Characters: Hermione, Harry, a little of Ron.
Pairings: HermioneHarry
Warnings: Character's death.
Rating: T
Summary: Hermione wonders about the beginning, while dealing with the end. One shot.
Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: This is pure angst! I'm starting to think I have a problem with happy endings. Enjoy!

When everything is said and done, how can you remember the beginning?

Hermione struggles with the last of the Death eaters and then runs to join the others. She squeezes between bodies that have been forming a tight circle around Voldemort and Harry and starts to feel her heart constrict with sadness.

She can finally see the scene clearly: Harry and Voldemort with their wands pointing at each other as they wait for the right moment to strike. In five seconds one of them will say the unforgivable curse and then everything will end.

But to her, those seconds seem like hours. So she starts wondering about when this began, when did she start to feel her heart quicken, her legs tremble, at the horrifying thought that Harry might not survive this last fight?

She thinks it began when he became her only lifeline, her only family, her only remaining friend.

"Hermione, let go of him. He's gone, he's gone…" he says while trying to drag her away from the body.

"He isn't! Harry, he isn't dead! He isn't! I need to go back and see if there is a way to bring him back!" she cries and struggles against his gentle but firm grip while he drags her away from the battlefield.

"No, I'm not letting you go back there, it's dangerous" he says.

"Why don't you help me!? I need to bring him back, he can't be dead, he can't! HE CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yells hysterically while tears continue to fall.

"You will never be alone. I will be with you, I'll never leave you. We will always be…together" he whispers while his own tears start to fall.

"He isn't dead! RON CAN'T BE DEAD!"

But perhaps it was before that. Perhaps it started when she realized he would die before letting harm befall on her.

"If we do this. If I let you and Ron help me, then you have to promise me to be extra careful Hermione" he says while holding her hand. The fire on the common room makes his green eyes sparkle beautifully and for a moment she thinks she can glimpse something hidden in there.

"You know I can take care of myself Harry" she says and then frowns at the though that maybe he thinks she is too weak to fight along his side.

"I know you can, but you have to make sure you don't get hurt, because if you got hurt…I woudn't be able to continue Hermione" he whispers and his hand trembles.

Or maybe it was even before that. Maybe it started the same day you realized you always knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Harry, you can't do this alone, you know" she says and stands in front of him to make sure he is looking into her eyes.

"Do what alone? What are you-" he pauses, because he can see clearly in her almond eyes that she already knows all about his plans, she always knew him the best, he muses.

So instead he just sighs and hugs her tightly while mumbling apologies in her ear; because the truth is that, if he didn't have her at his side, then he woudn't have the strength to fulfill the prophecy, and in accepting that, he knowingly puts her in danger.

"I want to be there for you Harry, so please let me make my own decisions" she whispers.

And she thinks there were times even before that when she knew, in the bottom of her heart, that Harry was the most important person to her. But when did it begin? Was it perhaps when she felt her heart break when he told her he thought Sirius's death was his fault? Or maybe was it when she started to feel those damned butterflies in her stomach when he stared at her in the Yule Ball?

She stands there, watching Harry start to form the words that she know he dreads to say. She watches the end unfurl and realizes that she knew for a long time that she would never keep her promise to him, not when Harry's happiness was at stake.

Maybe it was when she read about a brave little boy who vanquished a dark wizard at the age of one years old and she decided he was the one she admired the most in this world.

Or perhaps it was even before that. Perhaps it started when she decided that her brown eyes were dull and wished for green eyes to gaze at her while she watched her reflection in her mirror.

Voldemort is down, his breathing is shallow. But Harry's hand starts to tremble while he gathers the courage to inflict the killing curse.

So she runs, and with her remaining strength knocks into Harry, and while he and the other 20 aurours around her gasp, she stands in front of the man who had threatened to destroy Harry's life.

"Avada kevadra" she whispers.

And while the bright green light blinds everyone, she feels her own body falling and realizes that Voldemort's last secret was that the one who delivered his killing blow would die along with him.

So while she is slowly falling in the air she turns her head around to take one last look at the man she loves and with her last breath whispers "I love you".

And when she lands on the floor with a tiny smile in her now lifeless lips, Harry feels it ended way too soon for him.

"You promised me…" he says.

And then he shatters.

Tragedy…God!

It feels good to write something like this.

I'm horrible, I know…but please review!