Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter!

AN: You might see a parallel between this chapter and the Buffy episode Passions (Tanydwr, one of your reviews mentioned to me this episode, thanks!), as well as an episode of Angel, and it is. And now we begin. (Begins to laugh insanely)

Chapter 16 Damage

Hermione Jane Granger sighed wearily, flipping the page of another book in her secluded corner of the library. It was past curfew, well into the night, and if it wasn't for the fact that the Headmaster had given her explicit permission to stay as long as she wanted, she would have been in serious trouble, ever since Thanatos got on the loose.

She remembered the haunted look on the once vivified face of Albus Dumbledore and gave another sad sigh. The octogenarian had understood that Hermione would best be comforted among books, trying, even if it should be for naught, to help her friend.

Ron even tried to help her, but the redhead had no patience for books, and accepted Hermione's proposition for him to leave, albeit reluctantly.

Hermione gave a sad, tired smile at that. Ron, thickheaded and insensitive, could be sweet and helpful when the situation called for it, even offering to bring her some food and drink before Madam Pince loomed up threateningly.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of romantic thoughts when her other best friend was a lost soul.

Anger boiled in her, anger at Thanatos, anger at herself for not having the answers yet, and even angry at these dusty tomes for not supplying her with the answer she needed.

She wanted these books to give her hope... but all they offered was meaningless meanings of unimportance.

Everything she depended on, the friendship of the Trio, Harry's leadership in a crisis, and the knowledge of books, everything was damaged and broken and gone.

All she had left was Ron. Another smile graced her face, a gentler and loving smile as Ron's support flooded her memories.

As images flashed in her mind, a sudden, loud, hauntingly familiar laugh tore the silence of the library apart.

"Damn... you and the Weasley? How in the hell did Potter miss that?" Thanatos asked, stepping from the shadows of the corner where he had been watching her.

Icy fear gripped the bushy haired girl as she stood up slowly, gripping her wand tightly. She had to stall him, had to wait for-

"Are you expecting someone to help?" The creature of Darkness asked cheerfully, shaking his head. "'Fraid that no one's going to help little Miss Granger today... Go ahead though, shout." He shrugged nonchalantly, leaning against the bookshelf and nodding at her. "Go on."

Hermione didn't know what was going on, but fear overwhelmed her mind for a second, and she yelled loudly, screaming for help. Nothing but silence and shadow answered.

"Did I forget to mention that I killed the librarian?" Thanatos laughed, shaking his head. "Damn dry soul though."

Blood drained from the bushy haired girl's face as she shook violently. "What do you want with me?"

Thanatos smiled viciously. "I want to play tag."

"Ta-tag?" Hermione asked, blinking in confusion.

"Haven't you ever played?" Thanatos asked, shaking his head. "So much for you being a know-it all. Well here's out it works. The person who is it has to tag the persons, or in this case, person, who isn't it. When the person gets tagged, they become it. I'm it... but when I tag you, you won't be tagging me though."

The young woman quickly grew paler at the knowledge of exactly what the demon was planning to do to her when he "tagged" her.

"Run fast." The creature smirked, and then turned around. "Go on... it makes things interesting."

Knowing that the demon had all the cards but not caring, Hermione ran from the secluded corner of the library, and found everything changed.

First off, the entrance to the library was gone, replaced by a solid obsidian wall. When Hermione ran towards it, slamming her fists against it, it held firmly. Panting slightly, she grabbed her wand at and shouted, "REDUCTO!"

The Reductor Curse smashed into the obsidian wall, but it merely shuddered under the impact, and then stood still. Before Hermione could try again, Thanatos singsong voice rang out through the silence. "Ready or not, here I come!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermine saw his shifting shadow and knew she would never have enough time to escape that way. Desperately, she tore off into the labyrinth of bookshelves.

"Her-mi-on-e, where are you?" The demon asked in the same voice, walking around slowly, his shadows probing the moonlight, giving Hermione only a small knowledge of where the creature was going.

Running from alley to alley of the bookshelf city, Hermione ran on desperately, looking over her shoulder every few seconds, trying to find the taunting fiend.

Hermione Granger knew she was dead. While skilled at learning the spells, she did not have the full on raw power that Dumbledore or even Harry, when he showed such potential, had. Her strength lay in her research and planning, not in quick, spur-of-the-moment decisions and actions that Harry had showed. She was without friends, allies, and hope.

And then she hit a dead end, and found herself with nowhere to go.

"Where are you..." Thanatos whispered softly, every step sounding like a thunderclap to Hermione's desperate ears, every breath he made a whirlwind, his shadows a creeping abyss, the very shadow of death.

Finally, the demon stepped into the alley where she stood against the wall, shaking. "End game."

Desperation, fear, and despair were swallowing her up, and Hermione felt lost and alone in the abyss, separate from life, light, and hope. She would die here, and be forgotten...

A single thought, however, cut through the Darkness. Harry had fought odds like this before... and he had remained strong. Ron bravely sacrificed himself at the age of eleven to help his friends move onward.

Their friendship was still with her, even if neither of them were there. She would never be alone, and she would never be lost to her friends. Through them, she would live on. Their bond was not a spoken one, not something that could be defined in words. And that bond would transcend even death.

Swallowing, Hermione pictured Harry, determined and unbowed, and Ron, hotheaded and protective, and drew strength from that. A new, hidden resolve, sprang from a deep well in her soul. Drawing herself up, wand raised, back unbowed, head held proudly up, Hermione Jane Granger took a stand against the Darkness, proving once and for all that she was a true Gryffindor.

"Give me your best shot."

"Gladly."

And then Thanatos struck her down, and Hermione was swallowed by a world of Darkness.

Ronald Weasley sighed. It looked like Hermione wasn't going to show for a while. Despairingly, he glanced at the stormy looking night, where ominous clouds brewed, a Darkness just over the horizon.

"Ron, you should go to bed. Staying up isn't going to help anyone." Ginny said softly from the top of the stairs.

"Ginny... how can you sleep? Harry's-" But a look flashed on Ginny's face, one that Ron recognized instantly. Guilt. Self-hatred. Ginny was taking all the blame on herself... just like Harry.

"We need to help Harry. And you know Hermione, she's best at research. We'd only be in the way." Ron nodded unhappily, and trudged upstairs, opening the door to his dorm.

The soft sound of pained whimpering from his supposedly empty bed immediately told him something was wrong.

Ron ran to his bed, and stopped short.

Then he began screaming at the sight on his bed. His screams were of horror, of horrors unimaginable and nightmarish, things that no one could ever possibly want to see. The screams of the damned in Hell's most torturous circles.

Hermione's honey brown eyes flickered with dying life while he screamed, the wound within her stomach bleeding continuously, saturating his bed with crimson tears as the storm began to play its song of sorrow.

"Hermione! Oh God, what happened to you!" Ron managed to rasp, rushing to her side blindly, but he knew the answer. Thanatos

"Ro-Ro-Ron…" Hermione managed to whisper, her voice insubstantial and weak, like a vanishing spirit's cry, coughing up blood violently. Outside, thunder began to flash, the storm raged, and inside, Ron raged too. Rain poured from his cheeks and from the sky, both man and nature crying for this death.

"Oh… God…" Ron whispered, grabbing her and holding her as close as he could. He grasped blindly for his wand, but knew it was futile. Not even the best healers could fix the gaping wounds in her stomach. Nothing could.

"I-I-love you…" the bushy haired girl rasped softly, grasping Ron and pulling him close passionately, hungrily.

Ron kissed her softly, desperately, trying to force life in her with that kiss. He pulled out his wand and tried to remember the spell, but Hermione pushed it aside. "It's-too…late." She whispered softly. "Just hold me Ron. Please?" She asked softly, and her dying breaths made it impossible to deny her.

He grasped her and pulled her closer, close, so close he could feel every part of her touching him. He felt the tears begin to descend down his face, hot and wet and fast, feeling them drip down, slashing across his face, feeling them burn, wanting to feel. He wanted this to be a nightmare.

"Please don't cry Ron…" Hermione managed brokenly, weakly.

"You're dying, Mione! How can I not cry! You can't leave me!" Ron cried out hysterically, pulling her closer.

Thunder flashed again. The storm was rising as the dying young woman was falling.

"But… don't… hate Harry for this." Hermione murmured sleepily, slipping into the final sleep.

Ron was struck. Should he hate Harry? He hated Thanatos, hated that sadistic monster with a passion beyond anything he had ever felt, except how he felt for the woman in his arms. Harry's bitterness, anger, hatred created and fueled Thanatos, every feeling within Harry was reflected within Thanatos.

But it was a broken, shattered, dark, twisted, perverted, and warped reflection. A mockery.

No, he couldn't hate Harry. Harry would be destroyed, almost as much as Ron was being destroyed. Harry needed Hermione, maybe not in the way Ron needed her, but all the same, Hermione had kept them in line. She had cared for them, made sure they never strayed too far, made sure that they never lost focus.

She was their light. She was his light.

"I won't…But… nothing will ever be the same without you…" Ron murmured, his voice reaching somewhere down the line between comfort and frenzy.

Outside, the rain flew faster and harder, banging the cold ground into mud, cleansing and dirtying.

"Don't…everything will be okay in the end Ron." Hermione gasped, her pain increasing. "I… I'm not upset… I…I walked with heroes." As she said this, her eyes burned with familiar conviction, before she coughed up more crimson blood.

"Harry will be back… won't he?" Ron asked again.

"Of course he will… but not just him. You, Dumbledore, your parents, the Order…" Hermione said, grasping Ron and pulling him closer, their eyes, sapphire meeting honey brown, and in that moment, all the love they felt for each other passed just in sight. "All of you… are… heroes."

She fell back into the bed, and Ron grabbed, checking her fading pulse. "Oh, God… Please not yet." Ron whispered.

"Please… hold me… it's so cold…" Hermione whispered meekly.

Rain poured like teardrops of Heaven, thunder flashed like the anger of the Almighty at this injustice.

"I love you so much…" Ron murmured emotionally, "So much… I love you…" He kept kissing the top of her head, feeling his tears continuously making hot slashes and trails across his face.

"I love you too Ron…" Hermione rasped.

The storm raged and flashed and struck violently against the earth.

"I wish… I wish we could have been married, and had kids, and lived together." Ron whispered tearfully, "It wasn't supposed to be like this!" the redhead cried out, pulling her closer.

"You were supposed to be my bride, and Harry the best man. Why… Why did all of this have to happen…" Ron breathed desperately, "Why? Why…" he asked whatever deity listened.

"I'm so sorry…" Hermione breathed, her breath slow and fighting now.

The wind rose, adding its voice to the chorus of sorrow.

"This is just a dream… Why can't we start over… I wasted so much time… Why…" Ron rasped frenziedly, "Why… God why did it turn out like this…"

"We have to say goodbye now…" Hermione gasped, her words like a last wisp of smoke from a dying candle. Outside, the storm reached a crescendo, a banging symphony of teardrops of rain and protests of thunder and frenzied seizures of wind.

"NO! I won't… I won't…"

"Then I'll go without you saying it…" Hermione whispered feebly.

The symphony continued to play on, louder, louder, and louder.

"NO! I WON'T!" Ron cried out helplessly, clutching her tighter, as if by passing his body warmth to her, she could survive.

Louder, and louder, and louder the chorus of the storm raged.

"I love you Ron…Goodbye…" Hermione Jane Granger breathed one last time, and then lay still. The warmth left her, as if echoing the departure of her spirit.

As if in time with her death, the storm reached its climax, a loud flashing and banging and roaring as it battered the windows, thunder flashing everywhere, howls of gales and the sound of pouring rain or tears drowning sound, sight, light, hope.

The wind howled in anguish, masking the howl of the man that screamed along with it, full of desperation and anger and hatred and a heart that was shattered.

Ron felt his burning tears strike her pale face, while the crimson blood of his beloved, that dark red stain devoured the once innocent ivory of his bed sheets.

And all around him, within his mind or maybe for real, he could hear Thanatos' mocking laughter all around him, freezing into his soul, cutting into like an icy gale, cleaving into the numbness that descended onto his soul…

It was then that Ronald Bilius Weasley was able to say the words he could not say before.

"Goodbye…"

Thanks to Nimbirosa, Khadon, HazelWolf, Alan Quicksilver, Pleione, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, spike blade, harrysmom, FRED, Harrie, Dimensional Analysis, PinkyTheSnowman, moonlightwitch, japanese-jew, Night-Owl123, GinnyM, Lady of Masbolle, Ice-Pheonix-Tears, FroBoy, Ginerva Potter, HPbabe143, Rose of Many Thorns, Cattatra, mashimaromadness, gaul1, YamiClara, light barrer, and VFPC for reviewing!

QA

Nimbirosa- For once, anyway.

Khadon- One main character down... And while many people think that Thanatos' flair for the dramatic may destroy him, he's also got a mind sharper than a Slytherin's. He won't overplay the drama, and will not hesitate to do things more simplistically... its just not as fun.

arekuruu-inabikari-no-She- Ninja Scroll X (or something like that). Now that is bloody.

harrysmom­- Confident, yes. Overconfident... to a degree. But he's definitely not complacent, as you can see. (Hermione might have, given if enough time, found some way to beat him)

FRED- I think this does the trick just as well. Thanatos doesn't need a home base anyway.

Harrie- I never said I killed Harry. Thanatos does have weaknesses, look back over the previous chapters.

Night-Owl123- This ties last chapter for favoritism, I think, for me.

GinnyM- Keep on reading... you'll find out.

Lady of Masbolle- Who knows? And as for your review on Sunday Morning, ha ha, very funny. Just because I'm sadistic and love to write angst doesn't mean I can't do fluff... just not very well.

Rose of Many Thorns- Soon enough.

light barrer- No. No. And no.

AN: (Finishes fireproofing the computer, while laughing diabolically) Please don't hurt me! I won't be able to keep writing! Hermione almost never dies (at least on screen) in most fanfictions. I wanted to put one away from the norm. Killing a main character was pretty fun... I should do it more often. Thanks for reading and please review! (Continues laughing insanely)