Author's Note: Harry/Hermione are my OTP. Don't like don't read...

'You...you've lost, old man.'

"So weak. So...vulnerable." Voldemort's cold, pitiless voice echoed hauntingly in Harry Potter's mind. Frightening, torturous images flashed before his eyes. Dementors sucking out the last exquisite drop of joy out of his soul, all of his loved ones dying: his parents and Cedric Diggory falling to the ground with lifeless eyes, Sirius floating into the Veil, and so many other dark memories. They were killing him.

"Uhhh!" Harry screamed, struggling to fight the excruciating pain that was shooting through his body. Another image flashed before him. He was in front of a mirror. He tried to look away from the mirror, but was forced by the iron grip on his mind. His body was the same, but his head became Voldemort's.

"Look at me." the cruel voice echoed, dripping with malice. Harry screamed again, panting, writhing in agony.

"Harry, it's not how you are alike." Albus Dumbledore said softly, silently wishing that Harry, not Voldemort, would hear him. Only just now was Harry even able to notice that his professor was kneeling beside him. "It's how you are not." he pleaded. Harry's eyes became an alienated shade of neon green, evil, and he screamed again as his eyes faded back into their normal emerald.

"Harry..." Dumbledore repeated softly. It was right then that the main members of the DA finally appeared. At the sight of Harry on the ground in the distance, they all stopped in their tracks, watching him sadly. They understood what was happening, but knew not to interfere. This was supposed to happen between Harry and Voldemort only.

Again, Harry's eyes switched back and forth between his own and Voldemort's, control bouncing from one person to the other. Suddenly, Harry had an epiphany. The only way to defeat Voldemort was by showing him the many things he didn't know. Harry closed his eyes, concentrating. He thought of happy things; things that Voldemort would never be able to understand: friendship, true loyalty, and love. Hugging Sirius, seeing his friends smile, Hermione's melodic laugh tinkling like bells in his ears- wait. Hermione? Why Hermione? Why not Cho? What was going on?

"Her-mio-ne..." Harry murmured. Dumbledore immediately understood. He turned to face the rest of the DA, which were alert, ready, and standing a few meters away.

"Ms. Granger." the old wizard called calmly. Hermione's mouth made a small O just like everyone else's. She swallowed nervously and almost ran over to her professor.

"Yes, sir?" Dumbledore eyed Harry for a moment. Hermione followed his gaze and soon realized that he'd asked for her. She inhaled sharply.

"Why me, sir?"

"Only Harry really knows." Hermione let out a ragged breath and knelt down next to Dumbledore and Harry. Harry gathered all of the strength he could muster to lift his arm only a few centimeters from the dusty ground and hold it out to Hermione. Hermione cautiously reached for his hand, but suddenly it pulled away, as if the hand didn't want to be interlocked with hers. Harry's eyes closed in concentration, struggling to fight back against the invisible force that was pulling his hand back. He groaned quietly. After a few seconds, though, Harry was able to take control and take her hand. His hand tried to pull away again. Harry groaned once more as he continued struggling. Hermione gripped his hand firmly.

"I won't let go, Harry. Don't worry. I won't let go." she whispered. He heard her, now knowing exactly what to say to the murderer of so many people; the cruel, heartless man who killed almost everyone who was important in his life.

"You're the weak one, and you'll never know love...or friendship- and I feel sorry for you." he murmured weakly. Horrifying images flashed before his eyes again, a final attempt of Voldemort to gain complete control of him.

"AH!" he screamed, writhing in agony once more. In his mind, Harry shattered the mirror. He broke it, destroyed it. The powerful, invisible force suddenly flipped Harry over, and something seemed to escape from his chest. Harry lay there limply, drained of all energy. Hermione held on to his hand still, hoping that she was somehow comforting him. Suddenly, Hermione's eyes widened in terror. Voldemort himself towered over her and Harry. Miraculously, he ignored the Muggleborn and Dumbledore, and looked straight at Harry.

"You're a fool, Harry Potter - and you will lose...everything." he sneered. He was about to say more when wizards working in the Ministry of Magic appeared in a wave of green flames, each in a separate fireplace - Floo Powder. When they laid eyes on the Dark Lord, they froze in familiar terror. Voldemort chose that time to disappear in a swirl of wind.

"He's back." Cornelius Fudge whispered. Hermione's cinnamon-brown eyes bore into Harry's. Finally, Harry's hand squeezed back.

"Why me, Harry?" Hermione asked. Harry struggled to lift his head up before uttering the ghost of a whisper:

"Because I love you, that's why."

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