The Only Life She Ever Took…
Over her years at Primary school and then at Hogwarts, Hermione had got into a few fights but always tried to use words to get out of a situation. When she had been attacked by the Death Eaters at the Ministry, she had used jinxes and hexes but still believed in life. Even when on the run, she would cast the occasional dark spell but could not bring herself to kill. She had a suspicion that Harry and Ron would take that burden from her and place it upon their own shoulders, but at that exact moment there was only one spell that she could think of. It had taken them ages to skirt around the edge of the field of battle, fighting as they were forced to, but making it to the outer edges of the courtyard until they found them. Harry had stopped so quickly that Hermione had overtaken him and Ron bumped into her by accident.
"No!" she yelled. Although she wished it was not the case, Hermione Granger knew that many of the dead would be her friends, classmates and schoolmates. She had dismissed it to reflect on later, assuming she lived through the battle, but as she saw Fenrir Greyback all of her hurt, rage and anger came to the boil and her wand came up of its own volition as she took careful aim. She had never been a good friend to Lavender Brown, her Sixth Year being an example especially, but you don't spend over half a decade in a dorm room without getting somewhat close to a person.
"Ah…" Greyback started to form a sentence as he looked up from where he had been biting into Lavender's neck. Originally, she intended to stun him so that he could pay for his crimes at a later date, but her emotions got the better of her as everything burst the dam deep inside her.
This wasn't a case of defeating an enemy…
This wasn't even the fortunes of war…
This was a creature of darkest evil attacking a friend…
This was personal…
"Avada Kedavra" she cast, putting her thoughts and feelings into the two words and added as much power as she could. In the corner of her eye, she could see Harry react but he was too late to stop her as the spell left her wand, flew through the air that was filled with the sounds of battle, the sounds of the injured and the sounds of the dying before impacting on her target and not only killing him outright but blasting him through the ancient stonework before exploding into a billion pieces.
"Hermione?" Ron managed to say just her name.
"I know what the price is, Ron, but that had to be done" she replied, running over to where Lavender was feebly moving. Before she could cast another spell, Harry reached down, ripped the wand out of her hand and cast some household spells before giving it back to her. The pair exchanged a brief look of understanding as she knew that Harry did it to cover up her actions – glancing up and behind her at Ron, she noticed him thinking before nodding in agreement.
"Nothing" he said simply. Hermione turned back to cast as many healing spells as she knew to try and save Lavender's life as Harry and Ron took a defensive posture. After a minute, Lavender's eyes fluttered open and the girl blinked before gazing up at Hermione.
"Am I a werewolf?" she asked.
"I don't know" Hermione replied honestly.
"You saved me?"
"Yes"
"Why? You could have Ron without trouble from me if you'd let me die"
"I have seen too many people die already, Lavender… No more" and Hermione started to cast more healing spells and use what little potions she had on her to save her wounded friend.
"It was always you he wanted, wasn't it?" Lavender choked back a sob.
"So it would seem" Hermione smiled weakly, "So… Yeah… Sorry"
"I kind of expected it" Lavender replied softly. "Will I make it?" she added.
"I think so" Hermione was unsure as she had never been called upon to treat injuries this bad or complex. "I'm going to have to put you under a healing spell that'll knock you out and try to make you well quicker"
"Well, just in case…" Lavender brought her head up to Hermione and kissed her softly on the lips.
"Oh myyyyy…" Harry had turned at the right moment.
"I… But… You… I thought you were straight"
"You don't think I spent six years playing 'Go Fish' and 'Snap' with Parv behind closed curtains did you?" Lavender chuckled.
#
Victory…
They had, once again, taken on Voldemort's forces and beaten them as they always had done so – this time to a complete and final end. The bodies of the dead, dying and injured were still being uncovered from rubble all over the school and brought to a makeshift morgue for a full accounting and total before they were claimed by families or otherwise disposed of. As she left the Weasleys to their grief once more, Hermione found Harry in the Gryffindor common room in his bloody and torn clothes – staring into the fire.
"It is over, right?" she asked softly.
"Yeah"
"I mean completely over"
"Yeah"
"Good"
"Yeah"
"Are you going to say anything else?"
"Yeah"
"I hate you at times"
"I know"
"What is it like to use an Unforgivable?" she asked him.
"I try not to think about it" Harry admitted, "But sometimes I do. When I used it on Bellatrix, I felt a rush of power of almost perverse joy. I felt ashamed of it at first, but then I realised that it was just one of those things" and he turned away from the fire to look at his friend. "Same for you?"
"Yeah… Thanks"
"For what?"
"Covering up what I did. Even if it was just a piece of scum, its still an Unforgiveable"
"I don't think there was enough human left in him to count, but…" Harry shook his head and looked back into the fire and was quiet for a moment. "Lavender… Will she…?"
"She didn't make it" Hermione said simply. "Pomfrey tried everything she could but it was just too much"
"Don't cut yourself up over that, Mione… You did your best"
"Except it wasn't good enough"
"Sometimes it is possible to make no wrong moves and yet still lose. I read a book once that said some people need strength to die – you gave that to Lavender. She died surrounded by friends, safe and at peace" Harry gently kissed the top of her head.
"When did you get so wise?" sniffed Hermione through her tears.
"When I met this bushy haired, buck toothed know it all in my first year who thought getting expelled was worse than being killed" and the pair looked at the fire in silence for a long time before Hermione posed a question that had been eating away.
"When what happened with Quillrel happened, how did you get over it?"
"I didn't" Harry muttered. "Pomfrey gave me a check on my health, Dumbledore told me some rubbish and then I was patted on the head and let out. Nobody who takes a life can ever be quite the same again"
"So I should start making Horcruxes?" Hermione made a poor joke and was surprised to see Harry laugh weakly.
"I'd rather you didn't" he said in an amused tone. "What are you doing here? I thought you would have been with Ron"
"I figured they needed time alone to grieve… What about you?"
"Same… I, uh… I broke it off with Ginny. She wanted to get back together with me right away, but I just don't want that"
"Oh" Hermione hesitated. "What am I su–"
"No" Harry said simply and firmly. "Don't think about it, Hermione, apart from something that happened to you. It happened and now you must deal with it, I'm sorry, but what you did was right and just… Never forget that. Now, where is Lavender being taken – her parents?"
"They died during the year. I asked Pomfrey and she said the Ministry would take care of it"
"She deserves more than that… We'll have to bury her ourselves I suppose"
"Where?"
"Here at Hogwarts" Harry shrugged, "Here where she fell in battle"
"McGonagall won't like that" Hermione twisted a loose thread on her shirt.
"After everything I've found out, Mione, I don't think she is much in a position to do anything"
