Chapter Eight

Thursday Night

Even after hours of pondering, I still couldn't seem to shake it off. All those people dying…

And Ginny. Her story is so tragic that I can't even imagine that it could happen to someone so close to me. Blaise was going to die.

A lot of people were going to die. Crabbe, Goyle, tons of Slytherins…

With a jolt, I realized that Professor Snape was going to die as well, not to mention more people who turned to the light side. I shook my head, thinking about the injustice of it all. I punched my pillow.

And why, of all people, did it have to be the only person Ginny has ever really loved? Why did this sweet, sweet girl have to go through so much pain?

Such a strong surge of hatred washed over me for Voldemort, that I felt tears leak out of my eyes, just when I thought I was all cried out. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

So this was the secret that Lord Voldemort had and didn't want anyone to know? I could see why. Who would want to join a club where they die with the leader?

I shook my head and went to see Draco.

Library

At the doorway of the library, I smiled for the first time since hearing Ginny's news, seeing Draco in the corner table, doing last- minute homework. I walked over to is table and plopped myself down in the chair next to him.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Hey. Where did you go for the past twenty- four hours? I haven't seen you all day in classes or anything."

"Sorry," I replied apologetically. "But I had to help out Ginny."

"Well, the next time you disappear from the face of the earth, warn me first. I would miss you too much."

A warm feeling passed through me and I leaned over to kiss him lightly. When I pulled away, he saw my slightly blotchy face and said, "Hey- have you been crying?"

Thinking about it again brought more tears to my eyes. I don't normally cry this much. I must be PMS-ing.

"What's wrong?" He asked tenderly as he scooped me into his arms, neglecting his homework. I made a subconscious note to help him with it the next morning.

I took a shaky breath, letting him wipe the tears off my face.

I told him all that Ginny told me. The librarian started to tell us to be quiet, but seeing her regular customer in tears must have stopped her. We finally decided to put up a silencing charm.

At the end of my story, he looked grim. I could see that he would have cried too if I wasn't there, and if he hadn't felt that he should be strong for me.

"Blaise and me aren't close anymore," he started quietly, "but he was still my first real friend. And Snape…"

All of a sudden, his eyes became very angry and teared up. That happens to me too. When I get too angry about something, my eyes began to water and I cry. I was surprised to see that he was the same way.

He stopped being angry and looked up toward the ceiling to stop his tears from falling.

I moved closer to him and buried my head into his chest. To him, it looked like I was just seeking comfort. That was partly true, but it was mostly to let him cry without worrying about me seeing. It worked.

I felt droplets of water fall onto my back. I didn't say anything.

Next Friday

Over the next couple of days, Dumbledore had put an emphasis on dueling club. It became even more intense then all our classes put together.

I recognized some spells that weren't even supposed to be taught to us until much, much later, like in Auror training.

This made me extremely nervous. This meant that Dumbledore and the rest of the staff knew that we would be needing it sooner then normal. And I didn't find that reassuring.

As I practiced the new spell with Dean, since Ginny was nowhere to be found, I looked over at Harry. I hadn't properly talked to him in weeks. We used to just sit in the common room and just talk about everything and anything, from our worst fears to our funniest thoughts. I missed that.

I looked around the room and knew that we would all have to be united during the Final Battle. If we weren't, we would be torn apart by the Deatheaters, who were all one big evil, happy family.

"Hold on for a second, okay, Dean?" I walked over to where Harry was standing and tapped him on the shoulder. I didn't really know what I was doing, but there was no turning back now.

He turned around at my touch and seemed very shocked to see me. After all, I had not properly spoken to him since the day I told him I was going to stay with Draco. And right now, that seemed like a million years ago.

"Hermione!" Yup, he was definitely surprised.

"Hi," I said sheepishly. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

His eyes were still sort of wide, but he nodded nevertheless. We quietly went out of the great hall and stood awkwardly outside the doors.

"So," he said, putting his hand through his hair. "What did you want to talk to me for?"

His polite tone upset me a bit, since he never bothered about being polite before. "Harry, please. Don't be all polite and strangerish to me."

He broke into a small smile. "Yeah, I guess we were over that about seven years ago." He still seemed a little uncomfortable, but it was a step up.

I smiled too and got to the point. "Harry, I really miss being your friend. I'm sorry things couldn't work out between us, but I miss talking to you so much."

His smile fell. He looked up into my eyes. "You're right, Hermione. Just like you always are. I miss talking to you as well. I'll get over you and I would love to be best mates again."

I felt tears of happiness spring to my eyes as I hugged him. He groaned.

"You're PMS-ing, aren't you?"

I let him breathe and sniffed. Then I said, quite proudly, "Yes, I am."

Gryffindor Common Room

How I had forgotten how much fun I could have with Harry. It was now two' o' clock in the morning, and I was playing exploding snap with Harry and a few other people. So far, I was winning.

"Shit!" Harry cried as his eyebrows got slightly singed. Everyone laughed.

"Aw, you win already, Herms. Tonight just isn't my night."

"Good decision, Harry. If we continued, your whole head would be bald."

He stuck his tongue out at me. We were about to set up for bed, when a red- haired someone stumbled into the common room, disturbing the peace.

I looked closer and realized that it was Ron. And he was drunk. Good thing that only Harry and I stayed to clean up.

Harry and I looked at him in shock as he threw up all over the floor. We stood there for a moment; then as if someone had turned a switch, we rushed over to help him.

He carried Ron up to the sofa, while I found some sobering potion.

I pressed a wet towel to his forehead while he hiccupped. Startling enough, he had dried tears stained all over his face and his shirt.

I said gently and urgently at the same time, "Ron? Ron? Ron! Hey, what's the matter? Come on, Ron. Are you ok?"

Meanwhile, Harry was trying to get his hand free from under Ron's weight.

Ron, unlike his sister, drank on a regular basis. Not so much that it was unhealthy, but it was still more then me or Harry. But he knows his limit and how much he could have before he was out of control. Unless…

"Ron?" I asked tentatively. "Did something happen?"

The potion had already kicked in and his words were now decipherable. But he kept silent and merely nodded.

Harry's hand was liberated now, and helped me pull Ron up into a sitting position.

Ron had begun crying silently now. I was getting extremely worried. No, I was more then worried. I was frantic with panic.

Looking back, I don't think I have ever seen Ron cry. I thought as hard as I could, but nothing came to me. This was the first time ever.

I pull Ron into a hug and asked quietly and less urgently, "Hey- what's the matter, hmm?"

He sputtered, through his tears, "B-Bill… He's dead."

I gasped. Hearing these words, I didn't know how to react. I had a sobbing grown boy in my arms, so I couldn't exactly break down. Besides, I didn't have time to think about it yet. But in the corner of my mind, I knew that I would be sobbing later as well.

A light bulb went off in my head. I gently slid out of Ron's grip, looked him in the face, and asked sternly, "Where is Ginny?"

He shook his head, signaling that in his drunken state, he had completely forgotten about everything; he only wanted to numb his pain. He had this in common with Ginny, which was exactly why I needed to find her.

I let Harry take care of Ron, and ran out of the common room like a bullet. Hopefully, she was nearby.

"Wait!" Harry's voice stopped me. He tossed me his Marauders Map, and smiled, amused that I did not think of it in the first place.

I looked inside and scanned the paper for her name.

She was in the Astronomy Tower.

Astronomy Tower

She just had to be in the one place farthest form the Gryffindor common room. A few minutes later, I was huffing and puffing my way up the stairs to the tower. I caught my breath for a couple of seconds and found her sitting next to the open window, looking up at the stars.

I put my hand to my chest, relieved. She wasn't drunk. In her drunken states, she could never sit up like that. However, this was surprising. She wasn't drunk!

I walked over to where she sat. "Ginny?"

She looked at me sadly, in the most heartbreaking way. The moonlight gave her skin and hair an eerie glow, and it looked like her eyes would never stop filling up with tears.

She bit her lip before saying, in a very strained voice, "Hey, 'Mione."

I sighed. I sat down next to her and took her into my arms, which made her cry even more.

"He was my favorite brother." She sobbed into my shoulder.

"I'm losing everyone I love."

I cried for her, hearing her words ring in my head over and over again. I cried because of the truth that Bill Weasely was, in fact, dead.

I cried because such a nice and fun- loving girl had to be stripped of her innocence this way, instead of by age.

I cried because this was the first of many, many deaths of many, many loved ones.

I cried because her words were exactly right.

We're losing everyone we love.