Author's Note n' disclaimer: Okies so anyway I as usual do not own anything Harry Potter related. Anything else mentioned I probably don't own and if you have any doubts use you better judgment. In the last part it said that Harry pulled out a velvet box to give to Hermione, it's not what you're thinking but trust me that velvet box is really important later. Also if you've stopped reading the story cuz' ya don't like H/H… too bad cuz I do. (and I'm not alone!) Okay I know that this is a lame story but I'm writing it anyway, please take the like two seconds it takes to write a review. I don't care if all you write is 'good' (actually I do but at this point I'll take anything I can get) please people REVIEW! I shouldn't have to beg like this. If you are slightly confused about how the title fits with the story you can e-mail me (check the profile) or review and ask me about it. I might just include the explanation in the other part anyways. Okay not that it matters but read on!
Part 8
By: Rainfall
"Argh! I still can't find the spell to make the boggart stay in its funny form or whatever permanently that Professor Camba assigned! I have looked in every book in that library!" cried Ally as she walked through the portrait hole into the common room from the library.
It was already after Christmas vacation and everyone was in full homework mode once again, especially you know who. (No not you know who as in Voldemort)
"Did you check Irreversible Spells: The Revised Version yet?" questioned Hermione lazily.
"Er… no. They have a revised version?"
"Uh huh, here you can borrow my copy. The library hasn't gotten theirs in yet." Hermione replied handing over a thick book to Ally.
"Are you ever going to stop thinking about homework Herm, or are you just gonna spend the rest of your life over achieving?" teased Ron who was playing chess with Brent.
"Oh you." she replied lazily throwing a crumbled ball of parchment at his head. "Besides all I have to do is finish Professor Camba's assignment and I'll be done."
Professor Camba was their DADA teacher for seventh year. So far he was just as good as Lupin and he looked as if he might be the first DADA teacher in a long time to last more than a year.
"Hey Hermi, Professor McGonagall wants to see us in her office right away. You know the Head Boy and Girl duty reminders." Harry said from the portrait hole.
"Okay, hold on." Hermione said as she closed her books and walked out into the hall where Harry stood waiting.
"So Harry, did she really ask us to meet her or is it another plot to get me alone?" she said smiling.
"Well it's true that we have to meet her in…fifteen minutes." he replied bringing his arms around her waist.
Harry and Hermione had yet to tell everyone they were a couple and they had been meeting secretly all over the castle. Don't worry they weren't doing anything bad! They were just talking and er… making out. Soon their time was up and they sprinted to McGonagall's office.
"Harry, Hermione how are you two?"
"We're fine Professor." Harry said as they walked into her office.
"Good. Now listen I have something important to tell you. There have been rumors that Voldemort is weeks or even days away from getting his full strength back, we think that you two will be his first targets." she said cautiously.
"So what do you want us to do?" Hermione asked.
"Keep up your training, but most importantly look out for each other and your friends. Your friends especially, they aren't trained like you are and we need them to defeat Voldemort, otherwise…" McGonagall trailed off.
"Otherwise what professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh never mind, forget I said anything, it was nothing." she said nervously as she excused them and led the two out of the office.
Once they were out in the hall Hermione spoke.
"Harry is it just me or is she hiding something from us?"
"I don't know Herm, but it does seem strange. You know I was talking to Madam Pomfrey and she did almost the same thing, she was saying something like if the others are injured there's only one other way to defeat Voldemort, then she changed the subject and practically ushered me out of the hospital wing. Hey do you have your Firebolt and Invisibility Cloak in your dorm?" Harry asked Hermione.
In her father's will Hermione was left with the aforementioned items, having these made it easier for the gang to sneak around on their mysteries.
"I have my Firebolt but I'm afraid Lavender has my Invisibility Cloak. She wanted to borrow it so she could sneak out with Ron to Hogsmeade later tonight during dinner. Right now she's trying to get used to walking around with it on in our dorm."
Harry laughed as he said, "So I should be expecting Ron to ask me for mine any time now correct?"
"Yup."
So now dear reader, let's skip ahead a bit, to about the middle of May. Over the past four months all the relationships grew and deepened. Unfortunately on the dark side of things evil grew as well. Voldemort's attack multiplied and became more horrible than before. There was no doubt about it now, Voldemort had his powers back, and he was furious. Pushing the horrible thoughts aside though, all of Hogwarts was now in attendance of the second to last Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. If they beat Ravenclaw they would move to the finals against Slytherin for the cup. At the moment Harry was flying high overhead searching for the Golden Snitch he stopped only for a second to see Ron block yet another goal for Slytherin and to see Brendan pick up the Quaffle and pass it to Brent. In case you're confused Ron's Keeper, and Brendan and Brent are among the Chasers.
"Look I think he's seen it!" screamed Hermione as Harry made a dive with Ravenclaw's seeker not far behind.
Ally, Herm, Ginny, Lav, and Parvati were seated on ground level and were practically dancing onto the field in excitement while Dean and Neville were doing commentary. Seamus was sitting on the bench as a reserve player.
"He's got it! Gryffindor wins! Gryffindor wins!" shouted Neville and Dean simultaneously into the microphone as Harry pulled out of a dive with his hand raised above his head, the tiny ball fluttering to escape. The Gryffindor side erupted with cheers.
Suddenly there was a flash of green and a loud, high cackle rang throughout the grounds. Everyone was silent as the smoke cleared to reveal the Dark Lord himself, Voldemort. Then there were screams.
"Stay where you are!" he shouted his voice magically magnified.
This was the moment they were all waiting for. Harry took his chance to sneak up on him but before he could do anything Voldemort whipped around and yelled 'Expelliarmus' at both Harry and Hermione.
"See how you do now without your little wands!" he taunted as teachers were trying to get people out of there as Death Eaters tried to stop them.
"We'll do fine, Flamadictus!" Hermione cried as she flung a fireball at him, unfortunately he dodged.
The battle raged on for another ten minutes, in the nearby town of Hogsmeade another group of Death Eaters were wreaking havoc. By now almost all teachers joined in as well as the others involved in the prophecy. When they were in position…
"On the count of three!" shouted Harry, "One, two…!"
At that moment there was another loud blast and Ron and Brent were lying on the ground.
"Nooo!"
Everything went black.
Hospital wing, one hour later…
"We failed, again." said Hermione as she sobbed into Harry's robes.
Ron, Brent, Parvati, and Seamus were all injured and unconscious. Luckily there weren't dead, though. Many more were injured but were being treated elsewhere in the castle. The teachers and any present ministry officials were on the grounds desperately trying to strengthen the charms on the castle. Nobody knew how Voldemort managed to get through the shields but for the time being they felt safe. Hogsmeade residents had fled to the safety of Hogwarts grounds and were being given shelter anywhere they could find it. All students were in their respective common rooms with the exception of a few. Ally, Lavender, Brendan, Dean, Neville, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Padma, and basically all the Weasleys, Morgans, Patils, and Finnegans were crammed inside the hospital wing. Normally Madam Pomfrey would be going nuts but she too was shaken by the attack and didn't object. But she was giving dirty looks to everyone, not because they were in there, but because they had turned their backs on Harry and Hermione. They were afraid of them now and they hadn't said a word to either of the two. Suddenly Ron stirred and opened his eyes. Many breathed sighs of relief and those who were in tears only cried more.
'Oh my God, Ron are you okay?" cried Hermione as she ran to his bed.
Everyone recoiled except for Ron, whose faced turned to anger.
"You, you lied to me, to us. When were you and Harry going to tell us about your powers?" he cried his voice rising.
"Dumbledore he told us in fifth year…" she began but was cut off again.
"You've kept this a secret for two years!?"
"Why are you so mad at us?" cried Hermione.
"Why? Because we were best friends! You're supposed to tell us everything! Not to mention how scared we are of you. I saw you take out all those Death Eaters!" answered Ron angrily.
"Listen you would have been trained to but you weren't powerful enough and…" Harry began but was also cut off.
"Not powerful enough! Oh I see, we're not at the same level of the great Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Ron cried hysterically. "Just leave you don't belong here! Just get out! I don't care if I never see either of you to again!"
"But Ron…" Hermione pleaded with tears running down her face.
Lavender spoke up, "Maybe you guys should just leave. Ron needs to calm down, we're all just kind of hurt that you had to keep secrets from us."
Harry nodded and led a red-faced Hermione out the door with tears now running down his face too.
Madam Pomfrey had had enough. She knew that the others were afraid of Harry and Hermione, they had all seen how powerful they were but that was no reason to be mad.
"You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" she screamed.
"Why? They kept it all a secret and once again they are the best of us all!" Ron answered sarcastically.
"You think they wanted to keep this a secret from you all!" Madam Pomfrey said her voice rising. They all looked at each other all feeling hurt and mad at Harry and Hermione at the same time.
"Listen, you haven't seen what they've gone through! I have! Do you think it was easy for them to lie to you? It wasn't! Every time they were in here they wanted so much to tell you! They thought of every possible way to tell you without Dumbledore finding out! Trust me they were in here a lot! They came in with all sorts of injuries! Broken arms and burns! You name it they had it, they were in real pain half the time! They endured it so they could be ready to protect the innocent! Do you think they did it so they could be powerful? No, they did it so they could prevent anyone else from going through the pain they are going through! More importantly they did it to protect all of you! You should have seen Hermione clutching a burnt arm tears streaming down her face! You know I told her how much I disapproved of them getting hurt like this and you know what she said?! She said that it was worth it if it meant that all of you would be safe! Ron look around you, what do you see!? I see all your family here for you! Harry and Hermione don't have any family! They considered all of you in this room as family but look at what you did, you turned your backs on them! They love you so much that they were willing to go through all the stress and pain! Well you know what?! Right now, you don't deserve their love! To make things worse you're injured! If Voldemort attacks again there are likely to sacrifice themselves because they don't want anyone else to die, because that's the kind of people they are!"
Everyone looked around ashamed of themselves.
"What do you mean sacrifice themselves?" asked Ginny nervously.
Meanwhile…
"Harry! Hermione!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "Professor Dumbledore needs to see you in his office."
They walked to the stone gargoyle gave it the password and seated themselves in front of the Headmaster while McGonagall stood next to him.
"Harry, Hermione we are in a bad position, Voldemort means business now. To make things worse with Ron and Brent injured you can't possibly defeat him. Who knows how much damage he could do in the time it takes for them to heal." he said after they were settled.
"Professor, you're hiding something from us. I know you are, there is another way to defeat Voldemort, isn't there?" Hermione said.
"Yes." Dumbledore acquiesced, "But please we didn't tell you for a reason, if I tell you now you must promise not to do it."
"We promise." Harry spoke for both of them.
"The prophecy says that the two most powerful witch and wizard can defeat the Dark Arts with their selfless sacrifice."
"What do you mean? What kind of sacrifice?" Hermione questioned.
"He means," Minerva, said stepping in, "that if you two went up against Voldemort with good intentions, not for power or fame, you can defeat him with your sacrifice. Sacrifice meaning giving up your lives."
For a while Harry and Hermione didn't say anything. They both sat pondering the thought as Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's. Dumbledore finally broke the silence.
"Why don't you two go back to the hospital wing?"
The got up wordlessly and headed for the door but Dumbledore stopped them once again.
"Please, Harry, Hermione promise me you will not do this. Please promise me you will not fight Voldemort alone."
"Don't worry professor, we'll wait for the others. We aren't really ready to die yet." answered Harry jokingly adding the last part.
"All right."
They turned and left. Once out in the hall the couple stood watching the people around them. The scene quickly brought tears to their eyes as the surveyed the surroundings. Hogsmeade residents who didn't have any other place to go were camped out in the halls. Some crying over lost loved ones and others with looks of pain on their faces as ministry medics tended to their bloody wounds. One thing in particular caught their eyes though. A little girl no older than seven stood holding a brown teddy bear next to one of the ministry medics, and she had been standing there as he searched his list for her parents. Suddenly he stopped, looked at the girl, and knelt to be at her eye level.
"Honey your parents aren't here." he said with a look of pity.
"Where are they?" the girl asked with childhood innocence. The medic was at a loss for words. How do you tell a little girl that her parents weren't coming back? How do you tell her that she is now an orphan? How do you tell her that her parents were dead because of Voldemort?
Harry and Hermione looked into each other's teary eyes as they held hands. Both were thinking the same thing, Voldemort had to be stopped before he ruined more innocent lives.
"Are we doing it?" Hermione whispered.
"Yeah. We are." Harry whispered back.
In the hospital wing…
"I am so stupid." Ron said in a monotone voice.
"No your not honey." Mrs. Weasley said trying to comfort her son.
"Mother, I told them I didn't care if I never saw them again! They must hate me now."
"I'm sure they don't hate you." she replied.
"But I would understand if they did." Ally said speaking for the first time in a while. "We were so horrible, there we were waiting for Ron and the others to wake up and we ignored them. They sat there in the corner completely shunned by us, after all the pain they've already been through."
"Excuse me. Have any of you seen either Harry or Hermione?" Dumbledore said as he walked in to be followed shortly by Minerva.
"Albus, they haven't been seen anywhere since they left your office." she said.
"Wait back up! What's going on?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Harry and Hermione are missing. Someone outside my office said it looked like they were heading to Gryffindor Tower but we didn't find them there. They were supposed to be here but the guard in the hall just said he hadn't seen them since they walked out, met Minerva, and walked to my office."
"Where would they go? It's not like they were kidnapped by Voldemort or something." Ginny said.
"Oh my… Albus." said a worried McGonagall.
"Let's hope were not too late." he said, with that the two were gone.
Meanwhile Harry and Hermione sat in a large clearing. In front of them floated what looked like a ring on a chain, but the ring was glowing.
"Goodbye." Hermione said sadly to the ring. Immediately after she grabbed the ring and it stopped glowing. "That's it then." she said as she handed the ring to Harry.
"Yeah, hey why don't you go get our brooms and Invisibility Cloaks and apparate them to where we said they'd be." Harry asked Hermione.
"Okay." and she left.
Harry turned back to the ring in his hand, touched one of the engravings on it, and caused it to glow. He let it float out of his hand and turned to it.
"Okay, I'm doing this because…"
Fifteen minutes later…
"Harry he's here!" screamed Hermione.
Nearby the ring floated along following their movements.
"Potter." hissed Voldemort. "You and your little girlfriend going down once and for all."
"I know, but if we're going down, we're taking you with."
AN: A special thanks to Jennivere Angel for her great reviews. Thanks, they really helped my confidence and it made me want to continue. Tell me when your stories come up, I'll be the first to review them.
