It was hard, Harry thought, to die. Much harder than Sirius had told him, much harder than Dumbledore had claimed it was back in King's Cross, and certainly much harder than he had imagined. At least, it was hard to not die. He had thought he would come straight back to life, just in time to kill Voldemort and save the others. He had, apparently, been wrong. He could hear the Death Eaters celebrating, marching off, could almost see them, but the image looked like one of Dudley's broken televisions. And the pain… the pain was so intense. But it didn't matter.

He would put up with it, with anything, if he could save everyone, especially Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.

"Ron, something's wrong."

Ron looked up at Hermione with bleary eyes. The girl of his dreams stood over him, biting her lip as tears swam in her eyes. If they only could have had more time together before this battle… "Of course something's wrong, 'mione. Look around you, look at how many people are dead." He waved a hand to his left, where most of his family was gathered around Fred's body. Ginny, who had discovered Tonks and Lupin next to her brother, stood between them with her face filled with despair. Along the way, little Colin Creevey laid completely still, and many other friends, students, and Order members were strewn about. "What is right about any of this?"

Hermione sighed, and Ron knew there was something else. That sigh was reserved for when she was unsure about something, and that sort of situation didn't come about very often. "I know, but, well, have you noticed someone missing?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" He looked back at his family; there was his father, tears streaming down his face as he held his sobbing wife. There was George, staring blankly at the face that was identical to his own. There were Bill and Fleur, whispering something quietly, and there was Percy, shaking his head solemnly as he surveyed the room of battle-weary witches and wizards. Luna and Neville had gravitated to Ginny, and the three of them were holding a whispered conversation. "My family is all here, Hermione, except Charlie, but then he wasn't here to begin with."

"No, they aren't." Hermione knelt in front of him and sighed that uncertain sigh again. "Harry isn't in here."

Ron gaped at her for a moment before leaping to his feet and turning in a complete circle. McGonagall and Flitwick were assisting Madam Pomfrey with her healing. No Harry. Kingsley and Sprout were comforting students and adults alike. No Harry. Oliver Wood, among other people, was still carrying in the deceased and injured fighters. No Harry. Members of the DA were clustered around their fallen comrades and crying or shaking their heads miserably as they spoke of the damage, but there was no sight of Harry. "Bloody hell, Hermione, you're right. Where is he? You don't think-"

"I don't know, Ron." Hermione stood up and grabbed his hand. "We have to go search for him. He was with us when we came in here, so he couldn't have gone too far without someone having seen him, right?"

Ron shook his head. "Hermione, Harry has the Invisibility Cloak. He could have gone anywhere."

Before Hermione could respond, all of the windows of the Great Hall exploded. Hermione screamed and put her hands over her head as Death Eaters flew into the room, sans broomsticks. Ron grimaced as he recalled Harry's brief explanation of Snape's escape: apparently, the greasy-haired headmaster hadn't been the only person to learn a trick or two from Voldemort. People were screaming and crying out in fear, diving to the ground to escape the attack.

"Well, isn't this a sad scene." Voldemort himself stepped through the open doors of the Great Hall, smiling serenely at the chaos around him and flanked by even more Death Eaters. As soon as he spoke, everyone went silent. Ron pulled Hermione into his chest and clung to her tightly. "I know that I promised you an hour to prepare yourselves, but it has proved an unnecessary gift."

"What are you talking about?" Professor McGonagall looked taller than normal, or maybe it was just that she was the only person standing in the middle of a crowd of injured warriors. "Why have you come back so soon? Harry-"

"Harry Potter is dead!" Voldemort laughed maniacally and snapped his fingers. One of his Death Eaters stepped forward with a shred of fabric that made Ron moan with agony. It belonged to the shirt Harry had borrowed from Bill earlier that day. He felt Hermione go rigid as she turned to look, and Voldemort took the fabric and held it higher. "This shirt is all that's left of the Boy Who Lived. He tried to escape us, of course, but my faithful Death Eaters caught him and brought him to me. My magic is so powerful that even his body could not remain whole when confronted with it."

"No…" whispered Ron. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening, it wasn't possible. Harry wouldn't have tried to run from the battle. He wasn't really dead, it was all a lie.

McGonagall laughed. She seemed to have taken the post of general for the Order and Hogwarts fighters. "Do you honestly think that we'll believe you because of a piece of cloth? You could have gotten that from anywhere!"

Voldemort smiled again. "Of course, you will want more proof. Bella, if you please."

"Yes, my Lord." Bellatrix Lestrange approached her master and placed her wand to the end of his own. "Prior Incantato."

A ghostly scene arose from the tip of Voldemort's wand; the Great Hall was entranced by the image of Harry being thrown into their line of sight, and moments later he was hit by a blast of green light. His body was completely gone when the light faded, and as the scene faded away Voldemort smiled again. "Is there any doubt that Harry Potter is gone?"

The room was silent for a few moments, but a flash of motion from his left made Ron whip his head around. Ginny was running forward, her hair streaking behind her and her wand at the ready. Ron tried to release Hermione and chase his sister, but his body wouldn't move. He reckoned he was in shock. Bellatrix grinned and shot a Tripping Jinx at the small girl, sending her flying to the floor. "Well, look who decided to join the party. The darling Weasley girl who gave Severus so many problems this year."

"He deserved it and more! He didn't get half of what was coming to him!" Ginny was obviously hysterical, her eyes bright with tears and her voice hoarse; as she tried to get to her feet the female Death Eater grabbed her hair and forced her up, holding her wand to her neck. "And if Harry can't kill this monster, then I'll finish the job for him!"

"You little wench. Do you honestly expect that you would be able to defeat the Dark Lord, who rules all of Britain and more? He has powers the likes of which you couldn't dream of in your darkest nightmares." Bellatrix's voice was far too smug.

"Let her go!" Ron's dad tried to run forward, but the Dark Lord raised his wand. Ron felt himself go completely still, and felt Hermione do the same in his arms. He couldn't even shout in anger, now that he felt his voice return to him.

"Tut, tut, Mr. Weasley. Your daughter all but asked for punishment." Voldemort smiled eerily down at Ginny, who was still struggling to free herself from Bellatrix's grasp. "You'll be my example. Crucio."

Ron couldn't stand to watch the curse, but he couldn't close his eyes or even move them away. He couldn't bear to hear his sister's screams of pain, but he couldn't plug his ears. He was forced to observe his baby sister twist and bend unnaturally, forced to hear every shriek of agony. After what seemed like centuries, Voldemort released the curse and Bellatrix dropped Ginny to the floor, where she continued to squirm in pain for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and standing shakily. Smiling darkly, she laughed in Voldemort's face. "Ha! Is that the worst you can do? I've felt worse pain from other students this year, Tom!"

Voldemort stopped smiling. "You think this is the best I can do, girl? I'm only getting started. That was only the beginning of your pain, and of the pain of your friends. IMPERIO!"

Voldemort's cry was echoed from all around the room by his Death Eaters. Even though he could now move, Ron only had time to realize that he had no way to escape the curses and hold Hermione tighter before one hit him, and suddenly, he knew nothing but the peaceful cloud of oblivion and the feeling of his arms around Hermione.

Hermione knew what was about to happen, but there was nothing she could do to prevent the mass shout of "IMPERIO!" She felt the paralyzing curse on her lift, and her mouth opened in a loud wail. Ron pulled her even closer to him as people all around them were placed under the Imperius Curse, and she gripped his arms as tightly as she could. When she felt him go limp, however, she cried out in agony again. Ron had been Imperiused.

"No!" She pushed his arms off of her waist and ducked down once again, trying to avoid being hit. Death Eaters were still throwing the curses everywhere, and she knew that if she tried to move anywhere she would be hit. When spells finally stopped whizzing over her head and all was silent, she dared to peek up. A tall Death Eater was staring down at her with dark, dead-looking eyes.

"Here's another who managed to escape the Curse, my Lord. Would you like the honor?" He grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet, tugging her across the floor as if she were a rag doll. She saw nearly every other student or Order member who had been in the school lined up in neat rows, their faces completely blank. Ginny was still being held by Bellatrix, however, and she managed to give Hermione the closest thing to a smile that the bushy-haired girl could imagine at the time.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Granger," said a familiar drawling voice. Lucius Malfoy smirked at her as she was thrown at Voldemort's feet hard enough to make her wince. "This girl was a close friend of Potter, my Lord. She was traveling with him."

"Ah, yes, I remember her clearly now. Look at me, Mudblood." Hermione snorted in derision and kept her gaze on the floor. If she looked up at him, it would be seen as a sign of submission. "I said look." Her head was raised with a mean yank of her hair to meet Voldemort's scarlet eyes, and he smiled coldly. "That's much better. Now, I need you to assist me."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why would you need me, a Mudblood, to help you? If you are such a great wizard, surely you can do whatever it is by yourself." Smiling suddenly, she raised her voice. "Of course, since you are not a Pureblood yourself, maybe you don't know how. Why don't you Imperiuse me, then, the Mudblood who knows more than you do?"

His smile froze for a moment before he sneered once more. "You're testing my patience, Mudblood. I will only ask this nicely once: how many Horcruxes did your precious Harry destroy before I paid back the favor?"

"I wouldn't tell you that if you paid me a million Galleons and set free everyone in this room." she laughed. Her statement was almost true; however, maybe the information wasn't quite as important as the lives of her friends and her… her family. Maybe. Anger rose within her once more, and she spat at his feet

Voldemort's smile faded, and he growled at her. "Insolent brat! Do you honestly think that I will allow you to get by with such actions?"

"Allow me to take care of the beast, my Lord." Lucius raised a wand, probably stolen from one of the warriors. "Avada-"

"NO!" Voldemort grabbed Lucius's wrist, forcing him to stop. "We need the girl. She was a part of Potter's traveling group, you just said so yourself, and she has information. Allow me to coax it out of her first."

Hermione was suddenly afraid. She knew what was about to happen, and she knew that she only had a very slim chance of defying Voldemort's Legilimency. A slim chance, but just enough of one that she might be able to succeed. As his scarlet orbs drilled into her own, she envisioned nothing but a brick wall. Even as images of Harry, Ron, her parents, and the events of the last year tried to come to the front of her mind, she simply drew her thoughts back to the brick wall. Voldemort finally chuckled and withdrew from her mind. "My, my, Miss Granger, you are quite the Occlumens. I will get it out of you somehow or another, mark my words, but perhaps it is best if we turn in for the night. After all, we have a busy day ahead of us."

Hermione said nothing as she was dragged to her feet by Malfoy, but inside she was mildly surprised that no one bothered to Imperiuse her or Ginny. Whatever their reasoning, she knew what would be in store for them in the coming weeks, and she knew it would be hard to survive. If only they still had hope… If only they still had Harry.

Khgirl08: Hey everyone! This fic is the result of a college student watching far too many "What If…" videos on YouTube that deal with changing the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's centered around the golden trio and yes, there are some mild spoilers, but if you haven't read the seventh book, why would you be reading a story that specifically states "Alternate Ending" in the summary? =/

This has been a WIP for...probably about 3 years now, maybe a little more or less, and by golly it still isn't finished. I hope that getting it published will spur me to finish it up. Of course, feedback ALWAYS helps in these situations.

Please review, whether you loved it, hated it, or something-in-betweened it.