There's Only You and Me Now
Chapter One
Living Nightmare
An icy wind howled through the trees of the Forbidden Forest, its haunting song permeating every corner of the woods. The mist of the forest was thick and blue, floating lazily above the ground, until a figure emerged through the fog and scattered it.
The figure walked with a limp, dragging an injured leg behind them and clutching tightly to their left arm. Their breath came in short, ragged gasps as they limped over gnarled tree roots sticking menacingly from the ground.
Soon the mysterious figure staggered into a puddle of moonlight spilling from an opening in the thick canopy of trees above. The light illuminated a strong face with dark eyebrows and a head of tousled black hair. Piercing green eyes glinted in the moonlight and a lightning bolt-shaped scar was visible on their forehead.
Harry Potter swayed dangerously, his chest rising up and down with labored breathing. His right hand clutched a gushing wound on his left arm and the leg he dragged behind him was covered in deep wounds and gashes. He could hardly see, having lost his glasses in the battle, but he trudged on in determination, pushing his limits until his muscles ached and he could go no farther.
With a cry of pain he fell to the ground, the rough tree roots and pine needles scraping his tender injuries. Tears ran down his face as his entire body continued to scream in agony. He had never felt this kind of pain before, where everything hurt and there was no way of release. He lay still, trying desperately to keep his mind off the mind-numbing pain continually spreading throughout his body.
He flinched upon hearing nearby bushes rustling. A low growling sound echoed throughout the forest and Harry jumped up, ignoring the scream of protest from his body. He ran blindly, his mind numb from the pain and his feet taking control. He kept running, his survival instinct keeping him going, despite the horrible aching throbbing intensely in his legs.
Once he judged he was a safe distance away from whatever had growled, he collapsed against a large tree trunk, breathing heavily and sobbing in frustration.
And then he saw her. A figure was walking towards him from a far-off distance, barely visible through the curling tendrils of blue mist omnipresent above the ground. The figure moved closer and closer until their features were clearly visible. Long and knotted brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, with fiery brown eyes gazing down at him. Freckles dusted her grimy face and her robes were in tatters. Hermione bent down slowly, gazing at Harry with glassy eyes.
"Harry? Is it really you?" she whispered softly, the expression on her face revealing she wouldn't even dare to hope.
"H-Hermione," Harry gasped, his vision going in and out of focus. Thick turrets of tears spilled from Hermione's eyes and she collapsed onto the ground, grabbing Harry's hands tightly and sobbing endlessly.
"H-Harry! We-We're the only ones left! E-Everyone's dead! Th-They're all gone! Ginny, Neville, Luna, Hagrid, R-Ron..." Upon saying Ron's name she let out a heart-breaking cry of despair and fell into Harry, her whole body gone limp with grief.
No... An icy feeling spread throughout Harry's aching body, numbing every part of him as the news settled in. No... it can't be true. There has to be someone left.
But Hermione's uncontrollable sobbing told no lies. Immeasurable grief and sorrow consumed Harry's body, the intensity of his emotional pain now matching that of his physical pain.
His hand numbly made its way to rest limply on Hermione's knotted hair. He could feel her body shaking from the sobbing. She clutched his torn shirt, burying her face into his stomach as if she could hide from the painful realities surrounding her. Tears rolled down Harry's cheeks, his face stinging as the salt drops made contact with his open wounds.
"No…" Harry whispered brokenly. He had forgotten all about his injuries. Somehow, they didn't matter at all next to knowing all the ones he cared for were dead.
After a few minutes Hermione's sobs had quieted and she lay still. Harry assumed by her rhythmic breathing that she was asleep, but then she stirred, gazing at him with despairing, swollen eyes.
"Harry… you're hurt," she finally observed, staring at the particularly grotesque wound on his arm.
Her statement was so blatantly obvious Harry felt a sickening urge to laugh out loud.
"Yeah," he murmured instead, shifting his weight and causing the pain to increase tenfold.
Hermione traced her hand lightly over the many cuts and gashes covering him. He grimaced in pain and she stopped.
"Here," she murmured, her voice catching as she ripped a piece of her tattered robes off and made for Harry's arm.
The moment she touched it Harry cried out. Her hand shook and her eyes began to water as she pulled away.
"H-Harry," she began shakily, tilting his chin to look at her and taking a deep, steadying breath, "Look straight into my eyes and don't move," she commanded evenly.
Harry nodded and obeyed, clenching his jaw as she wrapped his arm through her peripheral vision without breaking eye contact. He sucked in a deep breath as she gingerly tied the cloth around the still furiously bleeding wound, holding his gaze the entire time.
"There," she murmured softly, grabbing one of his hands in both of hers and grasping it tightly. "All b-better…" her voice cracked on the last word and she bit her lip to quiet herself. Hermione's body started shaking and more tears spilled out of her eyes. Listening to her cry ripped Harry's heart apart and he gathered her up into his arms, cradling her tenderly against him as her tears soaked through his shirt.
She clung to him loosely, her body seemingly fragile and limp like that of a rag doll's. Harry let her cry, and cried with her, until the moon was obstructed by menacing thunder clouds. Hermione pulled away and stared at the dark sky through glassy eyes.
Rain started pouring through the dense tree canopy, soaking their dingy clothes and loosening the dirt of the forest, causing mud to form.
"Hermione, we should get out of here," Harry mumbled, helping her sit up. She nodded and got up, her knees wobbling slightly. Once she was standing up straight she extended her hand to help Harry up. He grunted and breathed heavily through his nose as pain shot through his legs.
Hermione pursed her lips worriedly and gently placed one of Harry's arms over her shoulder, helping him to walk as the two began their journey out of the forest. The rain was torrential now, hammering down on the ground so hard that every drop that made contact with Harry and Hermione's skin stung.
The two limped through the shadowy forest together, through the icy rain and howling wind. After what seemed like hours, the mist looming ahead of them disappeared, signaling that they had reached the edge of the forest.
The Grounds came into view and Harry swallowed hard as he saw the dark forms scattered all over the ground. Hermione whimpered as they stumbled upon the first corpse. It was Neville, with a swollen purple snake bite on his neck.
Harry bit his lip and tried not to wretch. Hermione covered her mouth and let out a dry sob, stumbling away from Neville's body and continuing across the Grounds. Harry's stomach dropped when he saw Tonks and Lupin lying side by side on the blood-covered grass, still holding hands with each other. He bent down and closed their terror-filled eyes with a heavy heart.
The farther Harry and Hermione got across the Grounds the sicker they became. Upon stumbling across the gory corpse of Colin Creevey, Harry let go of Hermione and fell to the ground where he wretched emptily, coughing up acid until his throat burned.
When he was done he turned around to see Hermione kneeling beside a dark shape on the ground. He walked up behind her and his heart caught in his throat upon seeing Ron's pale face staring back at him. Hermione cried softly, gently stroking Ron's cold face and playing with his long red hair.
"He died saving me," she whispered quietly. "A Death Eater… sent a curse my way… and he jumped in front of me. And now he's… he's…" She couldn't continue and instead pursed her trembling lip, grabbing Ron's dead hand and holding it tightly to her chest.
Harry knelt beside her and closed Ron's blank eyes, his hands lingering for a moment above his best mate's ashen face.
"R-Ron," he choked, salty tears streaming endlessly down his face. Hermione collapsed against Ron's body and continued crying.
After a few minutes had come and gone, Harry gently pulled her up from Ron's corpse. She fell against him and they continued their trudge across the graveyard. They passed countless cadavers, pausing only to close the blank eyes of their beloved friends and classmates.
Harry purposely avoided the large heap that he knew to be Hagrid's body, because he knew he wouldn't be able to handle seeing their large loveable friend staring back at him with such blank, dead eyes.
They were almost to the castle when Harry saw a heap of red hair glinting in the moonlight. His heart started thumping wildly and he ran to Ginny's side, his chest heaving as he pulled her cold body close to him and buried his face into her soft red hair.
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," he whispered, rocking her back and forth. "I'm so sorry, Ginny. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. P-Please forgive me," he choked, kissing her icy forehead with a trembling mouth. Hermione laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and Harry turned around to look at her. He gently placed Ginny back onto the ground and stood, walking beside Hermione to the castle. They both jumped when a groan sounded from nearby.
Hermione ran to a figure stirring near the castle doors. Harry followed and caught a glimpse of long blonde hair. It was Luna, rolling around on the ground and coughing up blood.
"Luna, you're alive!" Hermione pressed a steady hand against Luna's back as she wretched and coughed. "Luna, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, hysterical worry giving her voice a frightening edge.
Luna raised her porcelain face to look at Harry and Hermione. A large streak of blood glittered from her mouth to her chin and her bleeding scalp made Harry think someone had tried to tear her hair out.
"Is anyone else alive?" she asked in a hoarse voice, her dreamy eyes swimming with pain.
Hermione's eyes turned glassy and she shook her head slowly. "No. There's no one left but us."
Luna looked down and let a few tears splatter onto the ground, each one glinting as it caught the moonlight.
"It was so horrible. They were everywhere. I didn't know that many Death Eaters even existed. They weren't even bothering torturing anyone. They... they only killed! I watched everyone... fall. No one... got back up. No one," she whispered emptily, clutching her stomach and coughing up a large amount of blood onto the grass.
"Luna! Luna!" Harry yelled urgently, grabbing her shoulders as she went into a horrible coughing fit. "Luna, what's wrong? Where are you hurt?" he asked desperately.
"I'm hurt... everywhere. There were ten of them... They kicked me and pulled my hair. Then one of them held up a slaughtered unicorn head right in my face and I fought back. One kicked me in the stomach... and kicked me in the face. They kept kicking me until they thought I was dead. Then they went to kill everyone else. I... I couldn't move. I... I couldn't save anyone," she sobbed, grabbing Harry's
forearms and gripping them tightly until they turned white. "I COULDN'T SAVE ANYONE!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face.
Her yell brought on another coughing fit and more blood gushed from her mouth. "Luna! LUNA!" Harry screamed, shaking her gently. She lifted her head with much effort and smiled at him, the blood still dripping from her mouth down to her chin.
"I'm so glad you two are alive. Take care of each other," she whispered hoarsely. Her eyes began to close and Hermione leaned in closer.
"Luna! Luna, no! Stay with us!" she shouted desperately, her eyes full of panic. Luna looked up at her and with the tiniest shake of her head told Hermione she couldn't stay much longer.
"Luna. You fought a good fight. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend," Harry told his friend through his tears, hugging her tightly to him. Hermione sobbed and also hugged Luna closely.
"Thank you Harry. Hermione. You both mean the world to me," she whispered as Harry pulled away, keeping his grip on her shoulders and gazing through tear-soaked eyes at her.
"You can win against him, Harry. I know you can," was the last thing Luna said before her head lolled and her eyes closed. She was gone.
Harry laid Luna down gently on the ground, wiping the blood from her chin. Hermione got up and fell to the ground nearby, her hands over her head while she sobbed endlessly, her tears soaking into the grass.
This can't be happening. Everyone can't be gone.
This has to be a horrible nightmare. I'll wake up any second.
But Harry knew it was real.
Both Harry and Hermione knew full well that life as they knew it would never be the same again.
A/N Author's Note: Man that was the first time I've ever gotten teary from something I had written! I really didn't want Luna to die, but sometimes you have to listen to your head rather than your heart, given that Luna is one of my favorite characters. The whole point I want to make with this story is that even through pain and suffering beautiful things can happen. I know all of you Luna-lovers are upset, but please give my story a chance! We can all cry together!