Chapter 45

That was it. Harry was dead. Voldemort had killed him.

The Dark Lord stood in front of everybody, claiming that Harry Potter was dead. His army of Death Eaters cheered and laughed behind him. Hermione was distraught. She felt familiar strong arms around her and she leaned into his touch.

She had lost her two best friends now. Ron had died while they were fighting.

"Hermione, you get the right one, I'll get the left." Ron instructed, they were each dueling two different Death Eaters at the same time. The one Hermione was taking on was already wounded and weakened by another Order member so Hermione managed to get him to the floor quickly.

She turned to help Ron. Hermione saw another Death Eater approaching him so yelled out to warn him.

"Ron, there's one behind you!" Hermione shouted. Ron turned and Hermione shot a Stunning Spell at the other attacker. Ron stopped to send a quick smile of thanks in her direction.

Hermione wished he had never sent that smile at her. In that short pause he had taken in order to give it, the first Death Eater had sent an Avada Kedavra at him. Hermione had gotten so mad that she had used the spell that she remembered Draco doing to his aunt on the Astronomy Tower.

Draco had found her crying inside the Castle just before Voldemort's announcement for Harry to go to the Forbidden Forest had come out. He hadn't asked any questions but simply sat there with her and held her until she had no more tears left.

Hermione realised at that point that she loved this young man.

Though, admittedly, in the middle of the war against a teenage boy and a seventy year old man was not exactly the best time to figure this out. Especially since it was moments away from when your other lifelong best friend was about to walk right into their death.

"Draco." Voldemort's voice rang right over the crowd. Most people turned to look at him but he kept his place, standing behind Hermione with his arms wrapped around her protectively. "Join me here and you will go without punishment. You know that this is the side in which you belong."

"Nah." Draco replied in a would-be casual voice that due to the silence of the gathered people, everybody heard. "I think I'll just stay exactly where I am, thanks." Draco knew that he probably shouldn't be talking in such a way to this man but he caught a small flicker of a smile on the brunette's face so he didn't care. Just as long as she could be happy again.

"Draco!" Voldemort's voice still sounded calm but people could tell that he was not impressed. "I do not care for petty little, stupid, young love. Love is not the most powerful thing in life, despite what the old sod taught you here. And where did love get him? Hmm? As I recall, a tombstone on these very grounds. Am I not correct?" The Death Eaters cackled menacingly. "Where did love get your 'hero', Harry Potter?"

"It got him here." Draco retorted, gesturing to the crowd around him. "He isn't lying there dead in Hagrid's arms. He hasn't moved on from this life. He's still here. He always will be. Every person fighting on this side has fought to be alongside him, to bring you down. Harry Potter isn't dead, he's here. All of us know it but only those of us who care to notice will ever acknowledge the fact." All eyes were on the young blond now. "And now that everybody is staring at me, I can take the chance to say that the world really must be coming to an end for those words to really have just come out of my mouth."

A lot of the people who had gone to school with Draco and many of the teachers chuckled at this because it was true. Despite the small amount of humor, his short speech seemed to really have motivated all of the people fighting against the Dark side. Though, it seemed to have only fueled Voldemort's anger.

He was about to shout a Dark spell at Draco when suddenly, Harry jumped out of Hagrid's arms and Draco chucked his wand at him. Harry caught it with his Quidditch Seeker skills and started shooting spells at the man.

It was finally over. All of it. Hermione lounged out onto the grass and stretched along it. She didn't want to go into the Great Hall to see who was dead. She simply wanted to lie on the grass until her dying day with the man she loved lying right next to her.

Draco watched the clouds drift above his eyes. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't go to Azkaban because Kingsley, an Order member, Harry Potter and Hermione had told him that if the Ministry forced him to go to a trial, they would defend him. His father though… He didn't care about that. His mother hadn't really done anything wrong, though. She might perhaps not be able to do magic for six months or something but she couldn't be put in prison.

"Hermione." Draco was the first to break the silence that had risen between the two. The girl made a humming noise to show that she had heard him. "Now that it's all finally over, what exactly do you want to do?"

Hermione paused for a moment to think of her answer. "I think I want a rather quiet life. It's been a busy seven years." She heard Draco chuckle in agreement. "I think I want to set up a small family of some sort and try and escape the press as often as possible."

They were both silent again for a moment before they turned to each other at the exact same time and bought their lips one another's. Now, they could finally say that it was over.

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