Till the End
by happy_daze

Rating: PG13
Ship: Harry & Hermione
Canon: Books 1 - 5
Genre: Angst, Romance
Status: Complete
Length: 2,022 words in 1 chapter
Published: 22 Jul 2003
Last updated: 22 Jul 2003

Harry is being the classic hero by deciding to run away and defeat Voldemort all by himself. Hermione desperately tries
to convince him to stay...and perhaps convince him of a few other things as well.

From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/745/

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1. Till the End

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Till the End

At the sounds of shuffling at the staircase towards the boys’ dormitories, Hermione quickly snatched her wand from the
table beside her and sprung up from her seat in front of the fire. The firelight cast an orange-y hue to everything and
the shadows of all the furniture danced eerily upon the walls. Basically, at two in the morning, the Common Room looked
perfectly normal, but Hermione knew that something was a little out of place.

Tip-toeing quietly and keeping herself hidden in the shadows, Hermione placed herself in front of the Portrait Hole,
blocking any sort of entrance or exit.

Just as she had expected, something collided into her, sending her to the floor. A furious glint came into her eyes as
they fixed upon the air in front of her. Seconds later, that air was replaced by Harry Potter’s head as he removed his
Invisibility Cloak.

“Hermione…” he said quietly, scrambling off of her. He actually had the decency to look guilty, she noticed crudely.

“Harry, what do you think you’re doing?” she said in a loud whisper, making it evident that she was not pleased. Harry
mumbled something as he stared sullenly at the floor, resembling very much like a five-year-old caught breaking a vase
on accident. “‘Scuse me? What did you say?” she asked impatiently.

Harry whipped his head up to look at her, his green eyes blazing with anger, very much like hers was doing at the moment
too. “What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Harry,” Hermione said.

“You should do the talking,” Harry shot back. “You seem to know exactly what I’m doing, so why bother asking.”

“Well, apparently, I find that you’re stupid for doing this in the first place. What makes you think that you can just
flee to look for Voldemort? Without Dumbledore and the rest of the Order? Without the Ministry of Magic knowing? Without
Ron…and me,” she added desperately.

Harry’s head returned to looking at the floor. The silence was unbearable, but the next words out of Harry’s words were
even more so. “Get out of the way, Hermione,” he said slowly and steadily.

Tears sprung up in her eyes as the words wounded her deeply. She wiped them away hastily and stood her ground, folding
her arms across her chest. “I’m sorry, Harry, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“Mobilicorpus!”

Hermione’s body floated a few inches above the ground and she witnessed Harry gently guiding her to the opposite end of
the Common Room. He still looked angry, but with an apologetic look in his eyes, he slipped on the Invisibility Cloak
and the Portrait Hole opened and closed, signaling his exit of the room.

It took a few seconds for realisation of the situation to dawn upon Hermione. Never had she expected Harry to actually
do this. To run off and think that he had a good chance of fighting Voldemort…to abandon the Wizarding World…Ron…and
her. Gripping her wand even tighter in her hand, Hermione set off at a sprint, knowing at the back of her mind exactly
where Harry was going to leave the castle.

She beat him to the entrance of the secret Hogsmeade entrance, not exactly knowing how she was able to do so but not
caring at the moment.

“Harry. Don’t,” she said, once again, blocking Harry from leaving. A rustle was heard and Harry’s body appeared in front
of her, looking furious once again.

“Hermione, would you quit it?” Harry questioned angrily, clearly not believing that someone could be so stubborn. “Just
leave me alone! I’m doing this for the good of the Wizarding World. The fight rests between me and Voldemort…even he
knows that! So I’m not going to drag thousands of people into danger, you got that? Too many people have died already!”
he said.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Harry,” Hermione began, her voice slightly shaking. “This fight rests between Voldemort and
the whole Wizarding World. He attacked not only you, Harry, but other people and their families as well. He terrorized
the whole Wizarding World for ages…he should have known that if he picks on one of us, he picks on all of us.”

“But Hermione,” Harry said, and there was a hint of desperation in his voice. “The prophecy…it says that one of us will
conquer the other! One of us will die. You see? Only one. If I do this now, it will only be one that will suffer.”

Hermione sighed exasperatedly and covered her face with her hands for a moment. “And how exactly do you expect to find
Voldemort Harry? How do you expect to fight off all his Death Eaters that are bound to be there? You may be special,
Harry, but you don’t stand a chance by yourself!” Hermione stood in front of him, breathing rapidly. She just had to get
him to see what she saw. She had to get him to stay. She couldn’t afford to lose him…not yet.

Harry shook his head. Hermione couldn’t believe that someone would be so daft to the voice of reason. He was reaching
for his wand again…

“Expelliarmus!” Hermione said. The wand flew out of Harry’s pocket just before his fingers brushed it and landed firmly
into Hermione’s hand.

“Give it here, Hermione,” Harry said seriously, stretching his hand out towards her.

Hermione shook her head and tucked it into her robes. “No.”

The two of them stared hard at each other for what seemed like an eternity. It was a battle to see who would give in
first. But quick as a flash, Hermione felt something knock hard into her legs and she was sent sprawling to the floor
once again. Harry was on top of her, digging inside her robes and finally pulling out his wand victoriously. He got up
and brushed his clothes off.

“Fine,” Hermione began shakily. She raised herself up and stood directly in front of Harry, her face set and her mind
made up. “I’m coming with you, then.”

Whatever Harry was expecting, it wasn’t that. His furious demeanor fell and his eyes widened and his mouth parted in
surprise. Before he could say anything, Hermione swiftly cut in.

“No. Don’t say anything. I’ve made up my mind. I’m coming with you, because at least with two people, you have some
chance.” She gulped, knowing that they probably had no chance at all, even with her accompanying him, but she had to say
something.

“No. I want you to stay here. Stay here with Ron. Stay where it’s safe!” he added pleadingly. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“Forget getting hurt, Harry! I’ve gotten hurt plenty of times…I don’t care about that. I’m coming on behalf of you.”

Harry’s eyes saddened. He took her firmly by the shoulders and gently gave her a shake. “No! You’re not coming on behalf
of me, because if you got hurt or even died on behalf of me, I’ll never live it down!” He was begging now.

Hermione only scoffed. “It’s the same with you! I don’t want you getting hurt or dying either, Harry. Now, let me come
with you!” She turned around and was just about to tap the humpback of the witch when Harry’s took a hold of her wand.

“Hermione. Please. Please stay. Stay for me…”

“Harry! My place is to be at your side, can’t you see that?”

“I almost lost you once! I don’t want it to happen again!” he shouted.

Hermione stood stock still, looking into his eyes and seeing something new. She didn’t know what it was…half of her mind
was dwelling on whether Filch or Mrs. Norris would be flying down this corridor any minute.

Harry seemed to read her thoughts, for he took hold of her shoulders once again and said, “Come here,” and dragged her
into a broom closet.

It was one of the large broom closets, so the two of them could stand on opposite ends of it and still have a
considerable amount of space between them. Harry leaned his head against one the shelves containing many magical
cleaning products. He closed his eyes, his head tilting up and sighed deeply.

“Filch is going to come zooming in here…now there’s no way I’m leaving tonight.” He opened his eyes and looked at
Hermione who was sitting on an overturned bucket. “Thanks a lot for interfering, Hermione,” he said. He knew she meant
well…but there were just sometimes where Harry wished that she wouldn’t voice her logic. He had been planning on running
away for a long time already and when he finally had enough courage to do so, she came along and crushed those thoughts
entirely. She had very good reasons though, he reluctantly admitted and to a certain degree he was a little glad that he
wasn’t going to go after all.

“Harry, I only want what’s best for you,” she said quietly.

“What’s best for me?” he exclaimed, but still keeping his voice in check. “What about what I want? What if I don’t want
to stay cooped up here while Voldemort still rampages out there? What if I don’t want anymore people to die? What if…”
he looked morosely at Hermione now. “What if I don’t want people I love getting hurt?”

Hermione shook her head slowly. “There’s going to be people getting hurt…the lives of people you love are going to be
risked…but it’ll be so much better and so much more worth it if we defeated Voldemort as one.” She stood up and took a
step towards Harry and placed a hand on his cheek. “I just don’t want you leaving us behind Harry. Ron and I are always
going to stick by you, no matter what. You’d think seven years would make you see that…”

“I do see it, Hermione, I do. It’s just that…I’d just die if Ron or you got seriously hurt. You guys are my life.” He
then took a hold of her hand that was upon his face. “You are my life, Hermione.”

“Harry…” but that was all she was able to get out, for in one swift motion, Harry’s lips were upon hers and he was
kissing her fervently. She kissed him back just as fervent, relishing in the sweet taste of him and the hunger of
needing him so much. Their bodies were crushed together, yet their hold never loosened. Their lips were bruising, but no
one showed signs of stopping.

The kiss was searing…feeding upon their built up feelings. Their need and want for each other was overwhelming. Neither
one of them wanted the other hurt. They loved each other too much…

They pulled back slightly, their foreheads still resting upon each other and their breathing ragged.

“I love you, Hermione. So much,” Harry whispered, his grip around her waist pulling her closer to him, if that were
possible anymore.

Tears pricked the corners of Hermione’s eyes. The words meant so much coming from him. They affected her entire being,
planting itself to the very bottom of her heart. “I love you too, Harry,” she answered. “I just don’t want you risking
your life. Not yet. Not when you’re not prepared…not when you don’t have any people to back you up…not without me. I’m
with you till the end.”

Harry raised his head to better look at her face. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, her lips were slightly swollen
from their passionate kiss…love and concern radiated off of her. Though he had wanted to leave tonight, leave his
friends which had now become his family…he always knew, somewhere in his mind, that they would have gone with him no
matter what. Especially Hermione…through hell and back, she had once said.

“Always?” he questioned, just wanting to make sure that it was real. That the whole entire moment was real.

“Always.”

-end-
