Disclaimer: I don't own any characters.

Chapter: 34

Everything slowed down, yet there was still no time for him to do anything. He watched in horror as the back of Hermione's pale green shirt became caked with blood. The knife had gone all the way through.

He jumped from his seat and yelled, "Help!" as he rushed over to her. She stumbled backward and he caught her and placed her gently on the floor. She was pale and shaking and clutching her stomach with both her hands. He tore off his over shirt and pressed it to the wound, covering his hands with her blood in the process. Instantly, the word 'mudblood' flashed in his mind as he took in the shocking redness that he was now covered in. What a ridiculous word, he thought wildly.

Piper and the others ran into the kitchen, shocked etched on each of their faces.

"Draco, what the hell happened?" Harry yelled, almost falling down in his hurry to be next to the injured girl, while Ron stood by too stunned to move.

"Oh my god, Leo!" Phoebe yelled.

Leo was there instantly and Draco tried to explain over the commotion, though there wasn't much to say. "It was Bellatrix," he explained a little dazed. "She apparated just as Hermione was leaving the kitchen. It all happened so bloody fast. She was gone before I was even out of my chair."

Draco looked down at Hermione's stomach still not believing what just happened. There was a rip in her shirt from where the knife had gone through but the skin underneath was smooth without so much as a hint of a scar. Without thinking, he brushed a finger over the spot staining it with blood all over again.

She took his hand to stop him. "It's started," she said, not really to him because she had raised her voice to make sure that everyone would hear.

"What's started? What are you talking about?" asked Chris.

"That's what Bellatrix said," she answered, getting up with Leo's help and making her way over to a chair. "After..." she gestured down to her stomach, "she whispered it in my ear. She said it's started, it's open."

"She obviously meant the seal," said Paige.

"Obviously," agreed Piper. "But why tell us? Why not just come here with an army and kill us all?"

"That is a very good question," Leo agreed. "It's probably a trap."

"Even if it is, what choice do we have?" said Phoebe. "If the seal is open then all Hell is literally breaking loose right now and we have to stop it. If it's not open we still have to stop them anyway.

"If we go, we're going on their terms and they have the advantage, which is clearly what they want," Draco pointed out.

"Yeah. Leo pretty much covered that with the whole 'it's probably a trap' thing," Chris snapped. He was on edge and so was everyone else. Even though they had just formulated a battle plan mere minutes ago, no one had expected it to go down so soon.

"We need to decide now," Ron chimed in. "The longer we wait, the more vampires come out of the seal and the more outnumbered we'll be."

"If the seal is even open," Hermione said.

They were just talking in circles and a decision had to be made. Chris took it upon himself to help them along. "I'll be right back," he stated, and before anyone could ask him why or where he was going, he had orbed away.

"You don't think?" Piper began, asking no one in particular, but before anyone could even answer, Chris was already back.

"Yup, it's definitely open," he stated.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, what where you thinking!" Piper shrieked. "You could have been killed!"

"Relax. It's not like I would have died. I haven't even been born yet," he said rolling his eyes. "And more to the point, the seal's open. Isn't this about the time we call in the cavalry?"

"Why don't you tell us what you saw first," said Leo.

"It was dark, there were guys in robes and masks everywhere, demons, and oh yeah there were a tons of ugly ass vampires running around! We need to go. Now. Or we don't stand a chance."

"Alright. This is it then. Hermione, maybe you should stay behind," Piper began.

"No, I'm fine. I'm going. There's no way I'm sitting here waiting to see if anyone makes it back," she answered stubbornly, getting up from her chair and stretching gingerly.

Piper nodded and pulled out her silver coin. She muttered something and it, along with all the others, began to make a loud high-pitched noise. "Everyone get your packs on and make sure they're tight on you. We don't want those potions in the wrong hands. Remember, they're going to try and separate us from Harry. We can't let that happen. We have to stick together no matter what." She looked around the room gravely. "Be careful...all of you. Let's go."

The sisters joined hands and orbed, followed closely by Draco and the trio and lastly Leo and Chris. They found themselves several hundred feet away from the seal waiting for the others to arrive. One by one, Order members and slayers alike were arriving at the designated spot.

The slayers arrived armed to a T. They were each brandishing at least two or three different weapons. Anything from swords, axes, daggers and crossbows could be found around their waists, strapped to their backs or already nestled in their firm grips. Dawn was among them and Harry couldn't help but be worried. She didn't have super strength or any powers to speak of but there she was ready to fight to the death with the rest of them. He decided that if they survived, he would need to find a way to thank her. No, not just her, all of them.

Angel and Spike were standing a bit in front of everyone peering into the dark, looking at things that the others couldn't see. They had no weapons except their bare hands, but they seemed to be quite content with the promise of the violence that was soon to come. In fact, they both looked utterly relaxed. Spike was even enjoying a cigarette.

"It looks like we have everyone," Piper whispered. "Wait where's Willow?"

"She's up there," Buffy said, motioning to the sky. "She figured if she keeps out of the way she'll be able to hold up the force fields better."

"But won't flying kind of interrupt her concentration a bit?" Draco asked, incredulously.

"Here," Hermione said, reaching her arm into her pack way farther than she should have been able to. She pulled out a broomstick much to everyone's surprise. "Undetectable Extension charm. Anyway, if she flies on this she can conserve her energy."

Get down here Will, Buffy called into her friend's mind.

In a swirl of purple smoke, Willow teleported to them. "Use this so you can save your energy," Buffy explained.

"Ooh I get to be the witch on a broomstick, my life is complete," she smiled, hopped on and flew out of sight.

"Ok, we'll go in first," said Buffy motioning to her small brigade, which included Angel and Spike. "And just to warn everyone, Willow is going to be monitoring us from up there. So if you hear someone in your head yell duck or go left or whatever...just do it so you don't die."

Everyone nodded and the slayers and two vampires advanced slowly in crouched positions. They wanted as much of an element of surprise as they could muster given that their enemies knew they would be coming eventually.

They reached the edge of the chasm without being seen or heard and peered over the edge. In the ruins near the seal there were already dozens of the strange vampires wandering restlessly about, their thirst evident in their constant snarls. The Death Eaters were keeping their distance, from the seal and the vampires, and seemed to be stationed at certain intervals to anticipate an attack.

Buffy and the others took advantage of this and made their way around so that when they descended they would be almost right on top of the seal and the vampires.

Buffy turned to look at her girls. "Stake 'em hard, stake 'em fast and don't you dare die. If you get into a jam, pop your pill." She looked around at them all once more before sliding down into the crater flanked by both Angel and Spike.

As soon as the others saw Buffy and her crew disappear into the crater they advanced towards the waiting Death Eaters.

All at once, chaos erupted. The slayers had begun taking out vampires left and right and the Death Eaters turned when they heard the commotion. They hesitated, unsure of whether they were supposed to help the terrifying creatures. In that moment of hesitation, when their backs were turned, Piper and the rest came at them.

They advanced in a solid line, firing spell after spell and immediately knocking down some of the masked fiends from behind. The Death Eaters' cries filled the air as they attacked back. Spells rained down from both sides and lit up the night sky like deadly fireworks.

Soon, however, vampires started to make their way passed the slayer line.

"Look out!" Buffy yelled as three of the vampires leapt over her while she was taking out four more.

They rushed towards the wizard side of the battle. One of them was immediately taken out in a shower of dust by a stray killing curse but the other two kept advancing. Arrows whizzed through the air and found their marks in the vampires' backs but they weren't deep enough to even slow them down. They separated and one headed towards Snape while the other made it's way to Draco.

Snape, who was busy dueling two masked Death Eaters, didn't see the vampire coming up behind him. Willow did. At the moment the vampire brought it's clawed hand up to strike, Willow threw a shield around Snape so that all he felt was a tap on the back, which made him whirl around and fire off a spell without hesitating.

The vampire was blasted backward off its feet and nearly sailed into Piper, who blew it to dust. She was going out of her mind trying to keep an eye on everyone. Every time she thought someone was mildly safe for the moment, she would turn and find someone else who was outnumbered.

Currently, that someone was Draco. Piper saw a vampire advancing towards him and he was already dueling with a particularly large Death Eater.

She started to run over when more figures started appearing out of thin air, blocking her path.

"Warlocks!" she yelled in warning to everyone. She ripped two vials of potions out of her pack and hurled them at the mass of demons in front of her. She felt the heat on her face from the explosion and saw a horrified Draco whip around at the sound and finally notice the vampire charging at him. The Death Eater he was dueling took advantage of Draco's loss of concentration and sent a killing curse at him.

Before Piper could even utter a warning, Draco had flattened himself on the ground and the spell had sailed passed him and into the throng of demons, annihilating a few.

Thank God, Piper thought, relieved, as she blew up the vampire that was almost on him.

Just 'Willow' is fine, the other witch thought at her and Piper could almost feel her smile in her head.

Paige had been orbing Death Eaters away from the battle but they were only apparating back so she had taken on a new tactic. She had started deflecting their spells back at them and when they eventually ended up stunning themselves she would orb them out, as they wouldn't be coming to anytime soon.

Phoebe was sticking close to Snape and kind of acting as his secret weapon. Since she didn't have an active power, Willow was trying to keep a force field up around her at all times. Not having to worry about getting hit, Phoebe was free to kick butt the old fashioned way and truth be told, once Snape had disarmed a Death Eater and Phoebe began advancing towards them, they didn't know what to do with themselves.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were trying to stick together in the confusion but it was becoming more difficult as larger numbers of demons began arriving. More potions were flying now that people were being confronted by things they had never seen before.

Hermione yelped when she saw a hideous, scaly demon charging at Draco. She fumbled in her pack for a potion and launched it without aiming properly. Ron had to orb it to make sure it hit its mark but when it did the demon exploded very nearly in Draco's face.

"Get over here!" Hermione yelled at him and he scrambled over to the trio.

"What?"

"We need to stick together!" she said fiercely, throwing another potion at a giant blue demon with horns that had spotted her.

The four teens made their way to the sisters and Snape to try and regroup. They noticed that there were little to no Death Eaters left in the fray. A quick look around showed that there were only demons and vampires left, but the vampires seemed to be endlessly pouring out of the seal.

"We have to get the seal closed or this will never end," Paige said over the commotion.

Willow, can you work your end of the magic from up there, Phoebe asked.

Yeah I should be able to…in theory. But then again the whole thing is just a theory.

"Piper, we need a little bit of your blood," Phoebe said, pulling a small, empty glass vial out of her pocket.

"That won't be a problem," she answered motioning to a knick on her forehead that was still bleeding.

Once Phoebe had what she needed, their small brigade began heading towards the seal and that was where the advanced fighting was happening. Half the time they were trying to get by the skirmishes unscathed and the other half they couldn't help but be in awe of the slayers' skills. The grace with which they fought was mesmerizing. They could leap up and over their opponents and have them staked before the vampires even noticed they were swinging at nothing. They wielded their steel weapons with precision, swinging them as freely as if they weighed nothing. Even the slayers that were no longer armed were landing punches and kicks that were sending their foes sailing through the air.

Phoebe had to get close enough to the seal to be able to carry out her spell but still stay far enough away so that she wasn't in danger of being possessed or trampled by the hordes of vampires still trying to escape from below. Backed by her sisters, Snape, Draco and the trio, Phoebe hurriedly began laying out the ingredients for the spell while Willow communicated to the other Order members to make their way towards the seal to give Phoebe as much protection as possible. They formed a line with Phoebe safely behind them and began helping the slayers.

Through the clamor Phoebe worked, feverishly placing candles and herbs like rosemary, cypress and yarrow root on a ceremonial white cloth. Just as she was about to start chanting there was an earth shattering eruption that shook the ground she sat on. She stopped what she was doing and turned to see the cause of the new commotion and immediately wished she hadn't.

Flames were erupting on the ground behind them. Any demons left were vanquished the instant the flames reached them. She knew right away that these were no normal flames. She could almost certainly see animals moving within them.

"Fire! Everyone look out!" she yelled, snatching up her ingredients.

Snape whipped his head around when he heard her yell. Phoebe saw his eyes widen as he took in the scene and her fears about the fire were confirmed when he yelled, "FIENDFYRE!" and all of the wizards turned in disbelief with similar looks of fear on their faces and began backing away from the flames.

Suddenly, Willow appeared among them. She was out of breath and there was blood flowing freely from her nose. "Something attacked me up there just before the fire broke out," she explained, hurriedly. "I couldn't really make out what it was because it's so dark but it was definitely people-sized and flying and~"

A green spell came flying out of the fire and sailed passed everyone.

"NO!" Harry yelled when he saw where the spell was headed.

Dumbledore had been helping the slayers, only vaguely aware of what was going on in the background. He turned when he heard Harry yell. He turned just in time for the Avada Kedavra to hit him squarely in the chest.

Harry ran over to him, not daring to believe his eyes and ignoring the yells from his friends who were trying to warn him.

Voldemort had finally arrived. It was him that had cast the fiendfyre, it was him who had killed Dumbledore and it was him who was now making rag dolls out of everyone around him to make his way to Harry.

OOOOO

A/N: Holy crow, there are still people reading. People that have been there from the start, which only makes it more amazing! Pickles, Ariana and Drusilla THANK YOU so much. When I saw that I had reviews (especially from you guys!) I was pumped because 7 years is a loooooong time so glad ya'll are still enjoying it. Also, I know it was a terrible thing to kill Dumbles like that BUT if he was there, he would have wiped the floor with Voldy and left nothing for everyone else to do and that just won't do for my outcome :p