Title: The Thin Line
Author: Miz Thang
Characters/Pairing: Hermione Granger, HG/DM
Rating: FRM / R
Word Count: 497
Warnings: Angst. Character Death.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the little story's idea. Everything else belongs to who it belongs to.
Summary: Well, some evil thing tells you. Got what you needed, right? One of my entries for dmhgldws.

There had to be something awfully ironic about this. When you spend so many years disliking someone, to the point where you simply define it as hate because it might as well be. So many years where you find disdain in a person's mere presence, joyously waiting for the day when that would no longer be and you could continue on with your life as if they'd never existed, because that was all you really wanted.

You scoff a bit because ironic doesn't even begin to describe anything.

You hate him. You hate the sound of his voice, you hate his face, you hate the way he could make you feel sometimes, as if you didn't matter, and you hated everything and anything that you let happen after that. From that first insult, to the first time you punched him, to the first time you actually had a decent conversation, to the first kiss, and everything that came after is a jumbled mess in your head; it happened so fast. From the love you once had, to the hate you now hold on to.

Everyone but you rises in their seats, wanting to see the exchange, wanting to witness the first use of this new curse that is to be used on anyone they can convict of being a Death Eater. Worse than the Dementor's Kiss, was the rumor. And you were here…you were here because you hated him and you wanted to see him suffer. You needed to see him suffer.

To see him die.

You don't even hear the words, and you don't get out of your seat, your eyes locked on him, looking for just one sign of weakness as the steady red light aims for him, ready to do damage. Just one little twitch to make all of this worth it. To let you know that your hate was worth it.

So, why is it, that if you hate him so much, you're screaming at the top of your lungs, and racing out of your seat, and wanting to get to his side – but you can't because Harry and Ron have you and are holding you back – so much? If you hate him, if you really hate him, why is a part of your heart breaking as he dies in front of you, why are you sobbing so hard, and why is it so hard to breathe? If you hate him so damn much, why do you feel like you're losing your mind?

The answer is so easy. You still love him.

Despite everything, or maybe because of everything, so you slip away from your friends, and you cross that barrier you shouldn't, and you slide to your knees in front of him, and you stare at him, and you damn your audience and hold him close when he takes his last breath, face frozen in disbelief that you still care.

Well, some evil thing tells you. Got what you needed, right?

You cry harder.