The Horrors of War
By: FayeValentine00
Chapter 21
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The world moved in slow motion for Hermione as she watched Harry jump in front of her and take the full brunt of Voldemort's wrath. An odd green light filled the room the moment the spell made contact with Harry's back and her screams faded away as she realized that something wasn't right. The light wasn't going away, in fact, the glow seem to be intensifying.
Although the blinding light made keeping her eyes open nearly impossible Hermione managed to see that the origin of the light was coming from the very spot that the curse had hit Harry's back. It almost looked like the spell was having trouble finding it's target, as if it was shielded in some way.
The look on Harry's face was one that she would never forget. His eyes were shut tight yet she could she the pain and agony on his face. He was in pain, possibly about to die right before her eyes yet there wasn't a damn thing that she could do about it. She would have given anything to be the one who'd taken then killing curse. If Harry died then she'd be alone and it would be all her fault. He'd sacrificed himself for her but that's not what she'd wanted at all. She'd wanted to save him from this very moment but, in the end, she'd caused it to happen.
The light became so bright that Hermione had to shield her eyes from it's intensity which was a good thing because several seconds later, a sound similar to that of a shotgun rang out and Hermione felt her body being thrown. A moment later, her head smashed into something hard and everything around her went black.
Hermione's eyes fluttered open slowly but the blinding pain in her head made it impossible to focus her eyes on anything. She could feel something wet trickling down her cheek and she knew that she was bleeding. At first she couldn't remember exactly what had happened to make her own blood run but then the memories hit her and she replayed the scene in her head.
She sat up like a shot but the shock of sudden movement to her body was too much and she nearly crumbled to the ground once more. It wasn't until the world became clear again that she saw the two wizards about fifteen feet away. Both men were down, seeming unconscious. Whatever the explosion had been, it seemed to have affected both men but that didn't make any sense.
Hermione crawled the best she could, ignoring the blinding pain in her head, trying to get to Harry's side. She had to see if he was alive. She had to know if he was okay. He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be dead now after everything that they'd fought and defeated in the past. It was all too unreal.
Later in life, Hermione would look back and realize that she should have been concerned about Voldemort's condition and her own personal safety but that was the last thing on her mind as she reached Harry's side and rolled him onto his back. His face was slack and ghost white. There didn't seem to be any life left in him. Without realizing she was crying, tears began to fall from Hermione's cheeks, landing on Harry as she looked him over for anything … any sign that might show that things weren't as they appeared.
"Wake up, Harry. … You have to wake up. … Please don't leave me. … This cannot be happening. … Please God, don't let this be happening!" She was talking to herself, her thoughts becoming more erratic as the truth set in. She'd lost him. Hermione had really lost Harry and she'd been the one who'd caused the situation in the first place.
This is what he was trying to avoid. This is what Harry was warning me about when he'd said that we should break up. He knew, Harry knew what would happen but I forced him into this. This is all my fault. It's entirely my fault! The tears began to fall even faster as she mentally berated herself.
Not knowing what else to do Hermione pulled Harry's body up and held him tightly. He was like a limp doll in her arms. She couldn't feel him breathing yet she couldn't let him go. She kept praying that something might change. She kept praying that maybe someone out there might hear her cry for help and make things right again.
A sound behind Hermione made her jump and she turned around to see that Voldemort was beginning to stir. He looked weak and pale. That's when Hermione realized that some of the killing curse must have rebounded on it's caster. It hadn't been enough to kill him, hadn't even been enough to cause the loss of his power as it had seventeen years prior, yet it had weakened him.
His cold eyes met Hermione's across the room and a cruel smile spread on his lips. He looked from Harry's body to Hermione's face several times before he began to laugh. It was slow and a little weak but that high pitched laugh was still recognizable.
"I've won, Miss Granger. Potter's dead. Where's your great protector now?" He asked the questions slowly, as though it took great effort for him to form words after taking the hit that he had.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak but Voldemort's hand suddenly rose off the floor clutching his wand tightly. The wand was pointed directly at Hermione. She watched, her body frozen, as he opened his mouth to utter the curse that she knew was coming yet, when she hear the words, it wasn't the voice that she had been expecting.
A green light filled the room and with no more then a slight sound of surprise, Voldemort collapsed in a heap. Hermione knew immediately that he was dead and that the Dark Lord would never be coming back.
It wasn't until she felt a slight movement in her arms that she realized where the attack had come from. Harry's eyes were barely open but his wand arm was still pointed straight at the place where Voldemort's body lay. He looked like a ghost and his whole body still felt limp but she could see a slight smile cross his face.
"Oh thank God!"
Hermione wrapped Harry up into her arms as tightly as she could and said a small prayer to every god she could think of. He'd saved her again. It was as though he'd come back from the dead just to save her life one more time.
"I love you, Harry," she said, laying him back down onto the ground to attempt to make him comfortable.
She could see his eyes going in and out of focus as though he was fighting to remain conscious. Seeing his struggle sent a shock through Hermione's body. She realized that wasn't out of the woods. She could still lose Harry and that possibility wasn't even comprehensible.
"Harry, stay with me. Just stay with me. It's going to be okay," she spoke slowly, trying to convince him as much as she was trying to convince herself. "Don't leave me, Harry. … Please don't leave me alone."
She felt his hand squeeze hers lightly as he looked up at her with sad eyes. "I-I love you, Her-mione." The words seemed to take the last ounces of his strength because no sooner had the words come out, his eyes closed and his body went limp once more.
It was like a bad dream. For several glorious minutes, Hermione had been sure that everything would be fine. Harry was going to be fine. Everything was going to work out. Voldemort's curse had failed for a second time but now she realized the horrible possibility that maybe the less potent curse had nearly drawn out the process of death.
Tears spilled down her cheeks and onto the floor around her but she didn't care. She just stared at Harry. She wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't even sure what to say. Her world was crumbling. She felt like she was stuck in a whirlpool with no means for escape.
The pain in her head began to throb and her body began to feel strangely heavy. She'd known that she'd taken quite a blow to the head in the backlash of the curse but the emotion of the last few moments had kept her going. Now that it was over and a feeling of hopelessness began to set in, Hermione felt herself losing touch with reality. It wasn't until she'd woken up that she even realized that she'd collapsed.
"She waking up! Be quite!"
"Someone go get the nurses, quickly!"
Hermione could hear voices around her as she fought to wake up. The throbbing pain in her head had now become nothing more then a dull pain but she still found it difficult to open her eyes because of the bright lights that filled the room.
Slowly she looked around and realized that she was lying in a bed. She was lying in a hospital bed to be exact and from the look of the room, it seemed to be a room at St. Mungo's.
"Hermione?"
She heard a soft voice from her bedside and saw Ginny Weasley sitting in a chair. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and her hair was a mess. Clearly, she'd been upset for quite some time. Next to her, Hermione saw Bill with his arms around his mother who was weeping openly.
"Ginny, what am I doing here?" She'd wanted to say so many other things but when she tried to speak, Hermione found that forming words was nearly impossible.
"We were so afraid, Hermione," Ginny said softly as she leaned over to give her a gentle hug.
"You'd taken such a blow that we weren't sure what was going to happen," Molly spoke up through her tears.
"I'm fine but what about Harry?" She asked suddenly as her thoughts began to clear. She watched as both Molly and Ginny turned from Hermione and broke out into fresh tears. Only Bill met her gaze. "Bill, where is Harry? Please tell me where he is. I have to see him," she said, nearly shouting the last phrase at him. She could feel her blood pressure rising and feel the dizziness begin to overtake her again but she forced her conscious clear. "Just tell me he is okay. I have to know."
Seeing the frantic look in Hermione's eyes nearly broke Bill's heart but he knew that he had to tell her the truth. She deserved to know exactly what was going on. The only problem was that he didn't know if he'd be able to tell her without getting emotional himself.
He released his mother from his embrace and moved over to Hermione's bed, sitting down right beside her. To him, she looked like nothing more then a scared little girl at that moment and it made him think about Ron. He'd been taken too young. He hadn't even had a chance to live yet. Now he had to tell Hermione that the same fate could very easily befall Harry at anytime because he was barely clinging to life only three rooms away from the very one that they were sitting in.
"He's alive," he said slowly, pausing as she let out the breath that she'd been holding since she'd last spoken. "He's alive, Hermione but only just. The fact that he survived the killing curse once as a child is amazing enough but the fact that the one he received tonight didn't kill him at once is a miracle. Especially considering that Voldemort has had some of Harry's blood in his system ever since the Tri-Wizard Tournament three years ago."
"But he is going to be alright, right? They'll be able to treat him, right?" The words she spoke were more pleas then questions. Her eyes searched Bill's for any sign of hope but when she didn't find any, she didn't have anything left to say. She simply nodded her understanding and tried her best not to lose that last shred of hope that lingered in the depths of her heart.
Seeing the expression of despair on Hermione's face was a heavy blow to Bill who was usually so outgoing and happy. He felt like Harry and Hermione were like his other brother and sister. That's why he was the one who'd volunteered to stay back at the hospital with his mother and sister while all the other went out with the Order to try to find the Death Eaters who'd fled the moment Voldemort's body was discovered.
He didn't really know what else he could say without giving her false hopes. He wanted her to realize the seriousness of the situation yet he didn't want to see her hurt any more. Instead of saying anything else, Bill leaned down and wrapped Hermione up into a big brotherly hug. Maybe comforting her was a way of helping himself deal with the situation. Whatever the reason, knowing that Hermione seemed to be out of danger made the world seem a little less bleak because even though Voldemort was gone, the Death Eaters were still out there and this time they didn't seem as eager to go back to their former lives. The fear in the Order was that the Death Eaters might try to pick up where Voldemort had left off.
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Well, I have decided to do a sequel but I may take a couple of weeks of to work on a couple of one shot ideas that I have rolling around in my head. I have to say that this chapter I received a review from bubblegurl that made me roll on the floor, LMAO. You can read it in my reviews at www.FanFiction.net.
gil - This chapter is for you. Your reviews always mean the world to me because I respect your work as an author and a shipper. Thank you and I am glad that you still like this.
Thanks for everyone's support. It means the world and I love to jump around happily when I get positive responses. ^_^ I love you all.
God Bless the HMS Pumpkin Pie!!!!
Sarah