Chapter Five

Lying in blood

(Present)

Tears slid gently down Hermione's face as she lay hidden behind the same bush that kept her from being spotted by Malfoy and Zambini. She had been lying in the same position for many hours, her legs were numb and her arms were cold but she just couldn't manage pull herself up. She was frozen, both physically and emotionally, to tired to trudge up to the castle yet to confused to want to try. She felt like she had lost a battle within herself, a battle which she had been fighting since she took her first breaths into this world. How could she face Harry now, knowing a secret that could destroy him, she was liability, a possible downfall to the whole magical world. She would rather be destroyed then destroy…

…

"Ron, have you checked the library?" Harry frowned.

"Yeah mate I have, according to Mrs 'Crabby' Pince (H-ha get it Harry, Pince?) Hermione hasn't checked in since this morning." Ron replied.

"Stop fooling around Ron, we've got to find her before Snape finds her first."

"Ok, okay, gee no need to bite."

Again Harry frowned and spoke, "Well I've checked the common room, prefect bathrooms and I've asked Ginny to take a look in her Headroom."

"That leaves the classrooms, Hagrids Hut and possibly the forbidden forest." He added.

"Forr-bidden forr-est? Harry, do you really think she would go there?" Ron spluttered.

"I dunno mate, but if we can't find her anywhere else we have nothing to lose." Harry replied.

"By the way Harry, why didn't you get your cloak, were gonna need it you know!"

"Uh, well Ron it wasn't actually in my trunk, I thought maybe you had taken it." Harry replied looking worried,

"Hermione." Both boys cried at once.

…

Wiping her eyes on her sleeve Hermione slowly managed to pull herself into an upright sitting position. The night air wasn't terribly cold; however it wasn't exactly warm either. Rubbing the heat back into her arms she considered her options.

1) She could stay at Hogwarts pretending she heard nothing and wait till she was used as a weapon against Harry.

2) She could face professor Snape and tell him of what she had heard hoping that he could help bring an end to the coming danger.

3) She could simply end her life and save not only Harry, Ron, her friends, family and teachers from being bribed into doing terrible things.

She crossed out one, of course she could not stay at school knowing what she knew, next she crossed out two, she could most definitely never face Snape, he would probably kick her out of his sight, saying she was liar.

That left her with three… Number three, a number that came before the number four and began life after number two. An odd number, the number that represented the holy trinity, a number that now represented a hero's choice, though she was no hero and knew she never would be.

Nonetheless in this case she had no real choice, it was time for her to be brave, it was her time to give back to Harry for all the times he had to be brave for their sakes. It was her time to go, no matter how much she wanted to live and explore the world, no matter how much she wanted to have at least one try at love, or become something special. This was her destiny, even though she neither chose it nor wanted it, she had been given this destiny and now she had nothing to do but began the ending of her life.

…

Slowly Hermione drew her wand in a half circle motion while chanting an incantation under her breath. In less then ten seconds a knife appeared in her left hand, its serrated edge looked extremely sharp and she suddenly began to feel frightened.

"Not a time to start becoming a wimp Hermione." She whispered to herself as she gradually brought it forward to her right wrist.

"I love you mum, dad, Harry, Ron and Crookshanks, I love you friends, family and life. Please forgive me and remember me for who I am instead of what I've done, goodbye." Tearfully Hermione shut her eyes tight and quickly sliced the knife against both of her wrists. As she lay there, propped up by Harry's invisibility cloak she mused. "What a strange feeling dying is".

Before falling softly into dream state, were Ron and Harry were laughing at her for trying to make them write letters to her after the Wizard Tournament.

She smiled, sighed and took her last breath.

….

"No, dear Gods what have you done Hermione"… A dark shadow cried.

Talk about cliff hanger people!!!
Just got home from vacation, hope you enjoyed this chap bcoz i will be updating asap! xxx