Chapter 1 Through the Veil
Hermione woke up in pain. The lights were blinding. She jerked in response of the adrenaline in her veins. She had been in the Department of Mysteries. They had been attacked by Death Eaters. Harry had been in trouble.
She had been hit with a non verbal curse of purple flame. She had been with Harry, and Neville, and suddenly there was nothing. It was just black. She didn't know how she could have survived. She was useless in their second year, a cowering non-Gryffindor in the third year in the Shrieking Shack, a spectator for the triwizard tournament, and now just dead weight in Harry's arms to be carried.
She was in the hospital wing. Ron was there, holding her hand as she slept. The moment she stirred he yanked it away as if he had been burned. They both acted like she didn't notice this.
"Ron, What's happened? Where's Harry?" she said.
"You are in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey said not to let you move. You were hit with a curse. She says you are going to need to recover for days, and be on multiple potions per day." Ron said.
Hermione winced and held her ribs as she sat up.
"Ron, what happened to Harry?" Hermione said.
Ron didn't want to meet her eyes. He just looked down.
"He died…" he croaked out.
The world fell apart. It couldn't be! He was the one that was going to vanquish Voldemort, to finally free the wizarding world. It couldn't end like this. There had to have been a mistake! He couldn't have left them like this! He couldn't have left her like this!
She immediately reprimanded her thoughts out of force of habit.
"It can't be… Ron, it just can't be!" she said, shock settling in.
Ron took a moment to gather his words. "Harry and Neville carried you out. The Order arrived just in the nick of time. The prophecy was destroyed in the battle. Harry made sure you were safe, then he joined the fight. It was Sirius. Sirius was cursed into that veil we went past in the Department of Mysteries. It was the one that Harry heard voices near. Sirius fell through, and Harry tried to save him. Harry ran right through it." Ron's voice broke.
Hermione covered her mouth. "I don't believe it. It can't be! It just can't be, Ron!" she said.
Ron dissolved into tears. Hermione leaned forward and hugged him through the pain. She shed a few tears of her own.
Somehow she was in more pain now than she had been when she woke up.
What could they do now? What could be done now that their only hope, and her only true friend that understood her was, dead? They didn't even have a body to bury. She didn't have a chance to say goodbye. She would never see that stupid lop-sided grin, never have the urge to fix his stubbornly messy hair, never see him win game after game of quidditch. She would never read his writing. She would never hear his voice. She would never see him stand with courage against unyielding foes. She would never see him again.
It burned her to think that many would be rejoicing now. Some even in the school were breathing a sigh of relief.
How could she go on without him?
What would he have done in her position? He pictured him in his always crooked glasses smiling at her bedside. He wouldn't give up. Even at the end he was fighting to save his Godfather. He was always running to save someone. It was something that was so… so… Harry.
This was not the end. This could not be the end.
She thought for a moment, then had an idea, a stupid, horrible, reckless idea.
"I'm going to break into the Department of Mysteries." she said.