I usually don't do author's notes, but I will for this one just to clear things up. This is bookverse, my own imagination, and only slightly influenced by the scene in the movie (I really like when Hermione tells Harry that she will come with him to the forest). This is right after Harry leaves the Pensieve, right before he tells Neville to kill Nagini. Just think of this as an extra scene. I would like you to review, tell me if it made you cry or not (I cried when I wrote it, but I tend to be overly emotional). Thanks for reading!
He was walking slowly through the deserted castle, wanting to savor every moment, every breath, because now they were numbered. But he pushed forward, he had to move, this needed to end before anyone else died because of him. But as he passed the Great Hall, something surprised him. It was Ron and Hermione sitting outside the Hall among the rubble, talking softly.
They both looked up as they heard his approaching footsteps, their eyes searching for his invisible form. "Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively. For a moment, Harry couldn't breathe. Hermione and Ron… how would they react? What would they think? But there was no time to explain now—Death was waiting and he couldn't be late. They would finish it, he was sure.
But as he passed them by, Ron was not dissuaded. "Harry, where are you going?" he demanded, his eyes searching the air blindly. Harry faltered for a moment, but that was just long enough for Ron to reach forward and grasp the trailing end of his cloak.
The cloak slid off of Harry's head, but he did not care. Didn't they see he needed to go before he lost whatever courage he had at the moment? But he would not make it to the forest without the cloak, and so he half-heartedly tugged, trying to pull it out of Ron's grasp. But Ron stood firm, his eyes finding Harry's and keeping him there.
"You can't be thinking of going to the forest," he said bluntly. He looked angry for some reason.
"I have to go," Harry said though numb lips. "I have to—to finish…" his voice trailed off as any energy he had disappeared.
"Harry," Hermione said soothingly, her voice trembling. "Harry you can't just give up. Come back to the Great Hall with us, Harry." She was pleading him, beseeching.
But suddenly, for the first time since leaving the Pensieve, Harry was angry. He was angry at Dumbledore for never telling him, angry that he had to leave Ginny and Ron and Hermione, and angry that they were making this so hard, much harder than it should have been.
"No!" Harry shouted. "I have to go!" and he yanked the cloak out of Ron's grasp. But Ron was angry too.
"No! You're not leaving us. You're not abandoning my sister! You have people here who need you Harry, and if you go to the forest it won't be a fair fight!"
"I don't want to go!" Harry shouted furiously, desperately. "But I don't have a choice! I never have!"
Before Ron could shout back, Hermione pushed her way between them, a glimmer of understanding shining in her eyes. "Harry, what aren't you telling us?" she whispered.
Harry wrapped the cloak around him, his energy disappearing as fast as his body. His shoulder slumped forward; his head was still visible.
"I'm the last Horcrux, don't you see?" he whispered. "The one he never intended to make, but as long as I live, so does he. So I have to go…"
"You…you're…" Ron didn't seem to be able to articulate what he wanted to say, and instead stared dumbly at Harry's face.
"I have to die, Ron," Harry said for him. There was no anger left in his voice, only weary acceptance.
"No," Ron whispered, surprising Harry again. "No, you are supposed to live. You have to defeat him! You survived everything else, you can't just die, this can't just be it!" Ron was trembling, shaking, looking more agitated than Harry had ever seen him.
Hermione was trembling as well, but she allowed her tears to fall. "If this has to happen," she said fiercely, "then we're coming with you."
Harry felt a small flash of gratitude, but he already knew his answer. "No. Dumbledore let me tell you everything so that you two could finish it. Get Nagini ; finish Voldemort. You have your job and I have mine."
And suddenly Hermione was hugging Harry tightly, so tightly that he couldn't breathe for a moment. "This can't be right," she whispered. "But I understand." She released him and took a step back. Ron's eyes had still not left Harry.
"Tell Ginny," Harry managed to croak through the odd swelling feeling in his throat, "Tell her I love her."
Ron looked again into Harry's eyes and nodded slowly. "There will never be anyone as good for her as you were, Harry," he managed to say weakly.
Harry nodded back, his throat still tight. "Goodbye," he whispered, pulling the cloak back over his head, sinking back into the familiar numbness.
And as he walked away, he could just hear Hermione's harsh, choking sobs behind him.
He didn't look back. He couldn't.