Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me or anyone else on this site (unless, of course, JK Rowling has decided to come here).

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Harry Potter stood in front of the glowing circle before him, hesitating. His thoughts wandered back fifty years as he thought back to why he was just beginning to do this after so long.

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The war with Voldemort had taken much longer than anyone had expected. The reason was because of the fact that he did not have seven horcruxes as Dumbledore had initially thought, but thirteen. In hindsight, they probably should have known that Voldemort would never have settled for just seven despite the fact that few had even conceived of more than two.

Voldemort having thirteen horcruxes took them much time and many lives to find and destroy. Seven more years to be exact. Hermione had spent all of those years by his side. No matter where he had gone, she was there to help. Like a bright light, she was there to guide him during his darker moments where he had wanted to give up. By then, however, many of the people that he had known had either given their lives in the effort or cracked under the pressure and fled. Among those that died were Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Arthur Weasley, and so many more.

Ron was one of the ones that couldn't handle it anymore and fled 'to live out however much time he had left with the remainder of his family' while Hermione had remained steadfast by his side until her death while finally confronting Voldemort after his final horcrux had been defeated. Harry wasn't able to say that he was truly surprised by it, hadn't he done the same during the woods? But Hermione was crushed. She had believed that he would stay by their side and he had left instead. By then, Voldemort's soul had been split into so many pieces that it wasn't even possible for him to create any more horcruxes, a small blessing in the time of darkness.

Their final battleground was ironic: right in front of Hogwarts where their previous 'final battle' beforehand had been. By then, it was down to him and Hermione; everyone else was busy fighting the last of the Death Eaters that had converged with their master in the deciding moment for the future of the magical world. Harry's eyes glazed as he remembered the fight.

Harry had become proficient enough in wandless magic that that was all he was able to fight with it. The Elder Wand empowered his normal spells to the degree that splitting his magic between the wand and his other hand was not an issue. The closest feeling that he could relate it with would be from him riding a Cleansweep to him riding on a Firebolt. Though he loved his old wand, its power just didn't compare.

Hermione, on the other hand, never got the hang of wandless or silent magic. Her best was always in controlled magic with precise incantations while he seemed to be able to feel the magic in the air instead. Now, he realized that he had an innate understanding of magic that was much more intimate than simple casting, but he was only able to refine that skill after it didn't matter anymore.

Voldemort, the prodigy that he was, seemed to also have the same skill and was firing off spells at a furious rate, many of them being Avada Kedavras that lit up the surrounding area like fireworks. Most of them fizzed off into nothing as they hit the surrounding rubble, but some came dangerously close. The only reason that they were able to keep up with him was because Harry was taking the brunt of the attack while Hermione was keeping up a constant Protego around herself and throwing one around Harry every time he couldn't dodge a spell.

Though the Avada Kedavra was originally thought to be unblockable, it was in, truth, not. The only reason that it seemed that way was because of the hatred that was needed to fuel the spell that usually overwhelmed most defenses. That, and the fact that very few people were willing or even able to test the spell out, made it something of an spell that everyone knew and feared, but didn't truly know what it did. The magical community being one that didn't do much research anyway only further made it so that tales of the spell were what most people went off of.

That being said, Hermione was able to use her Protegos to fend off many kill shots that would have ended the fight. This allowed Harry to stay in the front and shoot of spells with the Elder Wand and wandless spells with his left hand.

They were slowly gaining ground on Voldemort and forcing him up against a wall. Harry hesitated for the killing blow when Voldemort shouted in parseltongue, "Kill her!"

Harry whirled around. Behind Hermione was a small black snake with yellow stripes that ran down its body. Harry shot out a diffindo just as the snake struck. Time seemed to slow down as the the snake just managed to bite her before the spell hit it, cutting its head off

There was a lull in the fighting as he stared, openmouthed, not believing what had just happened. He quickly rushed to her side and cradled her as she had suddenly dropped to the ground.

Voldemort gloated, "How do you like it? It's my own type of poison that I've managed to imbue with a weak form of the killing curse. It kills within a minute. Quite nice isn't it?

"Harry…" she croaked.

"Shh. Don't say anything," he managed to whisper out as his vision began to blur with the tears that were falling down his face. "It'll be all right."

"It's over for me, Harry..." she said, acceptance in her eyes.

"No it isn't!" Harry ground out stubbornly.

Hermione smiled at him. She was fading fast. "You're so stubborn. I've always loved you, you know. Ever since you first became my friend when you saved me in our first year. My first friend…"

"I love you too, Hermione. You have to stay with me!" Harry cried. "You're all I have left…"

She shook her head almost imperceptibly, "Promise me you'll live on, Harry."

A sob let out from his throat as he was wracked with tears. "No! You'll be okay! I can't promise you that!"

"Promise me!" Those two words seemed to take most of what she had left out of her. "Please…" she whispered, "Promise me…"

Harry relented, feeling empty inside.

"I promise," said Harry, regretting it almost instantly. "I promise I'll live."

"Thank you…" she smiled. Her body went limp and slid to the ground.

"What a shame," said Voldemort in his raspy voice, grinning cruelly. "It seems that your mudblood girlfriend has… expired."

A red cloud of anger seemed to cover Harry's vision. "VOLDEMORT!" He shouted, turning back around to face him. "YOU WILL PAY!"

Voldemort chuckled. "Then shall we continue?" He raised his wand and about to utter the words to his favored Avada Kedavra when Harry snapped.

He whipped his wand forward and fired off a wordless spell that was not a spell. It took his all of his rage and anger and gave it form in magic as a red beam issued from his wand, shooting forward so fast that Voldemort didn't have the time to react to it.

His eyes widened and he tried to throw up a shield too late. The beam struck him with the force of a freight train, so fast that the rest of his body didn't even follow the piece of his chest that was blown away. He stood there, the gaping hole that used to be where his chest was located dripping blood.

His mouth opened as if to say something before he collapsed backwards, dead. The moral of the Death Eaters fell dramatically and many surrendered outright while the rest were quickly overwhelmed. Throughout the entire thing, Harry stood next to Hermione's still, lifeless body.

After some time, he stood up. Nobody noticed as they were busy cleaning up what was left of the fight. He took one last look at her body. It was no longer Hermione. Hermione was his best friend who had stayed with him through thick and thin, who always had a smile for him, who gave him what it took to never give up. She was not there anymore.

With a quiet pop, he apparated away.

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Alrighty, I know it isn't much but I guess the beginning shouldn't take up too much time anyway. This is mostly an introduction before Harry goes back in time. I already have a couple of thousand written for the next chapter but I want to know how people will take this before I post it so that I'm not just posting stuff no one likes.

I honestly have no idea where this might go so I'm just writing down whatever I think of as I go along but Harry is definitely going to be different from canon. If anyone has any ideas how this might go along, feel free to let me know. I'm thinking that I might make him a little psychotic due to the death of Hermione?

Questions and comments are welcome!