The Beginning to End All

by stephaflea

“Tell me to stop” …”I don’t want you to!” As the war waged on will this change in Harry’s and Hermione’s relationship be for the greater good, or will it cost the wizarding world its last and only hope.

9. A Close Call

The Beginning to End All

Chapter 9 (A Close Call)

Ron just stared at Harry in complete and utter disbelief; Harry was one of the bravest and strongest people he knew, more of a brother to him than just a friend. But this person standing in front of him was not the Harry he knew; he looked scared, confused and vulnerable. Just like the first time they met all those years ago on the Hogwarts express.

"Finish what?"

Harry was frustrated it was easy to see, he could feel his nails digging into the palms of his hands as Harry clenched his fists. Could no one understand what he was thinking? Did no one else see what he saw? He turned to face Ron not know whether to be angry at him for not understanding or happy that he was at least trying to help.

"What happens if I go and talk to her, we work things out and get together? What …"

"Well that's good isn't it" Ron asked confused interrupting Harry. "Your in love with the girl don't you want to be with her."

"Let me finish!" Harry growled from gritted teeth. "I would give anything to be with Hermione, to have a normal life with her. But that is never going to happen why? Because I'm bloody Harry Potter the boy who lived, the one who has to kill Voldemort or be killed himself. I can't have a normal life."

"Harry that will soon all be over! You'll face Voldemort, kick his arse and it will be over."

Harry turned away from Ron and started to walk up the corridor. He didn't understand no one could.

Ron wasn't going to give up so easily, "What's wrong with it Harry, tell me?" He quicken his paced
and grabbed Harry's arms. "Bloody hell! Tell me why you can't be happy? Tell me what's stopping
you from marching up to Hermione and mending this bloody problem. Tell me." Ron shouted
he was furious; Harry was being such a prat.

"How can I ask her to love me? To be with me, when in a few days I might be dead." He roared back. "I can't put her through that much pain."

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"Mark let go of me!" Hermione used all her strength to pull her arm out of his grip but it was no use as he continued to drag her down the corridor.

Losing her footing Hermione fell to the floor but still he carried on walking quickening his pace dragging her along the carpet. Hermione could feel the burn of the carpet under her knees, she winced in pain as she tried to regain her footing but Mark wasn't slowing down.

"Get up!" he shouted yanking her to her feet.

"Mark just think about what you're doing, you think Voldemort is going to reward you. You're bloody dreaming." She let out a little sob as his grip became even harder around her arm. "He's using you!!" She yelled at him "you mean nothing to him … you are expendable. Why do you think he asked you to do this? … 'cause it suicide that's why. There is no way out of this castle Voldemort didn't want to waste one of his good men on the job."

Before Hermione knew what had happened she had been thrown up against the wall with such
force that her vision blurred. She felt a hand grip around her throat and Hermione began
to panic.  Mark pushed his body up next to hers; Hermione could feel his hot breathe on her neck. Marks fingers clench tighter making it even harder for Hermione to breathe.

"You better shut the hell up!" He growled in her ear. "Or you're going to be sorry."

And with that he took hold of her arm once again pushing her toward the stairs which led down to the main doors. As Mark violently forced her forward Hermione lost her footing on one of the stairs, her eyes widen in shock as for a brief second she knew what was about to happen, gabbing on to Marks shirt she tried to regain her balance but it was no use. Hermione let out a scream as she plunged down the stair case landing in a heap at the bottom.

Not being able to stop her fall Mark quickly descended to stairs cursing quietly under his breath.

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Hermione's scream echoed through out the empty corridors of Hogwarts and instead of dying out it seemed to increase in power like it was calling for help, for some one to hear.

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Harry and Ron look around as a sound of scream rang from the castle. The entire color drained from their faces as they recognize whose voice it was.

"That's Hermione!" Ron stated and before he could say another word Harry was off running down the corridor in the direction of the scream. Ron wasn't far behind he only hoped that what ever had happened they got there in time.

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Everyone else was still sitting in the great hall as they heard the scream.

"Oh my god that was Hermione." Lavender told them. In minutes they were all to their
feet and moving in the direction of the door.

"Lavender are you sure!" Sirius asked

"Definitely!" Lavender had never been so confidant.

As they left the great hall, Sirius Remus, Draco and the girls went in one direction while the aurors searched in the other. Snape left quickly to inform Dumbledore who had already returned to his office before dinner.

Another scream rang through the corridor and they pick up their speed heading towards the front doors, as they rounded the corner which would lead into the main entrance they crashed head on into Ron and Harry knocking them all back.

Hermione caught a glimpse of them up the stairs and hope suddenly filled her heart.

"Harry!" Hermione called as loud as she could using her last remaining bit of strength.

Within seconds Harry was down the stairs with his wand out in front of him. Ron and all the others close on his tail.

"Anderson!" Harry shouted as the death eater/auror made his way to the door. He spun round to
find 7 wands pointing at him; panic rose up in his chest as he pulled Hermione closer to him. his hand was firmly around Hermione's throat, Harry could see her gasp for breath and raised his arms holding his wand out; he was ready to die for his master if he had to and Harry knew this.

"Anderson," Harry spoke calmly. "You've had it, there's no where to go you can't get out … let her go!"

Mark Anderson looked around the entrance hall for some help, suddenly realizing he was on his own. He hands were beginning to sweat and his heart was almost beating out of his chest. Tightening his grip around Hermione's throat he heard a light sob escape her mouth, he quickly glanced down and saw that she had a few tears in her eyes, she was scared. That's when he released the advantage he had.

"You're going to stop me Harry?" he asked a cheeky grin appearing on his face. "What you gonna do?" He let out a small laugh.

"Just let her go!" Harry repeated.

"You have to be kidding me. I let her go and you'll curse me to kingdom come, but while I have hold of her you can't touch me." Mark watch careful and saw Harry swallow hard; He could hide his emotion well but not well enough. "Any curse you send at me will hit her, are you prepared to watch her die Harry.

Mark slowly took a few steps back and Harry matched them as he moved forward.

"Don't be stupid Anderson, you can't escape. Just let her go!"

"You didn't answer my question Harry!" another laugh "Every death eater in the country has been
told to look out for this girl. You wouldn't believe the rewards he's offering for the one who can bring her in alive."

"And is that why you turned to him," Harry asked anger building up in his voice. "What'd he offer you, power?" At the mention of 'power' Harry saw Anderson's eyes light up. Now it was Harry's turn to laugh. "You think he cares about you? He's using you to get what he wants … once he's got it he'll kill you."

"You're lying!" Mark shouted back at him

"Am I!" Harry advanced closer, his wand still out in front of him. His hand was steady and didn't shake one bit, to an outside his looked perfecting calm, in control. When deep down inside he was just wishing and praying he made the right decisions. "I've been on the receiving end of his wand a few times … you think you can handle that? Harry paused and glimpsed at Hermione. Her eyes locked with his and within their depths Harry could see fear, terror but also trust. "Let her go!"

"NO!"

Mark slightly released his grip, Hermione seeing this as her chance … took it. Thrusting her arm back she elbowed him in his stomach and pulled her self free. Before she even had chance to turn around she heard Harry's voice bellow out.

"STUPEFY!"

A brilliant red light filled the hall way and when it had cleared Mark Anderson was lying unconscious on the floor.

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Within minutes everyone was gathered in the entrance hall, Hermione was sitting on the floor with Lavender and Ginny crying. She'd been pretty shaken up and after the last two days all the emotions inside her were just too powerful to keep locked up and she broken down there and then.

Poppy had already given her a check over and told them there were no long term injuries just a little bruising from the attack and the fall but nothing was broken.

To say Harry was angry was an understatement; Ron and Draco were keeping him a good
distance from the death eater who was still unconscious on the floor a few meters away. A little afraid at what Harry might do if he woke up.

Remus looked around at the situation; he saw Hermione had slowly calmed down while Ginny and lavender sat beside her. Harry, Draco and Ron we off on the other side of the entrance hall, Draco and Ron keeping Harry firmly against the wall; although he didn't look any calmer to what he was a few minutes ago. "Well I think it's perfectly clear on what Voldemort was planning." Remus said in a harsh voice so no one else could hear him. He was standing by the body with Sirius, Snape and Dumbledore.

"I should have done something after that howler." Dumbledore mention as he looked over at Hermione. "I thought she would be safe in the castle, looks like Voldemort's power of persuading is getting stronger, Anderson has be an Auror for over 10 years."

"If only I could have gotten closer to the inner group I might have been able to find out what he was planning." Snape growled

"Convenient that isn't it?" Sirius spoke up with hatred in his voice. He wasn't looked at any of them, his eyes rested on Hermione and then of Harry as he realized what could have happened if they hadn't of manage to stop Anderson in time.

Snape hearing his comment turned his eyes blazing with anger at what Sirius was implying. "And what's that suppose to mean Black?

"That's enough!" Dumbledore shouted which also earned him at glance from everyone in the entrance way. "It is neither the time or the place to bring up and old grunge." Snape and Sirius looked away they knew what he was saying was the truth even if they weren't going to admit it. "We have all been under a huge amount of stress lately, but we mustn't start fighting amongst ourselves. There has already been to much of that."

"He obviously thought that he'd have the upper hand against Harry with Hermione in his possession." Snape informed them after a rather long silence

"And he'd of been right." Sirius voiced was sober and cold, he'd realized that they'd come very close to losing the war. If Voldemort got his hands on Hermione he'd of been able to get Harry to
do anything. No one wanted to admit it; they all knew the power that Voldemort would have if he had succeeded in kidnapping Hermione.

"I think we should remove Mr. Anderson and place him in a secure room." Dumbledore told them once again turning towards Snape. "I will need some veritaserum I have a few question I would like to ask." Snape nodded towards the head master and using his wand picked up the still unconscious body and walked off down the corridor.

Harry eyes never left them until they were both out of sight. Harry turned and looked around at all the other people who were still standing in the hall way. The rest of the aurors couldn't believe what had happen and still looked in shock. Sirius and Remus were still talking in hushed voice to Dumbledore and Hermione was still sitting on the floor although she had stop crying.

His eyes stayed on Hermione for a few second while realization of how close he had come to losing her sunk in.

Think it was safe to attempt to move with out Ron or Draco threatening him he pushed forwards passed his two friends and slowly made his way over to Hermione, feeling everybody's eyes on him as he moved. Kneeling down in front of her flashbacks of the night before ran through his mind.

He looked into her eyes and was over some by what he saw. The fear and terror was still lingering in those beautiful depths but Harry also saw confusion and bewilderment. "Go to Romania " he voice was shaky but Hermione didn't say as word "Please!!" he begged his voice was barely a whisper now and it was taking a lot of his strength to not just break down there and hold her to him not letting anything else get to her.

Hermione's tear stained face looked up at him, all emotion was gone and it was replace with a cold gaze which made Harry shiver. "No." was her only answer. They remain there for a while before Harry lifted himself back up to his feet. At that second Hermione's hand grabbed hold of his wrist and he look down at the helpless figure in front of him. Still shaking from the attack her eyes shone with such determination and coldness that they seem like they didn't belong to such a lovely face.

"I won't leave you!" she added dropping his wrist and standing herself up without losing eye contact. The tension in the room dramatically grew as they just stood there staring at each other waiting for someone to make the first. Finally Hermione turned and walked off down the hall and everyone let out the breath they had all been holding. Lavender gave Harry a small smile as her and Ginny rushed off down the corridor to comfort their friend.

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Hermione sat quietly in her room waiting for her hands to stop shaking. She couldn't believe how close she had been. No … she didn't want think about.

As she sat on the sofa trying her hardest to relax her mind float back to Harry, something it had been doing an awful lot over the last couple of days. Hermione closed her eyes and let out a irritated sigh as a vision of Harry kneeling in front of her filled her mind. The way his voice had shaken while he spoke and his eyes begged with her to leave, to go somewhere she wouldn't be in danger. It wasn't too long before a knock sounded at her door, snapping her out of her thoughts. Wondering on whom it could be she gentle raised herself of the sofa and slowly walked to the door. It couldn't Lavender or Ginny, she had told them earlier she was just going to go straight to bed. As her hand reached for the handle a sudden thought filled her mind, what if it was Harry? She froze hand over handle not making a move. Could she face him right know? Maybe she should, things had got so out of hand they should sit down and talk everything through. But maybe it wasn't Harry what if it was someone else from Voldemort, another death eater sent to try and get her. Hermione felt her heart beat quicken in her chest, and as another knock sounded she jumped.

"Relax Hermione it isn't a death eater get a grip girl." She told her self and once again went for the door handle but not before she had taken a god grip on her wand. Slowly and cautiously she opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sirius standing there.

"Sirius …" she opened the door fully so he could come in and Hermione began to relax. Over the years they had all become really close he was like a Godfather to them all, him and Remus and she felt safe around him. She quickly released her grip on her wand and closed the door behind him. "How can I help you?"

"I just came to see how you were doing?" he asked putting his hands into the pockets of
his jeans and stood up on his toes before rolling back down on the balls of his feet. He was looking very nervous which surprised Hermione, why should he look nervous just asking how she was.

"I'm fine …really I am just a little shaken but I'll live."

"That's good." Sirius replied looking around the room. Hermione found it hard to hide a smile; Sirius obviously came here to say something, it made her laugh how she knew him so well just all the others.

"Sirius what did you come here for … really."

Sirius looked at her with a surprised expression on his face before he released there was not way he was going to fool her. Taking a deep breath he walked over the Hermione sofa and took a seat and just stared at her. It was amazing how she'd grown up; her, Harry and Ron they weren't the little children he'd met all those years ago. "Have I ever told you how Lily and James got together?" Sirius asked turning to face Hermione.

What ever it was that Hermione had been expecting him to say it defiantly wasn't that. Hoping her face didn't look to shocked she gentle shook her head and made her way to take the seat next to him.

"It was in their 7th year." Sirius began hoping he was doing the right thing. "All the way up until the 5th year they hated each other and I mean hated. Well James was crazy about Lily he always had been. Though it didn't stop us playing pranks on her but that's another story." He paused for a brief second before he continued. "As I said James was crazy about Lily but she couldn't stand the sight of him." A smile appeared on his lips as he spoke about his best friends. "It wasn't until the 6th year that they began speaking, civilly that is. They'd spoken before you know to throw insults at each to other, but it was 6th year things began improving between them."

"Then in 7th year just before Christmas James' parents where killed." Hermione was shocked, ok it was true she didn't really know much about Harry's parents let alone his grandparents but she was still shocked.

"That's terrible!" She exclaimed but all Sirius could do was nod in agreement.

"Yeah … James took it very badly; lock himself away wouldn't talk to anyone, that's obviously where Harry gets it from." Sirius attended a small smile appeared as he tried to lighten up the conversation but the pain he was feeling inside refused to let him. It had been ages since he told anyone about this or even thought about it.

Hermione could see that this was painful for Sirius to talk about and she could understand why, but it still made her begin to wonder why he was telling her this but she stayed quiet hoping that Sirius would carry on.

"Lily was the only one who managed to help him. Do you know what happened?" Sirius asked turning towards Hermione, she shook her head gentle still wondering where he was going with
this.
 
"The same thing happened, as it did with you and Harry the other morning!" Hermione was sure she had stopped breathing, her cheeks were burning red and her hands suddenly became very interesting but Sirius carried on.

"They didn't mean for anything to happened, it just did. Lily had gone to talk to him and James being an emotion wreck throws caution to the wind and made the first move and Lily didn't stop him. They were just friends but something happened that night and reality was just left behind. Whether it was something both had wanted for a long time which I think it was with James, or whether it was just a night controlled with lust and passion I will never know. But something changed between them and it wasn't for the best … the fighting soon began again and everyone wondered what had happen. One day James had just had enough and told her everything, how much he loved her, that he knew he'd been a jerk over the 6 years and he was sorry. He was sorry for what had happened that night but he didn't regret and he didn't want to just leave it and forget. But … Lily pushed him away breaking his heart and hers as she did."

Sirius could see tears forming in Hermione's eyes as she listened to the story. "After a few weeks of this it was clear it was slowing eating away at both of them, Lily's grades had drop and she spend most days just crying at random none important things. But we really knew something was wrong when James stopped pulling pranks." Sirius was trying to lighting the atmosphere just a little. "I already knew what happened to I spoke to Lily and she told me the reason she pushed him away; why she couldn't be with him. She told me it was becau …

"She was scared." Hermione answered for him. She knew very well why Lily had pushed him
away scared of giving her heart and losing it. Just like she was scared, scared that if she gave Harry her heart and he was killed that he'd take her with him.

"She was scared at what it would mean; scared of loving him so completely that she wouldn't be herself. Scared to give him her heart and then lose it." Sirius pause "But what Lily didn't understand was that she had already given him her heart, like you have already given yours to Harry." Hermione let out a sob and started to cry once more.

"I can't lose him Sirius; I can't go out there and watch him die."

"You think it's going to hurt any less if you don't tell him you love him." Sirius lifted Hermione face to look at his. "Not telling him how you feel isn't going to make it hurt less, if anything it's going to
hurt more. If Harry is going to die in the battle would you rather know he died knowing you loved
him or wondering if you ever did?"

Hermione didn't know what to say her head was spinning she knew what Sirius was saying was the truth but was she brave enough to tell him.

"You've known the risks, you always have and yet you still stood by him; your still standing by him." With that Sirius stood up and made his way to the door.

"You have to ask your self one question Hermione…" Hermione's eyes rose to watch him
and he slowly opened the door, "What would you rather do, spend this little time you have left together, and I wont lie to you it might only be a few days but at least you'd be able to experiencing what love is. You would both be a happy and be with the person would love … Or would you rather risk your life never knowing and wondering what could have been." And with that he disappeared through the door closing it behind him.

Author's notes

Hi everyone here is chapter 9 I said it wouldn't be too long.

As I said with the last chapter I have checked and rechecked this chapter but I know there are still going to be mistakes I'm really sorry I just can't seem to pick them all out.

Still looking for a beta-reader any offers?

I also just want to say when I first started to write this chapter I hated it nothing seemed to work or fit together so if it seems a little dull I'm sorry but I did try my best.

I hope you like it a little anyway. I have most of the next chapter written I'm having it as kind of a song fic and If you don't like them I'm sorry please just try and put up with it for one chapter. It's going to be kinda of fluffy as well.

Thanks everyone for their reviews and I'm sorry again about the mistakes

Thank You!! Thank You!! Thank You!! Thank You!!

Angel-flea