Disclaimer: Nothing has changed, I still don't own Harry Potter
A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! You guys are so sweet!
It was strange for her to be back there again. She hadn't expected to be back there so soon. She could feel Harry's arm brush against hers as he walked past her. There before them was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in all its snow-covered glory.
"Come on, we don't have much time." Harry called out as she and Ron quickened their pace behind him. Their cloaks billowed out behind them as they crunched through the snow towards the Forbidden Forest. Even covered in the pristine white powder the forest looked ominous. Without so much as a backwards glance at Hogwarts or his friends Harry disappeared amongst the trees.
"So you're sure Nagini will be here?" Ron whispered as the followed a few meters behind Harry.
"I think so; it makes sense, Voldemort's familiar with the forest, and what better place to hide a huge snake than in the Forbidden Forest. Almost no one would even think of going in there."
"Come on we don't want it to get dark while we're here." Harry was anxious. She and Ron shared knowing looks as they hurried to catch up with him. "How are we supposed to find this thing? The forest is huge and this thing is probably underground because of the snow."
"Trying calling to it in parseltongue." Ron chimed in. She paused as she heard Harry's voice turn into breathless hisses and spits. There was silence. Nothing moved. They walked on, every so often Harry would call out to Nagini in Parseltongue. After about an hour of searching the trio was starting to doubt Nagini was in the forest.
"Hermione maybe you were w-ahh!" She and Harry turned around in time to see Nagini pounce on Ron. She saw its long, sharp white fangs sink into the Ron's cloak and then penetrate his skin.
"Ron!" She cried out as she launched herself towards the giant reptile that was trying to eat her best friend. His body was limp facing upwards towards the sky as one fang was sunk into his chest and the other luckily had missed him, landing in between his legs.
"Stupefy!" Harry's cast hadn't been strong enough to work on the thrashing snake; however, it was effective enough to give Nagini a big enough shock that Ron fell from its mouth. She rushed over to him. He was unconscious. Harry brandished a large silver sword from the inside of his cloak and began to battle the snake.
She dragged Ron far enough away from the fight.
"Ron, Ron, come on you've got to wake up!" His lifeless form lay unmoving in the snow. "Ron! Ron, come on, Harry and I really need you, you can't do this!" She checked for a pulse and was relieved to feel a weak pulse. Harry had shoved the blade of the sword through the top of Nagini's nose and through both jaws of the snake. It thrashed around wildly as Harry now took out his wand.
"Sectumsempra!" Thick red blood splattered the surrounding snow and Harry. Nagini slowed a bit. "Sectumsempra!" More blood covered the snow and Nagini was dead. Harry rushed over to where Ron and she were. "Is he okay?" He kneeled down next to her and she could feel his breath on her neck.
"I think so. He has a pulse. I just don't understand," she shook her tearstained face, "there's a wound on his back, but there's no blood on the front. Nagini's top fang should have gone right into his heart." Harry lifted up Ron's jumper to find an old, gaudy pendant pinned to his undershirt. They shared knowing looks.
"Luna." They said in unison. She quickly did a healing charm on Ron's back. She levitated Ron's body as Harry left her side. He approached the snake and put his boot against its head as he grasped the hilt of the sword and raised it high above his head. It glinted red and silver in the sunlight. He wiped of the blood carefully on his robes before joining her again as they began to walk back to Hogwarts.
"So are you okay?" she chanced a glance at him as he followed silently next to her.
"Yeah, strangely enough, it wasn't that hard. I guess after fighting the basilisk Nagini didn't seem so hard." He had snake blood splattered on his clothes and face but he looked fantastic. He smiled brightly at her and she couldn't help but smile back. She chanced a look down at the sword. Godric Gryffindor. She smiled again at him.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Ron was safely in the infirmary and she and Harry were trying their best to hide their presence from the rest of the school. They were tucked tightly under his invisibility cloak as they made their way towards the kitchens.
After tickling the pear they took off the invisibility cloak and were greeted by the warm bustle of the hard at work house elves. A tearful Dobby immediately appeared as he pulled them into a tight hug.
"Mister Harry Potter back at Hogwarts! And Miss Hermione Granger! Thank you for the hat!" he pointed to the knitted maroon hat that sat lopsided on his head. She blushed a little as Harry threw her a sideways smile.
"We were hoping that perhaps you could bring us a few things to sneak back to Ron in the infirmary." Harry asked charmingly.
"Of course. Give me one moment!" Dobby left them and disappeared amongst the other elves. Harry turned to her.
"So you're still working on S.P.E.W?" She laughed.
"No, I gave up Spew a long time ago." She smiled at him as his face got serious. He was giving her a funny intense stare that made her a bit uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry I never helped you with that. I-" she waved her hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it. It's hard to help people who don't want to be helped. Anyway you had your own problems." Harry looked a bit sad at her statement and was about to refute when Dobby came back.
"Is this enough for Mister Potter and his friends?" he asked underneath a mountain of delicious food. Harry took most of the food while he handed the glasses of pumpkin juice to her.
"This is plenty Dobby! Thank you so much. Have a nice night." They left, hurrying through the hallways so they wouldn't be seen. They returned to the infirmary breathless. Ron, however, was fast asleep. They were relieved to see that Madam Pomfrey was no where to be seen so they sat across from each other on the bed next to Ron and placed the food in between them.
For a while they simply talked about anything: quidditch, books, and their last school year, yet somewhere along the way the conversation turned serious.
"You know Hermione, you shouldn't be here." She smiled.
"Where?" She popped a grape into her mouth.
"Here, with me." He motioned between them. "You shouldn't be here. It's not safe." She smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Harry, we've been over this." He reached over and grabbed her hand tightly.
"Hermione, I care about you. You're my best friend. I just… I've been having these nightmares. And they're just so real and you and Ron are dead and I can't tell if there's even the slightest chance that they could be real. And if anything were to happen to you… to either of you," he motioned to Ron quickly, "I would never forgive myself and I would feel awful and I know that's a selfish reason but it's just how I feel and I'd really prefer if you tried to be really-" she put a hand on his cheek and he immediately stopped. She brushed aside his hair revealing his scar.
"Thank you, for caring, but the second Voldemort can make you completely remove yourself from everyone, well, that's when he's won. Ron and I, we're all in Harry. We know all the risks; we know all the horrible things that could happen, but that's not gonna stop us, that's never going to stop us." He held her hand against his cheek for a moment and smiled warmly at her. He brushed a piece of hair away from her face and slowly he leaned in as she tilted her head. They were mere centimeters away.
"Tell me I'm not dead." They both jumped about a meter as they heard Ron mutter as he slowly began to open his eyes. They jumped off the bed and appeared on either side of Ron's bed as he began to wake.
"Hey mate, thought you were gonna sleep forever." Harry said breaking the tension. She wrapped her fingers in Ron's hand as Harry held Ron's other hand. Their best friend cracked a smile as he sat up in bed.
"I guess being mauled by a snake really kicks it out of you, eh. Hey, why aren't I dead?"
"Well luckily you had this gaudy pendant in between you and Nagini's fang. Wait, who gave him that pendant again?" Harry asked playfully looking up at her.
"I think… that would have to be Luna." She smiled as Ron turned bright red. "Would you like me to go get her? She did save your life after all." Ron looked at her as if to decide whether she was telling the truth or if she would laugh in his face.
"Could you maybe?" She smiled as she walked out of the room.