Destiny

Draco

Draco Malfoy was never found of the Forbidden Forest ever since his first year. The reason why he hated that place was more than obvious, as he was punished there once with Potter, then he almost was killed there at the hands of Voldemort, not to mention that Snape had been killed there not so long ago and his body turned into ashes. Now, he was once again walking among the ominous trees that looked like they wanted to trap him there for an eternity.

All Hogwarts students knew that inside that forest lived all kinds of monsters, including Giants and Centaurs as well as huge spiders. So basically, Death Eaters were not the only things they could encounter on their way to where Snape body was. The tension among them was almost tangible, his body alone ached not only for injuries, but also because of what could await him in that cursed place. He feared that Potter was not going to be the only one dying there that day, he feared that his own destiny was going to punish him for all his wrong doings.

"Why is so quite in here?" Hermione whispered, distracting him from his dark thoughts, for which he was thankful. He looked around for a moment, finally noticing that she was quite right. They had been careful in their way toward their destination. Kragkor had make sure to take the safest route, avoiding Death Eaters, but not even with the help of a magical elf, the forest should be that quiet.

"Hermione is right. It shouldn't be this calm, even if…" Whatever Harry was going to say next, was interrupted by the sudden sound of an arrow flying right at were Draco was standing. It was Hermione's quick reflex that save his life as she push him out of the harm way just in nick of time. Still, the arrow passed close enough to her back as she threw herself over Draco, that it slightly cut her jacket.

"Protego!" Harry shouted over the couple at the same time another arrow was directed at him, which was blocked by Kragkor's own magic. What followed next was a blur chaos for all of them as they dodge arrows coming from a group of Centaurs.

"You don't have any right to disturb our pace, Death Eaters! Be gone, all of you!" One of the biggest yelled in rage, as they ran through the forest almost blindly. Kragkor and a few other house elves that joined them, redirected the arrows coming their way, while they escaped from the angry half-men. There was no time to argue about them not being real Death Eaters, because it was quite obvious at least one of them have Voldemort's mark in his wrist as well as being a member of the well-known Malfoy family. Just the sight of his blond hair, expensive clothes and aristocrat air, was like looking at a brightly lit shining sign of an 'I'm a Malfoy and a Death Eater, at your service'.

Getting away from the Centaurs was no easy task. Arrows rained from all directions and a few times they had come too close. Once, Harry lost his balance while tripping with a tree root, falling face forward. It just happen that if he hadn't fell, an arrow would have pierce his shoulder. Draco had wasted no time to help him up, using whatever spell he could master to keep them safe, without risking anyone's lives. Mostly, they used stunning spells as best as they could, but it was hard to have a good aim at a moving targets, especially when said moving targets could outrun you in no time.

The only thing they have an advantage, was that the house elves could block their path with their magic, allowing them to get away, eventually. Nevertheless, it took them a lot of time and physical effort to leave them behind and only with the elves distraction, they were able to finally have some rest.

However, by the time they finally stopped, it was painfully obvious they were entirely lost inside the forest. Hermione let herself fall into the ground, completely exhausted, soon enough Harry followed her example too tired to take another step, but Draco stood there, feeling somewhat defeated by destiny. If Hermione had not push him when she did, he would had die there, as he probably was supposed to. Perhaps it was a matter of time before another surprise came his way and maybe next time he would not be so lucky.

Harry felt something similar, so he understood Draco better than anyone else, including Hermione. The two of them have come to be close in such a short amount of time, but when it came too close to death, only he could tell what was on Draco's mind and how much such a fate weighted on them.

"We are definitely lost, so now what?" Hermione asked, looking right and left, but recognizing nothing from their previous adventures in the forest. After a few seconds of silence, she looked at Draco, lost in thoughts and then she remember that only minutes before, he cold had die and so could she and Harry. The thought alone scare her to death, so she did the only thing she could for him, stood up and hug him with all her might.

"Draco… it's okay. I will make sure you will survive this ordeal. We all will…" But her words didn't really convince neither Draco, nor Harry, who looked away, afraid she would notice his doubts. Draco simply gave her a sad smile and a quick kiss.

"Destiny had its ways. What is meant to happen will happen one way or another." He added.

"Don't give me that nonsense Draco, I…"

"Hermione, it's okay. I never said I was giving up. This is just… unexpected."

"Well, you got that right… what was that? Centaurs attacking right out of the blue without warning? Just how much things had changed from what you saw in the living stone?" She asked Draco.

"Choices changes our fates, I already warn you about that. Apparently, we are not the only ones who can make choices that can alter the future, so are those who are living inside this forest. The Centaurs were not pleased with people in general coming in and out of their forest as they pleased, let alone a bunch of bloody Death Eaters running around doing who knows what, perhaps with Dementors or others creatures acting as they wished in their territory. A war was supposed to happen inside the castle, but we change it to the forest instead, in order to protect our own, so now, we have to face the consequences and I assure you, there are more than just Centaurs and Death Eaters inside this forest." Draco answer.

"And now we are lost…" Harry added, also looking around, but finding nothing familiar about the place either.

"Kragkor… please tell me you know where we are…" Draco whisper.

"I'm afraid I don't know, Master Draco. My apologies." The little elf said shyly. This time around he would be of no use to his master.

"Damn it!" Draco yelled, foolishly hitting a tree with his feet in frustration, which only bring him more pain and probably a slight bruise.

"Oh, how very clever of you, Draco. What did that tree did to you? Stop hurting yourself, you idiot." Hermione said, casting a healing spell on his bruised foot. Harry sighed for a moment and unconsciously reached for something inside his pocket. The stone was cold to the touch, but the effect was almost instantaneous. Just as it had happen before, his dead parents stood in front of him, smiling sadly at him and to his surprise, both of them pointed at a certain direction to his right and he knew, they were going to guide him where he needed to be.

"Hum, guys…" He tried, but the two love birds were arguing about something. "Hey guys! I know where to go!" And so their argument was completely forgotten, as they gave Harry their full attention.

"You do?" Hermione asked first.

"Yeah… kind off." Harry said, as he stood up a bit nervous.

"How so? Do you know where we are?" Of course she would ask how he knew and in such times, he could only do one thing.

"I… was here with Ron once… remember? The big spiders Ron was so afraid of?" Harry lie.

"You mean, Hagrid's pet monster? Arag… something?" Draco asked, suddenly looking up. All Hogwarts had hear about that particular story, back when the chamber of secret was re-open. At that time, the fools believed he was Salazar's heir, when one of their own was responsible from open the chamber behind their backs. Oh, the irony.

Hermione also looked up, expecting to see the gloomy trees cover with huge spiders, coming down to capture them, as Ron had told her once. The thought alone of having to deal with perhaps hundreds of those huge things make her unconsciously shudder, getting closer to Draco and holding his hand with slightly trembling fingers. She didn't mind normal spiders, but several huge ones that wanted to make you their next meal, was another matter entirely. However, her sudden panic, took Draco by surprise. He was a Slytherin, so courage wasn't exactly his forte and most people would be expecting him to fright easily, but Hermione was the bravest girl he had ever meet and that was the first time he had seen her show a sign of fear.

"Was it really here those spiders attacked you and Ron?" Her voice failed to hide her anxiety and Harry felt guilty. She had sacrifice so much for him, yet he had keep putting her at risk, not to mention lie to her so outrageously. He had no doubts that if she ever find out about this particular lie that had obviously upset her, she will kill him for sure, especially when Draco looked at her like he was about to burst in laughter.

"Oh my… the almighty and fearless Hermione Granger, afraid of hairy spiders? Seriously? You confronted one of the vilest dark wizard in history not too long ago, a Werewolf, angry Goblins and Centaurs, vicious Death Eaters, an extreme fall from very high place, not to mention a huge fire spitting dragon, without even batting an eye, but spider scares you?" He tried his best to ignore the coming laugher when seen her expression and held her, when she tried to get away from him.

"Who's scare? Let go of me!" She pushed him, but that only make Draco laugh. "Draco Malfoy, I swear, if you don't stop laughing right now, I will curse you!" She yelled.

"I'm sure you will…" He said letting her go.

"Draco, this isn't helping…" Harry sighed.

"Alright, I will stop... Geez…" Despite the grave situation they were in, he felt a bit refresh after laughing a bit.

"Are you sure you know the way Harry?" Hermione turned to look his way, after giving Draco a cold stare.

"Positive, I have been here before." He insisted and looked around, well aware that there was no signs of spiders anywhere near, nor any cobwebs that could back up his claim. "Maybe the spiders moved away after Aragog's death, it's probably like Draco just said. Many things had changed, right Draco?" Harry's penetrating gaze on him almost make Draco shiver, he knew Harry was trying to pass an unspoken message, so Hermione wouldn't worry and he knew that Harry somehow knew without a doubt where they should go. From there on, as the living stone had showed him, it was Harry's call whatever happen next, because it was already the time to fulfill his part.

"Yes, it quite possible. You lead the way then…" Draco reaffirmed, giving Harry his full support. Both of them follow Harry a few minutes, until he suddenly stopped. Draco and Hermione looked around with their wands ready to act, fearing he had stopped because there was danger close by.

However, the reason Harry stopped had nothing to do with potential enemies. He had stopped because his parents had stopped and turned around to warn him of something. Their voices were fainted, like they were speaking from a faraway place, but he could distinguish each of them.

"The Horcrux, you must destroy it now…" That was their warning.

"Harry? Is something wrong? Why did you stop?" Hermione asked and Harry turned to face her.

"I think we need to deal with the Horcrux here." He stated and he saw both of his companion look at him as he had gone insane.

"What?" Hermione manage to ask in her surprise.

"Are you mad all of a sudden? If we deal with the Horcruxes now, he will know our plan. We need to reach the snake first." Draco insisted, a little shocked that Harry had even suggested such a thing.

"We may not had another chance anyways. You said so yourself, in this forest there are more than just Centaurs. What about Giants or Trolls or the Spiders? What about Dementors or Death Eaters? We can run into any of them at any time, like we did just now and then what?" He asked.

"Maybe he is right Master Draco. The forest is quite dangerous and the Lord will find out about the hunting of the Horcruxes if he captures you all. The closer he is to one, the higher the chance to sense it." Kragkor noted.

"This is the kind of choice that can change everything, with no turning back. Are you willing to take the responsibility if all goes wrong from here on?" He asked Harry.

"Can you tell me that this ambush we just escaped from, was something you saw inside the living stone? Is this part of what was supposed to happen?" His sudden silence, say it all to Harry. He knew that presence of the Centaurs had caught Draco off ward, which meant they were going to face their future blindly, because everything had already changed into a point they could no longer scape form it.

"I will admit I wasn't expecting this, but I still have enough information to go around. Destroying the Horcruxes will put all teams in danger, not only us." He keep insisting.

"Yeah and for all we know they could be facing Centaurs or worse right now! Ginny is out there too and the last thing I want is to put her in danger, but this is something we need to do! Trust me on this Draco, I know what I'm doing. I have read Dumbledore's journal and I'm sure this is the place we are supposed to destroy the Horcrux." Harry said, daring Draco to refute that as well. It was true he had indeed read something similar in the journal, but he trusted his parent's judgment more than anything else.

"Of course, Dumbledore's journal! Why did I forget that?!" Hermione asked herself and rushed to take out the journal from the enchanted purse that had been reduced to fit in her jean pocket. Draco ignored her sudden interest in the book and using her distraction to his advantage, he took Harry by the arm and walk a bit further, so Hermione wouldn't hear them.

"Tell me now, what make you so sure about destroying the Horcrux here? I don't buy the journal thing." He pressed.

"I have the resurrection stone with me, which allowed me to see the dead. Right now I can see both of my parents standing right behind you. They are the ones guiding me to where I need to go and they are the ones who had told me it's time to destroy the Horcrux. This is not the first time they had guide me in here and it also felt right. You know what will happen to me when we reach Vo… him. I have no reason to doubt myself, nor the ones who gave their lives to protect mine." There was nothing Draco could said after such revelation. He dare not to question him any further. He could only imagine how hard was for him to see his dead parents right when everything seems to coming to an end.

"Alright, but we must warn the others first…" Draco whisper.

"Of course." Harry whisper back.

Ron

"Seriously? Giants? Since when Giants lived this close to Hogwarts? Hermione and I had an encounter with a Troll once, on our first year and we beat him quite easily. Good thing they are stupid, but this many Giants it's…" Ron said, while watching the Giants that were creating havoc all around. They had stumble into the wild group in their way to meet with the others, but there was just no way to pass through there or even around, because they didn't know just how many Giants were out there.

"Yeah, it's suicide…" Dean finished for him.

"Luna, is there a spell that can help us pass without being notice?" Seamus asked.

"Normally yes, but I'm afraid those are not simple wild Giants. Have any of you notice the mark on one of their wrist? Or the pendant on their necks?" Luna asked, gaining several surprised gasps from her companions.

"Death Eaters?" Asked Cho Chan, although it shouldn't surprise her that some Giants served Voldemort, because it was now a common knowledge that even Dementors submitted to him.

"What about their pendant?" Asked Ron.

"Although Giants are smarter than Trolls, they are still below human knowledge. It would be more or less easy for someone like you-know-who to control some younger Giants, but as they would face wizards, he make sure to give them a tool to be on their guard. They were given magical talismans to detect magic, so as soon as we cast a spell, they will know and we will be force to fight them head on." Luna explained.

"Great, now what? It's not like we have all the time in the world. Harry and the others are here somewhere, probably waiting for us to show up." Ron said with impatience.

"Actually, I doubt that's the case. If we are facing Giants this close to the forest border, I'm sure the others had also encounter either more Giants or worse…" Luna added.

"The more reason for us to join them as soon as possible. How do we pass them?" Ron asked. Hermione was usually the one with the answers, but she wasn't there to help them.

"Dobby, can you transport us out of this area?" Luna asked the small house elf, who instantly looked for a three to heat his head with. "Wait, no… stop it!" Luna tried to whisper, while sounding commanding enough to stop the elf for hurting himself.

"Dobby is sorry, because the whole forest is dangerous, so Dobby doesn't know where to go." The elf explained and Ron sighed. At least, he wasn't trying to kill them, while trying to help them as he once did with Harry.

"That's okay… you don't need to hurt yourself." Cho Chang said kindly.

"Oh, but I think he truly deserves the punishment." A female voice said from behind a tree, taking them by surprise. "But you will be the first one! Crucio!" And a red flash pass close to Cho's ear, hitting the unguarded Ron Weasley right in his chest.

Then Bellatrix Lestrange showed up with a bunch of Death Eaters looking crazier than ever, enjoying seen Ron's twisting in deep pain. Taken by surprise, a few members of the team also went down with Crucio curses in seconds including Luna, however, as the house elves recover from the unexpected attack, they began fighting back the Death Eaters. What happened next, make everyone confuse, yet it was a blessing in disguise.

A large group of Centaurs begin to firing arrows right and left, some hitting Death Eaters who were distracted cursing them, which free them from the cursed pain and ready to escape with the protection of the small elves, to which no one pay any attention. Bellatrix was enraged, casting killing curses everywhere, as the object of her deepest hatred had manage to escape her wrath thanks to the sudden attack coming from the half-beasts.

"Ron Weasley! You will not escape me, I will kill you for sure!" Bellatrix yelled in rage and Ron, who was crawling as fast as he could with the rest of his group, to avoid being spotted, shudder under her hatred. For what Harry had told him, it was all Draco Malfoy's fault, for using the potion to look like him and attacking his aunt with a vicious spell. Now, she was hunting him down like a mad huntress in his place.

"If I survive this I will jinx Malfoy for this…" Ron whisper. However he had not time to think about revenge. Cho Chang was almost hit by an arrow, but worse than that, Seamus was almost stumped by a Giant who decide to join the fight. If they didn't get away from that place, they will become dead meat for sure.

"Dobby, get us out of here! It doesn't matter where!" Ron desperately yelled. Anywhere was better than the chaos they were in. Luckily, the elves did heed his plead and in a blink of an eye, they were gone from that part of the forest. As soon as they appear in another part of the Forbidden Forest, the first thing Ron did was to look all around in search for anything that could become potentially dangerous.

He looked up, no spiders or Dementors, he looked left and right, no Centaurs or Giants, front and behind, no signs of Death Eaters or Voldemort himself. So finally, Ron sighed in relief and sat on the ground completely exhausted. Many others followed his example, including Luna and just when they thought they manage to get out of danger, Ron felt something hot on one of his pockets.

As he took out the coin, he was surprised to see such message. Harry had wrote for them to destroy their Horcrux and Ron couldn't agree more. Finally, it was time for some payback.

"Okay guys, it's time to get rid of this thing. Just prepare yourself for whatever is coming next." Ron said and Luna immediately stood up and ready her wand just in case something else came at them.

Once everyone were ready to act, Ron took out the Horcrux and let it fall on the ground. Almost instantly, a dark smoke came out of the tiara, manifesting in a form of a man that he recognize as the younger version of Voldemort.

"Ron Weasley, you don't have the guts to…" But before the Horcrux could finish his saying, Ron took out the basilisk fang from one of his pockets and stroke the tiara with as much force as he could muster. He was too eager to get rid of the Horcrux to let Voldemort voice his unwanted opinion and so the younger version of Voldemort gave a piercing scream just before disappearing, as the tiara broke in half. At that instant Ron felt nothing more than a huge relief and satisfaction, for finally fulfill his part.

"Sorry, but this one, I win…" Ron mutter and a bit latter, two things happen at the same time. Some explosions were heard coming from what Ron assumed was Hogwarts, while the sky darkened suddenly, and a very laud scream was hear. Voldemort was quite angry now and he knew what they were doing.

AN: Dear readers, this is the last chapter I had previously write, as this is a two years old story, that was first publish in fanfiction.net and it had been a year since I last write for this story. I had so many things going in my life, lose my home in a hurricane, was without electricity for seven months, then the reconstruction begin and so on, that I lose my connection with this story at some point. Right now I'm currently working for the Watty's award in wattpad with five nominations, so it will take me a bit to go back to this protect again. I made a promise I will finish it, so if you are still interested add it to your library. I will finish it, just don't know when. My deepest apologies, I wasn't expecting much when I first upload this story in here, but I'm glad that so many read it and it didn't became lost in the sea of fanfic works. I'm really grateful for the support and I will try to come back as soon as possible once I finish with the edition with the nominated stories. Thank you all and take care, until next time.