It was chaos.
The castle was overwhelmed with the smell of smoke and rubble and the dead. Hermione could almost taste the blood as she ran through the crumbled castle corridors, sweat pouring down her neck and her hand cramping from the hard grip on her wand. But she couldn't stop now. Constant vigilance, Moody's voice raged in her head. She turned quickly and shot a hex at the newly appeared death eater, throwing him across the hall and knocked out against the stone wall.
"Keep going, Hermione!" Harry yelled behind her. He didn't need to tell her twice. The castle was beginning to break apart dangerously from the exertion of the battle. They were running as fast as they could to the courtyard entrance of Hogwarts. Neville had successfully pulled Gryffindor's sword from the sorting hat and killed Nagini. All that remained was Voldemort.
When they reached the entrance many members of the order of the Phoenix were dueling. Hermione watched anxiously as Ginny battled Bellatrix Lestrange, who was cackling evilly. She shot a hex that sliced Ginny's shoulder, throwing her head back violently to cheer. In her celebration she missed Ginny's wave of her wand and the next moment she crumbled to the floor dead.
"Good job, Ginny!" Sirius barked. Ginny was breathing heavily and staring at Bellatrix when they finally made it to the group.
"Are you guys alright?" Harry puffed, taking the moment to clean his glasses. Everyone sounded off but Hermione could see they were all in bad shape. Fred had a dirty bandage around his head. Remus Lupin seemed to be limping slightly as he went to hug his wife. Sirius had a mouth full of blood but managed to smile, brandishing his sharp pink tinged teeth charmingly.
"So what's the next step?" Bill Weasley stepped forward.
They all circled around Harry waiting for instruction. Hermione watched as her best friend ran a hand through his soot grimy hair, wiping his hands on his filthy jeans uselessly.
"When Voldemort tried to kill me-"
"He did kill you, Harry. You didn't have a pulse!" Ginny exclaimed. She looked as though she were ready to cry.
Harry sighed, walking over to her to wrap his arm around her shoulder.
"I did die, Gin. But I came back. And I needed to die."
"What?!" gasped.
"I was a horcrux." Harry replied gravely. The group was remarkably silent, although their surrounding area they could hear the destruction.
"We can explain all of this later." Ron said gruffly. "What do we need to do, Harry?"
The distant look in Harry's eyes disappeared and his face became serious again.
"We need to defeat Voldemort."
Hermione's heart was beating outrageously fast as they pushed through the doors of the entrance hall. There was a temporary moment of blindness as they made their way into the courtyard, although the sky was rather dark and gloomy. All around her were fires and bodies of the slain. Her lip trembled as they passed a blank eyed Colin Crewey .
Besides the dead, the courtyard seemed to be remotely filled with those on the side of the light, but as Hermione looked over to the bridge leading to the castle she saw them.
Hundreds of death eaters were marching menacingly towards them. Some shot threatening sparks in the air, screaming battle cries. At the front of the line a figure made its way menacingly towards them.
Hermione realized now that she had never really seen Voldemort in the flesh. The closest she had been was in the department of mysteries, but even then it was more of a disenchanted shape, and he was facing away from her. As he and his army drew closer, she felt a cold drop in her stomach at his appearance.
He was extraordinarily tall, at least a few inches over six feet. He seemed to be more of a skeleton than anything, his pale, iridescent skin stretched over his bones. His face, if you were able to call it that, was sharp and horrifying, his nose missing and replaced with slits, his almond eyes a blood red.
She now knew why Harry's nightmares were so haunting.
He seemed to glide, opposed to the furious stomps of his minions. He had brandished his wand within two fingers like he was holding a cigarette, gazing slowly back and forth at them. Hermione froze as his eyes stopped at her for a moment, watching her as he came to a sudden halt.
A strange feeling overtook Hermione. At first it seemed like fear, but that wasn't quite it. She was having the strongest sense of deja vu, and a new kind of anticipation rolled through her spreading goosebumps on the back of her neck. She felt the sudden urge to be sick, yet like some kind of horrible car accident she couldn't look away.
She couldn't imagine Voldemort was able to show much emotion, but as he stared at her she watched a display of emotions over his face. First shock, then anger, and somehow...
Sorrow?
Their staring contest was interrupted as Harry stepped in between the crowd and came forward.
"It's over, Tom."
Voldemort sneered at him, crossing his arm over his chest in speculation.
"Harry Potter."
His voice sent a cold chill through Hermione and echoed through her brain.
"This is indeed the end, but it does not mean that there needs to be death. Join me, and we will leave you unharmed."
Harry scoffed.
"You really think I'm stupid enough to follow you? You're a murderer! And I'll never join you!"
Hermione jumped as Voldemort began to laugh. It was dripping of cruelty.
"Foolish boy. If you'd rather die than join me, I will not keep that from you."
He said nothing more and there was a moment of silence, but eventually he waved his pale hand for them to proceed. Hermione felt his his gaze returning to her as he stepped backward into the crowd.
Like a gun shot the death eaters fled forward, wands out and curses on their lips. Hermione drew up her own wand and began to look around quickly where to strike first.
The order members were on the front lines on their side and over the dueling Hermione heard Lupin howl a battle cry. The side of the light began to cheer and ran forward. It was both inspiring and frightening, and Hermione found herself joining them as she went to meet her doom.
Almost immediately she saw someone making their way towards her, and an enormous man with long black hair came into view grinning at her.
"Well, well. Look what we have here."
Hermione hadn't seen Marcus Flint since her first year at Hogwarts. He barely resembled the 7th year boy she'd once avoided so much, and was now a terrifying and irritatingly handsome man.
"Flint," Hermione bit out sweetly. "Should've known you'd join the death eaters. Can't imagine someone with such a low IQ could amount to much more than be a mindless follower."
Hermione's eyes shot up as he began to laugh.
"Ohhhh ho ho! Brains and beauty! If only you were a pure blood little witch, I would've claimed you for myself instead of killin' ya."
Hermione shot a hex at him and he waved it off laughing again.
"But now that I'm seeing you again, i may just look over that you're a mudblood. You can be my pet."
Hermione continued to whip her wand furiously, causing him to step back. His amused expression dropped when she paralyzed him and he dropped to the floor with a loud thump.
She walked over and placed her boot on his chest, looking down on him almost fondly.
"Don't flatter yourself too much, Marcus. If this ends well you could be my pet. I always need someone to do some remedial housework for me."
Behind her she heard cackling and she whipped around to see Tonks practically rolling on the ground with laughter.
"Tonks! Pay attention!"
Tonks stopped a death eater who was advancing on her easily, still laughing slightly as she wiped a tear away.
"Sorry Hermione- heh heh- I just had to say that was amazing and I totally love you."
Hermione couldn't help but grin as they turned and continued.
Hermione went back and forth, stopping every death eater within her reach and even threw one over the cliff who had Ron pinned on the ground. He mumbled a stiff "thanks" as she pulled him up and headed to find Harry. There were a lot of them but they seemed to be making headway.
As she was making her way to the front of the lines suddenly her vision began to fog. She blinked rapidly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. No, no, no... not now. The sounds of the battle were beginning to fade away to nothing. She looked around her and saw there was still people was an obvious circle around her but no one seemed to notice her or approach her. Out of no where it was there.
Music?
Her mind filled with a muffled sound of chimes. She shook her head roughly and stepped forward but the circle around her continued, pushing the fighting within a radius of her. She was beginning to panic as the music grew louder.
Dream
When you're feelin' blue,
Dream,
That's the thing to do.
Her eyes were widening into orbs and she frantically looked for someone she knew. It wasn't until she locked eyes with him across the pavilion that she froze in horror.
Lord Voldemort wasn't fighting anyone. His wand was hanging almost limply from his hand as he made his way slowly towards her. The music was growing louder.
Just watch the smoke rings rise in the air,
You'll find your share of memories there
So dream
When the day is through
Dream
And they might come true
His eyes never left hers when she felt an intrusion of her mind. She felt swollen, as if her head was filling with water. She blinked a few times before closing her eyes tightly. But the feeling didn't leave. He was using legillemancy on her.
She drew up her walls immediately, but she couldn't feel him searching for anything. He simply intruded and remained there without any action. She hesitated to open her eyes before an image came before her.
The music was still playing. It was an older song, had to be from the 30s or 40s. Yet somehow, it was familiar.
She was no longer in the courtyard. She wasn't surrounded by war and death. Instead she was in some kind of dance hall. She looked up and saw silver and black streamers, magic twinkling down little dusts of stars, a soft light glowing light moonlight . People came into view, dressed in suits and old fashioned danced around her to the music, embraced and swaying romantically. The feeling of deja vu returned full force.
Dreams
Had...had she been here before?
Things never are as bad as they seem...
She looked up and saw him.
So dream,
Voldemort.
Dream,
But it wasn't him.
Dream.
Tom Riddle.
"No..." The whisper flowed out of her throat.
His image flashed back and forth. The Voldemort she knew, terrible and horrifying, to a man. But the man was hazy, as if he was a ghost. She couldn't focus on him long enough before Voldemort returned, switching back and forth like some kind of skip in a record. But she knew it was Tom Riddle, yet just like with Voldemort she had never seen him before. But she knew.
The band playing behind her started to play a saxophone, and she passed a couple who gave each other a chaste kiss. But she couldn't see them. All see saw was the hologram like Voldemort, shape shifting yet always watching her. He reached his hand out and smiled.
"How long I've waited for you."
Something was taking over her. Was this the imperius curse? No, it was instinct. She stepped forward to him, reaching to touch him.
Tom.
Tom.
Tom.
"TOM RIDDLE!"
As soon as she could blink she was ripped out of the image. She was back in the battle, the sound and light crashed back violently and she dry heaved. She tried to blink into focus when she realized there was cheering.
Someone collided into her, wrapping their arms around her and jumping happily.
"Oh Hermione, can you believe it?! It's over! It's over!"
Ginny pulled back and beamed at her.
"What?" Hermione gasped.
"It's over, Hermione! Look!"
Ginny released her and pointed, letting Hermione's line of sight follow.
There, right where he stood before he invaded her mind, was the body of Lord Voldemort.
"Oh Merlin, I can't believe it's finally over. Are you alright, Hermione? Were you hurt?"
Hermione shook her head silently, still staring at Voldemort's lifeless form.
Dead.
Part of her felt the urge to cry. Some foreign, overwhelming emotion was consuming her. She felt the victory of the war, yet somehow some immense kind of sadness. She felt a great loss, but she didn't even know what it was.
Hermione was quickly pulled from her thoughts after more people began to approach her, hugging her, kissing her, crying. She joined them, exhausted but relieved. It was finally over.
They had won.