In the stagnant stall of battle, Voldemort requested for Harry to duel him in the forest.
"You can't!" Hermione shouted as she saw the determined look on her friend's face.
Harry placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I must, Hermione. This is the way it has to be. Trust me." With a warm nod to Ron, he walked towards the darkness of the woods armed only with a golden snitch.
Why? Why does he seem so confident that this is the way it has to be? Did he see something from his childhood in Severus' memories? …His childhood. It was in that moment that Hermione understood, Harry was a horcrux: a horcrux that Voldemort had never meant to make. Harry must die. What had she done?! She'd taken away Severus' carefully crafted solution. She had chosen her lover over her friend. In despair, she fell to her knees among the rubble, mind scrambling to convince herself that she had faith in Harry's perseverance. Yet, the noxious guilt ate at her. She had selfishly chosen to save the man she loved, without a thought to the fate of the wizarding world. Would they be safe? Would they even be together if Voldemort ruled? Would she be alive? Hermione hyperventilated as fearful tears fell unbidden. She had doomed them all. Out of her self-induced fog, Ron placed a hand on her shoulder. "Everything will be all right 'Mione," he ineptly tried to convince her.
"No, Ron!" She looked to him desperately, "It won't! Harry's going to die!"
Ron knelt beside her, sweeping her into a clumsy hug. "You said it yourself, you believe in him. He's going to make it through and bring an end to all this."
"I lied!" Hermione was inconsolable, "I've killed him! I've killed us all!"
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Ron distanced himself, his hands remaining on her shoulders.
"I-" she feared the stark look in her friend's eyes, "I saved Severus."
"What?" If it was possible for Ron to be any paler, he was. "How? Why?" He took a shuddering breath, "You know what: Never mind. What does any of this has to do with-"
"I should have saved Harry!" She wailed.
"'Mione," Ron's wide eyes examined her, "You- you bloody love that grimy git, don't you?" He spit the distasteful words out of his mouth.
Her crying halted as she struggled to speak.
"You do," a lone tear trailed his soiled face, "You have, all this time… How could you? For that?!"
"Don't!" Her sorrow grew vengeful, "He was going to save us all. It was my fault. I chose to save him instead!"
"No." Ron shook his head, "The Hermione I know would never do that." his hands dropped from her shoulders, "We've spent all this time, all this effort. You've never failed us. You've never faltered." He sat beside her in the rubble. "There has to be something I don't understand… Tell me everything."
"Harry's a bloody horcrux?" Ron stared towards the woods. "I mean I knew he could be a bit surly but…"
"That's why he has to die, or at least a part of him has to, in order to leave Voldemort vulnerable to death."
"Bloody hell." Ron wrapped his arms around his legs. "But, then, it's not your fault."
"What?" Hermione exhaled in confusion.
"Hermione, he has to die. The potion Snape invented puts a stopper in death. That means that the horcrux would never be vanquished."
Hermione swallowed as she examined the dried blood on her hands, "Of course! Severus invented it to keep Harry safe from Voldemort but he never figured out that Harry was a horcrux! Dumbledore probably tasked him with making the potion as a failsafe."
Ron smiled sorrowfully at her, "Guess that makes me the professor now."
"Merlin." She inhaled, "But, if Harry's dead, how does he defeat Voldemort?"
"Maybe the guy just keels over?" Ron took a guess.
"That doesn't seem right." Hermione bit her lip, "Ron, what did Harry take into the forest with him?"
"Looked like the snitch to me. The one he's been obsessing over."
"And what is the one deathly hallow unaccounted for?"
They looked at each other, speaking in unison, "The Resurrection Stone!"