"I love you Hermione -"
She was taken completely aback. Her mouth fell, and she just stared at him for a few seconds. Then she registered the worried look in his emerald eyes and realized he didn't know what she knew.
"I love you too Harry.."
A slightly awkward silence ensued, both of them staring at the floor, both of them bursting of joy inside, their burden released, and their love reciprocated.
They simultaneously looked up and gazed into each other's eyes. No need for words, no need for patience, no need for politeness, they both instantly closed the distance with one big step and lunged at each other, landing in each other's arms, in a fiery passionate kiss. They both tried to get as close as physically possible to each other, their lust that had been bottled for all these years finally coming out.
They moved around the fire-lit room to a couch in front of the fireplace, not once breaking contact. They finally broke for air, but Harry didn't waste any time, and kissed Hermione's neck in between breaths, moving down to her collarbone, then capturing her mouth once again.
They flattened themselves on the couch, Harry lying on top of her, so that he could feel every breath she took, her chest pushing up against his.
But this wasn't close enough, they needed more ,they needed to feel each others' skin. they needed to satisfy the desirous beast that had awaken in their bodies. Somehow, they both managed to take their shirts off practically without parting their lips. Harry broke off, and started kissing the rest of Hermione's body, slowly moving south. Hermione responded by burying her hands in his mess of jet black hair.
They were both in heaven, both feeling the happiest they had ever felt, both forgetting about all their troubles, their worries, their minds just went blank, the only thought left being that of the person right in front of them.
Hermione woke up, her head jerking upwards, a sheet of parchment stuck to the side of her face. She had fallen asleep in the library, while studying for the final exams that were scheduled in 6 months. She detached the parchment and started tidying up her table. She closed the books, piled up her rolls of parchment, and extinguished the candle on her table, she would come back again tomorrow.
She had dreamt about the night Harry and she had gotten together. It had been the best night of her life. It was the beginning of their relationship, and so far so good. They fell even more in love with each other as the days passed, and they could rarely spend a moment apart.
Harry tried to help her study, since she hadn't accepted the fact that she didn't need to study, but he's not a studious person, and got very bored very fast, so he said he would wait for her in the common room, and went to look for Ron.
She entered the common room, expecting to see Harry asleep in his favorite armchair near the fire, waiting for her to come back as he had promised, but he wasn't in his favorite armchair near the fire, nor was he asleep.
No, he was very much awake.
He was on the couch, lying on top of a girl that Hermione didn't get a chance to see, Harry's head blocking her face from view while he kissed her passionately. She only got a chance to see her long brown hair and knew it was a girl because she could see her shoes along with Harry's scattered at the foot of the couch. She simply wailed "Harry!! How could you!" and started running back through the portrait hole, tears cascading down her cheeks.
She ran as fast as she could, as far as she could. She wanted to put as much space as she could between her and Harry. "How could he do that to me!" She thought "I thought he loved me, and this is how he shows it…" She felt like she would vomit. She felt sick, betrayed, used…
She reached the Entrance Hall and darted for the front doors. Just as she reached them she heard someone cry out her name from behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, she could always recognize that voice, anywhere. She knew him better than a flower knows its petals. And it hurt her even more, because she loved him so much, because he had given her the deepest scar anyone ever could. She continued running, didn't even look back at Harry, and ran towards the lake. She would find a way to drown her sorrows.
She saw a splash in the middle of the lake, as if something had fallen into it, but guessed it was just the giant squid.
She was half way there when she got pulled by the arm and was forcefully spun round.
"Hermione let me explain!!" Harry tried to make her listen. But there was nothing doing. She wouldn't listen to any justification he had, nothing could dull the pain he had caused her.
"NO!" She screamed, turning around and slapping him across the face. She stood there a moment, shocked by what she had done, and started running towards the lake again, leaving a dumbstruck Harry behind her.
She managed to clear a few meters when she got pulled by the arm again. She spun round on her own this time and started yelling:
"I SAID NO, HARR -" But the word got stuck in her throat, because it wasn't Harry she was staring at. She wasn't peering into the emerald green eyes that she had gotten lost in so many times, but into blazing red ones.
"V-v-voldemort!" She managed to stutter, worry and fear apparent in her voice.
He just cackled, turning around to face the Death Eaters that had appeared behind him, all the while tightening his grip on her arm. Not that she would've run away, she was utterly stunned, and couldn't move, for she had just spotted Harry, lying on the floor, bound by silver ropes, his mouth gagged, and his eyes trained on hers.
She saw worry, despair and sorrow in his eyes. She could see how sorry he was, she could see how scared he was. But she knew he wasn't afraid for himself, he was afraid for her. She tried to say something but still couldn't muster the strength, the current situation having gone from bad to worse in just a millisecond.
"I must present you with my thanks mudblood, I didn't think you would be so helpful to me. But my spies informed me that Harry Potter got out of the safety of the castle to chase after you. Thank you for bringing me the so-called "Chosen One" so that I can finish him once and for all." Said the Dark Lord, breaking the silence that had seemed to go on for hours.
As the words sunk in, Hermione started to feel faint, as a tidal wave of guilt annihilated her heart. She had gotten Harry out of the sanctity of the castle, lured him into danger, into harm's way.
"So, let us get to it" he said with a sickeningly casual tone, turning to look down at Harry " I would give you the honor of dueling with me, but the last time I gave you that honor, you abused it and ran away. For that, you will die here and now, alone, not having been able to do anything at all. Just staring at me with utter fear in your eyes. LOOK AT ME BOY!!" he bellowed.
But Harry didn't shift his gaze. He was still staring intently at Hermione, trying to say what his heart contained through his eyes. Trying to make her understand what he felt for her, how much he loved her, how he didn't care that he would die now, that all he wanted was for her to be happy.
"I see you don't even have the nerve to look death in the eye. How pathetic…" he drew a breath, and the circle of Death Eaters tightened slightly. " And so falls the boy-who-lived, finally having run out of luck and of people to die in his stead. Avada Kedavra!!" He bellowed as a jet of pure green light spat out of his wand and shot towards Harry.
Hermione watched as the ray of green exited the tip of Voldemort's wand, and watched it make its way towards Harry. Everything was in slow motion, but blurred. Blurred because Hermione was sobbing so much that the tears blurred her vision. The green light inched its way closer and closer and she couldn't do anything, she couldn't move, couldn't react. She prayed that somehow Harry wouldn't die, that it would miss him, or backfire, or anything. But as it got near its target, she began to lose hope, and the prospect of Harry's death made her cry even more. She held her breath as it hit its target, and she stopped crying, she stopped thinking, everything just went blank.
It hit him straight in the chest, but he was so tightly bound, that nothing changed, nothing of his silhouette moved. The only difference were in his eyes, they had lost their brilliance, they had lost the fire that used to burn inside them, as if someone had turned off the light behind them, so that they lost their liveliness that used to inspire hope in times of despair.
And still he was staring at Hermione, at the women he had loved more than anything in the world, more than life itself. His dead gaze still fixed on her. She couldn't break contact, she knew he was dead, but she felt like by holding his gaze, she kept a certain part of him alive, she kept a part of him still here, with her, and she wouldn't let him go.
She was crying again, more than she had before when running out of the castle, more than she ever had in her life. But she didn't break eye contact. She looked unwaveringly into those faded eyes of his, until she was thrown to the side like some vile piece of rubbish, and cracks resounded around her as they all disapparated.
She immediately launched herself onto his body, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, trying to get him to look at her. But he didn't, he just continued to stare at the place she had been. She started screaming his name, shaking him harder, his shirt slowly getting soaked by the tears that were falling freely from her face.
"You cant be dead! You just cant be!! You're Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, you cant die! Harry!! Listen to me! I love you too much for you to die, why is my love not enough to save you….??!!!" She shouted hysterically, choking sobs in between words.
Finally she slowed down, and stopped shaking him, the truth finally sinking in. He wasn't coming back. He was gone. "He's gone…" she whispered. The words hung in the air, taunting her, torturing her. And by the fact that she said, she had confirmed it. It was sure now, there was no going back. Her whisper had been the blade of the guillotine, falling on her heart, maiming it, and separating her from the love she had received from Harry. She would never have that back, and that revelation nearly killed her.
She fainted, the rush of feelings finally having gotten to her: the despair, the sadness, the pain, the guilt…
She just lay there, unconscious, on top of her one and only love, her head on his chest, her hands on his shoulders, and him lying there, his body losing the warmth that life had given it. You might have thought they had fallen asleep together, had it not been for Harry's open and empty eyes.
She just lay there, asleep, dreaming of how close to perfection things had been before that night.
She just lay there, for hours, until someone finally came out of the castle, and screamed a gut-wrenching scream that woke up the whole castle, alerting everyone that something had gone wrong in the night, but didn't tear either of the two lovers from their sleep, both being unable too, one because of exhaustion, and the other, well, this time, the spell hadn't backfired.
She just lay there, on the grass, her serene face betraying the chaos that was going on in her heart, as professors lifted the two of them and transported them to the hospital wing.
She just lay there…