Chapter XXXVI {Your Mother's Eyes}

                                    

                                          
my head falls back on the ground as i sigh in relief. i look at Draco, his eyes turn from concern to sadness. he kisses me gently on the forehead and scurries up, grabs Blaise by the arm and runs off down another corridor. 
                          
i stand up, my shoulder limp from landing on it. i roll my shoulder and the blood flow reaches to it again. 
                          
i look at Hermione who's staring at Harry. i follow her gaze and see Harry, who stares off in the distance, his face still baring traces of the agony he just endured. 
                          
"Ron, you once asked me if i thought he felt it--Voldemort--when we destroy a Horcrux, when we destroy a piece of his soul." Harry says still staring forward "he does." Harry waits a moment. "its the snake. she's the last one. the last Horcrux."
                          
"where will he take her?" i ask
                          
"someplace safe." Hermione says
                          
"no. he'll keep her close." Harry corrects
                          
as Harry wipes his brow, grazing his scar, trying to dispel the pain he feels-Ron studies him intently.
                          
"look inside him, Harry." Ron says
                          
Hermione, Harry and i stare at him
                          
"find out where he is. if we find him, we find the snake. then we're one step closer to ending this." Ron says
                          
i study Harry and Ron as they stare silently at one another. finally, Harry closes his eyes.
                          
after a while Harry twitches. his eyes flutter open. 
                          
"i know where he is." he says simply
                          


                          
we pelt through the madness, Hermione gasps, and i turn catching sight of Lavender Brown as she falls to the ground. my eyes shift, spy Fenrir Greyback, lips still glistening with Lavender's blood, staring at me. he smiles and starts towards me.
                          
"NO!" Hermione yells lifting her wand and sending a red flash of light at him. Greyback takes it straight to the chest, pitches up into the air and drops. not moving.
                          
we race away from the burning castle. in the distance, part of the Dark Forest burns, trees shredding sparks into the sky like scarlet feathers. shadows do battle in the distant dark. screams shatter the night. 
                          
a thunderous shockwave as a monstrous giant lurches, swinging one of the Quidditch goals, the golden ring dripping blood. seeing us, it whips the ring down, strafing us with threads of blood, but missing us, narrowly, scooping out a massive chunk of earth instead. it groans in anger, lumbers stupidly off. we race on. 
                          


                          
Harry, Ron, Hermione and i pick our way forward, moving quietly through the eerie light, then stopping within the safety of the shadows. we watch:
                          
Voldemort steps into view and extends his wand. in the mercurial light, it looks like a living thing.
                          
"why doesnt it work for me?" Voldemort asks
                          
"you have performed extraordinary work with this wand, my lord. in the last few hours alone-" Snape begins
                          
"no! i am extraordinary! but the wand resists me!" Voldemort yells
                          
Snape studies Voldemort in the half-light, then his eyes shift to Nagini, who skims slowly over the wooden floor, circling the two wizards.
                          
"there is no wand more powerful. Ollivander himself said it. tonight, when the boy comes to you, it will not fail you, i am sure. it answer to you and you only." Snape says
                          
"does it?" Voldemort holds the wand to the wavering light again, his eyes on Snape.
                          
"my Lord?" Snape asks