Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor any of the characters. I would like to be friends with J.K tho :)
Chapter 1 : Lapsus
She was quite sure she had told herself she never wanted to get on the back of one ever again. And yet, here she quite was, standing beside Kingsley — her partner for the mission — with her heart pounding loudly in her ears, eyebrows pinched into a frown, teeth worrying her bottom lip, glowering at the back of the Thestral. Kingsley started striding towards the Thestral, his movements jerky, and Hermione could sense the anxiety coming off him in waves, much as he tried to retain his calm façade.
She heaved a sigh, resigned, and quickly glanced around for Harry (the real one, of course; she knew his mannerisms well enough to easily pick him out from the other six Harry-lookalikes).
Muttering under her breath, "For Harry…do it for Harry", she made her way to the Thestral's side where Kingsley was already seated and ready, and did her best not to jostle it too much as she scrambled to sit atop it, with Kingsley firmly gripping her forearm to help her up behind him. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, and Hermione was rather certain now that this was never something she wanted to get used to.
Somewhere amidst the bustle as all seven Potters and their partners hurried to ready themselves, Moody's gruff voice called out, and Hermione's heart was thundering so hard now, she wondered briefly if Fleur and Bill on the Thestral next to them could hear it.
"On the count of three. One…Two…THREE."
Hermione let out a small whimper and clenched her eyes shut as a deafening roar came from the bike nearby which Hagrid was on, and her Thestral leapt soundlessly into the air. Her quaking thighs did their best to grip onto the sides of the Thestrals, while her feet tried to find a secure place to lock onto behind the Thestral's moving wing joint. Hooking an arm around Kingsley's waist, her wand in the other hand, she tried to steady herself, when she sensed a sudden shift in the air. Hermione's eyes shot wide open, as shock and fear pulsed through her.
Thirty-odd dark hooded figures had seemingly materialised and surrounded them within seconds. Mind whirring into action, Hermione cast her eyes around to quickly take in her own, and then everyone else's circumstances.
Barely had she time for a thought to flit across her mind, 'No! They could not have known of this mission! A decoy had even been planted!'
Not even a few seconds passed, before the night sky burst into a cacophony of whizzing lights and loud yells.
All sense of worry over her own safety gone now, Hermione's wand became a blur as she frantically drew up shields to deflect the oncoming spells, and did her best to send a "Stupefy" whenever she could to the three Death Eaters on her tail.
"All right, Hermione? Just keep at it, I'll get us out of here, hang on-", came Kingsley's usually smooth, baritone voice, now rough with stress.
"I'm fine," Hermione barely managed to get out breathlessly.
One of her spells finally hit a Death Eater, and he was falling away from them, even as the other two put more effort into catching up to them, then abruptly melted into the darkness away from them.
Confused, Hermione noticed a sudden flurry of spells in her peripheral vision and turning slightly towards that direction, she witnessed with wide-eyed horror, Voldemort himself flying through the air like some vengeful demon right towards who she knew was the real Harry in the sidecar with Hagrid. Kingsley was urging for her to keep focused, and as the pair furthest away from the main fighting, his first priority was to get them out of there as quickly as possible. Her mouth opened to scream for Harry-
"NO!", came the much higher-pitched, anger-filled cry of Voldemort.
And they never noticed the two stray spells colliding and merging into one bright purple spell, heading straight for Hermione's back and forcefully knocking her off the Thestral.
Horrified, Kingsley felt the shift in balanced, and jerked the Thestral in a dive towards her, hand outstretched, and almost managed to grasp at her arm.
"HERMIONE!" Kingsley bellowed, as her unconscious form suddenly crumpled in on itself. Like a star that fizzled out when she should have been able to live her life with vivacity and a bang, she merely winked out of existence, and all that was left was the darkness of night, and the lost hearts of those who felt her loss keenly within their hearts after.
AN: Hi~ Nice to meet any of you who might (somehow) have interest in my story :) I couldn't hold it in anymore and just had to show some my love for my boys. It's my first time writing a whole story instead of keeping short snippets to myself though, so...I will do my best to keep it up haha (while I struggle with not dying in uni).