Chapter One.

Harry pulled his face from the The Pensieve, struck by a weight he thought he wouldn't survive. I have to die. It hit him like a brick wall, and yet… somehow, it made perfect sense. Voldemort was a part of him, and in order to kill Voldemort, every last part of him would need to be destroyed. Harry clenched his jaws tightly, trying desperately not to allow himself to feel fear, or indignation. I have to die, he repeated. But what does my death matter, if I can save Hogwarts, and Ron, and Hermione, and Ginny, and Fred and George? He shook his body once to bring himself back to reality and nodded, an invisible agreement with a man that was long gone. Despite his death inching closer every second, Harry couldn't help but admire Dumbledore's foresight and cunning.

And so, his fate was fixed, and Harry left Dumbledore's office.

As he made his way through the castle, students and Death Eaters exchanging blows all around him, Harry tried hard not to think about all the things he'd miss, and he wondered, with a sense of hopeful longing, if he'd see his family again.

His thoughts were interrupted by his friend.

'Harry!'

A firm hand wrapped around his wrist and spun him around. Hermione's face, painted with dirt and blood, looked at him, relieved and confused.

'I thought you'd gone to the forest', she said, breathing hard.

'I'm going there now.'

'What?'. Hermione's eyes grew wide. 'Harry, you can't! You can't give yourself up to him!'

Harry said nothing, his eyes focused on the ground beneath him.

'Harry… please, just – Just listen. I need to tell you something. We might be dead before dawn and I-' Hermione closed her mouth, her dark brown eyes focused on Harry's, struggling to say exactly the right words. 'All I want to say is that – That night in the tent, the dancing-' Again, the words stopped coming, and Hermione's frustration at her own failure was only increased when she noticed the look on Harry's face. How was she supposed to do this right? How was she supposed to say what she really felt, to a boy she'd known and loved for so long? How was she supposed to explain that that night in the tent made things so painfully clear for her, and that she'd despised herself ever since?

With the knowledge that we might die tonight.

'Look!', she blurted out. 'I know it's not ideal. I know it's awful. Truly, truly, awful, but Harry, I-'

'I have to go, Hermione.'

For a brief second, there was silence between the two, filled only by the sound of screams and curses around them. Hermione opened her mouth, closed it again, and finally spoke.

'What is it?', she asked, suddenly aware of the eerie calmness in her friend's face. 'What is it you know?'

'There's a reason I can hear them. The horcruxes.' He looked up again and saw the realization hit Hermione like it did him. Hard, and undeniable. 'I think I've known for a while', he admitted. 'And I think you have too.'

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. Her heart sunk to the floor, and an unshakable numbness took hold of her. No. She knew he was right, of course. It made perfect sense. It was a perfectly morbid conclusion. Voldemort wouldn't live, but neither would Harry. All she could think was: No. No no no no NO! But all she could manage was: 'I'll go with you.'

'No', Harry said abruptly. 'Kill the snake. Kill the snake, and then it's just him.'

The tears in her eyes finally started rolling, tracing thin lines in the dirt on her cheeks, and her lips trembled as she tried to form the words she so desperately wanted to say.

'I have to go', Harry repeated apologetically. He looked at her one last time, at the sadness and desperation in her eyes, and hated that it had gotten to this point. He sometimes hated, truly, that he hadn't just died when Voldemort needed him to. But he never said that out loud, and he didn't this time, either. Harry simply nodded at her and turned around, descending the staircase and the safety of Hogwarts.

Coward! You bloody, stupid coward! Tell him! A faint squeal rolled across Hermione's lips and she bit her cheek in frustration. But Harry's back was fading behind a curtain of falling smoke and dust, and the gap was closing, and all that she had wanted to say but never said built up in her throat like a scream, until it finally broke free.

'I love you!'

Her voice echoed through the halls of Hogwarts, bouncing from wall to wall and punching her in the gut when it came back to her. Harry stopped dead in his tracks, a small black blur on a curtain of grey. His heart sank, and for a brief second he believed he'd gone mad. But when he turned around, she stood there, her hands clenched into fists, her tears still rolling, her eyes betraying that she was very much aware of what she'd just said.

Harry quickly became aware of another presence, though.

'Ron-'

'I know!', Hermione cried out, furious with herself. 'I know, but-'

'No! Ron!'

Hermione finally turned around and saw him, standing a few steps above her, his wand dangling loosely in his fingertips, his eyes wide with shock.

'You love him?', he asked weakly. The pain in his eyes shattered whatever was left of his friends.

'I-', Hermione stepped closer to him. 'No! Yes- I- I love you too, Ron, but-'

Ron shook his head brusquely. 'No.' His eyes flashed to Harry's, and Harry swallowed loudly. 'I see how it is.'

Harry knew exactly what was going through his mind. The horcrux. Him and Hermione.

Ron turned, his fingers now clenched tightly around his wand, his body stiff as he walked back up the steps.

'Ron, wait!', Harry shouted, running back up the stairs. He grabbed his friend's shoulder, but Ron shook it off immediately.

'No!', Ron yelled. He turned around to his friends, and his face hardened. 'It makes perfect sense', he said coolly. 'The boy who lived and the brightest witch of her age.'

The words stung like daggers.

He turned to leave, and Harry let him. This wasn't how he wanted it to end, but there was no time. Hermione cried out after Ron, running up the steps and stumbling over a block of stone that was formerly a staircase. Her wand fell and rolled away, and her hands latched on to Harry for stability.

Harry held her up, slowly let go, and picked her wand up from by his feet.

'I have to go', Harry whispered at her, not daring to look her in the eyes. 'I'm sorry.'

Then he turned and hurried down the stairs, disappearing behind the smoke. Hermione's heart shattered in her chest and a soft cry escaped her throat. The weight on her body felt so heavy that she fell down amidst the rubble, holding desperately on to her wand for safety.

I've lost them both. Pain constricted her throat and the tears burned hot across her cheeks. A wave of cruel hopelessness hit her, and angered by her own incompetence, she brought the nearest intact pillar to explosion. Her scream echoed through the hall as Harry's feet stepped from the safety of the school. He ignored it and walked on.