Chapter 17 – Alternate ending
Hermione crouched between Harry and Ron at the edge of the fortress' wards, watching Draco manipulate them. Tonks had suggested he alter them so that the Order could get in, but no one could get out. Not by Floo, Apparition, or Portkey. With the advantage of Draco's power and speed, they could finish this war once and for all. No one would leave except as a prisoner.
Draco lowered his hand and turned back, eyes glittering down at her. "For you."
The look he gave her pulled on her heart, and her throat constricted as she held back tears. She would help him when this was over. She wouldn't abandon him to an eternity of solitude. He waved his hand, and a Death Eater mask appeared on his face. She shivered. He had always been terrifying when he was dressed as one of them. She remembered running into him when Hogwarts fell.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Hermione had gotten separated from Neville. She couldn't reach him after the blast tore apart and crumbled the classroom wall, blocking the fourth floor corridor. But she had confidence that he could hold his own against the Death Eater trapped on the other side with him. Hopefully he would find someone else to comb Hogwarts' grounds with.
Voldemort's raid came one hour earlier than their intelligence had relayed. There were still a few students and professors that had missed the Order-supervised evacuation earlier this evening. Now, the ten missing people had to be located and extricated as soon as possible. She had three Portkeys to a safe house with her for precisely this eventuality. She hoped they would be enough.
The Order had no contingency plan aside from the Portkeys and no way of communicating with each other except via her Dumbledore's Army Galleons. She felt isolated without Neville and unsure as to what to do and where to go. The Order really needed a better way of communicating during missions. Muggles had radios and headsets for military operations. She was certain they could come up with something quicker than her Galleons if they spent some time thinking about it.
Hogwarts was a maze full of alcoves, rooms, and passageways. How would she find ten people that didn't want to be found? Had any of them already escaped? Was someone checking the exits? Again, if they had a way of communicating with each other in real time, she'd have the answers to these questions.
She had to do something. If she were a scared student, she might head for something familiar like the dorms. They were also guarded by portraits with passwords, so the students might be under the impression that the portraits offered protection, even though a portrait couldn't do much against a wizard threatening to blast it to pieces. The Death Eaters might be making their way towards the dorms as well, but that was a chance she'd have to take.
She cast Disillusionment and Silencing charms on herself and sprinted to Gryffindor Tower. Out of breath from climbing the stairs, she revealed herself to the Fat Lady, whose eyes widened in surprise.
"Miss Granger!"
"I'm here to get the students out." She gasped for breath, surreptitiously glancing back over her shoulder. "Is there anyone in there? I don't know the password."
"Yes, there are four!" She opened the door. "Hurry!"
Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She jumped into the common room as the portrait hole closed behind her and cast a quick Homenum Revelio. They were in the boys' dormitories. She sprinted up the stairs yelling that it was Hermione Granger come to get them out. A dark haired, black eyed prefect she recognized but couldn't remember the name of (Samuel, maybe?) and three terrified first years came out of the bathrooms.
"Here!" She fumbled in her jacket for the cloth-wrapped stone Portkeys. "Do you know where any of the others are?"
"No," Samuel answered, agitated and clasping the shoulders of one of the younger children protectively. "But one was a Slytherin, a third year, maybe? She may be in the dungeons if she's not with Flitwick. She ran away, I couldn't get her in time."
She groaned inwardly at the thought of going all the way to the dungeons. If the student was with Flitwick, she felt confident that he would have gotten her out in some way, but a student alone would be hiding. She took one stone out and placed it on the floor, removing the cloth and backing away. "It's a Portkey. Hold hands and touch it."
Samuel's dark eyes scrutinized her. "You're not coming?"
Hermione shook her head. "Not yet. Get them out of here."
"Thank you, Hermione."
She nodded and they disappeared. Two Portkeys left. Breathlessly, she took out her Galleon and saw the message "2 out kitchens RW." She signaled back "4 out G tower HG. Where NL?" Only four people left. She stuffed the Galleon back into her pocket and prepared to make the trek to the exact opposite end of the castle when she heard the portrait hole blow open. Her stomach dropped, and she threw herself behind the door to the boys' dorms so as not to be seen.
Shit.
She peeked around the corner and was momentarily saddened by the loss of the Fat Lady, the remains of her portrait and frame scattered on the floor. She tried to cast a non-verbal Homenum Revelio but failed; she had never practiced that spell non-verbally. It didn't matter anyway. She could hear several people stalking around the common room and muttering to each other.
"Homenum Revelio!"
She froze. Now they would know that she was by herself. Her heart raced, thudding against her ribcage, and adrenaline pumped through her veins. She was cornered with nowhere to go. If she didn't think of a brilliant idea in the next few seconds, she'd have to use a Portkey on herself. She thought of the lone Slytherin child, terrified in the castle, and hoped she wouldn't have to leave.
"You're outnumbered!" one of the intruders jeered. "Come out and we promise not to hurt you!"
"Much," another one added in a low voice. Cruel laughter sounded from below.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione cast a non-verbal shield around herself as footsteps approached the staircase. Before they could come charging up the stairs, she fired off a series of indiscriminate Stunners and blasting spells. There was shattering of glass, splintering of wood, crunch of stone, and cursing of the men in the common room as she relentlessly fired in their direction.
She didn't know if she hit anyone, but it provided cover and confusion. Jets of colored light were fired in her direction as well, but Hermione was hidden behind the wall and kept her shield up. She chanced a peek, still casting, and saw one of the men on the ground by the stairs. He had been hit, but she couldn't see anything else. She cast a stream of smoke to further obscure their vision and threw herself to the ground, trying to see around the wall.
Three left.
She fired as fast as she could, only her arm exposed around the corner of the wall she hid behind, hoping that eventually the others would get hit.
"Expelliarmus!" Her wand flew from her hand, and the Death Eater who had caught it came charging up the stairs towards her, long legs and heavy boots taking the stairs three at a time.
"Nice shot, kid!" A gruff voice praised her attacker.
She ran back into the dorms, slamming door after door behind her, upending chairs and desks to create obstacles, and throwing whatever objects she could find—picture frames, books, even a broomstick—at the Death Eater's head as he blasted through each door. Having nowhere else to go, she backed into a corner while he ducked the last of the flying objects, narrowly avoiding them. She reached into her pocket for one of the Portkeys when he suddenly stopped moving and stared at her, pointing his wand at the ceiling between them. She watched in morbid curiosity, hand poised on the cloth of the Portkey. Why the ceiling?
"Incarcerous!"
She jumped as the ropes shot out of his wand, hit the ceiling, and fell uselessly to the ground. Hermione looked wide eyed at the Death Eater's mask, confused and breathing heavily.
"Diffindo!" he shouted. "Confrigo!"
She stared in shock as bits of ceiling and rock fell onto the beds and floor between them. Without missing a beat, he tossed her wand at her feet, turned around, and ran back out the way he came.
Draco.
"She's dead," she heard him say, shoving the approaching Death Eaters back through the hallway and down the stairs. "Wake Mulciber. Let's head back to see if we can find any more."
She heard them rouse the Death Eater at the base of the stairs. Slowly, she picked up her wand and held it to her chest, breathing heavily as adrenaline coursed through her body.
"Who was it?" one of them asked, his voice loud enough to carry upstairs.
"Fuck if I know," was Draco's irreverent reply as they all stalked out of the tower.
Feverishly, Hermione checked her Galleon. It read: "NL with NT and RL". She swiped it and another message appeared. "3 out Hag cabin NL." Only one left. It was probably that little Slytherin girl. She counted to 100, hoping it would give Draco and whoever he was with enough time to create distance between them and her. She sent one last message. "HG to dungeons."
She recast the Silencing and Disillusionment charms on herself, bounded down the stairs, and with a forlorn glance at the havoc her fight had wreaked on her common room, headed out the shattered exit. She was silent but did her best to hug the walls during her descent to the dungeons. The Portkeys in her pocket provided some reassurance as to her safety, but if she were knocked out, she wouldn't be able to use them.
She heard a few Death Eaters heading around the corner and ducked into a classroom, hoping they wouldn't cast the Revelio charm. They walked briskly down the corridor, arguing about how useless the raid was and that no one was here anyway. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. If they were unmotivated and resentful, they wouldn't do a thorough job looking for anyone. She waited, heart pounding, as they passed her classroom, voices echoing down the hallway. After she had some distance between herself and them, she backtracked to take a different path down to the dungeons.
After another narrow miss, she finally made it down to the dungeons and stood before the Snake Charmer portrait, seething in anger over his obstinance. At least she knew the girl was inside. The portrait had teased her arrogantly and let that slip by mistake.
"We don't let filth into these dormitories." The Snake Charmer glared imperiously down at her, and she felt her temperature rise. She didn't have time for this and didn't want to draw attention to her location by blasting the bloody bigoted portrait to smithereens.
"Surely you know the danger she's in. Let me in, and I'll get her out."
"I can provide her more protection than you can, Mudblood," the portrait sneered at her.
Hermione blew air out of her nose in frustration and tried a different tactic.
"I thought Slytherins prided themselves on self-preservation. They'll destroy you just like they did the Fat Lady guarding students in the Gryffindor common room."
She could see the Snake Charmer mulling this over. "I'll let them in. They won't harm her. She's a pure-blood."
She scoffed at the portrait. "Voldemort threatens children to coerce their parents. You and I both witnessed that last year. Did being pure-blood protect Draco Malfoy?"
The Snake Charmer curled his lip in disgust but didn't answer.
"You know she's right."
Hermione whirled around to see a Death Eater leaning against the wall, idly watching their conversation and twirling his wand around his fingers. She knew it was Draco from the sound of his voice, but that didn't stop the mask and robes from causing a jolt of fear.
She watched him lean back to check the corridor behind him. He cast a revealing charm before sauntering slowly over to the common room entrance. The Snake Charmer eyed the Death Eater with distrust.
Draco lowered his voice threateningly. "I suggest you open up before I blast the wall in. Either way, she's going through."
The Snake Charmer simmered with rage, but the door creaked open. Draco turned his masked face to her, gave a mock bow, and extended his arm so she could pass through.
She leaned forward to give a brief kiss to the side of his head over his hood. He smelled like war. Quickly, she whispered, "She's the last one. Blast the portrait after I leave, it'll betray you."
He stood up and nodded, looking down at her from his imposing height. She knew it was him, but his cloaked and masked stature was still terrifying.
"Draco?"
"Yeah?"
The words of the portrait angered her. She remembered that he had allowed himself to be punished by Greyback to protect his mother, and desperately wished he could come with her.
"Please take care of yourself." She sucked in a breath and looked up at him imploringly. "And come to us when you can."
The masked figure didn't move, didn't make a sound. She lowered her eyes and ran into the common room to find the girl.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Draco gazed down at her through his mask before disappearing in a silent flash to take out the exterior fortress guard. She felt a sense of completeness now that he was finally fighting with her, on her side, in the final battle.
A few seconds passed, and then Ron made a noise of disbelief in his throat.
"What?" Harry asked.
"It's unnatural," Ron answered. "That much power. We wouldn't be able to disable those wards, let alone alter them without several hours of work and prior intelligence."
Hermione didn't have an answer to Ron's comment, but she agreed with him. Draco's level of power was absurd. He could die tonight if someone cast a sunlight projection fast enough, but there was no balance to the sheer intensity and force that came with his increased abilities.
"What if…" Ron continued. "What if Voldemort were a vampire?"
"Or if he used them?" Harry asked pensively. "Found a way to control wizard vampires?"
"He'd be nearly unstoppable," Ron answered. "But this ends tonight, right?" He didn't sound sure of himself, and Hermione felt uneasy as well. What was to stop someone, anyone really, from willingly becoming a wizard vampire just for the power?
As if reading Ron's thoughts, Harry said, "We'll take down this Dark Lord and another one will pop up, finding power and immortality much easier than this one did."
Hermione sighed in resignation. They were right. There was really only one way to prevent that from happening. "We're going to have to Obliviate everyone left alive when this is over. Just of Draco's part in this, and his abilities."
She felt them tense beside her.
"You're scary, Hermione." Harry spoke. "You know that, don't you?"
"I'm right though."
"Yeah," he reluctantly agreed. "You usually are."
The three of them crouched on the ground, so close to one another that the garlic they had smeared on their necks smelled even stronger. She took their hands and brought them up to her chest. They had fought together, side by side, since they were kids. She couldn't believe it. It had been over a decade of fighting Voldemort together. It wasn't that she would miss the war, or miss the fighting, but she knew that if all went well it would be an end to an era.
Their era. Things would never be the same again.
"This is it," she said wistfully. Ron squeezed her hand, and Harry gave her a wry smile.
"I certainly hope so." Harry's glasses reflected the light of the fortress' wards. It was completely silent. No screams, no alarms, nothing. She wondered if Draco had finished with the exterior guard and made it inside yet.
"So guys," Ron said jovially. Hermione and Harry turned to him, wondering at his casual tone. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"*
"You mean," Hermione ticked off tasks on her fingers, as if their to-do list were a simple set of errands. "After we win the war, Obliviate the entire Order and Voldemort's army, treat the casualties, and ensure all the prisoners are secure and confined?"
"Yeah," Ron raised an eyebrow at her. "After all that. Probably around 5 in the evening?"
She glared at him.
"Fine, 5:30."
Harry chuckled at the levity. "Ice cream at Fortescue's?"
"Flourish and Blotts?" Hermione suggested, smiling at the casual chit chat as if they weren't about to storm the most heavily guarded fortress in the wizarding world and face off against Voldemort. Her two best friends made a face.
"Pick-up Quidditch match?" Ron added, giving her a meaningful look.
Hermione snorted. "How about the 15th of Never?"
"You know what?" Ron looked down on her imperiously. "You're going to play."
"What?" She sneered at him.
Harry coughed a laugh. "Good luck with that."
"Yeah," Ron continued, emboldened by her reaction. "Enough of this I-can't-fly-brooms-are-dangerous." His voice went up an octave, imitating her. "Starting tomorrow, you're learning to fly."
"Like hell I am," she protested, but he cut her off. Harry's laughs turned into guffaws.
"You're learning to fly, and you're playing Quidditch with us."
"I'd sooner shove that broomstick up your—"
Harry fell over from laughing so hard.
"And you're going to like it."
"Fuck. You. Ronald. Weasley."
Harry clutched his stomach and struggled to come back to his crouched position. He started to wheeze. "I'd pay what's left in my vault to—"
His comment was cut off as a silvery otter streaked past them and around the perimeter of the wards, alerting the Order that the battle had started. The fact that Draco's Patronus was now her own was not lost on them. Adrenaline raced through her body, and she shared a meaningful look with her two boys. This was it. She saw other Order members quietly running towards the fortress, and the three of them stood up to do the same.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
She and Remus had been right: the fortress was in absolute chaos following Nagini's disappearance, and their attack had exploited it. Voldemort's army was completely unprepared. Some Death Eaters were without masks, and a few were even without wands. There didn't appear to be any defensive strategy in place, and the trio simply picked off stray fighters as they saw them. They made their way to Voldemort's central hold, where he was likely to make his last stand.
"Hermione!" Someone called her, and she and Ron whirled around, wands out while Harry kept facing forward, guarding the other direction.
Bill Weasley and Susan Bones sprinted over to them. Something wasn't right. They were supposed to be clearing out the east wing with some others. As they approached, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she lowered her wand. They both had frightened expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, his voice tense.
"Dead," Bill panted. "They're all dead!"
Ron dropped his wand. "Who? The Order? They're—"
"No!" Susan gasped, breathless. "The Death Eaters!"
"He's not stunning them, Hermione," Bill clarified. "He's killing them all!"
With mounting horror, she turned towards the two bodies at the end of the passageway they were in. The trio had been ignoring the felled Death Eaters. She had assumed Draco had stunned them, blasted them into walls, whatever would be the quickest and least bloody. She didn't think Draco would be killing them so mechanically.
"I can't hear them breathing," Bill said. Still hoping he was mistaken, she jogged over to one of the bodies and checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
She had used Draco like a weapon, but felt she had unwittingly detonated a nuclear bomb. She stood up, meeting Harry's horrified eyes. "I have to find him." Her voice shook with terror at what she had unleashed.
He lunged forward and grabbed her arm. "No," he answered gruffly. "You should—"
"There's no time!" She pulled her arm from his grasp, and he didn't attempt to stop her again. "Bill, can you sniff him out? Lead me to him?"
"Probably, especially if he's stopped to feed."
She met Susan's brown eyes as anxiety took over her. "Go with Harry and Ron. Bill and I will catch up to you after we find him."
Ron protested. "Hermione, it's not safe. You—"
"Nothing here is safe! You know he has to be stopped! I'll catch up with you!" She looked to Bill frantically. "Go!" After an apologetic glance towards Ron and Harry, he took off down a corridor. She followed him at a sprint.
"Hermione!" Ron screamed after her in vain. His voice echoed off the stone walls.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Reducto!"
They heard a ping as the curse ricocheted, the spell ending in a sickening splat. She and Bill skidded to a halt and flattened themselves against the wall. Almost immediately, a thick, coppery smell filled the air. Bill growled, and she looked up at him. He was exhaling sharply through his teeth. This much blood put Lupin on edge as well.
Bill motioned with his head and whispered. "He wasn't in there before, but he will be any second."
Tentatively, she peered around the corner and saw Neville, alone and confused, standing in a mess of blood and viscera, partially covered with it.
"Neville!" she whispered loudly. "Come away from there now!" He looked up at her, an expression of disgust on his face, and she fired a quick scouring spell to clean him up.
"You okay?" Bill asked as Neville made his way over, shaking his head to clear the images of the Death Eater he had inadvertently exploded.
"Yeah." He turned over his sleeves, his relief obvious that the mess was gone. "Thanks, Hermione."
Quickly, she recast the silencing spells on his circulatory system. She looked to Bill. "Do you have any of that garlic oil on hand to rub on his neck?"
In a flash, Draco appeared in front of them, and they all jumped back. His fangs were out. Blood was smeared all over him and in his hair, and a low growl emanated from his chest. His eyes gleamed inhumanly silver, a stark contrast against the dark blood on his face. His robes were torn, and his hands were like claws, flexing as he eyed the three of them hungrily. Slowly, his eyes centered on her. A hint of familiarity flickered in his predatory gaze.
"Run!" he snarled at her while preparing to attack.
Bill tensed and let out a feral growl. Then, to her shock, instead of pulling his wand, he lunged at Draco like an animal. Draco sidestepped effortlessly and pushed Bill into the stone wall. He collided with a crack, fell to the ground, and lay still. She remembered that Lupin had been affected by Draco's presence as well. Apparently, whatever effect vampires had on werewolves was much stronger when the vampire was in the midst of a bloodlust, as Draco was now. Bill had just lost it.
Draco slowly turned back to Hermione and Neville. He stalked towards them.
"Incar—" With lightning fast reflexes, he whacked her wand from her hand and knocked her to the ground, pinning her with his body.
"Neville!" she cried as the back of her head hit the floor. It all happened so fast. She had about a half second to breathe before Draco covered her mouth with his hand, wrenched her head to the side, and sunk his fangs into her neck. She felt a mixture of pain and pleasure as Draco sucked from her, grunting and rutting against the cradle of her hips like an animal. She whimpered and cried into his hand, body trembling as she tried to push him off. He was too strong and had her flattened against the floor, unable to move. With a scream, he toppled off of her, bound in silver.
Hermione scrambled to look for her wand and was tackled again. Draco crushed her backside, his chest pushing her stomach and breasts against the stone floor.
"Neville! Again!" she screamed.
Draco growled into her ear, tore her trousers with a painful tug, and wrenched them down past her knees just as Neville hit him with another binding spell.
"Again!" she yelled. Neville doubled the ropes, summoned her wand, and tossed it to her. She swiped it from the air and repaired her trousers. She walked to Draco, who had been blasted to the other side of the room. He writhed on the floor, gritting his teeth in pain.
She hit his legs with another binding spell for good measure, and he yelled in agony. "Rennervate Bill," she told Neville. "He'll be fine. It takes more than that to injure a werewolf." She stood over Draco, confident he wouldn't attack her again.
"You have to leave," he growled up at her from the ground, exhaling heavily through his teeth, fangs bared. "There's blood everywhere, I can't—Uuuuunnnnggggghhhhhh!" His back arched in pain. Hermione watched the silver cut into his body.
"Draco," she ordered. "Stop killing them."
"What?" Tears were forming in his eyes. She had to make this quick; he couldn't take much more of this.
"Stop killing them," she repeated tonelessly.
"Hermione, if I hadn't—"
"Do you want to be a monster?"
"I am a monster," he ground out. "That's why I'm here." He shuddered and writhed before catching his breath. "So you don't have to be."
"No!" Her eyes widened. Is that what he thought? "I'm responsible for this as much as you are. You don't have to kill them. You are not a monster. This is different, Draco. You have to stop." She took a breath. "You are not Greyback."
He flinched, but looked back up at her, silver eyes gleaming through the dark blood on his face. She had gotten through to him.
"You are not Greyback, do you hear me? Stun them." She crouched down and looked directly into his silver, inhuman eyes. "Don't lose yourself. You have a future."
She saw his tears again, but didn't know if it was from the physical pain or his despair in thinking that he did not have a future. He grunted and shifted in his bindings.
"Leave," he gasped. "Please! I can't—"
He clenched his teeth, then let loose with an agonized roar that chilled her bones. She turned back to see Neville and Bill watching in pity and revulsion.
"We're going!" She jumped up, and the three ran as fast as they could, towards the fortress' center where Ron, Harry, and Susan would be facing Voldemort.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"What the hell is this?" Ron looked around dumbfounded at the circular room with multiple doors which resembled the Department of Mysteries.
Harry glanced towards Hermione. "This wasn't on the map."
Hermione cast her Patronus, one to Draco and one to Remus, back out the way they came. They'd need back up. "Let's wait. They'll be more prepared if they had time to—"
She didn't finish her sentence. One of the doors opened, and the three were sucked inwards. The trio fell with a thud and a tangle of limbs as the door slammed behind them. Hermione pushed herself up and lifted her. Harry and Ron did the same at her back. They were surrounded by roughly fifteen Death Eaters. Voldemort stood at the edge of the circle, slowly walking around, eyeing the three of them.
"Time's up, Tom," Harry called out. "It's over. Your Horcruxes are all destroyed."
Voldemort's thin lips curled upwards. If there was any fear or uncertainty in the Dark Lord, he hid it well, knowing his Death Eaters might betray him at the slightest sign of weakness. "I think not."
"The fortress has fallen," Harry said, speaking directly to the Death Eaters, changing tactics. "If you surrender now, you'll all receive reduced sentences."
"You don't think I've planned for this?" Voldemort sneered. "There will be no surrender. Your Order will not find us, and your vampire will die." He waved his wand between Ron and Hermione. "Which one should I kill first, Harry Potter?"
Hermione didn't know if Voldemort was bluffing or not. She hoped her call for back up worked.
"How about both?" he said with a cruel smile.
The trio each cast shields, but multiple curses quickly broke through their defenses. Hermione was soon screaming on the floor with Ron under the effects of the Cruciatis. Second after agonizing second passed and just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she heard an explosion. The pain stopped, and she felt warmed under a full body healing spell.
Draco.
He was here. He came for her. The relief was short lived.
"Lumos Sol!"
Her heart stopped with the cry of several Death Eaters casting the spell at once. The room was suddenly filled with sunlight and she blinked, quickly trying to clear her vision. Where was he? She rolled over onto her stomach, turning round, frantically looking for him as Order members burst into the room, shouting curses. Too late, she saw a burst of flames between three felled Death Eaters.
With an agonized cry, she pointed her wand at Draco and screamed, "Partum umbra!"
A ball of darkness left her wand and encased him. She stood up and held her breath as the blood pounded in her head. Did it work? Through the commotion and the curses flying, she could still hear his shrieks like knives through her heart. She hadn't been fast enough! He was still burning! Her arm was shaking with the exertion of holding the eclipse spell in place. She had to put the flames out but needed to keep Draco shielded from the sunlight. It wasn't enough! He was going to die!
She whirled around to Harry, but he was dueling with Voldemort. Curses were flying everywhere. Desperately, she cried to Ron next to her. "Ron! Put him out! He's burning!"
Ron turned to her while she struggled to hold the eclipse spell in place. For a moment she thought he would ignore her and return to the battle. It was only a few days ago that he had just attempted to kill Draco. She gritted her teeth and held her wand with two hands. Tears began to stream down her eyes.
"Ron! Help me!" she pleaded
He shifted his gaze to where the flames could clearly be seen leaving the ball of blackness.
"Please!" she cried to him. "He doesn't deserve this!"
His troubled expressions hardened into one of determination and he raised his wand.
"Aquamenti!" Ron yelled.
"Thank you," she whispered. She closed her eyes in relief. Water poured from Ron's wand towards the shadow that Hermione cast. She hoped it wasn't too late.
Chapter end notes:
Don't worry. I already killed him off once. I won't do that again.
*I totally took this conversation from the very last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Best friends (Giles, Buffy, Xander, Willow), that had been fighting together since the beginning, facing what appears to be the final battle, discussing very casually what they wanted to do tomorrow.
Seemed fitting.