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Hermione ran. Tears and grime streaked her face, making her unrecognizable, her clothes torn by the branches whipping at her as she fled deeper into the woods surrounding Hogwarts. Blood seeped through her jeans from a deep gash on her leg, and one arm hung limp by her side. Her functioning arm was circled tight around Harry, supporting him as they both stumbled blindly away from the horrific battle scene behind them.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"No!" Hermione flung a spell at the killing curse headed towards Ron, but it rebounded and hit a nearby column, breaking it in two. Hermione watched horrified as Ron continued fighting Bellatrix, unaware of the curse sent his way. The jet of green light hit him directly in the back. The fighting stopped as everyone watched Harry and Hermione sprint towards their friend.
"Almost there Harry, just hold on. You hear me? Just hold on. Look at me, don't close your eyes." Hermione chanted over and over again. Harry groaned and tripped on a root. Desperate, Hermione tried to lift him, but was too weak. A group of Death Eaters were heard in the distance, crashing through the brush, searching. For them.
What Hermione wanted to do was throw down her wand and cry. Give up being miss-know-it-all, give up keeping up a perfect image, give up being the one everyone went to for help. Give up being a hero. Frustrated and scared, she cast a quick muffiliato and levitated the now unconscious Harry Potter. She reached the boundary of the Hogwarts boundary, and cast a quick glance around, looking for more Death Eaters. Making sure she had a tight grip on Harry's hand, she took a breath, and disapparated.
A curse hit the arch directly above Hermione, and chunks of Marble rained down upon her. One hit her arm, and she heard it snap in two, another tore a gash in her leg, creating a deep cut, but she could barely feel either. All she saw was Ron as he fell on the ground, dead, his brown eyes wide open, in a completely serene expression. Shaking with sobs, she turned back to the Hogwarts courtyard, where Harry and Voldemort had both collapsed. Both were twitching uncontrollably. Suddenly, a dark cloud was drawn out of Harry's chest, and he fell, barely breathing, while an identical shroud came out of Voldemort. The clouds grew darker, and larger, until they filled the sky. Rain started to pour down in torrents.
Harry, seeing his chance, tried to get up and disarm Voldemort, but was too weak. Hermione rushed to him, grabbed his hand, and directed some of her magic into him, weakening her greatly. All witches and wizards had been warned against doing this, as it can cause in overexertion and even death. Harry, momentarily filled with Hermione's strength, shot a curse at Voldemort, who began to wither away, his gray skin cracking, as he died, his last horcrux having been destroyed. Hermione, unable to stand because of the transition, staggered over to where Ron's body lay, and fell unconscious, falling on top of her beloved, as the battle resumed around them.
Hauling Harry up to the door of the dark cottage, she knocked five times, quick, sharp raps, that radiated urgency. Molly Weasley answered the door wand pointed at Hermione, her face creased in worry, and her eyes darkened with fear and suspicion. Hermione interrupted before the older woman could speak. "Hermione Jean Granger, I charmed my parents so they think they're Arnold and Monica Wilkins, they're in Australia. I've never failed a test, except one History of Magic, but we don't need to know about that, and I punched Draco Malfoy in third year. Let me in, Harry's hurt. I've just come from Hogwarts."
Molly's eyes softened, and she took Harry from her, ushering the weary girl inside the small house. The dining and living room was filled with wounded and sleeping students. Putting Harry on a small cot near the door, she administered a dreamless sleep potion, and his face immediatly relaxed. "Now dear, I will attend to him when he wakes, But we need to take care of your arm and leg first."
"Will Harry survive?" Hermione persisted.
"He'll be fine for the moment. Though, no doubt, he shall have a headache when he wakes. Where's Ronald? I saw he didn't come with you." Molly's eyes met Hermione's. They were silent for a few moments. Finally, Molly returned to her work, with nothing being said, nothing having needed to. Molly ran her wand over the gash in Hermione's leg, healing it, and summoned a Blood Replenishing Potion from the kitchen. The bottle was nearly empty. "Molly, others need that, I'll be fine. You're almost out." Hermione protested. The older woman's eyes were filled with grief from losing her youngest son, but determination to help.
"Nonsense, I have Luna to help me, she's making more in the back. You need it, believe me. Facing what must have gone on in that battle, im so proud of you thr-" Molly broke off, her eyes starting to water.
"Luna?" Hermione tried to steer the conversation away from Ron. "Is that wise?" Luna's daydreaminess and tendency to get distracted always got her bad grades in potions.
"She's perfectly adept, believe me." Molly assured her. As the bitter taste of the potion faded, she could feel the pain of her bones as they mended themselves, Mrs. Weasley muttering the incantation under her breath. When her skin stopped crawling, she gave in to the coming blackness, and gave into a deep sleep.
"Hermione, there's nothing you can do for him. He's gone. You have to get out of here. Take Harry with you, and go! Molly's taken the other wounded to Shell Cottage. Go!" Remus shook Hermione out of her stupor, and she glanced at Ron again. He looked peaceful in his death, and she felt more tears threatening to leak out of her. But she didn't care. She didn't want to fight it. She was too exhausted.
Tears falling freely now, she looked around her. Everywhere, it was chaos. people shrieking curses left and right, dying, wounded, and tortured people filled her vision. She felt Remus lift her off the ground and growled in her ear, "This is no time to be pathetic and weak. Think of the people dying. If that doesn't work, think of your own life." They ducked as a Cruciatus Curse was sent their way. "See?" Remus said sternly. "I need you to be strong and get Harry and yourself away."
Hermione nodded, too dazed to do anything else. She grabbed Harry's arm, and raced through the castle. A group of three death eaters took pursuit of them, forcing her to go faster. She weaved through the castle's passageways, and ran outside, straight into the Forbidden Forest.
She woke up aware of a presence near her. Turning her stiff neck slowly, her eyes still heavy with sleep, she made out a shape next to her. Opening her eyes fully, she saw Neville, face to face with her. He smiled. "I wondered when you would wake up. You took quite a beating there."
His face was scarred and slightly bloodied, but he looked happy. "That was a courageous and stupid thing you did. And extremely terrifying to watch. We all thought you had died. Thank god Remus was there. He said you needed time to recover." Neville's gaze was stern and reflected worry. Unwilling to carry on talking about the topic, Hermione shut her eyes, but opened them again. "So what happened to you? Are you alright?" She asked. Neville grimaced.
"I went after Bellatrix and her husband. Well, you can imagine how that worked out. I killed Rodolphus, but Bellatrix was on the ground and unarmed, and I couldn't kill her; I hesitated, and she got away. I had the chance to avenge my parents, and I lost it. She escaped. I let her escape." Tears leaked out of his eyes, and he furiously brushed them away. Hermione lay a comforting hand on his arm as he cried. "It's okay Neville. You did the right thing. You didn't kill her when she couldn't defend herself. You don't need to kill her, anyway. Anyone like that deserves Azkaban." Hermione's voice was soft, comforting, empathizing, like one who had endured the same.
Neville looked up at her and smiled a light haunting memory of a smile, one that played around his lips and barely reached his eyes.
"How's Harry? Molly wouldn't tell me much, after you and him disappeared, everyone thought you were dead for sure. You should've seen McGonagall, she was cursing death eaters left and right, I wasn't sure what had come over her." He animatedly retold the story of the battle, how Remus had valiantly died saving an underage Ravenclaw student who had snuck back in to the battle, and how Tonks, in her grief, had soon followed, but not after taking many death eater's lives as well. Hermione smiled and cried at all of his stories of what had happened, wishing that she had been there to help those she couldn't have.
Mrs. Weasley marched over when their voices reached too high a level, giving them a look like the stern Madam Pince back at the Hogwarts Library would. Giggling, Hermione lowered her voice, and then clutched her head. "Ow." She muttered. "Damn Rowle shot a trip jinx at me, and I hit my head. Got him back soon enough though. Convinced Peeves to turn the tapestry he was about to run through to stone. I don't think he'll be fighting any more."
Mrs. Weasley hustled over to Hermione's bedside and placed a worried hand on her forehead. "Your temperature's a but high, dearie. Some more rest would do it good." At that moment, Bill walked through the door and headed straight to the kitchen where Fleur was baking pastries. he kissed her on the cheek as a greeting, and then walked over to Hermione. She immediately bombarded him with questions. "Where's Harry? How is he doing? Is everyone okay? When are-" he cut her off.
"I'm not in charge of what goes on around here, that's Kingsley's job. But Harry's in the back room, he-" He was cut off as Hermione jumped out of bed and limped in a lopsided fashion towards the door. As she began to open it, Bill's voice rose frantically "Hermione, he's talking to-"
Hermione stepped back from the door in astonishment. Past the now open door and sitting calmly around a table was Harry Potter, and more surprisingly, Draco Malfoy.
I'm not going to be one of those writers that tells you whats going to happen next, but I hope that you will continue to read my story. I'll try not to be fluffy and leave cliff-hangers. Will upload next chapter as soon as I can, if you liked it, please review! If you didn't, review anyway. :)