The Final Hours

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books, except for the ones that I bought from certain stores. I am not J. K. Rowling, and I do not wish to interfere with any of the copyrighted material.

Chapter One

Harry

Harry shivered, huddled up in the corner of the dungeon where Voldemort had trapped him. He had tried to hold him off – at least for a little while – but wasn't able to save himself. He just hoped that Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville had survived Voldemort's power. Harry was obviously to weak for him, so he sat in the corner as far away from the door as possible. He finally realized that he had been afraid of the Dark Lord all of these years, but he had never froze like that before. He decided that it was in fear for his friends' lives that had made him afraid, and hoped with all his might that they were alive somewhere.

Harry looked up at the stone ceiling, which was dripping. The quiet drip – drip – dripping was going to make him go mad, he thought to himself. If only there was a way to communicate with his friends, if they were by some miracle, still alive.

Voldemort had found them at Hogwarts, and had killed off some of the students that were surrounding them. Harry could still picture the mangled bodies of Lavender Brown, and Luna Lovegood, and many other students from other houses. He was devastated about the fact that there were many first year students killed that were innocently passing by when Voldemort had arrived. Harry couldn't get the memory out of his head.

Harry had been talking to Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny about Dumbledore's Army when Voldemort came crashing through the wall. Hermione used a very powerful and complex curse on him, but he was able to manipulate it, and sent it flying towards many of the passing students, including Hermione. Luna was killed from behind when she turned to flee, and poor Lavender was frozen with fear. All Harry remembered was being transported to an empty field, where he had seen Hermione laying on the ground, limp as a piece of string. Ron had been kneeling beside her body, crying out her name, and then they were all knocked out cold – Or at least Harry was.

Now Harry was in a cold dungeon, where the dripping of the water was driving him absolutely insane. He stood up and clenched his fists.

"Shut up!" He screamed at the ceiling. His voice echoed off the walls, and he heard his words steadily getting softer with each repeat. The water began to drip even more, and this time Harry lost it.

He grabbed a piece of stone lying on the floor, and chucked it at the wall as hard as he could. It made a loud banging noise, and came sliding back to Harry. Harry picked it up, and threw it against the wall again. This time, he cried out, and heard the distorted echo of his cry, and the even louder clanging of the rock. Harry covered his ears, and collapsed on the ground. He hugged his knees, and began sobbing huge and loud sobs of pain and exhaustion.

"Oh, Ron! Hermione! If only I could have done something more to ensure you two lived!" he cried out, and realizing that he was just talking to the walls didn't help at all. He buried his face in his knees, and began to sob again, uncontrollably. He wanted to know what happened to him, and where his friends were, but believed deep down inside himself that he would never see his friends again.

Hermione

Hermione felt herself regain consciousness, and opened her eyes slowly. Everything was a huge blur, until her eyes adjusted to what she was seeing. She was lying flat on her back, staring up at a blank ceiling. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her head.

"Where am I?" She asked aloud. "Harry? Ron? Ginny? Are you guys here?"

Her voice echoed off the walls, and she turned her head around furiously. She was in a medium-gray room, with no windows or doors, and it still was surprisingly light in it. She stood up slowly, and tried to catch her balance. Her head throbbed so much, that she had to hold it in agony. She looked down behind her, and the sight knocked her off her feet, startled.

Luna's body was lying on the floor behind her, wide-eyed and pale. Her arm was out to one side, and her hand looked as if it were reaching out to someone to help her. Hermione crawled backwards until her back was flat against the wall. Her breathing was loud and breathy, and she felt it kind of hard to get a full breath of air. She stared at the body in shock, and felt her stomach turning. She felt vomit coming up, and she turned her head and puked all over the floor.

Once she was done retching, she then again crawled over to the other side of the room, and stared at the body, wide-eyed and frightened. Oh my god, she thought, this can't be happening to me! Voldemort CANNOT win! HE just – can't!

Hermione looked around the rest of the room to try and see if anyone else was in the room, and found herself with just her and Luna's dead body. She thought about Ron, and their last time together. It had been their first kiss, and now it seemed like their last. Tears streamed down her face as she thought about Ron, and Harry, and Ginny. She wanted to see them, to prove to herself that they were in fact still alive. Voldemort had knocked her out so quickly that she didn't see what happened to anyone else. She let out a loud, but shaky sob, and felt behind her for the frame of a door or something. She reached for her wand, and thankfully she found it right where she left it. She took it out, and stared at it for a while. She put the tip of the wand to her right temple. Killing myself would be so easy, she thought, I just need to say two simple words. Avada Kedavra – that's it.

She thought about Ron, and hoped he was still alive. If he wasn't, she just couldn't see how she could ever go on without him in her life, and the curse seemed so much more appealing…

A/N: That's the beginning of a depressing story, I warn you now, it may not leave you smiling at the ending! Review please, and no flames.