"HERMIONE!" Ron shouted, running towards the unconscious body of Hermione. Harry followed.
Harry's body felt lost. Something was empty, something was missing. He couldn't cope of thinking that Hermione would never be with them ever again, never, ever, again.
He bent over the body of Hermione, fell down, and tears began streaming down his face, tears that he never had ever in his life. Her body was cold and icy, her heart wasn't beating; she was dead, she was gone.
Ron stood up, and looked furious. "HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO US?!" He kicked her, but Harry sat up quickly and controlled him.
"Ron! Ron!" he exclaimed, holding Ron back. "Control yourself! It wasn't her fault!"
"She...knew she would...die," moaned Ron.
"Don't kill her baby! We have to take her body back to the hospital wing!"
Harry turned around, but he couldn't help it. The thought of Hermione not being with him ever again brought an enormous puddle of tears. He knew he had to bring her back, to protect the baby, if it was still alive. But how was he going to get up the tunnel that moved down?
Suddenly, an eerie screech was heard. Harry turned and saw Fawkes the phoenix, with its large, beautiful, red wings expanded from the body. Fawkes was carrying a piece of parchment, and landed next to the body of Hermione.
Harry took the parchment that Fawkes was holding in his beak, and read aloud to Ron:
"'Dear Harry, I must say, quite a fight in the Chamber. You found the Horcrux, and destroyed a second basilisk in your life, which was actually a person, as you already know: Perifius Malfoy. He will be alright, but goodness will not flow out from any person's heart to him in his life because of the terrible things he has caused.
"'I hope you have figured out that the prophecy I told you about one of your friends dying happened to be Hermione. I am terribly sorry for the loss. She is sitting right next to me here, and she says you'll see her on the fifteenth of five. I'll explain later.
"'Anyway, I must go now. Lots to do, so little time. Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore."'
Harry was confused. Hermione was right next to him at wherever he was? And what did "the fifteenth of five" mean? Was it a clue Harry was to decipher?
There was a little note on the bottom of the parchment. It read:
"By the way, to destroy the Horcrux, and all of the Horcruxes, use the sword of Godric Gryffindor, for, since Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin, and Slytherin despised Gryffindor, it's the tool that will destroy them quicker and safer. I hope you kept the sword after the battle with the basilisk."
Harry picked up the cup with the Slytherin mascot engraved on it, and held up the sword of Gryffindor, and tried touching the sword to the cup. Nothing happened. He wondered how this could work, and if Dumbledore actually knew what he was saying. Then, it came to Harry; he had to speak Parseltongue.
He lifted the cup up so it was level with his eyes, and hissed in Parseltongue, "Open." It did nothing. He tried again. "Open up." It did nothing once more. "I am going to destroy you." That was a lousy try, Harry knew, and, of course, did nothing to the cup. Finally, he took a wild guess, and hissed, "Hello."
To that, the top of the cup was lifted in midair, and revealed a round red object that was beating. It was a Horcrux, part of Voldemort's living soul.
Harry picked up the sword, and pierced it into the object that was beating. Red liquid that resembled blood squirted out of it, and suddenly, Harry's scar hurt terribly. His whole body began to be in terrible pain.
Ron stood up and stared mysteriously at Harry. "Harry?" he said. "What's...happening to you?"
Harry felt his face being controlled by something else. His head tilted upward and he looked up at the dark stone ceiling. He screamed out in pain. A bright golden glow poured out of his chest, and seemed to be cutting into him.
Pain filled Harry everywhere. He felt like he was going to die. He fell to the ground, lying on his back. He began moving in ominous ways. Suddenly, he was being lifted into midair.
Harry couldn't take it; the pain was overtaking him. He screamed out as many times as he could, but as much as he screamed, the pain seemed to get worse.
Harry's grip made the sword drop and the Horcrux fall to the floor. As that happened, Harry fell to the stone floor, too, his head banging the hard rock floor. The pain stopped, except for a few cuts and bruises. Harry looked at the Horcrux; it was gone. There was no more Horcrux. The cup wasn't engraved with a Slytherin mascot anymore, but, instead, it had a Gryffindor mascot: a lion.
"Bloody hell," said Ron.
"That was a moment I don't want to experience again," joked Harry, but no one laughed, not when Hermione's baby needed urgent attention.
"Do you know how many school rules you have broken in just the several hours that have passed?" Professor McGonagall was giving a stern lecture outside of the hospital wing, after Harry and Ron had brought Hermione's body up.
"You," she continued, "have gotten one student killed! You also injured one student terribly, and destroyed some of the school's construction! Do I have to ask what you two were doing?"
"Sorry," muttered Ron.
"But Dumbledore asked us to do this!" retorted Harry.
McGonagall sighed. "That is why you will not be in major trouble for this."
Harry and Ron both gave sighs of relief. This is the one time Harry thought McGonagall was being completely fair.
"The Ministry baboons will not be informed," she continued, "and you will be allowed to continue whatever the task Albus had given you to do. I suppose you should be able to take care of yourselves, saying that you've come of age now, and should know quite everything of what to do.
"Besides that point, I am terribly sorry for the loss of Miss Granger. She will be remembered through Hogwarts forever. I hope I can inform her parents somehow...
"But, other than that, congratulations for taking one more step into defeating Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix may actually be considering in inviting both of you." And she walked into the hospital wing.
"Did you hear that?" said Ron, smiling. "We can be in the Order!"
"We have to get our bags, and leave," said Harry on a different subject. "Tonight."
Harry knew it; he knew this was just the beginning of another whole journey.