Harry got up around eight a.m. the next day, since he did not know when Voldemort would return. He walked down the staircase to find Hermione staring into the fire. She looked mesmerized, and did not seem to notice when he sat across from her.
Looking into her face he saw a million emotions. Fear, resentment, anger, and an emotion he thought he would never see upon her face, the wanting of revenge. He sat next to her and pulled her into his lap.
She rested back against him, and entwined her fingers with his.
"Were going to win" she whispered.
She said it almost forcefully, as though she knew it for a fact. Harry just looked over her shoulder, hoping to god she was right. All around he saw people huddled in groups, obviously scared, doing the hardest thing possible when it comes to a battle. Waiting. Waiting for what, was the question. Everyone wondered how he would pronounce his presence. Would there be a huge bombing? Or would he do it sleekly, specifically seeking out Harry.
The hallways of the school were deserted. The heads of houses, and all students were in the dormitories, no one risked wandering around. The ghosts stood by the doors to the outside, ready at any moment to yell out that they were here. They floated in a sort of minutemen formation.
Suddenly, everyone in the room seemed to be screaming. The room suddenly was gone. The ones that had survived were standing in the middle of what was left of the floor, all the walls, as well as the roof had been ripped off. Hermione stood and looked at the already, easily 100 dead. It had happened so fast.
"Harry?" she asked. "What do we do?" she looked at him, not in fear, but in simple understanding. She was going to be with him throughout the entire episode, and if she went down, would go down fighting.
It was hard for him to look at her. He so badly wanted her to run and hide, in the few seconds they had, but he knew in his heart she would never stand on the sidelines.
Instead of answering he walked to the edge of the floor, to see that half of the castle was gone. People were milling about over the grounds, screaming as death eaters were running around, casting spells left and right.
He suddenly ran from the dormitory, out to the remaining hallways. What was left of the Gryffindor's, followed him. He grabbed Hermione's hand and ran into the great hall. There stood Voldemort, as though he had been waiting there for them. He walked forward and stared at the two of them.
"Which one of you is going potter?" Voldemort seethed through his teeth.
"Neither." Harry replied simply.
"That is not an option"
"I'm afraid it is. Either that or take us both. Were not going without the other."
Voldemort drew his wand and pointed it at him. "As you wish". He did a polite bow, and harry saw, as though in slow motion, a green light start to fly toward him. He saw every fleck of the light as it soared toward him, heard Hermione screaming, and saw Voldemort laughing. Everything was slow. And harry understood. He had a chance.
He ran from the light, ducking behind a door, pulling Hermione with him.
"What the &6!" Voldemort exclaimed. "Oh, hiding now are we?"
"We will beat you Voldemort." Hermione said, surprising harry. She was not one too speak out of turn.
"Oh really mudblood?" he chuckled. "I highly have to disagree with that."
"Are you okay?" Hermione whispered into his ear. He nodded and they clung together. She rested her head on his chest, as he pulled her as close as possible to him around her waist. "You can do it harry. This was meant for you." She said into his ear.
He knew deep down she was right. He let go of her and walked back into the great hall, where Voldemort sat looking bored.
"Ready to die potter?" he mocked.
"Nope."
Once again, Voldemort threw the green deadly light at him. Harry stood, not even trying to repel the spell, and it once again went in slow motion. He simply stepped out of the way. What is going on? He though to himself.
Voldemort was starting to get angry. "Enough playing!" he yelled out.
He once again threw avada kedavra, and harry, this time decided to see what would happen if he blocked it.
He threw up a shield, and the spell split, half to harry, half to Voldemort.
Voldemort crumpled to the floor as harry slammed into an opposite wall. Hermione ran forward to harry, and hugged him.
"Are you okay?" she asked once again. He did not answer. He was alive, simply knocked out. She walked cautiously to voldemort's side. He was still lying there. She felt him. He was not as lucky as harry. He was dead. Cold, hard, dead.
"Harry!" she screamed.
Dumbledore ran into the great hall, followed by professor McGonagall. She ran to Voldemort.
"Albus, he's dead!" she looked faint, and sat down.
Dumbledore looked shocked. He went to harry and felt for a pulse. He had some color go to his face when he saw that harry was still alive. "What happened Ms. Granger?"
"Voldemort threw the avada kedavra curse, and harry tried to block it. The next thing I saw was light flashing everywhere, and harry up against a wall, and Voldemort dead."
She was crying, and asked "what happened professor?"
Dumbledore pondered his answer for a moment before saying, "the spell split. Half of its affects went to Voldemort, half to harry."
"Could it have really ended that easy?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"ms.granger, you do recall how harry and voldemort's wands shared the same core? They cannot fight against one another. Which is why the spell backfired." He explained.
"Do you also recall how drinking unicorn blood will give you a half life?"
Hermione nodded.
"The avada kedavra spell obviously only killed half of them. Harry, a whole person, survived. But Voldemort, who had only half a life, half a soul, did not sustain the impact."
He walked over to Harry's limp body where Hermione was sitting, holding his hand.
"Ennervate" he muttered.
Harry was in the hospital wing for only minutes because he absolutely refused to stay any longer. Madam Pomfrey was fussing all over him, but eventually let him go.
Even though the attack between harry and Voldemort had seemed small, it was obvious now, just how much damage he had inflicted before meeting harry.
Hermione walked hand in hand with harry through what was left of the halls, looking at the hundreds of dead bodies lying about. Hundreds of familiar faces scattered the ground, some looking shocked (obviously killed by spell), others with blood running out of their bodies.
The grounds were even more of a fright. Harry and Hermione had gotten away so lucky, others not. Tonks and Lupin were sitting up getting various parts of their body healed.
The sky seemed to have taken on a gloomy appearance, as though it knew how many lives had just been lost below.
The dark mark hovered above the sky, and thousands of people could be seen standing at the gates peering in, trying to see if any of their loved ones had died. When harry approached the gate with Hermione, they heard someone scream.
"Harry, Hermione! Oh my goodness! You're alive! I was so afraid!"
"Hello Mrs.weasley." they replied dully. They had no happiness in them, having seen all the lives of loved ones and friends that they had lost.
A few days later, harry found himself sitting in a row of chairs holding a sobbing Hermione. They had just endured a funeral of ¾ of their school, something they never thought they would face.
They finally stood up and walked out of the school towards Hogsmead. A few hours later, harry potter would be found staring blankly out of a window, a teenage girl sitting in his lap holding his hands around her waist.
Hogwarts was closed until November when students were finally allowed to return. Harry and Hermione did not return. The only ones that knew what had happened to them, and where they were, were their close friends. The ones that were left of course.
Two people had been observed looking at one of the graves in the saint oarlock cemetery one afternoon, put something down and then leave. The grave had belonged to Ronald Weasley. The gift had been a wand engraved with the words "to the friend we will never forget. HP, HG".
