Title: In the End it is all about Love
Author: winterwillow
Genre: Angst/Romance/General
Pairings: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related, that would be J.K.Rowling, all I own is the plot.
Summary: Who could survive a battle begun and ended by love?
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The final battle had begun. Everywhere around her wizards and witches were throwing curses and spells at each other trying to best one another. Hermione took up the spot behind the rosebushes as planned and waiting. Draco appeared on the other side by the statue of the angel. Standing up she threw a disarming spell at him but he dodged it.
She watched as Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived-to-be-a-pain-in-the-ass, run past her to Voldemort with Ron lagging behind him as usual. Stifling a smile she continued to perform the small play that she and Draco had rehearsed. Spell after spell they threw at each other as if they were dancing. Occasionally they glanced over to see how the only battle that really mattered was going.
Hermione smiled to herself. The Order knew there was a traitor amongst them but they had no idea who it was. They would never assume it was her. In fact Dumbledore had assigned her to the task of figuring it out. Lately she had begun to implicate Ron. It really wasn't all that hard to do. He never went on an assignment without Harry so he knew where Harry was at all times. And with his desperate want to be rich and powerful. Known. He would be an easy target to turn. Or so it was to Dumbledore after she placed a few seeds of doubt.
Shaking herself from her thoughts she turned back to her and Draco's mock duel and choked down a laugh as he actually caught her off guard and hit her with a jelly-legs jinx. Mentally she berated herself, even first years know how to dodge a jelly-legs. Smiling she performed the counter-curse and threw it back at him before she checked on the progress of Harry and Voldemort.
Harry had the upper hand at the moment having performed an Imperius Curse that got past Voldemort's shield. Well then, now where's Ron? Hermione slid her gaze to where she had last seen the red head only to find him staring directly at Draco with the killing curse on his lips. She watched helpless as the laughter faded from Draco's eyes and he fell to the ground with an emerald haze around his body. She watched as Ron turned to her smiling expecting her to give him props but she just stared at him. Empty. Before he even knew what was happening he was lying on the ground, a pink haze circling him, his eyes and mouth open.
Harry turned around from where he was concentrating on getting Voldemort to abandon his wand as he heard the thud behind him. He stared at the body of his friend, lying there, dead at his feet. He raised his eyes blankly to Hermione asking her why. His concentration broke and he raised his wand to point it at his old friend. However before he could utter a single word a spell hit him from behind and he fell to the ground with a haze of green.
"Well," Voldemort said coming over to stand beside Hermione. "The boy finally died. Good. Let's celebrate shall we? Where's Draco?" When no answer was forthcoming he followed the empty gaze of her honey eyes and saw the lifeless body of the young man who had become like a son to him.
"I assume you killed his murderer?" At her brief nod towards the red-headed boy he squared his shoulders and began to walk away towards where the rest of the Death Eaters were gathering up the last of the opposition.
Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were herded into a small group with Lupin and still reeling in shock they watched as Hermione Granger, the bookworm of the Golden Trio, walked slowly over to where Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Slytherin, lay dead. They watched as she took a chain from around his neck and placed the ring hanging off it onto one of his fingers. Taking a chain from off her own neck she did the same with her hand and another ring.
Severus Snape watched her as she reached into her robes and leaving his place in the circle of Death Eaters, who were rounding up the last of The Order, he ran towards her knowing he would be too late. Both of the sides watched as Hermione pulled a gun, a muggle weapon, out of a pocket in her robes and lifted it to her head.
Voldemort closed his eyes as the shot rang out. He knew what was happening the moment Severus had begun to run past him. He also knew that Severus would die within the year now. His godson and wife dead. He would have nothing left to live for, not even their new order.
The members of The Order felt tears threatening their eyes as they recognized the situation. As the war had raged on Harry and Ron had continuously pushed Hermione away, only using her when they needed to know something, and so she had ran. She had found love and then Harry and Ron took that away from her too. As Voldemort lead the wizards and prisoners from the glade only one figure stayed behind.
Ginny Weasley stood on top of a hill of clover not far away and let the wind whip her hair around her face and body drying her tears even as she cried them. She cried for her friend who had found love only to have it taken away. She cried for her brother and his friend too stupid to realize what they had done to their other friend until it was beyond too late. She cried for the baby, barely known to anyone besides her and Hermione. The baby who would never get the chance to breathe a single breath.
Too late. Always too late. She could have saved the day. The small vial of potion that she had meant to slip Harry the night before fell from her hands. Without Harry the Order would have never initiated the battle. But no, her stupid feelings stopped her hand.
Love began this war and when it was all said and done love ended it.
Ginny flipped the lid off of the vial and lifted it to her lips, swallowing its contents in one swallow. She crumpled softly into the patch of clover on top of the hill just as the rest of the wizards disappeared over the hill.
THE END.
SHORT BUT SWEET. SORRY IF IT DIDN'T PLAY OUT TO YOUR IMAGINATION BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT WENT IN MINE.
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Author's Note:
As you have probably realized if you have read any of my last updates on any of my other stories I am experiencing a bit of writer's block. Which is why these little one-shots keep popping up. Almost always they end in angst and the death of pretty much everyone. I can never write a happy ending....what is wrong with me? Anyways enjoy, check the rest of my stories out if you feel like it.