Second Heartbeat

Chapter 7 – Everytime

The village of Hogsmeade had been instantly transformed from the peaceful hamlet that I had been walking through only hours before to a battle scene. Curses flew overhead indiscriminately, taking down innocent and Death Eater alike. It was completely dark outside, but the lights of curses were more than enough to guide Harry, Hermione, and myself through the village.

There was a sudden scream. An immense crash sounded, and I ripped my head around to look despite myself as a giant tore the roof off of a building only two or three streets over, causing its inhabitants to run for shelter. I looked away quickly before I could see what caused the scream that followed.

"Come on!" shouted Harry, and Hermione and I, running next to each other, gave each other questioning glances before hurtling forward after him. Dodging occasional jets of light, we shot through the village, doing our best to avoid the giants and honing in on the location of Lord Voldemort.

I don't know how long I ran, but I vowed never to allow myself to die again so I wouldn't have to go through that sprint. Eventually the pattering of my feet beneath me and the occasional screams faded away, and I was the only inhabitant of the world at that moment. It was an incredibly strange feeling, and I found myself occasionally looking towards Hermione as I did so, noting little things about her like her kind eyes or the way her eyes scrunched up when she was concentrating. This was going to be it; I couldn't allow thoughts of her to distract me, and yet somehow she always managed to creep into my mind.

"This way!" shouted Harry from somewhere ahead, and the jets of light became brighter and more frequent as we approached the open field that I knew would either mark our last stand or our greatest victory. And it all rested on me. If Hermione threw herself in front of me, Harry would be distracted and Voldemort would win. But if my plan worked and Hermione was sufficiently mad at me so as not to save my life, maybe Harry would keep his concentration and kill Voldemort before he realized that I was dead. Because no matter what, Hermione wasn't going to die this time.

Harry's steps slowed, and Hermione and I, too, slowed to a halt. The scarce buildings that remained around me now gave way to open fields and farmland, and the shouts of combatants could already be heard from the field ahead. Harry took a deep breath, and I placed my hands on my knees, breathing heavily.

"Ready?" asked a winded Harry, and, upon receiving nods from both Hermione and me, we all charged forward.

"Oi!" shouted Draco Malfoy from where he stood next to his father. "Potter and his pathetic friends have arrived!" Three curses shot at Harry and one at Hermione, but Harry's hurried Protego caused them to reflect harmlessly off the shield. The battle had begun.

And yet somehow it didn't feel right. Something was inexplicably off about the battle this time, and instead of the flood of adrenaline and the heavy breathing that usually occurred during battles, I felt almost nothing, as if I was an actor playing my role in a play.

I flew forward, throwing Stunners wherever I saw white masks, which was almost everywhere—we were surrounded by them. Lucius Malfoy stepped forward, and we began to duel.

"Well, well," he said, thinking that I didn't know who he was. "What do we have here? A Weasley...pity that my diary didn't kill your little sister, isn't it? Although I suppose that she's gotten quite pretty now..."

I didn't even let him finish. I brought my wand forward in a flash and wandlessly cast a Sectumsempra hex. Malfoy Sr. simply wandlessly conjured a shield and the hex bounced off, causing me to have to jump to the side to avoid it.

"Temper, temper, Weasley!" he shouted, and I growled and shot another Sectumsempra at him, which he dodged easily, turning around this time and firing an Avada Kedavra at me. I quickly dodged, feeling the curse whoosh past my left ear, before casting another Sectumsempra. "Got anything else up your sleeve, Weasley? Pathetic!" Malfoy shouted as he dodged the hex.

I brought my wand to my side and let it hang loosely in my hand, preparing to cast a shield or jump to the side whenever it was needed. Malfoy stared me down, not casting any curses. We began to circle each other, wands drawn, each of us attempting to force as much hatred as we could into our gazes. I let my eyes wander slightly—Hermione was succeeding in taking down her Death Eater, and now, having placed him in a full body bind, was dueling another. Harry was too far away for me to see him, but I knew from the last time I had done this that he was okay. So far.

Finally Malfoy snapped and shot a Cruciatus Curse at me. I dodged to the right, but somehow another Cruciatus found me there, and I fell to the ground. Agony beyond agony was now coursing through my veins, overcoming every inch of my body.

And yet it was as if I didn't care. I stood up, throwing off the curse suddenly, the noises of the battle seeming to magnify in my ears. Malfoy growled and shot a Disarming Curse at me, which I deflected with a Shield Charm.

And then, off to the side somewhere, shouts began to sound—the Aurors had arrived. Malfoy turned to look, and I almost did before realizing what had happened last time and instead shot a wandless Expelliarmus at him. His face contorted into a look of shock and fury as his wand flew out of his grasp and into my waiting hand.

"Petrificus totalus!" I shouted, and Malfoy, Disarmed and taken by surpise, fell to the floor, his legs snapping together instantly. Harry came into view, dueling two Death Eaters at once but smiling at me and shouted words of encouragement as I stepped over Malfoy's useless body and took on one of Harry's Death Eaters.

I immediately shot an Expelliarmus at Harry's Death Eater, and it caught him or her in the mask, ripping it and the upper part of their robes open. I watched in silent anger as none other than Bellatrix Lestrange emerged from the darkness—and suddenly I was on the floor in agonizing pain yet again.

But it was as if I wasn't even feeling anything—my body cried out in anguish, but my mind wouldn't allow me to show any weakness. It didn't matter. This was it; nothing else mattered. I got up, and a shocked look crossed Lestrange's face.

"So this is how it's going to be, Weasley?" she asked, a smile crossing her pitiful face. "Well then—it's going to be fun breaking you, my dear."

I felt the anger surge through me, but this time I let it subside. I felt nothing, was nothing. I can honestly say that this was by far the strangest sensation that I had ever experienced. Without feeling, without thinking, I raised my wand, saying nothing. Lestrange stared at me, the shadow of a smile on her foul lips, before falling to the ground unconscious.

An amazing feeling was now coursing through every vein in my body, something so huge that I couldn't even begin to comprehend the complexities of it. Off to the side, I noticed somehow that Lord Voldemort had arrived, but he seemed to be a faint memory in my mind.

A curse flew directly at me from behind, but I dodged and spun to the side, shooting off an Expelliarmus as I did so. My entire body felt like it was lectericitially charged; my mind seemed to go entirely blank. Something was overcoming me, some part of myself that I had never realized before coming into its own. The Death Eater shot a green curse at me, but I simply rolled to the side and downed him or her with a Stupefy immediately upon completing the roll. Another Death Eater ran to engage me, dodging my initial Disarming Charm easily and shooting off an Expelliarmus of his or her own. My wand shot out of my hands, causing the Death Eater to shout in glee, but his or her smile quickly turned to fear as my wand flew back towards my outstretched hands. I caught it in my right hand, and then cast a Cutting Hex that caught the Death Eater off guard, slashing an opening in the right arm of his or her robe. The Death Eater—I think it was Avery—ripped off his mask and charged towards me, but I simply jumped backwards and Stunned him. His unconscious form hit the ground with a thud.

That was about when I let go, allowing my powers to rise to the surface. I saw as if watching through a Pensieve myself Stun three more Death Eaters in succession, including Goyle Sr., and spin around, ready to face more.

I never saw the jet of green light coming. It was thrown by none other than Peter Pettigrew, and I saw the grin on his rat-like features from within the Death Eater ranks before whooshing death shot towards me much faster than I could react.

And, just for an instant, time seemed to slow down. I stared directly into the curse, its rushing motion becoming closer to swimming as it made its way towards my immobile form. The sounds of the battle around me completely shut off, as if I had entered a vacuum and the world around me had simply ceased to exist. The feeling that I felt next was indescribable, but it was as if some sort of wall within my brain had broken down and revealed a huge amount of secrets that I wasn't even aware were there. Flashes of my life fell before my eyes, as if I truly had entered a Pensieve and was reliving everything again.

Hermione was standing in the Gryffindor common room, looking at Ron as though he was some sort of particularly nasty insect. Her hair was falling out of the elegant bun that she had used during the Yule Ball, and her face was screwed up in anger.

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"

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My thoughts were suddenly shattered by the appearance of a figure in my peripheral vision. Time sped up again; the shouts returned. And Hermione's face, screwed up into the same concentrated expression that I had come to know so well, relaxed, her mouth opening slightly in shock as the Killing Curse meant for me struck her for the third time.

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A/N- Thanks to all my reviewers for the last chapter, and please review this chapter! Until next time!