Harry was adamant that no one come with him, but no one listened. The Order as well as all the members of Dumbledore's Army came to join with several dozen Potter supporters who had heard of this final battle. They all wanted to see their saviour, Harry Potter, defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. This thought made Hermione want to weep.
When they arrived at Hogwarts, there were wizards working on rebuilding the school, and they were surprised to see Harry Potter there. Immediately, most of them Disapparated. Harry Potter here in a public place usually meant He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was near. The braver ones, and perhaps the stupider ones, stayed to watch the spectacle that was bound to happen.
Hermione stood with Harry all the way. She held his arm as they Apparated to Hogwarts, which had once been her second home, and she held Harry tightly before allowing him to kiss Ginny goodbye. Before they knew it, Voldemort himself appeared with his large group of Death eaters, making the crowd shriek and attempt to run. Most of the Potter supporters stayed as well as the Order and Dumbledore's Army. They would stick with Harry until the end.
Harry Potter pushed his way to the front to meet Voldemort head on, and Voldemort sneered at him.
"Not afraid of death, Potter? This is the end."
Harry said nothing, but pulled out his wand, flashed it at Voldemort, and put it back into his pocket.
His nemesis was confused, but made no show of it. Instead, he took advantage of Harry's wandless state and shouted the cure all those had dreaded to hear.
"Avada Kedavra!" The spell thrust its self out of Voldemort's wand, and Harry, to the horror of those who didn't know, made no attempt to defend himself.
He grit his teeth and spat, "Fuck you," before allowing the green light to engulf him and throw him backwards into the parted crowd. The shock was overwhelming.
"Narcissa!" Voldemort snapped. "Is he dead?"
Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's obedient mother, scurried ahead, and Hermione watched from the crowd as she checked his pulse, then put her hand over his mouth and nose.
"He's dead," she said, voice trembling, and Voldemort cackled and sent up sparks into the air in celebration. The Death eaters cheered loudly, and Hermione's eyes searched for Draco's. His pale face was taut and withdrawn.
It was done.
"You big oaf, Hagrid!" Voldemort yelled. "Pick up the boy-now-dead and bring him into the Great Hall. Lie him there, in that filth."
Hagrid, with tears in his eyes, did as he was told and carried Harry's body into the damaged school. Harry's body was laid carefully down onto the dirty ground towards the back of the hall, and Voldemort, surrounded by his Death eaters, told everyone to follow him, and the crowd obeyed. They would always obey him now in constant fear. Voldemort moved to the front steps of the Great Hall and charmed his voice louder before speaking. "I am your Lord now! I am the ruler of England, and no Muggle will stand before me and live!" As he continued to rant about his greatness, Hermione, far off in the back of the crowd, bit her lip to keep from crying. She sniffed and looked for Harry's fallen body again. People were in her way, and the tears welled up into her eyes. It was over. How could it be over so quickly? How could Harry be gone? She took a step back to separate herself and put her face into her hands.
Something warm touched Hermione's shoulder, and she gasped. "Hermione," the voice whispered urgently.
She could recognise that voice anywhere, even if she couldn't see the person. "Harry!" she whispered back, euphoric. "You're alive!"
"Yeah, miraculous, in't it? Anyway, cover for me. Don't tell anyone. I'm going to take down that bastard once and for all."
Hermione wanted to cry. Instead, she whispered. "Yes, Harry. Yes!"
His invisible hand let go of her, and Hermione looked back at Voldemort with new eyes and with hope.
He had just set the Sorting Hat on fire, and the innocent Muggle-born wearing it had screamed and thrown it off. He was quickly dispersed of, and Hermione winced. "Who can I pick on next," Voldemort muttered to himself, then smirked. "Hermione Granger," his voice bellowed. "Harry Potter's faithful, mudblood follower." She paled, and Draco, at his parents' side, paled. "Come here, Mudblood."
No one dared to speak as she bravely stuck her chin out and did as he said. She walked to the front of the Great Hall and stared up at him defiantly. Voldemort smirked. "Still not defeated, eh? Crucio!" The force of the spell hit her hard and she was on her back and screaming. Voldemort and the rest of the Death eaters laughed, excluding the Malfoys.
Voldemort let up the spell. "This is what happens to mudbloods who try to mingle with us, the pure ones of society! Crucio!" Hermione screamed again, and Voldemort, feeling playful with his victory, let it up again after a short moment.
"Where is your Potter to save you now?" Voldemort looked around, and his merciless eyes fell on Draco. He smirked again. "Tell me, Mudblood, do you want Draco to save you? To take you away from all this pain?" Hermione's eyes widened, but she was too tired to pretend. Voldemort laughed. "I know about your relationship, Mudblood. Do you think he, Draco Malfoy, a wizard of pure blood, would really fall for a mudblood like you?"
Hermione frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Voldemort sneered at her. "Draco Malfoy, your love interest," he cringed at 'love,' "was under my orders the entire time. He doesn't love you. He would never love a filthy mudblood like you."
Hermione sneered back, still on the ground. "I don't believe you."
Voldemort chuckled. "Draco Malfoy! Come here."
Draco did as he was told, trembling, his face white. Voldemort put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Tell her, my faithful servant, of what I told you to do."
Draco hesitated before feeling Voldemort's hand clench tighter. He spoke rapidly and stuttered. "Th-the Dark Lord asked me to g-get information out of you."
Voldemort rolled his eyes. "You're still just a stupid boy," he said impatiently. "Draco, here, used you, under my orders, to get valuable information out of you. And he did. How do you think we got your parents? Your whereabouts to kill the Weasley boy? How we knew that you were in the manor to kill my beloved snake?" At that, his bony fingers dug into Malfoy's shoulder, and Draco winced. He knew there was still hell to pay for that.
Voldemort was feeding off of Hermione's reaction. Her face had gone white, her eyes rounder, her mouth open in shock. He cackled. "Look at this, Mudblood. Now the boy you loved has betrayed you. He doesn't love you. He killed your first love. He killed your parents." He smirked. "What can you say now?" Voldemort turned to Draco, his red eyes dangerous. "Isn't that right, Draco?" he said in a saccharine sweet voice.
Hermione was gasping. Draco opened his mouth, uncomfortable, but couldn't speak. He couldn't look at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, incapable of doing anything but agreeing. "Yes. It's true," he finally said, and Voldemort snickered. "I pretended to love you to spy for the Dark Lord."
"I—I don't believe you," Hermione whispered, and the Dark Lord smirked.
"Believe it, mudblood. Do you think I wouldn't know if he did love you?"
"How—how could you!" Hermione shrieked, and pulled out her wand to point it at him. "You loathsome little—"
"Ah, ah, ah! Expelliarmus!" Hermione's wand easily went into Voldemort's hand, and he smirked. "Can't have your muddy blood casting curses on such a pure boy." Draco felt dirtier than anything. "Crucio!"
"Accio Hermione's wand!" a voice yelled out, and the wand flew out of Voldemort's hands and disappeared into the crowd. The crowd of students broke out into whispers, and Voldemort roared, "Who dared to do that to me?"
The chatter continued, ignoring the wizard in front of them. "Enough! Tell me now, or she dies!" Voldemort pointed the Elder Wand at Hermione, who was still trembling, and Draco looked on helplessly.
Amidst a ramble of quieting voices, one stood out clear and familiar above the rest. "Expelliarmus!"
A beam of red light shot out at Voldemort, and Voldemort was quick to defend himself. Snarling, he cried, "Avada Kedavra!" But it was to no avail. The wand he had gone through so much trouble to obtain, the wand he had killed people for, the wand he had stolen from Albus Dumbeldore's grave himself, would not kill its master, and so turned the spell onto the bearer. The master turned out to be Harry Potter. The bearer? Well, you know.
Voldemort had no time to scream as he saw the green light burst and engulf him instead. He fell dead at the feet of Harry Potter who had revealed himself from under his invisibility cloak at last. The crowd was completely silent as they stared at the dead body. Then, chaos broke out. The members of the Order closest to the front began stunning and capturing the Death eaters. The students and civilians watching cheered loudly and screamed their approval and tried to get into the Death eater bashing. The Death eaters tried in vain to Disapparate before they were captured. Hermione stared at Harry, crying both tears of joy and hurt. Draco was trying to find a way to talk to Hermione and explain without getting pummeled.
It didn't work. She was swept into Harry's arms and given her wand back, and Draco was tackled by several members of the Order and stunned.
Tears of joy were wept that day, and it was commemorated as the day the world was saved. Harry was thrust onto shoulders and cheered for, and Hermione laughed and joined along with the chanting. "Potter! Potter! Potter!" She'd never felt so proud, and yet, she wanted to weep bitterly. Her second love turned to be a traitor.
The court hearings were quick. Most Death eaters were sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss. The Malfoys were forgiven and found to be innocent because of Narcissa's actions. Only Draco Malfoy was sentenced to seven years in Azkaban because of his treason. He had, however, helped kill one of the Horcruxes and was also still very young, which lightened the blow.
Hermione had walked out after hearing his sentence, and took deep breaths to control herself. She still had feelings for him; she couldn't help it. He disgusted her, but she still cared. She closed her eyes when she heard him cursing in the doorway, held by two Aurors. He gasped when he saw her.
"Hermione!"
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
He looked haggard. He had bags under his eyes, a stubble, and his white-blonde was mussed.
"Hermione, forgive me, please!" he cried. "I didn't know what I was doing."
"You knew exactly what you were doing," she said coldly.
"No, you don't understand. I love you."
Hermione laughed bitterly. "No you don't!"
"If you'd just let me explain—"
"Explain? Explain what? Explain how you were following Voldemort's orders the whole time you were pretending you loved me? How can you explain how you lied to me the whole time I thought we were friends? You didn't love me then, and you don't love me now. You wouldn't have done any of this. You were just an inveigler, Malfoy, and nothing more."
"Hermione! Hermione, I—" She turned her back on him and she heard him fighting the Aurors as they took him away.
"Hermione! Let me talk to you! Please!"
"She doesn't have anything more to say to you, you wanker! Leave her alone!" one of the Aurors said, and Hermione stiffened at the sound of him shouting her name. She walked away quickly, her shoes reverberating against the tiled floor away from his. She closed her eyes. Merlin, would she ever love again? The tears were pushing against her eyelids, but she refused to give into them. She had a world to help rebuild. She opened her eyes and steeled herself before walking ahead stiffly. No, she would never love again.
A/N: Before you cast off this story as one of those angsty unhappy ones, I must remind you; it's not the end yet! I can't bear to leave my stories like this, so yes, there will be an epilogue! No worries. :) If you think there shouldn't be an epilogue, please review and tell me! If you think there definitely should be an epilogue, review and tell me how excited you are for it. Please, please review! It'll help me update faster. Encouragement or criticism! That's really why I write; to get better at it and to get my ideas out there. And really, the lack of reviews is really discouraging...But anyway, thanks for reading and look forward to one more chapter! :)