Lean on Me
Chapter 1:
Hermione Granger dragged herself towards the Gryffindor common room, trying to process all the thoughts that were floating around her head. Firstly, there was the fact that the war was over. Well really it had only just begun, however Voldemort was dead, and all that they had to do now was round up the lost Death Eaters, and it would all be sorted, right? But for the first time in her life, Hermione Granger was wrong. How very wrong she was.
Secondly, she could not ponder about the sheer number of humans - death eaters, witches, wizards, squibs and muggles alike - that had lost their lives in the battle. Not just today, but these last few ominous years; ever since Voldemort had come to power once again. Hermione remembered that Voldemort was dead, and a small smile twitched at the corner of her cracked lips.
She then moved on to think about the wreckage that that the wizarding world had become, especially the ruins that Hogwarts was in; rubble and debris everywhere, pools of blood every two feet since the battle had finished (Which was about 3 hours ago now), and the odd limp, lifeless body that was yet to be taken care of.
Lastly, her thoughts fell to Ron. Ronald Weasley, the boy who had dirt on his nose. Living in a tent with two boys for nearly a year had its ups and downs, and had been exceptionally awkward at times, especially when Ron had walked in on her changing. Not to mention when it was that time of the month...
But until recently she had only thought of Ron as a best friend, not as anything else, but now she would see Ron sleeping, or laughing, something as simple as that, and butterflies started fluttering around her insides. But down in the Chamber of Secrets, something had happened. They had kissed passionately, the type of kiss where she had to let Ron know how she felt about him, for fear that she may not survive this battle. And the best thing was that Ron had kissed her back.
"Look, it's the war princess!" a deep, menacing voice broke her out of her blissful daydream.
"Expelliarmus!" another voice spat. Her precious wand wriggled out of her fingers. She whipped around, and three cloaked and masked figures stood there. The first had his wand outreached, and was tall and stocky. The second was casually standing there, twirling her wand in his dirty fingers. The third was small and skinny, but his wand was pointing at her like the firsts.
"Oh dear, da ickle pwincess can go into hidin, but can be caught off guard and killed like now? Mudbloods really are incompetent, pathetic creatures..." the third one drawled.
"CRUCIO!" cried the first.
Fire seared through her veins, and was Hermione was again reminded that pain like this was actually possible. All her memories from Malfoy Manner flooded back to her, and she could almost hear Bellatrix cackling menacingly. She curled up on the ground, and pictured Ron's face, his sapphire blue eyes radiating love, his soft, gentle voice, and the tantalising taste of his lips.
Suddenly the curse lifted, but it begun almost as soon as it stopped. Hermione wished for death to come. They continued to take it in turns to torture her for the next hour and her piercing screams ricocheted and vibrated off the walls.
"Expelliarmus!" the all too familiar voice of her favourite red head echoed through the corridor, and she looked up to see Ron before fading into what she thought was death. I love you was her last conscious thought.
Meanwhile Ron had disarmed the death eaters, stupefied them, and put them in a full body bind. He knelt down, and picked her up bridal style. Her breathing was unnoticable, and Ron could not feel her pulse. He thought she was dead.