I'm Here Because of You

by Mithua

It's the Final Battle, and Harry manages to destroy Voldemort, but at the cost of his own life. He comes back for one night, to do the one thing he should have done when he was alive. H/H Please R/R *Finished*

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co all belong to wonderful J.K Rowling.

A/N: Hi! I thought I'd just add in a short little ficlet, just for the fun of it. This idea just came to my head and it couldn't be put in with any of my other stories, so I'll just write it in here!

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I'm Here Because of You.

By Mithua.

Hogwarts, in anyone's eyes, may seem mysterious, but a wonderful place to have gone to, but in present time, that vision seemed more like a myth. The grounds around Hogwarts were tainted with blood, as many lay with injuries or in the brink of death. The glorious splendour that was Hogwarts, now was a bloody battlefield, where war raged on and on. The terrified students inside the castle watched on in horror, from their rooms up in the highest of towers. The Ministry Wizards and Witches, Aurors, Seers, anyone with any knowledge on magic that could fight, would be out there, fighting to protect for what was right. Many rooms were turned into infirmaries, and a frustrated looking Madam Pomfrey would e tending to the injured. Prefects would be there helping, while others would be keeping the students calm. Others would be brewing different healing potions, as Professor Snape was participating in battle. True chaos and havoc loomed as the magic that was Hogwarts, threatened to be shattered by Voldemort's troops of dark minions.

The skies seemed to turn blood red as the war continued. Some students, who had dared to defy school rules, went out, wands at the ready to join in the battle. They would take on some of the many Slytherin students, who had been discovered to be Death Eaters, and fight. Many dark creatures had been sent to battle the Ministry Wizards and Witches, some extremely dangerous creatures at that. But with Hagrid's love for dangerous creatures, he had managed to find some that would fight on their side, including some of his friends in the Forbidden Forest. Aragog and his offspring leapt at the chance to help him.

But, the main heart of the battle took place inside the Forbidden Forest, between the wizarding world's greatest rivals.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort yelled in extreme rage. He couldn't believe that mere boy, could even have the ability of injuring him.

Harry jumped out of the way of the curse rolling on the ground, and covering as a rock exploded from the curse. He was bruised all over, and his arm was pretty much slashed. Through all this pain, Harry continued to fight.

"You can't run forever boy!" Voldemort shouted, and aimed another curse.

"I don't intend to!" Harry responded in sheer anger.

"THEN DIE ALREADY!" Voldemort yelled, his red eyes glaring at Harry angrily, as he shot the killing curse at Harry again. Quidditch reflexes got Harry to dodge the curse again.

It had been going on like that between them for a long time, each managing to slip from the others grasp again and again. Though they managed to injure the other many a time, none of them gave each other a damage as to kill each other.

Hermione and Ron ran through the forest. Trying their hardest to help their best friend, even if it meant defying his wishes for their safety. Ron helped Hermione to run a little faster by grabbing her hand and practically dragging her as they ran. They had both been involved in the fight with their Slytherin peers, and with the Dark Creatures. Though they were hurt and grazed, they just had to be there for Harry. 'Come on mate, we're going to get through this together, like the old times,' Ron thought with determination as he clutched at his wand even harder than before. Hermione was panting a little, as her last fight had winded her, but she still ran as hard as she could. 'Harry, we're right behind you, don't give up,' Hermione said in her head as they ran.

"Dammit! Where are they?!" Ron cursed as he ran.

"They can't be too far in, the forest is too dense there!" Hermione managed to say between her deep breaths for air.

The two continued to run deeper into the forest, the blood red sky could no longer be seen through the trees, and uprooted trees made it harder to run. Then from somewhere to the left, they heard an explosion and slight yelp. The ran fasted in that direction. The trees had started to thin as the ran in that direction. They started to see some light coming from that direction. To Ron's shock, he was stopped abruptly by Hermione.

"What are you doing?" he nearly shouted, but Hermione covered his mouth with her hand.

"If we just run in there, we'll get ourselves killed. Both Harry and Voldemort are a lot more powerful than us, so we'd better be careful." Hermione stated and started to approach the clearing quietly.

"You-Know-Who! Say You-Know-Who!" Ron commented in a hushed whisper.

He joined Hermione in peering in at the battle in hand. Both Harry and Voldemort looked exhausted and they had an equal extent in injuries. They were both panting, and Harry looked as if he were about to collapse. His robes were soaked with blood, and his emerald green eyes had lost the familiar spark of reassurance that was usually there.

"Potter! You have been a mere pebble in my road to victory, and you've been a bloody annoyance too. Your parents death, was a great victory to me. Victory is sweet, and your death will be my sweetest victory to date," Voldemort said as he clutched a deep cut at his side. Harry smirked.

"Whatever you say," he said.

"EXPELLIARAMUS!" Harry yelled, trying to disarm his enemy. Voldemort, blocked it, but the look on his face showed that he had great difficulty blocking it. He then raised his wand.

"SLASHIO!" Voldemort bursted out. From his wand, two sharp objects shot out of it. Harry couldn't dodge them and both his forearms received deep gashes. He dropped his wand in pain, and tried not to give Voldemort the pleasure of his yelling out in pain. From the corner of his eye, he saw Voldemort raise his wand.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Harry heard Voldemort yell those two words so many times before, but for some reason, this one really scared him. He collapsed onto his knees and closed his eyes, ready for the impact from the green light.

"NO! HARRY!" Hermione ran from her hiding place in the trees. Her vision was blurred from her tears, Harry looked in so much pain, but she wasn't going to let him die like this. She leapt and pushed Harry out of the way. They rolled on the ground for a while until the sound of the explosion stopped. Hermione opened one of her eyes and saw that through some miracle, they were both alive. Harry opened his eyes and saw Hermione there with him. She smiled down at him.

"You don't think we'd have left you here by yourself for this long!" Hermione smiled and helped him up. 'And you don't think I can live without you? Do you?' Hermione thought.

"GO HERMIONE! TAKE THAT YOU POOR EXCUSE FOR AN IMMORTAL THING!" Ron yelled and started to throw rocks and stones at Voldemort. He managed to hit him square on the face and managed to scratch him. While throwing them, Ron ran across to Hermione and Harry, and picked up Harry's wand on the way. While doing this, Hermione tended to some of Harry's wounds.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU CAN'T BEAT THE MIGHT OF RONALD WEASLEY YOU PRICK!" Ron yelled as he continued to throw the rocks. Voldemort, started to block the rocks that were being thrown at him and smirked as the crumble when they got within an inch of him.

Ron made it to Harry and Hermione, unscathed. He gave Harry his wand back. Harry would have laughed at Ron's attempt to defeat the dark lord, had the situation been less serious than it was already.

"Thanks you guys, what would I do without you?" Harry smiled at them.

"No worries mate! Now, let's beat him together!" Ron said, with determination.

"Yeah, can't let you take all the credit now, can we?" Hermione nudged him playfully.

"How heart-warming, it's almost sickening!" Voldemort sneered.

"Let's get this over and done with. I've had more than enough with you!" Harry spat, while clutching at his wand, which had started to vibrate with powerful magic. He walked up closer to him and raised his wand, aiming directly at his heart. A cold look had spread across Harry's face as he looked on at his enemy. Voldemort had a grim expression on his face, but he too raised his wand. Both the duellists knew that in this match, either one of them would die, or both would perish. They both said their spell at the exact same time.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort yelled.

"MAXIMUS EXPECTOMIUM PATRONUM!" Harry yelled out loudly and clearly.

From what Hermione and Ron saw, the green light of Voldemort's curse mingled in with the silvery white light rushing from Harry's wand. Hermione looked closely and saw several stags galloping out, each rushing straight into the green light, trying to block and defeat it. Harry was visibly panting, all his effort was going into it, and though he was exhausted he couldn't give up. But, his advanced Patronus was clearly waning. Voldemort's green killing curse was starting to swallow the Patronus.

"Ron, we have to help him," Hermione managed to say, as she looked on, her eyes slightly bulging.

"Yeah, come on." Ron said, his eyes very wide in shock.

Harry's knees were starting to buckle from the tremendous amount of energy he was using in his exhausted form. 'I can't lose, I have to win!' Harry thought, as he tried to steady himself. Through his bandages that Hermione had placed on him he could see the blood soaking through them, and he felt weaker and weaker by the moment.

"Don't worry Harry, we're here," came Hermione's reassuring voice. Harry felt her hand cover his hand and her arm supporting him. She placed a light kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah, here comes the cavalry," Ron grinned and placed his hand over Hermione's. He too helped Hermione support Harry.

"Thanks…you guys…are the best…friends ever," Harry managed to say through his exhaustion. He took a deep breath and faced the Patronus.

"MAXIMUS TOTALUS EXPECTOMIUM PATRONUM!" Harry managed to bellow out. Ron and Hermione had a look of sheer determination on their faces. Together, they felt stronger than they had ever felt before in their lives. Harry's wand was vibrating violently by then, but the three held on. They saw more of the stags pour out of Harry's wand and they engulfed the killing curse. From what they saw of Voldemort, a look of pure horror and sheer terror was plastered on his face. The Patronus swallowed Voldemort, until on a dark shadow could be seen of him. They saw him slowly disintegrate into a very fine dust. At that moment, all the Death Eaters went powerless and the Dark Creatures were swiped of their enhanced powers.

With an almighty burst, Harry's wand gave way and shattered into fragments. And he collapsed in his friend's arms. Hermione opened her eyes, and saw the debris of the explosion, but what scared her most was the irregular breathing from Harry. Ron noticed this too, and was shaking slightly. Harry had gone a deathly pale colour, he looked whiter the fresh crisp snow. Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist and felt for a pulse, and to her horror, it was growing weaker and weaker. Ron saw the look and decided enough was enough, they had wasted time already. He lifted Harry up over his shoulder.

"Come on Hermione, Harry needs to see Madam Pomfrey," Ron said. Hermione nodded and grabbed the few fragments of Harry's wand, and put them in her pocket. She then ran alongside with Ron and she held on to Harry's cold hand and kept reassuring him.

"Everything's going to be alright Harry! Don't you quit on us!" Hermione kept saying. Trying to reassure herself as well as everyone else. They were running faster than they had ever ran in their lives. They soon reached the forest edge and saw some of the Ministry Wizards and Witches by the edge.

"MAKE WAY! COMING THROUGH! CASUALTY HERE!" Ron yelled and the witches and wizards made space as both Ron and Hermione ran past, with Harry being carried. They all caught a glimpse of Harry, and saw just how ad he looked.

"Ron we have to hurry! Harry's going to leave us!" Hermione said, tear running down her face.

"I know, come on, we'll go on overdrive!" Ron said and both he and Hermione ran faster.

Someone must have told Madam Pomfrey to be ready for Harry because, she had everything set for him when he came.

She shut them out, as she began her work on Harry. Ron and Hermione didn't leave, they were too depressed to do anything. They stayed right outside the room Harry was in. Never moving from there, hoping that news about his would reach them first. Some people had commended them on their defeating of the dark lord but they gave everyone the same reply.

"Don't you dare give us credit for something that Harry did!"

It may have sounded cold and harsh, but the two friends were worried for Harry too much. There were times when Hermione would breakdown and cry. Ron felt so helpless and all he could do was hold her. He couldn't tell her everything would be alright, because he himself needed someone to tell him that too. Ron shared his tears with Hermione, as he often wept over his friend. They had never felt so useless and helpless.

Madam Pomfrey refused entrance to the room Harry was in to anyone. She was set on helping Harry, refusing to give up on him. 'If Albus were here, he would have known not to let any children out on the battlefield. This war would have never happened if he hadn't passed away.' Madam Pomfrey often thought as she tended to Harry.

Days went by, and by each day, Harry slowly slipped away from the world of the living. Madam Pomfrey had let Ron and Hermione now, knowing that there would be no hope for Harry. Both friends had stuck by Harry's bed at that time. They both held onto his hand, told him of what was happening around the school, as if he could actually hear them. The only reassurance that they had of Harry being alive was the rising and falling of his chest as he breathed. Then, exactly one week after Voldemort's destruction, Harry breathed his last breath, and died peacefully. Ron and Hermione had gone into a state of depression afterwards. They had been there, as Harry just slipped away. Hermione was very distraught about it, she felt like she had lost part of herself with Harry. She had loved Harry a lot, and never told him. Ron felt he had lost one of his brother's. He was silent a lot, and was edgy to anyone in his presence. He could only stand Hermione near him. They found comfort within each other, and organised the funeral of their best friend. The ceremony was beautiful, with only the closest of Harry's friends there. Ron and Hermione had agreed on burying Harry with the fragments of his wand. And they used lily's as the floral remembrance. All the Weasley's had attended, as did Oliver Wood and the rest of the Quidditch team, Hagrid and some teacher's from the school came and the Dursley's came. Many were surprised when they came, but the tears coming from Petunia's eyes assured them that they truly were sorry for Harry.

***

That year had been their last year at Hogwarts. The summer holidays had seemed very lonely without Harry. The three friends were to live in a flat together, when they left school, but it felt strangely empty with Harry. Ron and Hermione moved into the flat, and made sure to have at least 3 photos of Harry in every room of the flat. Hermione got a job with Gringott's, while Ron managed to work at a high paying job with the Ministry. That summer went by, and autumn approached England. The winds picked up and the leaves coloured.

Hermione brushed her long hair. A picture of Harry looked approvingly at her mouthing 'you look beautiful' at her. Hermione gave a small sad smile. She missed Harry with all her heart. She still hadn't got over the fact, but decided she must get on with her life. Ron had done the same. As he showed a the picture of Harry the Quidditch scores in the paper. He laughed at the shocked look on Harry's face as he saw the Chuddley Cannon's had made the top of the league. The night time came, and since it was weekend, Ron and Hermione had settled for a movie to watch. It was Halloween, so they settled for a nice horror movie. It had gone on longer than they thought, and Ron had fallen asleep on the couch. Hermione smiled at him and switched off the TV. She then turned around and nearly screamed out loud. There, standing in front of her, was none other than Harry Potter.

"H-h-h-harry?" Hermione stuttered. He nodded smiling at her.

"I-I-I thought y-you were d-dead?" Hermione stuttered again.

"I am, but even the dead must go somewhere. And today's the only night I can be seen by you," Harry stated. Hermione looked at Harry. Even when dead, he had grown like them. He didn't look like a normal ghost. He looked pretty solid, but he emitted a blue light.

"Are…you a ghost?" Hermione asked. He smiled.

"I thought you might have known that actually. I don't know what I am. I know I'm not a ghost." Harry exclaimed.

"I do know what you are. You're an angel." Hermione said, and blushed a little. Harry chuckled.

"That's really nice Hermione. I came here, because I need to tell you some things I never said when I was alive." Harry managed to say. He glided towards Hermione, and held her hands. Hermione was surprised at just how warm they had felt. Like Harry really was alive.

"You're a very special woman, beautiful, smart, understanding. You've always had a special place in my heart, and you made my life worth living. I love you Hermione, and I'm just sorry that I couldn't share my life with you." Harry said, nearly breaking off to a whisper. Tears had started to form at her eyes.

"You mean so much to me Harry. I'm still here because of you. The whole world is still here because of you. And I'm so grateful, to have known such a man like you, and to have loved such a man like you, and to still love such a man like you," Hermione whispered as her tears fell. Harry smiled and kissed her tears away. The warm lips on her cheek, felt so real. Harry tucked a some strands of her hair behind her ear, and leaned down and kissed her. Hermione kissed him back with so much passion, knowing that this may be the only kiss she'll ever get from him. Time stopped just for them at that moments and they kissed. It started again once they parted. Hermione smiled up at him.

"Thank You Harry, for everything," she whispered. Harry smiled at her and held her hands again.

"I think you'd better talk to Ron too. He'll kill me if he couldn't talk to you too." Hermione said. Harry laughed a little and agreed.

"Hey Ron!" Harry nudged him.

"WAKE UP!" Harry shouted. Ron woke with a start, and looked bleary eyed at the person standing in front of him.

"Harry?!?!?!" he exclaimed.

"Ron?!?!?!" Harry mimicked him.

"What? How? When? Where? Who?" Ron blabbed.

Harry explained everything to Ron. And after Ron calmed down a little, it was like old time. As if the trio were in the Common Room at Hogwarts, just talking about things. They talked about Quidditch, life, death, and they filled Harry in with news from Hogwarts. They shared jokes, and Harry made sure to check out Weasley's Wizard Wheezes next Halloween. It was nearly dawn when Harry had to go.

"Do you really have to go?" Ron whined.

"I'm sorry. I can't stay for longer." Harry apologised.

"It's ok, we understand." Hermione said.

Harry turned to face Ron. They smiled and gave each other a brotherly type of hug. "Take care Ron." Harry said, and Ron nodded smiling at him. He then turned to Hermione and hugged her too. He gave her sweet chaste kiss. "Look after him Hermione, and yourself too," Harry said. "And, don't let me get in the way of any relationship you'll have I the future." He whispered in her ear. Hermione smiled, and gave a slight nod.

Harry then started to disappear slowly.

"You guys are the best friends that anyone can ever have. Remember that. I love you guys." Harry said, and disappeared. His voice still ringing in the air.

Harry returned to his place in the afterlife. A smile on his face. He had managed to do what he what he couldn't do in his life, and that was to tell Hermione he loved her, and managing to have a night like the old days in school, was touching. Harry walked away from the land of the living, and on to the world in which his parents now stayed.

The End.

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A/N: That's it! I was actually set on making it, like and H/H epic, but I realised that I leave Ron out, way too much in my stories, and hell, I love the guy! So, I had him in here, without a cameo role! So, that's it! I hope you liked it! I hope the ending wasn't too sappy! I hope you might like to review! It would be appreciated! I'd love you guys forever!

Mithua ^-^

13/4/02