AN: Ahmyfrack. I accidentally replaced these chapters forgetting I hadn't saved the ANs and review replies on the actual documents.
I am an idiot.
I don't remember what went here, but I assume it went along the lines of:
First ever Harry Potter fanfiction! Do read, and if possible, let me know what you think.
I am a retard that doesn't own Harry Potter.
Prologue
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
"Fuck."
Hermione Jean Granger was not one to revel in such foul language. More often than not, she was the one to chastise others for having used disgraceful terms in their day-to-day conversations, threatening to wash out their mouths with a bar of soap; and having even done so more than twice.
But of her entire lifetime of near sainthood, this particular situation certainly granted her that privilege.
"No. Fuck, fuck, this can't be happening."
Bitter tears slid down pale skin that was covered in an inch of grime, mud and dried blood, giving the 18-year-old an almost grotesque, zombified appearance, making her look much like the Inferi they were trying so hard to take down. But no amount of Partis Temporus will be able to help dig her out of this mess.
Although calling her situation a 'mess' might be a dire understatement.
"Ron. Ron. Please. You can't do this to me. Please. No more games."
Her hand desperately clung onto his bloodless, cold ones as she hastily shoved aside his thick scarf and coat in search of any sign of life. Her mind refused to accept what her skin knew, what her eyes knew. After all, how often did one survive from a Killing Curse straight to the chest? Especially one sent from the Dark Lord himself?
Ron Weasley was no Harry Potter.
"Fuck! Ron. PLEASE!" Her voice had risen to a wail as she clung onto the body of her dead boyfriend as tightly as she could, almost ignorant of the destruction that rose around her. Almost as though if she prayed hard enough, if she held onto him long enough, life would once again appear in those beautiful blue eyes that she loved so much.
Minutes before she saw Ron fall, she had witnessed the death of so many of her closest friends. Luna, Neville, Lavender, Remus, Mr and Mrs Weasley, as well as Professor McGonagoll. Without a doubt there would be more bodies littered throughout the halls of a school she once foolishly thought to be the safest place on Earth.
No one was safe now, no one.
No one had been for the past year.
"Hermione!" She could hear shouts of her name above the din of the war surrounding her. But nothing else mattered except for the immobile body of the love of her life that she held as tightly to her chest as possible.
"HERMIONE!"
The scream next to her ear jerked her into action, wand automatically flicking from the wand holder she had bound to her arm, to her sweaty, shaking hand. Her glossy, tear-filled eyes focused on the messy, dark hair of the boy in front of her. Her breath hitched as she surveyed the disarray that was their saviour, of Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, of the man whom she loved with all her heart. She trembled, knowing exactly what his reaction would be once he noticed… Her heart ached for the both of them as his stormy, brown eyes swept past her and onto the body of their best friend. She could see the life drain from those orbs slowly as his face paled even more.
"Ron..." He moaned with pain that she shared and felt all the way down to her core. "No." His whispered words were harder to hear than the screams of pain that went on in the background.
So much death and destruction…
"Hermione. You need to get out of here. We've lost. Hogwarts is crumbling."
She shook her head; heart refusing to hear the words that she knew, deep down inside, was true.
"Hermione!" Warm, clammy hands grabbed onto her shoulders and shook them, hard. They jarred her back to her senses as her teeth smacked against each other. "Listen to me. You need to get to Dumbledore's office." Even though the headmaster had been dead for a while now, they had refused to call his room as anything but. "You need to do what we've talked about." His eyes steeled over, as once again the Hero they all knew and loved came back into the picture, lost of a loved one momentarily put aside for greater, more important things. "You need to use it."
She wasn't sure how she did it, got past all the Death Eaters and their barriers, got past all of the bodies of those that she loved. She refused to register the Ginny's lifeless eyes, Sprout's cold lips, or the look of terror in Parvati's frozen face. She didn't stop to turn or look, or even breathe until she was behind the double doors of the headmaster's trashed office, where everything of value, including the portraits, had been utterly destroyed by Voldermort's followers. But surprisingly enough, it was empty.
Stepping behind the place where Dumbledore's desk used to be, she reached for a groove on the floor, a little detail that only her nimble fingers could make out. Almost thoughtlessly, almost as though she was brain-dead, her hands went through the motions of removing a small part of the floor and retrieving the small jewelry from within. A trinket supposedly destroyed forever.
A time turner.
They had discovered Dumbledore's final, desperate plan only a week ago, when they plunged head first into his untouched pensive in hopes to find a way-out of the seemingly inevitable end. That was when the Golden Trio realized that even Professor Albus Dumbledore, their only light in this terribly dark tunnel, knew that they did not stand a chance against the risen evil, and had formulated a way out of their little predicament; a plan that they all had hoped would never have required to come to fruit.
And yet, here she was: horror-stricken and exhausted to her bones, clenching onto the Wizarding World's final hope.
How could everything go so wrong? The light was supposed to win, weren't they? Isn't that what they learnt from the very beginning? That good would always prevail?
Self-pity, and pity for everyone that she would leave behind almost overwhelmed her into throwing the device away. How could she run when everyone she loved was dying or dead? How could she leave them all behind to face this horrifying, endless nightmare while she disappeared? What would they think of her if they knew that she turned tail and fled?
How could she leave Harry here by himself?
Quietly, desperately, she prayed that her best friend would not come across the body of the youngest Weasley; her broken, naked body now stamped in her mind. That would be the final straw, the breaking point for even someone as impossibly strong-willed as Harry Potter. After all, who could bear to see their most loved one defiled and killed in that way?
Thundering footsteps began to echo through the hall outside. Hush, furious voices springing her frozen body into action.
As her fingers turned the dial, she couldn't help the tears streaming down her face as the events of the day truly hit her. They had lost. The Light had lost. And now she was all they had.
Suddenly, a loud, deafening applause jarred through the entire castle, nearly causing the time turner to slip from her sweaty fingers. It was more dark and poignant than cheerful as the familiar voice of Lord Voldermort filled the school.
"We have done it my loyal followers!" Her heart stopped as a sob rose from within her, despite her attempt to stop it. She pressed down on the device, feeling the familiar lurch that she had gotten used to in her third-year. But it didn't work fast enough for Voldermort's words would forever haunt her dreams, present, past, or future.
"Harry Potter is finally dead!"
As mentioned before, I am a total and utter idiot. But I am going to assume these notes went something along the lines of: I hope you enjoyed this! I really did spend quite a bit of time on it, and reading back on it now, I must say I am a little bit proud of myself for a prologue. =P
Do let me know what you think. I always love reviews (who doesn't) but I would appreciate any favourites and follows too! =P Teehee. But honestly, the more you let me know what you think, the better I can get at writing, which is the point of doing this entire thing anyway.
Stay tuned for the next chapters! (Although they are already up!)
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