Reunited
Hermione Granger walked out of the bathroom with a towel on her head and glanced at the window.
How I hate the rain, was her bitter thought.
After a long day of work, she didn't need this - she didn't want to think of it....
Swiftly and angrily, she closed the blinds, but still she could hear the sound of rain beating on the roof. She shook her head and walked into her room, now annoyed with her self-inflicted mind set. Sitting at her desk and letting down her showered-wet hair, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed.
Her honey colored eyes, which used to dance and sparkle with indignation and excitement while attending school, were now matured and boring eyes of a responsible adult. Her wavy and frizzy light brown hair had been tamed by an enchanted hair stylist and it now fell straight to her shoulders. She had grown no more than an inch since her graduation day at Hogwarts, but it was not in that area that she had drastically changed.
It was the rain.
Her eyes suddenly drifted from her mirror image to a picture on her desk, a picture that should have been tossed in the trash long ago, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was too valuable, too close to her heart to ever be thrown away.
It was a picture of her and her two closest friends, Harry and Ron. The three of them were standing in front of their beloved Hogwarts on their final day of school, all smiling and laughing, care free and cheerful. Not knowing what that within a few days time, all three of their lives would be changed - forever.
Hermione shook her head, refusing to cry. After all, Hermione Granger didn't cry anymore. She was an adult, not prone to the general emotions and childhood fears. There was no one around to ease her qualms or take away her pain. She no longer had her friends to help her through life - they were gone.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hermione turned off the light and curled up under her blanket. As she eventually closed her sleepy eyes, while the sound of the rain filled her ears, a familiar dream filled her mind, finally allowing herself to remember the day she lost everything...
---
It was raining, thundering, storming. On an open plane where random fires, explosions and lighting were the only source of light, the Final Battle was raging on. Spells were being cast back and forth, and they never knew when one of their own team members was the one crying out before taking one last breath.
It was the Order, the Ministry and any one else who was willing to fight against the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord Voldemort.
Hermione was running against the rain and through the battle, blinded by the tears and spells being shot through the air, her heart full of despair. She had just come from Dumbledore, and the look in his eyes had pierced her soul....
"Gather all the students and leave, Miss Granger." he had told her. "The Order and the Ministry will handle this now."
"But what about Harry?" Hermione begged tearfully.
"Harry is safe with me, Miss Granger. But you all are not. Go. Now."
She couldn't believe it. After all that had happened, after all that they had been through, after all that Harry had been through, they couldn't lose now. They just couldn't.
It was only the six of them, the six loyal members of Dumbledore's Army that remained: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville. They were the newly graduated students that Dumbledore was referring to. And she had to find the rest of them - she had to.
Fairly running up to the top of a hill and quickly scanning the ground below, he saw Ginny and Neville, standing side by side, facing a Death Eater. She watched in horror as he shot a spell at Neville, though he skillfully blocked it. But the spell that was aimed for Ginny, however, hit her full force, sending her flying Neville running after her. The Death Eater let out a wicked laugh, then disapparated.
"Damn you, Dolohov." Hermione muttered under her breath as she made her way quickly down the hill. But she heard a tiny voice that made her pause. "Don't leave me."
"Luna?" Hermione called out quietly, so as not to draw attention to herself, searching the ground in the dark. When lightening lit up the sky, she finally found the little blond girl, sitting up against a tree in pain.
"Oh, Luna..." Hermione felt the tears on her face and stopped speaking, as there were no other words to describe the sight before her.
Hermione had seen much injury, blood and death in the past few days, but it was just too close to home when it was one of her dear friends, barely holding onto life in agony. Blood was coming from her mouth and nose, cuts and scrapes all over her delicate body. Luna's leg was twisted at an unnatural angle and there was a glistening crimson gash through her light blond hair.
"I... I was attacked." she barely breathed. "All four of them... playing with me... like a toy..."
"I'm so sorry, Luna. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you." Hermione wiped the tears from her face, gathering the last bits of strength and courage she had left. She lifted her friend, placing Luna gently over her shoulder.
"We're leaving, Luna... we're getting out of here." Hermione promised. She walked as swiftly as she could down the hill, where Neville and Ginny were.
"My dad... I want my daddy..." Luna began to sob almost incoherently.
"Soon, Luna. You'll see your father again soon." Hermione told her as she finally came up on the two other students. She knew immediately that she was the only person there in sane mind to make any rash decisions.
"Hermione!" Neville cried. "Please look at Ginny, I think he killed her. I think that bastard killed her!"
Hermione knew she couldn't very well carry both Ginny and Luna, she was having a hard time balancing Luna as it was. "But when she looked down at Ginny in despair, she felt relief swell in her heart as she watched Ginny's chest rise and fall in shallow breaths.
"She's still breathing, Neville. She'll be okay. But you've got to help me now. Carry Ginny over behind those rocks. Dumbledore said it's time for us to leave."
"Okay, okay." Neville said nervously. He tenderly picked up Ginny and they began running to the place f safety. Once behind the giant boulders, a shield from the battle, Hermione sighed.
"Okay, let's go, Neville. We need to apparate back to the Ministry with these two."
"But what about Ron?"
Hermione's heart sank. Where was Ron? And how could she have forgotten him? He was after all, the love of her life.
"Wait here." Hermione said then turned and ran.
For the past seven years, regardless of all the bickering and arguing they did, Hermione had grown closer to Ron than anyone else. She soon found herself falling in love with Ron. His quirky smile, his messy red hair, his adorable blush - everything about him captured her heart. He was a good friend to Harry and herself, and a brave man to come out here on the battlefield of death. No way was she about to leave him behind.
"Ron!" she cried out, the darkness and the rain drowning her voice. "Ron!" A gust of wind swiftly blew, a broken tree branch whipping up and scratching furiously at her face. Hermione backed up to the tree clutching her face in pain.
"Oh, Ron." she whimpered. "Where are you?"
Suddenly, she heard a loud thump in front of her - a large manly figure had dropped out of the tree.
"Ron?" she whispered.
Then lightening flashed, uncovering an evil smile from the shadows, ad she gasped.
"Dolohov!" It was her greatest fear - to come up against him again.
"No girl, I'm not your dear Ron Weasley." he cackled loudly. "I've already taken care of him."
"No!" she gasped in disbelief.
"But not to worry, my dear. You'll be joining him soon." Then raising his wand, he smiled devilishly.
"Avada-"
Suddenly, a jet of bright red light hit Dolohov, knocking him off his feet and to the ground a few yards away, out cold. Hermione's eyes searched around through the darkness, when a hand suddenly grabbed her own.
"Please don't hurt me." she shrieked.
"'Mione, it's just me." came the familiar soothing voice. She opened her eyes and gasped through her blurry vision.
"Ron!" She threw her arms around him, sobbing on his chest and holding him tightly, letting his arms envelop her. "He told me... he said he killed you... and then..."
"No, I'd never let him hurt you. I failed you last time; I'll never let anything happen to you again." he told her quietly, holding her affectionately. She relished her closeness for a moment, peacefully in his arms. Then she pulled away, wiping her tears away and taking his hand.
"Come on, Dumbledore wants us to leave. The others are waiting for us, let's go." She said, tugging on his hand, but he didn't move.
"I'm staying, Hermione." he said firmly.
"But Ron,"
"No, 'Mione. Harry needs me here. I need to be here to support him, to be here as his friend, the help him. But this is too much for you, too dangerous for all of you. You need to leave. I..." his voice trailed off as he cupped her chin, looking down at her with loving worry.
"What? It's not too dangerous for you? If you stay, Ronald Weasley, then I stay."
A small smile found Ron's lips but he shook his head. "No, Hermione. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."
"But Ron... Ron, I can't bare it if you die!" she said in a wavering voice. "I can't lose you, Ron. I love you."
Bitter tears of panic and anguish overcame her then and she dissolved in his arms, melting against his body as he pulled her closer.
"Shhhh, 'Mione." he whispered in her ear, tipping her face to see the crooked smile that she loved so much. "I will come back, I swear."
"You can't promise such things Ron! With so much death and despair in this hellhole - how can you promise these things and break my heart like this?"
"No, 'Mione. I'm not trying to break your heart; I'm only trying to secure it. I know that I'll be back because I love you. Nothing could ever stop me from getting back to you. Not some damn Death Eater, not Voldemort, death itself could not keep me from coming back to you. I love you too much."
"But Ron, I can't..."
"No. And stop calling me 'But Ron." he chuckled, though tears were glistening in his crystal blue eyes as well. "I love you, Hermione. I love you. Please believe me, I mean it when I say that I will come back for you. I swear."
Then, he sealed his promise with a kiss, one that they had both been waiting for. For one moment, the forgot that they stood in the middle of a battlefield surrounded with hatred and fighting, covered with death and blood. For just one more moment, she loved Ron.
As Ron placed his hands on her waist, and Hermione wound her arms around his neck, there was a surety a peace that did indeed seal Ron's promise that he would be back someday, and then nothing would ever separate them again.
Ron pulled her closer, giving into all his past reservations, releasing all his hidden passions for this amazing girl that he had loved forever. He knew that he was walking straight into a death trap, but he knew that not only Harry needed him, but Hermione also needed him. And now that he knew that Hermione loved him in return, he knew that there was nothing that could stop him from coming back and making her his own.
Hermione deepened the kiss again and again, overcoming all her fear and anxieties for one moment, giving into the love that she had harbored for so long. She knew that he had to stay, and she knew that she had to leave. But with the peace that she felt with Ron's promise of return, she knew that she would be okay until he did come home, because he loved her.
Suddenly, there were angry voices in the distance. Ron pulled away and cupped her face adorningly.
"Now you must go."
She nodded, tears welling in her eyes again. He kissed her once more firmly on the mouth, before he looked down into her eyes intensely. "I will come back for you. I swear it."
She nodded.
"No go!"
She ran from him, through the darkness to where her friends were waiting. But now she had a renewed sense of hope.
Once behind the rock, she paused to catch her breath.
"Where's Ron?" Neville whispered.
"He's not coming."
"What!?"
"Shhhh!"
Suddenly, the voices were closer to the place where Dolohov lay, and Hermione hoped tat Ron had gone into hiding before he was seen.
"Macnair, Avery - get over here! I found Dolohov!" came the nasty snarl of Lucius Malfoy. Hermione listened as they administered a spell and Dolohov was suddenly awake again.
"Damn that Weasley boy." Dolohov muttered. "He caught me off guard right before I killed the mudblood. Now all the students are gone."
"Not yet. Harry and Dumbledore are still fighting the Dark Lord. But I killed the Minister." Macnair said proudly.
"Where's Bellatrix?" Dolohov asked. "She was supposed to take us back to the Ministry now." There was a long silence before Lucius finally spoke.
"Harry killed her."
"No!"
"Yes, he stabbed her in the chest with her own wand. And as her eyes rolled back, he muttered something about Sirius' revenge."
"Why that bloody little-"
"Not now, Dolohov."
"Just wait till I get my hands on him... all three of those little pests. I'll tear them all to shreds: Potter, Weasley and that filthy mudblood Granger."
"Not to worry, Dolohov. The Dark Lord has ordered us off the premises. Soon Potter and Dumbledore will be dead and with the Dark Lord ruling once more, we can deal with all those wretched students once and for all. But for now, let us all have a victory drink back at my Manor, shall we?"
All of them cackling loudly, they disapparated with a "Pop!"
"Come on, Neville." Hermione said, taking a deep breath and picking up a nearly lifeless Luna. "Grab Ginny. We're going back to the Ministry."
He nodded, gathering Ginny gently in his arms.
Hermione turned once more as the lightening lit up the battle field to see a red headed boy running against the rain, to a hellish place where the Final Battle was about to end.
"Be careful, my love..."
---
A/N: Here's a little random story that I came up with one day. Kinda different from what I normally write, but tell me what you think. There's one more chapter, and if you guys will REVIEW, I'll try to post the last chapter before next weekend! -huggles everyone-