Without You By My Side

Harry walked up to Voldemort and starred him right in the face.

"What are you going to do? You are just a small little wizard compared to me. What? Do you think you can beat me?" sneered Voldemort as he starred at Harry with the same intensity.

Harry didn't say anything but just looked at Voldemort. Images of Ron, Hermione, all of his friends that fought by his side for seven years ran through Harry's mind. But the image that he most longed to see was of Ginny; the person that he loved the most but would never to get to say that too. He shut his eyes to block out the images. For some reason it hurt him to think of them.

All Harry could do was just looks around for an opportunity to pop up in front of him. He was trying to get the snake without getting killed. His chances of that happening seemed very slim, but he had to take a chance. Then he saw it. Quickly, without thinking, Harry lunged at the snake with Gryffindor's sword in his hand. Voldemort was faster though and he saw a glimpse of Harry trying to make it.

"Advada Kadavra!" yelled Voldemort as he aimed his wand at Harry's chest. There was a flash of green and a thud as Harry fell to the ground in midair.

"Harry! No!" screamed Hermione. She started to cry and fell to the floor of the underground entrance by the Whomping Willow. Luckily, her crying was muffled. Ron ran over to her and cradled her limp body in his arms.

"He's dead, Ron! He's dead!" she told Ron after she was able to speak in between the sobs.

"What do you mean he's dead?" He was rocking back and forth with Hermione in his arms.

"He's dead!"

That was all Ron could get her to say. Ron tried to get up but Hermione just held on tighter. They stayed there for a few more minutes. Hermione fell asleep in his arms. As he was sitting there, he head Voldemort talking to his snake. He got up and set Hermione gently on the ground. She did not stir.

"It is finished now. You will be able to go wherever you please once again."

Ron dared to peek up from the tunnel by going through he lose tile in the floor of the Shrieking Shack. He saw Voldemort cast a spell to get rid of the bubble protection around Nagini. Then she fell to the ground and slithered her way up to Voldemort's shoulders. He then started to pet her head. She looked very please.

As Ron looked around the room, his eyes fell upon Harry's body. Some kind of magnetic force made his eyes stay on Harry's body. What he saw made him bubble with anger. He wanted to lash out at Voldemort. Harry's body was laying long-ways on his stomach with his head turned to one side and in his hand he had Godric Gryffindor's sword. Ron quietly pulled himself through the hole and he went around the perimeter of the room to hide behind the four-poster bed. He was thinking of surprising Voldemort somehow or sneak up on him so that maybe he would be able to kill Voldemort. Then he would be a belt to be on top of the world for once and not the famous Harry James Potter.

In his head he was debating whether or not to avenge his friend's death or just let Voldemort do whatever he wanted to do. Then the images of seeing Fred lying there in the Great Hall with the other people who died while trying to keep Voldemort at bay made him cringe. Ginny's image pooped into his head. Ron remembered that Harry, his best friend, had saved his only sister's life. That made his mind up for him. He would, at the same time, avenge Harry and Fred's deaths and also get rid of the creature that has been tormenting everybody in the wizarding and muggle world. He didn't care about being the hero or not.

He saw Voldemort by peering around the bed. Voldemort was looking at Hogsmeade and Hogwarts through one of the grimy windows that were in the bedroom. Ron was about to take his chance, now that Voldemort had his back toward him, when he heard this blood-curdling scream come up from the tunnel. Ron then jumped out from his hiding spot and took a chance just as Voldemort turned and spotted him.

"Advada Kadavra!" said Voldemort as his wand sliced the air. Then spell his Ron just as he reached the sword. There was a second flash of green and a second thud that night; this thud had woken up Hermione.

She looked up and down the tunnel but could not find Ron by her side. She could feel the tears coming up to her eyes. Hermione wiped here eyes so that they wouldn't get blurred. She walked to the opening of the roof of the tunnel and saw that Voldemort already had Apparated probably to Hogwarts' grounds.

As she went over to look through the window, she tripped over Harry's body. One look at the body made her want to faint and scream, but she couldn't. Hermione couldn't do anything. All she could so was draw her knees up to her chin and just stare at her boyfriend's and best friend's dead bodies. She could not tear her eyes away from their dull, glassy, unfocused eyes that were staring up at the ceiling.

"Why would you guys leave me here like this?" she whispered into the air.

She tuned onto her side and curled up next to Ron's body, so she could be close to him for one more time. There she cried until she fell asleep. She didn't want to ever move ever again.

~*~* 2Years Later ~*~*

GinnyPOV

"I don't think we can do anything more for her. She just sits there looking through the window and saying their names over and over again. I'm so sorry, Ginny," said Luna Lovegood, the attending wizard at St. Mungo's. She gave me a hug and turned to tend to the other wizards in the Insanity Ward.

"Thanks for looking after her. I can take her home now?"

"I believe so. Let me just go check with the Head real quick."

"Sure."

I walked over to Hermione's window to go and try to talk to her. When I got there, she looked like she had been to hell and back. She had bags under eyes, to make it look like she didn't get any sleep at all, most likely the case here. Most of these patients don't get too much sleep. I approached with caution and put my hand on her shoulder.

She jumped out of her chair and screamed at me, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Ginny. Remember me? I was Ron's little sister."

"I don't know any Ron or Ginny. Get away from me!"

"Please, Hermione. Just sit down again and then I'll explain everything to you. Please?" I begged her.

She slowly sank back into her chair, her eyes never leaving my face for one second the entire time. At least this wasn't as bad as last. I had to get three people to stun her before she would get off of me. She attacked me, and started cussing at me while saying death threats if I didn't get away from her. That freaked me out for a few weeks. She seemed so sincere about coming after me. It took a while for my husband, Christian, to calm me down when I got home.

"You wanted to explain everything to me? Well, now's your chance."

"What would you like to know?"

Hermione was quite for a long while. She was contemplating what to ask me first. This made me a little nervous for some reason.

"I want to know what happened that night." There was a hint of sadness in her eyes even if it wasn't in her voice. She really wanted to know what happened.

The very thing that I was dreading she would ask me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to tell the story without losing it myself.

"Well, Harry had gone to the Shrieking Shack alone to finish off Voldemort." The passing nurses cringed a little as I said his name. I ignored them and went on. "He had entered through the tunnel under the base of the Whomping Willow roots. Ron was concerned about him, so he followed Harry. That was before you convinced him to take you along with him. You had said that he was your best friend too.

"You guys went along the tunnel way when you came to the hole that lead up to the Shrieking Shack. Both of you stopped to hear Voldemort kill off Harry. That made you snap. You stared crying until you fell asleep in Ron's arms.

"While you were asleep, Ron put you down and then he went to go get the sword to try and finish off Voldemort himself. He didn't accomplish his task though. He died-," I didn't want to say the words that were true, but I did anyway. "He died, because of you Hermione." I let this sink in for a little bit.

"What do you mean all of this was because of me?" She put her head in her hands.

"You had woken up right when Ron was about to stab Voldemort. The screaming made Voldemort look back at the tunnel entrance, and he saw Ron there. Ron saw that he had no other chance, so he lunged at Voldemort, but Voldemort was too fast for Ron. He shot the killing curse at Ron."

Everything was quiet. Even the other patients were listening, most of which don't understand what we're talking about.

"If you hadn't screamed, Ron would still be here with us and you wouldn't be like this." I tried to keep the anger out of my voice.

"What happened after that?"

"Well, I couldn't find Harry. I figured he would be wherever Voldemort was, so I followed the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack after Voldemort had Apparated. I saw you curled up with Ron's arm around you. You were just sitting there crying. I tried to help you but I couldn't get you to leave Ron. I sat there with you until someone came looking for us. In the morning McGonagall came over there to look for us. She levitated you, after she sedated you, and the three of us walked over to the Hospital Wing. You were asleep for a while. It was about three days before you began to stir. "But when you did, you would not stop screaming Ron or Harry's names. You couldn't stop crying either. We sent for someone over at St. Mungo's to come and get you. They diagnosed you there and they said that you had post-traumatic stress disorder. They tried to help you, but you were too far gone. You had let the darkness have you." "So then why are you here?" "I came to come and get you. They said that a nice quiet home might do you some good. It might even help you. So, are you willing to come home with me? I promise that you will have the best care that I can get you." She thought it over for a little bit. She slowly nodded her head. That's when Luna came back. "You are free to take her home now, if she agrees to go with you." "she agrees with it." I looked over at Hermione. "Ready to go?" I took her hand in my hand. Surprisingly she didn't flinch like she usually did. "Yes." I helped her out of the hospital. This was going to be a start of a new day for Hermione. I could feel it.