On the day of the siege, Harry and Dumbledore were pretty revved up. Five horcruxes were destroyed (including Nagini), and only one remained: Hufflepuff's cup.

When Draco Malfoy had thrown his dice toward the light side, though still hating it with his whole being, his time spent with his aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, had led him to pinpoint the possible location of the cup: The Lestrange family vault. As the heir to that lineage as well, Draco had procured a key and handed it over to Dumbledore.

Thus, with that, both the possible identity and location of the horcrux was known.

But then, of course: the siege.

Trapped in the lower floors of the school, Harry and Dumbledore found themselves at an impasse. It was only after months of planning and collaborating with various students and teachers that a solution was found.

James Avery, a Slytherin sixth year who had attacked a muggleborn shortly after the siege and attempted to break the barriers protecting the students in order to join the deatheaters, had been kept in seclusion in one of the smaller dungeons through the duration of the siege.

Although his dissention had caused a lot of stress, it now was very beneficial.

Together, Hermione, Draco and Snape brewed a polyjuice potion from a hair belonging to Draco. As no one yet knew that Draco had switched sides, he was still considered the leader of the Immacule in the deatheater's eyes.

The plan was that James Avery would be memory charmed into believing that Draco had caused a riot, and broke him out of his prison. The two then got into a fight with other students and some teachers, of which they ultimately lost. Since the light side would never kill youth, especially youth who were not yet marked, they were then pushed outside the barriers for the deatheaters to deal with, as it was clear that they were posed too much danger for the other students.

Avery was hoped to add a dimension of truth to the plan, of which Dumbledore as Draco could play off.

The only remaining question was how to get Harry out. Dumbledore did not want Harry to be polyjuiced as anyone in case their cover was blown, and the hero of the wizarding world was then killed. Not to mention there was some regular old fatherly concern at play as well.

A few students poured over this problem for ages - Hermione, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, all who were at the top of Charms, as well as Flitwick and McGonagall. Finally a collaboration was complete in creating a trunk (akin to the one Moody had been kept in), which was secure and stocked with anything Harry may need. The trunk was then shrunk to a tiny size, and charmed to look like a silver clasp on Draco's cloak.

And so, on October 15th, the plan was executed. Students were barricaded into the dorms, not knowing what was going on, and Dumbledore-as-Draco, Harry-in-the-trunk, and James Avery were pushed through the wards.

Throughout the months of occupation, a group of deatheaters always remained outside the school in the headquarters they had set up. Voldemort however, was always on the move, and so was not present on that day.

To his credit, Dumbledore played his part perfectly; he was nothing less than the sneering, cold, prejudiced Draco as he told the story to the somewhat suspicious deatheaters.

James Avery? Well ... James was just crazy and evil, he fit right in.

Glad to have the leaders of the youth movement back, the deatheaters welcomed them right in, congratulating them on a job well done, etc, etc.

And in the cover of night, Dumbledore as Draco quickly left the school.

As Voldemort was alerted to the disappearance of what had seemed to be Draco Malfoy, and James Avery was being interrogated for information he didn't have, Dumbledore and Harry, after a long hard journey got their hands on the sixth horcrux and watched it shatter.

It was almost over.