands, aiming right at the large doors, expecting the worst. So, when Rodolphus finally blew the doors up, none of them were surprised—nobody even flinched.

"Pity," Rodolphus' smirk was manic "I thought there'd be more screaming."

"Well, you thought wrong." Celine snapped, eyes so incredibly blue with hatred as she gripped her wand tightly.

"Theodore got to you first, didn't he?" Rodolphus clicked his tongue, his beady eyes scanning the crowd of wizards with their wands aimed right at him "That son of a bitch."

"Retreat now, while you still can, Lestrange." McGonagall warned, her wand fiercely pointing at Rodolphus' chest. She'd called the Ministry for back up fifteen minutes ago, but the Aurors wont arrive until much later as they'd all been on a mission.

Rodolphus timed his attack perfectly.

"I will leave once I have the stone, Minerva." Rodolphus smirked, his eyes moving to look at Harry "It's with you, isn't it, Golden Boy?"

"Why don't you come and find out?" Harry taunted "I killed your master, who's to say I won't kill you too?"

"How about you hand me the stone and there won't be any killing, hmm?" Rodolphus smirked

"Do you think we're that stupid?" Neville scowled

"I think that stupid." Rodolphus retorted "All this talking is boring me. If I have to kill every single one of you for that stone, I will."

And then, the chaos began.

Rodolphus had brought, not just his gang of followers but werewolves, hags and even a manticore along with him. Harry and Hermione were surprised to have found even a lone giant in the mix "Where the hell has he been getting these creatures?" Hermione hissed, her back against Draco's as they dueled with Death Eaters side by side.

"My uncle's got his fingers in all sorts of pies." Draco muttered ""

"" Hermione exclaimed, pointing at a Death Eater that got a little too close to Luna from behind.

"Hermione! Hermi—Not me you son of a bitch, !" Ron was racing towards Hermione, shooting spells at every enemy that came his way "Are you alright?" He gripped her shoulder worriedly.

"Ronald, I'm fine. What the— What are you doing here? You have to protect the kids!" Hermione hissed, shoving him behind her as she deflected a curse from a Death Eater.

"Astoria and Viktor can manage without me. I need to be here with you." Ron insisted ""

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself, Ron." As if to prove her words, Hermione shot a curse at another Death Eater, sending him flying across the hall.

"I know you're one badass woman, Hermione, but you need another pair of hands."

"She has , Weasley." Draco rolled his eyes from behind them, where was all this Weasley overprotectiveness coming from? Besides, Draco was more adept at dueling than Ron was.

"Focus on your enemy, Malfoy." Ron muttered, giving Hermione a pointed look as he deflected a curse aimed at her.

"Less talking, more fighting. The professors have the giant. Neville and Blaise need help with that manticore." Hermione reminded

"Who has Rodolphus?" Ron asked as they raced towards Blaise and Neville, who were dodging every hit from the manticore by mere inches. The Felix Felicis seemed to be working, but for how long?

"Harry and McGonagall." Hermione cast a protective shield around the three of them as they ran towards the direction of their friends "Rodolphus thinks Harry has the stone."

"He does, doesn't he?" Draco shot a necrotic curse at Rookwood, who was dueling with Pansy and Ginny with a wide grin on his face. Unfortunately, he deflected it "Nice try, Drakeykins!" He yelled

"He's mine, Draco!" Pansy growled

"No, Harry doesn't have the stone." Hermione shook her head "!" She'd pointed at the scorpion tail of the manticore, preventing it from lashing out at Neville and Blaise, who looked tired out of their wits avoiding every strike.

The manticore was lashing out even more, but Hermione used her other hand to cast more binding ropes, her baby's white glow evident in her magic. Before any of them could question what that was, Hermione had yelled at them to get moving.

"We're going to use Fiendfyre, Weasley—" Draco's orders were interrupted by Ron's incredulous look.

"Are you mad?"

"I can control it!"

"Says the Malfoy that begged to be saved from the—"

"Oh for fucks sake, I'll do it!" Blaise hissed, panting as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Blaise, you are in no condition to concentrate." Hermione shook her head "Draco, keep the binds on the manticore. Ron, fire, Neville, I need you to pierce him in the heart."

"I don't have a—" Neville stopped himself short before properly transfiguring a rock into a long spear "Ready."

Blaise shot a spell at the manticore's mouth "It's going to wail. Best save you from the nightmares." He said, as he proceeded to shoot protective enchantments above head, to protect them from the poison the manticore was trying to shoot at them.

"On my count. One, two—" Hermione breathed, she'd never used this spell properly on anything or anyone before but— "." She hissed, watching as cut after cut appeared on the manticore's body, whilst Ron effectively burned it to a crisp "Neville, go!" Hermione ordered

And in one swift motion, Neville had shoved the metal spear into the writhing manticore's chest, piercing through and through like a—

"Barbecue." Blaise grinned tiredly "Nice work, team." He winked at them before shooting a curse at the manticore's tail, crushing it completely.

———

Theo was going out of his mind worrying about what was going on back at Hogwarts. His father took his sweet time charming the portkey, so much that Theo felt as if he was doing it on purpose.

"I am going to die." Theo snapped at his dad "Can you please just be quicker or will die."

"I couldn't care less about of them, Theodore."

"I know, but you care about . Don't you?" Theo sighed, tugging at his roots frustratedly. His father just sighed as he finalized the touches on the portkey to Narcissa's safe house.

"Just promise me you'll leave that place as soon as this business is finished." His father said, hand gripping Narcissa's bracelet tightly "Theodore, you need to get as far away from that place and all its bad luck for good."

"Dad—"

"Promise me or so help me, Theodore, I will knock you unconscious right now and drag you to a cave in Egypt. I don't care which of your friends die. I mean it." His father glared at him