The flash of light that she saw out of the corner of her eye was the only warning she had before she hit the ground without a second thought. The jet of golden light smashed into the stone wall behind where she had only just been standing. The wall groaned in response, the added crumbling of the ancient structure was a testament to the power with which the spell had been thrown. The spell hadn't been the work of school children haphazardly lobbing jinxes to and fro'

It had been cast to kill.

If you had told Hermione Granger a year ago that she would currently be engaged in a fight to the death in the middle of the Great Hall, she would have thought you absurd. And yet, here she was surrounded by Death Eaters and a growing number of Order members, all fighting tooth and nail to emerge the victor.

Hermione pushed herself back to her feet and continued throwing spell after spell, the flashes from her wand almost constant in its attempt to keep up with her frantic mind. She dipped and dodged the barrage of curses from her cloaked opponents, attempting to draw them out into the Entrance Hall so that she could have more room. She refused to allow herself to think about the spells flying out of her own wand - Her moral compass had abandoned her hours ago when she witnessed a first year student hit in the back with a spell while trying to flee to the dormitories with other students. Hermione could now freely admit that the spells spewing from her wand at the attacking Death Eaters were decidedly not ministry-approved.

Granted, she could now acknowledge that no one was truly "Light", and very few people were truly "Dark". Whether you wanted to admit it or not, the vast majority of the population were varying shades of gray, herself included. Admittedly, she was currently flirting with a much darker shade than she would normally inhabit.

"Desperate times and desperate measures", she thought grimly.

Whipping her wand quickly, she almost smiled as she watched another opponent crumple with a thud. She never even had a chance to appreciate the victory before she found the next and began the dance again.

How long had they been fighting? An hour? A day? Hermione had no idea. She only knew that her muscles were screaming at her for rest, and she was sucking wind.

She mentally berated herself at not keeping up with the training Harry and Ron had encouraged her to do. She may not be a teenager anymore, but she should not be this exhausted! For Merlin's sake, she wasn't ancient! Hermione gritted her teeth as she pushed the thought and accompanying emotion from her head - Thinking of the boys right now would do nothing but distract her, and she couldn't afford distractions.

Flicking her wand up and slashing it back down, she watched in satisfaction as the Death Eater's wand arm bent at an unnatural angle. His cry could be only faintly heard over the roaring battle until Hermione stunned him, effectively cutting him off mid-scream.

She took a moment to catch her breath and take in the scene around her. They had spilled over onto the front lawn, and the battle, thankfully, seemed to be dying out. She couldn't allow herself to linger on the still forms scattered in her line of vision. To do so would surely destroy the fraying grip she had on her sanity. She could only be thankful that it seemed the students had made it to their safe locations in the dormitories.

Hermione's head snapped up as she heard a shrill scream. Looking towards the sound, she saw a scattered few pointing. Following their attention, her breath caught in her throat as she saw what could only be a body falling from the Astronomy tower.

She felt her legs break into a full sprint before she even realized, yet everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Oddly enough, she became hyper aware of the most mundane things: the squelching noise of her wet shoes as her feet pounded on the ground, the pull of her scalp from the hair tie she had wrapped too tightly as the battle began, and the ache in her jaw from clenching her teeth too long.

The body seemed to have been falling for an eternity, and yet, Hermione continued sprinting, desperately trying to get in range to stop the free-fall even as she knew she would never make it. Launching an "arresto momentum" towards the figure, she watched in grim disappointment as the spell missed by several feet.

Hermione didn't realize at the time that the "thud" of that body hitting the ground was something that she would never forget. The grotesque finality of a life ended would play on a haunting loop in her brilliant mind for years to come.

Gasping for air, Hermione slowed to a walk as she approached the still form now laying at an unnatural angle on the ground. Although the figure's face was obscured, dread filled Hermione and pooled low in her belly as her heart desperately tried to deny what her mind knew she was about to see.

She crouched down with a shaking hand before gently turning the body towards the night sky. Her hands immediately covered her mouth as a sob tried to escape her throat.

Albus Dumbledore was dead.

Her mind frantically searched for an answer, refusing to believe the scene in front of her. He couldn't be dead. There was no way. He was supposed to help Harry defeat Voldemort. He was the most powerful wizard in the world. He couldn't be dead.

Hermione could feel the air refusing to enter her throat as a desperate, frantic fear filled her to the brim. All rational thought left her as she considered apparating as far away as possible and running away from it all.

Hysterically glancing left and right at the battle now picking back up around her, Hermione looked for her next move. Whether she was wanting a way to escape or a way to help, she honestly didn't know. She just knew that she couldn't look at the unseeing blue eyes of Dumbledore for a moment longer. His face held an ironic serenity considering the absolute madness that was surrounding them. She had to get away.

Tearing off in a random direction at a dead sprint, she only made it a few feet before a searing heat slammed directly into her back. Crushing her head into the ground before rolling several feet, Hermione could feel a few sharp pebbles embed themselves into her skin. The coolness of the ground beneath her would be a welcome change if not for the radiating pain between her shoulder blades.

Finally rolling to a stop, Hermione lay motionless as she stared upwards into the peaceful night sky, the battle still raging around her. The irony of the situation almost made her smile. Taking in a final ragged breath, she felt only an overwhelming sense of gratitude as darkness invaded her vision.