The sun was setting.

And that meant that everyone had to get inside and have dinner together as if there were no problems. As if there were no deaths, no injuries- no war.

Hermione slowly walked back towards the tent. She was even more tired than she has ever been in her entire life. Everything just felt…dead. The hunt for horcruxes wasn't going as planned and it was awful. Even with Dumbledore's Army, they have only located and killed a single horcrux since the hunt began months ago. Time was running out and for a small, regretful moment, Hermione lost hope. There was no way they could find the remaining horcruxes in time before the Ministry rounds up all the muggleborns and blood traitors…but the moment passed as soon as she saw Ron's face pop out from the tent.

"You hungry?" he asked. The lightness of his voice swallowed her weak thoughts and for a second, it felt like they were in Hogwarts again. She was running toward Ron and Harry as they ate dinner together in the Great Hall- where times were peaceful and carefree.

Hermione smiled as she entered the tent and accepted the plate of pasta Ron handed to her. She watched as everyone sat down around the dinner table and ate together.

"This is wonderful, Ginny." Ernie Macmillan commented as he took a forkful of pasta and stuffed it hungrily in his mouth.

"Thanks, Ernie" Ginny replied as Hermione sat down across from her. "It's a good thing I know how to cook for you guys. I don't want you all to starve."

She smiled but Hermione noticed the weariness of her voice and the dark bags beneath her tired eyes. She knew Ginny was having trouble sleeping. They shared a room and Ginny had nightmares every night. But then again, who didn't?

"Okay, let's start our 'Thought Time'" Harry announced. "Who's first?"

Thought time was when everyone sat down at the dinner table and discussed their thoughts for the day. It was Luna's idea. She said that it was a way of keeping everyone sane. It was a way of admitting-that we are at war- and this is real. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea but it was a rule they all decided to enforce to keep everyone closer.

"I miss my mum" Parvati Patil said out of nowhere. She sounded almost like a homesick child and it made Hermione's chest ache in sympathy because she, too, missed her mum…and her dad…and her grandparents…and her family-

Stay calm, Hermione. Stay strong.

No one responded to Parvati, but it was understood. There was a poignant moment of silence for their parents and their family.

"I thought about the end," Harry admitted. "It's close and I don't know whether or not to be terrified of relieved."

Hermione silently agreed with him. The end was so terrifying because of the possibility of death. And that possibility was high. But it was also relieving because they'd finally get to finish it after all these years. She stuck a hand out to Harry and squeezed his arm in reassurance- to remind him that he was not alone.

"I thought about Seamus." Lavender Brown said sadly.

Oh, Seamus.

He, Terry Boot, Dean Thomas, and a couple other guys from the DA were out on a mission presented by the Order. They were supposed to be back two weeks and three days ago.

And suddenly, Hermione thought about Terry. They had been together for a couple weeks during the beginning of the hunt and the breakup was terrible. It all started with his mild flirting and then it lead to loads of flirting and kissing and then ending up in bed behind curtains. But, Hermione was the one to break it off. She realized that it was just a filler relationship. It wasn't real. They just used each other's companies to feed out their emotions about the war. It wasn't logical either. All they did was, well, inappropriate things. She didn't even like him romantically. No feelings were involved and that scared her because then she was just pretending and she was tired of pretending. This was real.

Terry didn't take the breakup very well, however. He was devastated and Hermione felt guilt bottle up in her throat. She remembered seeing him in the morning after and he looked just as beat up as Ginny. She realized then that breaking hearts and having your heart broken felt like the same thing. Because either way, someone gets hurt.

"Hermione," Ron called out.

She looked up from her memories of Terry, "Hm?"

"Your thoughts?"

"Oh," she started and then remembered a terrible thought she had earlier- giving up. But she couldn't share that. It was on everyone's minds, probably, and that's what's hurting them- like there's a fire out there and it feels easier to just run into it than fight it.

"I thought about Terry," she tried instead

And suddenly, Hermione's DA coin vibrated in her jacket.

"We're here", it read.

Hermione jolted out of the tent, along with the rest of DA, to see Terry and the crew outside of the protection shield.

"Seamus!" she heard Lavender yell.

She noticed that they were all covered in dirt and blood and they looked even more tired than ever. She shifted her eyes to Seamus and the others trying to figure out if they discovered anything and noticed a figure. They were carrying something…or someone.

"Why do they have Draco Malfoy in their arms?" Ron asked.