For the Love of the Land
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part14
Hermione felt the cold, bitter wind on her hands and her cheeks. She felt her skin being chapped where it was exposed to the wind. However, everything the cloak touched was unchanged. She felt extremely grateful to Luna at the moment.
However, suddenly her heart froze, and it had nothing to do with the snow crunching under her feet. She could hear the Death Eaters chanting in Hogsmeade. In the distance, she could see the Dark Mark lighting up the dreary sky.
She turned and nodded to her fellow Defenders, and they nodded back grimly, yet bravely. Neville and Ginny turned one way, while Draco and Hermione turned the other. Cho turned to the castle, and taking her wand out, flicked her wrist. Within seconds her Nimbus 2001 was hovering next to her. She climbed on and kicked off high over Hogwarts.
Hermione and Draco were standing by the lake. They saw Ginny's red sparks from the other side of the castle, then Neville's green ones from in front of it. Cho sent down blue streaks of light from the heights above the castle. Draco and Hermione looked at each other, then sent up their silver and turquoise sparks to show that they were ready. As the four others turned toward the oncoming stampede of Death Eaters, Hermione turned to face the lake. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands to the heavens.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Luna was absolutely worried sick. She was shaking as she somehow managed to walk from the doors to the front of the Great Hall with the rest of the professors. The children...she had come in the last month to feel as if they were her sons and daughters. She knew, deep inside, that she had only been training them to go out and fight, but now that the day had come, she wanted to throw up. She could not stand the thought of what the Death Eaters could do to them.
"Hey," Sirius muttered as he felt Luna stand next to him. Dumbledore was making a speech to the students, explaining what was happening. Sirius wasn't paying much attention.
"Hi," Luna whispered distractedly, looking out the long window. She couldn't see the grounds, but she knew the patch of sky she could see was just above the lake. Hermione would be out there, and probably Draco as well.
"Worried about them?" Sirius asked.
"No, they're ready," She replied, not turning around. Sirius smirked.
"You always were a terrible liar." He said in her ear. She whipped around and glared. She was not in the mood for Sirius's stupid comments.
"What is Dumbledore talking about?" She demanded coldly. Sirius shrugged.
"The attack. Fifth through seventh year students can help fight, if they wish."
"So Harry will be out there?" Luna asked, an eyebrow raised. Sirius's eyes widened, and he swore under his breath.
"I didn't think of that," He said, more to himself than to Luna. Over other little victories such as this, Luna would've made a point in rubbing it in, but this was not funny. Harry would be in serious danger...he had never had to fight a battle with others in danger around him. He had no training. Luna momentarily second guessed her judgment...it would've done Harry good to be prepared for this inevitable attack.
Sighing, Luna's gaze returned to the window. It was a few moments before Luna realized what she was seeing. There was a wall of water, so high that she couldn't see its end. She could hear gusts of wind and saw the wall of icy water begin to swirl into a spout.
"What in the..." She muttered, her eyes wide. "I never taught them how to handle such forces! Where did Hermione and Cho..." Her dangling sentence was cut off abruptly as she turned and glared at Sirius, who was trying desperately to maintain an innocent face and failing miserably. "Sirius!" She hissed.
"What?" Sirius replied, trying to keep up his innocent act in vain.
"I know you did this!" She continued, trying to keep herself from yelling as she pointed out the window.
"Well, you know James was Wind, and we learned how to make a good water spout when we had the itch..."
"This is NOT funny, you...you...marauder!"
"Is that the best you can do?" He smirked. Luna sighed again, craning her neck to see the swirling mass of water.
"I hope they know what they're doing."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The water spout was much taller than Luna ever would've guessed. It was, to the best of Hermione's ability to make it so, as tall as the castle itself. Hermione's hands were shaking with the effort of keeping so much power under her control, and she could only imagine what Cho was going through. She managed to turn her head and nod at Draco.
Draco knew it was time. He sent up another shower of sparks. He then turned and thrust his hands toward the towing menace of water and wind. Icicles sharper than swords flew in, making the natural disaster even more dangerous than it already was. Hermione and Draco suddenly found it hard to keep their balance as the ground began to shake. Clods of earth, now frozen to the point of being rock solid, flew into the spout. Without warning, a wall of fire flew in front of them, and was swallowed by the raging storm.
It was a terrible sight to see. Draco was awed by it. He was also getting worried about Hermione. Her hands were visibly quivering, and it seemed that she was sweating. She managed to look around at him, and he nodded. Slowly she lowered her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. They then turned toward the village and the ever-growing noise of the chanting Death Eaters.
They could not see Cho, flying seven stories above them. Even if they had looked up they would not have seen her, because just above where the storm met the swirling and angry looking heavens was where she was. Her hands her lowered, and her flat palms, touched together, were facing the storm clouds, which were swirling at an impossible rate. She slowly moved her hands apart, and the spout broke to form a wall. She slowly flew inward toward the castle, letting her hands drift apart. As she reached the castle, she smiled in satisfaction, even though her entire body was shaking and she felt as if she were going to fall off her broom, and the unbearable noise of the storm was filling her mind.
The wall now surrounded Hogwarts.
Though Cho was finding the noise of the storm unbearable, the other four Defenders would've welcomed it. Even though there was a wall of unbelievable force swirling around them and the ground was quaking (courtesy Neville) it was silent. The silence was unbearable, and Hermione found herself wishing for something...ANYTHING to break it.
She started humming her favorite song. Draco turned to stare at her. In the silence, her would-be-inaudible humming was carried to the other side of the castle to Ginny's ears. Draco smiled, and began to hum a different tune, which somehow seemed to fit with Hermione's. Neville and Ginny caught on quickly and joined in. Somehow the juvenile thought of a favorite song at such a dire time was welcome.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There was quite a large crowd of fifth, sixth and seventh year volunteers accompanying the teachers to fight the Death Eaters. Harry and Ron were among the first out of the doors when Dumbledore finally quit lecturing. They were worried about their best friend and Ron's little sister. However, they were closely followed by the impressive stampede of the teachers and student volunteers.
Their first impression was silence, followed only by a fraction of a second by awe. The inner walls of the storm that reached as high as they could see until colliding with the mean, black clouds stopped the whole lot in their tracts. Ron's entire hand was fire.
Harry was the first to hear it...a soft humming vibrating through the eerie silence. It was soon joined the familiar tune with other songs of varying pitches. It filled the impromptu army with hope and they charged.
It was not a moment too soon. Just as the fighters for Hogwarts burst through the oak doors, the Death Eaters broke through the wall of nature's greatest forces. The pleasant humming immediately ceased, but it was no longer needed to keep the silence nonexistent.
Many fell just by trying to pass through the wall. The ranks of the Death Eaters had already been broken. More amazing, while the ground Harry's feet were planted on was as sturdy as ever, every inch of soil the Death Eaters touched was quaking.
However, even with these barriers, it wasn't long before Death Eaters met with the Hogwarts fighters, and a full scale battle began. Harry sent curses left and right, dodging jets of light from both sides. He had never imagined such furious chaos.
Ron was in much the same position. His mind was bent on one thing: Hermione. He knew she was out here somewhere, and the number of curses that were green were too high for him to be comfortable. He was fighting with a fury he didn't even know he possessed...fury at himself for not forgiving Hermione...for getting so upset over something so trivial.
He knew that she was over by the lake, although he didn't know why he was so sure of this. In any case, it was just his luck that the current of the battle was pulling him the other direction. Even though his instincts told him she was on the other side of the castle, he kept his eyes peeled open for her. His stomach churned as he realized she might be dead. He wanted nothing more than to apologize and feel her in his arms away from all...THIS!
However, his thoughts were yanked from Hermione when something in the depths of his mind screamed that Ginny was in trouble. He turned, and saw the short, red-clad figure he knew was Ginny fighting off two Death Eaters. She didn't see the third sneaking up behind her.
"GINNY!" He screamed, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. Ducking and dodging curses, he tried desperately to reach her, knowing it was impossible as he watched the Death Eater raise his wand. Ginny spun around, and Ron was suddenly frozen. Ginny was going to die.
Suddenly, just as the Death Eater was muttering the words, a gray robed figure placed a well-aimed kick at his back. The green curse flew over Ginny's head, missing only be inches. The impact of the curse knocked her down, but Ron knew she was alive because he could see her quivering even from this distance.
He fought his way to her. By the time he was at her side, the gray figure was helping her to her feet.
"Ginny?" Ron whispered, his face paler than the gray robes.
"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He held onto her tightly, afraid to lose her. His little sister had been so close to death...so close. His mind clouded over with guilt...he held onto her, regretting everything he had said to her that night after he had caught her and Malfoy in the library. He felt his eyes cloud with tears with the reality of those being the last words to his baby sister.
He suddenly realized they were being watched. He looked up, and saw Draco Malfoy's icy eyes under the hood of the matching cloak. He finally released Ginny, who he realized had been crying. He looked uncertainly at Malfoy...who had just saved his sister's life.
"Thank you," He whispered, his enmity with the blond boy unheeded in his gratitude for his sister's life. Draco only nodded...he was in shock by the bond of the Weasleys, never realizing a family could love each other like that. He could not believe Ronald Weasley had just thanked him. Suddenly, he remembered Serpentina, and it didn't seem so unbelievable.
A sudden change startled them. The wall of water, ice, fire, and earth had disappeared. Draco and Ginny instinctively looked up, and Ron did as well. Far above, he saw a small figure on a broomstick dodging curses and throwing down her own jets of light.
"Cho's in trouble." Draco said. He ran off to help. Ron was utterly confused. Now that he knew his sister was safe, his thoughts were returning to Hermione.
"Ginny...are you going to be okay?" He asked.
"Ron, LOOK OUT!" Ginny screamed. Ron ducked, and looked behind him. He saw a Death Eater. He blinked, and he was suddenly screaming because he was engulfed in flame. Ron stared at Ginny, his jaw dropped. Ginny grinned.
"I can handle myself." She said, winking. "Hermione by the lake," She said shyly. Ron shot a grateful look at his little sister before taking off in the other direction. With new determination, Ginny turned to fight the Death Eaters.
Hermione was exhausted. Her spells, and her control over water were becoming weaker and weaker. She had never dreamed the Battle would be like this. She had never had to fight so many people so had repetitively. Here, a mistake could cost her her life. Amazingly, she had managed to keep up with everything so far.
She was faltering, though. A recent, minor error had cause a wound in her left arm, which was now bleeding freely. The loss of blood was not helping her exhaustion, and she was beginning to feel dizzy.
However, she had hope. It was clear the Hogwarts was winning. She fought through slightly blurred vision, refusing to give up.
A Death Eater started sending a flurry of curses at her. She threw some back, letting the water gush from her wand with the curse. However, neither her spells nor her elemental powers were very strong after battling for nearly three hours. But she could fight this one off, she had to, she HAD to...
A well-aimed spell knocked her to her feet. The Death Eater stood over her. She closed her eyes. This was it, she was going to die.
"HERMIONE!" Someone screamed. Hoping against hope, she opened her eyes, and saw the Death Eater turn, they get knocked down himself by a nasty looking red stream of light. She felt someone lean next to her.
"Hermione?" A deep voice asked in concern. Hermione felt tears of relief and pain as she rolled over to see Ron bending down over her.
"Ron," She whispered, smiling. He helped her sit up, and healed her arm.
"Hermione...I'm so sorry," He whispered.
"I know." She said, her eyes tearing with the only thing she hadn't felt all day: joy.
However, she was quickly reminded of the state of her environment. She had forgotten the number one rule of battle: Don't let anything distract you. She turned to the fight, filled with new energy and prepared to face anything, because Ron was standing next to her.
Just as she was preparing to reenter with a complicated, but powerful spell, her blood was stopped by a loud, ear piercing scream. Everyone stopped, and the world seemed to freeze...even Time itself. Then, as if the inhuman cry was a signal, the Death Eaters vanished. Hermione looked around her, and realized that Hogwarts had won.
In unison, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started screaming their celebration. They had defeated the Death Eaters. Ron picked Hermione up, twirled her around, and set her on her feet, kissing her fiercely. Hermione returned the kiss with everything she had.
"HERMIONE!" They heard someone cry. Breaking apart, Hermione saw Ginny fighting through the crowd.
"Ginny!" Hermione cried happily. She embraced her faithful friend, and realized that both she and Ginny were crying. "Neville!" She said through tears, seeing her green clad companion. She pulled him into a group hug with Ginny.
"Harry," Ron smiled, relieved to see his best friend was okay. The hugged like the brothers they practically were. Then, they joined the other three. Hermione was crying with happiness, with Ginny, Neville, Harry and Ron all in a circle, hugging and shouting. They were a bit away from the rest of the crowd, lost in delirious happiness.
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a high-pitched scream from behind the castle. They were the only ones close enough to hear it. Harry and Ron were confused, but the three Defenders looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Cho," Neville whispered, and the three of them took off running, disappearing behind the castle. Harry and Ron looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They watched the corner of the castle they had disappeared behind uncertainly.
Suddenly, Hermione ran out into vision. She collapsed onto her knees near the forest, and began to vomit. Ron and Harry seemed frozen, not knowing what to do or think. Slowly, Hermione stood up, her knees visibly shaking as she returned to the out of sight location of the others.
It was only a few moments before Hermione came back into view again. Ginny was walking between Cho and Hermione, who were both visibly and audibly sobbing. Ginny seemed to be staring off into a shocked space. Then Neville came around into sight, a grim look on his face.
He was carrying the limp body of Draco Malfoy.
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part14
Hermione felt the cold, bitter wind on her hands and her cheeks. She felt her skin being chapped where it was exposed to the wind. However, everything the cloak touched was unchanged. She felt extremely grateful to Luna at the moment.
However, suddenly her heart froze, and it had nothing to do with the snow crunching under her feet. She could hear the Death Eaters chanting in Hogsmeade. In the distance, she could see the Dark Mark lighting up the dreary sky.
She turned and nodded to her fellow Defenders, and they nodded back grimly, yet bravely. Neville and Ginny turned one way, while Draco and Hermione turned the other. Cho turned to the castle, and taking her wand out, flicked her wrist. Within seconds her Nimbus 2001 was hovering next to her. She climbed on and kicked off high over Hogwarts.
Hermione and Draco were standing by the lake. They saw Ginny's red sparks from the other side of the castle, then Neville's green ones from in front of it. Cho sent down blue streaks of light from the heights above the castle. Draco and Hermione looked at each other, then sent up their silver and turquoise sparks to show that they were ready. As the four others turned toward the oncoming stampede of Death Eaters, Hermione turned to face the lake. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands to the heavens.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Luna was absolutely worried sick. She was shaking as she somehow managed to walk from the doors to the front of the Great Hall with the rest of the professors. The children...she had come in the last month to feel as if they were her sons and daughters. She knew, deep inside, that she had only been training them to go out and fight, but now that the day had come, she wanted to throw up. She could not stand the thought of what the Death Eaters could do to them.
"Hey," Sirius muttered as he felt Luna stand next to him. Dumbledore was making a speech to the students, explaining what was happening. Sirius wasn't paying much attention.
"Hi," Luna whispered distractedly, looking out the long window. She couldn't see the grounds, but she knew the patch of sky she could see was just above the lake. Hermione would be out there, and probably Draco as well.
"Worried about them?" Sirius asked.
"No, they're ready," She replied, not turning around. Sirius smirked.
"You always were a terrible liar." He said in her ear. She whipped around and glared. She was not in the mood for Sirius's stupid comments.
"What is Dumbledore talking about?" She demanded coldly. Sirius shrugged.
"The attack. Fifth through seventh year students can help fight, if they wish."
"So Harry will be out there?" Luna asked, an eyebrow raised. Sirius's eyes widened, and he swore under his breath.
"I didn't think of that," He said, more to himself than to Luna. Over other little victories such as this, Luna would've made a point in rubbing it in, but this was not funny. Harry would be in serious danger...he had never had to fight a battle with others in danger around him. He had no training. Luna momentarily second guessed her judgment...it would've done Harry good to be prepared for this inevitable attack.
Sighing, Luna's gaze returned to the window. It was a few moments before Luna realized what she was seeing. There was a wall of water, so high that she couldn't see its end. She could hear gusts of wind and saw the wall of icy water begin to swirl into a spout.
"What in the..." She muttered, her eyes wide. "I never taught them how to handle such forces! Where did Hermione and Cho..." Her dangling sentence was cut off abruptly as she turned and glared at Sirius, who was trying desperately to maintain an innocent face and failing miserably. "Sirius!" She hissed.
"What?" Sirius replied, trying to keep up his innocent act in vain.
"I know you did this!" She continued, trying to keep herself from yelling as she pointed out the window.
"Well, you know James was Wind, and we learned how to make a good water spout when we had the itch..."
"This is NOT funny, you...you...marauder!"
"Is that the best you can do?" He smirked. Luna sighed again, craning her neck to see the swirling mass of water.
"I hope they know what they're doing."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The water spout was much taller than Luna ever would've guessed. It was, to the best of Hermione's ability to make it so, as tall as the castle itself. Hermione's hands were shaking with the effort of keeping so much power under her control, and she could only imagine what Cho was going through. She managed to turn her head and nod at Draco.
Draco knew it was time. He sent up another shower of sparks. He then turned and thrust his hands toward the towing menace of water and wind. Icicles sharper than swords flew in, making the natural disaster even more dangerous than it already was. Hermione and Draco suddenly found it hard to keep their balance as the ground began to shake. Clods of earth, now frozen to the point of being rock solid, flew into the spout. Without warning, a wall of fire flew in front of them, and was swallowed by the raging storm.
It was a terrible sight to see. Draco was awed by it. He was also getting worried about Hermione. Her hands were visibly quivering, and it seemed that she was sweating. She managed to look around at him, and he nodded. Slowly she lowered her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. They then turned toward the village and the ever-growing noise of the chanting Death Eaters.
They could not see Cho, flying seven stories above them. Even if they had looked up they would not have seen her, because just above where the storm met the swirling and angry looking heavens was where she was. Her hands her lowered, and her flat palms, touched together, were facing the storm clouds, which were swirling at an impossible rate. She slowly moved her hands apart, and the spout broke to form a wall. She slowly flew inward toward the castle, letting her hands drift apart. As she reached the castle, she smiled in satisfaction, even though her entire body was shaking and she felt as if she were going to fall off her broom, and the unbearable noise of the storm was filling her mind.
The wall now surrounded Hogwarts.
Though Cho was finding the noise of the storm unbearable, the other four Defenders would've welcomed it. Even though there was a wall of unbelievable force swirling around them and the ground was quaking (courtesy Neville) it was silent. The silence was unbearable, and Hermione found herself wishing for something...ANYTHING to break it.
She started humming her favorite song. Draco turned to stare at her. In the silence, her would-be-inaudible humming was carried to the other side of the castle to Ginny's ears. Draco smiled, and began to hum a different tune, which somehow seemed to fit with Hermione's. Neville and Ginny caught on quickly and joined in. Somehow the juvenile thought of a favorite song at such a dire time was welcome.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There was quite a large crowd of fifth, sixth and seventh year volunteers accompanying the teachers to fight the Death Eaters. Harry and Ron were among the first out of the doors when Dumbledore finally quit lecturing. They were worried about their best friend and Ron's little sister. However, they were closely followed by the impressive stampede of the teachers and student volunteers.
Their first impression was silence, followed only by a fraction of a second by awe. The inner walls of the storm that reached as high as they could see until colliding with the mean, black clouds stopped the whole lot in their tracts. Ron's entire hand was fire.
Harry was the first to hear it...a soft humming vibrating through the eerie silence. It was soon joined the familiar tune with other songs of varying pitches. It filled the impromptu army with hope and they charged.
It was not a moment too soon. Just as the fighters for Hogwarts burst through the oak doors, the Death Eaters broke through the wall of nature's greatest forces. The pleasant humming immediately ceased, but it was no longer needed to keep the silence nonexistent.
Many fell just by trying to pass through the wall. The ranks of the Death Eaters had already been broken. More amazing, while the ground Harry's feet were planted on was as sturdy as ever, every inch of soil the Death Eaters touched was quaking.
However, even with these barriers, it wasn't long before Death Eaters met with the Hogwarts fighters, and a full scale battle began. Harry sent curses left and right, dodging jets of light from both sides. He had never imagined such furious chaos.
Ron was in much the same position. His mind was bent on one thing: Hermione. He knew she was out here somewhere, and the number of curses that were green were too high for him to be comfortable. He was fighting with a fury he didn't even know he possessed...fury at himself for not forgiving Hermione...for getting so upset over something so trivial.
He knew that she was over by the lake, although he didn't know why he was so sure of this. In any case, it was just his luck that the current of the battle was pulling him the other direction. Even though his instincts told him she was on the other side of the castle, he kept his eyes peeled open for her. His stomach churned as he realized she might be dead. He wanted nothing more than to apologize and feel her in his arms away from all...THIS!
However, his thoughts were yanked from Hermione when something in the depths of his mind screamed that Ginny was in trouble. He turned, and saw the short, red-clad figure he knew was Ginny fighting off two Death Eaters. She didn't see the third sneaking up behind her.
"GINNY!" He screamed, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. Ducking and dodging curses, he tried desperately to reach her, knowing it was impossible as he watched the Death Eater raise his wand. Ginny spun around, and Ron was suddenly frozen. Ginny was going to die.
Suddenly, just as the Death Eater was muttering the words, a gray robed figure placed a well-aimed kick at his back. The green curse flew over Ginny's head, missing only be inches. The impact of the curse knocked her down, but Ron knew she was alive because he could see her quivering even from this distance.
He fought his way to her. By the time he was at her side, the gray figure was helping her to her feet.
"Ginny?" Ron whispered, his face paler than the gray robes.
"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He held onto her tightly, afraid to lose her. His little sister had been so close to death...so close. His mind clouded over with guilt...he held onto her, regretting everything he had said to her that night after he had caught her and Malfoy in the library. He felt his eyes cloud with tears with the reality of those being the last words to his baby sister.
He suddenly realized they were being watched. He looked up, and saw Draco Malfoy's icy eyes under the hood of the matching cloak. He finally released Ginny, who he realized had been crying. He looked uncertainly at Malfoy...who had just saved his sister's life.
"Thank you," He whispered, his enmity with the blond boy unheeded in his gratitude for his sister's life. Draco only nodded...he was in shock by the bond of the Weasleys, never realizing a family could love each other like that. He could not believe Ronald Weasley had just thanked him. Suddenly, he remembered Serpentina, and it didn't seem so unbelievable.
A sudden change startled them. The wall of water, ice, fire, and earth had disappeared. Draco and Ginny instinctively looked up, and Ron did as well. Far above, he saw a small figure on a broomstick dodging curses and throwing down her own jets of light.
"Cho's in trouble." Draco said. He ran off to help. Ron was utterly confused. Now that he knew his sister was safe, his thoughts were returning to Hermione.
"Ginny...are you going to be okay?" He asked.
"Ron, LOOK OUT!" Ginny screamed. Ron ducked, and looked behind him. He saw a Death Eater. He blinked, and he was suddenly screaming because he was engulfed in flame. Ron stared at Ginny, his jaw dropped. Ginny grinned.
"I can handle myself." She said, winking. "Hermione by the lake," She said shyly. Ron shot a grateful look at his little sister before taking off in the other direction. With new determination, Ginny turned to fight the Death Eaters.
Hermione was exhausted. Her spells, and her control over water were becoming weaker and weaker. She had never dreamed the Battle would be like this. She had never had to fight so many people so had repetitively. Here, a mistake could cost her her life. Amazingly, she had managed to keep up with everything so far.
She was faltering, though. A recent, minor error had cause a wound in her left arm, which was now bleeding freely. The loss of blood was not helping her exhaustion, and she was beginning to feel dizzy.
However, she had hope. It was clear the Hogwarts was winning. She fought through slightly blurred vision, refusing to give up.
A Death Eater started sending a flurry of curses at her. She threw some back, letting the water gush from her wand with the curse. However, neither her spells nor her elemental powers were very strong after battling for nearly three hours. But she could fight this one off, she had to, she HAD to...
A well-aimed spell knocked her to her feet. The Death Eater stood over her. She closed her eyes. This was it, she was going to die.
"HERMIONE!" Someone screamed. Hoping against hope, she opened her eyes, and saw the Death Eater turn, they get knocked down himself by a nasty looking red stream of light. She felt someone lean next to her.
"Hermione?" A deep voice asked in concern. Hermione felt tears of relief and pain as she rolled over to see Ron bending down over her.
"Ron," She whispered, smiling. He helped her sit up, and healed her arm.
"Hermione...I'm so sorry," He whispered.
"I know." She said, her eyes tearing with the only thing she hadn't felt all day: joy.
However, she was quickly reminded of the state of her environment. She had forgotten the number one rule of battle: Don't let anything distract you. She turned to the fight, filled with new energy and prepared to face anything, because Ron was standing next to her.
Just as she was preparing to reenter with a complicated, but powerful spell, her blood was stopped by a loud, ear piercing scream. Everyone stopped, and the world seemed to freeze...even Time itself. Then, as if the inhuman cry was a signal, the Death Eaters vanished. Hermione looked around her, and realized that Hogwarts had won.
In unison, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started screaming their celebration. They had defeated the Death Eaters. Ron picked Hermione up, twirled her around, and set her on her feet, kissing her fiercely. Hermione returned the kiss with everything she had.
"HERMIONE!" They heard someone cry. Breaking apart, Hermione saw Ginny fighting through the crowd.
"Ginny!" Hermione cried happily. She embraced her faithful friend, and realized that both she and Ginny were crying. "Neville!" She said through tears, seeing her green clad companion. She pulled him into a group hug with Ginny.
"Harry," Ron smiled, relieved to see his best friend was okay. The hugged like the brothers they practically were. Then, they joined the other three. Hermione was crying with happiness, with Ginny, Neville, Harry and Ron all in a circle, hugging and shouting. They were a bit away from the rest of the crowd, lost in delirious happiness.
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a high-pitched scream from behind the castle. They were the only ones close enough to hear it. Harry and Ron were confused, but the three Defenders looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Cho," Neville whispered, and the three of them took off running, disappearing behind the castle. Harry and Ron looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They watched the corner of the castle they had disappeared behind uncertainly.
Suddenly, Hermione ran out into vision. She collapsed onto her knees near the forest, and began to vomit. Ron and Harry seemed frozen, not knowing what to do or think. Slowly, Hermione stood up, her knees visibly shaking as she returned to the out of sight location of the others.
It was only a few moments before Hermione came back into view again. Ginny was walking between Cho and Hermione, who were both visibly and audibly sobbing. Ginny seemed to be staring off into a shocked space. Then Neville came around into sight, a grim look on his face.
He was carrying the limp body of Draco Malfoy.