CHAPTER NINE

For weeks, Voldemort and his Death Eaters prepared for the upcoming war against Dumbledore. For weeks, Voldemort poured over maps of Hogwarts with Sanaro, Lily and Sirius whilst getting as much information about the Order out of Remus and Tonks. They were planning to take the war to Hogwarts, hoping that they could sneak up on Dumbledore to minimise the amount of lives that could be lost. They also had the upper hand. On normal circumstances, Hogwarts is inaccessible to invaders, but seeing as Dumbledore had no idea of their attack, he would not have time to defend the castle. The other advantage was the fact that they had the Marauder's Map and they constantly watched it to get some idea of Dumbledore's intentions since they had now lost Sanaro as a spy.

However, despite all the careful planning, on the day of the attack, Damian - who was in his bedroom, studying the Marauder's Map - noticed that Aurors and Order members alike were gathering on the grounds and that most of the students had left the castle. The only students that remained were the seventh year Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, all of whom seemed to be running around through the many corridors and across the grounds.

Upon seeing this, Damian hurried off to his father's study. When he reached his father's study, Damian knocked before entering. Inside he found Voldemort, Nagini, Sanaro, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Lily, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix and many other inner circle Death Eater members. They were currently going over the finishing touches to today's war.

'Damian, is something wrong?' asked Lily, looking up from the map her and Sanaro were looking at.

'He knows. He knows of an attack,' Damian announced, looking directly at his father.

'What? How is that possible?' asked a shocked Lucius.

'I don't know, but the Marauder's Map suggests that he knows,' answered Damian, handing the Map to Sirius. Remus looked over Sirius' shoulder. 'There are Aurors and Order members within Hogwarts' walls, and all students except Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw seventh years are missing.'

'He's right,' said Sirius. 'They are all along the boarders and - I can't believe it - they even have the secret passages protected.'

'But how did they find out?' asked Bellatrix.

'We must have a spy in our mists again,' said Sanaro. 'I'll go and get the Veritaserum ready,' he added, getting to his feet.

'I'll come with you,' said Lily, also getting up. 'If there is a spy, it won't be safe for you or Damian to walk around on your own. Seeing as you two are Tom's greatest weaknesses.'

'Lily is right. Sirius, please keep an eye on Damian and Damian, don't go off without Sirius,' said Voldemort as Lily and Sanaro left. 'Though I'll have to find someone else to protect you while we are at Hogwarts -'

'Wait! Are you saying that I have to remain here while you all go off to fight?' exclaimed an outraged Damian.

'Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying,' Voldemort said calmly.

'No! I will not! I refuse to remain here while my family and friends go off and risk their lives!' Damian yelled stubbornly. 'Besides, I'm seventeen years old. I'm not a child anymore!'

'I hate to admit it, but he does have a point, dear,' Nagini said reluctantly. 'We can't hold him here against his will.'

Voldemort sighed and looked at his youngest son.

'Fine. Just don't do anything stupid,' Voldemort said in defeat.

'I promise,' said Damian, while a few Death Eaters snorted. When didn't Damian do anything stupid?

That night, Voldemort and his army stood a short distance away from Hogwarts' boarders and saw that a blue barrier had been put over the castle. Damian, Voldemort, Nagini and Sanaro stood at the front of the army, each dressed in black - except Nagini, obviously - though Damian was dressed in teenage Muggle boy clothes, while both Voldemort and Sanaro were in robes.

'Why do they even bother with something so trivial?' asked Voldemort, looking faintly annoyed. 'One would think that they enjoy annoying me.'

'Probably do,' Sanaro replied mildly.

'Hmm,' said Voldemort, before motioning to his Death Eaters to begin taking down the barrier.

'This seems almost too easy,' Lily commented, walking over and standing next to Sanaro.

'Indeed. Dumbledore is probably trying to lead us into a false sense of invincibility and make us over confident,' Voldemort agreed. 'But he will find that it will not work.'

'Well, he's currently in his office,' said Damian, looking down at the Marauder's Map. 'Probably thinks that -' Damian broke off.

'Something wrong?' asked Sanaro, not taking his eyes away from the barrier over Hogwarts.

'I can see Daphne and Draco on the Map.'

'But you said the only students left were those from the other Houses,' said Lily.

'I know, but it's clearly labelled "Daphne Greengrass" and "Draco Malfoy". They're currently on the seventh floor and... they just disappeared!'

'What do you mean, "they just disappeared"?'

'Exactly that. They must have gone into the Room of Requirements.'

'In that case, you, Sanaro, and Sirius can go there the moment the barrier is down,' said Voldemort.

'Yes, Father,' the brothers said in unison, before heading off to find Sirius.

Ten minutes later, the barrier was down and the Death Eaters ran down to the castle - though some had to stop and save their fellow Death Eaters when they became trapped in Devil's Snare - and began fighting Hogwarts statues, staff members, students, Order members and Aurors alike. Through all the commotion, Harry, Sanaro and Sirius ran until they were outside the Room of Requirements. It was then that Damian realised something.

'I just realised a flaw in this plan,' said Damian.

'And what would that be?' asked Sirius.

'Just the fact that we'll have to wait out here until one of them emerges,' explained Damian. 'Last year I tried to get in here to find out what Draco was up to, but I never succeeded.'

'For an intelligent boy, you are very stupid sometimes,' said Sanaro, shaking his head. 'Are you or are you not the Heir of Slytherin?'

'I am, but what's that got to do with anything?'

Sanaro shook his head again before speaking directly to Hogwarts herself.

'Hogwarts, can you please let us into the room that Daphne Greengrass and Draco Malfoy are currently occupying?'

Then, before their very eyes, the Room of requirements door appeared.

'That's what it has to do with anything,' Sanaro told Damian, who muttered something incomprehensible under his breath as he followed Sanaro through the door.

The moment Damian entered the room, many people yelled out, 'It's Damian!'

'Damian!' screamed Daphne, running towards Damian before jumping into his arms and kissing him.

'Alright, break it up you two,' said Sanaro, smiling down at them.

Damian and Daphne reluctantly pulled apart, before Draco embraced Damian brotherly, followed by Blaise, Neville, Theodore, Hermione and Luna.

'Thank goodness you are alright. We've been so worried!' said Draco, looking his brother-in-everything-but-blood, up and down. 'But how did the two of you get away?'

'Dumbledore was stupid enough to think that they would be secure in my ancestor's old home,' said Sirius, steeping forward.

'Sirius!' yelled Hermione, hurrying forward and hugging him. 'But how? We saw Bellatrix kill you!'

Sirius, Harry and Sanaro quickly filled them and the other Slytherins in on what had happened over the past few weeks, including the facts on how Sirius and Lily were still alive. In the end, they all left the Room and went to participate in the commencing battle.

The battle lasted the entire night and as dawn approached, Dumbledore finally emerged catching Voldemort off guard - in the Great Hall - as he began to duel with him. Everyone in the hall stopped to watch to two powerful wizards do battle with one another, wondering who would win.

Damian - who had been fighting Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, at once - stopped and watched on fearfully, as did Lily and Sanaro - who were fighting Moody, Shacklebolt and another Auror. Sirius and Remus stopped their battle with Sprout, McGonagall and Flitwick, as did Daphne in her catfight with Ginny Weasley.

For an hour, Voldemort and Dumbledore fought and by the end, Voldemort was beginning to tire since he had been fighting Aurors since the beginning of last night, compared to Dumbledore who had been sitting around in his office. As a result, Dumbledore was able to defeat Voldemort. Voldemort's wand went flying and he fell to his knees in exhaustion, glaring up at the ancient man in front of him.

Dumbledore raised his wand and aimed it straight at Voldemort's heart. Nagini slithered forward and wrapped herself around her husband, baring her fangs at Dumbledore and ignoring Voldemort's hisses for her to save herself. Damian, having seen this, hurried forward, ignoring Lily's startled cry, and went and stood in front of his father.

'Stand aside, Damian, or else!' snarled Dumbledore.

'If you want to kill my father and mother then you'll have to kill me first!' Damian told Dumbledore coldly, ignoring his father's orders for him to stay out of it.

'So be it,' growled Dumbledore, letting his true nature show to all. Most of the hall gasped. The Dumbledore they knew would never kill someone. Things were starting to become a lot clearer now.

'You will try, but you won't succeed.'

'You think that your power can equal mine?' Dumbledore laughed.

'You know nothing of my power!' snapped Damian, before realising what he had just said. 'Wait a minute - it's you. You are the Dark Lord in the prophecy made. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...' he recited. 'That changes everything. That means that one of us is definitely about to leave for good -'

'One of us?' jeered Dumbledore. He was angry. Angry enough to forget about his grandfather act.

Most of the hall was muttering quietly and the vast majority of students, teachers, Aurors and Order members, out their wands away in surrender. They would no longer follow someone like Dumbledore.

'So you think it will be you, do you, Damian?' continued Dumbledore. 'The boy who has survived by accident -'

'You're kidding yourself if you think I survived everything by accident,' Damian spat as the two wizards began to circle each other.

'Luck then, as everyone will see now!' said Dumbledore, before bellowing, 'AVADA KEDAVRA!', while Damian yelled, 'EXPELLIARMUS!' at the exact same time.

Everyone watched as beams of green and red fought each other. During which time, Voldemort and Nagini watched on fearfully as Dumbledore's green beam became longer. However, Damian took a deep breath and call upon the power the he had been learning to control over the past year. The power that had been realised after finding out that Dumbledore had lied to him for six years. The power that Dumbledore knew not of, in the way of how powerful Harry could get. Due to this power, Harry forced the Killing Curse back at Dumbledore and before they knew it, Damian was holding Dumbledore's wand. The old wizard lay dead on the floor.

There was a moment of silence, but it was soon entered as Nagini let out a hiss of pain.

'Mother?' said a panicked Sanaro.

Green light began to surround her and before they knew it, Nagini was a woman once more.

'Nagini?' whispered Voldemort, helping her to her feet.

He took her face in his hands, before taking her lips in his own. They then broke about and embraced each other.

'You're trembling,' Voldemort commented, with a slight laugh.

'I know,' sobbed a happy Nagini. 'The curse must have been broken with Dumbledore's death! Where are our boys? I want to hold them.'

'Right here, Mother!' Sanaro smiled as Damian and he walked over to them.

'Oh my boys! I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to be able to hug you properly again!' exclaimed Nagini, wrapping her arms around the two of them. The family wasn't aware of the commotion going on around them.

Those who were still loyal to Dumbledore were still fighting for their leader. Damian only became aware of it when he heard a scream. Glancing around he saw that Daphne had sent Ginny flying across the room where she then laid unconscious. Daphne, feeling Damian's eyes on her, glanced around and smiled beautifully at him. It was then that Harry knew that everything would be alright.

THE END

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A/N: While this has been updated, it will be updated again once this story has been beta'ed for all the spelling mistakes, etc. I know that I have made but keep overlooking. Eventually this story will be error free. :)

SEVERUS'S LIFE: If you're a fan of Severus and Tom Riddle, then check out Severus's Life forum. It is a new forum, on this site, where they are the good guys with bashing of Albus Dumbledore. You can also do some roleplaying. If you have read The Truth Revealed and like it, then you should check out this forum as it is along the same lines. The link is on my profile.

STORIES IN SERIES:
-The Truth Revealed [complete]
-The Truth Revealed: What If [to be written]

Azaelia Silmarwen facebook page: link on profile
Written: 30 December 2011
Updated:
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