You stand in the middle of the battle field, simply looking around at you, as though everything is moving in slow motion. Curses and hexes are flying all around you, but you don't hear anything. It's as though someone has pressed mute on a remote control and you are simply left to watch what was happening in front of you. You want to close your eyes, but you can't as you watch the fight around you.
Turning, you look at all the faces, all the people that may not make it through to tomorrow, may never have another tomorrow. And you wonder what tomorrow will be like, if you make it through, if you reach the new dawn. Will the sun rise on victory or on defeat?
As you watch and look, you think of her, her smiling face as darkness threatens to close on your mind. There is so much more you have to say to her, so much more you need to tell her. Tell her about how you had never stopped thinking about when you had been separated from her, never stopped loving her through everything they had done together.
It's as though you are staring into a black abyss, and you know the end is near. Raising you wand, you make one final effort to fight, to see that dawn, to see her face again and tell her all that you have to say.
Light is spreading. The sun is rising. The end has come and you are victorious, you have made it to the new day.
But after all that, you can only sink to you knees and weep in happiness and despair for those who had not made it.
He hurried through the school, forcing himself to move faster and faster, looking for her, calling her name at the top of his voice, wand still raised, just in case.
They had won; they had actually won the war! He wanted to feel happiness in his chest, feel like laughing, but victory had come at a high price for many of them. As he searched for her, he couldn't get rid of the sight of Tonks and Lupin, lying in the Great Hall, eyes closed as though they were simply sleeping. Colin Creevy next to them, so young and innocent. Fred, his own brother, his own brother died to protect the traitor of the family.
He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. She wasn't dead, she couldn't be.
"RON!" He turned, seeing her stood at the end of the corridor, blood on her face, pain in her eyes, but she was alive. He ran to her, lifting her up into his arms and holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her. He didn't want to hurt her, not anymore, he couldn't hurt her.
"Oh Hermione! Oh darling you're alright." She nodded, not carrying if he saw her cry, she was just so happy to be with him, to hold him, to be held by him. She didn't think she could ever be this happy.
"Don't ever leave me, please Ron, never ever leave me," He shhhed her, gently placing a finger over her lips, smiling as tears continued to pour down her face, slipping onto his finger as he carefully removed it, leaning down to kiss her.
Harry stood on top of the Astronomy Tower with Ginny, looking down on the ruins of Hogwarts, at the people still searching for loved ones, and the young kissing couple below them. He felt free as he stood up there, an arm around her shoulder, kissing her hair as it flew about in the wind, tangling with his as they watched the sun rise on a bright new day.