Warning: Character death.

Chapter 25. While we wait.

Voldemort crucioed Bellatrix once more in outrage. It had no point. The woman's screams did nothing to placate his murderous mood. She was less than useless. She lacked enough brains to find a way around the curse, so she couldn't explain in detail the magic that protected the portal to the Dragons' realm, in order for him to find a way to destroy it once and for all. The years in Azkaban had made a dent after all. She had been capable enough to guide the Death Eaters to the breeding dragons before, but now it was as if anything she could do was writhe in fear! She was supposed to fear HIM! Not some low magical creatures! He was the greatest wizard of all times! He was the one who was going to conquer them in the end!

He finally left the semi-unconscious woman lying on the floor, and went to his personal chambers to think. There was no choice but to call his army. He will crush those who still opposed him, and destroy Hogwarts first, after that he'd pursue the Rainbow Dragons again. He will have their power!

The Dark Lord considered for a moment the reports that his underlings had given him. It had been almost two weeks and no one had been able to break into Hogwarts. In all appearances the castle was impenetrable. Snape was doing a much better job of guarding it than Dumbledore had. But then again, the old cot hadn't been leading an open resistance against Voldemort at the time. The dark wizard sneered disdainfully. His last horcrux was still inside the damned building, and he could not risk to try and connect with it like he had done with the others months ago. He didn't want to bring unwanted attention over it in case that they weren't aware of its presence, besides, he still had the nagging suspicion that his activating of their link to himself had made them vulnerable to destruction. And really, there was nothing that indicated that his enemies were aware that his last Horcrux was right under their noses. He had had reports that assured him that they had been looking in other places. Even if they had thought about the possibility of the Horcrux being in the castle, it would take time to find it, and they had low chances to succeed. After all, Dumbledore had not been capable to locate it, or even know it had been taken there. Voldemort doubted that Snape would be more successful.

But first things first. He will organize the army that he had not really needed until that moment, and he'll find a way through the school's wards. He smiled evilly when an idea popped in his mind. He might as well activate the connection he still had with the youngest Weasley. The bond that had been created when his horcrux had possessed her had never been truly broken. The girl had been pretty vulnerable to his influence since then. He had noticed that connection before, but had disregarded it as non-consequential and unimportant. But now, it could serve his purposes just finely. He only needed the right spell, and Ginevra Weasley would be under his command again.

Harry scowled in concentration, trying to focus on the desired result of the spell he intended to use. The staff he was holding still felt strange. It was heavier than his wand and he could sense the undercurrent of magic along the polished wood like never before. He stared ahead of him at some rocks and spoke firmly.

"Reducto!"

The blast of magic had enough force to disrupt his balance, and he took a step backwards trying not to move his arms, but nevertheless his aim was affected, and the stones were left untouched beside the large hole that Harry's spell produced. The boy cursed loudly. It had been two weeks since they had arrived to Hogwarts. Two weeks of waiting, preparing, and training with the damn staff, and he still couldn't manage to control his spells! The Gryffindor sighed, and turned to look at Snape, who was supervising his efforts. Well, at least he no longer was propelled backwards to fell painfully on his butt. Maybe he had improved at least a bit. The man gave him a grunt that could as well be approval or annoyance, and then signalled for the boy to approach him.

Harry sighed again, and walked towards the sour professor. Some meters to his right he could see his and Snape's dragons, apparently curled around one another. He looked at the creatures, and started to contemplate the situation they all were in.

It was surprising how everything had seemed to arrange itself once they had been in Hogwarts. The news that the castle was open again to anyone who wanted refuge had spread quickly along the wizarding world. Soon every rebel that had still been free in the Britain had been there, and of course Voldemort's lackeys had been literally at the castle's doors too, demanding entrance to the school.

Snape had erected the new wards in a way that no one could enter the grounds unless aided by a special portkey, provided only to the people that accepted to state their loyalties under veritaserum. Even when some had still eyed Snape distrustfully, reality was that they had run out of options. They had needed to take the last line of hope that had been offered, and so they had willingly accepted the potions master's questioning. Not even the school governors could set foot into Hogwarts unauthorized. The wizarding world was being reintroduced to the fact that the school only obeyed to the Headmaster, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.

It had been necessary to do some quick modifications in the castle to accommodate the refugees. The surviving groups of St. Mungo's had been among the firsts to look for help. The hospital wing had been insufficient to keep them all, so the Ravenclaw's tower had been transformed into the new hospital wing. The rest of the rebels, the bonded, the Order members, and some families looking to escape the Dark Regime, had taken over Gryffindor's tower and Hufflepuff's cellar. The leaders had surprisingly organized, and now everyone had instructions on how to act in case of an attack. They also had managed to agree on a plan to confront Voldemort once and for all.

Snape had located the last horcrux with the help of the ghosts and the house-elves of the castle, and Harry had had to go and ask his dragon for help to destroy it. Once it had been done, their only worry had been that Riddle wouldn't think about doing any more before they had the chance to kill him. Though they had doubted he could even manage to do more, his soul was almost non-existent as it was, but they were unwilling to take the chance.

All in all, the most difficult part had been to explain the dragons flying over the castle, and resting on the grounds and the towers from time to time. The bonded had not yet even tried to look for a way to lift Black's curse, and explaining the existence of a race of dragons that only the oldest families had known about, and many had thought to be a myth, had proved to be indeed challenging. Especially when no one had been able to accept out loud that the creature sleeping on the towers, in plain view of everyone, had been very real and not a figment of their collective imagination. Fortunately, the few pureblood families that were among them still remembered the family-tales about the rainbow dragons, and some of them had been willing to share them with their fellow refugees. Unfortunately, everyone had started to make conjectures based on slightly erroneous information from such tales. It was frustrating to hear some of the theories that people had been coming up with, and not being able to correct them. Still, there had been some interesting ones. Harry's favourite was the one where the dragons were the guardians of Hogwarts, brought in by the founders upon Slytherin's deception, and asleep for hundreds of years, and that Snape had finally awoken them to defend the castle.

Hermione had been miffed that she hadn't been able to find anything about the mysterious dragons anywhere. She had guessed correctly that Harry knew something about them and had buggered him until the boy had had no choice but to make her understand that there was a curse preventing him to talk about it. Once Hermione had figured that out, she had tried to look for something that could reverse said curse. It had been very difficult because she hadn't known exactly what the curse had involved, and there had been no one willing to give her much information on the matter. Besides, everyone had been rather busy training to be prepared for when Voldemort decided to attack. Everyone expected such attack to be soon. The Dark Lord was not exactly a patient man, and Hogwarts had been turned into a fortress against his reign, his enemies' asylum. He would need to destroy it as soon as possible. In view of that, concerns about the exact origin of the Rainbow Dragons had been relegated to second place for the moment.

Harry bit his lower lip in slight exasperation when Snape started to criticize again the way he had been holding the staff, and not controlling the flow of magic to perfection. He could not help it; the thing was powerful and very demanding. The fact that they were doing express training instead of a more peaceful one was not helping. Harry knew that he had to put all his effort on the training if he wanted to be able to use his magic to its full potential against Voldemort. However, Harry's most pressing worry was Draco's health, or lack of as it was. It was screwing his concentration. He also had a baby girl to care for.

He hadn't wanted to leave her in the hospital wing with the rest of St. Mungo's patients, but at the same time he had considered that she should remain close to Draco. He had convinced himself that if the blond could feel his baby near him, he would fight to survive. Never mind that the healer had said that it was improbable that the young Lord Malfoy could be aware of anything in his current state. Harry had fought to convince Madam Pomfrey and Paraximedes to let Draco be moved to Gryffindor tower with him, or at the very last to have his own private room, where Harry would be able to care about him and his daughter in peace. In the end, it had been Sally the one that had decided the blond Slytherin's check out of the hospital wing. Draco was bonded to a very protective dragon; by the first time that Sally had attempted to do a hole into Ravenclaw's tower in order to see Draco, every single one of the scared healers had been demanding something to be done about the "wild dragon." Snape had then ordered the boy to be moved to Slytherin's personal quarters. The four founders had had made their rooms with ample space, so their dragons had been able to come and go as they had pleased. Slytherin's were conveniently placed over the dungeons, and there was a passage that opened to the grounds, so Sally would have no problems visiting Draco at her heart's content. Harry had moved with Draco and Lillian, and Molly visited him every single day to help him with his small daughter while he trained with the rest of the rebels.

The Gryffindor tried not to show his tiredness when he once again attempted to follow Snape's instructions to make the staff work properly. He could feel the eyes of his dragon at his back following his advances. It was so strange. Here he was, actually listening to Snape's advice in the hopes that he had the chance to impress a magical creature. He must be insane. He didn't even like the staff, he simply was not used to it, but the dragon's bond had increased his magic significantly, and it was too much for a normal wand. If he wanted to continue using a wand he had to make a new one, properly attuned to him, and that will take a lot of time. Every bonded had a staff, they had stopped using them when the dragons had disappeared, and their magic had been sealed. The damned things simply had not worked for them anymore. When the seal had been broken, they immediately had looked for their beloved staffs.

The majority of the "new bonded" had had to take the instruction on how to make their own staffs, only a few had inherited theirs from deceased relatives. Harry was among those few. He had received the staff that had belonged to his father. It was made of Aspen reinforced with unicorn horn. The end resembled a stag's antlers protecting a bloodstone sphere, which emanated a brilliant red light when Harry cast any spells. It should be light, but for Harry it was extraordinary heavy sometimes. Snape said that it was because the boy was fighting against the staff's natural magic, and unconsciously rejecting the idea to work with it. Harry thought that the rejection was not so unconscious. He had been awed when Snape had first handed him the staff and explained that James had been actually the one to make it. However, his happiness at having another heirloom of his father had been short lived. As soon as his professor had explained that Dumbledore had kept the staff in safeguard with the idea to be the one to hand it down to Harry, the boy's smile had just faltered a little. Still, it wasn't so bad that the old headmaster had decided to keep the staff, after all he had been planning on returning it to Harry, but then Snape had mentioned that Albus had changed the gemstone. It had used to be a moonstone, a magical stone more adequate to heal. The old man had considered that it would be of little use to Harry, and so had changed it with one usually associated to heroes and martyrs. The Gryffindor boy had not been happy with the information. Who did Dumbledore think he was? He had no right to change James' staff! He had no right whatsoever to manipulate Harry's life in that way! The boy would have gladly made his discomfort known making a hole in the Headmaster's office where Albus' portrait was. Only that he really hadn't wanted to alienate Snape, seeing that it was his office now, and the portrait in question had been conspicuously empty at the moment, which would have made Harry's indignant bout of destructiveness entirely useless.

So, Harry was unhappy with the staff, and as consequence he was not mastering it like he should. Snape had already pointed out that the best course of action was that Harry chose a different gemstone by himself, but unfortunately that couldn't be done at the moment. Even when they had access to the forbidden forest, it was unlikely that an appropriate gemstone could be found there. The forest was an excellent source of different types of wood, but for magical gemstones Harry had to go to special places. It would take time and most importantly, freedom of movement, a luxury that they lacked right then. Harry would have to learn to fight with his staff as it was for the moment. It was still better that having no staff, no wand, and therefore no weapon to fight with, as was the case with the people that had to make theirs.

He tried the same spell a few more times, until he finally managed to control the power enough to keep both his equilibrium and aim, and he felt strangely re-vindicated. No stupid Dumbledore with stupid bloodstones will make him fail against Voldemort. He was going to survive the war and raise his child alongside Draco, no matter what. Snape looked adequately pleased, and finally announced the end of the day's training. Harry only spent a few minutes saying his good byes to his dragon and then ran to Slytherin's quarters to take care of Lillian.

He used Sally's passage to enter the castle. He tried his best to avoid people. Hogwarts was full, and it seemed that the only part of it that was not populated were the dungeons. That was fine with Harry. It meant that he at least was getting some peace there. It vexed him the way that people looked at him, as if he was the one who should be taking care of the entire resistant movement, as if he was some kind of leader. He was not a leader! And he certainly wasn't the one responsible of directing the war efforts! For God's sake! Couldn't people see how young he actually was? All that he seemed to hear whenever he risked to wander the castle was baffled noises of awe, or some muffled expressions of hope that he will kill the Dark Wizard effortlessly, comparing him with Merlin. It was insane. All because of the stupid staff! No matter that he was not the only wizard in the castle training with one. Every bonded seemed attached to theirs, and not even Snape was letting his staff alone for one minute. Even so, it looked like the rest of the refugees could only see Harry's staff. The Gryffindor boy wished that someone other than him managed to kill Voldemort. Maybe then the wizarding world would stop idolizing him and would leave him alone!

He entered directly to the bedroom and stopped beside the massive bed. Sally was not there, surely she had departed recently, not a day had passed by without she visiting. Harry sat on the bedside, and looked at the sleeping figure of the blond boy. He preferred to think about Draco's state as sleeping and not comatose. He hated the way the mediwizard made emphasis in that word, as if Harry needed the constant reminder that Draco's condition was critical. The Gryffindor swore that if the man insisted in treating Draco as if the boy was already dead, he was going to practice the sectum sempra with him. But he didn't want to think about anything anymore. He gingerly put his staff leaning against the nearest wall and returned to Draco. He was happy to see that colour had returned to the blonde's skin, his lips were not dry anymore, and he was warm and not deathly cold. He was getting better, Harry was sure, all he needed was some time and a bit of help with his magic.

The Gryffindor boy took one of the blonde's hands and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and relaxing. He concentrated, looking for the subtle feel of Draco's core. He found it easily, and within seconds he had also found the bond connecting them. It had required some insistence on Sally's part and the reassurance of his own dragon, Dante, to convince Harry that the bond that had been formed when Draco had conceived was still there. He only had needed to find it and consciously activate it again, so he could continue to give Draco some of his own magic.

Harry smiled at the feeling of Draco's magic strengthening. The mediwizard had told them that the blonde's core had stopped to pull from the environment's energy and that it would be unwise to force any kind of magic into it, but he had not known that the bond between the two boys had not been severed, he could not find any trace of it at all. Harry had not told anyone but Snape about his reactivation of said bond, and he had the professor's approval on the transfer of magic, with the condition that he didn't exhaust himself. Draco's core had reacted very well to Harry's magic and the boy was hopeful that soon it wouldn't need help to maintain the blonde's recovery. Harry finished the transfusion of the day and reluctantly let go of Draco's magic and opened his eyes. The blond boy continued in the same position, there had been no apparent change. Harry tried to not feel disappointed, every day was the same after all, he'll just continue with his routine until Draco returned to him. He squeezed the pale hand lightly and leaned on to give the blond a soft kiss on the lips. Then he looked over to where the bassinet was. It was empty. Harry sighed and left Draco's side to go in search of his daughter.

The bedroom door opened to a large sitting room. Harry found Hermione on one of the couches, cooing at little Lillian. She had an assortment of books and parchment on the low table in front of her, so Harry supposed that she had been studying, and Lillian had woken up and interrupted her. Mrs. Weasley was nowhere to be seen. Harry walked towards Hermione, and the girl lifted her head when she heard his steps.

"Oh, Harry! You're here already! Did you enter the bedroom directly?"

"Yes, it's faster and I don't bump into anyone. Where's Mrs. Weasley?"

"She left a few minutes ago, she's gone to see Ron."

Harry nodded his comprehension and sat besides Hermione, taking his little girl from her. Lillian's eyes were wide open and she peered at him curiously. Harry smiled at her while thinking about Ron. Everyone had been greatly relieved when Ron had been among the firsts patients to arrive. He was in the same boat as Draco; apparently there was nothing the mediwizards could do but wait for him to get out of his comma on his own. Harry had wondered if he could do the same transfusion of magic that he was doing with Draco, but Snape had told him it was not possible. Magic-transfusion was a delicate and dangerous procedure, the only reason Harry could do it with the blond Slytherin was because of the nature of the bond they shared. It would be stupid to try the same with anyone else. Harry had brooded all afternoon, but had had no choice other than wait for his friend to recover. The Weasleys and Hermione had taken to check on Ron several times a day, and Harry envied their ability to go around the castle without being ogled at. He thought that there hadn't been a time when he had resented his boy-who-lived status more. Previously, when public pressure had been too much for him, he always had had his friends. Now, when his best friend needed him, he couldn't do anything to help! It was frustrating!

Lillian lifted one hand towards his glasses and Harry put a finger for her to grab. She babbled a bit while still looking at him, and the Gryffindor started a monologue about his day and how happy he was to be home with his cute daughter. Hermione left them after telling Harry that Mrs. Weasley had ordered him some dinner, and to get rest. Harry said his goodbyes, and occupied himself with feeding his child. He wished for Voldemort to hurry up and attack already. He was not going to put his daughter's and his life on hold forever because of a crazy megalomaniac!

Bella entered the chamber quietly. She had managed to apparate to the old Lestranges' manor and to find the door. The magic had recognized her, as it should. She took out her wand, ready to attack whoever could be in the place. The wild magic of the chamber surrounded her and she shivered at the sensation. She had been drunk with power the first time she had entered. This was made for her kind, for the purebloods to reign over the wizarding world! Filthy half-bloods and blood-traitors shouldn't be allowed to possess it!

She remembered her anger when she had first realized that blood purity, as she understood it, was of no consequence for a dragon to choose a wizard. The ignorant beasts had no idea of how important it was that the wizarding world remained pure! Her anger had turned to rage when she had been informed that the Dark Lord had not been considered fit to bond. There had been no dragon that chose him when he had reached the peak of his magic. How had they dared? The Dark Lord was the most powerful wizard ever to walk the Earth! He had to own the dragon's amazing energy! The foul creatures had no right to deny her Lord his rightful heritance!

She had tried to pass her bond to her Master. She had ordered his dragon to sever the bond and do the rite with the Dark Lord. The beast had refused and had died while the Master had been trying a ritual to transfer the bond to himself. Her cousin had dared to tell her that her sanity had died entirely with the dragon. Ha! As if the creatures had any hold on her at all!

She considered the structure of the chamber. The entire building was made of magic, and the portal to the dragons' realm was somewhere up in the ceiling, as well as the passages for the dragons to enter the real world. Bellatrix had never known where the creatures had come from. Never had bothered to learn the entire story. She had stubbornly held onto her belief that the rainbow dragons were entities summoned by the wizards to boost their own magic and nothing more. They were magical creatures. No magical creature had more status than a wizard! To her eyes, the dragons had rebelled against wizard-kind. They had failed to acknowledge her master as the mighty, all-powerful mage he was. They deserved to be destroyed for that! The Dark Lord wanted the chamber gone and Bella was going to obey his wishes!

She raised her wand and thought about the spells that could serve her purpose. She gritted her teeth when she remembered her staff. The blasted thing had disintegrated when her dragon had died. She cursed the beast under her breath. It had had the gal to deny her a powerful weapon! It didn't matter, she was going to demolish the chamber anyway, and she'd be her Master's favourite once more!

"What are you doing here?"

Bella turned on her heels at the hissed words, coming to face one of the few that had survived the first war. A filthy half-blood. She'll have the opportunity to finish one more of her Master's enemies.

"Augustus... how kind of you to welcome me!"

"Traitor! You have no right to be here!"

"I have more right than you, half-blood! You're just scum! You should never have had the privilege of this power! You stain it with your touch!"

"You are the one who stains this sacred place with your presence! How dare you put a foot inside?"

Bellatrix let lose a mad laugh and cast a crucio at her opponent. Augustus didn't move. Bella's eyes widened in surprise when the bolt of magic dispersed without touching its target, absorbed by the structure of the chamber. The man gave her a huff of pity.

"Fool! Have you forgotten bitch? This place is neutral for wizard-kind! No fight is allowed here!"

The witch roared in rage and started casting powerful curses against the pillars. It was no use. Even the strongest of her reductos was absorbed without making a dent in the beautiful surface. Augustus watched in fascinated disgust as the woman lost what little sanity she had left.

"Stop it! I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's useless! Get out of here!"

'No! She's never leaving this place again!'

Bella finally stopped and turned towards the deep voice. Behind Augustus had appeared a dragon, the biggest one she had ever seen; its colour was an odd mixture of copper and turquoise. The angry yellow eyes looked at her intensely. Bella aimed her wand towards the beast, starting to mutter the ancient spell that will grant her control of a common dragon. A roar to her left distracted her and she turned to see two more approaching dragons, slightly smaller than the first, one was a vibrant red and black, and the other a pale pink. She walked backwards, considering her options. She tried the spell on one of the dragons and looked in horror how her magic dissolved as soon as it left her wand. She turned around wildly; realizing belatedly that the dragons had surrounded her. Augustus had wisely gotten out of the creature's way and was watching form the farthest corner of the chamber he could manage. Bellatrix started casting hexes and curses, in mad desperation, none of them even taking form.

"Stop! I order you to stop!"

'Filthy traitor! You don't have any power to order us anything!'

"I'm not a traitor! I'm a witch from the noble and ancient house of Black! And you must obey me!"

One of the dragons moved its head and gave her a powerful blow on the back. She screamed and flown a few meters, losing her wand when she hit the floor. She turned around quickly to see the biggest dragon over her, a huge paw pressed her down and Bellatrix gasped. The creature applied enough force to crack some ribs, but nothing more.

'Stupid, fragile human. So easy to crush.'

"Stop! You'll pay for this! You can't murder a witch! You're a creature! We summoned you! You belong to us!"

'Ignorant girl! We belong to no one! You are nothing without us! We are magic! And we decide who is adequate enough to endure our power!'

Bellatrix screamed as the pressure increased and her ribs and some vertebra broke. She stopped feeling her extremities and blood went up her throat and mouth. She was still breathing when a sea of purple flames engulfed her.

Ginny stood in front of the gargoyle that will grant her entrance to the headmaster's office. She had arrived to Hogwarts with the Longbottoms and knew how to activate the special portkey. She was not coherent at the moment. Her mind had been in chaos since Malfoy had attacked her. For days she had wanted to scream, to cry, to bang her head against the nearest wall, anything! She couldn't name what she had been feeling; she only knew that it was eating her from the inside out. No one cared of course. No one had ever cared.

A voice resonated in her thoughts. A sweet, sensuous voice. It made her feel wanted, useful. It promised vague, sweet things. Everything will be ok. She only had to follow the voice's instructions. She knew it was Tom. How could she ever forget what it had been like to have Tom Riddle in her head? She had felt his presence prod into her dreams some days ago, and she had welcomed him. She had craved for that presence. It was as if she had been missing an essential part of her. He had used her, forced her to do terrible things, but at least he had listened. Tom Riddle had been the only one to really listen to her. The only one she had ever trusted entirely. She didn't care anymore if he ended up killing her. She had lost everything she had ever wanted. There was no life for her anymore, without Harry there was no reason to go on. She let him have her thoughts and allowed herself to be possessed entirely, her mind loosing itself in the sweet promise of oblivion.

Snape watched from his window as the fragile figure of the youngest Weasley walked towards the gates. The previous headmasters' portraits had alerted him that the girl had taken the portkey. It was no problem, he could stop her then and there; he only needed a well-aimed hex. Somehow he was not surprised that Ginevra had succumbed to the Dark Lord's call. He had wondered if anyone had taken the time to check on her since the incident with Riddle's diary. He had known that her family had not wanted to acknowledge it. They had simply been glad that the girl had looked fine, and had never talked about the event again. Foolish! They should have known that a possession was no simple affair. The girl should have been sent to a specialized mediwizard! He wouldn't be surprised if she had been suffering from the dark influence all those years.

From one of the portraits the anxious voice of Dumbledore could be heard.

"You have to stop her Severus, and reinforce the wards! Voldemort can not be allowed to enter Hogwarts!"

Snape toyed with his staff, thinking about the possibilities. Inside his mind, another voice growled in warning.

'No, let her go with it. Let them break the wards. The traitor is dead. We are ending this now!'

The Potions Master smirked and retired from the window. He would have to alert the others. They would be fighting before the first light broke.