"It was Fiendfyre." Hermione concurred, pulling herself up off of the floor, "He must've learned it in school-"

Off in the distance, she could just make out the shouts and blasts of dueling, "Christ, that can't have gotten inside of the castle that quickly." She guffawed.

In that moment, she recalled a dream. The dream, as it were – the dream that brought her to Fred Weasley.

Run. That's all she could think to do.

She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her into the darkness of the hallway. Her chest heaved.

You're losing momentum. Your wand. Grab for your wand.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, rendering one of the opposing death eaters utterly defenseless.

"Nice shot, Granger!" Fred shouted over the roar of the battle. She couldn't help the inkling of a smile that spread across her face as she fired one more well-aimed spell at the death eater that was fast approaching Percy, sending him to the ground once and for all. Her blow hadn't killed him, but surely the inevitable trampling would.

"Have a little faith in me, Weasley!" she called back, catching the utter grin plastered across his face. Together they fought, back-to-back for what seemed like an eternity. Somehow, the impending stampede of death eaters didn't seem nearly as terrifying when each had the other covering their back. There wasn't another person in the world that either of them trusted more than the other, "I told you I would find you." She reminded, aiming a hex at one of their opponents.

"I never doubted that you would. I do appreciate your affinity for flair, though. That was an impressive entrance you made back there. Hold on." He called, doing a near-180 and smacking a tall death eater straight in the chest with a blue bullet of light, to which the bloke collapsed on the ground with a resounding thud.

"Hello, Minister!" Percy bellowed, causing all of them to lose track of the task at hand for a split second. , "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

The elder man fell to the ground in fits of discomfort, as Fred let out a morbid cackle, "You really are joking, Perce! I haven't you joke since-"

White.

Everything went white for a split second and Hermione felt like she was flying. In the middle of the battle, she found one incandescent moment of piece as she soared through the air, only to be forced back into reality by nothing short of a shriek from Harry.

Hold on.

The mantra rang in her head repeatedly, as she fell in slow motion, clinging on for dear life as she did. In one hand, Hermione had a death-grip on her wand and in the other she clung to Fred's robes. She'd just managed to grab hold of his hand before smashing into the wall of the corridor at full force.

Her head snapped back and her neck burned. She could've sworn she was dead.

There's no two ways about it. she told herself, Someone hits their head that hard they die.

Nevertheless, she was pulled from her daydream by the sound of Percy's voice, "No – no – no–" she couldn't believe her eyes, as, to her horror she crawled across the rubble to find Percy slumped over his body, "No – Fred–"

She couldn't breathe. She didn't want to breathe, "We've got to go!" Harry insisted, shoving aside rubble as he made his way to where Ron, Hermione, and Percy kneeled over Fred's body, all in different levels of hysterics.

As blast after blast tore through the corridor, Percy threw his body over his brother to protect him from the blasts. Hermione did the same, holding his head and neck tight to her body, shielding him from the onslaught of debris.

"Come on, Hermione!" Ron snapped, yanking her away as hard as could, but to no avail. Harry was having just about the same affect on Percy.

"There's nothing we can do for him now – he's gone!" Harry snapped, yanking at Percy's shoulders.

It was then, as they were being dragged away that Hermione felt it, "Wait!" she barked, holding him tighter, placing a hand on his chest.

"Hermione, there's no time-"

"He's breathing!" she wailed, looking up at Percy with tears in her eyes, "Bloody hell, he's alive." She sobbed, holding him even tighter still. His body barely resembled the body she'd grown familiar with. There was no telling what remedies would be needed to heal his ails, but he was breathing. That was more than she had hoped for.

Her hair flew into her face as Harry tore her away, causing her to bash her head on the ground once more. It was only then that she became aware of her own blood. There was a lot of it. She didn't have time to worry on that, though. Hermione followed closely behind Harry as he gripped Fred about the armpits, Percy following suit. They crouched low, avoiding the spells being flung at them from below and moments later, dropped Fred's body in a corner, in which a suit of arms had once taken residence.

"They'll think he's dead. They'll leave him be." Harry said, "We've got to keep moving."

"We can't just leave him!" Hermione reasoned.

"It's the best chance any of us has, Hermione. We've got to go. Come on, now!" he barked, taking off down the hallway with Ron in tow, "Your job is to find the snake!"

"Go," Percy urged, "I'll stay near here – make sure he's safe. You go do what you have to."

"Thank you, Percy." Hermione called, following after Ron and Harry who were already shuffling their way down the next corridor.

"You will have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity." The snakelike voice whispered into the minds of all of the warriors, death eaters and Hogwartians alike.

"I–I need to go." Harry said reluctantly, "Kill the snake."

"Kill the snake." Hermione reiterated, hugging him tightly, "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"It's all right." He sighed, holding her tightly for his own comfort as much as hers, "It's all going to be over after tonight."

With that, he left them at the mouth of the Great Hall. The Hall had been shifted to accommodate a make-do hospital wing and mortuary. Ron and Hermione hustled through the Great Hall, checking one spot after another, hoping to find the one they were looking for. Soon enough, they fell upon a cot surrounded by red-heads and ran to the group, congregated at the back of the Hall.

Hermione's tears had been threatening to spill over for the entire day and she was at wit's end. In hysterics, she collapsed next to a sleeping Fred, holding onto him tightly. She shook with sobs and didn't even attempt to control her gut-wrenching wails. Carefully, Mrs. Weasley placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder, kneeling down beside her.

"He's alive." She assured.

Searching the faces of the family surrounding her, Hermione brought herself to standing, on wobbly legs and made her way to where Percy stood in resigned silence. Not saying a word, she wrapping her arms around him, taking them all by surprise.

After she managed to find her bearings, she turned back to the Weasley family, who looked to her expectantly, "We're going to finish this. Tonight."