Authors Note: I know your probably ready to kill me due to some of the characters I killed off, but I am sorry, but some of the "good guys" had to die, after all this was a war. And I still do not own anything. I also want to thank my two Betas. Mabel and Megan, I don't know what I would do without you two.
Her head was pounding, ready to explode and yet all the sounds around her seemed so far away. Her mind told her to move but she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. She tried to speak, to yell, anything, but even that proved too difficult. In the distance, she noticed several lights, but they were too fuzzy and she couldn't make them out. She was suddenly overcome with a strong desire to get to those lights where she knew she would get some answers.
All at once the lights began to get closer and soon she was enveloped by them. She could feel the fuzzy shapes around her, but could not tell what they were or where she was. She let out a groan, and was startlingly aware that she could hear her surroundings.
She heard someone yell, "Come quick! She's waking up!" and she could hear the patter of several feet come storming towards wherever she was.
"Hermione, can you hear me?" someone asked.
She groaned once more, an indication that she had heard.
"Grab that pepper up potion, maybe we can get her back to complete consciousness."
She felt something cold press up against her lips and she opened them slightly allowing a potion to flow through her mouth and down her throat. She then closed her eyes for a few moments and opened them again only to discover everything was much clearer than before. She was shocked when she saw her parents standing in the corner of the room, Ginny sitting in a chair nearby, and three healers standing over her. She could not remember why she was in what was assumed to be St. Mungo's, but she knew she was about to find out.
She tried opening her mouth to ask, but discovered that her throat hurt beyond anything she could imagine and she was unable to speak. A look of panic and confusion crossed her face and Ginny looked to the Granger's for some confirmation before they nodded to her.
"Hermione, you've been unconscious for over a month now," she began. "During the battle, you were hit with a spell that nearly killed you and we're still not sure what it was. Hermione, we were afraid we were going to lose you."
Hermione looked at Ginny with realization and all of the memories began to flood back into her mind. She suddenly felt very scared.
"Ron… Harry…" Hermione managed to croak out.
Ginny looked down immediately before speaking again.
"Hermione…"
The tears welling up in Hermiones eyes began to spill over, flowing freely down her face.
"They're both alive, but just barely. Ron was hit with something and we're still not sure exactly what it was either. Draco took him up to the school when everyone else thought he had been killed after the spell and the fall from his broom. And Harry, well…" her voice drifted. "Voldemort is gone for good, but Harry did something we don't understand. A white light surrounded him and then it exploded in front of them. When the light vanished, they found Voldemort's remains, and Harry was lying there unconscious."
Hermione's emotions ranged with everything from shock, to heartbreak, to confusion. She didn't know what to do with herself with that knowledge. Her mother could sense this, as she saw all of the emotions cross through her daughters eyes.
"I think it's time she gets some rest, take this," a healer said to her as she tipped another cup to Hermiones lips. Darkness soon surrounded her once more and everything seemed far away again.
Hermione woke up later that evening and it was dark outside. Her parents had gone home for the night however she had a new visitor in the room, someone she never expected. It was none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Hermione..." he began and nodded his head.
Hermione was shocked. He had never referred to her as anything but Granger or Mudblood before. What could have happened to him that changed him so much?
"I feel like I owe you an explanation. I was the one who killed my father during the battle. He was a horrible man who took pleasure in killing innocent people and I was never like that. It was I in our sixth year that was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but I couldn't do it. I made several lame attempts that did nothing but hurt others. Snape had no choice but to finish the task I was assigned because he made an unbreakable vow to my mother. I have never had the desire to live the type of life of my father lived but I was forced to going along with it only to keep my mother alive He was a cruel and unloving man, he was cold and pure evil. I believe that instead of causing the problems for the would people should instead try and fix them. I just wanted to let you know the truth."
Hermione looked at this boy, knowing it had to be hard for him to reveal so much to her. She lost all of the hate she had ever felt for that boy. She knew deep down it was his father's abuse and his family's expectations that caused him to act the way he did for all of those years.
"I guess what I am trying to say is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, I'm sorry that all of this had to happen, and I'm sorry I couldn't stop my father from attacking Ron."
Hermione nodded in understanding, unable to speak, but it was clear that Draco understood her, and he nodded in return before he left the room. She used her time alone to gather her thoughts and decided that sleep would be a much better alternative to having to think about all of her grief. That night, she did something she had not done in a long time. Hermione Granger cried herself to sleep.
Several days passed and Hermione was still being held at St Mungo's for continued monitoring. Her voice had finally returned, and as soon as it did, she began demanding to see Ron and Harry, but for some reason they still wouldn't allow her to see them. After relentless requests and some acquiescence on the part of the healers, she was finally allowed to visit the unconscious forms of Ron and Harry as long as she was accompanied by Ginny, Fred and George.
It hurt her more than anything she had ever felt to see Ron lying on the hospital looking so lifeless, but still alive. His bruises had healed, as had all of his broken bones, but there was really no logical reason why he was still unconscious. The fact that no one was sure what curse he had been hit with gave them absolutely no clue to how soon he would wake up.
Hermione visited Harry next. He looked incredibly peaceful laying there and he almost had a smile on his face. The reason for him to remain unconscious after so long but nobody knew what caused him to lose consciousness in the first place.
So many memories rushed through Hermiones mind, from when they first met, to the Yule Ball until their final moments together. It was like everything was playing through her mind like a movie on the fast forward setting.
No one said anything as they made their way back to Hermione's room where a Healer examined her once more before pronouncing that she would be discharged. Ginny helped Hermione pack up her belongings, but Hermione wasn't sure where she would go. Her parents wanted her to go home with them but she refused, stating that she needed to stay in the magical world. Ginny offered Hermione a place at the Burrow, but Hermione also turned that down because she couldn't deal with all the memories of Ron, or Harry.
Hermione then decided that she needed to find a flat not too far from St. Mungo's so that she could keep watch over the two boys. Her parents wanted her to move back home, but Hermione refused to, she wanted to be as close to Harry and Ron as possible. Ginny took Hermione's belongings and apparated with them to the Burrow where they resolved to go to Diagon Alley where finding a flat would present no problem at all.
Several hours later, Hermione was settling into a small furnished flat in Diagon Alley, on top of a building near both Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes and Flourish and Blotts Book Shop.
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