I Miss You

Chapter 15

Dumbledore stood at the window of his office, looking out towards the gates of the entrance to Hogwarts. He sighed tiredly, watching as more and more wizards Apparated at the front gate. "So it has begun," he murmured. "So it has begun."

He murmured "Contego defendo," placing a protective forcefield around Hogwarts. It would only last for an hour. An hour… just long enough to prepare the Hogwarts students for the battle that was soon to take place.

«.:.:.:.»

Harry sat in the position that he had been in so many times this past school year… in front of the fire, head in his hands. That was one of the worst experiences in his life.

Hermione walked in and saw Harry. She felt her heart ache with pity and love for him. She just wanted to take him and kiss away all of his fears and worries… and run her hands through his hair, and whisper reassuring things into his ear. But now… now was not the time.

She sat down next to him and ran her hand across his back in small circles. It gave them both a small reassurance that she was there and always would be.

They sat that way for a while, until Professor McGonagall walked in looking pale and worried. "Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, please, the headmaster wishes to see you and Mr. Weasley in his office immediately. The password is 'Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.' Can you find Mr. Weasley, please?"

They both nodded and stood up, wondering why Dumbledore wanted to see them.

«.:.:.:.»

"Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, nodding to them. He seemed to have a strange sort of calm about himself that nobody had sensed before. "I would like for you to glance out this window here for a moment," he said, motioning to the window behind him. The three of them stood up and looked out to see about 20 hooded witches and wizards blasting at the gates of Hogwarts with their wands.

"Professor… are those…" Harry asked, looking panicked.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Potter," he said. Ron looked entirely nonplussed, so Dumbledore elaborated. "Those are Death Eaters and, quite possibly, Lord Voldemort out there trying to get into Hogwarts. In about 45 minutes, they will be able to. I felt that you three should be alerted and should probably alert the remaining members of the DA, along with all sixth and seventh years in your house, of what is happening. I am sure that they will want to help in any way that they can."

Hermione, ever logical, had the first question. "But, Professor, who will take care of the younger students?"

Dumbledore said simply, "The heads of each house will take their students into the Great Hall, where the students will be left in the care of Argus Filch. All teachers will be needed to fight. Members of the Order as well as Aurors from the Ministry will be Flooing in soon to aide in the battle.'

"Before you students go, I have one request for you, Ron, and you, Hermione. It is a request that I am sure that you will agree to. It involves a difficult spell… and the protection of Harry."

Both Ron and Hermione nodded immediately, readily agreeing to do anything to save Harry.

"The spell offers the love of those closest to Harry as protection towards him. This will lessen the effect of the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse- effectively, it will lessen it so that it takes two Killing Curses to actually kill Harry. I shall perform it first, and each of you, in turn, will follow my example."

Dumbledore walked to Harry and placed his wand to Harry's scar. "Aegis Demorior." Harry's scar burned bright blue and Harry felt a searing pain for a split second, and then the glow faded. Dumbledore motioned to Hermione and Ron and they, in turn, each did the same.

"The three of you are dismissed," Dumbledore stated. "I wish you the best of luck today."

«.:.:.:.»

'Now is not the time to tell him,' Hermione thought to herself. 'Telling him now that you loved him would totally screw him up for the battle. God, I don't know how I'll be able to fight without worrying about him so much that I space out.'

They were in the entrance hall with ten minutes to go. Lupin was there, and was telling everyone assembled– Draco Malfoy included– a few things about fighting that he thought they should know.

"Remember, the goal here is not to kill them but to Stun them- with the exception of you, Harry, of course- and it's all right to do what you must in order to subdue them. But please, don't use the Killing Curse in anything but very, very extreme conditions in which you are in danger of losing your life."

'Don't even think about telling her,' Harry thought to himself. 'She doesn't want to hear it, she doesn't want to know it, and she doesn't have to. Besides, it's probably just a silly infatuation. I mean, she's just your best friend.'

They waited… and waited… and waited, growing more nervous with each passing second. Finally, a loud crashing noise outside signaled that the Death Eaters had broken through the gate.

"Here it goes," Harry said to himself, squeezing Hermione's hand and giving Ron a reassuring smile. Hermione was to fight, but she was also to tend to the wounded after the battle.

Everyone braced themselves, preparing for the impending battle. It was only a matter of time.

«.:.:.:.»

Author's Note: I churned this one out as fast as I could. I believe there are three chapters left in the story… so it will end at 18. BUT. I can promise you that the ending will not be what you expect. Also, the H/Hr affection/longing stuff comes in spurts, because sometimes I forget about it. Whoops.

If you think I'm being hard on Harry: But if I weren't, where would we get our fill of crying men? Anyway, just to let you know, this isn't the end. Ohh, no. There would be no second story… whoops. I SAID NOTHING. P.S. Wipe those knowing smiles off your faces. Hermione is not going to become pregnant from Harry's child because of a fling after Voldemort is defeated and not tell him in order to "give him a better life." Sorry.

Black Vampire Mistress: FINE. I won't kill off Ron…YET. (I'm kidding, please don't eat me. Ron will not die.)

RadcliffeRox24: Yeah, this is the kind of thing I think up. And I do think up endings… I just enjoy making cliffies. (I get more reviews that way. MUAHAHA.) Yes, I live off of reviews. Of course, it could be worse. I mean… wait… I'll think of something worse. Eventually.

Maiden-of-hope: Aww, thank you. That's sweet. It warms my heart that my stories make people cry. (That sounded wrong.)

I had a long weekend and that's why these are all coming so quickly. THIS MEANS: You may have to wait for a while (maybe Friday) until the actual battle scene. Or maybe it'll get up tonight. Who knows?