Prologue

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

5:31 AM

Harry slowly approached the fallen figure across the battlefield, stumbling on a fractured ankle and trying desperately not to breath in the ash of the charred bodies littering the ground.

All the planning, all the sacrifices to reach this moment- to rid the world of this monster, something that at this point couldn't even be called a man.

Harry dropped to his knees beside the twisted body of the Dark Lord. His red eyes were open, muted in the coming dawn. Harry shuddered, looking above the figure to stare blankly at the grounds of Hogwarts.

He was dead; Voldemort had fallen for the last time.

A hysterical laugh escaped from his throat.

It was over, the purpose of his life had been accomplished, but Harry wondered what the point was. There was no one left. At least no one he cared about. He had nothing.

A sudden sound behind him brought him out of his thoughts and he tried to turn, pain shooting up his leg. Before he could get more than a glimpse of pale skin and a flash of growing red eyes, he felt an icy grip on his throat and a piercing pain in the muscle of his shoulder.

For a moment he panicked, hearing the feral growl behind him. Vampire. One loyal to the Dark Lord, even in his death. The irony of the situation struck him. In the end, Voldemort had finally managed to kill him.

As he felt the blood flow from his body- his life draining away- he remembered how his friends had fallen.

Harry begrudgingly handed over a single strand of black hair, watching as Hermione dropped it in the polyjuice potion with a sense of dread.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea." Hermione huffed, batting at the hair escaping her ponytail in annoyance.

"Oh shush Harry, nothing is going to happen to me. And even so, we have to do this. How else are we going to get the information?"

Harry raised his brow "Well, I could always go-" but Hermione raised her hand, at once becoming stern.

"Not a chance. We need you Harry, more than anyone else."

And before Harry could protest, she downed the potion with a grimace.

He watched as his best friend stretched, growing taller, the inches building until he could look her in the eye. Unfortunately for Hermione he had shot up at the end of sixth year, and her clothes stretched uncomfortably tight across the wide breadth of her forming shoulders.

He couldn't help but grin as Hermione squeaked, scrabbling at the skirt that was sliding from rapidly narrowing hips.

Hermione glared at him with squinting eyes, marching towards the clothes he had brought for her to wear. It was odd to see himself in a skirt, and although it was his body, he still turned before Hermione could begin changing, allowing her privacy.

In a few moments, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, holding it in a gentle grasp. Looking around, he caught her sad gaze peering through a replica of his glasses. She gave him a kind smile.

"Ron would be enjoying this, don't you think?" Harry laughed in response.

"I don't know about that 'Mione. I think he rather liked you looking like you."

Hermione blushed, looking down at her feet, encased in a pair of battered trainers.

"I rather miss him."

Harry couldn't stand it anymore and despite the oddity of the situation, he pulled her to him, wrapping him arms around identical shoulders and threading a hand through her hair. Polyjuice may have made her his twin, but she was still Hermione.

The pain of losing their best friend, their brother, and in Hermione's case, her lover, resonated in the room.

Ron had fallen almost two months ago, under the wand of Voldemort himself. Death Eaters were told to capture the remaining two members of the Golden Trio at all costs.

The only thing that kept them going was the war, and each other.

"I miss him too, love. I miss him more than anything."

They had received intelligence from their spy that they had urgent information that they would only entrust to Harry. Before this they had always delivered their reports to minor Order members, but apparently this was high up information, classified. Both Harry and Hermione had been extremely hesitant, but in the end, their side was suffering and needed any advantage they could get.

Hermione's body had never been recovered.

It was the memory of that caring hand and the warmth it brought to him that accompanied him in his death, in stark contrast to the cruel touch of the vampire.

Harry couldn't find it in himself to fight any longer, only taking cold comfort in the thought of seeing his friends and family soon. With that assurance in mind, he fell limp in the creatures' hold, feeling his heartbeat gradually slow to a stop.

If only he could be so lucky.

A/N: Well, that's that. Big thanks to my beta reader, Kirah!

For those of you who may be wondering, this is an AU from book five, there was no Harry/Ginny and no horcruxes, this will be expanded on in later chapters. Again, this will be Harry Potter/Edward Cullen slash, so if you don't like that, then I suggest you read no further.