The edges of Hermione's vision started to blur as tears stung her eyes. The world seemed to be spinning around her as she fought to stay on stable legs. This couldn't be real, could it? Harry couldn't be dead. He's the Boy Who Lived, for crying out loud, but he was there laying lifeless at Hagrid's feet, Voldemort standing triumphantly to the side in front of his army of Death Eaters. She felt an arm wrap around her waist, steadying her when she felt her legs might finally give out. She didn't have to look to know that it was Ron, his touch and comfort so familiar to her by now. Hermione wanted so badly to sink into him and let him hold her while the world around her fell apart, while she fell apart. It was over. Harry was gone. They'd lost.

A scream registered off somewhere in the crowd, and Hermione's gaze suddenly snapped into sharp focus as she watched Ginny Weasley try to push her way to Harry's body. Instinctively, Hermione made a move to go to her, but Ron pressed her firmly against his side, and Mr. Weasley took hold of Ginny as she tried to thrash her way out of his grasp.

Like a bomb igniting in response to Ginny's cries of pain and desperation, the cold running through Hermione's body exploded into a white-hot rage boiling through her. It couldn't all be for nothing. She wouldn't let it be. Everything they'd gone through, everything they'd sacrificed, Harry's sacrifice. It had to mean something. She had to make sure it meant something. Her eyes moved back to Harry, staying pinned on his face. The aching and fatigue that had wracked through her mere moments before was all but forgotten as power began to surge through her. Voldemort needed to die. Before Hermione could make her next move, however, Neville was charging forward and chaos erupted all around her.

The battle reignited, and Hermione lost sight of Harry's body and of Ron in the fray. She spotted Ginny rushing towards the castle and took off in that direction. Hermione didn't know how it happened, but she found herself in the Great Hall along with Ginny and out of nowhere Luna Lovegood, all three of them locked in a duel with none other than Bellatrix Lestrange. The heat in her veins turned to molten lava as she hurled curse after curse at the woman who had tortured and maimed her. Hermione's throat burned from the screams as she continued to try to push in toward Bellatrix, attempting to overwhelm the Death Eater with her spells.

Bellatrix aimed her wand toward Hermione and shouted, "AVADA KADAVARA!" but was knocked off kilter as one of Luna's curses found its mark. The jet of green light veered off toward Ginny, and Hermione felt time slow down as she watched it soar through the air thick with dust from the ruins of the castle. Her heart plummeted into her stomach as the curse narrowly avoided Ginny, zooming past her ear and exploding into the wall behind her.

She forgot everything that was going on, forgot that she was in the middle of a duel, forgot about the entire battle waging around her as she ran to Ginny's side. She held either side of the younger girl's face in her hands and searched for any sign that she had been hurt, vaguely registering that Mrs. Weasley had taken up the duel with Bellatrix.

"I'm okay," Ginny's whisper was barely audible as she reached up and grabbed Hermione's hands, bringing them down to hold in front of her.

Ginny was okay. Everything was going to be okay.