The wind howled around the secluded copse of trees deep in the forbbiden forest. Hermione looked around with eyes glazed over. They were all lying there, dead. Ron, Luna, Ginny…it was a massacre. She and Harry were the only ones left standing. But as she gazed back at the lifeless body of Ron, her eyes burst with raw, emotional tears. She had loved him…they had such a short time together…and now he was gone…she had never gotten to tell him how much she needed him. And now she couldn't. Her body swelled with heated anger, and an anguished sob escaped her. She wasn't sure how she had ended up splayed over Ron's body, but a noise penetrated her consciousness. The dark lord's laughter.
"Oh, did you LOVE him?" Came the mocking voice. "Well, terribly sorry. I guess love can't save all." His glare left Hermione and focused instead on Harry. "Especially not the boy who lived." As his wand flew up, time seemed to slow.
Hermione's caramel eyes turned to fire as she leapt from Ron's side to Voldemort's back as he aimed his spell at Harry. She snarled, digging her nails into the dead skin of his shoulders. He howled with pain, but she was oblivious. She clawed at every part of him she could. But he far outmatched her, and he still had his wand. She found herself suddenly thrown backwards unceremoniously. Harry rushed to her side.
"Finally. I'll be rid of you, Harry Potter, and your silly mud-blood friend!"
Hermione didn't care, everything she had loved was gone. Her teachers, her family, her friends-except for Harry. He was struggling to stand and fight for his honor now, but what good was honor? She couldn't do anything to save them. Then she felt a heavy thudding against her chest and remembered the time-turner she had on. Before they were all destroyed in the Department of Mysteries, she had grabbed one, thinking it may be useful for later. It had saved Sirius once before, could it save her and Harry? She ran and tackled him to the ground, wrestling the chain around his neck.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw the horrible shot of green light that signified certain death racing towards them. There wasn't enough time to turn it the proper amount-but she had to do something. She jerked the hourglass to the left, completing a half turn before having to drop it and bring her hands up to shield her eyes. A jolting shock rocked her frame, and she wondered if being dead would let her see Ron again.
Time froze. She uncovered her eyes, wary of the green jet of light only centimeters away from her. Voldemort's mouth was twisted into a crooked snarl of satisfaction, and Harry, beside her, only had a second to mutter, "Are we-" before they both were tugged away from the clearing, the school, and the time.
Hermione knew they weren't dead. She could still see Ron, his lifeless eyes imploring her to save him-and she knew that wherever she was taking herself and Harry, she would save Ron. She would save all of them.