I own nothing, but how I wish I did.
Sorry it took me so long. I was having some editing issues. I'm still not completely happy with it but happier then what I was.
Chapter 1
Hermione Granger stood in the doorway of the teacher's entrance into the Great Hall and surveyed the crowd amassed within. At the moment it was students that made the majority of their numbers but more reinforcements were arriving from the village and word was spreading as the students were alerting their families so more would be coming soon. At least they all hoped so anyway.
Her gaze drifted back to the teachers table. It was surrounded by professors, members of the Order of the Pheonix and Ron Weasley. Although the three of them were still too young to join the Order, Ron's talent for strategy had made his opinion a respected one at the table.
The hand that was holding her right one twitched and drew her attention to the other person occupying the doorway with her. "It shouldn't be this way," murmured her other best friend. Harry Potter was looking over the crowd of students so intensely it seemed as though he was trying to memorize every face, every little detail that he could about each of them. Hermione knew he felt personally responsible for each of them and was already torturing himself over the knowledge that not all would survive this fight but she had yet to find any words to comfort or convince him otherwise.
"It shouldn't be. No," she agreed with a squeeze of her hand. "But, it was always going to be. It was just a matter of when. He was never going to leave Hogwarts alone." Harry nodded miserably and they fell into silence again as they watched the slowly growing crowd.
This was supposed to be their seventh year. It should be a happy time. Their days should have been filled with making memories with their friends, playing pranks on the other houses and enjoying the last carefree moments of childhood before they graduated and had to grow up. Their only worries should be about passing their NEWTs, whether their relationships with their boyfriend/girlfriend would last pass the summer, and of course what they wanted to do after school was over. But, then again, when had they ever been normal? Every year something had been going on. Sometimes the whole school was effected like with the basilisk but sometimes not. Harry had always been at the center of it all though and Hermione and Ron had been faithfully there with him.
Hermione broke the silence with a giggle that was somehow both strained and hysterical at the same time. Feeling Harry's worried gaze on her, she grinned up at him. "Well, it really is a bit mad when you think about it." Seeing Harry's confused face she realized she had started up in mid thought again. "Well, I was just thinking about when I was evacuating the first years earlier," she explained, " And that led me to thinking of us when we were first years. Which led me to thinking about my life before that when I was just a regular, muggle little girl. How simple life had been then...and how boring by comparison. In a way I miss that. You know, if anyone had told me when I was nine that in just two years time I would enter a world full of magic and mayhem, where I would fight trolls, befriend giants, be taught by a werewolf, fly on an animal's back to rescue an escaped killer, and break almost every rule I'd ever come into contact with I would have happily called the men with the white coats to come and cart them away?"
She looked up to find Harry smiling and nodding his head. "Yeah, I remember how hard it was to believe when Hagrid told me I was a wizard. If someone had told me about all the crazy things that would happen to me I wouldn't have belived a word. Things like that didn't happen to me. I mean I always dreamed as a kid of having great adventures, every kid does, but I was just boring Harry then."
Hermione snorted, "Well I certainly didn't dream of that! I don't know if you knew this or not but I wasn't much of an adventure seeking rule breaker. At least not until I met you and Ron that is."
To her relief Harry let out a rare laugh and grabbed her up into a hug. "Thank goodness you did meet us. I can't imagine all that's happened without you and Ron there with me. Just like I can't imagine not having this life. I can't imagine what it would be like to stand by and watch someone else go through what I have. This is what I was born for. I know that and I'm ok with it." Hermione buried her face in his shirt so he wouldn't see her watery eyes and held him as tightly as she could.
They stood there drawing comfort from each other as the Hall filled with those that were brave enough to face the Dark Lord and his men in the final battle.
The battle will come next. I'm not sure how much violence will be written as I've never done a fight scene before but there will be some. Just to warn you.
