Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything J.K Rowling thought up, all I own is the plot.

Chapter fourteen: Sparkle

Harry stared at the hooded man in front of him. "Take off that mask, Malfoy. If you need to face me, then face me without it."

"A brave boy…you always were one of the more reckless people alive. Inherited, I suppose. Frankly, I just don't know what the girl sees in you."

Harry's eyes shot open wide. They were going to hurt Hermione. He couldn't let them do anything to her.

"Leave Hermione out of this! She's got nothing to do with it!"

Malfoy's roaring laughter was not loud enough to mask Hermione's sobs in the background. Harry felt anger rise inside him. How dare that Death Eater laugh at him. He had never been more serious in his life.

"I mean it, Malfoy. Leave her alone."

The man took off his mask to reveal his face. The others behind him followed his example. They had formed half a circle around Hermione's small frame. Malfoy pushed Harry towards her.

"Say goodbye, Potter."

He shot Malfoy a defying glance before turning to Hermione. He took her hands and tried to calm her down.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I won't let them hurt you."

But she didn't seem to hear him.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry…" she whispered.

He wiped her tears away. "I'll protect you."

"I love you, Harry. I love you. Please forgive me."

He tried to hug her, but she pushed him away, stepping back. He didn't understand.

She couldn't look at him anymore. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle seeing the sparkle in his eyes.

One of the men behind her laid a hand on her shoulder. Inside Harry, anger raged.

"You take those filthy hands off her!"

Behind him, Malfoy snorted. "Filthy hands? Don't worry about her. We don't hurt our own."

Harry stared.

"What?"

He turned back to look at Hermione. She cried. A cloaked person stepped forward and draped a black cloak around her shoulders.

"Hermione…"

His voice was no longer strong as his mind slowly began to realise what he was seeing.

"I love you, Harry!" she wailed. "I'm so sorry! They have Paul, Harry! They've got Paul! What could I have done…"

Harry took a step back, his whole body trembling. Hermione was one of them. His breath got stuck in his throat as he felt the tip of a wand sticking in his back.

"…Paul…"

"I'm so sorry…I….please forgive me…"

They looked at each other, their eyes meeting. She was begging for his forgiveness.

"When." It was the only thing he could say.

"…Christmas."

He looked at the ground. She had been a spy since Christmas. A Death Eater. But all the time before that had been real. Their love had been real.

He looked up again, straight into her eyes. He nodded, just once.

"I-"

The words got stuck in his throat as Malfoy jabbed the wand forcefully into his back. He heard Malfoy whisper a spell and the tip of the wand grew colder and sharper. A knife. He tried to turn around, but the sudden short pain in his spine paralysed him.

He coughed and vaguely noticed the taste of blood in his mouth.

Another forceful thrust in his back caught him off balance. He looked down and saw the tip emerging from his chest.

With one forceful jerk the knife was pulled back from of his body. He staggered and fell to his back. He could hear vague laughter, only broken by a loud cry.

He tried to look at Hermione, to see her one last time. But as his vision focussed and blurred, he could see one of the other men slowly lowering a mask over her face.

He turned his head away and relaxed his muscles. He felt tired, so tired. He filtered out Hermione's crying, but it was fading. His life was fading.

Hermione shrieked as she watched Harry's body go limp. He wasn't moving anymore. Merlin, he wasn't moving. The mask someone had slid on her face was blocking her vision and she pulled it off.

She ran towards his body and fell to her knees. She was surprised that she wasn't stopped, but she knew, in the back of her mind, that Malfoy would let her torture herself.

She clutched him to her chest. She shivered and let him go almost immediately. He was already going cold.

She felt a burning feeling inside her eyes, but no tears came. She was empty.

Someone lifted her up, she didn't know who and she didn't care. All she knew was that she had betrayed her friend. She had killed him.

Someone whispered into her ear. "Nice work, princess. You did wonderful."

She shrieked and started to kick and scratch everything she could reach. But it was useless. She had no real strength left inside her. Behind her she heard the swish of cloaks and for a moment she thought they had left her alone.

But Neville was still there. She turned around to say something to him, to blame him. But his cold eyes petrified her.

"It's for the best." He said as he swung a large branch of a tree over his shoulder and brought it round to her head.

She couldn't move and didn't want to dodge it either.

Neville caught her before she hit the ground and gently laid her down. He looked at her face. It was so peaceful now. No anger or grief written all over it. He brushed his lips over hers briefly and stood up again.

He glanced at the castle and took her cloak. He hid it in a small box, together with his own cloak and both masks. He looked at the cloak for a moment, letting the fabric slither through his fingers.

He stopped at a little silver skull that had been embroidered on the inside and involuntarily reached for his own arm where the Mark was burning violently. Their master was pleased.

He swished his wand and watched the box slowly disappear. Now it was his turn.

She shot up and looked around wildly. Where was she?

Someone pushed her back down. She struggled to get loose, but all the bright light around her blinded her.

"Someone get Ron!" a voice shouted.

A rush of movement around her made her panic. What was going on? Suddenly she felt someone take her hand. Someone was talking to her.

"Shh…it's alright, Hermione. Calm down. It's me."

She stopped struggling. "…Ron?"

Her voice sounded strange. Weak and vulnerable. Her vision slowly focussed and she could see a face above hers.

"Yes, it's me."

His face was worried and tired. She looked around. She was in the hospital wing. Her bed was surrounded by people, all with a worried frown.

"…how did I get here?" she asked timidly as she tried to get her head to stop spinning.

She looked at the people around her. Dumbledore was there. And so was McGonagall. Lavender was sitting in a chair, her face as white as chalk. Ginny was silently sobbing into Dean's shoulder, who had her in a tight hug.

Hermione looked back at Ron. His face was no only tired, but tearstained as well.

"Neville found you, Hermione."

He looked up at Dumbledore, who nodded and took over.

"Miss Granger, I have to tell you something. You were found by mister Longbottom last night and-"

She shot up.

"Neville!" she shrieked.

She looked at all the other beds in the wing. Neville was on one of them. She tried to get up, wanting to hurt him, but Ron pushed her back.

"Neville's fine, Hermione."

"He's just asleep." Dumbledore said. "But I must ask you…do you remember anything about last night?"

Hermione looked at him.

'He doesn't know…' she thought slowly.

"I-"

"You were attacked by someone. You were not alone, mister Potter was with you."

"A…attacked?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Mister Potter…died. He was stabbed to death."

He stepped aside to show her a bed. Harry's body was on it. His skin was white. His eyes were still open.

She scrambled out of bed, pushing several people aside. She looked at the pale face. His eyes, even though they were still green, were empty. She searched for their sparkle, but it had gone. It had fled with the warmth of his body.

She reached out one hand to touch his face. It was so cold. As cold as stone.

Suddenly her head started to scream in pain. Her arm was burning so badly that her head started to spin again.

"She's in shock" someone yelled.

She felt herself losing her balance and hit the floor. Her head his the tiles, causing her to fall unconscious again.

Ron lifted her up and hauled her back to her bed. Lavender hugged him and hid her tears. Behind them, Madam Pomfrey covered Harry's body with a white cloth.

Ron felt himself go nauseous again.

"…What happened to them…" he whispered.

Madam Pomfrey took the bed away with Harry on it. A grim expression on her face.

Dumbledore coughed. "I think it's better if you all went back up to your common room."

The children looked at him and nodded vaguely. Ron looked back at Hermione's motionless body.

"I'll get the bastard who did this" he said, his voice breaking up in tears.

Lavender tugged at his sleeve. "I know…come on, Ron. Let's go."

He allowed himself to be walked out the door.

Dumbledore closed the door behind them and sat down at Hermione's bed. "Minerva, please ask Poppy to come here."

McGonagall nodded and left the hospital quickly. Dumbledore looked at Hermione's pale face. She had fainted of shock. I struck him as odd that she'd had to touch Harry to pass out, not fainting at the sight of his dead body.

"She saw him die, professor." Neville said with a broken voice.

Dumbledore turned around and saw the boy sitting up in his bed. "Mister Longbottom, good to see you're awake again."

"I hid behind the trees when I heard voices. I saw how they were surrounded. But faces…I couldn't see well, it was too dark. All I could see were shadow's. I heard her scream…and then…there was silence. When I looked again, the shadows had gone."

He laid down on his back again.

"Harry was there…on the ground. And Hermione too…I- I was too scared to do anything, professor! I feel so…I could've done something to save them, to protect them…I should've…but I- I was too scared."

Dumbledore gave Neville an encouraging smile. "Don't feel guilty, mister Longbottom. If they were adults, then they were also fully trained wizards. If you had jumped out, you would have only endangered yourself as well."

He looked up as the door opened and McGonagall cam back, followed closely by Madam Pomfrey.

"I'd like to talk to miss Granger. Is this possible?"

Madam Pomfrey nodded, "I'll try and wake her."

She rummaged around in a cupboard and got out a number of small bottles. She sat down next to Hermione and forced her to drink the fluids from one of those bottles.

Hermione opened her eyes. "…Wha-"

"You fainted, miss Granger." said Dumbledore, looking somewhat like a concerned grandfather. "I'd like to talk to you. Is that alright?"

Hermione nodded subdued and sat up in her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. She shuddered a little and looked at Dumbledore. He took off his glasses and put them in his pocket.

"…Do you remember anything from last night?"

"I went on a walk with Harry…" she managed.

"And you were attacked." He added.

She looked at Neville, who was sitting on his own bed. He pointed at his arm and pressed his thumb on the spot that still burned lightly. She winced as her own Mark burned a little stronger for a moment.

She looked at him defiantly. This is where it would end. She looked back at Dumbledore.

"…I betrayed him." she said.

But her words came out differently.

"…I can't remember." she heard herself say.

She looked at Neville again and grabbed her throat. Neville's face was stony as he twirled his wand between his fingers.

She tried to scream. "I betrayed Harry! Neville's a Death Eater!"

But all her words twisted into hysteric sobs and "I don't remember anything."

She started to cry. Dumbledore nodded and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, miss Granger. It's not your fault."

He turned around and whispered to madam Pomfrey. "I think it's best to let them go up to their friends. The memorial will be arranged for tomorrow."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. She waited until Dumbledore had left before she started to get Neville up.

"Come on. You're free to go up to your common room."

Neville climbed out of bed and left the Hospital Wing without looking at Hermione. She didn't care. She didn't want to see his face ever again.

"Miss Granger, are you up to walking back up to your common room?"

She nodded. "I am…"

"Well, up you go then."

Hermione stood up and walked to the door. Before she opened it, she looked back.

"…Madam Pomfrey? Harry-…what…will happen?"

"There will be a memorial service tomorrow. Don't think about it anymore, please. It's best if you don't."

Hermione closed the door behind her and felt another wave of tears welling up inside her. She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She looked up at him thankfully until she saw who it was.

She roughly pushed him away, causing him to fall to the ground.

"I don't want to see you ever again." she hissed.

Neville shrugged. "Fine. You served your purpose."

"Then let Paul go. He should no longer be your prisoner."

Neville threw a package into her lap. "We already freed Paul. Now he'll never have to know that his favourite cousin was a traitor."

"No!" Hermione wailed.

Neville strode away, leaving her on her knees. With trembling fingers she opened the package. On top of a black cloak and mask was a photograph.

She screamed.

Paul was dead.

Emma Barrows: thank you for calling Hermione's character realistic and more human. That was definitely what I was aiming for. I wanted to keep this story a bit believable if you understand what I mean. I learned that you shouldn't write (or act) beyond what you know and seeing as how I've never been in a situation like her or seen anyone die I just tried to imagine what kind of emotions it would summon within me and that's what I wrote down, I think.

Magic and Sparkle: gheghe, I thought you were the anonymous one. It ended with ttfn, so I kinda figured it would be you :P I know all about log in problems. I had one just yesterday! I wanted to change my email password, but then I forgot whether or not I had used capitals and everything went wrong and I almost had to change email accounts! But now it's all fixed again, luckily :) Don't you just hate computers sometimes?

R-Krulle: Well, I wonder if you expected Harry to die…Some people think you should never kill off the main character. But see, Harry is the main character of the books, not in my story. So I think could kill him without ruining the plotline. Anyway, Hermione is the real main character. I hope you liked this chapter.

Dark Angel's Blue Fire: Yeah, it broke his heart alright…not that he had to suffer from it long, 'cause he's dead now. Poor thing. And what about Hermione, eh? She betrayed Harry to save her cousin and now Neville betrayed her by killing Paul. (well, not that he killed Paul, he wouldn't want the blood on his hands. But I think I'll go and hide now before you figure out you could hit me for writing this and killing both boys…I think hiding would be the best option so if you'll excuse me…hides

HG109: more action and more love? Hmm, well, there was more action in this chapter, but it was passive action, I guess. And it's very hard to put in more love at this stage of the story. See, I've already gotten it written out and I know how this will end. And as you can probably see from the point of where the story is now, it's a bit strange to suddenly go from dramatic to all lovey-dovey…but I hope you liked the chapter anyway.

An: Right, now I know I killed Harry and not everyone might approve of that, so I'll go to my room and find some protective material to wear over my clothes in case anyone should want to attack me…Nah, I know you guys won't hurt me. At least not until the story has reached it's end…OO…uh oh…there are only two more chapters to go…darn…now I'll have to go and find some place I can hide in…

…please spare me?

...please?