Severus.
Hermione?
Severus, open your eyes.
Severus let out a deep breath, his chest felt as though something or someone was sitting on it. His throat felt similarly tight but his will to answer her call overrode all the pain that was thrumming in the back of his skull. He could feel someone beside him but their energy wasn't that which he found comfort in. It was this observation that finally got him to move.
"Godfather?" Draco leaned over just a touch, not wanting to crowd the injured man's space too much. When his eyes opened just a crack he offered him a broken and tired smile, "You're alive..."
Severus let out a deep groan bringing his stiff arm up to rub his eyes. The movement sent sparked pain down his side but he ignored it. When he lowered his hand he blinked slowly to try and bring the blond into focus, "Where...?" His voice was no more than a gravel filled whisper.
"In your rooms. Granger brought you here and a house elf fixed you up." Draco shifted just a bit, his hands itching to help the man who was presently trying to push himself up further on the pillows.
"No..." Severus hissed deeply before trying to clear his throat, the action caused a sharp metallic taste to fill his tongue, "Granger...Where?"
Draco bit the inside of his lip, "I don't know...she wasn't here when I got here..."
Severus could feel his head growing light from his labored breaths but he had made a promise, he had to find her. Keep her alive. She deserved to live beyond this war. To find something better in the world. A narrow-eyed glance removed the boy from the bed and he was able to drag his legs over the side. His chest was without clothes but he was still in his slacks and shoes. It would have to do. He had to find her.
"Woah now, you can't just get up! You're severely injured!" Draco moved to stand in front of him but his need to restrain him was unnecessary as the man began to pitch sideways back towards the pillows, "You're in no condition to move, let alone stand..." Draco took hold of his legs and with very little effort rolled the man onto his back.
"Keep her...alive..."Severus fought as long as he could against the encroaching darkness. The dark cone around his vision, the blissful cold of unconsciousness.
"I will..." Draco pursed his lips, how could he possibly begin to fulfill the last request of an obviously dying man. He didn't even know how long he'd sat in that room lamenting over everything in his life that had brought him there.
oOo
Hermione wiped the blood from her brow with a wary eye towards the sky. She could feel the world around her changing. Growing darker, as though her deeds had come to pass judgment upon her. Still, she felt no remorse for what she'd done. No, she felt justified and at peace with her actions. It was odd sort of cold that settled in her chest and it carried with her a weight that she could feel to her very soul.
A tight breath left her chest as she began to make her way towards the destroyed courtyard. It would be a bit of a climb back up but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. A few magically assisted jumps brought her up near the first level halls where she took rest inside one of the window seals. It was risky, being so exposed but her body was just not responding the way she expected it to.
By the time she'd made her way to the second level outcropping, she was starting to feel winded. It was only when she heard a familiar voice did she find the strength to keep moving. Her hawk-like eyes could not see the body to whom it belonged but her over-sensitive ears told her that they were moving closer. Pushing herself closer, she took note that the courtyard was nearly completely covered with broken statues and bloodstains. It appeared that the wounded and dead had been moved somewhere else.
Settling down like a cat upon its perch she allowed herself to rest for just a moment. Tuning her ears into the voices that were starting to grow louder and clearer. Three distinct voices that made her heart flutter painfully.
"I know you don't understand, Ginny but this is something I have to do..." Harry took the few steps out from the large entrance doors turning his eyes up towards the red-head who had stolen his heart.
"I know I just...you shouldn't have to go alone." Ginny swallowed painfully, "I could with you, we could go with you."
"Yeah mate, we've done everything together." Ron came down to join his side, his face like that of a kicked dog.
"I know, I know...It's just...This is something I have to do alone...You're needed here. Your family needs you here." Harry couldn't help but lower his eyes to his own words. The memories he'd just gone through ever present in his mind. Everything that he'd believed in this life was nothing as it seemed. Did he truly know anything at all?
"You're gonna come back right?" Ginny sniffled heavily wiping the tears from the tip of her nose.
"Don't I always?" Harry tried to give her a comforting grin but it came out more like a grimace. He accepted her hug and held her as tightly as he possibly could, trying to remember the feeling of her arms around him. He had no idea if he'd return, only that he had to go. To end this. All of this.
"We'll be here...holding down the fort." Ron bit his lower lip before taking Harry into his own hug, "We're gonna make it through this."
"I know." Harry clapped his back when he let go and stood there solemnly as they turned away back inside. A slow breath filled his chest before he turned on his heel to make the sole journey out towards the forbidden forest. It was just as he was about to step through the archway that he felt something against the back of his neck. It wasn't a physical feeling more a mental one.
He turned slowly but his eyes weren't on the doors—no—they rose high, to the large balcony overlooking the courtyard. His eyes grew wide when the dark slouched figure rose up tall. Their hair wild as ever, blowing softly in the wind that pushed the smoke away from the battlefield. Their face was something he'd seen in his nightmares but their eyes were soft and familiar.
"You'll protect them when I'm gone?" Harry's voice didn't waver, rather held a strength only adversity could have brought. Oh, how there were so many things he wished to say. So many wrongs he wished he could have made right. Their slow but deliberate nod brought the weight off of his heart, though he wished he could have heard her speak he didn't question it. Instead, he gave her a smile. Filled with love and appreciation. Then, he turned away.
Hermione sniffled softly as she watched him walk on, tears she'd suppressed for far too long running silently down her cheeks. She couldn't have been more proud of him. How much he'd grown in her absence. She'd wished she could have been there to see more of it but she knew her place now. Another sniffle left her shivering chest before she pushed herself further up the pillar she'd taken to support herself. Just a little longer. She could do this a little longer.
"Miss Granger?" McGonagall stood with sadness aging her face, "What can I do?" She knew better than to question the woman who had so suddenly blossomed before her. She'd learned the hard way on what made a warrior's heart so strong.
Hermione didn't turn her head, but she did tilt it enough to give the woman the respect she deserved, "Protect the doors. I shall protect the walls."
"Of course." It took everything inside of her not to bring the girl in close. To shield her from everything the world was putting forth. It was the pain a mother felt when her child stepped out into the world for the first time. That first night of an empty house. Wondering. Praying.
Hermione smiled softly, a macabre sight given her make-up but she knew that McGonagall was not so influenced by outward appearances. She watched until she could no longer see her, wanting desperately to just give it all up and fall to her knees in defeat. Her promise to Harry, however, kept her heart beating.
Now, it was a matter of time. Settling down in the broken window's outlook, she let herself take a breath. Her eyes turned out over the courtyard below. She could hear voices below through the broken floor but she paid them little attention. She trusted that McGonagall would keep them from journeying upward to her location. Her eyes surveyed over the landscape dispassionately when a glint of silver caught her attention.
Her shield. Perfect.
oOo
Draco moved into the Great Hall with extreme caution. He didn't want to ruffle any feathers by his presence but he had a job to do. He had tried to look along the upper floors but had found the damage in some area's nearly impassable. He'd used his stealth and location charms to try and detect anything but had found nothing thus far. Without something of Granger's to use with the spell, the location charm was having trouble pointing him in the correct direction.
Deciding to look where they kept the dead had been a woeful decision. At the very least he could give Severus an answer. Even if it wasn't a good one. So many laid out along the once vibrant hall. So many dead or wounded. How had survived all of this? Why had the fates chosen him to carry on? They were questions too big for someone as young as he to answer.
When his eyes fell on Lovegood's pale dirty form he felt a sort pain he'd never felt before twisting inside his chest. He'd been apart of her capture, her torture, her near enslavement. Not personally no, but by association. Why did it seem that all the good people in the world fell first? An apology licked at the back of his lips as he moved closer, his eyes glossed with emotions he didn't understand.
He nearly squealed like a young girl when the hand that he'd lightly brushed with his fingertips moved and the eyes of the owner slowly came open. A thick swallow made his already pallor face white as he waited to see what she would do. To his grandest surprise, she offered him a small smile and he felt himself completely at a loss. It was brief but it was enough to remind him that he had done something positive in this world.
"If I can have everyone's attention."
McGonagall's voice lowered everyone's in the hall. Turning all heads towards the woman standing at the doors. Draco could feel the air in the room shifting and made a point to make himself appear as harmless as possible, keeping his head down and his eyes solely on the woman speaking.
"We need to be prepared for the possibility that Harry Potter will not be returning." McGonagall let out a slow breath not wanting to believe her own words, "We must be prepared for Voldemort's last strike against this castle." Minerva paused allowing those around her to absorb the information that no one wanted to hear.
oOo
Hermione jolted to the sound of heavy stone shaking her perch. Having fallen into a light but much-needed rest, left her heart racing and her mind stumbling over itself to wake up. Voices wafted into her ears from down below but what had really caught her attention were the sparks of magic shooting high into the air from beyond the forest's edge.
Her body felt oddly light as she hastily pushed herself up to her feet. The shield she'd summoned from the debris below curled up tight to her hip, her wand slipping down into her free hand. As the dark mass of death eaters began to form along the road her heart began to beat louder between her ears. Harry was gone, the Horcrux inside him having taken from this world. It was a painful price but now was the time to fight. To win, to bring a new dawn unto the world.
Her eyes narrowed in on the man leading the pack of vicious wolves. Her breathing growing slow and steady as she waited for the perfect time to strike. She'd only have one chance to make this right. Their voices of victory carried over the eerie wind that had begun to waft through the courtyard and as Voldemort stepped through the broken gates her eyes flared red.
"I've killed Harry Potter!" Voldemort's cry of victory echoed over the school grounds both within and without. His large snake-like grin slithering over his features as he awaited those inside to come and bask in his glory. Just as his smile was beginning to falter at the lack of response his victory parade received his head tilted up.
Hermione pushed herself from her perch. Like an eagle swooping down to capture its prey, she landed with a heavy clang right in the middle of his path. As she came to her feet she could make out the faces of recognition along the front of his army but her focus remained solely on his smug yet partially confused face.
"Your victory ends here." Hermione's words sent forth a shivering wind, the hand she held upon the top of the shield vibrating with power.
There was a heavy silence that seemed to hold everyone in place. A weight that had suddenly pinned all those standing exactly where they stood. Hermione's eyes never left the man who had brought so much pain in the world but her focus did wander over just a touch to where Hagrid was holding a limp Harry in his arms.
A sharp snort preceded a raucous laugh that was quickly echoed by those behind the man who allowed himself to show his humor, "Have they really no one left? That they send a girl to defy me?"
Hermione smirked then, pulling back the hood that had shielded most of her face, "You assume that I come unprepared."
"My Lord!" Bellatrix's voice broke through the silence but a sharp hand in her direction silenced whatever was to fall off her tongue.
"And who do you dare to be?"
"Stronger than you." Hermione raised her chin as his wand rose, her own pressing into the shield that she stood behind.
Voldemort grinned wider, another laugh breaking through his murderous facade. He glided back, a large show for his followers, presenting his back to her as though she were nothing more than an ant in his way. When he turned back around, he presented himself to her with a sickening smile.
Hermione grinned back at him, her bloodstained eyes shifting away from his face to Harry's body. When she rolled them back, her wand rose, her spell silent as her entire body went up in flames. The phoenix reborn from inside her flourished out in a magnificent display of power and courage. The fire roared its power into the sky as it came up tall; leaving Hermione's body unharmed as it formed.
"Now Harry!" Her voice cut through the roaring flames and though her vision was turned orange, she could see Harry push away from Hagrid taking Voldemort's focus away from her conjuring. It was at that moment that the bird swooped down to strike.
Hermione wasted no time nor effort as the world in front of them burned, as soon as Harry had crossed over the invisible line she had drawn in her mind, she slammed the shield down into the stone and pressed her wand into the back. The power awakened from inside and formed a large blue dome arching backward towards the doors to which Harry ran.
The screams of the death eaters caught in the flames were like a siren's call. Hermione's chest heaved as Voldemort's anger turned towards her. Having denied him his only goal in life. She expected his strike, the first blow landing squarely on the shield that protected all those inside the castle.
oOo
Severus could feel the entire castle trembling. The walls around him shaking with unseen forces. His body was weak and left the walls tilted. The magic that was at play called to him for action. As master of the castle, it was his duty to protect it. It was a call no man who lived could ignore. An ancient power.
His chest heaved as he made it to the end of the hall leading away from the headmaster's tower. His body pitching sideways to find support in a nearby alcove. When his head raised, his eyes surely deceived him. The courtyard was filled with flames. Two massive powers fighting for control. His heart stuttered as the large firebird ascended into the sky. Flying just out of reach from the serpent who sought to bring it down.
There was no question in his mind who had summoned the bird, and for that, he found the strength to keep moving. Pushing himself from the present alcove to the next he kept his eyes trained on the battle below. The large shield that was protecting the doors gave him hope that he could make it in time.
oOo
Hermione let out a small cry as her body was forced backward by Voldemort's curse. The phoenix was no longer under her control and thus she could only hope that its power would overplay that of the snake he had conjured. Like she, he had released his fire to bring down his own justice upon her. Each spell left her entire body ringing though she forced herself to keep hold of the shield.
When she dared to look over the rim she saw into the eyes of pure evil. So much hatred and pain wrapped up into a sense of purpose. For one fleeting thought, she found herself looking into a mirror. Wondering if that was what those she had felled saw before the end. It was in that moment that her focus on keeping the shield in place broke.
The large serpent that Voldemort had conjured to deal with her phoenix reared downward, taking the bird into his large jaws before the crown of its head came crashing down onto the center of the shield. There was nothing Hermione could do to hold off its power. The shield that had protected her cracked under the intense heat, and the force of the blow sent her skidding back into a pile destroyed stone soldiers. Her world went black.
oOo
Severus could hear the sounds of intense battle but his mind was anywhere else. The mere fact that he could hear anything at all meant that something had gone horribly wrong. His entire body pulsed with the sound but his will to move pushed him from the next alcove. The world around him was beginning to twist and turn, making his stomach churn.
He was almost there, he was sure of it. Just another turn, down a secret passageway and he would be standing at the entrance to the courtyard. His breathing grew tight and every muscle in his body screamed as he tried to force aside the statue that guarded its entrance. Unable to summon even the most basic of magic in his wounded state he let out a low curse and pushed himself away towards the main hall.
A flash of blond hair caught his attention but it was quickly moved out of sight by a furiously haired black mass. Though longed to help Draco, with no magic there was little he could do. His breath was becoming harder to come by as he limped his way down the steps. The fighting below paid no mind to his feeble form. The mass of it going further towards the great hall.
A small pause to gather his strength ensured his safety to pass. The hand that had been keeping his heart from falling out of his chest lowered down to the cold stone behind him. What would find when he rounded the corner? Who would lie dead in his path? How many more lives were to be laid in his hands?
When his feet landed firmly at the base of the stairs he found his path ladened not with children but with death eaters. Large stones crushing their bodies, their blood seeping into the cracks in the stone beneath. He felt no pity as he used the stones to support his way towards the courtyard.
The smell of ash burned his damaged throat, the large plumes reaching up towards the blood-red sky dawning into a new day. A large swell of sound assaulted his ears as he stumbled forward. His feet slipping in the ash sending him down onto his hands and knees. A heavy breath left his chest making his head light and the veins in his neck tight.
His eyes scanned what was left of the courtyard, starting first where he had believed Hermione to have been standing. At first, nothing stood out against the piles of rubble, then a small glare of light flickered off of a pair of boots sticking out just to the side of a rubble pile. A sharp push against the stone brought him back to his feet. The invisible hand around his throat tightening.
His legs failed him as soon as he rounded the rubble. His knees crunching hard against the small stones left behind in the ash. His hands trembled as he pulled away the pieces of the shield that obscured most of her body. The broken fragments covering her face and chest.
The world around him grew silent as he reached down towards her face. Her body laid awkwardly turned at the waist, an almost impossible angle. Her shoulder was held aloft by something unseen and her head was hanging down against her scrunched shoulder. His eyes glimmered in the dawning light, his touch as light as a baby's breath as it came under to cradle her head. When her lashes fluttered, his heart skipped.
"I...knew... you'd come..." Hermione's voice held no pain, just a whispered sense of exhaustion, "My...medicine man..." Her head turned slowly in his palm, his scent filling her soul.
Severus had no words to give her but his actions spoke much louder than anything he could offer. His thumb gently ran along the ridge of her cheek while his free hand took hold of her cold fingers. Her breathing sounded too loud in the silence that had encased them and he knew that something was terribly wrong.
"Am...I...?"
"No... no, you're going to be alright... I'm here now..." His voice cracked under the strain of his injuries and the emotion welling up in his throat.
"I-I can't... feel my... legs..." Despite the difficulty in speaking, the words still managed to push their way through her numbed lips and stuttered breaths.
Despite himself, Severus turned his head down looking over her twisted frame. Surely something could have been done yet he found himself powerless, "I'm here... Open your eyes... I'm here..."
Hermione wanted nothing more in the world than to obey his request but her body simply wasn't capable of abiding her command. Instead, she pressed her face further in his palm, she'd never needed her eyes to see him anyway.
Severus watched the woman who had taken his heart into her hands and put all the broken pieces back together again. He felt as though he owed her so much more than was possible to give someone in this world. A debt that he could spend lifetimes trying to repay.
The smile that had curled over her lips began to fade and Severus felt his world growing dark. The words he wanted to tell her turned to salt in his mouth and he found himself—for the second time—pulling the heavy form of an angel come to earth towards his chest.
"Help... someone... anyone..." Though he desperately wished to scream out, his voice was no stronger than a whisper on the wind.
His body trembled as he pulled her from the spear that had held her in place. The blood that had coated her jacket should have felt cold but truthfully he felt nothing but the pull of darkness. The pain of his soul crying out towards the heavens where he turned his eyes before remembering there was no one there to save him.