Love Levitated

I saw a jet of green flash shot toward Percy, and a body leapt over him…

Then my ground exploded, my world shattered.

NO!!!

I screamed my breath out loud...I shoved away the wreckage around me, blinked my blurred sight and sprang beside the crumpled body on Percy's lap. I lost the strength of supporting my legs. I fell down, kneeling next to him.

Not Ron! Not him!!!

I dropped my wand and cupped Ron's cheeks. His sky-blue eyes stared into a hollow space.

"No, please... no..." I wailed. I looked up, pleaded in Percy's mournful eyes, found no comfort there but disbelief and grief. I shook my head and turned around, to the familiar faces surrounding us. Hot tears streamed down their pain-stricken look.

"Please...?" I whined to Fred. Please, tell me that this isn't happening! But he was shaking with his own weeping. I turned to the other twin.

"George? Please?" Please, tell me that it's his other joke.

"Hermione…." George choked back a sob and closed Ron's eyelids with his shaky fingers

"No…..No! Not Ron! Not my Ron!!" I refused to believe it. I refused to lose him. Not now when a kiss was shared just a few minutes back then. Not now when I was finally able to express my feelings to him. Not when I hadn't said it properly. Said that…that… "I love you Ron, I love you! Come back, love… Don't do this to me…" I tried to hold back my tears but I failed miserably…

"Hermione…" Harry's voice came whispering in my ear and his hands held my shoulders, shaking too, grieving for the same lost that I suffered. But they—the voice, the hands—felt so far away.

I bent forward hastily, kissed Ron in his lips—his warm-but-getting-colder lips—and waited. Waited and hoped that those fairy tales my mother had told me in my bedtime were true, that my Sleeping Knight would be awaken from his mortal slumber for my kiss. But he wouldn't. My beloved brave knight—my witty, steadfast, blazing knight—would never wake up. Not even for our second and last kiss. Then I remembered his mumbled reply to Harry after our first kiss

"So it's now or never, isn't it?"*

Suddenly, I felt a massive numbness. Of anything. I felt darkness crept into my chest. Deeply cut my heart, bled it out—bled the red flame of his hair shade out of my core. Of my very soul.

That's when I heard the laughter. The vile laughter. The laughter of the murderess. That's when I lost my self control. She had to pay. She had to pay for this… pay for my lost—crushed—soul.

I tremblingly stood up.

"Hermione?" I heard someone said. Maybe Harry. Or Perce. Could be one of the twins. I didn't care.

I could only hear the evil laughter. Pounding so loud in my head. The laughter I would always recognized anywhere. It had haunted me since she tortured me in Malfoy Manor. Now she came and brought my worst nightmare. It was her laughter. The laughter of the killer of my love, my dear Ron. The manic laughter of Bellatrix LeStrange.

I felt goose-bumps all over my skin. Fury rippled through my spine. My head suddenly felt light. Then, my minds went surprisingly giddy with an abrupt pleasure. A Pleasure of knowing what I desired. Revenge! My heart shrilled. Revenge!!!!

I went wild. I grabbed my wand and lunged for the stairs where that maggoty devil fled. I was determined to find the vile mouth which howled that dreadful laughter and slit her throat into slices!!!

"Hermione, NO!!" I heard a gasp, and then my steps halted against my will. A strong hand… No, a pair of hands snaked around my waist. I shrieked an agonized cry and tried to free myself.

ENEMY!

"Fred, help me here!" the voice sounded panic.

"LET. ME. GO!!" I screeched.

"She's going to kill herself! Fred, George!!" My nostril flared at this nonsense.

"Myself? I'm going to kill myself?!" Then, I felt an arm restrained my shoulder, and another hand tried to snatch my wand. "NO!!" I squirmed, but those two people were too strong. My wrath soared. I snarled ferociously, "I'm going to kill HER! I'm going to rip that bitch's throat! I'm going to suck her blood dry! I'm going to shred her wretched heart and fed it to the…"

"Hermione…. Please, Hermione! Look at me….Hermione!" one of them turned and rattled my body, waking me from my frenzied mental state. His face came in a blurry dirt-smudged figure. I didn't recognize him at first. "I've lost one of two best mates I've ever had. Don't make me lose another one." He pleaded. "Please… don't hurt yourself more than this, Hermione…"

Harry.

I finally recognized him.

His eyes were bloodshot red. His tormented voice begged me over and over.

Harry… Oh, Harry….

I wailed. My knees gave in. I crumpled on the cold marble floor of Hogwarts. The hostile arms surrounding my body loosened, embracing me into a warm hug. Grieving hug.

How would I move on? What's the world without Ron for me? He left me once in the forest and I almost gave in. But then he was alive. He's all right. He came back. Now…now…

"Brace your self 'Mione" Someone said. I froze and turned my head around. George smiled faintly. "Ron would want you safe. Want you survive this battle. He wouldn't want his Mione taking foolish action, would he? You're his genius Hermione, after all, aren't you?" George whispered those words tremblingly.

"George…" I moaned.

"You're his genius 'Mione, Aren't you?" His voice was stronger by then. My darkened heart warmed a bit hearing that nickname Ron had invented for me.

"Be smart, Mione… survive this battle." Harry said it too, perhaps sensing the change of my tensed muscle hearing the nickname. "Survive this battle, Mione. For him."

"For Ron?" I drew a shaky breath.

"For Ron." George agreed. "Come…" He helped me stand up.

Then, another blast exploded, hitting the wall where Percy and Fred was kneeling, supporting Ron's body. I caught my breath and sprang once more toward the lifeless form of my most beloved person.

"Percy! Hermione!" Harry shouted. "Move!"

"I can't leave him!" Percy and I shouted, together, unsurprisingly.

"We'll carry him." George roared, his gaze blazing toward the enemies I couldn't see. He stunned a death eater who came closer, and then yell, "Come on, Fred!"

"OK! All of us!" Fred screamed through the chaos.

"NO!" I realized it has to be me… It has to be me! "I'll take care of Ron, Harry. But you have to move on," I told Harry. "All of you!" I turned to Ron's siblings. "Understand? You protect Harry, whatever mission he has now. I protect Ron and find a safe place for him." They all looked at me as if I had gone mad. Maybe I am.

"You can't do anything for him, anymore, Mione," Fred pleaded hesitantly, torn between logic and brotherhood.

"I can't leave him here." I sobbed. "I'll fight, but I can't leave him here. I just can't. Please!?" I begged steadfastly. I stood up, not waiting for their consent. They'd understand. Harry'd understand.

Flashes of memories—of Ron's face, when he felt annoyed in our first Charm class, when he saved me from that hideous mountain troll—surged toward me when I pointed my wand at Ron. Ignoring the throbbing pain, I shouted, "wingardium leviosa!!"


AN:*I quoted Ron's line after the kiss, yes, so that this FFic be compatible with my one of the favorite parts in DH. Yet that line isn't mine. Nor the characters here. They belong to Rowling. But I love them as much as she does…Oh, and Ron, instead of Fred; Bellatrix, instead of Rookwood. (Reviews are embraced; however harsh and honest they are. Flame as you wish. It's still appreciated. Hate is a powerful feeling, yet, it feels much better than your ignorance on the review bar ^^)

2nd AN: I modified the summary and the category, thanks to the very constructive reviews from Bunnyhops and AllForLoveAndHappiness. Though I still think it's a sweet romance, I guess most reader consider it as angst/hurt. Categorization often confuses me...(T___T)