My eyes flew open as I a came to. The first thought in my mind why was I in the Headmistress' office? Then I remembered. Hermione. She's alive and she's here.
"Hermione!" I shouted as I sprung up and ran for the door. No plan in mind just getting to her, I needed to see her. I needed to feel her. I needed to know she was really there and that this wasn't just some apparition of my mind.
"Cedric, no!" Harry yelled as he and Ron struggled to hold me back. "We can't fight all of them!"
"Let go of me! I need to get to her!"
"And we will. But first we need to think of a plan." Harry spoke level-headedly. I nodded, realizing that going against all of those death eaters at once was probably not a good idea.
McGonagall's desk was cleared as we all poured over the map, searching and finding paths that weren't blocked. It was Ginny that came up with a solution.
"All of the guards are teachers. They can't stay here forever. At some point they will all have to leave for classes." She pointed out.
"But how do we know if they will all leave? That would certainly make it easier but I doubt they will all leave first thing in the morning." I questioned.
"Because I know exactly when each of them will be gone at the same time." She stated smugly.
"And when is that?" I demanded.
"Tomorrow, every last one of them teaches a class during second period. The three of you will wait until then when you will take the cloak and sneak into the dungeons. Then you will take care of Lestrange before getting Hermione safely back here, where Madame Pomphrey will be waiting should Hermione need her."
It seemed like a solid plan so we would wait until morning. We used the map to get safely to the Room of Requirements where we had decided to spend the night. The room made itself into a copy of our dorms, mixing Gryffindor red with Hufflepuff black. I settled myself into the furthest of the three beds, pulling the curtains tightly shut. I closed my eyes and attempted to let sleep take me, but as always since Hermione and I had been so painfully parted I could not.
My mind went back to that day. It had begun amazingly. I'd never known such contentment, all through our bonded union. Then, in moments with a stupid slip of an anagram that brought such pain, it was shattered. I'd never felt so alone within my own body as I did after she was gone from it. The moment the curse hit her I felt her leave and I'd never been so terrified in my life. I fought so hard to bring her back. But she didn't. She wouldn't wake like she was supposed to. The spell hadn't worked. Or at least I thought the spell hadn't worked. But I had her. In my arm, I had her. The portkey activated and I had her. And when we were deposited in our safe spot she wasn't there. My arm that had held her close was mangled and useless to me, but the pain of loosing her was so much worse that I didn't notice the arm that had held her close to me was hanging limply by a few tendons. My mother sobbed as she fixed my arm but I didn't truly notice either her sobbing or the mending of my arm. The arm that had betrayed me. Betrayed her.
Tears were already streaming down my face and the sob that threatened to break from my throat had me waving my wand in a desperate attempt at silent magic. The silenco worked and I was free to allow my cries to escape. I hadn't fought hard enough for her. Would she hate me when she saw me? I couldn't help but hate myself. When we couldn't find her body in the woods we'd given up. How could I have given up? Abandoned her like that? As I thought of that I realized that she'd been in there torturous hands ever since, and the thought sickened me. I sprung up in bed to run for the toilet when a bedpan was deposited in my lap just in time for me to become violently ill. When I was finished, the bedpan vanished. I got up to brush my teeth, praying that she'd been spared from too much pain.
When I arrived again to my bed there was a steaming cup of tea, courtesy of the room. I drank quickly feeling the effects of a sleeping draught beginning its course. I silently thanked the room as I drifted off to sleep. Even for the sleeping draught, I did not sleep peacefully.
My sleep was riddled with confusing paths leading nowhere. I didn't know what I was searching for, but I couldn't find it. My pace quickened through the fog-filled pathways as I suddenly knew what I was looking for. My feet led me down a steep set of stairs where the fog suddenly lessened. Through a door hidden behind a tapestry and down another stet of stairs. I vaguely knew where I was, but the distress I had been feeling began to increase into a panic as I skipped stairs in my haste. I don't know how I knew where to go, but I did. I was breathing heavily as I reached a door and stopped. Behind this door was what I'd been searching for. Everything in me was screaming for me to open this door, but then there was something that was asking me if I wanted to.
Do I want to know what it is?
I couldn't help myself. I knew that what was beyond this door was what I was searching for, but I also knew that what was behind that door would hurt. Steadying myself with a deep breath I pushed the door open and immediately wished I hadn't.
The stench was horrid. The smell of blood and rot assaulted my nose but it wasn't the smell that had me wishing I hadn't opened the door. It was the cause of the stench.
Hermione's mangled, bloody body lay crumpled on the floor across the room, her eyes gazing lifelessly at me.
"NO!" I woke with a start. A dream. It was just a dream. Looking at my watch I realized it was only five in the morning. We still had a few hours before we had to wake up. Needing to reassure myself that it really was just a dream I went to the table we'd left the map on to search for her name. If her name was still there it would mean that she's both still here, and that she's still alive. And so I sat on the seat provided for me and watched Hermione's loan dot.
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I do not own Harry Potter or any other character you recognize.