Hermione could feel Ginny banging against her wards, could hear her screaming at her, begging her. But still she didn't allow herself to turn around.

Instead she focused on what she knew about fiendfyre, she never tried to cast it before but she was confident in her abilities. That, and there really wasn't room or time to have any doubts.

Swallowing her fear at the spell and trying not to let it show, she let out the answer everyone knew she would give.

"Agreed. Last term, upon my win, House Malfoy has no further affiliation with House Black."

Lucius Malfoy scowled, deeply upset at her last term. "Agreed. Last term, should I fall, you agree not to remove my wife and child from the Black archives, you will let them keep their heritage."

Hermione was fine with that. While she didn't want anything to do with them, she would not deny their place in the history of their blood.

"Agreed."

With their terms now in place, the only thing left to do was to say their farewells, something Hermione would not be taking part of.

Dean warily kept track of everyone as they finished talking and when the man walked away towards the other people, he turned to the witch on their side of this stupid ward to find out what was going on. Everything in him was itching to gank these witches, well all but Ginny and Hermione, at least for now. It was hard going against what he thought he knew, what he thought he was supposed to do. He almost wished he had it as easy as Sammy did right now, he looked totally at ease with finding out there was something called a "good" witch.

Bobby watched his niece grimly, not at all happy with her choice to fight without them, but unable to stop feeling so damn proud of her.

"It's to the death isn't it? This duel." Bobby knew the answer deep down and looked unsurprised when Ginny agreed that it was.

The hunters looked on as Hermione sat down where she stood and closed her eyes.

"What is she doing?" Dean was sure that sitting on the ground looking like your totally relaxed wasn't something that was supposed to happen.

"In a duel to the death, after both parties agree to the terms a short grace period is given for them to say their goodbyes."

Bobby understood what she wasn't saying. "She's not going to say goodbye is she?"

Ginny tried to smile at her best friends uncle, unsure if it came across or not. "No, she won't be. She's going to take the time to meditate instead, to settle her magic and focus it. The stronger your focus is, the more control you have. The more control you have on your magic, the better your spell casting is. Coming to talk to us would only distract her." Ginny paused, searching for something to say that would hopefully help his worries. "Hermione's strong and smart, she'll win." She stated, positive in the outcome.

A very short and very wide wizard made his way between both parties, calling attention to him, letting everyone know he would be in charge of both parties following the rules and terms they set.

"Seconds, stand ready."

From seemingly out of nowhere a figure was suddenly standing next to Hermione who's back straightened out of her relaxed position.

"I thought I told you I don't need a second."

The figure tossed his cloak off and tossed it to the side and grinned down at Hermione.

"Come on Granger, don't act like that. I know your dying to get all hot and on fire with me again." He licked his lips and smirked at her and she turned beet red.

Hermione was up in a second with her wand in hand at her side, shooting off small sparks as her anger flared.

Blaise Zabini caught on that she wasn't in the mood for joking and backed up a few steps, holding his hands up as he went. "Now Princess, you know I'm here to help. Save your anger."

"For the last bloody time! I absolutely did not know it was you under that mask! If I did you can bet your broomstick that we wouldn't have snogged!" Hermione took a moment to calm herself down, she didn't need to get so worked up before the duel. "While I do know that I could trust you at my back, I am still dueling alone."

Blaise tried reading her face to see if she was lying but all he could make out was that she seemed sure of fighting by herself. "If that's your wish." He turned back to look at Ginny and the hunters. "Then mind if I wait with the others in your cheering section?"

"Yes I do mind. No way are you getting behind my wards."

"I thought you trusted me Granger?"

"I do, to have my back in a fight against Malfoy. But alone with my family? The people I'll trust with my family is a very short list and you're not on it."

"One of these days you have to learn to trust again. You can't do everything alone."

Hermione only turned her back to him, facing towards her competition. "I've seen where trust leads. I trust in Ginny. In Harry. In my uncle. In a few others. I don't need anyone else."

Blaise gave up, knowing she was done talking and went to stand as close to the house as he could. Ginny gave him a glare but he ignored it, instead bringing up his wand hand and touching the wards. Only to jump back in pain the second he touched it.

"Oh that crafty, brilliant witch."

Dean was pleased to see that even someone Hermione trusted in a fight couldn't get in and would have asked what made the wizard look so happy about the wards, if the man that called for the seconds didn't call for the duelers to get ready.

The older Winchester brother watched as Hermione took a last deep breath and with her head held high, made her way over to the man as the Lord Malfoy, or whatever his strange name was, did the same. They spoke low to each other and after both nodded, they raised their wands to touch the others. A bright white flash surrounded them making everyone close their eyes against it. By the time they reopened their eyes, the man in charge of overseeing the duel had made the area magically larger and put a shielded dome around the two for them to duel in.

"Duelers, bow and get into your stances."

They each gave a small bow, hardly even moving their heads, before putting their wands in front of them and holding the other hand slightly behind them at waist level.

All was silent for two heartbeats, then they exploded into action.

Hermione was first to cast, sending two bombarda maxima's, one directly after the other. Then while he was busy trying to dodge those she reached to her belt for a dagger, and with a steady, quick and true aim, threw it right into his left shoulder.

Lord Malfoy winced in pain as he pulled her dagger out and held it in one hand while sending a few explosions back to her before apparating a few yards behind him for casting room and bellowing out, "Fiendfyre!"

Hermione had just enough time to cast it herself before his fire took the shape of a large dragon and swooped down towards her. She panicked for a split second when at first only small bursts of fire came out of her wand, but just in time her magic worked with her, causing the cursed fire to swirl around her before turning into a massive eagle to meet Lord Malfoy's dragon.

The animals met with a burst of heat and speed, raining small bits of fire down around the area. They flapped their wings hard while their upper bodies used brute force, backed by the power of the duelers, to try to move the other back. Wings flapped up, then down, then up again before the eagle slowly began being slowly pushed back towards its caster.

Hermione grunted as she struggled against his power, not having cast it before she wasn't ready for the amount of raw power that it needed to be wielded so strongly and precise. So caught up in trying to keep her magical flow steady, she almost missed seeing him throw her dagger back. Luckily she looked at him right as it left his fingers, letting her move just enough to the left so that only grazed her cheek. Unluckily, that small lapse in concentration was enough for his fire dragon to push her fire eagle enough so that it was almost on top of her.

Turning and twisting, she apparated but he was ready for her and his fire too close, circling around her as soon as she appeared. She wasn't fast enough to counter it and felt the heat on her skin briefly as she moved away yet again.

This time when she landed she was fast enough to shoot a few bombarda maxima's, one which hit right in front of him, causing dirt, rock and who knows what else to shower over him painfully.

They both recovered with the speed that only comes when you know death is just around the corner and every second counts.

Again and again their fire met above their heads, both pushing but neither giving an inch. It felt like it had gone on for hours with nothing changing until Lord Malfoy pulled out a dagger of his own and sliced it through the air, right into Hermione's stomach. The pain was instant and fierce, burning through her with each breath and movement she made.

Then it was as if they both had the same desperate drive to finish it, because both duelers pulled out a second wand at the same time.

Both sent their strongest explosion's at each other until all that could be seen for many long moments from the spectators was a thick smoke and all that could be heard was the loud boom's when the spells hit.

Lord Malfoy then used his second wand to call up a second cursed fire, making them charge at Hermione from both sides.

Hermione on the other hand planning on using a different approach. Off of the top of her head she couldn't remember if it would case backlash on her or not, but she was going to use a move she had only read about, one she had never even seen before. Focusing on her core, she let almost all the rest of her magic flow down her arms, to her fingers and out to her wands. The second her magic touched the tips of her wands she shoved the tips together, merging the two, urging them to work together.

The result was a massive phoenix made of fiendfyre that was almost solid and stone like under it's fire. It swooped down in front of her just as his two dragons met to converge on her together. They hit her phoenix straight on rather than hitting her.

Hermione could feel her magic pouring out of her in powerful waves, but did nothing to stop it or try to rein it in. She just let it go freely. Instead of her cursed fire just pushing his back, the amount of power she gave obliterated his and him.

Lucius Malfoy was caught off guard, he honestly thought he was going to win this duel until the stupid mudblood pulled out her second wand. He only had enough time for a small second of regret before his own cursed fire dragons were blown apart into millions of tiny little sparks that littered the ground all around them. He didn't have time for another thought before her phoenix was before him, wrapping its wings around his body tightly.

A few short but intense screams could be heard by everyone as the flames engulfed him, rapidly burning his body from the inside out.

Nobody moved at first, they all just stared at the spot the wizard stood, then they looked at the remaining dueler. Just seconds ago she was full of motion but now she was just standing there in the middle of the arena with falling sparks all around her, not moving as they hit her skin, as if she didn't feel them.

Still she didn't move as the wizard overseeing their duel came towards her, announcing her the winner.

It wasn't until the protective dome over their duel fell and she heard her uncle calling for her to come to him did she move. She forced her body to move, to put one foot in front of the other as she made her way back to him.