From where he had first made her heart skip a beat, she now felt like he had punched her in the gut. She doubled over clutching herself, unable to breath. It was as if she had been thrown in the ice cold ocean, emotions flowing past her like the currents of the sea. She had convinced herself he loved her, that he would choose her above anything. Had she been wrong? Projected her own feelings on his actions. The sea coloured red around her by the sudden stream of blood leaking from her heart, leaving nothing but rage, hatred.

'I just needed to see you one last time,' the words rang through her head. 'Go back to bed, Granger.'

"Hermione, 'Mione, are you OK?" Ron crouched down next to her and started rubbing her back. When she opened her eyes she found the smoke had lifted.

"Yeah," she nodded, wiping the tears from her face. "I must have been in the way, they shoved me aside with some sort of hex," she lied before Ron could ask. Luna gave her a look but didn't comment.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ron asked again as he helped her stand up, holding her just a little longer than necessary. Hermione avoided looking him in the eyes for fear she might start crying again. There was so much she wished she could tell her best friend, but now was not the time. She had to be strong. So she nodded and took a step towards Luna studying the map. Ron's arms fell to his sides and he too got reminded of why they were here. Why couldn't Hermione just have gone to patrol the dungeons with his sister? Having her here raised the stakes considerably. But he knew just as well that Hermione was an exeptional witch and she would have no problem standing her ground if it came to a fight so he decided to cease worrying.

"How many Death Eaters entered the castle?" Hermione asked.

"Seven plus Malfoy," Luna answered while pointing to a cluster of names and footsteps still on the 7th floor, "And-"

"We should go after them!" Ron optioned eagerly. That he had decided to stop worrying about Hermione didn't mean he wouldn't give those bastards what they deserved. He had always known Draco Malfoy to be the rotten person he now proved to be. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all.

"And Professor McGonagall is right behind us," Luna continued calmly.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Minerva's shrill voice ran through the corridor. The three teens turned around to see their Transfiguration professor step from the shadows, followed by their old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"It's Malfoy, he's got seven Death Eaters in the castle," Ron quickly said. "Here," he took the map from Luna and showed it to Lupin, a look of understanding crossing his face, "they're heading to the Astronomy Tower." McGonagall gave him a questioning look but Lupin nodded as if to validate their statement.

"I'll alert the others," she said and with a wave of her wand three silver cats with spectacle markings appeared and sprinted off in the dark.

"And you," she pointed to the three students, "fifty points each." Hermione immediately felt the need to protest, but got silenced by the stern look McGonagall shot in her direction. "Get inside the Room of Requirement and stay there," she ordered and together with Lupin rushed into the direction the Death Eaters had gone.

The trio was left gazing at each other, adrenaline pumping through there veins together with 2½ hours worth of Felix Felicis.

"We're not actually going to stay here, are we?" Luna asked, her eyes moving expectantly from Ron to Hermione. She had read the situation correctly.

"No, we're not," Hermione declared, the pain in her heart replaced with a fiery anger. The points had already been taken, her heart had already been broken, the only thing left to do now was to protect the school against those who wished it harm, whoever that may be.

"Let's go!" she said and ran after their Transfiguration Professor. Ron and Luna shared a grin before following Hermione into their uncertain future.

Two corridors in they could already hear the shouting and curses bouncing off walls. Without hesitation Hermione plunged herself into the fight, losing track of her friends. The only thing she could focus on was Malfoy, her eyes frantically searching around. She shot multiple hexes to several Death Eaters and dodged a few stray curses. She got to the other end of the battlefield without a scratch.

"You coward!" she cried, shooting a hex in Draco's direction to get his attention. He parried it with some difficulty.

"Don't do this, Hermione," he shouted back, the words barely audible over the cacophony of spells and maniac laughter.

"I never meant for this-" he started as he blocked another jinx.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Hear. Your. Sad. Excuses." With every word she slashed her wand at him, casting silent stupefy spells.

He had to take some steps backward and gave her one mournful look before turning around and disappearing up the stairs. Boiling with anger at his cowardice she made to follow and ran at full speed into an invisible barrier getting propelled backwards, straight into Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Sorry," she apologised automatically, rolling aside and getting to her feet. She grimaced and checked herself for blood but she was lucky someone had broken her fall. Speaking of, she turned around to help the other person up but found the crazy Death Eater glaring at her. From the ground she shot a curse in Hermione's direction who stumbled sidewards just in time, only her right shoulder got grazed. She attempted to disarm the witch but was only met with more maniac laughter.

"Oh how gallant of you! But gallantry is not going to win you this fight, filthy mudblood," Bellatrix sneered, jumping to her feet and shooting several Unforgivable Curses in Hermione's direction. Hermione stumbled back, having only the Felix Felicis to depend on as she grasped the wound on her shoulder, warm blood trickling through her fingers. She bit back the white dots that were threatening to take over her vision and raised her arm.

"Impedimenta!" she screamed, ignoring the numbness that was settling in her fingers.

"You're just not good enough," Bellatrix mocked, "a mudblood like you never will be." The white dots of pain got replaced by raging anger, that took Hermione into a trance of vengeance. Shooting one curse after the other the only distinction she made was between friend and enemy. As she fought the only thing that kept her going was the fact that eventually Draco would have to come down that staircase, and she would… The thought stuck in her mind, what would she do? She wanted to hurt him, scream at him, but what she wanted the most was for him to feel what she was feeling. The betrayal, the grief, the fact that she still wanted him so bad it made her sick. Two more Death Eaters ran through the invisible barrier. It must have something to do with their Marks, she mused as she slumped against the wall breathing fast and clutching the wound on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Ron yelled and tried to make his way towards her. Hermione did not have the energy to roll her eyes. How many times had he asked her that already, she wondered. Instead she nodded, took another breath and threw herself into the action once more. Somewhere along the way Neville and Ginny had joined fight.

When she looked up she saw Professor Snape descending the staircase, Draco in his wake. He had done it then, convinced Draco to give up on his quest. She couldn't help the bitterness rising up inside of her. What could his Head of House have said what she hadn't?

No one attacked the duo as they strode through the battlefield and disappeared around a corner. Hermione turned in time to see Harry running down the stairs.

"Harry!" she cried, relieved to see him alive, as he stormed past her following Snape and Draco.

"It was Snape! Snape killed Dumbledore!" yelled Harry before disappearing, too.

Astonished, Hermione lowered her wand. Dumbledore, dead. How could this have happened. She made to follow Harry, but before she had taken two steps she got hit squarely in the back by a Cruciatus Curse. She fell to the ground, her whole body convulsing. The pain of her shoulder was nothing compared to the pain that was now reigning her body. Everything around Hermione faded as she was left with nothing but pain to keep her company. Her whole body burned, crumbled, turned to dust and burned again. She clawed at her skin as if ripping it off would bring some relief. For a moment it stopped, only to continue again. It was as if her lungs had been bursting, screaming for air and she had finally reached the surface, only to be pulled under again after taking only half a breath.

Her head hit the stone hard and the pain stopped, slowly ebbing away. When she opened her eyes she found a pair of silver unseeing ones staring back at her.