Gone

1 July 1997

Hermione was woken up by the sweet melancholic singing of a bird, she opened her eyes and looked around, she was in the hospital wing. She threw away the blanket that was covering her and stood up. The dark mark was gone now. She checked the clock on the wall. It was three in the morning. She immediately remembered what happened, she had tried stopping Draco, they were together. She touched her lips, they were momentarily brushed by his, before he had said something. And then she had woken up here. Something had happened, she had to find it out.

She immediately started looking for her wand, it was lying atop the table beside her bed. She picked it up, and started walking towards the gates of the hospital wing. She was about to open them when they flew open by themselves.

Remus was the first one who entered, he was soon followed by Mr. Weasley and Sirius, they were carrying Bill, who had blood over his face. They were followed by McGonagall, Tonks, Ron, George, Fred, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Mrs. Weasley, and Fleur.

"What happened to him?!" Madam Pomfrey yelled as she came running from across the corridor.

"Greyback, he had clawed him," Sirius said slowly, as he settled Bill on the bed and backed away for Madam Pomfrey to check him.

"Was he bitten?" Mrs. Weaseley asked breathlessly,

"No," Remus said staring at Bill, "He had just used his claw when Bill had stopped him from going into the Astronomy Tower."

"Would he change?" Arthur asked worriedly.

"No, he won't, although the disfigurement would last," Remus said sadly.

Mrs. Weasley started crying and looked at Fluer guiltily, "He was very handsome when he was younger, you know,"

"What?!" Fleur said, who was staring at Bill until now, "Are you saying that I don't love him?!" She said glaring at Mrs. Weasley, she turned back to Bill's now clean face and kissed his forehead,

"These scars just show how brave my husband is, and I am beautiful enough for both of us."

Mrs. Weasley enveloped Fluer into a tight hug and then muttered, "Thank you,"

The doors opened again and this time Harry entered the wing, he was breathless and was looking at everyone,

"Harry?" Hermione finally asked,

"D-Dumbledore..." He managed,

"What happened Harry?" Sirius asked,

"H-he is, Snape, he killed him, Dumbledore is dead," Harry said and leaned against the wall, a long moment of silence fell upon them.

"W-where is he?" Tonks asked,

"Astronomy tower," He panted. Sirius looked at Remus, He looked back at Harry. After another long silence,

"Was Draco there?" Sirius asked guiltily, Hermione's stomach clenched, Harry's head shot up, "Yes, how do you know?" he asked incredulously,

"Did he try to kill Albus?" Sirius asked again, as Remus and Mr. Weasley left the room to bring in Dumbledore, and another pang of guilt shot through Hermione's heart,

"Yes, he had almost spelled the curse, but I stopped him, then the other Death Eaters arrived, then Malfoy did something else, he disillusioned me and hid me away from them, after which Snape killed Dumbledore."

Hermione felt something had just broken inside her.

"Severus?" McGonagall asked in disbelief, Harry nodded briefly, he then looked back at Sirius,

"You are hiding something, aren't you?" He said,

"I always knew Snape would betray us, he was always-"

"Why were you asking about Malfoy?" Harry had cut in,

"Draco, well," Sirius said and started looking around nervously,

"Why don't you tell him?!" This time Tonks yelled, causing Sirius to meet her glare, "He just asked for one thing, you turned him down, after all that he did for you, what did you expect?!" She shrieked,

"What are you two talking about?" Hermione asked,

Sirius looked at Harry and Hermione and sighed, then said, "Last year during summers, Draco had come to us, he had been tasked by Voldemort to kill Albus, as a 'repercussion' for the failure of his father at the ministry," Several people looked at him,

"You are telling that to us now?!" McGonagall asked,

Sirius continued, "He asked us to save his mother, but we denied it. We thought it was a hoax, we never told Dumbledore. He was forced to kill Dumbledore because of it, he just wanted to save his mother and himself," he continued guiltily, "We never thought he would get on with it,"

"That's not all of it, why don't you tell them everything?!" Tonks yelled at Sirius,

They all looked at him again,

"I can't, we had signed a stature of secrecy, Nymphadora, he is still holding on to it, we can't break it,"

"What stature?" Ron asked,

"We can't tell you, it's classified,"

"Why can't you break it?" Hermione asked,

"It was compiled by Dumbledore himself since he is dead now, we cannot even touch it,"

Tonks groaned in frustration and stormed out of the room.

Hermione saw McGonagall cry for the first time in her life, as Mr. Weasley and Remus brought their old Headmaster's body into the hall. Hermione wanted to scream, go to Draco and punch him into the nose again. She was feeling guilty, she could have stopped him. But she just cried for now.

Dumbledore was buried on the grounds of Hogwarts, his wand with him. Hermione was feeling sad and guilty at the same moment, how could she love a Death Eater? Harry was right, she could have been more careful. She then remembered his last touches, the brief feeling of his lips upon her's, and the way he had carried her. She was frustrated, she was supposed to hate him, but she was reveling in his touches, she should be ashamed of herself. But he was forced to do it, Harry said that he had hesitated, had hidden him away from the death eaters.

She forgot about all of this as soon she reached home and hugged her parents. She could not bear any more emotions now, she had to be strong for Harry, they were tasked with something important, they had to complete it.

24 July 1997

Hermione stood up from her bed and zipped her bag. She then opened her closet and took out a cardboard box from under the last rack. She browsed through it slowly, enjoying the feeling of the remnants of what had remained of her lost childhood. They had all grown up so fast, her school years were nothing but a blur in her mind now.

She picked a golden chain with a pendant on it, she smiled at the broken and now useless time-turner that McGonagall had given her after her OWLS as a gift. She came through other things, a SPEW badge, the flute they played for Fluffy, and then she touched something velvet, she picked up the coat that Draco had given her during the Yule-Ball and threw it away in disgust and anger. She didn't cry anymore, she had done that enough for him. She went back to the box and sorted out a gold-tipped peacock feather quill that Draco had given her on Christmas in fifth-year. She threw it onto the coat and stood up, she summoned her wand.

"Incendio!" She yelled, pointing it toward the coat and the quill. They burned quickly and turned to ashes.

Hermione sighed and turned back to the box. She didn't want to see anything else. She was about to close it when something shiny caught her attention. She reached out and picked it up. It was a silver chain with a ring on it.

She closely inspected the ring and sought out a single rune engraved upon it. Being top of her class, she quickly recognized it as Algiz, the rune of protection [ᛉ]. She looked back into the box to see who had kept it there. She found nothing, but a crumpled piece of parchment was lying on the base of it. She picked it up and read it.

Dear Hermione,

My second to the last gift, for the journey.

APWBD

Tears filled her eyes as read it again, it was in the same curly and elegant handwriting as Dumbledore's. She threw the parchment back into the box and then clasped the chain on her neck. She didn't want to know what was his last gift would be, she was just happy that he had at least remembered her before his death.

Wiping away her tears, she kept the box back in its place and stood up. She picked up her charmed bag and wand. she put on her cloak and made her way down the stairs.

Her parents were sitting together on the couch and were watching TV. Tears filled her eyes again as she pointed her wand at their backs with a trembling hand and muttered, "Obliviate Selectio," All of the pictures on the walls that had her were erased, the expression on her parent's face became blank.

She didn't wait for their reaction and walked out of her house while wiping away her tears and disapparated to the burrow.