"I'll go with you" Hermione told Harry, she was almost pleading with him as tears spilled from her eyes. He was more than just her best friend; he was the brother she had never had. No one in the wizarding world nor the muggle world had known her like he did, they had gone through more together than anyone else would ever have to and she could not bear the thought of him having to face this alone. Now here he stood before her, Hogwarts literally falling down around them, and he had this look on his face that was a mixture between defeat and determination.
"No, kill the snake. Kill the snake and then it's just him." Harry's voice betrayed the inner battle he seemed to be fighting. Hermione stepped forward and clung to him for what she knew would be the last time. She wanted to savour the moment, store it in her memory so she could recall it. For probably the first time in her life words failed her, Ron just stood there like an idiot. Harry held her giving her the time she needed to gather her strength, watching Ron all the while. She released him, finally accepting the inevitable. Harry lowered his eyes to the ground forcing himself not to meet her eyes, fearing that if he did he would not be able to find the courage to do what he knew he had to; he turned and left as she stood and watched the man who was her brother walk out the front doors of Hogwarts to his death. Even when he was beyond her vision she continued to stare after him, frozen to the spot already feeling a profound sense of loss.
Hermione registered movement behind her and knew Ron was coming towards her, she felt his arm snake around her waist and in an instant her grief turned to rage. How dare he try to comfort her right now! She slapped Ron's arm away and ran, no destination in mind she just needed to get away from him. She ran out of the castle, across the broken courtyard which was littered with bodies and debris, she turned at the edge of the courtyard and ran down to the boathouse. She looked at the body of her potions master with disgust, he had known, she would have bet all the galleons in Gringotts that he had know and had not even bothered to warn her. She slumped to the ground as her emotions pendulumed back to grief and she sobbed.
Hermione did not know how long she had been sitting there crying when she heard footsteps behind her, she considered going for her wand but decided that she neither had the strength, energy nor inclination to defend herself. So she sat there and determined that the best use of her energy right now would be to try and regain control of her emotions; everything else could wait. She was done serving others, she was done granting every request for help, and she was done jumping because someone else said so. The footsteps stopped, their owner remaining still looking on while the girl fell apart and desperately tried to gather the shattered pieces of her psyche so that she might be able to put them back together later.
Hermione took a deep breath and felt her body shudder; she took another and noticed that she shuddered considerably less. Lifting her hands to her face she wiped away the remainder of her tears. She heard more footsteps behind her, from a second and third person approaching the boathouse, but still she could not muster the strength to reach for her wand instead she leaned her head against the wall of the boathouse and felt more tears spill down her now swollen, red and blotchy face. Behind her she could hear curses flying through the air, duelling just feet behind her. Any moment now a curse could hit her in the back and she would not need to feel this pain.
As suddenly as the duelling had started it had stopped, it seemed Hermione had a guardian. 'it better not be bloody Ron' she thought to herself as she allowed her hatred for the lying cheating arse to bubble to the surface as she remembered their conversation on the stairs.
It seemed that after kissing her in the Chamber of Secrets Ron had the uncontrollable urge to 'fess up to the fact that not only had he abandoned her and Harry on the Horcrux hunt but between running from snatchers and chillaxing at Shell cottage he had apparently bumped into Lavender Brown and they had, in his words, "hooked up together." But it was ok, Ron had explained, because it hadn't meant anything, he was thinking of her the whole time, he just had to do something with this nervous energy. She hadn't said a word to him as Ron told her all this, she had been completely dumbfounded, and then Harry had appeared and Ron's words were insignificant in that moment.
Replaying his arguments in her head now though brought forth a wave of rage that she doubted that You Know Who himself had ever felt. She was even regretting cursing Fenrir Greyback, perhaps she should have left him to eat that bloody bitch Lavender! In the space of a few moments she learned that of the two people in the world she trusted, loved and cherished most one had betrayed her in a moment of self pity and the other had abandoned her to save the bloody world. Bastards the pair of them! Rage coursed through her veins under the guise of adrenaline and she began to draw strength from it. Hermione took a deep breath and as it resonated through her body she willed herself to get up on her feet, leaning against the wall for support.
Before she even had a chance to turn and identify her guardian she heard a shout from the direction of the forbidden forest and one side of the boathouse lit up green. She had not been able to make out the words that had been shouted but she knew that green glow was the result of the killing curse, in the split second she had to process this she felt her chest tear open. Hermione looked down at herself, expecting to see at the very least a sword or spear protruding through her and blood soaking through her pink hoodie and denim jacket. She took a step back in shock when she registered that there was no blood and nothing sticking out of her chest. Hermione honestly felt as though her ribcage was being pulled open and her heart torn from her chest as she fought to fill her lungs. Harry flashed through her mind, he was being thrown through the air and landed on his side, and she knew she was now staring at his lifeless body. A whimper escaped from her lips and suddenly her crutch of rage was gone, she had swung back to grief as she came to the realisation that her brother was dead.
The whimper turned into a scream of terror, defiance and pain and Hermione felt what little energy she had summoned leave her body with the scream. She began to fall as though in slow motion and expected any second to painfully come in contact with the solid ground of the boathouse. Strong arms caught her, wrapped around her and gently lowered her to the ground. They held her tight and rocked her as her scream turned back to sobs. Hermione pushed at one of the arms around her trying to get it off her but she simply did not have the strength to do it, and her guardian was determined to hold onto her. Soon Hermione gave up fighting to get away and instead gripped the arm as though it was the only thing keeping her on the earth. 'How could one person cry so much?' Hermione thought as the sobs continued to rack her body, and those arms continued to hold her.
Hermione's body was exhausted and shaking, her eyes stung and her vision was blurred. She knew she was a mess, but didn't care. She could feel exhaustion coming to take her away and she did not struggle as she allowed her heavy eyelids to slowly lower and close. She was aware of the person holding her shifting, then she felt the arm that she had been gripping slide out from her grasp. Hermione started to panic, her heart hammering against her ribcage at the thought of her guardian abandoning her as well, whoever they may be. Lips pressed against her forehead reassuringly as an arm slipped under her legs and the other around her back, and then she was gently lifted off the ground almost effortlessly.
Too tired to open her eyes and perhaps a little afraid to find out her guardian may be Ron, Hermione rested her head against the shoulder of the person carrying her and focused on breathing. As she inhaled she caught a scent of the person carrying her but their scent was mingled with dirt, blood and battle. Hermione's head was pounding the only consolation was that the rest of her body seemed to be numb. She didn't know if she had drifted off to sleep or not but they seemed to have only travelled for a few moments when they came to a stop. Hermione wondered where her guardian was taking her, but the thought was dismissed by the stronger thought of 'I don't care anymore'. They had only stopped for a moment when Hermione felt the world spin and she knew they were disapparating. This being too much for the young witch she promptly passed out before she could open her eyes to see where she was.
Hermione knew that her body was feeling some sort of sensation but she could not tell what it was as she drifted back to consciousness. She opened her eyes and realised that she was naked in a bathtub of steaming hot water, someone was washing her back. In a fit of panic she tried to throw herself out of the tub but being wet and soapy put her at quite the disadvantage. She felt those strong arms encircle her, holding her tight and safe and she relaxed somewhat. Hermione remembered her guardian and again held onto those arms, as lips touched the back of her head she closed her eyes and went with the darkness again.
The next time she drifted back to consciousness she was laying in bed on her side, resting her head on her hand. She opened her eyes and saw that she was facing a fire, the room she was in was empty and not one that she recognised. She began to take mental stock of herself, her body remained exhausted, stiff and sore. She looked around as much as she could without moving, the room she was in appeared to be a bedroom within some sort of log cabin, the wooden walls at least gave that much away. There was a window on the same wall the bed was against, the curtains were open and the moonlight shone in, the window was open and a gentle breeze was blowing through it. The breeze was relaxing to Hermione and though she knew that everything was far from okay, she was as far from concerned about it all as she could get. She was thinking about getting up and moving around but her body began to shake at the very thought of it and she chose instead to force herself to turn over in the bed. She gasped as she winced in pain at the simple act of rolling over. As though her mind was telling her that she had had enough, darkness swallowed her again.
Hermione was running across the courtyard, jumping over the fallen bodies of her school friends and comrades as she fought desperately to keep up with Harry and Ron. The boys at this point were far ahead of her, she ducked to avoid the blow from the sickle that the troll had swung at her, she turned sharply to try and shake him off and when she found she had done so successfully she turned back in the direction the boys had run off in. Hermione was now in full blown panic mode as she realised that she had lost sight of them, she spun back around in an attempt to search the courtyard for them and her eyes fell on the body closest to her. "RON!" She screamed as she ran to the body, skidding on her knees as she got to him and clung to him, she looked up, casting her eyes around searching for help, when her eyes met Harry's own green eyes. It took mere seconds for her to process that his eyes were dead too. Hermione got to her feet and ran over to Harry's body, she stared down at it for a moment in disbelief. Again she looked around the courtyard and she realised that all the bodies laying there were those who were her nearest and dearest, her parents were there, professor McGonagall, Lupin and Tonks, everyone she had ever cared about was laying there staring at her with dead eyes and broken bodies. Hermione screamed. She was sitting up, covered in sweat and panting, heart thundering against her chest, a single tear was meandering its way down her cheek. She felt strong arms around her once more, soothing sounds came from behind her and soft gentle kisses peppered her shoulder and neck.
Hermione relaxed into the arms and allowed herself to be soothed by the sounds and kisses coming from the warm comforting body behind her in the bed. They lay like that for a while until finally Hermione stopped shaking, though the soothing sounds and soft caresses never stopped. Hermione was in two minds about what to do next. Part of her told her just to fall asleep in these arms, whose ever they were, but the logical part of her brain told her that she had to know who her guardian was. Hermione took a deep breath and turned in those arms to face her guardian. She looked up into her guardian's eyes and then closed her own and drifted off to sleep.